hmm So, I have all of the other Apple TVs. I also have the Roku 3. I like buying something if I want to watch it. I really have not used the Roku at all. I do not care about 4k. I just have a regular flat screen TV. The reason I was going to buy the new Apple TV, is for the fact that I could play games on it. I have thousands of games. But, then I looked at the list of games that will work on it. There are very few that work right now. So, there is no need to rush into this, at least for me. I will wait and see if more games become available. Apple needs to cut the thing that requires use of their remote. It is not good for playing games. Oh well, I am glad I saw the stuff I did online.
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New Apple TV: Tips, Tricks, Siri Remote Shortcuts and Useful Settings
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Hold down the Home button, which looks like an AirPlay icon, to put the Apple TV to sleep. The icon is much clearer than the word "Home", or even a Home icon.
It's similar for me.. I only got one and spend the time setting it up but if I had three... I let apple choose my passwords for me with keychain so there's a mix of uppercase, lowercase, dashes and numbers. If only I could spell it out using Siri! I think that there will be heaps of software updates to come soon that address our frustrations
Why didn't Apple put an audio port for earbuds/headphones on the new remote so I could use my iPhone earbuds for private listening?
Good question. You could always ask them:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html
That sounds great - so I tried it...
The good news is that it works - but only for the titles that are actually showing on the screen. So if you have 300 moves and you say 'Play Sin City' - it tries to play it from iTunes. But if you scroll down to the movies starting with 'S' so that Sin City is showing somewhere on the page, it plays from your Computers/Computername/Movies.
Still - it give me hope that this is just some weird bug. It has the technology to search by name from your movie list. Hopefully it's a bug that it only search the few titles that are actually on the screen.
Of course it would be even better if I could say 'Play Sin City from computer name' - or 'Play Sin City from Home Sharing'.
BTW - when I first got the ATV4 I found that scrolling through a long list of movies completely sucked - it was hopeless! But that's because I was doing it one handed, using my thumb to scroll. I find that if I hold the remote with my left hand and scroll with the index finger on my right hand it's fast and accurate enough.
I found an Apple TV4 Easter Egg! If you use an ATV2/3 IR remote on an ATV4 and head to
Settings -> General -> About -> Page Up, additional information will be displayed at the bottom of the About screen each time one hits Page Up.
Settings -> General -> About -> Page Up, additional information will be displayed at the bottom of the About screen each time one hits Page Up.
- WiFi BSSID
- WiFi Channel
- Bonjour ID
- Advertising ID
Attachments
How can I next/backwards chapter skip? I have .m4v files on my iTunes/iMac, where the chapter points work fine, as well as on iPhone/iPad. How can I navigate the chapter points which I know are in the file, on the new Apple TV? The swipe down menu from the top of frame does not show any chapters. Yet when I load up a movie from iTunes, the chapters are there and working, with thumbnails too. The only option I can see is the clumsy forward 10 seconds and back 10 seconds search.
Or update the Remote app so we can type on our iPhones and iPads like we can on the older version, rather than this *downgraded* experience?
Sigh
I think the Audio Output options on this new Apple TV need work. They don't work in the same way as the old Apple TV (2nd Gen, 720p) that I have.
On the 2nd Gen ATV, I choose Automatic on the audio output, meaning that if Dolby Digital 5.1 is available, then that bitstream will be output to my A/V receiver. If it's just stereo, then PCM 2 channel is output. All good.
But on the 4th Gen ATV, if you select auto, it outputs PCM 7.1 channel to my A/V receiver, even if the program is 5.1 (example - NETFLIX app). Meaning the back surround speakers are silent. And there's no way to apply Post Processing in the A/V receiver to get the rear surround speakers working (like applying ProLogic IIx).
Even worse, if you select Dolby Surround as the permanent audio output option, then EVERYTHING outputs as 5.1 Dolby Digital into the A/V receiver, even your music, with only the front Left/Right speakers active, and the rest silent. Again, you cannot apply any post processing to the 2 channel music (Like ProLogic IIx Music) because it's in forced Dolby 5.1 mode. And of course it's a Dolby Digital re-code of your music, whether it is Apple Lossless or AAC.
They need to make the audio output options work like the older Apple TVs.
ie, in AUTO, if the signal is plain stereo, then only a 2.0 PCM signal should be output over HDMI.
If a Dolby Digital 5.1 signal is available on a movie, then it should only be 5.1 output, not Linear PCM 7.1 with silent rear speakers.
If a Dolby Digital Plus+ 7.1 signal is detected, then it should output Dolby Digital Plus+ 7.1 bitstream to the A/V receiver.
If the user wants multi channel linear PCM output over HDMI, then there needs to be more options to select that too.
Craig.
On the 2nd Gen ATV, I choose Automatic on the audio output, meaning that if Dolby Digital 5.1 is available, then that bitstream will be output to my A/V receiver. If it's just stereo, then PCM 2 channel is output. All good.
But on the 4th Gen ATV, if you select auto, it outputs PCM 7.1 channel to my A/V receiver, even if the program is 5.1 (example - NETFLIX app). Meaning the back surround speakers are silent. And there's no way to apply Post Processing in the A/V receiver to get the rear surround speakers working (like applying ProLogic IIx).
Even worse, if you select Dolby Surround as the permanent audio output option, then EVERYTHING outputs as 5.1 Dolby Digital into the A/V receiver, even your music, with only the front Left/Right speakers active, and the rest silent. Again, you cannot apply any post processing to the 2 channel music (Like ProLogic IIx Music) because it's in forced Dolby 5.1 mode. And of course it's a Dolby Digital re-code of your music, whether it is Apple Lossless or AAC.
They need to make the audio output options work like the older Apple TVs.
ie, in AUTO, if the signal is plain stereo, then only a 2.0 PCM signal should be output over HDMI.
If a Dolby Digital 5.1 signal is available on a movie, then it should only be 5.1 output, not Linear PCM 7.1 with silent rear speakers.
If a Dolby Digital Plus+ 7.1 signal is detected, then it should output Dolby Digital Plus+ 7.1 bitstream to the A/V receiver.
If the user wants multi channel linear PCM output over HDMI, then there needs to be more options to select that too.
Craig.
Has anyone figured out how to scroll continuously like holding on the down button on the previous remote. We have several hundred movies (not kidding) and it is SO obnoxious to scroll through all of them to get to one near the bottom.
Thanks!
Thanks!
I'm hoping for several more if they are as helpful and informative as this one. I learned several tips from the author and several more from the contribution of members. Thanks to everyone.
I just found this out by accident. Very cool. You don't necessarily have to wait for the on-screen prompt to FF the 10secs. Just click the edges of the touch surface and it'll skip or rewind the 10secs.
They do occupy system resources because the apps are open. I know the apps are open because when I switch to them it does not reload and I can pickup right where I left off. It operates the same as iOS, you can open as many as you can and it will save the app state as long as the RAM isn't depleated.
The remote speeds up the faster you move your finger over the touch pad.. You can change the sensitivity in settings for a faster scroll too. I know it's not the best solution but for now I hope that helps. Also, what app are you using? If you use an app like Plex you can first scroll to the first letter of the movie and then you'll only have a few to select from. I have 130 movies and 30 TV shows (obviously not as much as yours) and I can get to what I want fairly quickly. And the best part about Plex is that it organises your shows for you.. So apart from the initial install of the app on your computer and Apple TV, theres nothing you have to do
you don't need the remote app. Set airplay setting on Atv to use icloud source and airplay apple music from iPhone/ipad/Mac and Atv will play direct from icloud.
Negative. Tried yesterday, but it did not work. Just started holding buttons down or pressing them randomly and it came on.
I bought an HDMI cable from apple thats 1.4 and same problem. So with 3 TVs
Panasonic (old) - Will power OFF but not ON
Visio (brand new) - Will power OFF but not ON
Samsung (few years old) - Will power OFF and ON
It really sucks that they can't just allow the home button to learn the power IR from the TV remotes like they do with the volume buttons. Hopefully in a future software update.
My tv has a separate setting to allow the anynet device to power the tv on and off (separate from turning on the functionality to allow input switching, that is). You may want to dig into your tv menus.
Agreed. Both my TV and receiver have menu settings to activate the power, volume, etc via the HDMI interface. My ATV didn't power my TV on or off until I turned these on, and both were separate options. I have an older Panasonic Viera and it works fine now.
The problem with Apple stuff is they very rarely tell you what hidden capabilities a product has unless you dig deeply. I wouldn't have know about half of these hacks if this hadn't been posted.I suppose it's just better to BUY one and learn to use it for yourself, instead of reading a list of bullet points
I'm disappointed in the lack of obvious shortcuts on the remote - so I've just programmed my Harmony One to access it and it allows much better control - the only things missing are Touch, which is @$$ backwards anyway, and Siri.
EDIT:
Been playing some more with the ATV remote and found that if you touch your finger on the right edge of the trackpad when in the music app a >| (next) symbol appears, click to forward to the next track! The left side reveals a |< (back) symbol, click to replay the current track from the beginning.
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