New Apple TV 4K Supports WiFi 6, Thread and HDMI 2.1

[Rizzm]

Recently got a newer Samsung TV and it has AppleTV baked in, not really sure what the benefit is as newer TVs that support 4K HDR, HDMI 2.1 already have Netlifx, Amazon etc. built in. For older non-smart TVs I can see the appeal of an Apple TV but a FireStick Lite is $20.

I made sure that my Vizio had Airplay 2 built in, but it was just headaches to use most of the time. Not sure how it is on other TVs. I upgraded to an Apple TV because of constant audio dropouts, TV not showing up at all, Siri commands not working. The Apple TV has been bulletproof in comparison, so this really put things in perspective for me.

 

[iReality85]

I'm a bit confused. Is an HDMI 2.1 port needed on the TV itself to take advantage of the HFR at 60 fps that's supported on the Apple TV? My TV has 120 Hz refresh rate but just HDMI 2.0.

Your TV might be technically capable of operating at 120Hz (I’m guessing it’s an OLED?) but you’re not getting 120fps over HDMI 2.0.

Those who own recent higher end TVs purchased in the past few years likely will have at least one HDMI 2.1 port, and so the new ATV4K will be a very good choice for them, if only to future proof. If the TV only has HDMI 2.0, like yours does, then you will need to buy a new TV.

However, there is not much 120fps content right now, so the feature sets of HDMI 2.1 is of limited value at the current time.

In the event Apple unlocks the 120fps feature of HDMI 2.1 via a firmware update, then I’d say that would be a good time to perhaps get a new TV.

 

[strik]

I cannot believe they didn't add spatial audio and Find My built into the remote.

 

[TwinCitiesJHawk]

Apple TV offers higher bitrates than on the Apple TV app.

If you have a large movie collection, Apple also has iTunes Extras on the Apple TV, but not the app.

Can you elaborate on the bitrates or link for more info on this? I have 300+ movies tied to appletv/itunes from digital codes and iTunes purchases. thanks

 

[TechRemarker]

Sadly, the new Apple TV 4K only has 1 GB Ethernet. HDMI 2.1, 10 GB Ethernet and ... an A14 chip - that would be the ultimate streaming machine

Huh, why would they add 10gb Ethernet? The number of Apple TV users with multi gigabit internet and hardware to support that including modem, gateway, switch, cables etc is presumably minuscule but more importantly even for those few, there are no streaming services that would close anywhere near the gigabit max so wouldn’t increase performance on the Apple TV. Rather it helps increase bandwidth on your home network incase a family of 10 all want to stream at once but wouldn’t help speed things up on the Apple TV. So for something that would offer no real would improvement wouod mean a drastic increase in price. They charge an extra 100 for it for the Mac mini. So to change the price from 199 to 299 for a feature no one will benefit from doesn’t seem to make much sense no?

 

[MikeX]

Apple tv is a good device. I'll get the new one.

I'm hoping they improved the multiroom audio of airplay 2 as well.

 

[kiranmk2]

I can't find any indication the new model supports HLG HDR. This is a massive issue for live content as it is what all the broadcasters will be encoding their HDR in as it was designed for realtime broadcasts.

Strange that they have limited the output to 4k60 as surely with an HDMI 2.0 port the old AppleTV 4K could do this...

 

[George Dawes]

Loving that new remote !

I‘ll buy at least 2 , what a dramatic improvement

 

[Beau10]

Really bummed about this release. Was expecting 2 things, seemingly things quite a few users were hoping for, that did not arrive:

- Greatly improved CPU making it more competitive as a gaming platform
- Spatial audio

I wouldn't be so bummed if the ATV was on a tighter update cycle but the last one came out, what, 4 years ago?

That said, the marginal speed bump w/ WIFI 6 will surely improve its capability as a streamer, but I for one will likely hold off as that's not an issue for my use case. The new remote is certainly interesting and I may pick one up.

 

[Markovich]

Apple should release new Aiport Wifi routers to complement all of their connected devices.

 

[Alan Gordon]

Can you elaborate on the bitrates or link for more info on this? I have 300+ movies tied to appletv/itunes from digital codes and iTunes purchases. thanks

No, sadly I cannot link to any specific information about it. It's just kind of a thing known to enthusiasts. I don't even remember where the information originally came from. I also think it could affect Apple TV+ programming harder than purchased content, but I'm not sure.

The Movies Anywhere app, at least the tvOS version can actually often have higher video bitrates than Apple for movies though. Of course, that lets out Paramount, Lionsgate, MGM, and indy titles that you might own in iTunes, and there are some titles that Apple has in 4K, but Movies Anywhere doesn't, or Apple has Dolby Vision, and MA only has HDR10. Apple also offers higher audio bitrates than Movies Anywhere, so it's a pick your poison kind of thing.

Also, as I said, the Apple TV offers iTunes Extras, which is not just special features, but sometimes alternate cuts of the same movie. For instance, if you have the movie "Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut" in 4K in Movies Anywhere, it's only HD on iTunes in your library. If you own "Watchmen" Theatrical Cut on iTunes, "The Ultimate Cut" is provided in 4K in the extras.

 

[JohnnieBBadde]

Any news on VRR support with the "HDMI 2.1" interface?

 

[turbineseaplane]

Other than the remote, the one thing I wanted - literally the one thing - was Spatial Audio

(I'm aware of the challenges - I expected Apple to solve them)

Very disappointing.

 

[d5aqoëp]

The real question is will it support 160Mhz Channel Width for even better speeds and reach 2.4 Gbps?

 

[Ralfi]

How could Spatial Audio not be added?! It was the one truly game changing feature that would impact many people’s home entertainment watching methods (& be a god send for neighbours who currently put up with loud home theatre systems).

 

[bill44]

It is. I am finally adding a 802.11ax AP to my home network after reading the benefits of OFDMA and while the increase in speed isn't gigantic, OFDMA is the leap we needed for homes with a lot of WiFi devices.

Don’t forget WiFi 6E, which is way better than plain 6.

 

[BeatCrazy]

Is there any advantage to this new Apple TV over an Xbox series X or PS5 with apple tv app installed?

I don't think the Apple TV app in the Xbox Series X or PS5 (or smart TVs?) supports 4K and Dolby Vision. To get the best picture quality, you need the real box.

Someone can correct, me of course. But this is my experience with the above devices.

 

[PeteBurgh]

Sadly, the new Apple TV 4K only has 1 GB Ethernet. HDMI 2.1, 10 GB Ethernet and ... an A14 chip - that would be the ultimate streaming machine

🤣🤣🤣

There’s no pleasing some people! What possible use case is there for 10Gbe on an Apple TV?! Even huge lossless 4K BluRay rips can be comfortably streamed on gigabit ethernet.

Honestly, I think Apple could release a giant Mac Pro like Apple TV with 10Gbe, 200TB of storage, a processor 10 times as powerful as the M1, and some people would be “sadly, it’s underpowered, I need a pro device for really streaming Netflix”

 

[Neodym]

Best benefit for me is Apple TV will be supported with updates for years to come. Most Smart TV manufacturers are not that reliable when it comes to updates and support.

I also read that people had good success in improving HomeKit reliability by switching from a Homepod to an AppleTV as central hub (perhaps it’s already sufficient to have your HomeKit hub connected via Ethernet than via WiFi).

As I’m still on AppleTV gen.3, I think I will give it a try with the current gen and take the other improvements en passant

 

[Neodym]

🤣🤣🤣

There’s no pleasing some people! What possible use case is there for 10Gbe on an Apple TV?! Even huge lossless 4K BluRay rips can be comfortably streamed on gigabit ethernet.

Honestly, I think Apple could release a giant Mac Pro like Apple TV with 10Gbe, 200TB of storage, a processor 10 times as powerful as the M1, and some people would be “sadly, it’s underpowered, I need a pro device for really streaming Netflix”

Hey, there actually _is_ a valid usecase: Remember the movie “Back to the future 2”, where Marty’s son comes home and switches on 6 or 8 channels streaming in parallel?! Nothing for us old farts, though ... 🙃

 

[AussieStu]

Wi-Fi 6 is incredible. I never thought they would add it. But I’m not too excited for HDMI 2.1.

What’s the advantage if any for hdmi 2.1 over 2.0?

 

[Z6128]

Are there any good hdmi cables that fully support 2.1? All the ones I see on Amazon have mixed reviews for people trying to use with PS5/Xbox.

 

[Alan Gordon]

I don't think the Apple TV app in the Xbox Series X or PS5 (or smart TVs?) supports 4K and Dolby Vision. To get the best picture quality, you need the real box.

Someone can correct, me of course. But this is my experience with the above devices.

I cannot speak for the Xbox units or PS5, but my TV supports 4K and Dolby Vision. I'm pretty sure the Apple TV app on my Xbox One S supports 4K/DV, but I've never used it, so can't say.

Apps on third party devices are supposedly bitrate limited versus the TV app on the Apple TV though. Apps on third party devices also cannot access iTunes Extras.

Apple Music is also far superior on the Apple TV versus AirPlay due to lyrics display.

 

[sublunar]

Apple likely picked the A12 because it’s cheap and because it’s used in other products - namely the base iPad and Mini. The A13 will likely stop production when the iPhone 12S/13 is released in the fall and the regular 12 is relegated to to the lower cost option, thus discontinuing the 11. And the A14 is bleeding edge technology that is likely too expensive to manufacture for a $170-200 consumer electronic item. (I still wish they’d gone with the A14 though).

They'll still use the A13 in the iPhone 11 and SE production for a while yet - it makes sense to use the A12 as production will have ended on iPad Pro, and may be running down on the Xr/Xs soon. It's still used in the iPad mini and 8th gen iPad though so economies of scale still useful.

The off the shelf retail prices of the iPad mini and iPad 8th get show that we were going to get the A12 if Apple weren't willing to shift on their profit margin.

Not going to the A14 shows that Apple are unwilling to commit to console methodology where Sony/Microsoft accept making a loss on the hardware to profit from the software. They wish to make enough profit on the hardware while still taking the profit from the software.

 

[Nuaccumbens]

In addition to a new Siri Remote and a faster A12 processor, the refreshed Apple TV 4K that Apple announced today has a number of other notable hardware improvements.

The new Apple TV 4K is equipped with an HDMI 2.1 port instead of an HDMI 2.0a port, and it offers support for 4K 60 fps HDR video output. Code recently found in tvOS 14.5 suggested the new Apple TV could support 4K 120Hz output, but that does not appear to be the case.

Along with HDMI 2.1, the new Apple TV supports 802.11ax WiFi 6 with MIMO. Apple has been introducing WiFi 6 support in its newest devices, and WiFi 6 is the newest and fastest WiFi protocol available with improved speeds, expanded network capacity, lower latency, better power efficiency, and upgraded performance in locations with many smart home devices.

The Apple TV 4K is the second Apple device that has built-in Thread support, following the HomePod mini. Thread is a low-power networking technology that offers a secure, mesh-based system able to interface with other Thread-enabled smart home devices for improved connectivity.

Though not mentioned in the Apple TV specifications, the tvOS 14.5 beta suggests that the new Apple TV model supports eARC, which offers a bandwidth and speed boost for sending higher-quality audio from the TV to a soundbar or receiver.

Article Link: New Apple TV 4K Supports WiFi 6, Thread and HDMI 2.1

But can you connect more than 2 bluetooth devices? Cant find it listed anywhere and all prior apple TV devices were software-limited to 2 paired devices

I would like to know that too. the most use I'm getting for the Apple TV is using Fitness+, would be really nice if it would connect to two apple watches and show metrics for my partner and I and even more importantly just work reliably.