Not yet my older ATV is still working but if dies I'll jump on the new one with 128GB in an instant. Thanks for the info Erik.

 

No problem! I'm currently thinking about upgrading as well. The 128GB is really interesting and it has WIFI 6. The only thing I really want to know if there will be a difference in picture quality.

 

Nothing on HD audio passthrough? Then not worth an upgrade.

 

Apple will never allow passthrough, they don't support playing rips of your own library

 

Previous release notes for TVos 16 said that it supported HDR10+, is that true for 2021 AppleTV or only the new one that comes out in November ?

 

Also something i would like to know.

 

Does it support 2.35:1/21x9 UI resolution?

 

I am interested to see if it supports more Dolby Vision profiles.

 

Converts to PCM

 

Needs to be something other than speed to entice me. I’ve been using the 2021 Apple TV for a while now (wired via Ethernet) and I haven’t experienced a single thing that feels or seems sluggish. Not sure what more speed brings — unless you are playing games on it.

Hopefully Apple doesn’t “batterygate” the old Apple TV devices to drive us to the new.

 

I could maybe see the draw if someone has a Samsung TV that only supports HDR10+ and not Dolby Vision? Doesn't apply to me though.

 

Hard pass for me. No HD audio passthrough and no Dolby Vision playback through Plex or Infuse is a no go for me.

 

Infuse does support Dolby Vision playback. It has for quite a while.

 

No support to send AppleMusic in its highest available quality to an AVR. No thanks. Also no reason this box should be locked to 48kHz sampling. It can’t even play 16/44.1k tracks without resampling to 48k. Ridiculous. Even some BD players can send 24/192 to an AVR.

Again ridiculous for a ‘premium’ streaming device.

 

No kidding,

No kidding, it can’t even play their own high resolution audio

 

I don't think I will take this upgrade unless my 1st Gen ATV dies; it does almost everything I want it to do and this doesn't really add anything new. My hope was that they would include support for streaming their HiRes ALAC files, but I guess not. Even better would be to allow Qobuz/Tidal to output their HiRes formats but I doubt that would ever happen. Even BETTER than that: Roon support! Yeah right.

This is kind of a meh upgrade unless you own a TV that uses HDR10+. I'm not sure why they even bothered with HiRes audio since none of their devices support playing them natively. Seems like such a simple thing to do.

While I am immersed in their ecosystem and they have always been "conservative" about what they allow their hardware to do, it's starting to frustrate me.

 

If there was any kind of improvements in audio/video capabilities, I likely would have upgraded my home theater ATV 4K Gen2. I have 5 of these around my home for various TVs, but only really care to squeeze every last drop of performance out of the Theater ATV. Since I don't game on it, and the only performance issues I ever have are related to HDMI handshaking (blank screen) when changing framerates between UI and video, I really don't think this new box will do anything at all more than the Gen2 for me. My Epson 5050UB cannot do HDR10+ so no upgrade for me there either. So, sadly, its a pass from me for now.

 

bought 2 of them. hoping the ethernet controller / atmos issue is resolved. hated that I'd get stuttering sound during stranger things.

 

I had this same thing happening for a while. Then, one day, it stopped happening. I haven't had it in a while, and was never able to figure out what it was. If you are still having it in your current unit, please do update us on if it is gone for you in the new one! If it were to come back for me and you can tell us that you don't have the issue in the new one, it would help to make a purchasing decision in the future potentially.

 

When the new version (2022) is out, will all the dolby vision titles I have purchased on the itunes store be available in HDR10+ when connected to a supported device?
Or will only some movies play in HDR10+
I thought the different movie studios only support certain HDR formats, or will that not matter when streaming on the new version coming out in 2022?

 

My guess would be no. I would feel confident that Apple+ shows will add HDR10+, but HDR10+ isn't like HDR10 and a fall back for people without DV. For example, if you have a Samsung TV and a show is only available in DV, it does not matter if your device supports HDR10+ because the content does not.

 

so sad, since there is no bitstreaming to AVR, I can't get this to replace my Shield Pro yet, as much as I'd like to use the new ATV to provide HDR10+ to my Samsung projector.

 

Matter support is only on the WiFi + Ethernet model. That is an odd decision.

 

Dolby TrueHD source re-encoded as LPCM sounds better than DD+. Even if the Atmos metadata flag is not re-encoded with the TrueHD re-encode I just turn on my multichannel upmixer. Works fine.

 

@Erik Wesley Well, I just set up my new Apple TV 4K 3rd Gen streaming box. My initial impressions are certainly very impressive. Compared to my old Apple TV 4K 1st Gen streaming box, it's like chalk and cheese, (well, not quite), but still very noticeable in the improvement in both picture and audio quality. The picture quality is certainly noticeably sharper and clearer, and the dynamic range of the audio is certainly a lot wider and crisper than my previous box. Good luck.

 

Oh wow that's great to hear! I wonder if it's that new processor that's doing all the heavy lifting. I'm excited. I get mine hopefully the end of the week but that's awesome to hear! What difference do you hear in the sound?

 

@Erik Wesley As I said, the enhanced dynamic range is certainly noticeable to my ears. The sound is certainly crisper, cleaner and clearer, whereas, with my old machine, it seemed a little constrained and, dare I say it, compressed. To my ears, it's definitely a lot livelier; life-like. I found this with both music and spoken voice. Good luck.

 

That sounds awesome! If I can get that on mine it will be worth the upgrade. I always thought mine sounded really flat and would have to bump it up quite a bit. Still streaming unfortunately, but if it's better it's worth it. I'm definitely looking forward to it now! Thanks for the feedback.

 

I agree the new Apple TV is the most mature and powerful Apple TV to date, with smooth navigation, advanced Accessibility features that are not available in other streaming boxes.

Just heads up to those who buy it for the new HDR10+ support. Unfortunately to get HDR10+ it means you have to switch away from Dolby Vision output so if you have a TV with dual format support or use HDfury to get LLDV from your streaming box then it’s a major inconvenience to have to dive into the menu, change device output type, wait for HDMI shaking, sometime I had to even reboot ATV or AVR to just watch a show in a different format.

I don’t understand why ATV wouldn’t support both formats at the same time like Fire Cubes do.

 

As I sit here with my Shield Pro freezing on a daily basis requiring a reboot debating between the Apple TV 2nd Gen $109 64gb vs 3rd gen $144 128gb. Plan to use Infuse and Plex with a 5.1 setup on an LG C8 OLED. I see no compelling reason for the third gen otherwise. I don’t play any Apple games. Thoughts?

 

I also purchased an Apple TV 4K because I was having issues with my shield pro.

I went with the third generation with ethernet. I could have easily gone to 32 GB model for a 100 bucks Gen 2.

For me personally, I like the idea of not having a separate cooling fan that could fail. So that's a plus for the gen 3.

The gen 3 is 40 to 50% faster. I might not notice it now in the user interface, but the horsepower is there for future TV OS updates. Although I don't play games on my Apple TV because I have an Xbox series X... So maybe the extra horsepower will never be used and a noticeable way to me.

Sadly, the Apple TV does not do upscaling very well. The AI upscaling of the shield blows it out of the water.

So for me it was worth the extra 35-40 bucks over the 64 GB Gen 2.

-T

 

avsenthusiast said

"Just heads up to those who buy it for the new HDR10+ support. Unfortunately to get HDR10+ it means you have to switch away from Dolby Vision output so if you have a TV with dual format support or use HDfury to get LLDV from your streaming box then it’s a major inconvenience to have to dive into the menu, change device output type, wait for HDMI shaking, sometime I had to even reboot ATV or AVR to just watch a show in a different format.
I don’t understand why ATV wouldn’t support both formats at the same time like Fire Cubes do."


I have an 85" QN90A TV and Q950A soundbar (no receiver) and just pre-ordered the new HDFury VRR, 8K Arcana VRR 40Gbps | HDFury.com | Connect and Fix everything in HDMI
for audio extraction for a "real" subwoofer, and it will unlock Dolby Vision as well as upscale. I'm glad I saw your post regarding no auto, or easy switch between audio formats on ATV4K, because I was considering buying one. Have you used or compared the new Fire Cube ? I haven't really seen any decent comparisons online.

 

I'm glad I saw your post regarding no auto, or easy switch between audio formats on ATV4K, because I was considering buying one. Have you used or compared the new Fire Cube ? I haven't really seen any decent comparisons online.

Yes, I got myself a Fire Cube latest Gen that supports both DV and HDR10+.

After testing both more extensively, I decided to keep both, one for home theater and one for office.

There are indeed a couple of ways to get the latest ATV HDR10+ model to play both DV and HDR10+ without going into the menus. But it's super non-intuitive. It requires that you see it to 4K HDR only, and then set Match Frame Rate and Dynamic Range to "On".

But this trick applies to my Samsung LSP9T Projector with HDfury Arcana only. Those with other TVs and devices may not be able to do this auto-switch correctly.

Whereas on the FireCube, no special settings are required. It just works on my combination. Hope this helps.

 

Can one use a splitter for HDMI to run one cable to a TV and the other to a processor without degradation in sound and picture?

 

The A2843 ( newest ) is nothing like the A2169. The previous using is MUCH better for a whole lot of reasons. BUT you wont really see/hear it unless your using high end gear. But even with a basic TV and a soundbar there really are not compelling features and no reason to buy a cheaper unit.

 

Wow, really nasty stuff Apple…
Did anyone actually do any tests regarding the picture/audio quality…and if all the cost cutting actually influences those, and to what degree?

I have a chance to buy both 2021 and 2022 models as an upgrade for 1st gen 4K. Looking at this I’m leaning towards 2021 (also cheaper).

 

I spent time doing AB with a few TVs and sound systems. For most people it will not be anything noticeable with the stock units. For my use tho as a base to do a highly modified unit, the new one sucks and results in the new one looking, and sounding, not as good. This sucks for me as I need to source A2169's for the modded units. It seems the best made AppleTV was the A2169 - IMHO.. I would have liked the new one to be as good after mods as the A2169 because there is more room inside the new case for extra stuff, but, nope. The new one is sucky. IMHO, for my specific use.

Apple does not care about the AppleTV market, they are after mobile devices and the AppleTV+ app which can run on anything including preinstalled apps on TVs. I would bet Apple steps away from a streaming box in the near future. Not maybe people need one. I think this device is a first step in that direction.

 

Thanks for clarifying. What doesn’t make much sense to me is why bother building brand new product just one year after 2021 version if you plan to exit that specific market?

They certainly didn’t make it for HDR 10+, that is a very small consumer base. Thread/Matter? Even smaller.

Only thing that makes sense to me is cutting costs in general and perhaps shortage of those specific SoC chips on 2021 model.

I have an opportunity to buy 2021 model (barely used) for 130 € vs 2022 new for 170€. Can’t make a decision all day.

So thanks for not making my life easier Chris 😁