It's a very confusing mess really. They should still offer software support I think for a while, especially for a set top box as I can't see them changing it that much.
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Apple TV HD With Original Siri Remote is Now Vintage
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It's a very confusing mess really. They should still offer software support I think for a while, especially for a set top box as I can't see them changing it that much.
You'd think so, but this is Apple. The ATV HD by far has the oldest CPU of all products supported by this fall's OS updates, so it would not surprise me to see it cut off after tvOS 16.
First, you’ll need to set up the your remote so that it is enabled to turn on your television via infrared (if your TV doesn’t already automatically turn on if HDMI signal is detected). Apple provides details here: https://support.apple.com/guide/tv/control-your-tv-and-volume-atvbbe2477c9/tvos
But the basic gist is that after you set up your remote to turn on television, all you need to do it make sure that when you press to turn on the AppleTV that you also hold down the button and ensure that the Siri Remote is also pointing in the direction of the TV’s infrared receiver.
My understanding is that AppleTV receives signal via bluetooth and most televisions receive remote signals via infrared signals which require direct line of sight.
So... is there a way to tell the difference on the actual Apple TV unit? I have no idea what model of remote mine came with. it was given to my by a friend a few years ago and she had lost the remote in a move so I have no idea what it came with. So is mine vintage? How do I tell? If it has a new remote is it no longer vintage?
Does your remote look identical to the one in the picture in the article? Or does your remote look similar but have a white circle around the menu button?
the one I have now, no. its a new one. but I don't know what the original remote looked like.
There is no difference in the actual Apple TV, and it doesn’t matter. This vintage status is only related to repair service, not software updates.
I’ve obtained them all used for $30-$40 just to upgrade the old model to keep the software current. The old ones are resold and I pay next to nothing to upgrade them.
The 2 and 3 had persistent issues with crashing; Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, every non-Apple app seemed to have issues. Its core use was synced to my iTunes library. That actually worked pretty well.
I had the HD just long enough to learn I hated the remote, yet found a deal on a 4K for the same price I paid for (and resold) the HD. The HD was fairly solid, but I grew tired of the replication of our Roku and didn’t use it for much other than mirroring and iTunes again. If the remote was terrible, and then equally terrible on the 4K, why not?
So there it sits. Remote up on a shelf. Roku holding up the Time Capsule. Wireless. Even though it’s sitting below a free network port. When wired, it would constantly show “no connection” after about 10/15 minutes of use. Turn it off and you can continue happily. Don’t restart it and suffer with buffering and an iPhone app that can’t find the Apple TV.
Search issues with wired network issues and Apple TV 4K’s. The threads are plentiful. Here, Reddit and everywhere. I enjoy tinkering and testing, so I also don’t mind the critiquing. Disdain? For the remote, yes. Disappointed in how little the Apple TV accomplishes, absolutely. Comparatively on the market, it’s a nonsense device. Used, for little cost, I’ll upgrade and move the old device to someone who can use it. Hope that makes sense.
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Apple listing a product as “vintage” and discontinuing software support are almost never related.
They’ve continued software support long after devices were put on the vintage list before.
IE: the 2007 iMac, which was classified as “vintage” in 2013 when macOS 10.8 Mountain Lion was the latest release, but the machine was officially supported and able to update to 10.9 Mavericks (2013), 10.10 Yosemite (2014) and 10.11 Al Capitan (2015) and continued getting security updates until 2018.
So it continued getting updates for five years after it was put on the vintage list.
So again, a product being considered vintage by AppleCare doesn’t mean anything about its future software support.
My Apple TV (Rev1) purchased in September 2016 updates to the tvOS 16.0 beta just fine.
It’ll be supported at least through the 16 cycle
Very true, I should have thought of that really. Good to know though. Thanks.