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Get Current Apple TV or Wait for Next Gen


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My current Apple TV is a 2nd Generation, which does not have a true App Store, and thus I cannot download Disney+ and other newer apps.

I want to get a newer Apple TV like the 4K, but I am unsure if I should get it now or wait a few more months for the 6th gen version, which seems to be highly upgraded in all areas.

I know that the 4K works well with C4 and the remote would work with my IR extended cable.  I am unsure if the 6th gen will work as well and how long it will take for C4 to come up with drivers for it.

What should I do?  Thanks for any help.

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15 minutes ago, qmaster said:

My current Apple TV is a 2nd Generation, which does not have a true App Store, and thus I cannot download Disney+ and other newer apps.

I want to get a newer Apple TV like the 4K, but I am unsure if I should get it now or wait a few more months for the 6th gen version, which seems to be highly upgraded in all areas.

I know that the 4K works well with C4 and the remote would work with my IR extended cable.  I am unsure if the 6th gen will work as well and how long it will take for C4 to come up with drivers for it.

What should I do?  Thanks for any help.

my two cents - apple rarely increases the prices greatly.  So the current model, Gen 5, may come down a few bux and the Gen 6 will likely replace the Gen 5 at the current price.  If it is known a new piece is coming out soon and you can wait, I'd wait.  If its a guess if one is coming out, and Gen 5 has the features you want, I'd pull the plug and buy the Gen 5.  I am a gemini and I can never make up my mind, so I gave you both answers.

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Is there any reason why you need to stick with Apple TV?  I am an iOS house with lots of iPhones and iPads but I like Roku devices for TVs as they tend to be the best with having the most apps and the Roku integrates very well into Control4.  And depending on whether you need HD or 4K version you can get one for $25-$50.  And you don't need IR as Roku has an excellent IP based API.

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Wont matter unless Apple does something stupid.

IR and IP driver should have no change; IRs but constant since forever, and the recent IP platform move by Apple should be around for sometime and not require new 'drivers' from Control4 just for a model change.

Beyond that my crystal ball is foggy....
Of course it is Apple we're talking about. Killer of the disc drive, headphone jack, Flash..... (ok, so maybe Flash deserved to die)

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10 minutes ago, qmaster said:

I need to be able to quickly mirror my wife's Ipad to the TV.  How easy is it to do this with a Roku?

AppleTV is by far the easiest to mirror with.

Roku can cast, but there's a couple hoops.
https://www.hellotech.com/guide/for/how-to-mirror-iphone-to-roku

So you could move your streaming stuff to Roku and keep current AppleTV for mirroring, or sometimes it's easier to not rock the marriage and just stick with an AppleTV for all of it.

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I already have an Apple TV so I think it will be a pretty easy swap vs. moving to a whole new type of device.  I just wish I knew when the 6th gen Apple TV was going to come out so I knew how long I would have to wait.

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Just my $.02 (worth about half that) - I’m getting a new system installed shortly and I just bought 2 new ATV 4ks for our rack for distributed video to a few TVs around the house and then we have 3 local ATV 4ks local. I saw some ‘predications’ online but none seemed that interesting to me. A faster processor is one, really more for gaming than viewing, something I don’t use the ATV for and maybe a new remote and I’m hoping the SR260 will work just fine for that.

If something amazing turns up in the new model, I’ll likely plunk down the $170 and upgrade but from what I’m seeing, I don’t expect that.

Now, Apple could totally do something and surprise me but since I have a need now, that’s the approach I’m taking.

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I’m thinking that ATV 4K gen5 can’t really be improved a whole lot. It’s actually really great. It does just about every format (DV, Atmos etc). gen6 upgrades could be about 8K capability? Not sure. As for integration, no mini apps, but otherwise great IP control with the c4 up driver.

 

Roku is pretty fantastic. Search across all apps, mini app launching and so one. It does not do Atmos for all of the common apps (Netflix). That’s the ONLY thing I wish for. Otherwise FANTASTIC.

 

Shield Pro - I hear it’s the shit. Sort of the techy/gamer media player. Does all the highest formats and I think cam launch mini apps (someone help me here?) But may require IRUSB and a third party driver (someone can also speak to that, I’m not sure).

 

TiVo Stream 4K - requires IRUSB, does all the better formats, fantastic across app search features, but is seriously lacking apps as of launch.

 

I love the Gemini comment [mention]eggzlot [/mention] honest and hilarious. Needed that laugh.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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On 6/22/2020 at 11:20 PM, zaphod said:

Could one possible improvement for ATV be that they move more into the Homekit hub for Home Automation area?  

As the ATV has fallen behind others in the last year, then seeing the new functionality in IOS14, I think ATV will surprize us with lots of new Homekit & automation stuff.  

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No reason to pick one or the other, as soon as you think you can get by without one of them, something happens like HBO Max that isn't on all the platforms.  Or Vudu has a sale on 3D movies and all of sudden you realize that Apple TV supports Vudu 3D but Roku doesn't.

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If you keep the original box and contents, there is a pretty decent resale market for anything Apple. You could go ahead and get the 4k ATV now and if they really do offer something groundbreaking in the Fall, you could sell it -- or move it to another TV.

Guessing what Apple is going to do is impossible. If you'd told me they were going to move Macs off Intel chips, I'd have put $20 down the they wouldn't... and lost.

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On 6/22/2020 at 11:10 PM, time2jet said:

I’m thinking that ATV 4K gen5 can’t really be improved a whole lot. It’s actually really great. It does just about every format (DV, Atmos etc). gen6 upgrades could be about 8K capability? Not sure. As for integration, no mini apps, but otherwise great IP control with the c4 up driver.

In my opinion, the only flaw of the current ATV 4K is that it doesn´t do the auto framerate switching correctly. It´s playing both 23,976 und 24Hz content with 23,976Hz. This creates stutter on 24Hz content (which Netflix is using for their newer productions).

So i´m hoping for the next gen ATV to fix this (they most likely won´t fix it for the current gen).

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 6/24/2020 at 4:33 PM, turls said:

No reason to pick one or the other, as soon as you think you can get by without one of them, something happens like HBO Max that isn't on all the platforms.  Or Vudu has a sale on 3D movies and all of sudden you realize that Apple TV supports Vudu 3D but Roku doesn't.

And...still no HBO Max on Amazon or Roku.  And now add Peacock TV to the list of stuff that doesn't show up at launch on either of those.  So with streaming, you still get the platform / provider wars where the users are pawns, and you can't even skip commercials.  And in the Control4 ecosystem you give up a lot of control as you always have compared to, for example, DirecTV.  Can we go back to linear TV and DVRs now?

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On 6/28/2020 at 3:52 AM, Köhler Medientechnik said:

In my opinion, the only flaw of the current ATV 4K is that it doesn´t do the auto framerate switching correctly. It´s playing both 23,976 und 24Hz content with 23,976Hz. This creates stutter on 24Hz content (which Netflix is using for their newer productions).

So i´m hoping for the next gen ATV to fix this (they most likely won´t fix it for the current gen).

I’m sure you‘ve tried this but do you have the settings at 60hz SDR and dynamic range and frame rate matching turned on? You’ll still get HDR when it’s available but it cured the stuttering for me on Netflix. It seems totally counterintuitive to set for SDR but the ATV sends HDR anyway, even with this setup.
 

Only downside is the ridiculous handshake time between the different formats. Creates a few second delay between HDR shows and menu screen for example.

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19 hours ago, Jakelay said:

I’m sure you‘ve tried this but do you have the settings at 60hz SDR and dynamic range and frame rate matching turned on? You’ll still get HDR when it’s available but it cured the stuttering for me on Netflix. It seems totally counterintuitive to set for SDR but the ATV sends HDR anyway, even with this setup.
 

Only downside is the ridiculous handshake time between the different formats. Creates a few second delay between HDR shows and menu screen for example.

Yep, it´s no issue with the settings, the ATV just can´t do 24Hz. You always get 23,976Hz regardless if you play 23,976Hz or 24Hz content which gives a noticeable stutter every 41 seconds.
The issue is known for almost two years now but Apple is not willing (or able) to fix it.

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On 6/22/2020 at 2:56 PM, qmaster said:

My current Apple TV is a 2nd Generation, which does not have a true App Store, and thus I cannot download Disney+ and other newer apps.

I want to get a newer Apple TV like the 4K, but I am unsure if I should get it now or wait a few more months for the 6th gen version, which seems to be highly upgraded in all areas.

I know that the 4K works well with C4 and the remote would work with my IR extended cable.  I am unsure if the 6th gen will work as well and how long it will take for C4 to come up with drivers for it.

What should I do?  Thanks for any help.

I see a lot of information and opinions on ATV, so I thought I'd throw in my version.....

the rumor on the new AppleTV is a faster processor and more storage as well as a new remote. So if you use if for lots of gaming, it makes sense.

With that, if you're adding it to you AV rack to watch TV, I'd go ahead and make the purchase.

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On 7/15/2020 at 4:57 AM, turls said:

And...still no HBO Max on Amazon or Roku.  And now add Peacock TV to the list of stuff that doesn't show up at launch on either of those.  So with streaming, you still get the platform / provider wars where the users are pawns, and you can't even skip commercials.  And in the Control4 ecosystem you give up a lot of control as you always have compared to, for example, DirecTV.  Can we go back to linear TV and DVRs now?

I get what you are saying. It's kind of frustrating. No reason that Roku, Apple, Amazon or any of these companies should be charging the providers with a fee just to have an app be able to run on their device. But whatever. They can do as they like.

That said, there has never been a time where almost any movie or TV show is literally a few clicks away. I have been watching lots of random movies from the 80s and 90s recently (To Live and Die in LA, No Mans Land, Men at Work, Days of Thunder, etc.) for free on the Roku channel. Tons of free (ads) stuff on there.

I still wish for the day of the "one box to rule them all" scenario where a single box can be used to play back all the media we want. May not happen but Control4 makes it easy to switch between them all. It's honestly the only reason I have Control4. Having a consistent remote and interface for every TV in the house makes it easy for anyone to know how to watch what they want no matter how I have the TV's setup.

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The infighting is for subscription percentages.

Roku and the like get a share when you sign up for a new service THROUGH the Roku rather than direct to the streaming service on the web. That's why they wanted a credit card when you started. So when a new service launches the service doesn't want to give away a cut until they've roped in as many direct accounts as they can. Totally bull against the consumer. Speak with your wallets, says a lot about a service if they aren't on all platforms at release.

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15 hours ago, Köhler Medientechnik said:

Yep, it´s no issue with the settings, the ATV just can´t do 24Hz. You always get 23,976Hz regardless if you play 23,976Hz or 24Hz content which gives a noticeable stutter every 41 seconds.
The issue is known for almost two years now but Apple is not willing (or able) to fix it.

Well crap! Now I can’t unsee this😄

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16 hours ago, therockhr said:

I get what you are saying. It's kind of frustrating. No reason that Roku, Apple, Amazon or any of these companies should be charging the providers with a fee just to have an app be able to run on their device. But whatever. They can do as they like.

That said, there has never been a time where almost any movie or TV show is literally a few clicks away. I have been watching lots of random movies from the 80s and 90s recently (To Live and Die in LA, No Mans Land, Men at Work, Days of Thunder, etc.) for free on the Roku channel. Tons of free (ads) stuff on there.

I still wish for the day of the "one box to rule them all" scenario where a single box can be used to play back all the media we want. May not happen but Control4 makes it easy to switch between them all. It's honestly the only reason I have Control4. Having a consistent remote and interface for every TV in the house makes it easy for anyone to know how to watch what they want no matter how I have the TV's setup.

I can't speak for all the developers, but Apple doesn't charge developers for running apps. Anyone can get a apple developer license and develop away....

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