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Apple still sees this as a hobby project outside of the US, lots of features missing, I bought one about 2 ½ -3 years ago, rarely using it, but then again, I am not much into TV/films/series.
Should have sold it years back, or not buying it at all.
The remote sucks, they really need to rethink that one, too sensitive, something like LG's remote with a pointer would be much better.

Get with the times and get a Logitech Harmony Universal Remote. Anyone who is half serious about decent audio video does not use the Apple remote anyways.
 
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A refreshed Apple TV with an A12 Bionic chip or newer appears to be in development, according to 9to5Mac, which uncovered an unreleased model with the codename "T1125" in the tvOS 13.4 beta seeded yesterday.
Hopefully it is at least an A12X, as the A12 would hardly be an improvement.
 
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Don't see more than a spec bump at this point. Faster processor, more memory, multiple BT support, most dramatic would be thinner (original size puck).

8K won't happen for this release. In Apple's paradigm, that would require a near-simultaneous across-the-board update of ATV, Mac, and (at least top-end) phone hardware, along with a substantial number of movies increasing resolution (getting way past the original film & HD recording resolutions) and improved general population bandwidth to deliver the increased data. Oh, of course there has to be enough 8K displays out there, at tolerable prices, to even bother with.

Recall the 4K rollout. The whole ecosystem had to upgrade at once, and it was staggered enough to get annoying. Next would need be near simultaneous.
 
I wonder if a faster AppleTV will be able to stream 4K content on ATV+ without trying 8 times and getting the "An error occurred loading this content " error even with my Gigabit internet?
No. This is likely an Apple TV / server issue, unrelated to CPU performance.

They definitely screwed up the jump forward/back gestures in an early update. Add on to it a bunch of apps like YouTube not using the system video player and implementing their own gestures.
They need a faster FF and RW option IMO.

Then why did Apple join AOMedia as a founding member?

Amazon and Netflix both use HEVC to support currently deployed devices. The issue is that it takes years to get the decoder hardware designed, tested, implemented into SoCs, then have those SoCs deployed, after the spec was frozen. As a comparison, HEVC is a 7 year old standard, it was first released in 2013.
For existing Apple TV 4K owners, I think AV1 in the new model is pretty much irrelevant, at least as a reason to upgrade, since 4K HDR HEVC will be supported for a very long time by the streaming companies. That said, if I were buying a new Apple TV 4K this year, it would be a little bit disappointing if AV1 were not supported. OTOH, it's not critical IMO.

How about the ability to play 24/192 High Res FLAC files????
For you and the other 3 people that actually care? ;) Seriously though, this is definitely not something that would be high up on their radar.

Get with the times and get a Logitech Harmony Universal Remote. Anyone who is half serious about decent audio video does not use the Apple remote anyways.
Unfortunately, Logitech Harmony remotes don't replicate the full functionality of the current Apple TV remote. My example of the FF/RW speeds above is one consideration. It's less of an issue on the Apple remote since you can navigate differently on that remote. For this reason, I keep both the Logitech Harmony and the Apple remote on the table.
 
I don’t care what’s inside it, if it ships with the same god awful Apple TV remote you can pretty much forget it.

it right up three in the top 5...no, top 3 of the worst designed Apple products that managed to make it out into the wild. And since the remote is your primary device to interact with the Apple TV, if its frustrating to use by design, so goes the rest of the Apple TV experience.

A non-comprehensive list of Apple TV remote sins...

- Uses a 360 touchpad for navigating a UI which exists solely on an up-down, left-right, scrolling x-y basis. Since there is no feedback, tactile or otherwise, for knowing if your swiping is aligned exactly on the x-y axis, moving in an unintended way is virtually guaranteed.

- The acceleration curve is apparently known only to a select few inside Apple (if they still work there). The consequence is that moving past your intended target is once again virtually guaranteed. I’ve been using the stupid thing for years now and I still do it regularly

- I’ve stopped counting how many times I’ve accidentally pressed the round Siri search button (like the other practically identically sized round buttons on the remote) and found myself wrenched out of what I was looking at and facing a search screen.

- It’s too small too thin and not ergonomic in the palm of your hand which gives the failings above an even more likely open invitation. The perfectly rectangular shape offers no feedback that you’re holding it in the correct direction

- Many many other issues with this piece of junk.
 
For existing Apple TV 4K owners, I think AV1 in the new model is pretty much irrelevant, at least as a reason to upgrade, since 4K HDR HEVC will be supported for a very long time by the streaming companies.

The whole issue with HEVC is the fragmented licensing situation and the lawsuit risk it entails. This is why the largest, and therefore most vulnerable provider, Google/YouTube, won't touch it. This is fundamentally different than previous generations: streaming companies don't want to drop it because there's something technically better available, but rather streaming companies want to drop it so they don't get sued, and if they do, the damages are less.
 
I don’t have an Apple TV so am always meaning to ask, what is so bad about the remote. It’s hard to tell from the pictures. I see it get heat all the time and am just genuinely curious what the issue is?

It can be unresponsive at times. There seems to not be enough heft to it for the touch sensitive area to register movement and pushing harder on that area can register as a click instead of movement. The 4K version seems better than the 4th gen one. Shape wise, it's not the greatest either, especially if you're not looking directly at it. Again, the 4K version is marginally better.
 
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I really like the touch pad. It's brilliant for quickly scrubbing back and forth in a movie, much better than forward/rewind buttons. I'd also resist adding more buttons except for a small mute button (perhaps under the existing volume buttons). If you add too many, you can no longer operate it without looking. Then make it less symmetric so people don't pick it up the wrong way around so often, and it's perfect.
While the Siri remote is beautiful looking, and I am not trying to assert that the design is a failure for everyone, the general consensus is that it is a classic example of form over function.

If you try to use the Siri remote for Apple Arcade games, it's almost undoubtably a subpar experience. And if you just want to rewind or forward by 10 seconds, touch gesture is also undoubtably not as intuitive as dedicated rewind/forward buttons. Combined with the design prone to accidental swipe, I think Apple can do better.

Apple obviously isn't in the business of making an ugly controller, so the ball is in their court to not regress too far in terms of design, while moving the functionality forward.
 
I'd like to see the Apple TV becoming "an iPad Pro with no screen" with full mouse/trackpad support, A13X/A14X chip, support for all iOS/iPadOS apps like Files, Pages, Excel, Notes, Safari etc.
 
If you try to use the Siri remote for Apple Arcade games, it's almost undoubtably a subpar experience.
I rarely play games and don't want to deal with a complicated remote just because of that. You can use dedicated gaming controllers like the Nimbus which are much better for that purpose anyway.
 
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The sad thing is VP9 is royalty free so there's really no reason for it to not be supported. It's simply Apple being stubborn like they tend to be at times about these things.

No, Google claims it is Royalty Free, but there are several companies that assert claims on it. In addition, there is a cost for adding hardware support to their other products.
 
Is there a difference between apple tv+ native app on your tv/airplay 2 and the standalone apple tv? any benefits to owning the box?
 
I'd like to see the Apple TV becoming "an iPad Pro with no screen" with full mouse/trackpad support, A13X/A14X chip, support for all iOS/iPadOS apps like Files, Pages, Excel, Notes, Safari etc.


Its absolutely crying out for a Touch Bar imo and a redesigned remote with Digital Crown.
 
I rarely play games and don't want to deal with a complicated remote just because of that. You can use dedicated gaming controllers like the Nimbus which are much better for that purpose anyway.
Three things:
  1. Apple TV 4K retails at $179-199
  2. Apple TV app being added to most new TVs
  3. Xbox One S All-Digital Edition retails at $249 (but frequently discounted to $170) and includes 2 games (Minecraft and Sea of Thieves)
When you add them all up, Apple TV 4K is a bit out of place.

If Apple is even remotely serious about Apple Arcade, it needs to make Apple TV more compelling. Faster lag free 4K HDR performance (A12X HDMI 2.1) and better out-of-the-box gaming experience (better remote or controller bundle). Having to spend $29.95-$59.95 for a controller, in addition to $179-199 for the unit itself, does not demonstrate Apple's confidence in the gaming category.

For folks that use Apple TV primarily for streaming, it is overpriced even if you take user privacy into purchase consideration. Apple TV 4K needs to become cheaper, ideally around $99 (A12 with more basic remote).

Either that, Apple should go all in and make Apple TV 4K even more premium. Perhaps a soundbar with microphone built-in to the unit (instead of the remote), and A13X with ML based video processor, support for wider range of audio and video codecs.
 
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So this basically means that the new iPhone SE will use the A12? I think whatever CPU the Apple TV gets typically has overlap with other longer-term products so Apple can lower their production margins.

Curious what useful upgrade this would offer asides from better gaming graphics? The Apple TV 4K can already handle everything my LG C9 can throw at it except 120Hz. And who even really cares about that for Apple TV gaming? It's not like people use it for eSports. I think BT 5.0 and WiFi 6 could be useful for HomeKit and better connectivity and speed for AirPlay with future devices. If it's just a redesigned remote, hopefully it's available separately and is backwards compatible. I also wish the optical audio port would come back. One thing that would be cool is if it was wider and had extra inputs so it could also handle input switching. Although my C9 does this and makes it available to change inputs in HomeKit, it would be nice to be able to use the Apple TV remote to do so. Then you also wouldn't need to run 4 HDMI cables through the wall, although mine is already setup. It would also be neat if they made it really thin but a lot wider so that it's easier to mount to the back of slim TVs.
 
Would be nice if they could reduce the physical size of the device. Make it a bit easier to hide / stick behind a wall mounted TV.

I’d like to see it integrated with AirPort functionality, and remain the same size or the thickness of two AirPort Expresses / Apple TVs 2.
 
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Three things:
  1. Apple TV 4K retails at $179-199
  2. Apple TV app being added to most new TVs
  3. Xbox One S All-Digital Edition retails at $249 (but frequently discounted to $170) and includes 2 games (Minecraft and Sea of Thieves)
When you add it all of, Apple TV 4K is a bit out of place.
That may be so, but there are people (like me) who do not buy an Apple TV for games. A comparison to an Xbox or Playstation is meaningless for me.
If Apple is even remotely serious about Apple Arcade, it needs to make Apple TV more compelling.
I'm pretty certain that the vast majority of Arcade subscribers use an iPhone or iPad to play.

Perhaps Apple could offer an inexpensive optional gaming controller or something. But please don't make me use a gaming controller to watch movies, which is still the main purpose of the Apple TV.
 
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