“Apple is planning to unveil a renewed focus on the living room with an upgraded Apple TV set-top box that can stream 4K video and highlight live television content such as news and sports, according to people familiar with the matter,” Mark Gurman and Anousha Sakoui report for Bloomberg.
“The updated box, to be revealed alongside new iPhone and Apple Watch models at an event in September, will run a faster processor capable of streaming the higher-resolution 4K content, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t yet public,” Gurman and Sakoui report. “Apple is also testing an updated version of its TV app, which first launched in 2016, that can aggregate programming from apps that already offer live streaming.”
“The new box will also be able to play content optimized for TVs capable of playing High Dynamic Range (HDR) video, which produces more accurate colors and a brighter picture,” Gurman and Sakoui report. “In order to play 4K and HDR content, Apple will need deals with content makers that can provide video in those formats. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant has begun discussions with movie studios about supplying 4K versions of movies via iTunes, according to people familiar with the talks. The company has also discussed its 4K video ambitions with content companies that already have apps on Apple TV, another person said. Popular video apps on the Apple TV that support 4K on other platforms include Vevo and Netflix.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote back in November 2016:
A 4K-capable Apple TV would be most welcome. In fact, it would have been welcome last year, yet it’s inexplicably AWOL this year, too. In TV, Apple certainly doesn’t lead.
SEE ALSO:
Apple TV’s estimated market share declines ahead of highly-anticipated 4K model – August 23, 2017
Rivals leaving Apple behind as Apple TV remains stuck in a test pattern – August 8, 2017
Thurrott: Two years later, Apple will undo its Apple TV embarrassments – August 7, 2017
Apple’s leaked HomePod firmware reveals Apple TV with 4K UHD, 10-bit HDR and Dolby Vision – August 6, 2017
UK iTunes movie purchase receipts hint at upcoming 4K support – July 28, 2017
Belated 4K and HDR may not be enough for meh Apple TV to win the living room – February 17, 2017
Apple vowed to revolutionize television; currently prepping an unremarkable 4K Apple TV instead – February 16, 2017
Apple TV: Still not ready for prime time – February 15, 2017
Apple hires Amazon’s Fire TV head to run Apple TV business – February 8, 2017
Apple’s new TV app shows just how painfully behind Apple is – December 14, 2016
Are you ready for 4K TV? Apple TV isn’t. – November 28, 2016
Apple has no idea what they’re doing in the TV space, and it’s embarrassing – November 3, 2016
Hulu inks deals with Fox and Disney, adding ESPN, Fox News and more to forthcoming live service – November 1, 2016
Apple’s Eddy Cue: Nope, we don’t want to be Netflix – October 20, 2016
Google signs up CBS for planned web TV service to debut in early 2017; close to deal with 21st Century Fox – October 20, 2016
Apple’s Eddy Cue: Nope, we don’t want to be Netflix – October 20, 2016
Apple’s Eddy Cue alienated cable providers and networks with an assertive negotiating style – report – July 28, 2016
Here comes á la carte programming – without Apple – July 13, 2016
Apple TV 4 is a beta product and, if you bought one, you’re an unpaid beta tester – November 5, 2015
Hopefully an ~80 inch version as well?
It will be a little box, not a television. If they do release a TV (unlikely) it will, awkwardly, have to use a different product name than Apple TV like iTube or Vision running on ScreenOS.
More exciting would be content deals and a live tv streaming service, but since thats not going to happen at least we can enjoy planet of the apps in 4K \s
Exactly 4K doesn’t matter too much with the two current disaster called Apple TV. There just isn’t a good reason to buy one.
I have to believe that finally the content will come now that Apple is going to release new hardware. They sure are not leading with hardware just because they are technically capable of building it or it would have been out two years ago. (Shame on Apple there).
Is Eddie Que negotiating the 4K content deals? Lets hope not. We absolutely need and require that prior HD content be allowed to be upgraded (not repurchased as new) to 4K now or at some point in the future when the content is ready. Short of that, Apple movie purchases should be avoided forever – just go ahead and kill off that business line. I’ll never buy another movie if they do not and will migrate to another streaming service (and hardware) for my continued business.
Apple TV did not need to turn into the kluge that it has become. It’s a shining example of bad business decisions which caused something that could have been great to be a deep sore point. Lets hope Apple course corrects this time around. One more month to the unveiling. My expectations are low.
Well, RobC, lets consider the history of music. If you have five or six decades under your belt, then you purchased many of the same songs on vinyl (albums & singles) and 8-track. Then cassettes. Then CDs. Then remastered CDs and compilations. Then AAC or another digital file format. And you may be renting some of the same music now via streaming services.
There is *no way* that the content providers are going to say, “Since you purchased our videos in HD format already, you can now access all of those movies in 4K format for free.”
It ain’t gonna happen. You will be very fortunate if they even offer you a token discount. You are living in a fantasy world created by your apparent dissatisfaction with the realities of life.
You’re over analyzing here, to put it mildly – and getting personal for no apparent reason.
Lets take music as the perfect example of what I’m looking for. When Apple dropped copy protection, they also swung a deal with the music providers allow for redownloading of files without copy protection and at a higher bitrate (256 AAC) than the old standard. It wasn’t free. There was a $20 charge in this case and you could replace your entire library with higher quality digital tracks. Heck, they even went farther and allowed people who ripped from CDs or actually stole music from Napster or other services to become legit purchases.
Did Apple need to have a deal in place with the music companies to allow that to happen….to allow them to provide this upgrade service for a reasonable (actually, nominal) cost? Yes, they did. It wasn’t free for music and I never argued that it should be free for video either. You did not have to repurchase all your old music again though – that was the point I tried to get across which you may have missed. Apple never sold albums, cassettes or 8-track, so your example – while music related – is out of place.
When Apple started selling HD versions of movies, they did not have an option similar to their music business that allowed customers to upgrade from an existing SD purchase. The only way to own an HD copy was to re-buy it for full price. That’s unacceptable in my view, which is why I am sharing it here. If they do the same for 4K and leave all prior iTunes purchases “stranded”, then the case for actually buying movies from iTunes is significantly diminished. I’d argue, the remaining reason for buying versus renting essentially disappears and will put the business at a standstill.
You can now download content for a limited time from Netflix and other services….and that is only likely to grow over time. The argument for buying/owning is already getting pretty weak. The only argument for continuing to spend/invest in a building or owning a movie library is if you can still upgrade along the way as new standards come out. Apple should enable this service by working with content owners to reimburse them as they did with the music industry – and I would gladly pay some reasonable amount to enjoy it.
Please dispense with the personal attacks unless you think your logical argument isn’t strong enough to stand on its own.
And a lower price would also be welcome.
Yawn. Isn’t there another SJW or Antifa cause that Tim cook could be financing instead?
But… will it have a redesigned (and useable) remote?
I want them to combine apple TV and homepod into a single device that streams video to my TV and simultaneously outputs the audio on the homepod speaker. I don’t want an ugly complicated surround sound system (been there, done that) nor do I want a big ugly black rectangular box of a sound bar (Sheesh are those things fugly!).
Simple. Turn on TV. Choose show. Watch. Nothing to fiddle with. 1 cable: HDMI to TV with ARC for the return audio.
Apple needs to have the ability to upgrade any movies you already own to 4K without having to buy it all over again.
I happen to agree. 🙂
. . . After which, people will start bitching that they want an 8K TV, 🙄 which of course would be overkill with DOUBLE overkill on top.
[But yes, I do like the improved color quality being provided only with 4K, as well as 60 fps video. So please don’t bitch too much at me. Thank you.]
Still don’t know why Apple haven’t released a proper TV. Their screens back in the day were incredible. Surely a UHD TV with built in TVOS would fly off the shelves…