New Apple TV 4K Reviews: A12 Chip is Noticeably Faster, Redesigned Siri Remote is Much Welcomed

[Tony_YYZ]

I've been wondering for the past couple years what Apple could possibly add to the existing Apple TV 4K to make it better... turns out nothing. People keep saying the 120 Hz support will be great for games, but come on, it's an Apple TV, not a gaming console. The GPU in it is less powerful than the one in the previous model, so it's a terrible gaming device. The only things that intrigue me are the dedicated power button and scrubbing circle on the new remote.

The A10 proc family will probably just get one more iOS major release before going end of life. That’s one thing people aren’t giving much thought to. This new ATV is an incremental upgrade for sure but it will ensure support for the next few years while bringing some feature enhancements to the device at the same time.

 

[jhollington]

Yeah, but given the timing, Apple really should have had the forethought to put the U1 chip into the remote.

It just goes to show the problem with how siloed Apple's culture is. I'm almost certain the Apple TV hardware team is one of Apple's "B teams" and probably isn't in the loop when it comes to Apple's other plans. They probably aren't even allowed to talk to the other groups in the cafeteria 😂

On top of that, Apple tends to run its teams "lean and mean," and this is especially true with its second-tier products like the Apple TV. It's been observable for years in Apple products, going right back to the iPod era... the iPod nano and iPod shuffle were always "B team" projects, for instance, and it showed.

The Apple TV has had odd little omissions like this for years that can't really be explained in any other way. The fact that it still doesn't even integrate as a HomeKit device as well as HomeKit-capable TV sets is one that's always left me scratching my head.

 

[Altis]

Just like the iPad unboxing article a day or two ago, same handful of shills, same fake looks of surprise and joy.

Yep, and the 24" iMac videos just before that.

These are 'influencers' (marketers) rather than reviewers. Apple has always done very well with marketing (at times even relied heavily upon it), so I suppose this is expected.

 

[thenewperson]

Now’s your chance, people!

Put in the effort and make something of the kind that would please you - maybe there’s an audience?

Expecting whiners to do anything to solve their problems is… a lot.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Weird and very minor "update".

I think they should have just released the new remote at this time and waited on a more substantial ATV update

 

[tenjikuronin]

It should be cheaper first of all; it’s just a streaming box while most new TVs have built in Apple TV and Disney plus etc so what’s the real reason for it; they should make it more of a dongle type thing and way cheaper, I have the LG cx I never used Apple TV after that as it has it all built in

This seems trolly and disingenuous. My 2017 LG has some apps built in, sure. But they are slow, poorly supported and worst of all for a supposedly premium OLED TV the TV shows ADS from LG. Unbelievable.

And that’s beyond the fact I trust Apple to keep my data more secure than any TV manufacturer, including LG, Samsung, even Sony.

AppleTV’s a bargain compared to that. Have had the original 4K for ages and it just sits there and does its job.

Only thing that comes close is maybe the new Chromecast and even that has more slowdown than a decent TV interface should. There are currently four other devices hooked to my TV that could mostly do the same thing - that Chromecast, PS5, XBox, and a Panasonic 4K BR player with apps. Not one one of them are as smooth for non-game consumption than the ATV.

I’ll probably wait out this upgrade (except for the remote) but this is the obvious choice for anyone who actually cares about consuming content on their TVs and either had the older non 4K or is getting an ATV for the first time.

You don’t find it compelling? Ok great. But trying to argue with a straight face that other people also shouldn’t - that’s remarkable given the ecosystem.

 

[GizmoDVD]

I use my ATV for 3-10 hours a day. $200 isn't a big deal for a piece of hardware I'll have for another 2-3 years.

Spend $50 and get a junky Roku or something.

 

[AcesHigh87]

Such a minor update no one is gonna use the hfr anyways, apple could of done more to upgrade this

Depends what you are coming from to be honest. If you're coming from the last generation 4K then yeah, it's honestly not worth the upgrade. Maybe the new remote but that's it. However if, like me, you're coming from a 3rd generation this should be a huge step up. My third get didn't even have the App Store and stuff like YouTube recently stopped being supported completely. Just because something isn't perfect for the people who upgrade every time doesn't mean it's not a good upgrade. Looking forward to it arriving tomorrow

 

[Td1970]

Yeah, and a Porsche doesn't really do anything more than a Yugo, if you think about it.

The user experience alone is a night and day difference, especially compared to the cheap low end Fire devices, which are incredibly clunky in comparison. It also doubles as a Homekit hub, has better apps (try finding something comparable to Infuse on Fire TV), doesn't bombard you with ads, and has the integration with the Apple ecosystem.

Really. I found the fire stick easier to use than my Apple TV.

 

[Td1970]

I use my ATV for 3-10 hours a day. $200 isn't a big deal for a piece of hardware I'll have for another 2-3 years.

Spend $50 and get a junky Roku or something.

You watch to much tv. Lol

 

[Realityck]

Does anyone have an opinion of Apple TV 4k (older version or this version) vs. Android TV? My OLED has Android built in and it's ok. Wondering if this is worth the splurge.

I recommend it, because it encompasses all the major streaming apps. If you have Digital movie locker via MoviesAnywhere then the ATV4k will provide a bit better 4K streaming bitrate peaks using ITune Movies and the MoviesAnywere App for the ATV4K. The interface of the apps is great and you also have other features too.
See https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250002962

 

[Juicy Box]

t's probably because Apple never really marketed it properly.

Yup.

Apple has never given the Apple TV much attention, even since the 1st gen.

IIRC, at the last WWDC, Apple spent more time discussing hand washing in the keynote than tvOS/ATV when not counting ATV+.

For advertising, has anyone actually seen an Apple TV commercial in the wild? I may have a very long time ago for the 1st gen. IDK, maybe more, but not many.

Compare that to how many advertisements for ATV+. It is hard for me to get through a day without seeing one somewhere.

 

[canadaeh?]

We bought a new one to replace an older Apple TV 3 that doesn't run tvOS, the older unit wasn't capable of running Apple Fitness+ or Infuse and we use both of those apps daily. We currently have an Apple TV 3, (2) Apple TV HDs and 1 previous gen Apple TV 4K.

We don't use the apple remote as I prefer to use Harmony Home remotes in my setups - IMO, all-in-one remotes are mother-in-law proof, at least in my house!

I do think Apple TV is expensive hardware but at the same time, they are bulletproof. Here's how we use them:

A Synology NAS stores ALL our media: tv shows, movies, kids home video/vacation videos, etc.
We also stream Netflix, Prime, Apple TV+, Disney+, Apple Music, Apple Fitness+ & Youtube but Infuse is our central hub.

Streaming services have a tendency to remove content after some time, an example would be "Friends" moving from Netflix to Peacock but it could apply to movies too. We prefer to store our media files locally on our NAS and watch everything using Infuse. Here's how that works:

You basically point Infuse to a share (in my case, the Synology) and Infuse.app catalogs and displays an amazing GUI. Apple TV hardware is powerful enough to playback anything it sees on that share, nothing else is needed to transcode (like a Plex server). It's also like local Netflix in that we can start watching a movie downstairs, pause it and then resume watching at that save point in another room, or on an iPad, etc.

We also really like Apple Fitness+ and it's nice to pick a quiet room in the house for a 30 min workout/yoga session.

 

[GizmoDVD]

You watch to much tv. Lol

Music. Podcasts. Photos. Games.

Far more stuff to do over "watching TV".

Here you are, in the afternoon, on a Mac centric website talking about an AppleTV. Pot meet kettle.

 

[Td1970]

Music. Podcasts. Photos. Games.

Far more stuff to do over "watching TV".

Here you are, in the afternoon, on a Mac centric website talking about an AppleTV. Pot meet kettle.

Relax. Was more of a joke. Hence the lol. Besides work has been dead for a year. Have lots of time to scroll.

 

[coolbreeze2]

At first, I was only getting the new remote since I already have first gen 4k. Then yesterday I realized that a better idea is to get a universal remote that can control Apple TV and my OLED TV. There are plenty that will control both and do everything the new Apple remote does. Or do you all think the Apple TV will be better for controlling the OLED TV than a universal remote?

 

[smithrh]

If your router supports blocking/pausing outbound connections, you can even leave Wi-Fi on and just block its access at the router. Many modern routers allow for this, sometimes under the heading of "parental controls" — just treat your TV as if it were one of your kids 😏

This can also help to circumvent the logic that some TVs use to sniff around for other open Wi-Fi networks. Most only look for other Wi-Fi networks when they're not connected to one, not if they're connected and simply can't access the internet.

Any reasonably decent programmer would check for data flow, not just the existance of a Wi Fi connection.

No data flow?

Hop over to the open network at 4am and tattle away...


To be fair, it hasn't been established that any TVs are actually doing this. But given the recent environment of do it and apologize if/when caught, it wouldn't be a suprise to me in any way.

Actually catching a unit doing this is certainly do-able, given time, know-how, patience and the right gear.

I'd love to see Rtings actually run a test like this, and to actually show the set-up process without internet, and to detail what's lost if you don't give an internet connection.

 

[Johnny907]

I’m planning on getting this for my living room - I have a 4K LG TV that I bought two years ago

The new color calibration feature on the Apple TV is going to make a huge improvement in the picture quality- Looking forward to setting this up once it gets delivered!

Yeah maybe do some research on this, as reports are steadily piling in indicating that tool actually makes the picture look worse.

 

[jhollington]

Apple has never given the Apple TV much attention, even since the 1st gen.

Exactly. To be fair, Steve Jobs outright admitted that it was a "hobby" in those days, and it's really not clear when it ever graduated from that status. Some felt that happened in 2015 with the advent of tvOS, but that was an assumption.

It's not just a lack of marketing either. The Apple TV has been a "B team" project — or, let's face it, a "C team" project — since the beginning. That's why the Siri Remote still doesn't have even the most basic "Find My" type features (like making a beep to help you locate it), and why its HomeKit integration is laughably bad (especially considering it acts as Home Hub that every HomeKit command passes through anyway). I often wonder if the Apple TV hardware team is where Apple's engineers go for a "time out" when they're not pulling their weight elsewhere 😂

IIRC, at the last WWDC, Apple spent more time discussing hand washing in the keynote than tvOS/ATV when not counting ATV+.

Yeah, really it almost wasn't mentioned at all... It was kind of just wrapped up into one big "home stuff" category, and if you sneezed you would have missed the fact that the Apple TV was part of that.

For advertising, has anyone actually seen an Apple TV commercial in the wild? I may have a very long time ago for the 1st gen. IDK, maybe more, but not many.

None to the best of my recollection — at least not outside of an Apple Store or Apple's own website.

I've been on board with the Apple TV since day one — I still have my original 40GB and second 160GB unit sitting in my basement collecting dust. I loved the idea from the beginning, but have been constantly disappointed that it's never quite advanced to its fullest potential. That said, however, I'm also an edge case when it comes to this kind of stuff, as I'm far more entrenched in the Apple ecosystem than most people... In fact, I've spent more money on iTunes movies and TV shows over the years than I really want to think about... 😏

 

[jhollington]

We don't use the apple remote as I prefer to use Harmony Home remotes in my setups - IMO, all-in-one remotes are mother-in-law proof, at least in my house!

Haha, I used to do the Harmony thing for similar reasons, and I still have my old Harmony One, but since I do literally everything on my Apple TV, and my receiver and TV support HDMI-CEC, I've been quite happy with the Siri Remote (and I'm looking forward to the new one even more). That said, I've often been tempted to dig out the Harmony when my mother comes to visit, but that only happens for a couple of weeks a year 😂

A Synology NAS stores ALL our media: tv shows, movies, kids home video/vacation videos, etc.
We also stream Netflix, Prime, Apple TV+, Disney+, Apple Music, Apple Fitness+ & Youtube but Infuse is our central hub.

Yup, same here. I have a massive amount of purchased iTunes movies and TV shows, plus content ripped from my own DVDs. I serve that up via Plex running from a Synology NAS, although I'll occasionally pop back to the main TV app when I want to watch something in full 1080p, as I had to convert my iTunes stuff over from 720p (for reasons I won't bother getting into here).

No real transcoding from Plex in my case either, since everything in my library is already encoded in an Apple TV friendly format. I've thought of checking out Infuse a couple of times, but I've generally been very happy with Plex.

 

[cardfan]

Exactly. To be fair, Steve Jobs outright admitted that it was a "hobby" in those days, and it's really not clear when it ever graduated from that status. Some felt that happened in 2015 with the advent of tvOS, but that was an assumption.

It's not just a lack of marketing either. The Apple TV has been a "B team" project — or, let's face it, a "C team" project — since the beginning. That's why the Siri Remote still doesn't have even the most basic "Find My" type features (like making a beep to help you locate it), and why its HomeKit integration is laughably bad (especially considering it acts as Home Hub that every HomeKit command passes through anyway). I often wonder if the Apple TV hardware team is where Apple's engineers go for a "time out" when they're not pulling their weight elsewhere


Yeah, really it almost wasn't mentioned at all... It was kind of just wrapped up into one big "home stuff" category, and if you sneezed you would have missed the fact that the Apple TV was part of that.


None to the best of my recollection — at least not outside of an Apple Store or Apple's own website.

I've been on board with the Apple TV since day one — I still have my original 40GB and second 160GB unit sitting in my basement collecting dust. I loved the idea from the beginning, but have been constantly disappointed that it's never quite advanced to its fullest potential. That said, however, I'm also an edge case when it comes to this kind of stuff, as I'm far more entrenched in the Apple ecosystem than most people... In fact, I've spent more money on iTunes movies and TV shows over the years than I really want to think about...

Have about 4 of them. Harmony remote user though. I’ve never seen apple market them but I can’t remember the last commercial I saw period.

That said I’m not about to replace 4 Apple TV’s with only the slightest hardware upgrade that won’t be noticeable by me. Except maybe the 85” tv thats newest. Perhaps I’ll grab one on sale later. No rush.

To be honest I’m surprised we got this even. They seem to be more focused on atv+. And even that seems like a hobby. I don’t think they make much margin on the hardware which is why they think it’s a tremendous value.

 

[jhollington]

Any reasonably decent programmer would check for data flow, not just the existance of a Wi Fi connection.

No data flow?

Hop over to the open network at 4am and tattle away...

True, but it depends on their motivations. I can't speak to any TVs that do this, but I'm aware of at least one business-grade system a few years ago (something typically used in conference centres) that was designed to hop onto any available open Wi-Fi networks only if it wasn't already configured for one. Mind you, the goal there was to simplify connectivity rather than track what users were doing.

However, I've heard developers discussing the same logic for smart home devices, operating on the basis that if (and only if) somebody hasn't configured Wi-Fi, they should just pick any available open network to phone home, on the assumption that the user simply isn't using Wi-Fi and doesn't know any better (e.g. devices that run over Bluetooth but also offer Wi-Fi support).

Actually catching a unit doing this is certainly do-able, given time, know-how, patience and the right gear.

I tend to operate on the belief that any major vendor who was doing this so egregiously would have have been caught by now, considering the number of people who sniff packets just for curiosity and raise alarms when any suspicious behaviour is detected.

Even I regularly monitor the traffic on my network, and while my TV is likely too old for this to be an issue (a 2013-era Panasonic ST60), I've never seen it doing much of anything at all even when it is connected to Wi-Fi. There are a lot of people who are far more paranoid than I am who are constantly looking for this kind of stuff, so I'd be very surprised if anybody is actually trying anything like this.

Of course, the flip side of that question too is how many open networks are really around these days? Especially in residential areas. The only truly open networks (e.g. not closed and not "captive") that you'll find in more commercial areas are almost always honeypots. However, since almost every router comes so secure out of the box that you have to jump through hoops to turn OFF security, it's pretty rare to see somebody with a wide open network. Obvious WPA passwords, sure, but wide open? It's gotten pretty rare... I can't remember the last time I saw one in any of the neighbourhoods or apartment buildings I lived in... It has to be least 10+ years ago, and I'm in the middle of Toronto, so there's no shortage of Wi-Fi networks around (as I write this I can pick up over 30 around my house at various signal levels, although some are very obviously just the 2.4/5GHz versions of the same network).

 

[newyorksole]

lmaooo I CANNOT with these YouTube personalities and their quirky videos. oh man.

can’t wait for Apple TV tho.

 

[jhollington]

That said I’m not about to replace 4 Apple TV’s with only the slightest hardware upgrade that won’t be noticeable by me. Except maybe the 85” tv thats newest. Perhaps I’ll grab one on sale later. No rush.

Yeah, I'm coming from an Apple TV HD, as I had the same feeling about the 2017 Apple TV 4K — I had no 4K TV at the time, so it seemed like a pointless upgrade.

However, I've been waiting for Apple to move beyond that since at least 2019. Seemed to be no point in buying the older one when a new one always seemed like it was just around the corner.... Although that "corner" ended up being two years further down the road...

To be honest I’m surprised we got this even. They seem to be more focused on atv+. And even that seems like a hobby. I don’t think they make much margin on the hardware which is why they think it’s a tremendous value.

I actually do think they have something bigger in the works. This release was a low-friction effort for Apple to tide people over since it's been far too long since the last refresh. Even if I had upgraded to the last Apple TV 4K, it would have still been the oldest Apple device in my home. Even the original HomePod is more recent.

As others in this thread have pointed out, there's only so far Apple can go with a set-top box anyway, and it's definitely "hobby" status in that they're releasing it mostly for serious Apple users. As a video player, there's tons of competition out there, and Apple TV as a streaming box makes very little sense anymore.

So, what I really think it comes down to is that Apple is trying to figure out exactly what to do with it. The rumours of an A14-powered "gaming" platform have a ring of truth to them, although I remain skeptical that this is in the form of an actual product plan as opposed to something that Apple is simply kicking around.

In the meantime, however, I think Apple figures the 2021 Apple TV 4K will tide fans over for another couple of years until they figure out what their next step should be... if anything.

 

[fontman]

Please I'm boxing videos are getting unbearably fake things people come up with to make a living sometimes falls under the genre of just because you can doesn't mean you should,