Apple TV 4K official (1 Viewer)

[Edwin-S]

So everyone was going on about how great these A4KTV units are. I bought one on a whim, but now I'm not sure if I want to open it up and try it. Not really sure that I'm going to get 250 dollars worth of improvement over what I have now. I don't think it supports CEC and I have to admit that I kind of like turning on the TV and having my other components turn on without having to hunt through a pile of remotes.

Still, I'm kind of curious to see what this thing looks like.

 

[JohnRice]

Why do people keep inflating the price they claim the AppleTV costs?

BTW, if you are only streaming and not gaming, there is zero reason to get the 64GB model. The 32Gb model is $180 new and $150 for an Apple refurb.

 

[Edwin-S]

Why do people keep inflating the price they claim the AppleTV costs?

BTW, if you are only streaming and not gaming, there is zero reason to get the 64GB model. The 32Gb model is $180 new and $150 for an Apple refurb.

I'm not inflating anything. The cost of the unit was $255 Canadian including taxes. The base price was C$228 for the 64GB model. C$228 is around US$174 dollars, not including exchange rate fees. So it is pretty close to the US$180 that you quoted.

 

[Edwin-S]

I bought it. Might as well try it. I can always take it back if I don't think it was worth it. I'll see if this unit solves the audio dropout problem I am having from the Disney+ LG App since they updated it to deliver ATMOS.

 

[Edwin-S]

Going to have disconnect a piece of equipment tho. Out of HDMI connections on the receiver.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

So everyone was going on about how great these A4KTV units are. I bought one on a whim, but now I'm not sure if I want to open it up and try it. Not really sure that I'm going to get 250 dollars worth of improvement over what I have now. I don't think it supports CEC and I have to admit that I kind of like turning on the TV and having my other components turn on without having to hunt through a pile of remotes.

Still, I'm kind of curious to see what this thing looks like.

Try a Harmony 650 universal remote control. I use one to operate my entire home theater, and all the OEM remotes are stored away with the batteries removed. You can find one for under $50 in U.S. dollars. Best money you'll ever spend on your setup.

As for whether the Apple TV 4K is worth its relatively high cost, that one is debatable. I have both an ATV4K and Roku Ultra installed in the main home theater, and both get used -- Amazon Prime Video and NHL.tv on the Roku, and ATV, Disney+ and Vudu on the ATV4K. Now that the Apple TV app is available for Roku, though, it's more difficult to justify the higher cost for the Apple device -- the biggest differentiator now is Dolby Vision is only supported by the ATV4K . Disney+ and Vudu work fine on the Roku units, while the Apple TV app works but still has a few bugs to be worked out on the Roku. We have Roku devices attached to the other displays in the house, and I have no reason or desire to replace those with Apple TV streaming boxes.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I bought it. Might as well try it. I can always take it back if I don't think it was worth it. I'll see if this unit solves the audio dropout problem I am having from the Disney+ LG App since they updated it to deliver ATMOS.

Try it out and let us know, otherwise, I have nothing else to say on this matter as it's you that has to determine whether this component fits your needs.

 

[Edwin-S]

Try a Harmony 650 universal remote control. I use one to operate my entire home theater, and all the OEM remotes are stored away with the batteries removed. You can find one for under $50 in U.S. dollars. Best money you'll ever spend on your setup.

As for whether the Apple TV 4K is worth its relatively high cost, that one is debatable. I have both an ATV4K and Roku Ultra installed in the main home theater, and both get used -- Amazon Prime Video and NHL.tv on the Roku, and ATV, Disney+ and Vudu on the ATV4K. Now that the Apple TV app is available for Roku, though, it's more difficult to justify the higher cost for the Apple device -- the biggest differentiator now is Dolby Vision is only supported by the ATV4K . Disney+ and Vudu work fine on the Roku units, while the Apple TV app works but still has a few bugs to be worked out on the Roku. We have Roku devices attached to the other displays in the house, and I have no reason or desire to replace those with Apple TV streaming boxes.

Thanks for the suggestion regarding the Harmony 650. I will look into that. I decided to go ahead and hook it up. I can say that it gives access to a pretty wide range of content. The downside is you have to create an AppleID account even for something as simple as downloading an app. There are several Canadian streaming apps that are available through it: CBC's GEM, CRAVE, GLOBAL TV and CTV. I may check a couple of those out, so long as I don't have to pay a subscription fee. I already have Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney+ and Crunchyroll that I'm paying for. Don't think I want to add any more otherwise it will just turn into another cable TV sized bill.

I'm listening to a Podcast from BBC4. Some kind of musical trivia show. The sound quality is actually quite good. At least as good as standard CD. I might have to buy an HDMI extender as I had to unplug my XBOX1 in order to free up a port for it on my receiver.

Right now, I consider Dolby Vision essential. The Roku would have been a non-starter, since you said it doesn't support DV. I'll keep this A4KTV box for a bit.

 

[Edwin-S]

Try it out and let us know, otherwise, I have nothing else to say on this matter as it's you that has to determine whether this component fits your needs.

I'm giving it a test run now. I'm just going to create an AppleID account and download Disney+. I've been watching quite a bit of content on that service. I also want to see if streaming box solves the audio dropout problem that I noticed occurring on the LG D+ app since the audio extension update.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm giving it a test run now. I'm just going to create an AppleID account and download Disney+. I've been watching quite a bit of content on that service. I also want to see if streaming box solves the audio dropout problem that I noticed occurring on the LG D+ app since the audio extension update.

Let us know!

 

[JohnRice]

I'm giving it a test run now. I'm just going to create an AppleID account and download Disney+. I've been watching quite a bit of content on that service. I also want to see if streaming box solves the audio dropout problem that I noticed occurring on the LG D+ app since the audio extension update.

I always got dropouts back when I was streaming with a BR player.

BTW, I didn’t realize you were in Canada.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Thanks for the suggestion regarding the Harmony 650. I will look into that. I decided to go ahead and hook it up. I can say that it gives access to a pretty wide range of content. The downside is you have to create an AppleID account even for something as simple as downloading an app. There are several Canadian streaming apps that are available through it: CBC's GEM, CRAVE, GLOBAL TV and CTV. I may check a couple of those out, so long as I don't have to pay a subscription fee. I already have Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney+ and Crunchyroll that I'm paying for. Don't think I want to add any more otherwise it will just turn into another cable TV sized bill.

I'm listening to a Podcast from BBC4. Some kind of musical trivia show. The sound quality is actually quite good. At least as good as standard CD. I might have to buy an HDMI extender as I had to unplug my XBOX1 in order to free up a port for it on my receiver.

Right now, I consider Dolby Vision essential. The Roku would have been a non-starter, since you said it doesn't support DV. I'll keep this A4KTV box for a bit.

Why is getting an Apple ID a downside?

I always got dropouts back when I was streaming with a BR player.

BTW, I didn’t realize you were in Canada.

Yeah, I didn’t hear the accent either.

 

[JohnRice]

Why is getting an Apple ID a downside?

Yeah, I didn’t hear the accent either.

Eh?

 

[Cranston37+]

Wish we could get this in the US...

 

[DaveF]

“New Apple TV With A12 Chip or Later Uncovered in tvOS 13.4 Beta - MacRumors”
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/02/06/new-apple-tv-uncovered-tvos-13-4/

A month ago, I’d be thrilled and eager for this. But having just bought a 2019 LG TV, I’m not sure how much I car now. I thought I’d need an aTV for the bedroom. And then I played with a Roku over Xmas, and then bought one for vacation travel...and wow at $50 vs $180 for aTV, that’s a tough sell for casual use. Then I found current smart TV apps are surprisingly decent, and I don’t need an external box at all for the bedroom.

Now I’m guessing I won’t need a 4K AppleTV for the living room when I upgrade that TV.

That leaves the theater room. I still want an aTV there. And I’ll need 4K when I upgrade the projector.

So, I’m back to hoping against hope there’s a new aTV and it supports bitstreamed Atmos.

 

[Ted Todorov]

A month ago, I’d be thrilled and eager for this. But having just bought a 2019 LG TV, I’m not sure how much I car now. I thought I’d need an aTV for the bedroom.

Considering how devoted I am to Infuse on my AppleTV, not to mention support for Apple devices and the ever more amazing screen saver, and excellent 4K/HDR quality, basically the only thing I use my LG is as a dumb monitor.

 

[JohnRice]

It might be a benefit for gaming, but I doubt there's any reason to upgrade from the current 4K for streaming.

 

[JohnRice]

and the ever more amazing screen saver

Who would have ever thought a screen saver could be a selling point, but it's freaking awesome.

 

[DaveF]

Considering how devoted I am to Infuse on my AppleTV, not to mention support for Apple devices and the ever more amazing screen saver, and excellent 4K/HDR quality, basically the only thing I use my LG is as a dumb monitor.

What does Infuse do? I’ve looked at it a little - and I know it has its fans - but I can’t figure out what it does that a standard Emby or Plex or Kodi doesn’t.

Up until last week, I’ve used my TVs as monitors to display TiVo and AppleTV. But new smart tv apps are good, good enough for my casual bedroom viewing for now. I’m betting I’ll find the same for the living room, which is also casual / dinner viewing.

The theater will continue to require best-of streaming boxes. Hence my hope for an amazing new aTV to replace my HD unit.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Infuse is an interface to use to access a Plex server instead of using the AppleTV Plex app, and it does everything right that the native Plex app for AppleTV does wrong. The AppleTV is capable of far more than its iOS supports, and Plex for APTV works within the limitations of iOS.

The two major the Plex app shortcomings on AppleTV:
-No support for lossless DTS-HD MA or Dolby TrueHD. Forces the server to transcode to lossy AAC. (Plex didn’t pay the license fee for the codec on the iOS devices)

-No support for VC1 (a codec used on many Blu-ray discs for years). Forces the server to transcode the video. (iOS doesn’t support VC1)

Infuse did pay the licensing fee for lossless audio and works around iOS to use the AppleTV hardware directly. It also does things like de-interlacing video better than the Plex app; the Plex app is just awful at it.

For anyone who transcodes their own media after ripping, Plex works just fine. For people like you and me who don’t alter what’s on the disc, Infuse is essential. I realize the easier solution is just to get a dedicated box for streaming a version of the Plex app that’s fully functional, like the NVidea Shield, but the app was cheap and I already had the AppleTV. If I was starting from scratch rather than integrating Plex into an existing setup, I would have went with different hardware. But then again, I love the AppleTV so I’d probably have that anyway, so might as well try to make it as useful as possible.

Only real downside to Infuse is that it only supports movie playback; it doesn’t recognize bonus features that Plex is meant to. That’s not a dealbreaker for me, though, as I rarely watch bonus features these days and the Plex app can still be used for those. They’re not usually in lossless or VC1 anyhow, and even if they are, I’m not gonna lose sleep over getting a transcoded stream on a bonus clip.