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Buy?
- Thread starter dexterie
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Sure, but rumors of a new higher powered ATV4K are circulating. Basically, speculation is higher CPU\memory\GPU to enhance gaming. If you do minimal gaming, not so important.
But, Apple typically drops prices when new comes out. 4K came in around the same prices as ATV4, and ATV4 prices dropped a bit. I suspect new ATV will be featured in WWDC along with enhancements to gaming capabilities in the living room with tvOS enhancements.
4K will be around for 10+ years before 5K or 8K become compelling. I still use ATV4, I haven't jumped on the 4K TV thing yet, mainly because almost all 4K TV are "Smart", and I prefer Apple to be my Smart TV driver. I don't want to be bothered with Amazon, Roku, Google, Samsung getting in the middle of my video setup.
But, Apple typically drops prices when new comes out. 4K came in around the same prices as ATV4, and ATV4 prices dropped a bit. I suspect new ATV will be featured in WWDC along with enhancements to gaming capabilities in the living room with tvOS enhancements.
4K will be around for 10+ years before 5K or 8K become compelling. I still use ATV4, I haven't jumped on the 4K TV thing yet, mainly because almost all 4K TV are "Smart", and I prefer Apple to be my Smart TV driver. I don't want to be bothered with Amazon, Roku, Google, Samsung getting in the middle of my video setup.
thing is that I don’t want to wait until summer (WWDC)... it’s something I’d like to buy in the next couple weeks.
i guess I’ll wait until the day they release the new iPhone 9/SE/whatever name. maybe they’ll just update it all.
i also have a smart tv (LG) but...ufff it’s so bad to use when it’s something other than Netflix or prime (dedicated remote buttons)
If you really want to buy now I suggest looking for used ones. I've had really good luck at my local store that buys/sells video games and systems (Mega Replay). I think I have bought four Apple TV 4th Gen and one Apple TV 4K (5th Gen) from them, all of the 4th Gen I was able to get for under $100.
Issue is that most stores are closed due to lockdown. Found online, refurbished, but it was like 20€ less. Not worth it.
I just hope something is announced this week. If not, I’ll take the plunge and deal with it lol
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The current 4K model is good, and will work just fine. That is all we use on our main TV, and have for well over a year. It gets used every day and all day, not one issue. We also have a regular Apple TV 4 on another TV and it works just fine. And we still use an old Apple TV 3rd generation for Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, and watching iTunes movies and that Apple TV is old. I think if you purchased an Apple TV4k now, it should last you quite a long time.
I have been rocking the Apple TV 4 (HD) for the last three years and completely love it (I bought it right before they released the 4K model). I have had no reason or desire to upgrade it until it dies. If I was currently in the market for an Apple TV I would purchase the 4K model in a heartbeat, with or without a possible refresh on the horizon. Also, from your use case, it sounds like the 4K will be more than fine.
The thing is that 8K will make absolutely no sense for normal viewing distances at home. That's just tricking people into upgrading again and effectively wasting money.
While 8K is overkill for many, from 85-inch or so, it has shown to produce meaningful although not dramatic improvements over 4K in A-B testing at recommended cinematic viewing distance of 8.5 feet (not 5.5 feet as your chart suggests). The significance varies by type of contents, of course, particularly true of sports.
Having said that, 8K is probably ahead of its time. At around 100 Mbps (4 times 4K), it can stress CDN that serves streaming contents, broadband Internet providers (as COVID-19 demonstrated, these 200 Mbps+ figures are meaningless when the network is saturated), Wi-Fi router (which is shared by many devices), and UHD Blu-Ray (BD100 cannot accommodate 2 hour movie at 8K).
All I know 4K streaming is slowly breaking the USA Network systems! You streaming kids are breaking the antiquated Network topology as it is setup! I know I retired from running the system and it’s almost MAX at that Node(that service 6 States)! So kids you’re slowly breaking the USA system so expect Nodes going through some major overhaul in coming years, so ain’t laugh at 8K early adaptors, you kids have no idea at what 4K is slowly breaking the USA system!
Won’t you regret buying it if a new model comes in the next couple weeks, with a new remote and so?
I don’t thick I will be missing much I don’t play game on it just steaming, I like the touch pad remote , if there a new remote u probably can buy it separately in the future if need
Refurbs from Apple are as good as new. I almost always buy Apple Refurbs when I can.
But it is not just about the pixels, there are a whole lot of other image enhancements. A test group saw a 30% perceived increase in image quality and 60% improvement in depth perception:
8K: It’s About Hyper-Realism, Not Just More Pixels
8K TVs will reproduce “hyper-realistic” images that you can readily appreciate from typical viewing distances in your living room, challenging the myth that an 8K image’s 33.2 million pixels are too densely packed for the human eye to resolve, attendees learned at Tuesday’s 8K Display Summit...
The jury is still out.
depends if you have a 4K TV, or will be getting one ? I don't think there should be any need to get something your never gonna use. I'd rather buy the the Apple TV 4th gen (HD) (.. I guess there was a marketing need to add "HD" to this)
Yes, I do have a 4K tv (a LG smart tv...can’t remember the model, but it’s nothing fancy) and also a 4K monitor. And yes, the tv is smart but the OS is a pain and super slow. Also, I *need* to be able to cast Facebook videos on tv and also would be nice to enjoy Apple TV+ on tv. My only doubt is about buying the current model when a new one is rumoured to be out soon.
From your link, emphasis mine:But it is not just about the pixels, there are a whole lot of other image enhancements. A test group saw a 30% perceived increase in image quality and 60% improvement in depth perception:
8K: It’s About Hyper-Realism, Not Just More Pixels
8K TVs will reproduce “hyper-realistic” images that you can readily appreciate from typical viewing distances in your living room, challenging the myth that an 8K image’s 33.2 million pixels are too densely packed for the human eye to resolve, attendees learned at Tuesday’s 8K Display Summit...www.soundandvision.com
The jury is still out.
To that end, YungKyung Park, associate professor of the College of Art & Design at Ewha Womens University in Seoul, presented the results of a study in which 120 observers said they saw visible improvements in 8K images and videos over their 4K counterparts on separate 65-inch TVs positioned side by side. The observers viewed the TVs at a distance of 9 feet in dark rooms that simulated nighttime viewing conditions.
Of course you can see side-by-side improvements. Just saying it doesn't make much sense, regarding what it needs in terms of bandwith, price of new hardware, more processing power et al.
You have to watch for them, they come and go and with the virus lockdowns, they may not be prioritizing refurbishing the lower priced items (vs Macs for example).