“The battle for input 1 — the first HDMI port on your TV — is tough. You have lots to choose from: cable and satellite boxes, game consoles, streaming boxes, and more,” Rene Ritchie writes for iMore.
“Apple entered the living room in 2007, the same year it launched the original iPhone. Based on a lobotomized version of OS X Tiger, the first Apple TV was a big, expensive silver box that ran on Intel, had a hard drive, and focused on syncing with iTunes on the desktop,” Ritchie writes. “It was replaced in September 2010 by the second-generation Apple TV, a small black box that ran iOS on an A4 chipset, supported 720p video, and streamed from the cloud. In March of 2014, Apple bumped that little black box to Apple TV 3, the box we know and use today: It runs on the A5 chipset, supports up to 1080p video, and has been continually adding streaming services since its debut.”
Ritchie writes, “Some three years later, we’ve gone from iPhone 4s to iPhone 6, third-generation iPad to iPad Air 2, and we even almost have our hands on an Apple Watch — but that 2014 Apple TV 3 is still the latest and greatest set-top box model from Apple. And it’s showing its age.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We do like the idea of a high-end, 4K- and Apple Store-capable Apple TV. We’ve been hoping for an Apple TV App Store for what feels like forever. Perhaps with the reported announcement of an over-the-top online TV service in June (at WWDC, we assume), Apple will release an SDK for developers to get ready for the new Apple TV’s release in the fall?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Related article:
Apple in talks to unveil 25-channel online TV service in June, launch in fall – March 16, 2015
Currently the only input I use on my TV is for my amplifier. I then have my Apple TV, Sky, and Blu-ray plugged into that and it passes through the signal even when powered off. My TV is just a monitor with speakers (don’t always want full on surround sound) already. I’d kind of like a carplay system for tv’s.
Terrified of silence?
Surely, it’s a 2012 AppleTV 3 (not 2014).
Not it is not and stop calling us Shirley.
While the first line is interesting, today most every surround receiver is the hub for all devices, with several HMDI ports for inter-connecting several set top boxes if you had that many..
If Apple is really serious about TV, they need to update the Apple TV, revise the interface to make it easier to Navigate. 4K capabilities would be good with a 4K section in the store.. App’s is the last thing on my list..
4K with the new NN ruling?
Might be a while…..
Note: Apple TV 1 supported 720p video. That wasn’t new with version 2:
Apple TV (1st generation) – Technical Specifications
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP19
Video formats supported
. . .
• iTunes Store purchased video: 320 by 240 pixels, 640 by 480 pixels, 720 by 480 pixels (anamorphic), or high-definition 720p
. . .
At one time TV was the only video available to the average person outside of a theater.
What has happened since laptops? No one here is talking.
From the latest Nielsen Ratings, TV Viewing declined in U.S. by 12% in Jan., primarily due to streaming video.
In 2012, viewership in one quarter on popular news sites dropped about 20%.
Young people are particularly switching fast to portable devices and the question is whether the “TV” as we know it will remain relevant?
There is social “video interaction” at work and social settings now, where there never was before.
Much as the “Selectric” went bye bye, I think the standalone TV is increasingly heading down a steep decline.
The steep decline of a standalone TV started with the popularity of cable. Now it’s faster with all the media, streaming, VOD and download options available.. Anyone know of any HDTV owners that only watch TV via Antennae?
Ones who live close enough to civilization to get decent reception.
Content viewing is definitely getting fragmented and in many ways this is good for the consumer.
As for Apple TV, it is great for connecting to iTunes, Netflix even HBO. The price now is so compelling that it is easy to add to all the TVs in the house. The interface is okay but still could do with some tweaks.
The App store would be very cool and I imagine the biggest problem for Apple is getting the interface right.
Apple sometimes cuts prices when a product is end of life. New actual-TV AppleTV to be debuted at WWDC?
I imagine many are dubious, but consider:
Apple put A LOT of work into the tech in the 5K iMac. Surely it would be nearly trivial to shift the tech into a 5K TVbeast that would play full 4K and have 1000 pixels available for menu, UI, and visual Siri responses.
The Fam has been discussing cutting the “cable”. Now with the possibility of a new Apple TV…we wait some more.
I do think that Apple TV as it stands really is beyond its sell buy date and surely would be a serious embarrassment by year end when no doubt rivals will have likely upped the anti even further. So one van only presume for whatever reason Apple has eaton its hands it will have to take action of some kind before long. The fact that they have indeed reduced the price either shows something bigger and better is to be announced and available pretty soon, certainly before year end or simply shows that the only way to keep it selling is to do exclusive deals and reduce the price while they fiddle around trying to decide upon a strategy that they have put off for years. As the latter will not be practical into next year without a technical update anyway one can only see an update coming be it a big one or an intermediate one.
there is definitely a trend away from the TV – we just had that conversation this week with family members and how watching has changed over the years. However, I still love watching TV on a big screen with surround sound. That experience can’t be replaced with an iPad or iPhone with earphones.
But how I get the content – now that is a different story. Most stuff I watch is now streamed or broadcast over the air. I’ve cut the ties to all cable companies and don’t wish to ever go back again.