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Bloomberg: Apple Working on New Apple TV With Integrated HomePod Speaker and FaceTime Camera
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Strictly speaking they wouldn’t have to. They could licence tvOS instead. Or they could acquire an existing TV manufacturer and license it to them exclusively. I agree they won’t do it but they could if they wanted to.
My AppleTV is connected to a Home Theatre with a 9.2 speaker system. I can't imagine why I would ever want an integrated tinny little 10W speaker. I hope there will be an option without a useless paperweight built in that does nothing but make it bulky and more expensive. My TV's integrated speakers got particularly bad reviews and they still manage to sound better and more room-filling than a homepod.
And a facetime camera. Talk about completely useless. I use my TV for watching TV, I don't want a camera watching me. All a facetime camera means to me on a set-top box is an ugly spot with electrical tape over it.
The only silver lining to this would be getting a 10% discount on the old model, even though it probably will only get 2-3 years before streaming services stop supporting it.
And a facetime camera. Talk about completely useless. I use my TV for watching TV, I don't want a camera watching me. All a facetime camera means to me on a set-top box is an ugly spot with electrical tape over it.
The only silver lining to this would be getting a 10% discount on the old model, even though it probably will only get 2-3 years before streaming services stop supporting it.
It's technically possible, but why not? Well because Apple.
Name me a single OS that Apple has created today, which they allow you to install on 3rd party hardware, or an OS that they have licensed out to a 3rd party?
Closest they got was when Jobs was thinking about allows Sony Viao's to run OSX.
It would definitely not be for you. But how many people have setups like yours? Not many.
There is a large niche in the market for upgraded sound from TVs, Apple could integrate ATV with a soundbar for them.
For a system like yours, a Chromecast like Dongle ATV device connected to your TV or Receiver for $75 would be more useful.
I wonder if you'll be able too get another HomePod, minus AppleTV functionality, and have them in stereo? Maybe even 5.1 surround sound or something?
The school district I work for just got a bunch of these for classrooms. Lets remote students interact with in-person students over Zoom. https://neat.no/bar/
Wouldn't mind an Apple version for FaceTime & other things. Maybe a 3D camera like the MS Kinect, as well.
Wouldn't mind an Apple version for FaceTime & other things. Maybe a 3D camera like the MS Kinect, as well.
Man I hope there's an option without a mediocre speaker and creepy camera.
Eh, not so much. TV's last a decade or more. The AppleTV is changing a lot faster (well it should).
More importantly, there's way too much data exfil on "smart" TV's back to the manufacturer, without Apple's privacy protections. I'll never let one on my network.
Out of curiosity, what content uses 9.2? The closest I've seen are movies with 5.1 or maybe 7.1.
Well, microsoft bought Nuance today, so Cortana might actually become usable. Too bad Apple missed out on that one - might have actually made siri worthwhile.
This is exactly what I was thinking! The beam is kinda small though. They should make something (size wise) in between a beam and an arc.
Kinda wish there were more "dumb" TVs: just a few HDMI ports, maybe coax cable plug, that's it. No wifi/ethernet, no connected functionality. Just get your input from an AppleTV, BluRay player, or computer, and display it well. Same with BluRay players. Just play BluRays/DVDs well. I'm very much a quality of quantity kind of person.
Agreed completely. Take all that extra cost, especially the meh software, and just give me a really great TV panel. Feel the same way about car stereo's - give me AM/FM radio and carplay...anything else is just bad UX.
I made the mistake of buying an amazon TV (we needed a cheap screen for the guest room). Trying to get it to just be a display is impossible. It always defaults back to the crappy built in software instead of just showing what's coming in on the HDMI port.
Get a new receiver and or tv and or Apple TV. Most mid to higher end TVs and AVRs come with airplay 2 now a days.
Nope, not going to put the TV directly on the network - ditto on amps. I trust Apple. I don't remotely trust other vendors - there's WAY too much telemetry going out the door.
I don’t know much about this product but it seems exclusively for meetings, better for a work or school environment.
For home, a product like this but that also had decent audio for music and TV would likely be more popular.
My neighbor bought a very high end 60 inch Pioneer plasma TV 15 years ago. It had no TV tuner, no speakers. Just basically a display. Still looks good, although not 4K.
The main difference is it is like 7.1 with additional Atmos (height) sounds. The MCU movies in particular make excellent use of the height speakers, but pretty much every modern action movie uses them well. The .1 vs .2 doesn't seem to make much difference to me, I don't hear the difference with 1 or 2 subs.
That doesn't even make sense. So in my household with roughly 10 iPads, iPhones, and MacBooks (4 people) and exactly zero android or google devices, I'm better off with a Chrome cast?
The reason I sucked it up and paid for the ATV 4k in the firstplace (rather than another device at 1/4th the price) was screen mirroring from all the Apple devices. Now that I have it, I like the way it integrates into the Apple system. I like using my iPhone as a remote, I like the way when I need to type a password, a prompt comes up on my phone suggesting I use it as a keyboard. So because I have zero interest in a tiny little toy siri speaker in my home theatre, your suggestion is that the Apple ecosystem is not for me? Wow.
Sorry, my poor writing. I mean a dongle Chromecast LIKE device, but Apple TV. I do prefer the dongle to a little black box.
I don't see how an ATV soundbar would sell any more than the ATV or HomePods do, and the latter was discontinued due to lack of sales. Especially if it's priced like typical Apple products. I don't see how minimum pricing comes in under $599. It's going to have roughly the cost of two HomePods, an ATV, a camera, and HDMI ports, so somewhere around $800 based on standalone devices. I'm sure we can knock off a bit of cost due to synergies of manufacturing one product instead of multiple though. If something like this launches it will end with the same conclusion as the HomePod, discontinuation due to lack of sales.
What Apple needs to do is to launch a sub-$100 barebones 'Apple TV' that can be used for streaming video and music. Then they need to also launch an 'Apple TV Pro' than has the latest X or Z-type A-series chip that can also handle gaming and include the latest A/V standards and tech available, i.e. 4K/8K, HDR, Atmos, HDMI 2.1, etc. Honestly the 'Pro' wouldn't be all that different from the existing ATV, just with up to date hardware. Most current ATV buyers would opt for the Pro, at least on the primary household TV, and then add the basic ATV to other TVs in the house. Both of these would sell far more than an ATV/soundbar, which would be an incredibly niche product. No need to look any further than the HomePod for the evidence. Even among households who are interested, they'd only buy one. Families aren't going to be dropping $600+ each in the living room, bedroom, kids rooms, etc. Not to mention I much prefer to replace a $200 ATV periodically when they're updated than a $600+ soundbar. That's just part of the reason I went full audio system rather than a soundbar. The speakers will last years, and more likely decades. New A/V tech out? Just replace the receiver rather than the whole kit and caboodle.
What I'd be interested in, as it relates to this article, would be an ATV that also includes a mic and relatively inexpensive speaker. Something of a cross between the ATV and the HomePod mini. Then you bring HomePod functionality to the ATV, where audio is routed through to the TV/audio system when the device is 'on'. And when it's 'off', audio is routed through the cheap, internal speaker. Then you can tell your ATV to open apps, play, pause, perform HomeKit commands, ask Siri questions, all without a remote being necessary.
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I got my Homepod (For a sound enhancement) in late November of last year and I wonder if I should sell it back to Apple or something. The thing doesn't even work with MLB.TV, I found out last week. I also got an Apple TV 4K last July in part of my purchase of the new TV. I'm starting to feel like I rushed those two purchases, even though I do love the Apple TV 4K (Even though I wish more sports was done in 4K).