HDMI CEC means only a small handful of set owners would get the benefit you seek. Better option: universal, learning remote. Then all sets and all other AV hardware that use remotes could turn on together. It's an old technology that I've used since well before the first generation
TV. One button turns it all on. Another (one) button can switch the source from watching cable/satt to disc or
TV and adapt all settings of everything accordingly. A single dedicated remote works with everything and passes the non-techie test.
"Better audio" might be more fully defined as adding in the formats typical of Blu Ray, rather than sticking with 1991's Dolby Digital. I'd want
TV4 to at least be fully toe-to-toe with BD in all video and audio quality matters. For video, quality-influencing specs like bitrate should at least match up with what BD can do. If BD is still a "bag of hurt", give us something at least as good if not better.
A7 would matter if it's going to become more than a video player- for example, games. Else, the latest A processors won't play HD any better than older A processors.
What else do I want:
I'm with betman on wanting the option to attach local storage. Don't build big storage in like first generation (no size chosen by Apple would ever be right)- just make it so that someone can attach whatever amount of storage they want if they want storage.
Make network storage another option. Store our iTunes libraries on a network storage device and have computers, iDevices and
TVs draw from that central storage. This is not the same as "iTunes Servers" though they are a pretty good try in that direction.
Normalize the USB port. Along with the storage options, that would open up third party hardware options. For example, Elgato or similar could bring DVR functionality and local OAR tuners to those that want them. Some want their
TV to also be able to play discs. While Apple may not want to build in a super drive, a normalized USB port could allow a third party to build that on + an app to play them. And so on.
Support popular frame rates other than 30fps. Movies are often 24fps. Some new ones are shot at 48fps. I've owned consumer HD camcorders for many years that can shoot at 60fps. Play all that back at native rather than converting it all to 30fps.
People with "zone 2" receivers (able to play music on a separate set of speakers) typically need an analog stereo signal out of the source. Gen 1
TV had that but it was killed in support of "thinner" and "smallest". Put an analog out option back in for the zone 2 people. Else, we have to buy an extra part to convert optical audio to analog. I believe the chip- based on an iPad board- already has this ability so this is really about adding a cheap headphone port.
Resurrect terrific software features from the first generation. IMO, it's dumb that our own movie media is not under "Movies", our own TV Show media is not under "TV Shows", etc. "Just works" is at least in part about being intuitive. It is NOT intuitive to have our own movies under "Computers".
Gen 1 allowed the iTunes "Show" tag to group serialized content into a kind of folder. Tag all 2X James Bond movies as "James Bond" and that would show as one line item in the movies list. Click it to display the Bond movies. For bigger movie collections, this was a terrific way to manage what can become a long scroll list. Other iTunes tags would sort the movies on something other than movie name. This could get serialized movie presented in their order without having to resort to naming them so a name sort accomplishes the same.
Gen 1s presentation of TV Shows and their Seasons was far superior to the current version. I can't believe Apple hasn't fixed this already. What a mess!
I still think the final version of the Gen1 UI was the best UI so far.
Lastly, what I'd like most- even more than an app store- would be for Apple to empower a dedicated team to focus on the "hobby" and nothing but the hobby. One of the great advantages of a relatively tiny competitor (Roku) is that they have talent focused on just that. There's all this spin about how hard it is to get media deals done but tiny Roku has far more "channels" than Apple. If Apple would give their box the focus that Roku employs, the sky's the limit. Instead, it feels like Apple is perpetually distracted away from this "hobby" leaving it to somewhat languish while others advance.
