“Apple has quietly revealed a few other tidbits about the next iteration of its tvOS platform – most of which are so dull it’s hardly surprising Apple didn’t bother mentioning them in the keynote,” John Archer writes for Forbes. “There is one newly revealed tvOS feature, though, which seems to me to have huge implications for the future of Apple’s now painfully outdated Apple TV product range: HEVC support.”
“For those of you not familiar with it, HEVC is a third-party video compression system capable of reducing video streaming bitrates by as much as 40 or even 50%,” Archer writes. “Apple has confirmed that HEVC will be adopted for all iOS 11, tvOS 11 and macOS High Sierra devices, but for me it’s the tvOS 11 implementation that’s the most intriguing. Why? Because it surely points towards Apple introducing a 4K-capable version of Apple TV in the near future – most likely during the brand’s traditional autumn hardware unveiling.”
“It seems all but certain that its new HEVC agreement has been done with an eye on finally joining the likes of Netflix and Amazon in the 4K streaming space,” Archer writes. “Unfortunately, though, the current Apple TV box can’t output 4K video streams to a 4K TV; it’s HDMI socket just isn’t up to the job. So if Apple wants its new 4K (and also, potentially, high dynamic range) video streams to be accessible to the customers who will actually benefit from them the most, it will need to release a new, fifth generation of Apple TV hardware.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: So, if you don’t need to equip some of your screens with Apple TV units right now, you might want to wait for Apple’s 5th gen. Apple TV likely coming this October.
Boy… Apple TV4 sure was a waste of my money….I don’t even use it ….maybe the 5th gen. will be the one that’s actually gets used…
TV4 was a dud. Awful product.
I had to dump it for a Roku which was cheaper and worked better too. Maybe TV5 will be better.
I have an ATV4 and a top of the line 4k Roku box in my home both hooked up to separate 4k TVs. The ATV is so much better than the Roku in interface and voice search and it has Bluetooth capability which enables me to listen through wireless headphones or the airplay enabled Libratone soundbar (Roku remote has a headphone jack which is nice but doesn’t compare for me). The only thing that Roku has over the ATV4 is 4k support, but honestly I can’t even tell when it’s playing 4k natively. Now that ATV is getting Amazon support as well, I regret buying the Roku box. It was about the same price and feels like its from last decade.
So you two bought an Apple TV without researching it? Given there are PILES of reviews all over the Web, that doesn’t seem very believable, to say the least.
Impulse purchase followed by buyers remorse perhaps?
I have the ATV4 and think it’s a solid product if somewhat pricy. An impulse purchase for sure and a buyers remorse free zone.
Apple TV – the great hype and promise. Every year I read how Apple TV crushes the market and every year Apple TV blows. Tim Cook might as well kill both Apple TV and Mac Pro. This will at least spare us from reading about false rumors of Apple’s technological prowess.
If Apple does not get with the program my Apple TV will be replaced by a Roku Box.
Remember the story called “Chicken Little”? Well, you have threatened to ditch Apple too many times. It no longer has any impact.
To paraphrase Yoda, “Do or do not, there is no threaten.”
I did not say any such thing. I said my next box would be a Roku if Apple does not get it’s head out of it’s greedy ass.
I currently have a Mac Pro Workstation, a MacBook Pro Retina, Apple TV current generation, iPod Touch, current gen iPhone, iPad Pro, Current gen Mac mini, AirPort Extreme with improved antenna, an Apple Watch, an Airport Express to extend the wireless footprint, a Chromebook, a Windows 10 slate/convertible, and a growing collection of HomeKit. I am also a shareholder since 2000.
I have a lot invested in Apple’s ecosystem but am growing tired of bad Mac support, beta grade software, lagging Apple TV and other stuff.
Our house has 4 Apple TV’s, and with those we have gone totally cable TV-free. Everything we like can be watched and we aren’t paying for channels that we don’t want or like. We particularly like the Sony VUE app that delivers live TV from about 90 networks. Nothing “disappointing” about it.
Hope they look at a better remote. Even the app is kimda lame. But the handheld is a disaster
Would love to be a fly on the wall of the AppleTV design team and further still the higher management team responsible for its ‘progress’ in recent years. Might make a promising Apple produced soap opera. The question is will it simply be a snooze fest, literally amongst most of the cast in fact, or will it feature colourful language and conflict on a par with Game of Thrones, as the varying participants fight for the power to dictate a decisive future or, Cut it’s power cord altogether as if it were merely some bastard offspring of the Mac mini.
I don’t want hints about great products. I want to see the great products – in the flesh.
“real artists ship.”
I had to dump ATV 4 for Roku ultra, 4 k was main factor I have moved to VUDU already, apple was almost 2 years late which in digital world is 10 years late.