lol MGo provides 100GB movie downloads at UHD resolution including HDR. Would you like some toast with your jelly?
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New Apple TV First Impressions: Not a 'Revolution,' But Siri and tvOS Shine
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but does it have HDMI 2.0? Or even better, does it have HDMI 2.0a for UDH HDR content?
Very soon there is tons of content: the movies people shoot on their iPhones 6s. Too bad they won't be able to watch it conveniently via their Apple TV in full quality. Which kind of makes the featureset of the Apple ecosystem a bit questionable at best.
Studios, which I have worked for, just won't remaster most of their catalogue to 4k. That's a fact. And most indie new releases won't bother with 4k either. How many real 4k films (ie not upscaled) are available on your streaming platform of choice?
I have a Mac mini in my living room connected to my 50" plasma TV which for years now is used as a media center. I have realized that nowadays this mini is used almost exclusively for running Plex. Not even for itunes, since my AVR supports airplay, and not for other internet uses since my desktop computer and my iPad are more convenient for these uses. If the new ATV can support full Plex functionality playing all media formats stored in my network, plus it can access easily my photos and videos from the iPhoto library on my other computers to display them on my TV screen, I am ready to buy it considering the fact that I can also rent movies with this device. If not I will rather stay with my old Mac mini.
OK, I'm asking these as genuine questions:
- "What" is exactly ready right now? Which Codecs will be supported by Apple?
- What studios are ready to release 4K video; which titles in their current catalog & what schedule?
- How do the studio schedules line up with the major streaming services' schedules? (Of course, just because a studio has something available doesn't mean every service like Netflix or Amazon will offer it)
- Which / how many of these titles will be available from the the streaming services. At least the top 5. What is their release schedule?
- Which internet providers across the US and across the world offer suitable speeds and what are their price points? What are their data caps?
- What percentage of US households have a 4K TV as of *right now*? What is the projected adoption rate in 3/6/9/12/18/24/36/etc. months?
- What will the price points be for 4K TVs for the 5 most popular (home viewing) screen sizes, by manufacturer?
- What are the projected release schedules for those manufacturers?
- Same questions for all the major markets that Apple competes in -- China, EU, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China), etc.
you are welcome to do your own market research. You're not getting free advice here. There are already many 4K boxes.
4K bluray is probably going to be the way to go in the next year or two if you want content.
Hey, I thought I'd at least ask, since you *are* here posting in forums as the "expert" with plenty of free expert advice otherwise.
I know the answers to the questions I asked, but the short answer is that streaming 4K isn't going to be mainstream in the next year, or 2, or maybe even 3 years. Which is what I said in the first place.
What percentage of all streaming is going through those 4K boxes?
Betting that's a minuscule percentage. As I've said - that's the case for now.
Agreed, and thanks for providing more support as to why Apple didn't make the next Apple TV 4K-capable.
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Nobody knows the answer to this, it's all speculation.
Apple probably does not have the capability to make a good quality 4K Apple TV in the price range they want.
That's kind of a sticking point for me. That Apple seems to be limiting it rather than providing an API for all app makers to integrate into. As AndroidTV does.
Which makes it kind of amusing in Australia if the services mentioned are the only ones given 3 of the 5 don't exist here.
There's nothing better than a full 4k shot movie
The only useful thing where universal search WOULD matter as well, which they never said, would also be home sharing content...
Would universal search include TV shows, movies, photos from your own library as well or just the selected store/channels ?
I'm still waiting for a search for Computers section.
Excellent reply. There are sure to be some apps that come to the Apple TV to fill in the features people are griping about here. Please people, wait until the new Apple TV is released and the apps hit the market.
Patience.
Sorry for the delay, had stuff to deal with. No, that isn't what I was basing that quip on - I was bantering with another member about h.265 implementation and the control US/CAN content providers are exerting on its subscribers. That item you quoted, while a bit out of context, was in relation to the other member I was bantering with debating - loosely termed - about content providers and authors moving toward h.265 (or hoping to in the near future). Given that Apple removed most-or-all of their references to h.265 from their website (even FaceTime) in the past couple of weeks that debate I had going went the way of the Dodo Bird.
Yes, it's all packets. Comcast, and other ISPs and content providers want their packets in $20s, $50s, and $100s - preferably in little brown bags.
Now that Cable companies are seeing on-demand/purchase video services like Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, Amazon and others (maybe Apple original content coming soon) take off and they see that they missed the boat. So what do they do? They bought the pipelines of the internet so when they failed in their services they could extort us to get our content by paying extra fees for stuff like 4K. I'd like to see a competitor for internet bandwidth, like Apple, come and kick their arse into the 21st century by offering internet services without nickel and diming us to death.
The cable companies are like Microsoft charging for support because they didn't keep their operating system buttoned down from viruses or made easy to use. Microsoft had incentives to keep it running poorly because support was enough of their income. Look where that got them. Look where cable companies are now with all the cord cutters. Been cable free for 4 years and I see all the same shows I did before, but without commercials and for cheaper.
Boo on cable companies (drops microphone).
The cable companies are like Microsoft charging for support because they didn't keep their operating system buttoned down from viruses or made easy to use. Microsoft had incentives to keep it running poorly because support was enough of their income. Look where that got them. Look where cable companies are now with all the cord cutters. Been cable free for 4 years and I see all the same shows I did before, but without commercials and for cheaper.
Boo on cable companies (drops microphone).
Sorry for the delay. I like your reply and what you're saying - and I agree, wholeheartedly.
Here in the US, it's a different matter, in regards to content distribution - and I think Apple recognizes this, in the context that the situation is fluid, to a degree. I think we'll see a 4k-compatible ATV in the next year or two.
One of the professional services my company provides is the design and oversight of installation of infrastructure - fiber, towers, and roadway/rights-of-way improvements - and I've had lots of time to chat with the design engineers and field staff. Most have shared that they're not fond of the "bean counters" they work for. One of them works as an engineer for CenturyLink - he owns two homes; his home here in Portland is served by CLs fiber network and his second home is served by their DSL network - he loves the network in Portland and hates (a white-hot hate, in the spirit of Khan) the DSL network. His second home stands within 100 feet of a fiber line that was laid 3 years ago, but nobody in that community can touch it - there aren't any stub-ups to tie into; I helped lay that fiber down, and that run goes about 70 miles through communities that have no access to it - it's in a State right-of-way and the counties and cities can't legally get access to it (they've tried!). There are fiber lines in both OR and WA that lie along state highways that local communities can't get access to - faster internet and other options for television are the goal here, and almost all of them have a satellite dish in their yards.
My take here is that, if those control freaks I posed in the post I wrote would stop getting their control freak on - the "spigot" I was alluding to - here in the US we'd see more adoption of higher throughput and more 4k content.
And, I grew up cycling and playing soccer. I want to watch the Vuelta a Espana and Premier League - but I can't as none of our local providers offer that content. Heck, 2 years ago an Oregonian won the Vuelta (Chris Horner) and nobody around here even knows that. But, I can see 30-year-old reruns of "Murder She Wrote" and "Hart to Hart". I can't see BBC One or Two here. But I can watch the crap on the MTV-owned BBC America (gag). I think we'll see more content sharing before we see 4k content, that is, if Comcast doesn't fetter my content first! Cheers!
I think the answer is DISH Network, at least here in North America. It's a private company. They own satellites that provide TV coverage to most of inhabited areas of NA. They own terrestrial land-based cellular coverage of the US, purchased in the last two FCC auctions. They've also tried to establish a cellular network more than once through Sprint or T-Mobile in the past couple of years.
The two downsides to working with DISH. Charles Ergen seems to be a bit of a "nut" - but he's got a few billion more $$$ in the bank than you or I do, so he's definitely doing something right. And, Harbinger Capital Partners filed a $1.5B lawsuit against DISH in June in regard to the Lightsquared fiasco.
Buy DISH, gain coverage of North America. Done. If I had some coin available and some aspirations in one of the biggest markets in the world, I'd buy or be talking with DISH Network...
I'm in the USA. The answer to your reply is NO to DISH.
I had AT&T Uverse and DISH. At the basic service, like cable companies, you get a Full Frame 640x480 SD or less than VHS picture with all overcompressed artifacts for most channels, unless you pony up for extra for HD service. It looked like crap on my high definition flat panel TV.
I was paying $85/mo. (after my 1 yr. promo period ended and with states fees figured in) for that rip off quality 4 years back. I just checked uVerse last week and DISH today. The base level package still has you watching full frame SD quality channels with a tiny few HD channels…what a hilarious joke!!!
DISH is no different. You get SD picture at the base level package with DISH. Call DISH like I did at 1-866-680-7567 to confirm.
Like I said the cable companies, DISH Satellite included, give you old style 640 by 480 cathode ray tube TV quality at the base level package.
My Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime and iTunes HD purchases came out cheaper overall than even having the base level crappy cable subscription. All of these can be played on my Apple TV (Amazon Prime through Airplay using iPad or iPhone).
Cable, and Satellite, companies are a rip off (drops microphone again).
[BTW, Portland Oregon is my favorite place in the USA. Love the artists community there. I see you live there.]
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Even plex is only an extension of the plex web interface. It's just a very good web application. Roku has Angry Birds, what more do you want?
Angry Birds is no longer available on the newest Roku, it's been replaced by Tetris
Angry Birds is no longer available on the newest Roku, it's been replaced by Tetris
It's still on mine played it yesterday to see if it's remote still worked after being crushed in the mechanism of a reclining chair. It does!
No, I'm just super fast
Still, no data caps anywhere, we got rid of them 20 years ago thanks to Free ISP.
So, in other words, just like the US?
Granted, some people apparently do still have caps.I've found that streaming of current HD content requires around 10Mbps on average. I don't know why people throw around huge bandwidth numbers when talking about streaming. The question is many cases is where is the content coming from and does it crossing ISP peering points. This can be an issue for the cumulative bandwidth of lots of people using streaming services and why companies like Neflix want to extend their CDN into the major ISP networks.
This depends very much on the TV. Some only support stereo so your receiver is in pro logic mode which sucks. If you don't like the audio from your TV, which why would you, I think it's more common to have a receiver with a few HDMI inputs and then a single HDMI output for the TV. My receiver is old and only has toslink but they have included HDMI for quite a few years now. I've just been dragging my feet since it is a nice receiver. But this puts me in the same boat as the others asking this question
I understand where you are coming from. I have a really nice receiver that has toslink and coaxial digital audio. It's sort of frustrating because you can move to a separate pre/pro and amp but a basic pre/pro is more costly than a nice receiver. So you end up throwing out the money anyway.
Someone suggested a $200 receiver and that just demonstrates a complete lack of interest in any kind of quality and is a bit strange coming from someone who buys Apple products.
The sort of amusing thing is the MacBooks that have HDMI still have optical out in the headphone jack. Maybe not in the future?