“The fourth gen Apple TV didn’t offer 4K support, but, hopefully, that will change by the fifth generation model,” Dennis Sellers reports for Apple World Today. “Ultra-high definition (UHD) 4K LCD panels have recently experienced steep price declines, allowing 4K TV set prices to fall significantly and increasing consumer adoption and household penetration.”
“By the end of 2017, most 50-inch-and-larger TVs worldwide will feature 4K resolution, according to IHS, a global source of critical information and insight,” Sellers reports. “With its comparatively strong economy and consumer penchant for large-screen TVs, 4K TV household penetration in the United States will reach 34 percent in 2019. However, unlike streaming boxes from Amazon, Roku, and Nvidia, the new Apple TV doesn’t have 4K capability.”
“The amount of 4K content continues to grow. Netflix and Amazon are shooting their new original series in 4K, and there are some YouTube videos that show off the quality of 4K,” Sellers reports. “I think Apple should Apple offer 4K content on the iTunes Store.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Those one-third of US households that will have 4K TVs are Apple’s prime demographic as is, of course, anyone who already has a 4K TV set today.
What Apple should have done is make an Apple TV that is 4K-capable, clearly stating that salient fact in the specs and marketing materials, with a simple “coming soon” regarding the content. They could have easily gotten away with offering a smattering of 4K content à la Netflix and Amazon Prime and they would today be able to sell boxes to those who look at the new Apple TV and its lack of 4K future-proofing and immediately think “this smacks of planned obsolescence, so we’ll wait until next year, thanks.” — MacDailyNews Take, November 20, 2015
—
Apple should have future-proofed the Apple TV with 4K capability and no amount of apologists will be able to change the fact that, to the general public, Apple looks to be greedily setting up planned obsolescence with the current Apple TV by omitting 4K capability.
After all, if Ultra HD doesn’t matter, why do iPhones shoot in 4K and why have iMacs been upgraded to 4K and even 5K models?
All that said, the Apple TV is a relatively low-priced device and offers much, much more than just simply replaying video. 1080p is perfectly acceptable, will keep bandwidth demands lower for any Apple streaming service that may someday actually appear, and upgrading to 4K Apple TV units next year shouldn’t be all that expensive (especially if you simply sell your current Apple TV unit(s) and apply the proceeds). For the App Store, the Siri Remote and all it can do, and everything else the Apple TV currently offers, we highly recommend the device. It’s awesome, even in its spotty and unfinished state! We’ll just get our 4K content from the Netflix app built right into our Sony 4K TVs instead.
Now, cue the inevitable “4K doesn’t matter” comments from those who don’t yet own 4K Ultra HD TVs. We remember hearing the same exact type of comments when HD TVs first hit the market. — MacDailyNews Take, November 12, 2015
SEE ALSO:
Jeremy Clarkson confirms new post-Top Gear Amazon Prime show will be in 4K – November 20, 2015
Why Apple TV doesn’t need 4K Ultra HD video – November 12, 2015
Apple TV and the 4K Ultra HD conundrum – October 8, 2015
Amazon embarrasses Apple with new 4K Fire TV box or something – September 17, 2015
Amazon unveils $100 Fire TV box 4K video support, Alexa voice control – September 17, 2015
With the all-new Apple TV, Apple changes the game, yet again – September 14, 2015
Analyst: Apple TV streaming service on the way, could cost at least $40 a month – September 14, 2015
Local media streaming app Plex coming to Apple TV – September 14, 2015
What Apple got right in Apple TV’s user interface – and what needs work – September 11, 2015
New Apple TV has the potential to do for television what iPhone did for mobile phones – September 11, 2015
Apple preps to conquer living room with all-new Apple TV – September 11, 2015
Hands-on with the all-new Apple TV – September 10, 2015
Gruber: Apple TV will define how all TVs will work in a few years – September 10, 2015
Here’s how much RAM is inside Apple’s iPhone 6s/Plus, iPad Pro and new Apple TV – September 10, 2015
New Apple TV sounds great, but where’s the 4K? – September 10, 2015
Thats all fine and dandy, but how many channels does Comcast, Dish, etc have in 4k?
I repeat for anyone who says this. Do’t forget, the UI would be in 4K, or retina display as apple usually calls it, games could be in 4K, the apple screensaver slo-mo shots could be in 4K. The Apple TV isn’t just movies and TV shows. You could watch your 4K iPhone movies on the iMovie app on the apple tv in 4K and look at your photos which are larger than 1920×1080 in 4K, and maybe if they re-coded airplay you could airplay your iPad which has a resolution of 2048×1536 or the iPad Pro which has a resolution of 2732×2048 on your 4K tv. Point made.
YouTube, Netflix, and others have 4K content as well. Apple is likely waiting for the moment they upgrade the entire iTunes catalog to 4K, as this will be huge!
Spot on this decision just contradicts its other decisions and represents Apple at its worst, they do at times test our love. Clearly they wanted to hold back yo have a big time launch including the streaming service, instead they have a crippled product holding back its potential at least initially and stunting its immediate impact while others look more innovative and ahead of the curve. Clearly Apple has been caught out by events developing quicker than anticipated and now don’t even have the streaming launch to look forward to to retrieve momentum on the next upgrade. Let’s hope the company don’t have too many more feet to shoot into.
You are new here (or at least sound like you are).
Let’s look back: original Apple TV only had 720p (same amount of noise as today for 4K). Original iPhone only supported 2G EDGE data (same amount of noise clamoring for 3G). iPhone 4 only supported 3G (same amount of noise clamoring for LTE / 4G).
Apple does this ALL THE TIME. Whether you like it or not, they never blaze the trail with the latest technology; instead, they deliver the best that can be delivered with established current standards. They adopt the new when they (and the market) are truly ready.
I’m still waiting for 1080i cable to be 1080p and not look like s**t the moment the camera moves.
Well the problem is (at least on Charter in my area) is that the channels are 17 Mbps and in MPEG 2 (why!?)
If they would just update to use h265 or even h264 they could look MUCH better (or most likely they would just lower the bitrate even more so they could add more internet bandwidth or TV channels…)
Indeed one thing I will say is that hi def in the shops generally looked far better that it ever has in real life showing how cable and broadcast hi def isn’t a patch on specially loaded content from the shop equipment. I can’t help,but wonder if it will be the same for uhd content.
Blu-Ray HD is a relief to watch after looking at mediocre cable quality. I just don’t see 4K cable serving us well for some time to come. Much as I’d love it to. But then cable probably won’t be around much longer anyway,
A big Fat Zero!
Zero!
If you really want the answer to this question, do some research… You’d be surprised…. The 4K material increases EVERYDAY…. May not come across your cable box, but my Roku 4 displays this material beautifully….. So many different outlets….. It would keep you in 4K for months…. Then of course everything will be in 4k… Even sports…. Golf in 4K would be nuts!
The new Apple TV is capable of 4K. Hopefully Apple sees fit to enable it via software update once they have a 4K service.
One third will have 4K in four years? Four years is a LONG time in the tech world. Does this guy expect Apple to be seeing just the Apple TV 4 in 2019? Really?
That said, 2/3 of US households, if this statistic is to be believed, won’t have 4K, and a lot of those won’t even have 720P.
So relax. Must be a slow news Friday.
Ooops. “seeing” should be “selling.”
Yehh — we don’t listen to “analysts” and “pundits” about the next iPhone. Why pay any attention to what one of them says will be happening four years from now?
33% by 2019……
If it was by 2016 yeah Apple should be thinking of 4K in the Apple TV. (4th gen)
4K support can be done in the next gen Apple TV.
And like cashxx mentioned, what tv providers have 4K content?
It’s 2015.
So that is good news. 4K will soon be at a cost that the average consumer will consider.
Now how is that content going? I just searched Netflix and found 26 titles using the term 4K. I did the same on Comcast and could not find a 4K offering.
Is it really worth me buying a 4K TV now so that maybe in 3 years it would be useful? Likewise how important is that for Apple given the number of sets in the wild and the dearth of content.
Everyone seems to forgot that Apple does not come out with the latest tech first. They see how that competition work and then comes out with something better. So not first to market but best of the market.
4K channels None. 4K video for sale barely any. 4K is great but the content isn’t out there yet. Apple has plenty of time to add 4K and I think they already know that. Also to stream 4K is another thing entirely. I don’t know how many households have enough bandwidth to stream 4k smoothly either. HD content doesn’t even stream that well yet.
We have had a 55″ Sony 4K since last year. We have cut the cord and watch only Blu-Ray discs, NetFlix and YouTube.
It would be nice to have an Apple app that would give us access to content, 1080p and 4K.
What sort of bandwidth do you have?
I’m not sure, but it is the next highest tier Comcast has. I have the Sony plugged directly into the TV. Works fine.
The Sony had the best picture at all the TVs we looked at.
Exactly! Apple doesn’t think you need Blu-ray either. Technologically, Apple is falling behind. It is all part of their effort to push you into their cloud services and not give you access to the others. Apple sells you what makes them money; not what is the best or what you want.
Streaming 4K content is already here. And it looks like shite. CNET concluded that there is no discernible improvement over a well-produced Blu Ray disc in 1080p, due to the massive artifacting. If you’re trying to shove 4 inches of tomato through 1 inch of pipe, you’re gonna make some salsa. A feature length film in 4K eats up about 70-90 GB of data. HD video at 30 fps with Dolby Digital surround audio needs about 5-8 Mbps. Netflix is compressing 4K films down to a bitrate of 15.6 Mbps. And that is with heavy blurring to mask the disgusting mess of artifacting you get from jamming ten pounds of potatoes into a two pound bag. It’s running at 30 frames, not the standard 60. Netflix almost single-handedly forced the FCC’s hand in pushing them to redefine the term “broadband” early this year to 25 Mbps download and 3 upload (up from the antiquated 4/1 standard), based on Netflix’s determination that that’s the minimum speed for just barely passable 4K video at 60fps. By contrast, 4K UHD Blu-ray players will be using between 82-128 Mbps – which a 5 foot HDMI cable can handle with ease. Think about that for a second.
There’s a brief, excellent blog breaking this problem down:
http://blog.streamingmedia.com/2015/01/4k-streaming-bandwidth-problem.html
Help us Obi-Wan 4K Blu-Ray Players, you’re our only hope.
Or decent 4K large downloads.
4k compression algorithms make it just about as efficient as 1080p in terms of bandwidth consumption.
True. This is where H.265 (versus H.264) compression comes in. Incidentally, the latest Intel chips (Skylake) support H.265 decoding.
Apple’s MacBook Pros or desktops do not have the Skylake processors. This is yet another example of Apple behind the curve. Perhaps this is one reason Apple is ignoring UHD video.
Pretty sure Apple will be hoping people buy a new Apple TV before 2019. Many people who have that 4K won’t have an internet connection that will support it.
Apart from a dozen or so titles on Netflix and some content on Satellite services in the UK, the content is minimal. Just releasing an Apple TV that can play it will not increase the volume of content or people who can receive it, so it’s nowhere near being a mass market thing. Apple and indeed other providers relying on the internet to provide content can’t just kickstart the market because there are other factors that are limiting it.
So 4K has only been on the consumer market since October 2012.. And by 2019… It will reach 33%..
If this were any other product people would be laughing at the slow growth.
If the iPhone/iPad were at 33% after nearly 7 years… It would be a joke.
Not so good analogy.. Should be smartphones in general, not just iOS devices.. 4K isn’t a brand.
Let’s see, 4k penetration is about 8% now. lifespan of a TV is, say, 6 years, so over the next three years about half of all TVs will be replaced. That means that 40% of the TVs will have to be 4k. That might be doable: unless the replacement rate is 9 years, in which case 75% of TVs would have to be 4k.
I’m sure Apple won’t do a thing with Apple TV in the next three years. Nope, nothing…..
“Now, cue the inevitable “4K doesn’t matter” comments from those who don’t yet own 4K Ultra HD TVs. We remember hearing the same exact type of comments when HD TVs first hit the market.”
See THIS is the kind of flat out elitist BS that pisses people off MDN.
4K is great, the problem lies with content and delivery.
I’d love to have every TV I own (and my Macs) be 4k and every thing I watch be IN 4K..
I don’t do Netflix, which has little content.
I don’t have any 4K channels available on my cable provider.
I rarely watch anything *new* on TV anyway.
Nothing I own, or have access to is 4K capable..
Ok, I do have Amazon prime.. rarely even think about the video section there.
http://www.cnet.com/news/4k-content-guide-what-to-watch-in-4k-today/
Here’s the list of whats out there now in 4K. (Link was updated nov 24th)
Netflix: only things i’d watch, Blacklist and Breaking Bad. but since I own them on BR already.. why stream them.
Amazon: nothing i’d watch.
Most of us are *not* saying 4K doesn’t matter (as you put it) We are just saying it’s not there yet. It’s just in it’s infancy.
here
http://advanced-television.com/2014/03/10/hdtv-sets-in-77-of-us-homes/
HDTV has been a consumer product since 1996. It took 14 years to get to in 33% of homes. AFTER that it started growing to the 77%+ today. (Taking 5 years to go from 33% to 77%)
As someone else pointed out, TV’s themselves are lasting longer.. people don’t just buy a new TV because of a new technology comes out.. (most do not anyway)
the VAST majority of people buy a new TV to REPLACE a broken TV or one on it’s way to the graveyard.
When the analog tv broadcasts stopped a few years back many people did upgrade their TV’s then..
TV’s for most people are not a yearly or quarterly purchase. They are multiple year long term purchases.
I’m going to be buying 2 TV’s in the next 6 months. 1 *will* be a 4K TV, the other will not be.
The 4K TV is for my gaming consoles.. since that is really the only TV that gets any use.
I’m guessing the biggest whiners in all of this are those that have already made the move to 4k and are upset that there isn’t a whole lotta content for it yet.
A friend of mine just bought a 4k set, and all he has is DVDs… Guess what his reaction was when he played them. It looked awful! A week later he went out and bought a BluRay player.
As the article points out only a tiny fraction of people actually own 4k sets and that’s only going to grow by a small amount over the next 3 to 4 years.
When/if I ever plan on moving up to a 4k set, guess what? My current AppleTV will just go where ever my current HDTV goes.