the netflix app sucking less, and/or the homepods not constantly getting disconnected. neither of these require new hardware fortunately!
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Rumor Suggests New Apple TV 4K With A12X Chip is 'Ready to Ship'
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Not very long ago, it was illegal for you to purchase a set top box. You rented it for $10-15 a month. They were repeatedly upgraded by the provider, when we went digital, when we went HD, when we went switched digital video and AVC, when we went 4K...
The prices were so high that the FCC made it law for people to own cable boxes by allowing you to rent the minimum: separable access devices, a.k.a. CableCARD.
It failed miserably, and there was no such equivalent for satellite or IPTV, so most people still pay $10-15 a month to rent a full-featured box.
But you asked what could make this an appealing update for Apple TV 4K owners, and as an owner of said device, this is what would convince me. I may be in the minority, but there will still be folks out there, particular Apple Arcade and power users who will want this upgrade.
What *I* need from the new Apple TV is:
1. 10G ethernet. Yes, some of us actually have 10G ethernets in our home (I even have my 2008 and 2009 AND my 2008 xServe retrofitted).
2. Improved device count. Right now I can have a maximum of 5 Apple TV's on my network. Adding a sixth causes it all to go to hell. This is a software bug, not a hardware bug, and now if they support 10G AND have a faster processor, there is no reason for them to have this stupid hardware limit (and for those of you who think I'm in overkill... 3 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and downstairs mother-in-law apartment with 2 more Apple TVs - good thing I don't have a mother-in-law).
I wish they'd finally release this already. This is the perfect time to do so, when we're all stuck inside watching a lot of TV.
I was so glad to ditch cable, and the dumb box that came with it. For something they charged you monthly for, the interface had the performance of a 486.
Sorry, but that has absolutely no technical foundation. When the highest consumer content, 4K Blu Ray, has a bitrate limit of 100 Mbps. And to put in an Ethernet chipset that basically doubles the power consumption of the entire box.
What benefit could you possibly gain from a 10G connection on your Apple TV? Even the highest quality 8K content doesn't get much over 300mbps. I doubt even an A12X can push 10Gbps.
A12X is more powerful overall than the A13, especially for GPU performance. It's a significant upgrade vs the current A10X in the ATV 4K.
Processor Comparison - Head 2 Head
Apple A12X Bionic vs Apple A13 Bionic vs Apple A12 Bionic - Benchmarks, Tests and Comparisons
Processor Comparison - Head 2 Head
Apple A12X Bionic vs Apple A10 Fusion vs Apple A10X Fusion - Benchmarks, Tests and Comparisons
www.notebookcheck.net
A new remote that is backwards compatible with at least the 4th Gen ATVs and now we are talking
As I said since version one, it needs hdmi in! Then you put it in line between the cable box and tv. Passes thru when off, but when you want to AirPlay to the Tv you can without switching to an aux input. Also, you can overlay stuff onto live tv or other video.
I remember the last cable box I had before I cancelled cable. It was this massive, heavy, heat spewing General Instruments sucker. The UI was slow and laggy, flipping channels terribly slow, and was even missing features like S-video output (this was the early 00s before HD was common); it has a spot on the back for S-video but no port. They couldn't even give us a box with all features enabled. OH YEAH, and it ran hot as hell even when supposedly powered off. I think the power switch just turned off the display on the front and video output but it kept running.
Comcast charged like $12 a month for the privilege of renting that piece of ****. I remember the day I got my cable bill and it had just ticked over $100 for JUST television and basic cable (no premium channels even!) and I called them and told them to cancel my account.
Nowadays I'm still paying Comcast for Internet but I use an OTA antenna for live TV. I'm never going to pay for cable TV again. It's such a scam.
I'm torn about an Apple Remote upgrade/redesign.
Currently the wife swears more at the Apple Remote than she swears at me!
;-)
1 Apple TV doesn't need 10g. 3 apple tvs don't need 10Gps. 6? starts getting there. I can prove easilly that there is a burb on the network when i'm serving out a 24gig movie (part of the burp is that the tv processor needs to decode) and other services are going (internet and intranet) that there is a noticeable delay. My network was constantly failing until i replaced the 2 netgears with MicroTiks. However, we don't just use Apple tvs in our network, do we? My media server also hosts content as a backup server, x-ray processor, etc etc.
Why is apple putting 10GBE on all it's new machines? Local (internal) networks work better when a large file transfer is 10 times faster so that other processes that are also vieing for time don't get bounces or delays.
I'll get one of these on day 1. We're writing software for it and a faster processor is always welcome. We'll hook it up to our developer test TV set and have both 4K options.
Tried that and it failed.
Microsoft did that with the Xbox One. Absolutely nobody used it. Too fussy to boot up and deal with a remote and game controller for very little benefit, even in the days before streaming TV. Plus the Xbox has large mass storage so it does DVR, something the TV won't. That feature is gone with the Series X and nobody is complaining.
On top of that with new features like HDR and Dolby Atmos, it's technically difficult to insert audio and video into an existing stream properly.
There's no need to release an Apple game controller since Apple officially supports Xbox One and PlayStation 4 controllers in iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS. This is a much better solution than the mFi standard that was in place for some time. In fact, they sell both of these controllers on the Apple Store.
Needs a different remote. The amount of times I have it upside down ...
Whatever next tvOS update makes the current Apple TV horrible and slow to use.
Running the features they'll come out with that won't run on the current version.
Siri is fantastic on the AppleTV, even for simple queries like asking for the weather. AppleTV can serve as a HomeKit hub.
From a pure content consumption standpoint, there's not much benefit of one over the other.
I love how my phone instantly buzzes and offers a keyboard anytime typing is required on the AppleTV. Grab the phone, type the words, and done. Of course, voice dictation works well, too.
I bought a Apple TV 4K from apples refurb store last yr. I really like it but absolutely hate the remote control. I bought a rubber sleeve that helps create a little bulk and made it less slippery. They need to create a better remote, I’m constantly hitting the wrong buttons, activated voice instead of menu or pause. The raised menu button in white ring helps but it’s a terrible remote. Trying to fast forward is the worst, works about 50% of time have to keep trying it over and over to activate. I hate it.
I bought a new Samsung smart tv over Xmas and I no longer have any use for my old AppleTV. The apps on this Samsung are amazing and fit all my needs. My AppleTV is an older version with the good remote lol I may move my AppleTv to the TV in my bedroom though.
That being said, I would never get a new AppleTV with that horrible remote. My ex had it and I hated using that thing.
That being said, I would never get a new AppleTV with that horrible remote. My ex had it and I hated using that thing.