Apple TV 4K

[mechman]

After painfully suffering thru several months of Roku and then attempts at substituting a Chromecast Ultra and an Amazon Fire with 4K Ultra HD, I think I have finally found Nirvana with the Apple TV 4K. I just got sick of all of the monkeying around I had to do to get decent 4K streaming.

The Roku box's had HDMI issues non-stop and have found their way to a local recycling center.

Chromecast required use of a separate device.

The Amazon Fire is one that I have to admit not spending very much time with so far. I disconnected it when I saw the amount of data it was sending back and forth while not being used and have yet to really mess with it since. I will in the near future though.

I'm just getting going on typing up a review.

 

[tripplej]

It is amazing what one has to do to get decent 4K streaming.. Looking forward to your review.

 

[JBrax]

Yeah, I’ve thought about getting the Apple 4K and also look forward to your review.

 

[GFOviedo]

Looking forward for your review as well. I'm thinking of possibly upgrading our living room TV (main HT TV) to a 4K for xmas.

 

[mechman]

I should have it done tomorrow. I got a little busy doing video calibrations lately.

 

[mechman]

I should have it done tomorrow. I got a little busy doing video calibrations lately.

Make that "by the end of the week".

 

[JBrax]

Ok, I was waiting for this review before pulling the trigger. Sadly, I can’t wait any longer and pulled the trigger tonight.

 

[JBrax]

@mechman I'm going to assume your experience has been favorable based on your initial post.

 

[mechman]

From my review which hasn't been published yet - I need to clean it up some.

Conclusion

The Apple TV 4K is the best streaming device I have used thus far. Even with the serious shortcomings of Atmos and DTS, it is still a much better experience than any of the other devices I have been exposed to. While the cost is a bit higher than the others, so is the reliability, the looks, and the ease of use. When Apple finally does fix the sound, I will be purchasing one for my theater room.

 

[JBrax]

Not having included Atmos is a bummer and the primary reason for the hesitation. My receiver does a good job upmixing so we’ll see.

 

[GFOviedo]

From my review which hasn't been published yet - I need to clean it up some.

Conclusion

The Apple TV 4K is the best streaming device I have used thus far. Even with the serious shortcomings of Atmos and DTS, it is still a much better experience than any of the other devices I have been exposed to. While the cost is a bit higher than the others, so is the reliability, the looks, and the ease of use. When Apple finally does fix the sound, I will be purchasing one for my theater room.

Do you think the Apple TV 4K is a better streamer than using the smart TV apps?

 

[JBrax]

Sometimes the apps on my Sony get bogged down if I’ve got too much going at once. Other than that it does fine.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Another thing (that @mechman may very well mention in the upcoming review) that I see as a HUGE AppleTV advantage, is their TV app. It's like a streaming DVR.

All your apps that you're logged into - Hulu, Prime, VUDU, ESPN, ABC, etc. etc. (except for Netflix) - can be fed into one, single app, which then notifies you of new content, etc. like a DVR would. So when you have a moment to catch up and want to find something to watch, just open the TV app and it will show you everything you've marked in ALL of your apps (again, except netflix), so you can choose.

Really handy, especially for cord cutters. I might finally be able to drop my TiVo now.

 

[dmiller68]

I have 3 streamers I'm using right now. I give the edge to Xbox One X only because you get Atmos on top of 4K... However, it is a game console first. The Apple TV 4K is far better then the Roku for sure.

 

[mechman]

I’ve been sitting in the Apple store for the last hour or so waiting for my son’s battery to get replaced and I sat through an Apple TV demonstration. I asked the genius how long until we get ATMOS and he was of the feeling that it wasn’t going to come to anything out there right now. I’m not all that confident in his assessment though. I had to describe what ATMOS was to him.

 

[mechman]

Do you think the Apple TV 4K is a better streamer than using the smart TV apps?

Absolutely! As thrillcat mentioned, every thing is available thru one single app or click if you will. All you have to do is go to the TV App and everything is there. Whereas on my LG OLED, I have to open specific apps to get to specific content.

 

[dmiller68]

Absolutely! As thrillcat mentioned, every thing is available thru one single app or click if you will. All you have to do is go to the TV App and everything is there. Whereas on my LG OLED, I have to open specific apps to get to specific content.

I will also say that streamers in general seem to get updated apps pretty regularly where as TVs a lot less if ever.

 

[JBrax]

I’ve been sitting in the Apple store for the last hour or so waiting for my son’s battery to get replaced and I sat through an Apple TV demonstration. I asked the genius how long until we get ATMOS and he was of the feeling that it wasn’t going to come to anything out there right now. I’m not all that confident in his assessment though. I had to describe what ATMOS was to him.

Surely he knew what Atmos is. He’s a genius right? I’m curious if it could be included in a firmware update or is hardware dependent? I’d guess Apple will make me buy the new version when it is released.

 

[dmiller68]

My understanding it is supposed to be a firmware upgrade at some point.

 

[JBrax]

That would be great. I hope you’re right and hopefully it happens sooner than later. I’m guessing demand isn’t all that high as we’re a very select and small group with Atmos setups. In the time being my sr-7010 does a good job upmixing.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

I asked the genius how long until we get ATMOS and he was of the feeling that it wasn’t going to come to anything out there right now.

Having worked part time at an Apple Store (great discounts) as a FCP trainer, the Geniuses don't have any information that you can't get from macrumors.com and any other sites. There's not a single person in any Apple Store that has any sort of inside information about anything like that. We received no advance information about product launches, updates, anything. If there is a big product launch that we needed to know about, or get hands on with, we would be brought in overnight the night before the launch.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Surely he knew what Atmos is. He’s a genius right? I’m curious if it could be included in a firmware update or is hardware dependent? I’d guess Apple will make me buy the new version when it is released.

I have no interest in Atmos, so I haven't kept up to date, but I do know they mentioned the ability to play video content in its native frame rate and colorspace would be a firmware update (have they sent that yet?), so I'm guessing Atmos will be firmware as well.

 

[mechman]

Yeah that genius wasn't all that informed regarding ATMOS. So I took his comments with a grain of salt. Everything that I have seen points to a firmware update by the end of the year.

 

[GFOviedo]

So for those of you with the Apple TV, do you have it connected via HDMI to your TV or HDMI to your receiver?
I’m asking because my wife is getting tired of having to turn on the AVR and set it to cable in order to watch regular tv. So now I’ve got to run another hdmi through the wall so I can connect the directv box to tv via hdmi and digital cable to AVR.

 

[JBrax]

I haven’t yet hooked mine up but I’ll be going in through the receiver.