{"id":18866,"date":"2017-09-13T13:41:55","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T17:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=18866"},"modified":"2017-11-09T15:08:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T20:08:00","slug":"apple-tv-4k-still-a-hobby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/13\/apple-tv-4k-still-a-hobby\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple TV 4K, Still a Hobby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josh Centers<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Outside of improved video, don’t expect much in the way of improvements. The new A10X Fusion chip, Gigabit Ethernet port, simultaneous dual band Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 5.0 support are nice additions, but they’re not game-changing.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Frankly, this hardware is an enormous disappointment. The fourth-generation Apple TV was already behind the curve when Apple launched it without 4K in 2015, and now that it has caught up with the competition, it’s still about $100 more expensive than comparable devices.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Josh Centers<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Apple: “Here’s the new Apple TV. $150.”<\/p>

Users: “No thanks. Fire Stick is good for $40.”<\/p>

Apple: “What if we raised the price to $180?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Juli Clover<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Alongside the new 4K Apple TV, Apple today quietly released a new, slightly redesigned Siri Remote to go along with it. Priced at $59<\/a>, the updated remote features a new more prominent Menu button with a white circle around it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is better, but I think the remote needs a complete redesign. And I don’t think they have the on-screen interface right yet, either. Overall, it’s really surprising how little has fundamentally improved in the last two years, and how the strategy<\/a> remains confused. In retrospect, I wish I had not invested in video content from Apple.<\/p>\n\n

See also: Hacker News<\/a>, Ryan Johnson<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Update (2017-09-15): Ken Segall<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Common sense says the current Siri Remote would be replaced at the first opportunity. And the unveiling of the Apple TV 4K was an excellent opportunity.<\/p>\n

Instead, Apple “let it ride” in the Remote department. Not exactly the behavior of a company that puts the highest priority on the customer experience.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

See also: Accidental Tech Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Update (2017-09-21): Mike Rundle<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The new Apple TV can’t play 4K content from YouTube, the place with the largest selection of 4K content.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Nilay Patel<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

But the new Apple TV doesn’t support Atmos. And it doesn’t support YouTube in 4K HDR. And it doesn’t have Disney or Marvel movies in 4K HDR. And it makes some 1080p content look less than great.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The Apple TV also automatically preferences refresh rate over any other setting: if your TV supports 60Hz HDR10 but only 30Hz Dolby Vision (like 2016 LG OLEDs), the Apple TV will pick HDR10, even though HDR10 looks worse than Dolby Vision. Apple told me that’s because it wants the interface and games to run as smoothly as possible; it’s found that the interface judders at 30Hz. So you’ll get worse HDR but a smoother interface, all because the Apple TV won’t switch modes.<\/p>\n

The lack of mode switching also means that Apple’s picking its own video upscaling and processing system over whatever’s in your TV. Your TV just thinks it’s getting 4K HDR video all the time. It won’t know that it’s actually displaying an HD source, and won’t do any of the tricks 4K TVs do to make those sources look better.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Update (2017-09-22): John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

It is baffling to me that Apple didn’t redesign the remote control to make it obvious at a touch which way it’s oriented. The raised white ring around the Menu button is an improvement, but it’s truly the least Apple could have done. I really wish they’d either made it asymmetric (wedge-shaped, perhaps) or used texture to denote orientation along the back and sides. Nobody loves this remote. Most people I know outright dislike it. And Apple left it almost unchanged.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Apple may well have good technical or legal reasons for not supporting VP9. Apple TV users don’t care. They just want YouTube videos to look great on their TVs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Felix<\/a> Schwarz<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Ok, so the white ring on the new #SiriRemote is on<\/em> the Menu button, which is now also sharply recessed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

#SiriRemote packaging:\n2015 vs.2017.\nSkeumorphism vs. flatness with wrong button colors.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Update (2017-09-26): Joe Rossignol<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Beyond the return of a Gigabit Ethernet port and the removal of the USB-C diagnostic port, which we learned about before the teardown, the Apple TV 4K’s design is largely the same as the previous Apple TV.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Josh Centers<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

As an indication of how minor tvOS 11 is, you probably won’t notice anything different after you install it!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Update (2017-10-01): See also: Accidental Tech Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Update (2017-11-09): See also: David Pogue<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Josh Centers: Outside of improved video, don’t expect much in the way of improvements. The new A10X Fusion chip, Gigabit Ethernet port, simultaneous dual band Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 5.0 support are nice additions, but they’re not game-changing. […] Frankly, this hardware is an enormous disappointment. The fourth-generation Apple TV was already behind the curve when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[615,566,762,1154,555],"class_list":["post-18866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-apple-tv","tag-color","tag-ethernet","tag-usb-c","tag-youtube"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18866"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19461,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18866\/revisions\/19461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}