I have seen and read so many threads where people are complaining about the new ATV 4k. I was about to buy as this would have been my first but I I don't feel like spending $200 on this. Plus yesterday Amazon announced a new AFT 4K HDR for $70 and another more powerful AFT is rumored to be released next month. The only thing is I already have a AFT older generation, and wanted to get ATV 4K to get into the iTunes world.
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Is the Apple 4K tv really disappointing?
- Thread starter surfer369
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I love mine. I have a 4K HDR TV. I have turned off Dolby Vision, and am just using 4K SDR. The auto convert is bad, people are right. But, there’s really not much content in HDR right now, so I don’t feel (yet) like I’m missing out on anything. I’ll turn it on if I know. I’m hoping something happens on that front. But if you told me it would be faster and just do 4K, SDR, I’d be happy with what I got. For me, who is already invested, I love it.
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I think it's more of a clash of always sky-high expectations on Apple vs. the reality of what is delivered. Going into every product launch, we generally expect Apple to wow us in about every way. We don't expect the product to land in our hands and be lacking big features commonly available on competitor versions at much lower pricing. We expect "just works" magic instead of issues like having to manually change modes to fit media. And so on. In short, we always expect Apple to be best in every possible way... and where they fall short, some of us can really amplify the negative we feel about that.
As to the buy or no buy decision, consider ALL of what it can do for you. What is each thing you identified worth to you? For example, I used to give Sony much more than $200 for just a music (CD) jukebox. AppleTV- just for that single purpose- is FAR superior to those old CD jukeboxes. Easily playing the WHOLE music collection on the best speakers in the house is a nice feature. If that's ALL it did, I could probably justify $200 for it (I used to with those CD jukeboxes which couldn't hold ALL of the music collection, had no playlists, grinded as it swapped one CD for another in a kind of "mechanical shuffle mode", etc.)
It's also the on-demand home movie box, the on-demand photo album, the on-demand podcast/vodcast box, light games, streaming radio, on-demand Blockbuster video, youtube, vudu, (many other apps), etc. What are each of those worth to you? As soon as you surpass $150 or $200 in your mind, place your order.
Another "biggie" for buy or don't buy: Apple takes seemingly FOREVER to roll out a new version of this product. So if there is a good time to buy and maximize the usage time before Apple releases a "6", it is now.
Another factor: practically rent it instead. If you want one, buy, enjoy and then sell it later. These often sell for a fairly good portion of the initial price paid. If you buy for $200 and then sell it a year or two from now for $100, you got to enjoy all it's benefits for either about $8 to about $4 per month over that year or two.
And lastly: Apple does have a return policy. So you can try it out yourself and see what YOU think. If it does enough for you, keep it. If not, return it.
As to the buy or no buy decision, consider ALL of what it can do for you. What is each thing you identified worth to you? For example, I used to give Sony much more than $200 for just a music (CD) jukebox. AppleTV- just for that single purpose- is FAR superior to those old CD jukeboxes. Easily playing the WHOLE music collection on the best speakers in the house is a nice feature. If that's ALL it did, I could probably justify $200 for it (I used to with those CD jukeboxes which couldn't hold ALL of the music collection, had no playlists, grinded as it swapped one CD for another in a kind of "mechanical shuffle mode", etc.)
It's also the on-demand home movie box, the on-demand photo album, the on-demand podcast/vodcast box, light games, streaming radio, on-demand Blockbuster video, youtube, vudu, (many other apps), etc. What are each of those worth to you? As soon as you surpass $150 or $200 in your mind, place your order.
Another "biggie" for buy or don't buy: Apple takes seemingly FOREVER to roll out a new version of this product. So if there is a good time to buy and maximize the usage time before Apple releases a "6", it is now.
Another factor: practically rent it instead. If you want one, buy, enjoy and then sell it later. These often sell for a fairly good portion of the initial price paid. If you buy for $200 and then sell it a year or two from now for $100, you got to enjoy all it's benefits for either about $8 to about $4 per month over that year or two.
And lastly: Apple does have a return policy. So you can try it out yourself and see what YOU think. If it does enough for you, keep it. If not, return it.
I get that it does a lot of things and I along with many other Apple fan expect apple products to be the best among its class and compared to its competitors. I just hope that issues people having can easily be fixed with a software update. I was holding out and thinking getting the 64gb, but I think from what i have read the 32gb should be sufficient.
ATV 3 works great. I'm sure ATV 4k will work great great. I take reviews seriously when buying a product and that has steered me right as long as you know there are often more complainers that feel the need to complain then there are non complainers: as they are busy watching their ATV.
And like any 1st gen offering (4k for ATV), early adopters often expect over the top perfection with their older technology. Read some review both Pro and Con and go with your gut. $200 won't break you either way.
And like any 1st gen offering (4k for ATV), early adopters often expect over the top perfection with their older technology. Read some review both Pro and Con and go with your gut. $200 won't break you either way.
1080P content on the ATV4 displays better than the ATV5 4K. The new one's auto conversion looks bad and the 60hz only mode for films is downright awful. It judders and doubles frames which is really an eyesore when watching a movie. The 4K transfers also look softer and not as crisp as they should be. I already returned the POS and hooked the ATV4 back up. If they fix the display problems and allow native refresh rates for film, I would repurchase. But until then it's not worth the money.
You know there is a problem, when your television's native 4K Netflix app displays better than the ATV 4K Netflix app. They should look identical especially across the same content source.
You know there is a problem, when your television's native 4K Netflix app displays better than the ATV 4K Netflix app. They should look identical especially across the same content source.
Switching apart. I like it. Never had one before and needed a 4K option. The switch issue falls further down my dislike list the more I use it. It was very easy to set up, the remote, I like it. Buying into the whole linked up apple stuff, I like. I get remote functionality for the home kit to boot.
Back to the switch issue, the 4k content is really good. The 1080p is really good, that is me leaving it on 4:2:2 4k at 60hz. So I think the worst thing Apple did here with the 4k TV box and switching was not put a note in the box saying "just try it, you might like it"
Not sure they put anything on the web site.
Back to the switch issue, the 4k content is really good. The 1080p is really good, that is me leaving it on 4:2:2 4k at 60hz. So I think the worst thing Apple did here with the 4k TV box and switching was not put a note in the box saying "just try it, you might like it"
Not sure they put anything on the web site.
I still can't understand why they thought the HDR conversion was a good idea. I keep turning it on, thinking I'll just leave it. But you.can.just.tell. It's in no way good. So I turn it on for some Netflix, and that's it for now. At least you can manually switch the output, if that wasn't there I'd be in a different boat. It's just for everyday, normal, most app usage, 4k SDR looks best by far.
I have to say I’m relatively happy, the problems are there but this is more to do with all the hoops we have to jump through to make this work. If they had of released two years ago we would still be having problems now.
When it works it looks great but unfortunately we as early adopters and tech freaks have to work through this so it works better for everyone else.
But I still get a smile on my face when a great scene comes on and the tv looks amazing.
Unfortunately it takes 8 hours of tweaking settings and watching scenes before we can watch a movie and then fall asleep 45 minutes into it!!!
When it works it looks great but unfortunately we as early adopters and tech freaks have to work through this so it works better for everyone else.
But I still get a smile on my face when a great scene comes on and the tv looks amazing.
Unfortunately it takes 8 hours of tweaking settings and watching scenes before we can watch a movie and then fall asleep 45 minutes into it!!!
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I just picked up my ATV4K this evening. Watching a good 1080p source is displaying pretty awesome here. The HDR upscaling can be very impressive. At the moment I’m watching an episode of the Orville on the CityTV app (in the Canadian App Store.) The HDR upscaling is actually pretty remarkable. I have a Sony 930D which does 4K HDR (no Dolby Vision.)
I’m sure some sources won’t display great (change the format for anything like that you may be watching.) So far I’m really happy with this box.
I'm rather happy with mine, the only gripe I have is that I can't use Siri in English, I have to set it to Dutch as I live in the Netherlands. There is no work around and that irks me. All my other tech/gadget stuff is set up in English.
For the rest it's all good. I upgraded from an old Apple TV 2, so it's like night and day. I own a 4K TV and am quite happy with the quality of video I'm getting. I did have to change my wiring as my AV unit only supports 1080p so I had to run the Apple TV directly in to the TV.
For the rest it's all good. I upgraded from an old Apple TV 2, so it's like night and day. I own a 4K TV and am quite happy with the quality of video I'm getting. I did have to change my wiring as my AV unit only supports 1080p so I had to run the Apple TV directly in to the TV.
Gaming on the Apple TV 4k
This might seem a bit strange to many, but considering I use my Apple TV as a gaming device primarily, the Apple TV 4K is a welcomed upgrade for sure. The processor upgrade makes the games I play so much smoother and gives me the ability to push the visual settings as high as they can go in most cases. Every game I played on my prior Apple TV 4th Gen is now renewed, even if in some small way, on this new Apple TV 4K. Afterpulse and Modern Combat 5 are smooth. Pushing Morphite's graphical settings is a good thing and games like Real Racing 3, Subdivision and F1 2016 run much better. Again, small upgrades, but welcomed in the realm of gaming in my opinion.
I have watched a few 4K movies and they look fantastic, but it's not what I am using the Apple TV for. The internal updates, when combined with tvOS 11, seem to work very well together and I am very happy with the Apple TV 4K.
If you are gaming on the new Apple TV 4K, there are some issues in getting saves transferred over from the old 4th gen Apple TV. It's taking me a while to get these things resolved and I wish that some of the developers would utilize iCloud support instead of their own. Most games are fine and the saves are either automatically pushed to the new Apple TV based on your Apple ID/Game Center, but many are not and it can be a bit frustrating to go through the back and forth with the developer/publisher. All in all though, great for gaming in my opinion.
This might seem a bit strange to many, but considering I use my Apple TV as a gaming device primarily, the Apple TV 4K is a welcomed upgrade for sure. The processor upgrade makes the games I play so much smoother and gives me the ability to push the visual settings as high as they can go in most cases. Every game I played on my prior Apple TV 4th Gen is now renewed, even if in some small way, on this new Apple TV 4K. Afterpulse and Modern Combat 5 are smooth. Pushing Morphite's graphical settings is a good thing and games like Real Racing 3, Subdivision and F1 2016 run much better. Again, small upgrades, but welcomed in the realm of gaming in my opinion.
I have watched a few 4K movies and they look fantastic, but it's not what I am using the Apple TV for. The internal updates, when combined with tvOS 11, seem to work very well together and I am very happy with the Apple TV 4K.
If you are gaming on the new Apple TV 4K, there are some issues in getting saves transferred over from the old 4th gen Apple TV. It's taking me a while to get these things resolved and I wish that some of the developers would utilize iCloud support instead of their own. Most games are fine and the saves are either automatically pushed to the new Apple TV based on your Apple ID/Game Center, but many are not and it can be a bit frustrating to go through the back and forth with the developer/publisher. All in all though, great for gaming in my opinion.
Excellent question Surfr369.
I’ve been considering if 4k ap t.v. Is going to be providing a decent movie service in u.k.
Though I’ve since listed my ps4 via e-bay to raise the required funds.
I’ve read lots of reviews etc since ap 4k tv launch,
Decided to remain positive and will be purchasing ap t.v. Next few days.
Return to renting movies when required.
As I enjoy HD and have my Sony4k t.v. (Non hdr)
Hope I get decent HD and any 4K will be an added benefit..
I’ve been considering if 4k ap t.v. Is going to be providing a decent movie service in u.k.
Though I’ve since listed my ps4 via e-bay to raise the required funds.
I’ve read lots of reviews etc since ap 4k tv launch,
Decided to remain positive and will be purchasing ap t.v. Next few days.
Return to renting movies when required.
As I enjoy HD and have my Sony4k t.v. (Non hdr)
Hope I get decent HD and any 4K will be an added benefit..
We just received ours two days ago and couldn't be happier. We watched the balance of the 3rd Season of Narcos last night and the difference between the earlier episodes and the ones on the ATV5,4K, were stunning. We have a 4K UHD Samsung 75" television. While we generally use a Harmony remote, we used the Apple remote to test SIRI, which has worked flawlessly so far... (unlike on the iPhone :0))
I got mine 'bout a week ago. This comparisson is in regard to ATV4. I've had ATV2 & 3 and they were all great. ATV4 was a game changer, but it had its faults and merits. I mainly use Plex, Netflix, Hulu, HBOGO and Pandora.
I see a huuuuge difference when browsing through my photo collection on Plex. I used to bitch about Plex' ability to be used as a photo browser -- excellent for everything else, but photos ... It took several seconds to load a photo. I always thought I ought to put my media collection on an SSD for a great performance.
But with ATV5, all of that is history! It's snappy, loads photos immediately, even forward and backward skipping when streaming movies and shows is instantaneous. Couldn't be happier. Be it a 1Gbit NIC or a snappy CPU, don't know. Don't care either ...
So far I got one issue though -- when I turn off the ATV5, it doesn't turn off the TV! Instead it will flip back to the previous input source. So I fall asleep on the couch, ATV5 will eventually turn off, then it switches back to TV program and sound of it wakes me up.
Damn it Apple, fix it!
I see a huuuuge difference when browsing through my photo collection on Plex. I used to bitch about Plex' ability to be used as a photo browser -- excellent for everything else, but photos ... It took several seconds to load a photo. I always thought I ought to put my media collection on an SSD for a great performance.
But with ATV5, all of that is history! It's snappy, loads photos immediately, even forward and backward skipping when streaming movies and shows is instantaneous. Couldn't be happier. Be it a 1Gbit NIC or a snappy CPU, don't know. Don't care either ...
So far I got one issue though -- when I turn off the ATV5, it doesn't turn off the TV! Instead it will flip back to the previous input source. So I fall asleep on the couch, ATV5 will eventually turn off, then it switches back to TV program and sound of it wakes me up.
Damn it Apple, fix it!
Issue turning off your TV is a problem with your TV and not the ATV 4K. No issues here.
[doublepost=1506966094][/doublepost]Absolutely very happy with my ATV 4K! No issues as far as I am concerned. The free iTunes upgrades to HDR for existing HD content is fantastic. That alone pays for the ATV 4K in my case.
That's HDMI CEC stuff. It works for me on my 4k (and did on my aTV 4). You could in theory have a defective unit, or there is some tv setting.