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FaceTime Launching on Apple TV With iPhone and iPad Camera Support

Now, AppleTV4k just needs to come again with a USB-C Port - for Updates &
so we can plug in Add-on Devices like a Meeting Owl for Huddle Meeting Rooms...
 
Seems kind of a clunky set up?
I get a FaceTime call, and then what? Not pick up until I stop what I'm doing on my iPhone and set it up on my TV? Or have people awkwardly watch me set it up?

I have old iPhones laying around that I would love to dedicate to just a FaceTime camera for the TV, but they don't get the new iOs updates, so they remain useless for these new use-cases.
 
Really excited for this. It‘s gonna be greatfor SharePlay with friends and family, which I already use a lot 🥰
 
McWetty said:
Can’t say I’ll use FaceTime on Apple TV like they expect, but I’m glad to see this first step. Hoping for a HomePod Show to fill the gap.
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One use case for this that I can imagine is Thanksgiving/Christmas situations where you just set this up in the living room and let it run more or less in the background so that each side has an ambient feel for the other side. I'd be curious to see how well it works in those sorts of use cases. I could imagine an Apple ad in December showing off this sort of thing...
 
Johnny907 said:
I mean that's Tim Cook's Apple: bringing us new things a couple years after we really needed them.
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It’s just in time…for the next pandemic. Great job Tim!

Really don’t know why they couldn’t have pushed something like this out a bit sooner.
 
Slippery Gimp said:
I’ve had FaceTime on the phone, set it under the tv and then mirrored the screen into the tv, isn’t that the same sort of thing?
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I think I did that once and it was laggy and a little cumbersome to set up. It is similar but this should be a much better experience.
But I would prefer a permanent/dedicated webcam attached to the top of the tv instead of having to set up my phone ever time, below the tv.
 
jjMMpp said:
Dumb as ****! Instead of having to right 150K lines of code to fix a problem they caused by not putting a USB port on the Apple TV.
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How well do you think a webcam would work from all the way across a living room? Webcams are designed for sitting directly in front of and pick up audio from directly in front of. All webcams are built for that close proximity use case. Not to be used across a large room.

this works with the iPhone because the iPhone has a tighter lens option, but k resolution so it can crop in even more and have that extra resolution so center stage can move around and follow the people in the frame. It’s also a vastly superior camera to web cameras and will work better in less than stellar lighting and the mic is much stronger to reach people sitting much further away.

Setup your webcam on your computer and sit 10-15 feet away and see just how crappy of an option that would be.

This has a lot more features to it than just plugging in a webcam as well. There is a lot of really nice processing taking place to make the experience better.

So no this isn’t dumb at all. Plugging in a crappy 720p webcam and expecting it to not look worse than VHS from across a living room is dumb. Apple also wants this feature to look good and not be plagued by the crappy cameras some users might plug in. It’s called quality control and making a feature actually look and feel positive.
 
Baffles me why anyone is excited about this. Admittedly, I can’t remember the last time I even used FaceTime.
 
I done more than a few post on various social media questioning this omission (it seemed like a no brainer after they introduced continuity camera). It's odd it had to take so long, but, hey, better late than never.

For me, this, and the AirTag sharing was the best news of WDC
 
eTip said:
Baffles me why anyone is excited about this. Admittedly, I can’t remember the last time I even used FaceTime.
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I think you might have answered your own question. But, for me this is why it's "exciting"(I'd probably use the word convenient, but hey).

I got three distinct communication needs. professional, social and family. Social could proably even be split up into technical, and "normies". Professional, and technical social, doesn't benefit one bit from this.

But, the family, and normies-social certainly does. Very often, when my other half is on the phone with one of our family friends, arranging god know what weekend activity, she will drag me into the call to hear my opinion on things, this often happens by just her putting the phone on speaker.

Similarly, when on call with family, one of us, drags the other person into the call. Or, the other person just invites themself into the call because they want to say hi to whomever is on the other end of the call.

Facetime video calls are a pretty common way for us to communicate with family, and normies, Being able to just hand off the call to the TV and pop the phone in a stand infront of it, having a poor mans teleconferencing setup by the click of one button, is nifty.

Also, finally, there is a family use case, being an international couple, where on xmases, birthdays etc. We dial in family members that cant make it in person, to say hi. Again, being able to connect them to one of the AppleTVs (in the kitchen/dining room or livingroom), would be an upgrade on the always slightly award that assures when one of the elderly relatives abroad wants to say hi to everybody.

Is it life changing? No. Is it super innovative? No. Is it a nice feature to have? Yes.
 
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justdanyul said:
Also, finally, there is a family use case, being an international couple, where on xmases, birthdays etc. We dial in family members that cant make it in person, to say hi. Again, being able to connect them to one of the AppleTVs (in the kitchen/dining room or livingroom), would be an upgrade on the always slightly award that assures when one of the elderly relatives abroad wants to say hi to everybody.

Is it life changing? No. Is it super innovative? No. Is it a nice feature to have? Yes.
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This would be perfect for those events where people just turn on FaceTime to let family be present. With my family spread across multiple continents it is sometimes good to just have FaceTime on even if you are not talking all the time just to feel more connected. It would have been great when my kids were little.
 
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dpfenninger said:
Can anyone confirm that FaceTime on tvOS 17 requires the 4K Apple TV? I'm still on an Apple TV HD, but I've been pining for FaceTime on my TV for years...so this may be the nudge I need to finally upgrade my Apple TV if it does indeed require the 4K version.
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Looking at the fine print on Apple's website, it is only available on the Apple TV 4K (2nd and 3rd generation). So the HD and 4K 1st gen are out of luck.
 
Nice job. We have an iPad stand we use for watching movies etc in bed, it would be good for talking with the grand kids.
 
This will be great, one of the highlights of the keynote for me. We often Facetime with family a few hours away, so being able to use the TV and not have to crowd around an iPad or iPhone will be nice.

I’m also curious about the stand they are using, it looks nice too.
 
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TimeAndOrSpace said:
Looking at the fine print on Apple's website, it is only available on the Apple TV 4K (2nd and 3rd generation). So the HD and 4K 1st gen are out of luck.
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Could you provide a link to where you've found this fine print - for the life of me I can't see it written in any fine print. I've got a 1st gen Apple TV and was hoping to not need an upgrade for this long awaited feature!
 
I’ve been using FaceTime more now that it has the weblink feature and can be used to connect to anyone with a web browser… last time someone tried to Skype me, it didn’t work with his speakers, I sent him a FaceTime link and we were chatting within a minute or so.

But I’ve been wanting FaceTime on a large TV screen for a while now, finally a reason to buy an updated Apple TV box!
 
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