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Possible New Apple TVs

I have both (Roku 3 and Apple Tv 3).
I think you need both if you want to cut cable (as I did). It's a small price to pay for both, if you're saving $60 a month by not having cable bills.

Roku 3 for:

- Amazon Prime Stream
- Nextflix (I still find Netflix buggy on Apple TV)
- Pandora - once we started using Pandora - who cares about iTunes?
- HBO - quicker interface than Apple TV
- Plex - great interface, easier to stream and maintain than iTunes.

Apple TV for:
- Slideshows from iPhoto with background music - nothing on Roku is even close
- Disney channels using cable authentication - exclusive to Apple TV.
- Airplay, but personally I don't use it much
 
I'm doubtful.

1. 802.11ac update?
That's possible. It might be that Apple wants to move forward with entire product line. Asuming, big assumption, that iPad and Airport Express get an 802.11ac update as well.

2. A6 or A7 single core update from the A5?
Possible. But not needed for their 1080P content. I only see this happening if they move forward with opening an app store, and push gaming and controller support *please please please please* Apple could wipe Nintendo off the map for entry level gaming, kid targetted etc.

3. 4K UHD support for AppleTV and iTunes.
H264 would have huge file sizes.
H265 was only recently finalized.
A6 doesn't support either in hardware. There's no sign that A7 supports that high of bitrate for H264 hardware, unless it was just conveniently omitted from iPhone 5S . H265 is possible, since Apple TV has dedicated power, they could run it in software decode on an A7 without battery drain concern. But it's too soon for them to have a large library moved over to H265 anyway...

I don't see anything interesting they can do with AppleTV unless they do number 2. Which seems to make all sorts of sense! But it has for years and Apple has shunned that business angle.
 
Atv

Wishes for a future ATV

1. Direct NAS/SMB share access without coming from an iTunes Server Home Sharing.

2. MKV container support. Though MP4 isn't bad and offers tagging for metadata vs. some sort of database for metadata that MKV would need.

2.5 Added this one after to go along with MKV. Better subtitle support with an option for forced subtitles only. This is what MKV excels at. Mp4 supports srts but PGS subs need to be "burned-in" whereas MKV supports them as a separate file. The ATV video player would also have to be updated to know what to do with them.

3. VC-1 codec support

4. Lossless 7.1 HD Audio in both major formats (Dolby TruHD and DTS-HD/MA)... Even just expanding lossy support to also include Lossy DTS 5.1 to go along with DD AC3 would be an improvement so it could play the core of both types of HD tracks at least.

5. Higher than L4.0 H264 Profile support. Say L4.1 or L5.1... As it is, some of my Bluray Rips stutter on playback, not due to network but do to higher than 25Mbps bitrate which is the max of L4.0. I only have a rev1 ATV3 though, so perhaps the rev. with the A6 fixes this?

6. Gigabit Ethernet port. In theory 100Mbps should be enough, with protocol overhead, you can come close to having issues streaming the 54 Mbps max of raw bluray (though the A5 struggles with processing high bitrates anyway this is only necessary if there is a bump in H264 profile support).

7. More of a nice to have for future use but wireless AC support

8. 3rd party apps via app store necessitating more flash on ATV say 16 or 32 GB of flash.

9. Remote app update that allows a coverflowesque way to play media on ATV rather than simply emulating the up-down-left-right of the remote. The fact that it allows this on a normal itunes library would mean it wouldn't be much to implement for ATV.

10. On the 2.0 audio side FLAC support, and bit perfect output via HDMI or optical. Right now 16/44 is output as 16/48. And 24 bit anything is downsampled, never mind hires stuff.

Despite that long list of wishes I love my Apple TV. As a settop streaming device, it is unrivaled. It is also dead easy to use so it has a high WAF going for it. Its netflix quality is superb, and the streaming apps it does have are all high quality in their streams. MLBTV and NHLGC in particular are awesome. It would be perfect if it also had a native NFL Gamepass app for everyone outside of US where you can get that service. Only thing that compares quality-wise is PS3 Netflix and MLB apps (I like both the UI and quality on it better), but the PS3 NHL app sucks in comparison. Its all the same services, but some devices have access to better streams or have better buffering built in the apps that makes all the difference across these streaming devices. Add in Airplay/Mirroring and sharing things like photos and videos from my iphone is great. Better photo sharing would be nice as I am a dSLR user and use Lightroom to catalog my serious photography which can't be shared easily.

That being said, an ATV for the living room TV is one thing but it would have to incorporate many of those wishes above to displace XBMC on a SFF PC on Win8 in my HT. It requires more tinkering (not much mind you) to get working right but with xbmc plugins for all the same services that the ATV supports, except netflix I am not missing anything, except a rental library. Vudu for PC isn't bad but lacks surround sound. Which is the reason why I say go with Win8. The Win8 netflix app has access to DD+ 5.1 audio and the SuperHD 1080p stream and is high-quality. Only thing is you need to use a mouse or a trackpad to navigate. Bonus is since its a PC you can do some gaming on it as well with Steam BPM or various emulators with direct plugins for XBMC.
 
xArtx said:
I'd be pissed too, if it was manufactured capable of the accelleration,
but was deliberately retarded by the manufacturer at considerable cost and effort.
Click to expand...

This truly makes no sense. In what world did Apple go to considerable cost and effort to *not* develop an API, AppStore, marketing, and developer tools for the AppleTV?
 
Menel said:
I don't see anything interesting they can do with AppleTV unless they do number 2. Which seems to make all sorts of sense! But it has for years and Apple has shunned that business angle.
Click to expand...
adbe said:
This truly makes no sense. In what world did Apple go to considerable cost and effort to *not* develop an API, AppStore, marketing, and developer tools for the AppleTV?
Click to expand...
The reason is clear if you've been following Apple TV rumors for the past few years. The set top box will not see any major upgrade and will never open to API or do games, an A5 single core can handle 1080p streaming, but, that's about it.

What Apple is up to in "secret" from what I've read of rumors and quotes from interviews w/senior execs and patents they've applied for: they plan to overturn the entire TV experience...similarly to the way Apple took over music with the iPod and iTunes (who buys and collects CDs anymore? Who goes to record stores anymore?)...Apple is developing a new TV (TV, remote, service & box) that will be internet based (no cable/satellite service needed) and compete directly with cable/satellite companies, eventually overtaking the market and, in the process innovate the "smart TV" and set-top boxes, adding a social aspect as well. It will also be the center screen for multiplayer gaming, interacting with multiple iOS devices. There will be a new way for glasses-free 3D as well, though, not sure this will be in the first iteration. It will blow everything away. And the earliest we will likely see this is a year from now.

Sorry, but, adding a little App store for developers to add apps to the Apple TV is just not going to happen. That little single core A5 can't handle intensive gaming, it's just good enough for streaming video, that's all.

To see where I'm coming from: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18057931/
 
Last edited:
The only thing I want is higher quality video that rivals Blu-ray, whether that is increased bitrate encodes or H.265 support. I'm so disappointed in their 1080p offerings. They are using better compression but only increased the bitrate 1 Mbps, because of this most shows/movies actually look better in 720p.
 
StinDaWg said:
The only thing I want is higher quality video that rivals Blu-ray, whether that is increased bitrate encodes or H.265 support. I'm so disappointed in their 1080p offerings. They are using better compression but only increased the bitrate 1 Mbps, because of this most shows/movies actually look better in 720p.
Click to expand...
Seems, like you are complaining about iTunes movie store, not the Apple TV?
The aTV 3 can play back also 1080p H.264@10Mbps+ movies, as can be read in this forum.
 
priitv8 said:
Seems, like you are complaining about iTunes movie store, not the Apple TV?
The aTV 3 can play back also 1080p H.264@10Mbps+ movies, as can be read in this forum.
Click to expand...
I'm complaining about the movie and tv shows apple sells in 1080p, the majority look worse than their 720p counterpart because of lack of bitrate.
 
StinDaWg said:
I'm complaining about the movie and tv shows apple sells in 1080p, the majority look worse than their 720p counterpart because of lack of bitrate.
Click to expand...
I see. However, this has no relation to aTV piece of hardware.
It's even strange that they offer TV Shows in 1080, because I have the impression, studios produce them in 720p and all 1080p versions I've seen have been plain upscales.
 
2crazy said:
There is not much LOL involved. Everyone favors different services. All the ones you mentioned are irrelevant to me personally. I have 4 ATVs and 1 Roku. I used the Roku to watch Amazon Prime, but since you can now Airplay it, it's just collecting dust. Most people here might also have decent iTunes libraries. Plus I also discovered that the picture quality of movies and tv shows from iTunes is much better than any other streaming service. But then again, what matters to me probably doesn't matter to you. Nothing to be laughing at 🙂
Click to expand...

All I'm LOL'ing at is the comment about Roku being a toy. I won't get into the debate about which device is better. I agree, different strokes for different folks. I could easily be one update away from using ATV as my primary device again. I also have a decent amount of purchased iTunes content so in reality I wish they'd get their act together and put out an App Store.
 
benji888 said:
Sorry, but, adding a little App store for developers to add apps to the Apple TV is just not going to happen. That little single core A5 can't handle intensive gaming, it's just good enough for streaming video, that's all.
Click to expand...

Who cares about games on Apple TV? I want video streaming apps like iPad has. Give me History, ABC, Nat Geo, PBS, Plex, Amazon Instant, Vudu, Crackle and so on. What about Pandora, Spotify, MOG, Rdio etc? They're missing a huge opportunity. Yeah airplay works fine but I'm certainly not going to pull out a tablet everytime I want to watch TV. Roku gets it. Meanwhile Apple is obviously more concerned with protecting their precious iTunes ecosystem.
 
excommie said:
I have both (Roku 3 and Apple Tv 3).
I think you need both if you want to cut cable (as I did). It's a small price to pay for both, if you're saving $60 a month by not having cable bills.
. . .
Apple TV for:

- Disney channels using cable authentication - exclusive to Apple TV.
Click to expand...

If you cut your cable. . . how are you using Disney channels with cable authentication?
 
priitv8 said:
I see. However, this has no relation to aTV piece of hardware.
It's even strange that they offer TV Shows in 1080, because I have the impression, studios produce them in 720p and all 1080p versions I've seen have been plain upscales.
Click to expand...
Yes, it does, because if the new apple tv has H.265 support they can keep the bitrate the same and double the quality. H.265 is twice as efficient as H.264.

As for your tv shows question, almost every network/cable show today is filmed in at least 1080p, and has been for years. Some are moving towards 4K support.
 
benji888 said:
T

What Apple is up to in "secret" from what I've read of rumors and quotes from interviews w/senior execs and patents they've applied for: they plan to overturn the entire TV experience...similarly to the way Apple took over music with the iPod and iTunes (who buys and collects CDs anymore? Who goes to record stores anymore?)...Apple is developing a new TV (TV, remote, service & box) that will be internet based (no cable/satellite service needed) and compete directly with cable/satellite companies, eventually overtaking the market and, in the process innovate the "smart TV" and set-top boxes, adding a social aspect as well. It will also be the center screen for multiplayer gaming, interacting with multiple iOS devices. There will be a new way for glasses-free 3D as well, though, not sure this will be in the first iteration. It will blow everything away. And the earliest we will likely see this is a year from now.
Click to expand...

I hear you but I am afraid that the movie studios have learned from their audio brethren - unless Apple is going to strike a massive deal with the content providers than there would be no chance for this to take off.

But ... what would be the incentive to make Apple distributor? On a global scale and in emerging economies iTunes is looking bleak in terms of available content and the offered quality.
 
StinDaWg said:
Yes, it does, because if the new apple tv has H.265 support they can keep the bitrate the same and double the quality.
Click to expand...
OK, now I get your point! I'm sure Apple will up the decoder to H.265 as soon as reasonable hardware becomes available. H.265 is just in the very early phase of it's market penetration IMHO. I also think that FullHD will not be driving force behind it. 4K will be. But that requires other parts of infra to become ready as well.
 
priitv8 said:
OK, now I get your point! I'm sure Apple will up the decoder to H.265 as soon as reasonable hardware becomes available. H.265 is just in the very early phase of it's market penetration IMHO. I also think that FullHD will not be driving force behind it. 4K will be. But that requires other parts of infra to become ready as well.
Click to expand...
Phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 can already decode H.265 video. Apple could do it right now if they wanted to. I just hope they don't save it for 4K content, because that's still such a small niche at the moment.

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/456443/samsung_galaxy_s4_has_next-gen_video_codec/
 
There might be a hardware update.. I think the next big change with ATV will be software based... And I think a big part of it will be the IOS remote app... It will probably get a lot more interactivity.. I suspect that you will be able to brows, select, and play content 100% from the ios device.
 
Did Amazon Just Drop an Apple TV Clue?

Full story

If you’re thinking about buying a new Apple TV, you may want to wait a few days. As first reported by Apple Insider, Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) digital media receiver product was briefly out of stock on both the French and German versions of Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) website. While normally this would simply be an indication that Apple TV is selling well in Europe, both sites also happened to list an expected availability date of October 23.

As noted by Apple Insider, October 23 is the day after Apple’s upcoming media event on Tuesday, when the company is widely expected to unveil the fifth-generation iPad, the second-generation iPad mini, and an upgraded MacBook Pro. However, the October 23 availability date listed on some of Amazon’s online storefronts suggests that the event may also feature an Apple TV hardware refresh.

On the other hand, Amazon’s French and German webpages have since updated their Apple TV inventory status as “in stock,” so it’s quite possible that the October 23 availability date was a coincidental error. However, this is not the only Apple TV hardware rumor that is currently circulating.
Click to expand...
 
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