Apple unveils next-gen Apple TV 4K with Dolby Vision and high frame rates (2 Viewers)

[ManW_TheUncool]

I broke down towards the end of the 1st time this price drop happened... thinking it was such a great deal that might not happen again for a long time, if ever, plus I had some Best Buy promo GCs from buying Apple/iTunes GCs I wasn't too likely to use anytime soon... but of course, we're finding this to be a fairly frequently recurring price point now...

Still, no regrets... although I still haven't even opened the box after 2 months and still not sure where I'd put/use it (as I didn't actually *need* it), LOL...

Yeah, I sometimes (or maybe too often? ) have a hard time passing up on a (apparent) great deal... much to my wife's chagrin, LOL...

_Man_

 

[Osato]

I broke down towards the end of the 1st time this price drop happened... thinking it was such a great deal that might not happen again for a long time, if ever, plus I had some Best Buy promo GCs from buying Apple/iTunes GCs I wasn't too likely to use anytime soon... but of course, we're finding this to be a fairly frequently recurring price point now...

Still, no regrets... although I still haven't even opened the box after 2 months and still not sure where I'd put/use it (as I didn't actually *need* it), LOL...

Yeah, I sometimes (or maybe too often? ) have a hard time passing up on a (apparent) great deal... much to my wife's chagrin, LOL...

_Man_

I picked up the newer version at $109 on Amazon. Sold my older 4k apple unit for $70 on eBay.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Well, I got two of those Gen 2 units delivering today for my two 4K setups on the house.

I got one unit up and running. What a PITA!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I got one unit up and running. What a PITA!

Did you run into issues, or just the general cumbersome need to login to a bunch of streaming services?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Did you run into issues, or just the general cumbersome need to login to a bunch of streaming services?

No issues just the loading of login info to the different apps. Some apps are better than others in that regard while some are kind of wonky. Anyhow, I got the second Gen 2 ATV4K unit up and running and did so a lot faster than the first unit.

 

[JohnRice]

Well, my ATV 4K Gen 1 is having the same issue with video stuttering on the Prime TNF broadcast. It is on WiFi, but the connection is at least 450Mb/s as confirmed by Speedtest. Plus, it doesn't act like a speed problem. It seems like a app/OS problem. The video will play fine for a minute or two, then the video will stutter for about 30 seconds as the audio continues.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I wonder if the traffic is higher than the Amazon servers were prepared to handle.

 

[JohnRice]

I wonder if the traffic is higher than the Amazon servers were prepared to handle.

It doesn’t do it with my Gen 3 or 4K Gen 2.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It doesn’t do it with my Gen 3 or 4K Gen 2.

That’s fascinating - I’m sure annoying as hell too but I’m stumped.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

It doesn’t do it with my Gen 3 or 4K Gen 2.

It's working fine on my Roku Ultra again, too. I decided to use it again this week instead of trying the 1st Gen ATV4K.

 

[JohnRice]

If I really want to troubleshoot it I need to swap them since the Gen 1 is on WiFi and the Gen 2 is wired. Or I could just disconnect the ethernet on the Gen 2.

 

[John Dirk]

Well, my ATV 4K Gen 1 is having the same issue with video stuttering on the Prime TNF broadcast. It is on WiFi, but the connection is at least 450Mb/s as confirmed by Speedtest. Plus, it doesn't act like a speed problem. It seems like a app/OS problem. The video will play fine for a minute or two, then the video will stutter for about 30 seconds as the audio continues.

With streaming video, speed alone isn't a guarantee of peak performance. The bigger concern is jitter, or variations in speed during the transmission. Since the problem is only present with the new device I wonder if it requires a higher overall bit rate to the point of intermittently choking your connection.

 

[JohnRice]

With streaming video, speed alone isn't a guarantee of peak performance. The bigger concern is jitter, or variations in speed during the transmission. Since the problem is only present with the new device I wonder if it requires a higher overall bit rate to the point of intermittently choking your connection.

BTW, it only happens with Prime. I’ve never seen it with any other service.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

With streaming video, speed alone isn't a guarantee of peak performance. The bigger concern is jitter, or variations in speed during the transmission. Since the problem is only present with the new device I wonder if it requires a higher overall bit rate to the point of intermittently choking your connection.

It's w/ his older Gen 1 ATV4K, not newer Gen 2. Plus Prime's bitrates seem pretty lame and substantially lower than all the better services/platforms like iTunes, Disney+, MoviesAnywhere, probably also Vudu (at least for the HD streams, if not also 4K), etc anyway.

Also, Prime seems to have no qualms just seriously dropping quality (and likely bitrates) as the app/service sees fit. IF the issue is mainly only w/ using Prime, I'd just chalk that up mostly as Amazon's fault much more than anything else...

Some other services like NetFlix might possibly also inherit some of Amazon's Prime issues, if it's in their backend, since they (like NetFlix) may be using Amazon's streaming AWS to host their backends...

_Man_

 

[Scott Merryfield]

You made me curious, so I switched over to my 1st Gen ATV4K and immediately experienced the same stuttering video. That device and my Roku Ultra sit in the same rack one shelf apart and both connect via WiFi. I have never experienced that issue on the ATV4K with any app, including Prime Video. Must have something to do with the combo of hardware, app and live broadcast stream (versus video on demand stored on their servers).

 

[JohnRice]

You made me curious, so I switched over to my 1st Gen ATV4K and immediately experienced the same stuttering video. That device and my Roku Ultra sit in the same rack one shelf apart and both connect via WiFi. I have never experienced that issue on the ATV4K with any app, including Prime Video. Must have something to do with the combo of hardware, app and live broadcast stream (versus video on demand stored on their servers).

Very helpful. Thanks.

It makes it unwatchable.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Very helpful. Thanks.

It makes it unwatchable.

Yes, it was definitely unwatchable. I switched back over to the Roku Ultra.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I only watched the second half. I had no issues with my new ATV 4K unit in my home office. Next week, I'll try to watch the game with my other new ATV 4K unit in my main HT set-up.

 

[JohnRice]

I only watched the second half. I had no issues with my new ATV 4K unit in my home office. Next week, I'll try to watch the game with my other new ATV 4K unit in my main HT set-up.

The 4K Gen 2 seems to work fine. I also got a Gen 2 to replace my Gen 1 but haven't set it up yet. This week was mostly taken over with elderly parents duties and multiple doctor visits, so I haven't exactly felt like messing with less-than-necessary tech crap.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Seems like it's probably not only the ATV4K (Gen 1) having this/some issue w/ Prime's TNF live stream broadcasts...

Thursday Night Football stream struggles continue for Prime Video | Digital Trends

Amazon Prime Video still has some things to work out when it comes to streaming a live NFL game in 2022.

www.digitaltrends.com

I don't normally follow NFL anymore or I'd check it out myself (on my ATV4K Gen 2 and my PC)...

_Man_