They better include HDMI CEC for lazy guy like me.
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Next-Generation Apple TV Said to Launch in October for $149 or $199
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That makes SO much sense. Karaoke video streaming is already huge in China, and it would also make a great party app just about anywhere.
(In China there are apps where just random people sing live and can get tips/gifts from people watching. Some of them have even gotten a pretty decent amount of money and fame out of it
)The 3rd gen Apple TV becomes slow navigating among the movies if one owns more than about 500 iTunes movies. However, that doesn't make it useless.
I will happily pay $149 or $199 for a 4th gen Apple TV for HomeKit support and to speed up navigation through my large iTunes movie collection.
I will happily pay $149 or $199 for a 4th gen Apple TV for HomeKit support and to speed up navigation through my large iTunes movie collection.
Can anyone explain to me why I should buy this? It doesn't do anything a € 35,= Android stick can't do. I just want to watch Netflix, Youtube and Spotify, that's all. Vastly overpriced and I don't want to buy any Apple content (music, vids). Oh, I'm not an Android fan at all, MacBook Pro, iMacs and iPhones are the prevalent platform in my home.
Why would anyone care if it is lower-power. It does not run on a battery it is always plugged in.
The only reason you jailbreak the 2nd gen Apple TV is to run apps. If the new device supports apps then there is little point in considering jailbreaking it. Plex for example is already available for IOS and I would think would be available on day one for the new device. I will wait and see what features it has before deciding if I want one. I got rid of my 3rd gen Apple TV a long time ago and now use either Chromecast or Smart TV capability to run all that I need.
I'd be OK with the $149 price point. What actually bothers me more is the rumored $40 for the streaming service. Roku and Nexus Player currently support SlingTV from Dish Network with ESPN, TNT, HGTV, AMC, Food Network and more for only $20/month. $40/month for the streaming service is just too much.
Yeah, Airplay has been messed up for a long time. It sucks because that is one of the most amazing features. But it rarely works well for me.
Well apple will likely not allow kodi on the apple tv. Heck you can't install it on regular ios without a jailbreak either
Chromecast is kludgey mediocrity. I use it with a chromebook. It's not a good experience. You're complaining about the interface and want it to be like a chromecast?
I don't have an ATV and am waiting to see what Apple brings out.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Exactly. I expect pretty much any cable player that feels threatened by any 25 channels Apple would offer to bundle up the same 25 plus a few more popular ones that Apple didn't include and meet or beat the price. Unlike iOS vs Android or OS X vs. Windows, programming is programming... Apple's 25 won't be superior to the same 25 offered by even the likes of a Comcast.
And consider what DISH is doing right now: 190 channels for $50/month: http://www.dish.com/35th-anniversary-special-offer/ I've tried to look for the hook in that over and over now but I'm not seeing it. If there's not one, the proposition will be Apple's 25 channels for $40 vs. Comcast, etc 30 channels (Apple's 25 plus several more popular ones) for $40 vs. Dish's 190 channels for $50.
Of course, only the channels selected by Apple will be the "good channels" and they will naturally look sharper via Apple's service than the same channels via Comcast, etc or Dish and similar.
Basically, when it comes to just the rumored TV streaming bundle, I just don't see how Apple wins this one... not while depending on the pipes owned by the very competitors from which they are attempting to take TV programming subscription revenues. But competition is good in all forms, so maybe the threat of Apple will motivate some competitors to better compete.
Now, consider the rest of the rumors and all that is very exciting. A new box with all kinds of potential. At long last, maybe we finally get an app store! At least the perception (now) of >hobby-level focus on this much neglected product opportunity. Etc. Personally, I'm very excited about this one in most every way... except the streaming service, unless there is something dazzling about it that doesn't make it basically a basic cable alternative.
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I'd like to see the ATV3 be able to do some of the things the ATV4 can do if you own at least one ATV4 and have it on your home network. Why buy an ATV4 for each TV in the house?? Seems like if there is local storage on the ATV4, it should be able to stream content/apps to an ATV3. That would be a great way to do this.
I'm interested but certainly not for $199. Not even for $149 for that matter. $99 would be more my speed.
I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if Apple releases the TV dev kit to any and all random developers.
They might cherry pick apps for TV exactly the way they're picking apps for it now.
And no, 1 month isn't even enough time to do a good job of porting existing apps to HDTV / 4K resolution.
With a brand new controller interface. Especially without the actual TV hardware to test them on. No way.
The time to release the TV dev kit was in June at WWDC if Apple had been planning to make it available to all developers. 3 months after WWDC is plenty of time to port / write new apps. That schedule works for iPhone / iPad, so it could work for TV apps. So maybe only cherry-picked apps will be available this year, then the TV kit will be released to the public next year. We'll see.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Nobody knows for sure what it will and will not do yet. So nobody can explain why you should buy it yet and get it right. Stand by to see what it actually is and then consider your own question. As is, right now, one rumor could post about it producing a Star Trek Holodeck experience for all anyone knows. Or maybe it will come with smell-o-vision. Until we know what it actually is, nobody can be sure they should or should not buy it.
A native Plex client is the thing I'm most excited about. However, since the new ATV will be based on iOS I'm worried that it'll only support the limited set of file formats that iOS supports. This would render it kind of useless for me, since the Samsung Plex app direct plays all my files. Arghhh...
But on my iPhone and iPad I can play anything that is stored on my NAS running Plex server... (of course the NAS is doing the transcoding...)
Yeah I think Amazon recently kicked kodi off their app store for "facilitating piracy," which seems a bit strange because there's nothing in the app itself that does that (you have to download and install some plugins I think). I doubt Apple would start wading into those waters if it hasn't already -- ESPECIALLY if it's trying to secure deals from content providers already angry about piracy hitting their bottom line.
http://www.techhive.com/article/293...eo-app-kodi-from-its-store-blames-piracy.html
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I would guess that select, favored developers of more desirable apps suitable for a new
TV have had the SDK for some time now and are simply sworn to secrecy. Rumors were hot & heavy ahead of WWDC that this was going to be rolled out there. Even the invitation seemed to imply new TV hardware much more so than anything that was actually launched as new. If that was the plan, then, conceptually anyway, select, favored developers probably had some variation of an SDK for at least a while BEFORE WWDC, so that Apple would have more than just their own new apps to show off at WWDC. And if that speculation could be true, then those developers have had 2-3 more months to further polish their "show off" apps and perhaps code some others too.