[HN Gopher] Apple TV 4K Gets A12 Bionic
___________________________________________________________________
Apple TV 4K Gets A12 Bionic
Author : cameron_b
Score : 297 points
Date : 2021-04-20 17:16 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.apple.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.apple.com)
| justaguy88 wrote:
| Is HDR the only added feature?
| ascagnel_ wrote:
| HDR isn't an added feature (the previous version of the box
| already supported 4K HDR); it's the high-framerate support
| (with HDR) that's the added feature.
| oivey wrote:
| The old model supports HDR. I think the new high frame rate HDR
| is new, though.
| braum wrote:
| AFAIK HDR is in the current 4k apple tv.
| samgranieri wrote:
| I hope the remote is better this time around. Honestly, I'm just
| using a logitech harmony: https://www.logitech.com/en-
| us/products/harmony/665-advanced...
|
| When I gave my in-laws my old apple tv (non-4k) that I bought in
| 2015, I made sure to get them another remote.
|
| I'll look forward to getting this upgrade in a few years. My
| current apple TV 4k is working just fine
| paulpan wrote:
| The chip/SOC choice is perplexing: why only the A12 and not the
| more powerful A12X/A12Z? It would seem more future proof for
| graphics intensive workloads.
|
| For comparison, the A12 is ~30% better in CPU tasks but also ~30%
| worse in GPU tasks.
| https://www.anandtech.com/show/13661/the-2018-apple-ipad-pro...
| minimaxir wrote:
| Likely cheaper for Apple for sufficient performance. The
| original HomePod used a two-year old A Series Chip too.
| balls187 wrote:
| Current chip shortage?
| rolobio wrote:
| I have the last 4K TV model, and I loathe the remote. Will the
| new remote be backwards compatible?
| [deleted]
| robin_reala wrote:
| Yes. (As per https://www.macrumors.com/2021/04/20/new-apple-tv-
| siri-remot...)
| breals wrote:
| The new Siri Remote will be available separately for $59, and
| is compatible with the previous-generation Apple TV 4K and
| Apple TV HD.
| FredPret wrote:
| Best news ever. Fast-forwarding on the old remote has me
| flummoxed and my partner in stitches
| glhaynes wrote:
| I find it works great -- on the 10% of attempts that I
| don't accidentally scrub back to the first minute of the
| movie.
| FredPret wrote:
| When I try it I end up summoning Beelzebub, Siri is
| screaming obscenities at me, we've skipped the episode we
| were watching, and my partner is crying with laughter
| baby-yoda wrote:
| This is by far the least "Apple" product IMO. I hate that I can't
| remove stock apps and I hate that I'm being sold to every second
| I'm in the UI. It's so blatant. I paid for the box - I just want
| to use it for AirPlay and a small selection of apps I download,
| that's all. Yet Apple treats it as a giant digital billboard in
| our living rooms.
| adrr wrote:
| I bought an appletv because it doesn't pop up ads like other
| streamers. Only search functionality is where I have issues
| where it prioritizes apple content over other providers It
| seems to be a recent change too because search used to work
| when first got it.
| rconti wrote:
| FWIW the AppleTV "ads" I don't even process as ads, but my
| @#$@$# Fire Stick 4k pops up ads in the screensaver, and when I
| press "play" to resume my content, it starts playing some crap
| related to the ad. It's AWFUL.
| markphip wrote:
| I use AppleTV exclusively, how do you feel you are being sold
| to? I am guessing it is in the Apple TV app? That is the only
| place I can think of where I see something like this but it
| does not seem drastically different from Netflix promoting
| shows to watch.
|
| I mainly use other apps and do not feel like I am seeing ads or
| anything that are coming from AppleTV.
| radley wrote:
| It depends which apps you have in the menu bar. Disney,
| Netflix, Apple, & Plex, they show continue playing shortcuts.
| Amazon Prime shows promo ads, so I moved it to the right so I
| never see them.
| unfamiliar wrote:
| Try using a Fire stick, it inserts literal ads. Same with my LG
| "smart" TV,it inserts ads down the side of its menu. The Apple
| TV is by far the lowest offender in this department.
| nostromo wrote:
| I get it, but it's still a million times better than the
| competition.
|
| My Samsung TV showed me _banner ads_ before I disconnected it
| from the internet.
| kingsuper20 wrote:
| I have a Shield TV and can't say that I've ever seen an ad
| outside of youtube.
|
| Kind of a cool box. I wonder if anyone is working on a Linux
| port.
| mywittyname wrote:
| I use a roku and never feel this way. The only thing I could
| think of as an "ad" is on the screensaver, there are movies
| that float by, but I'm almost never looking at the
| screensaver anyway.
| cpuguy83 wrote:
| I had to turn off banner ads on my Roku-enabled TV...
| creepy stuff like "I see you are watching <movie>, try it
| on <app> for the best experience". This was while I was
| watching on an actual physical AppleTV, ads were from the
| Roku software in the TV.
| mlacks wrote:
| God I am happy to not be in an in industry anywhere near Apple's
| core competencies. I am a Sony apologist but the ecosystem apple
| is building around my life - and my home - is almost too
| convenient to not give into
| goodcjw2 wrote:
| Honestly speaking, the problem with Apple TV is that chips like
| A12 are such a overkill for TV box use cases. I recently
| purchased a $30 Roku and find it has almost 99% of the features
| that an Apple TV would have (including airplay2).
|
| Yes, Apple TV would have better color, visual quality, etc, but
| that's way into the realm of dismissed return for the investment
| IMHO.
| willseth wrote:
| Depends on how you're leveraging their ecosystem. If you have
| HomeKit cameras, your Apple TV might also be running 24/7
| realtime object detection for 5 simultaneous 1080p video
| streams.
|
| And your ROI is way off. The new auto-calibration feature
| brings an otherwise cost-prohibitive service into the consumer
| mainstream. Even if you happen to have one of the few higher
| end TVs that supports AutoCal, you still need $150 calibration
| software plus a $250 colorimeter. If your TV doesn't support
| it, then you have to either pay a professional even more to
| manually calibrate your TV or buy a dedicated 3D LUT box for
| hundreds more.
| rconti wrote:
| Can you elaborate on that first point? I'm not a Homekit or
| security camera person. Almost every word of that statement
| blows my mind.
| wil421 wrote:
| The AppleTV works as a sort of hub for HomeKit. They run
| some of the automation I have for different smart plugs. I
| assume it can do what OP said for HomeKit cameras. I use
| homebridge to enable HomeKit on devices that don't support
| it so I'm not about native object detection.
| willseth wrote:
| Sure. There are a handful of cameras that support a feature
| called HomeKit Secure Video (HSV). If you buy an HSV camera
| and you have an AppleTV, you can configure the camera to
| detect people, pets, and vehicles, set activity zones, and
| some other features. All the processing is done securely
| using the ATV's CPU, and anything you choose to record and
| save is encrypted and stored in iCloud. You do have to have
| a paid iCloud account to record the streams.
|
| This is a super slick feature that not only "just works,"
| but AFAIK it's the only security system with object
| detection AI that doesn't do it on the vendor's servers.
| This saves incredible amount of upload bandwidth, since you
| are only storing the segments of video that trigger
| detection. Plus, no one else has the decryption key to your
| video.
|
| Also, IIUC the HomePod and maybe even HomePod mini can act
| as HSV hubs as well.
| Hamuko wrote:
| I bought the Apple TV 4K specifically for the fast SoC.
| ziml77 wrote:
| With a smart TV I actually don't see any reason to use Apple or
| Google's solutions. I stopped using my Nvidia Shield when I
| realized that the experience from my LG C9 was as good or
| better. Even has support for AirPlay.
|
| Of course in some years it's likely to stop receiving updates
| and fall behind, but I can wait until that happens to look into
| an external box again.
| conception wrote:
| It's insane they don't package a first party controller and
| just take the video console space over with it.
| corysama wrote:
| I've heard an insider rumor that there was a plan years ago
| to make an Apple TV that would compete directly with the PS4.
| It was shelved because the person in charge of the App Store
| simply hated games and believed that music is the only art
| form worthy of respect.
|
| This led to that person demanding the limited set of
| Bluetooth channels be allocated in such a way that
| sufficiently responsive game controllers would be impossible.
| And, thus the concept was shelved.
|
| That person was later moved to be in charge of Apple Music.
| tshaddox wrote:
| Wireless Xbox controllers work fine with Apple TV. The bigger
| problem is that the games simply are not designed with a TV
| and console controller in mind. Even the Apple Arcade titles,
| which are generally very polished on iPhone and iPad, are
| pretty janky with a controller, and nearly unusable with the
| Apple TV Siri Remote (even though they claim to be designed
| for these input devices).
|
| But yes, it's very frustrating to me that the Apple TV
| doesn't have a rich gaming ecosystem. I'm pretty sure the
| hardware is powerful enough to deliver great performance and
| modern graphics for everything except the most photorealistic
| and flashy triple-A titles. Given that they offer Apple
| Arcade on the Apple TV, it's one of those surprising corners
| of the Apple ecosystem where you feel like a second-class
| citizen.
| corysama wrote:
| This is the classic chicken-egg problem inherent in
| starting up a new game platform. Why invest in your game's
| controller experience and compromise the touch experience
| when billions of players have touch and a negligible amount
| have controllers?
|
| The only way to bootstrap the ecosystem is to prime the
| pump with large investments from the platform holder. Pay
| devs directly to add support. Give hardware to users way
| below cost.
| tshaddox wrote:
| Yep, I don't fault the game devs at all! I would expect
| Apple to use the Arcade program (plus their infinite
| cash) to incentivize devs to really polish the Apple TV
| experience.
| NaN1352 wrote:
| It's also kind of half assed for Apple surprisingly,
| specifically some games from Apple Arcade are downright
| unplayable on my before-last gen ATV. To a point where it
| feels like a scam that Apple didn't simply exclude some
| titles from the older ATVs, it's just bad user experience.
| I remember one 3d game was super puxellated due to
| upscaling and like 10fps :/. Why even allow users to get
| this game on aging hardware?
|
| Now I wonder if it's worth upgrading for AA. I hate mobile
| games but there are a few good ports of pc games. And if i
| could play a good rogue game on my tv for smaller 20-30min
| sessions I'm sold.
|
| I'm still going to upgrade because you can feel even simple
| apps like twitch tv are laggy on before-last gen.
| goodcjw2 wrote:
| Yeah, sounds like natural next step. But building a game
| console ecosystem turns out to be 10x harder than building
| the hardware itself.
| tshaddox wrote:
| That's true, but Apple already has a rich and successful
| game ecosystem on iPhones which are roughly the same
| hardware as the Apple TV. They have all the ingredients,
| and they've even made a visible attempt by offering Apple
| Arcade on the Apple TV. Wireless console controllers also
| work on Apple TV. It's just clear that the resources and
| effort haven't been made to get their Arcade developers to
| do the extra work to really make their titles work well on
| big TVs with console controllers.
| PeterStuer wrote:
| It is one of the more cost effective options to run Zwift. More
| power would be very welcome.
| defaultname wrote:
| I recently moved my Apple TV to another room (for Fitness+ use)
| so we started relying upon a Chromecast with Google TV.
|
| What a downgrade. It made me remember how horrid AV components
| often were, where multi-second delays, slow loading, horrid
| transitions, etc, were just normal. The Chromecast Google TV
| device has a 4 core, 1.9Ghz device, yet it seems extremely
| underpowered.
|
| Having a beefy processor in an AV device is hugely beneficial.
| I don't want lag. I want everything to work effortlessly.
| ziml77 wrote:
| The Nvidia Shield basically uses the same SoC as the Nintendo
| Switch. Yet somehow even though the chip is powerful enough
| to run 3D games, Android TV can't manage smooth 2D animations
| on it. As I said in another comment I switched to using the
| apps on my LG TV. That sluggishness was a huge reason why.
| minhazm wrote:
| It's possible it's not powerful enough for a 4K tv if
| that's what you have. The Switch does 720p, or 1080p when
| docked. 4X the resolution is a big difference.
| tootie wrote:
| My experience with streaming sticks or other micro devices is
| that they get super hot and degrade over time pretty quickly.
| A small brick like Roku Ultra is much more durable. Bonus
| points for having an ethernet port. I'm also a fan of the
| Roku remote with the headphone jack built in and TV volume
| controls.
| paxys wrote:
| Disappointed by the update. I was hoping for more to set this
| $200 device apart from a $30 Fire Stick.
| alberth wrote:
| So is this getting the exact same CPU that was previously in the
| iPad Pro (that Apple updated today)?
|
| If so, amazing supply chain efficiency to keep this same cpu
| around but now in a cheaper product.
| saagarjha wrote:
| iPad Pro had A12X/Z, this has just "plain" A12 (although the
| microarchitecture is the same).
| Etheryte wrote:
| I don't know if this was already a feature previously since I
| don't really keep tabs on the Apple TV, but I find it incredibly
| cool that you can use your iPhone to color calibrate the TV. This
| is the level of product integration I wish every company had, but
| recently I've only seen this with Apple. Granted I don't know how
| well the feature works in reality.
| [deleted]
| pkulak wrote:
| I wonder if this puppy will have hardware AV1 decoding support.
| robenkleene wrote:
| Since the link isn't updated yet, here's an article on the new
| A12 Apple TV https://www.shacknews.com/article/123934/new-apple-
| tv-4k-ann...
| ping_pong wrote:
| As a current AppleTV 4K owner, I have no idea how any of this is
| different from the previous version. I don't any any discernible
| difference. I already have HDR, Dolby Atmos, etc.
|
| What I really want is the ability to make my remote control beep
| so I can find it. That's literally the only feature that I want
| at this point.
| Roonerelli wrote:
| could try the new Air Tag .
| https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-introduces-airt...
| evo_9 wrote:
| If you have an iOS device you can control your AppleTV from the
| TV Remote. I didn't notice this until recently and I never use
| the physical remote now. When you are prompted to type you can
| use your iOS device to type in text. Very handy.
|
| You can also control your AppleTV via Siri, but that's a bit
| more hit/miss depending on what you ask of course.
| hajile wrote:
| Apple has really started investing in and pushing for their
| arcade subscription.
|
| The A12 Bionic should be a lot faster which is a major point if
| you want to use those features.
| Hamuko wrote:
| How much faster? I want to upgrade my 4K because of the
| performance.
| jclardy wrote:
| To be honest I don't think it will really be that
| noticeable. It will be faster, but only slightly. The
| original 4k had an A10X, the new one has an A12. The A10X
| was the A10 with beefed up GPU, so on that front they are
| probably pretty close. The A12 will probably win out on
| general processing tasks.
| rsynnott wrote:
| It should probably be a decent improvement. Here's an A12
| (iPhone XS) vs plain ol' A10 (iPhone 7):
| https://www.anandtech.com/show/13392/the-iphone-xs-xs-
| max-re... Now, the A10X had a doubled-up GPU, but even
| taking that into account it still looks like a fairly big
| gap on the more demanding tests.
| Hamuko wrote:
| I imagine most of the beef that I need is on the CPU
| department.
| hajile wrote:
| I thought the "Bionic" referred only to the a12x or a12z
| variants. It makes sense as a place to put their unused
| stock left over from their old ipad lineup and as a way
| to get those "console" graphics.
| LASR wrote:
| A10X vs A12 - This makes me feel meh about the whole 3+ year
| upgrade. I was hoping for something at least like a A12X or
| A14.
|
| The difference in perf is not sufficient to warrant an
| upgrade IMO.
| jhickok wrote:
| The only thing I care about is that it supports 4k at higher
| refresh rates.
| varenc wrote:
| The old ATV 4k model already supports 4k at 60fps. The only
| improvement is that it supports HDR 4k content at 60 fps.
|
| From the old spec page [0]: H.264/HEVC SDR
| video up to 2160p, 60 fps, Main/Main 10 profile HEVC
| Dolby Vision (Profile 5)/HDR10 (Main 10 profile) up to 2160p
|
| And the new spec page [1]: H.264/HEVC SDR
| video up to 2160p, 60 fps, Main/Main 10 profile HEVC
| Dolby Vision (Profile 5)/HDR10 (Main 10 profile) up to 2160p,
| 60 fps
|
| [0] https://support.apple.com/kb/SP769?viewlocale=en_US&local
| e=e...
|
| [1] https://www.apple.com/apple-tv-4k/specs/
| iwasakabukiman wrote:
| It can do 120 FPS, which is considered "high frame rate"
| for televisions. 60 FPS is generally considered standard.
| layer8 wrote:
| Can it? The HDMI 2.1 footnote says "Support for up to 4K
| 60-fps HDR video output", and 120 isn't mentioned
| anywhere on the spec page.
| duhi88 wrote:
| What content is available over 60fps? I don't think they
| ever released The Hobbit in 48fps, and that's the only
| movie I'm aware of that was filmed with higher fps.
|
| Is this just for games?
| cruano wrote:
| All Formula 1 races are streamed at 60fps, and there's
| also iPhone-recorded videos
|
| But yeah, not much over 60
| tokamak-teapot wrote:
| I glued a Tile to ours
| sevencolors wrote:
| We have a house rule that if you use the remote, it stays on
| the coffee table and then goes back to a spot next to the TV
| when done. Otherwise the couch eats the remote.
|
| Feels like they could make it chirp like AirPods?
| slantyyz wrote:
| Real question - does the Apple TV support multiple remotes?
|
| I've sort of addressed that problem with my FireTV by adding
| a remote. This way there's still a remote around that I can
| use while hunting for the one that I misplaced. I have not
| had a situation where I misplaced both remotes... yet...
| ksec wrote:
| >What I really want is the ability to make my remote control
| beep so I can find it. That's literally the only feature that I
| want at this point.
|
| Yes. I am trying to Find out if the new Remote has the AirTag
| feature built in. But since they didn't announce it I am
| guessing not. Sigh. I thought it was the best use case for
| AirTag or Precision Location.
|
| Edit: Search through the spec and nothing mentioned. God Damn
| it WHY! Add the $29 to the price of Apple TV 4K or Remote if
| they really cared about money.
|
| Now that the Remote can Finally turn on the TV. Apple TV is
| taking the centre stage of TV experience with a single remote.
| All we need next is a Dump TV or even a "Monitor" so to speak.
| And Apple courting current TV Station to put out an App for
| their current livestream content. Essentially replacing Over
| the Air Broadcast with Broadcast via IP. Then All your "TV"
| experience can happen on Apple TV.
|
| Then someday may be they could allow Apple TV to be a Router so
| there is one less devices in my living room. And they could
| also act as a mesh system.
| theluketaylor wrote:
| Apple made a huge error not buying Eero and making AppleTV
| and HomePod devices into zero effort mesh points. They got
| out of the router business just a couple years too early
| since it was fully commoditized at the time, but the mesh
| revolution was just around the corner with a whole new market
| to conqueror.
|
| Letting Amazon get Eero is one of the few consumer facing
| misses Apple has made in the last few years (the keyboard
| debacle being the other)
| tyingq wrote:
| >Add the $29 to the price of Apple TV 4K or Remote if they
| really cared about money.
|
| I'm very happy with my Roku. It has a remote finder/beeper,
| and was dirt cheap. I looked at Apple TV, but didn't see what
| it had to offer that would justify $180-$200.
| beckler wrote:
| It could always turn a TV on or off. I had to change my
| television settings to allow it to accept commands over hdmi.
| Method-X wrote:
| > Then someday may be they could allow Apple TV to be a
| Router so there is one less devices in my living room. And
| they could also act as a mesh system.
|
| This is a great idea! Also, it would be awesome if Apple
| offered a version of Apple TV as a sound bar. Ideally it
| would be sound bar/router/tvOS.
| adrr wrote:
| I actually attached a Tile to my remote because my one year
| likes to hide it.
| theshrike79 wrote:
| > And Apple courting current TV Station to put out an App for
| their current livestream content. Essentially replacing Over
| the Air Broadcast with Broadcast via IP.
|
| This is already a reality in Finland.
|
| I haven't owned an antenna cable for over 5 years. All my TV
| comes directly through the internet from each channel's own
| app. Most provide live TV or at least make digital releases
| available at the same time as the live broadcast. (Not that I
| watch "live" TV anymore, since I don't do sports - which IMO
| are the only thing where being live actually matters)
|
| My LG TV is just a large monitor for me. The only use it gets
| is when I need to adjust volume for my consoles or turn the
| TV on/off. With the new ATV remote it'll be relegated to a
| fancy console volume controller =)
| ping_pong wrote:
| My current TV turns on when I turn on the Apple TV. It's
| probably an option for the HDMI plug, when it senses power to
| turn on the TV itself.
| meepmorp wrote:
| They also redesigned the remote so that it's not a gigantic
| pain in the ass.
| kalleboo wrote:
| I just use our TV remote. Our TV is 10 years old but the
| arrow/back/play control keys still work fine to control the
| Apple TV over CEC. I don't even know where our Apple TV
| remote is. For anything more fancy (text input) I use the
| remote on my phone (which automatically pops up on the Lock
| Screen)
| hinkley wrote:
| Kinda looks like the old remotes to me. Not that I'm
| complaining.
|
| Anyone have a theory why it's bigger?
| wilde wrote:
| The current remote buries itself in the couch at the first
| available opportunity.
| ghostpepper wrote:
| Can I pay for just the new remote? Will it work with the old
| AppleTV 4K?
| obenn wrote:
| The remote will cost 59$ and is compatible with the
| previous generation.
| ljoshua wrote:
| This is the best news of the whole new Apple TV
| announcement!
| Phillips126 wrote:
| This is what I want to know. I actually greatly dislike the
| touch pad on the current remote. I am constantly swiping
| too fast (flying by my desired target), or my
| upward/downward swipes are not working as desired. Not to
| mention every time I pick up the remote, the touch pad
| thinks I'm swiping causing my movie to fast forward/rewind.
| mlindner wrote:
| Available here apparently.
| https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJFM3LL/A/siri-remote
|
| Says it's compatible even with AppleTV HD.
| [deleted]
| rm445 wrote:
| You're in luck! You can now attach an AirTag to your Apple
| remote and use the powerful 'Find My' ecosystem to locate it.
| [deleted]
| antiterra wrote:
| It's not different because (at the time of this post and
| comment) this is the page that belongs to the previous version.
| hathym wrote:
| maybe this can help:
| https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-introduces-airt...
| vlovich123 wrote:
| Hopefully at some point AirTag will be embedded into all the
| first-party devices/peripherals.
| varenc wrote:
| I diff'd the technical specs for the old and new ATV 4K!
| https://gist.github.com/varenc/88f3253764fa7782602de2a812af4...
|
| There are more wording tweaks than actual capability
| differences. The real changes boil down to:
|
| - New Siri Remote
|
| - Support for 4K HDR content at 60fps vs 30fps
|
| - HDMI 2.1 vs 2.0
|
| - 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 vs 802.11ac
| scoopertrooper wrote:
| The step up to the A12 will be a pretty major boon for Apple
| Arcade. It'd have been nice to see a 'pro' option for an A12X
| or greater though.
| saagarjha wrote:
| There's also an A12 Bionic.
| kmonsen wrote:
| that is not a user feature
| ihattendorf wrote:
| Performance is a feature
| stouset wrote:
| Not for a device that rarely operates even close to its
| performance constraints. If you're using it for games?
| Sure, but I think that's still a very... let's call it
| "niche" market for the Apple TV. For people just using it
| to watch television and movies? Unnoticeable.
|
| It'll likely be more power efficient but I'm not sure
| that's going to be very noticeable.
| spullara wrote:
| I put a brightly colored case on it so it is easy to see.
|
| https://www.amazon.com/Nightglow-Silicone-Controller-Lanyard...
| nikisweeting wrote:
| I just want a web browser. I almost returned the thing in a fit
| of confused sadness when I found out it has no browser.
| briandear wrote:
| With airplay, it's easy.
| nikisweeting wrote:
| Nah it's garbage, I want to put something on the TV on its
| own and I want to use my phone for other stuff, not be
| forced to have the same thing on both screens.
| Legion wrote:
| https://github.com/jvanakker/tvOSBrowser
| tpmx wrote:
| It should be built-in.
|
| Apple has this bizarre blind-spot where they will not ever
| launch anything if it doesn't have 100% UX, when sometimes,
| actually a 98% UX is pretty damn useful. I mean, the remote
| has a touch pad!
|
| I'm not arguing they should have no lower limit on UX quality
| (lke Android), it's just, it should be slightly, slightly
| lower.
|
| And just to avoid any third party apps solving this problems
| for users, they simply refuse to allow real local browser
| Apple TV apps to their appstore.
| DrBenCarson wrote:
| Surprised/disappointed this didn't also coincide with stuffing
| the old hardware into a "stick" form factor and calling it an
| Apple TV Mini.
|
| I want an Apple TV on every TV I own but it's just too big in
| some cases.
| AlphaWeaver wrote:
| Something that might be being overlooked - it looks like this
| supports pairing Xbox One controllers that use Xbox Wireless!
| This is a different standard than Bluetooth and should enable
| everyone who has Xbox controllers to easily use them in Apple
| Arcade. Impressive!
| nostromo wrote:
| The iPad has had this for a while.
|
| It's really an entirely different (and much better) gaming
| experience. It makes your iPad more like a Nintendo Switch.
|
| Unfortunately most games ignore the controller because not
| enough people do this.
|
| If Apple is serious about gaming, they'll need to actually ship
| a controller with the Apple TV at some point.
| philistine wrote:
| I'm currently playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider on my M1 Mac
| using an Xbox One S controller. It fully vibrates and requires
| no setup at all. Apple introduced this pairing of Xbox and PS4
| controllers very recently for all its devices. Its great.
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider, not so much. I can't get more than a
| steady 30 FPS.
| cyxxon wrote:
| That is a bit misleading: a lot of Xbox One wireless
| controllers work with Bluetooth, it seems Microsoft switched
| this during the production run. I have one at home for use with
| my PC, I don't own an Xbox, and it works without any receiver.
| My old 360 controller needs the wireless receiver though, that
| is the old protocol (or maybe not the same protocol? Not
| sure...)
| AlphaWeaver wrote:
| In the beginning, the Bluetooth versions of the controllers
| weren't sold with the console, and they were specialty,
| mostly for PC gamers. There's still a fair number of
| controllers out there that can only connect via Xbox
| Wireless.
|
| If the new Apple TV can actually pair with those, that's a
| big deal.
| [deleted]
| crooked-v wrote:
| All Xbox controllers from the release of the Xbox One S (2016)
| and later have Bluetooth included. I'm pretty sure the ATV
| doesn't have any support for the MS-specific protocol, just the
| Bluetooth functionality.
| rconti wrote:
| How do I know which I have? I just bought an XBox One
| controller to use with my gaming PC, but I'm not much of a
| gamer (hence why I never had one before). It came with a
| dongle which I assume is RF, which I prefer to Bluetooth on
| Windows. I'm wondering if my controller ALSO supports
| bluetooth? Or if it's either/or?
| ihuman wrote:
| All of them work with the MS-specific protocol, but only
| some work with Bluetooth. The top of the controllers look
| different https://i.imgur.com/i9490os.png
| josteink wrote:
| My number one complaint about the current Apple TV 4K is the lack
| of support for the HLG[1] HDR-format used by among others BBC.
|
| It means I need to play certain content on Android Plex on my
| actual TV and it just feels so unnecessary.
|
| Here's me hoping they have that fixed with this new release.
|
| [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_Log-Gamma
|
| Edit: Developer docs seems to imply it is supported, but I can't
| see any software like Plex for tvOS actually enabling it, unlike
| on Android.
|
| https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation/avpla...
| lesmond wrote:
| I wonder if it can support more than 3 Bluetooth connections like
| the current one!
| wbond wrote:
| I am constantly wondering why the fourth controller doesn't
| seem to pair. Thank you!
| trevor-e wrote:
| Super disappointed they won't completely redesign the remote.
| I've never been so frustrated with a piece of hardware.
|
| - It's so small/light/slippery that it slides towards where
| you're sitting on the couch. Inevitably this means you'll press
| one of the buttons with your leg unless you put it away on a
| coffee table after every use.
|
| - Unless you use Siri or your phone, text input is literally
| swiping back and forth across a single array of characters. You
| can swipe in any direction on the remote... why would they make
| text a single row instead of a keyboard layout?
|
| - There's no "back" button. With TV you are often switching back
| and forth between two shows, a feature virtually every TV remote
| has had for 20+ years. I get the remote is supposed to be general
| purpose, but this is such a common interaction.
|
| edit: for some reason the submission link brought me to an old
| marketing page. I refreshed and looks like they did indeed
| redesign the remote, sucks I had to waste time writing my rant.
| :D
| Simplicitas wrote:
| Totally agree.
|
| I will own an Apple TV until they provide an adequate remote.
| lfuller wrote:
| They did redesign the remote. It uses a click wheel instead of
| a touch pad, and they included a dedicated back button.
| gpanders wrote:
| Did you see the new remote? It seems to solve many of your
| requests.
|
| I, too, absolutely hate the current Apple TV remote and I'm
| pumped they finally redesigned it.
|
| https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-unveils-the-nex...
| trevor-e wrote:
| Weird, not sure what went wrong (bad caching?) but the
| submission link definitely took me to a previous TV4K
| marketing page. I refreshed and am seeing the new remote now,
| very happy to see that.
| CoreSet wrote:
| It's not necessarily a substitute for a dedicated back button,
| but hitting the "Menu" button typically takes you to the
| previous step (unlike the TV icon, which takes you to the Apple
| TV watch page)
| ksubedi wrote:
| Does anyone know if the automatic color calibration tool they
| mentioned is coming to existing Apple TV's?
| smithza wrote:
| I believe another comment mentioned that this will be supported
| in an OS update in the future for prev gens.
| oivey wrote:
| The automatic color calibration looks be really nice. Most TVs
| are not well calibrated by default. I wish it would let you
| export the results to change the settings for all connected
| devices, but that's probably too TV specific.
| flog wrote:
| Looking at the description on the website, it looks like this
| is going to be a non-starter for us projector users, sadly, as
| you have to point your camera at the screen within an inch or
| so from the surface. Hopefully there's some manual calibration
| option too.
| antiterra wrote:
| People on AV forums seem to enjoy giving $400+ to ISF certified
| calibrators, so maybe this is a nice middle ground?
| m3kw9 wrote:
| The calibrated colours are output by AppleTV so
| kentiko wrote:
| TV nowadays do a lot of "image enhancement" as they call it.
| Things like contrast and saturation boost to make TVs look
| "better" at the store. Calibrating a screen that dynamically
| messes with the colors seems impossible. Maybe Apple will ask
| the user to set the screen in a more passive mode to deal with
| that?
| leipert wrote:
| Wonder why they don't offer the calibration on macOS. Would
| love to calibrate my external monitor.
| mihail_m wrote:
| This is a great feature and kudos to Apple for bringing it to
| the previous generation of Apple TV.
|
| This feature will improve image quality without having to pay
| insane amounts for calibration.
| josteink wrote:
| > This is a great feature and kudos to Apple for bringing it
| to the previous generation of Apple TV.
|
| I can't see that mentioned anywhere.
|
| Got any details on that?
|
| Do you need some app or update?
| mihail_m wrote:
| https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-unveils-the-
| nex...
|
| Go to the press release above, scroll down until the end,
| and refer to footnote 2. It is about calibration - it
| requires an iPhone with FaceID, IOS/tvOS 14.5 and is
| available as well for the 1st generation Apple TV 4K.
| [deleted]
| ed25519FUUU wrote:
| I'd really love it if I could access the Apple TV while it's not
| being used. It's very powerful. It could run a home VPN, or
| accelerated image/video encoding (of which it can do VERY FAST).
| The reality is that it's a very powerful box that largely just
| sits there.
| rodgerd wrote:
| For me it's the simple irritation that if I have an AppleTV
| autoplaying my sleepytime music to my room, or the radio to the
| kitchen in the morning, and someone else starts using it to
| watch TV, it replaces all those audio streams. C'mon, you can't
| tell me it is unable to do more than one thing at a time.
| azalemeth wrote:
| Exactly. I have an iPad Pro that is compatible with Checkrain.
| Being able to SSH into it and do stuff is a useful godsend.
| I've no idea why Apple won't let users actually use their
| devices -- and I write this on a rooted Android phone.
| minikites wrote:
| >I've no idea why Apple won't let users actually use their
| devices
|
| Why would Apple let you do it yourself when they can juice
| their services revenue by making you pay for the same
| functionality?
| FredPret wrote:
| How many Apple users are chomping at the bit to SSH into
| their TV or tablet?
|
| I'd rather them spend the time streamlining the 1-2% of
| use-cases that make up 99% of actual device use.
| azalemeth wrote:
| Good point. But, given frankly how many developers I know
| with Apple products, I suspect it may well be higher than
| you think. The main thing I like is flexibility: I have a
| home-built Kodi PVR with a TV tuner on a raspberry pi 4
| in a neat little box. It works _brilliantly_ , and also
| doubles as an adblocking nameserver, always-on reverse
| tunnel so I can access files stored at home remotely
| despite many layers of NAT, etc. There's no reason
| Apple's products couldn't do this.
| FredPret wrote:
| I agree, that's a great use-case.
|
| But the main thing with Apple is that they manage the
| scope for life's little bugs to creep into their UX by
| aggressively minimizing the number of things they attempt
| to do.
|
| Think about how many times you unlock your phone, open
| the keyboard, open an app, etc, versus how many times you
| need to do something power-user-ish like running an
| adblocking nameserver, or any kind of server. They should
| spend money and brain-time optimizing the first things,
| first.
|
| The latter is still important and cool but shouldn't be
| doing it at all if they can't slot it neatly into their
| smooth user experience.
|
| As an investor I also don't want them risking their super
| valuable brand and spending money developing fringe
| applications. You can buy a $50 RPi for that!
| minikites wrote:
| Putting that much power in a TV box doesn't make any sense to
| me. If it was for Apple Arcade, then they need to ship an
| actual controller by default. Apple is half-assing it with more
| and more products because people keep buying them anyway.
| [deleted]
| jpdaigle wrote:
| No dual bluetooth.
|
| For some reason, the current crop of streaming devices all fail
| the use case of: 2 people want to watch a movie on headphones,
| without waking the kids. The current solution to this is airpods,
| where each person gets either the left or right ear. If there's
| one thing a premium device that costs twice what everything else
| does could do to differentiate itself, it would be supporting
| bluetooth pairing to multiple headphones at once.
| tlb wrote:
| They claim otherwise: "Audio Sharing lets you connect two sets
| of AirPods to your Apple TV 4K" [https://www.apple.com/apple-
| tv-4k/]
| minikites wrote:
| I find it astounding that Apple ceded control of Wi-Fi routers to
| companies much less trustworthy than Apple, but they insist on
| making overpriced TV boxes and smart speakers that nobody is
| buying.
| ectospheno wrote:
| Their routers ran NetBSD. You can still do that if you want.
|
| As for Apple TVs, I own five.
| minikites wrote:
| You thoroughly missed my point. Apple could be innovating in
| so many ways if they had control of the router (home VPN,
| control nexus for smart home devices), an area which they
| have an advantage (trust in updates, security, privacy). I
| think ceding that ground to less trustworthy companies in TP-
| Link, Eero, and Ubiquiti is dumb.
|
| >As for Apple TVs, I own five.
|
| Then you have a greater incentive to defend a substandard
| product so you don't feel foolish.
| FredPret wrote:
| Apple TV is substandard? Maybe you don't like it or prefer
| something else, but "substandard"?
|
| I do hope they branch into routers though, not sure there's
| a lot of money to be made there, but would be nice to see
| as a consumer. Maybe if they sell an ultra-premium, very
| secure router.
| ectospheno wrote:
| A TP-Link EAP225v3 is a solid access point. It cost $60.
| Apple left the space because there is no money in it.
| pseudalopex wrote:
| Apple TV is a control nexus for smart home devices if your
| smart home devices use HomeKit.
| ksec wrote:
| I still dont understand why the Apple TV 4K couldn't act as a
| simple router. It had all the hardware required for it. It sits
| in the living room or wherever there is a TV which could act as
| a Mesh Network.
| Covzire wrote:
| I'm probably in a tiny minority but I really want my Windows
| HTPC with a fairly high end GPU to fill the role these devices
| do.
|
| Somehow we're in a situation where Microsoft refuses to support
| Dolby Vision while streaming movies through the web browser
| have poor multi-channel audio support as well as what appears
| to be a lower bit rate in comparison to android/app based TVs
| or devices.
|
| Even though my PC can run circles around my 2018 TV's android
| cpu/gpu, they always look better in the Amazon/iTunes app on
| the android TV or a Roku than they do my web browser.
|
| I don't get the state of Windows / Browser support for videos,
| it's like they're purposefully making the PC experience
| inferior to sell a few more of these things.
| resfirestar wrote:
| Hollywood doesn't want people using PCs as a primary media
| device because they'd have to compete with pirate streaming
| services, so they want to push people to invest in more
| locked-down devices and ecosystems. One way to do that is
| limiting resolution, bitrate, and features for desktop users
| so that casual Netflix users are nudged to switch to an
| industry-approved streaming box that can't access
| unauthorized services.
| beervirus wrote:
| I have Eero gear now. I'd swap it for an Apple mesh in a
| heartbeat if they'd only build it.
| throwastrike wrote:
| I just want the remote. My kids completely destroyed my remotes
| 5x over.
| addflip wrote:
| Here's the press release.
| https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-unveils-the-nex...
| [deleted]
| pradn wrote:
| > the first streaming player to be both Dolby Vision and Dolby
| Atmos certified
|
| Is this true? Through my `ChromeCast with Google TV`, I can get
| Dolby Vision (as my TV tells me) and Dolby Atmos (as my speakers
| tell me). I am reliably able to get these very noticeable formats
| via HBO Max. Or does this just mean they went the extra step to
| get some sort of official certification?
| antiterra wrote:
| It was true in 2018, when this info page was made, which was a
| couple years before the ChromeCast had it, I believe.
| pradn wrote:
| I see, thank you!
| edsemail123 wrote:
| That link says that it has the A10x fusion, doesn't seem to
| mention the A12 at all.
| valuearb wrote:
| Its the link for the old model.
| softwaredoug wrote:
| I'm happy that they ditched the old, confusing 'touch' Siri
| remote for a traditional four button (up/down/left/right) one.
| The old Siri remote was pretty frustrating. I know some people
| love it, but there's so many ways it didn't. work well:
|
| 1. You breath on the thing, and it does something. It's extremely
| sensitive
|
| 2. It's really hard to fast fwd/rewind just a little bit. Its
| good at scrubbing through a whole movie, but try to go back 30
| seconds with it, it's nearly impossible. Even worse, if you
| accidentally touch it, the movie goes fwd/back, and you try to
| scrub precisely to where you were - pretty frustrating.
|
| 3. You're not touching the thing you're interacting with, and
| unlike a touchpad, you don't see a cursor you're moving. It's
| supposed to be 'like' you're touching the screen itself.
|
| 4. Most people who aren't somewhat tech savvy just will give up
| (I set my dad up with our roku elsewhere for this reason). They
| expect physical buttons and to be able to 'click' through
| channels. It's not even apparent until you use it for a while
| part of the remote is a touchpad, as it's all black
|
| It's like the remote was built for savvy iPhone users, not people
| that want to just watch TV.
|
| Apple TV has other usablity problems, but that was a big one for
| me that would make me question getting another one.
| tinus_hn wrote:
| They aren't ditching it, they took a large step in fixing these
| issues. It's still a trackpad but with buttons on it.
| bni wrote:
| I use the original TV remote to navigate the AppleTV menus, it
| works by HDMI-CEC.
|
| Its amusing to me that this new appleremote is very similar to
| a traditional TV remote.
| dave84 wrote:
| It basically looks the same as the remote from the old
| AppleTV 2 with a Siri button.
| yakk0 wrote:
| I dropped my remote the first night I had my Apple TV 4K and
| shattered the glass on it. Good riddance.
| rexf wrote:
| I agree. Glass was a horrible design choice for a remote. I'm
| glad they are moving to aluminum.
|
| In my house, we have two 4K TV remotes with broken glass. Not
| safe, and the worse part is the replacement cost of the
| remote is typical Apple pricing ($$$). Apple managed to
| create a remote where getting a case was reasonable.
| hh2222 wrote:
| > try to go back 30 seconds with it, it's nearly impossible.
|
| Tip: press the mike button and say "go back 30 seconds" ... or
| "open netflix" etc.
| foliveira wrote:
| Unfortunately the Siri function isn't available in numerous
| countries
| cicloid wrote:
| You could just use your TV's remote control if your TV supports
| HDMI-CEC. Most modern TV's do send their key pushes via HDMI
| back to the device.
|
| Also there is the option of using a simpler Ir remote control
| to control the Apple TV. You can record the commands for a
| simpler operation.
| kdamken wrote:
| For scrubbing though if you put your finger on the left or
| right side of the touchpad you will see a little arrow circle
| on the progress bar. You can then push the pad to scrub.
| MaxLeiter wrote:
| If you have an iPhone I absolutely love the Apple TV remote
| app. Feels like the remote design was made for the phone. I
| wish other apps or console also let you use your phone to type
| or control
| dougbarrett wrote:
| I agree wholeheartedly, the only downside I would see is that
| volume cannot be controlled through the iPhone app if you're
| controlling the volume through the TV. When I have a
| bluetooth speaker paired to apple TV, i'm able to control
| that volume using the rocker switches on my phone, it's the
| weirdest thing.
|
| It feels like magic to have my TV turn on by a touch of my
| phone, and to also be able to control the TV when the kids
| think they are sneaky by not giving me back the remote.
| valine wrote:
| I built a raspberry pi IR blaster to solve this very
| problem. I have shortcuts on the home screen that talk to
| the pi when I want to control the TV volume from my iPhone.
| InvaderFizz wrote:
| My sound bar uses ARC connected to my TV. This means the
| physical Apple TV remote can turn the volume up and down.
| Same applies when using the Remote app. The volume rocker
| on my phone controls the sound bar volume.
|
| Annoyingly, this does not apply to screen mirroring to the
| AppleTV.
| ixfo wrote:
| The big problem I had with the remote was elderly users.
| Picking up an object should not have side-effects.
| sjs382 wrote:
| Honestly, the old remote as-is is one of my least favorite
| remotes ever because of 1) the issues with accidental touches
| and 2) when you pick it up, you never know which way it should
| be pointed without looking.
|
| But add a little silicon sleeve that solves both issues, and it
| quickly became my favorite.
| r00fus wrote:
| What sleeve did you buy?
| mbesto wrote:
| I'm a decently savvy iPhone user and the traditional remote is
| absolute garbage.
|
| Wonder if you can just buy the remote independently and use on
| old hardware?
| sjs382 wrote:
| You can. $59.
|
| https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJFM3LL/A/siri-remote
| mlindner wrote:
| Awesome. Definitely getting it. My current Apple TV 4K is
| fine, but the remote is garbage.
| kmonsen wrote:
| yeah, not really sure why I would update the apple tv 4k
| InvaderFizz wrote:
| I'm updating, but that is because my son also uses it as
| a console with Apple Arcade, so the extra horsepower is
| appreciated.
|
| The old AppleTV 4K will be relegated to the spare TV.
| Which will please my son greatly as now he doesn't get
| locked out of using the AppleTV if my wife and I are
| watching something through Plex on the main TV.
| mikestew wrote:
| Or for half that one can avoid rewarding Apple for making a
| remote that reminds you how much Apple hates you:
|
| https://function101.com/pages/button-remote-for-apple-tv-
| hom...
|
| It does lack the Apple TV button, though. Which, meh, long
| press Menu and hit the Apple TV icon from the home screen.
| Before today's announcement, that was made up for by the
| fact that the old Apple remote inexplicably lacked a mute
| button, which the button remote has. It makes me wonder how
| stuff like the old remote gets out the door sometimes.
| louthy wrote:
| Honestly, I love the remote, it's so much better than every
| other remote I've used. I will admit that 2 is small issue (you
| can just say "go back 30 seconds" into the mic), but not enough
| for me to write the thing off. For most things I'd prefer to
| navigate with swipes than repeated click click click of
| buttons, like other remotes.
| mastercheif wrote:
| The original touch AppleTV remote was probably ill-considered,
| but the accelerant of its demise was Apple ceasing to care if
| third-parties used native UIKit controls on AppleTV in a chase
| to get all of the channels and services to port their SmartTV
| applications over.
|
| For example, the original YouTube app on the AppleTV 4th
| generation was great. Navigating was a breeze with the native
| scroll momentum and sensitivity, now playing gestures worked as
| expected, et all.
|
| After a year or so the app started falling behind in features
| to the LG/Samsung/SmartTV/Console apps, which presumingly use a
| shared web/javascript base. They (I assume) decided maintaining
| a separate codebase for AppleTV was a waste and went to work on
| porting the SmartTV app to the AppleTV.
|
| Now navigating the app using the AppleTV touch remote is
| complete mayhem, frustrating and unpredictable in every sense.
| Gestures that work on other platforms such as long press to add
| to playlist are absent, and the video player doesn't use the
| native gestures such as drag down for audio options or skip
| ahead/behind with tap on edge.
|
| The new remote is Apple giving up and saying that HDMI-CEC and
| 4-way DPad controls have won.
| astrange wrote:
| The new remote is still touch based. There's just also a
| D-pad.
| rconti wrote:
| It's utterly and inconsistent in use between apps. SOMETIMES
| clicking on the far right or far left side of the touchpad
| SOMETIMES jumps forward 15 seconds and sometimes pauses. And
| it's different between apps AND different each time you try it.
| wilsynet wrote:
| The Apple TV touch remote is frustrating even if you are tech
| savvy. It is just bad, period.
| BoorishBears wrote:
| Prone to dust getting into the gap between the touchpad and
| the case so edge presses become even more inconsistent
|
| And the ridiculous use of glass where no one would ever have
| complained about aluminum or plastic (which I've seen shatter
| on multiple remotes now)
|
| Good riddance
| coryking wrote:
| > Prone to dust getting into the gap between the touchpad
| and the case so edge presses become even more inconsistent
|
| Yup. All the time. Especially if you use those sleeves
| people talk about. And you have to use those sleeves
| because otherwise you don't know if you picked it up in the
| right direction.
|
| Seriously. That remote is the worst pile of trash. I hate
| it every time I use it. Good riddance.
| tptacek wrote:
| I'm always a little surprised when people talk about the Apple
| TV remote, since I always just use my phone as the remote, and
| assume that everyone else would too; you always have your phone
| and often don't have the remote on-hand.
| tshaddox wrote:
| I generally want any member of the viewing party to be able
| to hit the pause button when they want to say something or
| step away for a moment. I also like being able to instantly
| hit a button in the dark purely with muscle memory. A TV
| remote on the coffee table really can't be beat.
| intrasight wrote:
| You mean yet another remote on the coffee table ;)
| tptacek wrote:
| The iOS TV remote makes it easier for people to share
| control of the TV, not harder.
| tshaddox wrote:
| How can I give guests control of my TV via their phones?
| As far as I know, that can't be done automatically with
| iPhones, let alone people who don't have iPhones.
| jshier wrote:
| They launch the Remote app on their phone, select the TV
| from the local network (if you don't banish them to a
| guest network), and pair with the code, same as you
| adding your phone.
| larusso wrote:
| I use a Logitech harmony the last 12 years (different models)
| and hate to use my phone other than entering text. I tried
| multiple times to use my iPhone but hate it so much. Also my
| Harmony has macros to switch to different activities. There
| is an app for the phone as well. But that gets really
| frustrating. At least for me.
| taylortbb wrote:
| I think if one is going to always use their phone, then they
| probably bought a Chromecast at 1/4 the price. Unless they
| have a really strong attachment to the Apple ecosystem.
| quickthrowman wrote:
| What? I have an iPhone and an Apple TV, I use my phone as
| the remote 99% of the time, mostly because I always have my
| phone on me. I bought an Apple TV because it's the only
| device that doesn't sell user data, nothing to do with how
| it is controlled. The touch remote is pretty crap for
| actual use, nice to see they're going back to buttons.
| powvans wrote:
| Or they have kids and the Apple TV remote is quickly lost
| or broken as it is both small and fragile!
|
| I have multiple of both Apple TV and Chromecast and they
| both have their benefits. The babysitter can control the
| Apple TV with their phone. With the Chromecast they need
| their own Netflix/Prime. Not nearly as good. For my own
| personal use Chromecast is best.
|
| Edit: and of course on my newer TV's most services are
| available as apps.
| zippergz wrote:
| For me a touch screen as a remote is even worse than the
| terrible Apple TV remote. I like being able to pick it up and
| use it without looking at it (and without lighting up the
| dark room if we're watching a movie or something).
| addicted wrote:
| Using a real remote (Apple remotes don't count) is so much
| better. There are some things a smartphone is better for,
| such as entering in passwords. But for regular usage there's
| no comparison.
|
| Besides, if I just wanted to use my smartphone I would simply
| stick to my chrome cast devices. If I'm gonna be using the
| phone to control my entertainment center then the chrome cast
| provides by far the best interface because you have access to
| the entire app.
| tptacek wrote:
| I forgot all about text inputs! With the actual remote, You
| have to fumble with that letter-at-a-time selector. I'm
| even more surprised anyone bothers with the physical
| remote.
| kmonsen wrote:
| I use actual remote for normal use, and iphone whenever I
| have to edit text. Seems like the best of both worlds?
|
| To be clear I use my TVs remote with HDMI CEC, not that
| insane apple remote.
| anderber wrote:
| You can use a physical remote without looking at it and
| that's very hard to do with a smartphone. You also have
| to constantly unlock it to get back to the remote app if
| it shuts down. I love the Roku remote, it works so well
| and the physical buttons are very satisfying.
| maxidog wrote:
| Actually it goes straight back to the Apple TV remote
| without having to unlock. Not sure what the time limit is
| but it works after the device has gone to sleep and
| otherwise locked itself.
| robbiep wrote:
| You can put it on your slidey down screen (where
| flashlight and sleep etc live) and then it's swipe down,
| touch - no unlock necessary
| markphip wrote:
| I use my phone often too, but you cannot control the volume
| from your phone so you need another remote too. My Samsung TV
| remote works pretty well as the Apple TV remote though too.
| The DirecTV remote control was also programmable and worked
| OK. They both just lack the Home button but you can use the
| Back button enough times to do without it.
| SigmundA wrote:
| My phone controls the volume, when the remote app is up on
| the phone the volume buttons on the phone actually change
| my receivers volume through HDMI from the Apple tv.
| fotta wrote:
| This depends on HDMI-CEC and volume control support
| amongst manufacturers is varying. My fancy LG OLED
| doesn't support volume control over CEC (but it has
| HomeKit support which works).
| tptacek wrote:
| You're the second person to say this, but for what it's
| worth: the iPhone remote app is literally the _only_ way I
| control the volume on my AV system.
| dbt00 wrote:
| Me too mostly but it's annoying that it's in a weird
| place not directly accessible from the remote widget in
| control center.
| tptacek wrote:
| For me, using both the "built-in" remote app on the
| control panel and the "real" remote app launched as a
| proper app, the volume is controlled simply with the
| iPhone's volume buttons. I'm not sure how it could get
| any more ergonomic.
| refracture wrote:
| I have a specific annoyance about that: I have an Apple
| TV HD that I bought second hand that had no remote; it's
| connected to a monitor so there's no TV remote or HDMI-
| CEC or anything of the sort; when using AirPods with the
| Apple TV the only means I have to adjust volume is that
| iOS App, the universal remote I have for otherwise
| controlling the Apple TV can't adjust it. Oh well. I'm
| thinking about buying that new remote and taking one of
| the other siri remotes I already have and putting it on
| that one.
| ashtonbaker wrote:
| It's a better experience for sure, but loading the app takes
| time, and it often (for me) takes a couple tries to pair with
| your apple tv. Also, you can't adjust the tv volume.
| matwood wrote:
| If you have CEC or ARC setup, then you can adjust the
| volume by tapping on the buttons on the Lock Screen or
| using the iPhone volume buttons when the remote open.
|
| I'm not sure what remote your are using, but the one built
| into the iPhones pull down menu is instant for me.
| tptacek wrote:
| I'm not totally sure how it works (the only connection
| between my ATV and my AV system is HDMI) but adjusting the
| volume --- on my receiver --- works fine from the Apple TV
| iPhone remote.
| jolux wrote:
| It uses HDMI ARC but it's pretty flaky from the iPhone in
| my experience. Works more consistently with the remote
| itself. No idea why.
| lemoncucumber wrote:
| I'm pretty certain that the ATV remote beams good old
| fashioned infrared signals to change the volume on your
| TV/soundbar/receiver directly without involving the ATV
| itself.
| notJim wrote:
| I think this is right, because I had to teach my remote
| how to talk to my tv. Super odd, since every other box
| I've had has just been able to do this over HDMI.
| [deleted]
| duskwuff wrote:
| The Apple TV remote doesn't emit infrared. The Apple TV
| does that itself! (This means that "learned" remote
| commands work even if you're controlling the Apple TV
| with your phone, or with a Bluetooth controller.)
| jolux wrote:
| The remote clearly has an IR blaster on the front though.
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| I have two Sony TVs, one from 2016 and one from 2020, and
| they both work fine to control volume from the remote.
| One goes to a set of Homepods and the other on the TV
| itself.
| zerocrates wrote:
| The device itself probably uses CEC to do volume control,
| which can be a bit of a crapshoot with all the different
| vendors involved.
| coryking wrote:
| > since I always just use my phone as the remote
|
| Our family does this only because the actual remote is such a
| pile of crap.
| coryking wrote:
| That touch remote truly is the worst thing apple has made in a
| while (the round hockey puck mouse being the absolute worst).
|
| In addition to all your points... it just isn't that durable.
| All our normal TV remotes made it through our daughters "stick
| everything in her mouth" phase completely unscathed. Both our
| "touch" remotes now constantly act weird and flakey. I refuse
| to spend money to replace them because they are so awful.
|
| I'm very glad to see that these remotes are going away. Like
| you, that pile of shit remote is a deal breaker for any future
| AppleTV purchase.
| tbyehl wrote:
| > Most people who aren't somewhat tech savvy just will give up
|
| Ugh. I hated the thing 'cause it was non-intuitive to learn
| initially and required a level of precision in operation that's
| just ridiculous relative to its primary function. When my aging
| mother (RIP) moved in with me, she could not use it at all due
| to declining fine motor control.
|
| Now every TV I own has a Roku built-in and I can't imagine ever
| going back. All I want my TVs to do is launch Plex and Sling
| and let the kids hook up whichever gaming console is trendy.
| They get the job done with remotes that are simple, intuitive,
| cheap to replace, and I don't have to tutor anyone in how to
| use the damned things.
| sethhochberg wrote:
| The Roku remotes really are fantastic - especially the built-
| in headphone jack. My only complaint is that they really eat
| batteries, especially when using that headphone jack, but at
| least they're still sticking with standard AAs that I can
| just keep in a charger nearby instead of having to dock the
| thing or plug it in.
| RandallBrown wrote:
| If you click on the left or right side of the remote it will
| jump back or forward 10 seconds.
|
| Makes going back 30 seconds really easy.
| softwaredoug wrote:
| Wow, I will have to try this! Thanks for the tip.
| azinman2 wrote:
| For some reason, this doesn't always work, even though I see
| the 30 sec jog icon appear.
| tshaddox wrote:
| It's probably your physical button. My button will audibly
| click when I have my thumb on the far left or right edge,
| but won't actually trigger unless I press very firmly after
| hearing the click. Pressing the button with my thumb in the
| middle works reliably as expected. Apple support wouldn't
| do anything about this except offer to sell me a
| replacement remote.
| wl wrote:
| More often than not, this pauses playback instead of
| skipping.
| zuppy wrote:
| it's not working all the time, it's frustratingly
| inconsistent.
| rconti wrote:
| Maybe half the time it works right, and it seems to depend on
| app as well.
|
| The voice commands were nice "forward 60 seconds" but for
| some reason it seemed to have a bug where "forward two
| minutes" almost NEVER worked right on YoutubeTV. You could
| say almost any other time interval, but not 2 minutes.
| anw wrote:
| I frequently travel, and bring my AppleTV with me to hook up to
| hotel TVs.
|
| It would be great if they made a way to support Web logins for
| WiFi.
|
| At the moment, I do t see a big change between this version and
| the one I own. If they added that feature, I'd buy it in a
| heartbeat so I could stop spoofing my AppleTV's MAC on my laptop
| just to login to the hotel web portals.
| yellowyacht wrote:
| I know people who plug the hotel ethernet into their own travel
| router to circumvent the captive portal. Though now you have to
| travel with another device
| azinman2 wrote:
| I just did this and used hotspot sharing from my phones LTE.
| Was faster than the WiFi I was at!
| marcosscriven wrote:
| I prefer just taking an HDMI adapter for my phone, as it's more
| compact.
| rsanheim wrote:
| Finally, a remote upgrade. It looks promising, and could be
| really great if they included some physical feedback on buttons
| for use in the dark.
| dangwu wrote:
| Yup - a remote with actual directional buttons was my biggest
| desire, so I'm really happy. I hate the touch scrolling of the
| previous Apple TV remote with a passion. It was so imprecise.
| crazygringo wrote:
| And _still_ no support for spatial audio with AirPods Pro?
|
| I continue to be mystified why spatial audio only works for
| watching movies on iOS devices. I know the official explanation
| is that the host device needs an accelerometer and gyroscope...
| but Apple TV's tend to stay still, you know.
|
| It _baffles_ me why you can get amazing spatial audio watching a
| movie on a tiny screen... or regular stereo audio watching a
| movie on an amazing huge TV... but not together.
|
| (And if you haven't tried spatial audio with content that
| supports it, you should -- it really is stunning, kind of like
| the difference in going from black-and-white movies to color
| movies, only for your ears.)
| dbbk wrote:
| Well they just announced that Spatial Audio works on the new
| iMac, so I have no idea what's going on.
| willseth wrote:
| It's unclear if what they announced includes support for the
| AirPod-type spatial audio or if it only means they are
| extending Spatial Audio branding to include the virtual
| surround feature of the new iMac's speaker array.
| crazydoggers wrote:
| I'm guessing because the vast majority of the market with a 4K
| Apple TV is not watching in stereo, but in surround with
| something like Dolby Atmos.
|
| Edit: For those unfamiliar, spatial audio is a post processing
| effect that attempts to simulate surround, whereas most home
| theaters are going to be watching material that has discreet
| location and channel data, meaning a much more realistic
| surround stage.
| crazygringo wrote:
| A lot of people watch TV/movies at night with headphones
| instead of speakers, in order not to wake up the kids,
| grandparents, someone who works early, etc. _Especially_ when
| you want to fully experience those big loud action sequences
| without making the house actually rumble.
|
| This is for people when they aren't using their speakers at
| all.
|
| Edit in response to your edit: I think you may be
| misunderstanding Apple's spatial audio feature. It's not
| simulating surround out of stereo audio, it's simulating a
| sound stage out of the discreet location and channel data
| you're talking about. It _requires_ surround sound input, it
| won 't operate on stereo input. The surround stage is
| _shockingly_ realistic if you try it.
| crazydoggers wrote:
| It's still post processing to create a sound stage to a
| stereo signal. Nothing wrong with that, but for instance if
| I'm watching a movie on an iPhone or something, I'm
| assuming I can't get the true audio experience of the film.
|
| When it's a movie I really am into, then I'm going to watch
| it in full surround, with discreet speakers. 7.1 to stereo
| headphones is always a compromise whether it's Apple
| spatial audio, or Dolby Atmos for Headphones.
|
| And absolutely I get your point, that it's great for
| watching it at night. I'm just guessing their market for 4K
| Apple TV is more home theater people.
|
| Usually when I'm watching at night with headphones I'll be
| on the iPad.
|
| Again it's not that I don't see the use case, I just
| wouldn't call it "baffling" since the market is a little
| different.
| crazygringo wrote:
| > _I'm just guessing their market for 4K Apple TV is more
| home theater people._
|
| Nope, it's just average people with TV's in their living
| rooms. Apple TV (even the 4K version) is just an average
| consumer product.
|
| And at least for non-tech people I know who have
| families, watching Apple TV at night with Airpods is
| super common.
| crazydoggers wrote:
| I'm not sure about that. The average person uses the TV's
| built in software and streaming features for the most
| part.
|
| According to this analysis AppleTV is a pretty niche
| product especially given its price point.
|
| https://9to5mac.com/2020/09/02/apple-tv-market-share-
| report/
|
| I haven't done the research, but I'm guessing Apple has.
| And my guess is that the market share using AirPods on
| iOS vastly outstrips those who use it on AppleTV.
|
| Again I'm not saying that it wouldn't be a nice feature;
| but I just wouldn't say it's baffling. Apple is a fairly
| smart company... I'm sure they did some sort of cost
| benefit analysis and decided against it.
| fshbbdssbbgdd wrote:
| Of the households I've visited with Apple TV, I'd estimate
| half have surround (and that's out of a mostly techy set of
| people). My impression is that many customers are not
| interested in setting up a receiver with a dozen wires
| plugged into it, and soundbars are a growing segment of the
| market. They "just work".
| coryking wrote:
| > I'm guessing because the vast majority of the market with a
| 4K Apple TV is not watching in stereo, but in surround with
| something like Dolby Atmos
|
| I bet a chunk of money it is the exact opposite. I bet for
| the majority of the market the fanciest thing they have is a
| soundbar and _maybe_ a subwoofer.
|
| I honestly think the "home theater" market is pretty niche.
| It requires living conditions that most people simply don't
| have. You gotta have the right room shape for starters.
| Virtually every house I visit doesn't have a room that is
| easy to set surround sound up in.
|
| I mean for Atmos you specifically need speakers placed above
| the listener. Not to mention a bunch of other speakers
| everywhere.
|
| I dunno... almost nobody is living an a place amenable to
| such things. And even if they are, they need to get consent
| from their significant other to pull it off.
|
| So yeah. I bet maybe 5% of the market has Atmos or any kind
| of surround sound. 15% tops.
| antiterra wrote:
| Even 7.1 speakers simulate input when it comes to positional
| surround like Dolby Atmos, albeit without the need to do HRTF
| wizardry/gimmicks.
|
| Plus, the distinguishing feature of the Apple spatial audio
| implementation is that it has head tracking so that locations
| correspond to the listening position even when you turn your
| head. (I think there are Audeze headsets that can do a
| version of this with PC.)
| crazydoggers wrote:
| My speakers accomplish the same feat by being separated
| from my head :)
| culopatin wrote:
| I also find it very weird that they would focus this movie
| oriented feature on a device that is not great to watch movies.
| kalleboo wrote:
| Yeah that's the feature that would have sold me both a new
| Apple TV as well as a new pair of AirPods. As it is now, our
| current Apple TV and my current Audio Technica BT earbuds work
| fine.
| yazaddaruvala wrote:
| Taking a random guess, I think it's because the location of the
| AppleTV doesn't help identify the location of the actual
| screen. There would need to be some awkward configuration step
| (redone every time the AppleTV or screen moves) that Apple just
| wouldn't ask its customers to do.
| crazygringo wrote:
| You don't really need an awkward configuration step, though,
| because you can rely on the fact that users are usually
| looking at the screen. Just take the median orientation of
| the earbuds over time, and you're configured.
|
| You can also rely on the fact that the user is almost
| certainly looking directly at the screen every time they
| navigate the UX with the remote.
| [deleted]
| stouset wrote:
| This gives you direction but not distance.
| crazygringo wrote:
| In my testing with spatial audio, the effect doesn't seem
| to change with distance, so I think direction is all it
| relies on.
|
| I could be wrong though, it might be doing something
| subtle. But even if it were, it would still be fine to
| fall back to a default distance of 2m or something.
| stouset wrote:
| Fair enough!
| Joeri wrote:
| When I use spatial audio on my 2019 ipad it works like
| that. If I move my head to the side for a while, it
| "reorients", and now the audio comes from a point in the
| air next to the ipad.
| Moeancurly wrote:
| I wonder if a U1 UWB chip be precise enough to detect if if
| the ATV has moved. Using 1 HomePod mini as a reference point,
| and more precision with more HomePods.
|
| The location of the screen could be learned with some "Apple
| Magic," i.e. an AR setup process using an iPhone
| jclardy wrote:
| All they need is a "look at your TV" step. User looks at
| TV, ATV saves AirPod gyro orientation and you are done. The
| iPhone/iPad need their orientation because the screen can
| move at any point...TV's usually don't.
| bredren wrote:
| Perhaps Apple will release an accessory that attaches to the
| TV itself.
| enos_feedler wrote:
| Or maybe... a TV! I mean at this point it all but certain
| they will converge on an all in one unit. It just needs to
| pack enough differentiators into it
| [deleted]
| minikites wrote:
| The entire advantage of Apple is supposed to be that they're
| one company and all of their products work together, but that's
| becoming less and less true over time. AirPods and HomePods
| barely work with Macs compared to how they work with iOS
| devices. Apple has boasted about how you can fit all of their
| products on a conference room table, yet they don't actually
| work together well. What else are they doing with their time?
| spoonjim wrote:
| iOS is the future of the company. Mac will shrink
| asymptotically as a fraction of their overal R&D investment.
| harikb wrote:
| I use AirPods just fine with Macs. I also easily switch
| between Mac and iPhone reliably and easily. What particular
| annoyances are you talking about?
| tonoto wrote:
| I recently came over to "Apple"-world after years of
| listening to all the fanatics/ambassadeurs who proclaims
| "it just works". I've been using an Apple AIO computer
| (model Imac 5k) for a couple of years as a web browser, but
| recently I started the switch from Android eco system and
| first I bought the "pro" model of their wireless headset
| just to find out that they worked pretty decently (albeit,
| overly expensive) as bluetooth headset even to my Sony
| phone, then I bought the their mobile phone ("12 pro") and
| also their smartwatch ("series 6").
|
| After I switched from Android I did a reset to my headset
| and paired it with all my Apple devices. Success rate of
| switching sound between computer, phone and watch against
| the headset varies alot. Sometimes it just works but almost
| half of the times I have to fiddle with sound output in
| computer to select the "airpods pro" or in the phone to
| select the bluetooth headset. Not to mention that even
| directly in the phone I had troubles to answer in Hangouts
| with sound output/input redirected to the headset, even
| though it says "Airpods pro" beneath the bluetooth symbol
| to show it is actively connected to de device. Also in the
| computer there are several occassions where the "wheel" is
| spinning, in the attempt to connect to the headset. This
| thing "it just works" feels like a fraud to me, I can't
| remember since Android 2.x (I never had the 3.x, only 4.x,
| 5.x, 6.x, 8.x, 9.x and 10.x) that I had sound/connection
| issues like this. Although I have not had a bluetooth
| headset linked between my Linux computers and Android
| phones, I have shared multipoint bluetooth headsets between
| two different android phones and switched over without
| these kind of obstacles I now have.
| harikb wrote:
| I agree there is lot to improve. My issues have been
| mostly with having the Airpod Pro sit in the case for
| 1-day+ and then take and find out it hasn't charge one of
| the pods. Case had charged, but it didn't somehow charge
| the pod.
|
| However my experience with pairing/connect/disconnect has
| been better than any other brand I have tried. Taking it
| from the case to trigger the connect has been absolutely
| ground breaking. I don't particularly care for the Small
| size, lack of a neck strap or any of those fancy
| features.
| tonoto wrote:
| Strange enough, I've had differences in charge level for
| both "pods" - like 10% difference if I remember
| correctly, at one or two times. But never that it became
| an issue for me leaving one pod without power. I'm
| impressed with the battery times, due to them always
| beeing charged by the case. That is a neat functionality
| that works good for me. I just wished that the connect
| was a seamless experience for me too.
|
| About size, big plus for portability. A tiny minus for
| the fitting. I would absolutely not trust them during
| mobility such as running or biking. In that sense my
| wireless sleep "headphones" from Bose are way better fit
| with a "wing"/spring on the rear side to secure them.
| _ph_ wrote:
| Having spatial audio of the AirPods Max supported on any
| device you want to watch a movie on?
|
| And up to date, Homepods are not really supported on MacOS,
| though support seems to be in 11.3.
| bredren wrote:
| The livestream just said the new iMac supports spatial audio.
| [deleted]
| ahmedalsudani wrote:
| > The livestream just said the new iMac supports spatial
| audio.
|
| Isn't GP talking about Apple TVs? Did I miss something?
| _ph_ wrote:
| I had hoped for spatial audio in an updated AppleTV, as I
| finally want to be able to use that great feature of the
| Airpods Max. It is strange that Apple creates devices like the
| Airpods Max and then not support them with their hardware.
| DevKoala wrote:
| They finally reworked the atrocity that was the old remote, great
| news. Just yesterday I had another issue in which I couldn't tell
| which button I was pressing.
| merlyn wrote:
| What I really want to see is the AppleTV turn into a video
| conferencing system. Almost everything is there now. Just need
| the camera (rumor was some Home Pod device may have one?)
|
| Let it run Zoom/Google Meets.
| robalfonso wrote:
| Or facetime perhaps? I agree, it drives me nuts that I can't
| hook a camera to this, such a missed opportunity during the
| panedmic.
| _ph_ wrote:
| I was so ready to pick up an AppleTV, but...
|
| No spatial audio with the Airpods Max?
|
| No separate digital audio out?
|
| Apple doesn't seem to like music :p
| minimaxir wrote:
| Tech specs confirm HDMI 2.1 (kinda required for the high
| framerate it's advertising)
| meepmorp wrote:
| Interestingly, the tech specs for the new Apple TV lists Thread
| in the Ports and Connectivity section. Looks like they're getting
| more serious about home automation/IoT.
| fgblanch wrote:
| I'm wondering how long it will take to get Mac OS Big Sur running
| in these new Apple TVs. The Apple Transition kit had an A12Z,
| Wikipedia says it is a "binned" version of A12 Bionic, therefore
| both chips have the same ARMv8.3 instruction set. I'm not sure of
| the performance but theoretically it should be possible to have
| 200 dollars ARM Macs running with this hardware.
| dijit wrote:
| I think the bigger problem would be getting access to the boot
| chain, I very rarely see anything like jailbreaks for these
| devices (though, I have seen it).
| saagarjha wrote:
| Sadly there isn't really much that's public for A12 devices.
| plahteenlahti wrote:
| The new remote is a welcome change. If it's backwards compatible
| I might end up buying just to replace the current one which is
| very inaccurate for navigating.
| tcskeptic wrote:
| Clickwheel! If its as good as the one on the old iPods I will be
| very happy, I have wanted this for a long time.
| volta83 wrote:
| Apple TV is the worst apple product i've ever owned.
|
| Last year, they released a software update that broke YouTube
| support for like 5-6 months, and once they "fixed" it, they
| immediately announced it would be removed 3 months later.
|
| You can still revert the software update, and YouTube works if
| you do that.
|
| But I'd rather have my money back and buy a different product
| instead. I consider "YouTube support" kind of critical for any
| Smart TV accessory.
|
| I called Apple Support about it, and they literally said "if you
| want your money back you'll have to sue us" and hanged up.
| ericmay wrote:
| What model? I have an Apple TV (not a 4k version, couple years
| old) and YouTube works just fine for me. I have the latest
| updates.
| volta83 wrote:
| Apple TV 3rd Gen.
| unfamiliar wrote:
| So the one released almost 10 years ago.
| volta83 wrote:
| Exactly, the one that still works if I revert some
| software updates, but still always tries to update itself
| when connected to the internet.
|
| You know what replaced it?
|
| A white macbook from ~2008, which back then had a remote
| ! It still works.
|
| The EU law to make breaking hardware with software
| updates illegal can't come soon enough.
| adamhearn wrote:
| Apple TV is the best apple product I've ever owned. The UI is
| simple and works well. Airplay consistently outperforms every
| other 'casting' system I have tried. I have tried all the major
| brands of smart TV as well as every major brand of set top box.
|
| I have also installed many for clients. Not one client has
| called me and asked me how to do something on their Apple TV.
| However, I have received many calls asking for help with Roku
| devices.
|
| Have you found something that you like better than the Apple
| TV?
| marrone12 wrote:
| What is broken with your YT app? Mine works fine on Apple TV
| 4k, fully updated.
| jeromegv wrote:
| Youtube removed support for the app, it's sad but it is what it
| is. It's like if an app stops working on your phone because the
| company no longer wants to support it.
| https://9to5mac.com/2021/03/04/youtube-no-longer-works-on-th...
| volta83 wrote:
| Apparently Apple shipped an "update" that partially broke the
| Youtube app "Pause" feature [1], Apple did not want to revert
| the patch and decided to wait on Google fixing the Youtube
| app [1], finally 4 months later apple fixed the issue [1],
| one month later Google announces that it discontinues the
| App, 3 months later the app is discontinued.
|
| If you downgrade your Apple TV today, the youtube app still
| works (I did that a couple of times when it stopped working,
| but the Apple TV would update itself overnight... until I
| gave up..).
|
| I bought an Apple TV mainly because it was advertised as
| being able to play youtube. Apple introduced an update that
| broke the Youtube App.
|
| I can't really blame Google here. Apple breaks their app,
| Apple didn't want to fix it, Google got all the burn from
| users, fixing the App is probably out of their hands if this
| was a bug introduced by Apple, ... probably not worth it for
| them.
|
| Either way, I bought this device because it supported
| Youtube, and now it doesn't because Apple introduced an
| update that broke youtube.
|
| AFAICT this is all Apple's fault and I wish we would have an
| EU law that would prevent hardware manufacturers from
| shipping updates that break their products so that customers
| are forced to buy new ones.
|
| [1] https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251837222?page=2
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