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Praise for Apple TV 4K and Home Theater with HomePod

rillrill

rillrill

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 27, 2011
843
654
New York
So I finally upgraded our family TV to nice 50” 2021 Samsung Frame. Its a nice tv, btw. We’ve had an Apple TV 4K for sometime now along with one HomePod. I’ve never tried combining everything until now. Everything, pretty much, just works our living room isn’t very big, and the one HomePod is great. Its fuller sounding than the TV speakers and its just so minimalistic looking with the TV on the wall. I am not sure when Siri got smarter - I can tell the HomePod to “turn off the tv,” and it doesn’t stupidly ask “which one.” It plays music when I ask, operates HomeKit, etc.
Anyone else have this setup? I think about Dolby Atmos with a second HomePod, but it would probably blow out a wall. I do think two minis would work well too, but they don’t save as the permanent audio output right now.
 
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I’ve been using my OG HomePods as my TV speakers for years. I’m so happy that it’s official now. Dolby Atmos needs the second speaker IMO. Left speaker handles left channel, right speaker handles right channel, and the “center channel” is shared amongst both. They need to be placed within 4ft of each other according to .
 
rillrill said:
So I finally upgraded our family TV to nice 50” 2021 Samsung Frame. Its a nice tv, btw. We’ve had an Apple TV 4K for sometime now along with one HomePod. I’ve never tried combining everything until now. Everything, pretty much, just works our living room isn’t very big, and the one HomePod is great. Its fuller sounding than the TV speakers and its just so minimalistic looking with the TV on the wall. I am not sure when Siri got smarter - I can tell the HomePod to “turn off the tv,” and it doesn’t stupidly ask “which one.” It plays music when I ask, operates HomeKit, etc.
Anyone else have this setup? I think about Dolby Atmos with a second HomePod, but it would probably blow out a wall. I do think two minis would work well too, but they don’t save as the permanent audio output right now.
Click to expand...
I tried the HomePod setup with tv but a 2.1 sound bar is much better. a second HomePod would sound even better but you will not get Atmos. Atmos requires at least 5 speakers and if you go for more they should be on the ceiling. you can do an atmosphere sound bar buttttt...and I share your glee for the HomePods but the minis and tv eh naw, lol.
 
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rillrill said:
I can tell the HomePod to “turn off the tv,” and it doesn’t stupidly ask “which one.”
Click to expand...

Since you've assigned the HomePods to a room, it automatically controls things in that room unless you specify otherwise. It is possible assigning permanent output in the aTV also has something to do with it.

On the phone, there is no room assignment, so it has to ask
 
I'm really hoping the upcoming Apple event on 4/20 announces a new Apple TV. I've wanted to buy one for the past 15 months but don't want 2017 technology when all the rumours on this site point to a new release coming soon. I have a HomePod and would love to see how it works with an Apple TV. I suspect given the cancellation of the product we might see the HomePod Mini get some new features to allow it to play with the Apple TV. I could be wrong about this.
 
addictive said:
I'm really hoping the upcoming Apple event on 4/20 announces a new Apple TV. I've wanted to buy one for the past 15 months but don't want 2017 technology when all the rumours on this site point to a new release coming soon. I have a HomePod and would love to see how it works with an Apple TV. I suspect given the cancellation of the product we might see the HomePod Mini get some new features to allow it to play with the Apple TV. I could be wrong about this.
Click to expand...

You should lower your hopes. I highly doubt they’ll announce it in April.
 
I got an OG HomePod for my birthday last week. It's immense with the Apple TV 4K. I plan on getting the second in 1/2 months time for stereo pair.
 
JBaby said:
You should lower your hopes. I highly doubt they’ll announce it in April.
Click to expand...
Probably so but if Apple has 3 or 4 product announcement dates/presentations between 4/20 and October then I'm pretty sure given the leaks and reveals in software code (tvOS 14.5 beta code reportedly references support for Apple TV with 120Hz refresh rates) that the new Apple TV will be released in the next six months. I can wait that long.
 
I finally picked up a second HomePod. When it works is sounds great. No neutral but I like the sound and psuedo-atmos better than my atmos/DTS:X Pioneer Elite sound bar. However, on many games the audio breaks up almost like it is skipping samples. It is constant. The quality also differs between video apps with some sounding great and others not so much.

I think I’ll wait until 14.5 to decide whether to keep this setup or go back to the sound bar and redistribute the HomePods. Since they are discontinued, I’m skeptical these bugs will get worked out. 😢
 
I love my atv stereo homepods setup, even more now that it’s official with Home Theater Mode. The speakers sound great, and with the ecosystem integration and Siri it makes the whole experience very convenient. And I love the minimalism of having one set of good-looking speakers in my living room for all audio uses—TV, music, and smart assistant.

I know a lot of people want surround sound with their TVs, but I prefer stereo. I don’t want surround sound unless I’m using VR.

My only complaints are I wish the bass was adjustable (don’t want the low frequency going through walls at night), and I wish there was a way to integrate my Blu-ray player.
 
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