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

Really bummed it doesn’t have spatial audio. I’ve been holding out for an update but now I’m feeling underwhelmed.

I watch most tv/movies with my AirPods Pro — because I live in a small apartment and don’t want to battle with the sound of my partner banging in the kitchen or watching something/listening to music in the other room.

Also shocked there isn’t a U1 chip. I don’t lose the remote often but I’m sure there are folks out there with bigger homes and/or sticky-fingered children. With the announcement of AirTags, which will likely be a huge success, I assumed they would immediately start building the technology into all other products going forward.

I do like that they are building up their ecosystem but I’m often frustrated when features aren’t carried across products. (TouchID on the iMac is a start...)
 
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I'll be grabbing a newer AT4k, i need that remote, hate the current remote.

The addition of WiFi6 is great, i've noticed better latency and speeds on my Wifi6 devices since moving from my faithful Apple Time Capsule

WiFi6E is still in its early days, and i feel that it's main benefit is the back haul for mesh systems, which doesn't impact me at this point in time.

i thought their might of been some U1 for finding the remote, but i'm just glad it's not like the current model.

i was hoping for spatial audio, i'm not sure if it can be included via firmware update later, hopefully this is the case

Surprised with the chipset, i was expecting a bigger improvement on that, so they could build on their gaming platform, but overall i'm happy.

Would love to see a WiFi6E Time Capsule reintroduced in the future when there are more devices around to make use of it to make an apple mesh system.
 
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brynsmith23 said:
I'll be grabbing a newer AT4k, i need that remote, hate the current remote.

The addition of WiFi6 is great, i've noticed better latency and speeds on my Wifi6 devices since moving from my faithful Apple Time Capsule

WiFi6E is still in its early days, and i feel that it's main benefit is the back haul for mesh systems, which doesn't impact me at this point in time.

i thought their might of been some U1 for finding the remote, but i'm just glad it's not like the current model.

i was hoping for spatial audio, i'm not sure if it can be included via firmware update later, hopefully this is the case

Surprised with the chipset, i was expecting a bigger improvement on that, so they could build on their gaming platform, but overall i'm happy.

Would love to see a WiFi6E Time Capsule reintroduced in the future when there are more devices around to make use of it to make an apple mesh system.
Click to expand...

how would spatial audio work? the Apple TV has no idea where the tv is located, and you want the sound to appear to come from the tv, not from the Apple TV box.
 
cmaier said:
how would spatial audio work? the Apple TV has no idea where the tv is located, and you want the sound to appear to come from the tv, not from the Apple TV box.
Click to expand...
Sure, but that's easily handled manually. If you can hold up your iPhone to the TV to do calibration, you can tell your ATV in settings where it is relative to your TV. Setups don't vary that much.
 
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MacRumors said:


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.

Apple_unveils-the-next-gen-of-AppleTV4K_042021_big.jpg.large_2x.jpg

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
Click to expand...
I wish the new iMacs offered a video input where Apple TV could connect.
 
ErikGrim said:
Sure, but that's easily handled manually. If you can hold up your iPhone to the TV to do calibration, you can tell your ATV in settings where it is relative to your TV. Setups don't vary that much.
Click to expand...

I guess? My apple tvs are sitting in a rack in a closet nowhere close to the displays, so i wouldn’t have high hopes in my case.
 
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UNOwen8 said:
I wish the new iMacs offered a video input where Apple TV could connect.
Click to expand...
But what can your Apple TV do that an iMac can't? You can run iOS apps on it, and an awful lot of the streaming services that have TVOS aps have iOS apps as well, and the rest have web interfaces you could bring up in Safari.
 
Dhock_Holiday said:
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 $20.
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Because most “smart” tvs are often quite dumb, slow with crap UIs and controllers... And 20$ sticks are worse. If you stream everything from apps, you might not notice the difference, and if it works for you great!
 
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Nothing mentioned on the audio pass through abilities. It's the ONLY reason that I'm still using Shield TV. It's nonsense a so called "TV" product can't pass through TrueHD audio, and I think it is the only reason that it can't be my media center.
But if it's enabled, I will buy it at first.
 
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ryanmp said:
Any word on audio passthrough with this new model? This is essential to make the Apple TV a true home theatre device.

Although I believe it is software that is limiting this rather than hardware.
Click to expand...
Really agree with that. The only reason that I'm using Shield TV is that it supports TrueHD audio pass-through.
 
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lhammer610 said:
I am not sure I understand your comment. If the Apple TV connects directly to a AV receiver, why would audio pass through be needed? And if it is connected to a TV, then the TV would need to support audio pass through to the AV receiver.

I don’t see any reason for the AppleTV to support audio pass through. What am I missing?
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Pass-through is most likely saying about "pass the raw audio data to the receiver", the audio quality is really different between "decode by set then send compressed audio data and play" and "decode raw audio data by special hardware and play", that's the reason why pass-through is important.
Though it can play Dolby Atmos, pass-through will send TrueHD Dolby Atmos raw data and will play it with full-bandwidth audio quality. On the other hand, if without pass-through, most likely the audio will be converted to E-AC3 format, which is compressed.
 
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mrno00 said:
Nothing mentioned on the audio pass through abilities. It's the ONLY reason that I'm still using Shield TV. It's nonsense a so called "TV" product can't pass through TrueHD audio, and I think it is the only reason that it can't be my media center.
But if it's enabled, I will buy it at first.
Click to expand...
Maybe because Apple doesn't care about eARC whatsoever at this point. What they the heck for, iTunes/ATV+ doesn't provide any streaming content with lossless audio (Dolby Atmos/TrueHD). Instead they are using Dolby MAT 2.0
 
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I’ve wanted to update to a 4K model for a while but an updated Apple TV has been mooted for a few years so I waited (HD looks fairly good on Apple TV anyway). The specs aren’t overwhelming – it feels like this could have been released a year ago. U1 in the remote seems a strange ommision given that they think you can lose your keys down the sofa but not the remote. I also thought they might announce the ability to add accessories like a webcam for video calling and fitness.

I’m pleased they haven’t given up on Apple TV hardware but for the price, it doesn’t feel like “they’ve finally cracked it”.
 
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dlondon said:
I’ve wanted to update to a 4K model for a while but an updated Apple TV has been mooted for a few years so I waited (HD looks fairly good on Apple TV anyway). The specs aren’t overwhelming – it feels like this could have been released a year ago. U1 in the remote seems a strange ommision given that they think you can lose your keys down the sofa but not the remote. I also thought they might announce the ability to add accessories like a webcam for video calling and fitness.

I’m pleased they haven’t given up on Apple TV hardware but for the price, it doesn’t feel like “they’ve finally cracked it”.
Click to expand...
You are right that this feels like an upgrade that could have come out this time last year. It feels like every possible reason for it to have been held back (gaming controller, u1 chip in the remote, spatial audio for AP) have been mooted.
 
Realityck said:
Maybe because Apple doesn't care about eARC whatsoever at this point. What they the heck for, iTunes/ATV+ doesn't provide any streaming content with lossless audio (Dolby Atmos/TrueHD). Instead they are using Dolby MAT 2.0
Click to expand...
Maybe, just focus on their online services. But that's a little disappointment.
Want a box that can playback 4K HDR with full compatible audio format, and with smooth OS.
Shield now can play but the minor issues like system frozen are downgrading the using experience.
 
Dhock_Holiday said:
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.
Click to expand...
It has Apple TV software app baked in... not an actual AppleTV. And the main benefit is gaining access to all your Movies, TV Shows and Music purchased through the Apple eco system that you otherwise would not be able to access without an physical AppleTV device hooked up.
 
ErikGrim said:
You are right that this feels like an upgrade that could have come out this time last year. It feels like every possible reason for it to have been held back (gaming controller, u1 chip in the remote, spatial audio for AP) have been mooted.
Click to expand...
Besides remote, a colossal let down.
 
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