It's pretty much the same for me. I also have ARC disabled on my TV because for some reason that feature is tied to the one that allows powering on/off the TV to power on/off the receiver and switch the input. I like ARC, but can't stand that auto powering feature because there are too many cases where it won't do what I am trying to do and makes it almost impossible to do what I want (ie turn on Apple TV just to stream music...Receiver and TV turn on, but I don't want the TV on so I turn it off, then the receiver and Apple TV turn off too...) I've found that in general I much prefer to just manually control things because far too often the automatic control gets it wrong. But turning off that power control forces me to give up ARC too...
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New Apple TV With A12 Chip and 'One More Thing' Teased Ahead of Next Week's Apple Event
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It's pretty much the same for me. I also have ARC disabled on my TV because for some reason that feature is tied to the one that allows powering on/off the TV to power on/off the receiver and switch the input. I like ARC, but can't stand that auto powering feature because there are too many cases where it won't do what I am trying to do and makes it almost impossible to do what I want (ie turn on Apple TV just to stream music...Receiver and TV turn on, but I don't want the TV on so I turn it off, then the receiver and Apple TV turn off too...) I've found that in general I much prefer to just manually control things because far too often the automatic control gets it wrong. But turning off that power control forces me to give up ARC too...
Not going to happen. Apple uses integrated display components (displayport 1.3) into their SOC. You cannot just add HDMI 2.1. This requires a hardware change. For them to use A12/A12X, that would have to be a separate component ($$) added to the board and these are still pretty rare. It would also need some high-speed connection to the device to support it. 48Gbps connections don't just appear out of nowhere. All the hdmi 2.1 devices out there don't even use fully qualified components since the compliance tests are just being finalized. The best I think we might see using an A12/A12X is similar to the other "HDMI 2.1" devices out there now, which are really 2.0 supporting 2.1 features such as VRR and ALLM. Might add on HDCP 2.3. Most likely we wouldn't see full HDMI 2.1 until maybe an A14.
Being a plugged-in device, apple could use the A12 since it is much cheaper than the A12X and run it at a higher frequency/temp/power to get performance equal or better to the A12X.
That’s the only reason I didn’t buy the old 4K Apple TV because of this important missing feature.
Hence I’ve been using my NV Shield for the last 3 years or so which does a very good job in that aspect.
If the new Apple TV Pro or whatever it’s called does bitstream audio it’s a instant buy for me!
No, Infuse can decode the HD audio codecs and then send them as PCM. Unfortunately the eARC on my LG C9 OLED won't pass LPCM, only bit-stream codecs.
If Infuse could just pass the bitstream audio from the MKV file it would solve the problem. Or I could continue to hope that at some point LG will fix their garbage eARC implementation.
Someone's drinking the punch...
That's another issue entirely, earc. Best to plug directly in to the receiver.
But still, infuse decoding and sending as PCM you're still getting the exact same audio(with a supported device)
There is nothing new.
The A12 actually performs similar to A10X if not better. And A10X isn't being used in any of its current Apple Product line anymore. So it is just some internal update. What they would do is likely a price drop, dropping the 64GB Apple TV 4K to $149, with 32GB discontinued.
And Apple TV HD to $109.
The future is Apple TV Apps. I am not convinced Apple wants to push the Apple TV as an Arcade. Given that no uses it for gaming.
The A12 actually performs similar to A10X if not better. And A10X isn't being used in any of its current Apple Product line anymore. So it is just some internal update. What they would do is likely a price drop, dropping the 64GB Apple TV 4K to $149, with 32GB discontinued.
And Apple TV HD to $109.
The future is Apple TV Apps. I am not convinced Apple wants to push the Apple TV as an Arcade. Given that no uses it for gaming.
Yes but then you have to switch inputs on both devices until there are HDMI 2.1 receivers
I was thinking the same the other day. They may have been working on it quietly in the background
PCM and bitstream are not the same because some devices support one vs the other. I won't argue that they aren't functionally identical although I will point out that audio/video sync correction is not possible with PCM streams and IS possible with other audio streams.
It is not "best to plug into the receiver" for myself or others since I like to have different PQ settings for my different input devices. Plugging everything into my AVR means that I have to have the same picture mode settings for all of my different devices since they all come into the TV over a common input from the AVR.
It also means that any advanced features like VRR won't work since AVRs don't currently support those features and likely won't until introduction of HDMI 2.1 which means another expensive upgrade.
eARC is a fantastic feature if done properly since it allows you to move your switching back to the TV where it belongs, allows for different PQ presets for different devices and lets you keep running an older AVR as long as it meets your needs since all the AVR has to do is play audio.
I love my Apple TV 4K. I’ve got a Samsung TV, a Yamaha receiver, Elac speakers. The Apple TV tames everything perfectly, works with my iPhone or my wife’s iPhone. The Samsung’s Android interface is such utter garbage compared to Apple TV, it was like getting a new TV. Went from using 2 crappy remote controls (TV, receiver) to just our iPhones. I set the video settings up to match TV refresh rate and HDR to the source video, works great. The 4K 60hz UI is gorgeous on Apple TV, it really spoiles you for anything else.
It’s nice being able to stream music from our iPhones through the Apple TV into the stereo as well, it uses the WiFi network so there’s no Bluetooth compression or anything.
It’s nice being able to stream music from our iPhones through the Apple TV into the stereo as well, it uses the WiFi network so there’s no Bluetooth compression or anything.
pretty much has to be A12X. the A10X GPU is still a beast and beats the A12 GPU. The only SoC that is faster in CPU and GPU than the A10X is the A12X.
Apple, give me macOS running on A12X in the Apple TV form factor for a reasonable price and I'll throw my money at you. (all you need is to take the Apple TV, increase RAM, storage, and switch to USB type C ports. done!)
Apple, give me macOS running on A12X in the Apple TV form factor for a reasonable price and I'll throw my money at you. (all you need is to take the Apple TV, increase RAM, storage, and switch to USB type C ports. done!)
They wouldn't want something that hype-worthy detracting from the new iPhones. An ARM-based laptop will get its own event, or at least be the "one more thing" on a Mac event (see October).
I've never found the need. I leave the TV(LG OLED) with one set of PQ settings for all sources. Of course it auto switches to HDR or Dolby Vision as needed. Otherwise the TV is on the one calibrated profile I set up.
I've never seen a receiver that doesn't support PCM. Though I've seen plenty that don't support TrueHD/DTS-HD, etc. Older obviously. I have some ancient ones that support PCM.
Current Apple TV remote (with an "Apple Remote Loop" as a tail, and in a silicone case) is my favorite remote - everything you need, nothing you don't (no sea of buttons to reach past). They could certainly make the shape less elegant and more ergonomic, though.
I think that the one more thing will be some higher-end audio device... maybe the rumored over-ear headphones + water-resistant AirPods Pro (I know, it sounds lame...). AirPods are expensive, but there are lot of more expensive headphones, so I think there is still a market for Apple-branded "Pro" headphones. If it had some HomePod-like innovative features, I would gladly pay $350-450 for over-ear Apple bluetooth headphones with ANC.
The Apple TV has a DP 1.4 to HDMI2.0 convert on board.
This is what the current AppleTV 4K has
http://www.megachips.com/products/displayport/MCDP2900
So you had to augment the remote to make it more usable. Funny how that isn't necessary with any other remotes.
Because we have a lot of family/friends use devices at our house we get a lot of feedback on stuff. I've been through tons of media players over the past 5-7 years including Roku, ATV, Amazon, etc., and the ATV remote has been the one that's universally despised by everyone. On my main TV we just use our Harmony universal to drive the ATV although some functions like search don't work properly.