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Apple Unveils a More Powerful Apple TV
- Tloewald 11y agoJust my opinion of course but this is very bad for the consoles. Apple comes in with a stupidly huge and competitive developer community and everyone in their target audience already has access to plenty of controllers (iOS devices). I imagine we'll see big guns moving over quickly (I have four GTA titles on my iPhone).
- Sumaso 11y agoLet me know when you can run GTA 5 on your Apple TV, and then we can talk about how this is horrible for consoles. Smartphones have already stolen away the casual gamer. The people playing call of duty and final fantasy are not the people who will be wowed by the apple TV. If you look at sales data for the Wii, there is a ton of people who bought a Wii, which game with Wii sport and then bought very few games. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Wii_video_games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Wii_video...) This will simply solidify that casual market into iPhone and Android apps. Consoles have nothing to fear IMO.
- Tloewald 11y agoOK: I expect GTAV will run just fine on the new hardware -- the A8 will crush the PS3 hardware. Obviously it won't run the remaster for the newer hardware, but really who cares? The old PS2 GTA titles had to be remastered for the iPhone and run fine on an iPhone 4. I for one am sick of slow level loading and endless patches; every time I play on a console I want to throw something through the screen. And I've yet to see a single compelling PS4/XB1 title come out (I have high hopes for No Man's Sky).
- rsynnott 11y agoIt'll definitely be of interest to indie devs, but the console vendors don't really seem to care about them anyway, or at least put very little effort into making things easy for them. For triple-A studios, the current-gen console hardware will likely always be a draw, though I'm sure this will get rereleases of old stuff, and possibly a downgraded version of new games (I suspect it isn't _that_ far from a Wii U, performance-wise).
- Lx1oG-AWb6h_ZG0 11y agoThis event is getting absolutely roasted by the Verge liveblog: > NILAY PATEL 11:01:09 AM PDT > It will play day or night shots depending on time of day. Sure. > CASEY NEWTON 11:01:08 AM PDT > "People are clapping for screensavers." -Walt Mossberg And a TV remote without a power button?! That's bold.
- officemonkey 11y ago"The reality distortion field is strong in this one." -- Ghost Steve Jobs.
- feld 11y ago"siri, shut off"
- venomsnake 11y agoWe are species applauding cables (Charlie Brooker's immortal ipad 2 review) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw9Hg369pcA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw9Hg369pcA
- itg 11y agoThe Verge liveblog also has an interesting sponsor.
- sterculiusx 11y agoCherrypicking is fun. "For what it's worth, this UI looks way more intuitive than the nightmare rodeo of the XBOX One or PS 4." "You can quick rewind 15 seconds by asking "what did she say?" That's pretty cool." "Pretty damned impressive.". See what I did there?
- andybak 11y agoI wonder if this will finally prod Google into actually marketing Android TV?
- Navarr 11y agoI hope so. I hope it also goads them into improving the search experience on it. Perhaps a lot of what Apple showed off is already developed into Now on Tap (part of Android 6). Hard to know, though. Haven't seen any android blogs report on it. Edit: I'm also incredibly infuriated that Netflix works in Apple's Universal Search but not Google's. That is infuriating.
- rev_bird 11y ago> Netflix works in Apple's Universal Search but not Google's. This seems counterintuitive to me -- you'd think Apple has an incentive to push people toward iTunes instead of Netflix, but I can't figure out why Google would want to obscure that content.
- Navarr 11y agoThis isn't Google's doing. Android TV's universal search is open to everyone. Netflix simply doesn't plug into any of the Android TV features. * Universal Search (nope) * Recommended to Watch (nope) * Using your phone as a keyboard (LOL NOPE GOOD LUCK WITH THAT PASSWORD BRO)
- untog 11y agoLooking at it backwards - Netflix doesn't want to integrate with global search, because they want people to just open their app already.
- rev_bird 11y agoInteresting! Integrating with global search would essentially turn them into a media server. Never thought of it that way. Would that be... bad? Their app doesn't have ads, thank god, so I'm trying to figure out what the motivation would be. Is it just trying to get people to watch Netflix content they wouldn't have otherwise seen?
- chambo622 11y agoThis device looks slick but I'm very disappointed that it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. It might be best of breed in terms of polish and features compared to Android TV, Fire TV, etc - but functionally, it's identical. What happened to Apple revolutionizing the way people pay for/consume content?
- mrtron 11y agoIt is primarily a rebranding of the already functional yet unpopular AppleTV. It seems casual games are the desired inroads to mainstream.
- seiji 11y agoI'm very disappointed that it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. You have a promising career ahead as an Apple analyst.
- chambo622 11y agoLol, didn't mean to speak in platitudes. Just commenting as someone who has spent a lot of time with Android TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, etc
- seiji 11y agoIt's just amusing since they aren't even done announcing it yet and people already hate it. :) It's not like Apple has ever been late to a party (phones, anybody?) and redefined and entire already-saturated market.
- athenot 11y agoThe more interesting news is the release of the SDK for the AppleTV. This opens new possibilities.
- ecliptik 11y agoPlex?
- some-guy 11y agoIf Plex is supported on the new Apple TV, I will switch right away.
- thehodge 11y agoI can see Plex being in the app store (it's in the iOS app store) but the siri integration would be killer but can't see it happening sadly.
- sbarre 11y agoLet me introduce you to PlexConnect, if you'd like to use your current Apple TV as a Plex client: https://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect https://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect
- acqq 11y agoLooks like a brilliant hacker's solution. Thanks.
- reportingsjr 11y agoThe nexus player has plex, voice integration, games, etc and is half the price. I highly, highly, highly! recommend it. https://www.google.com/nexus/player/ https://www.google.com/nexus/player/
- fps 11y agoPlex on AndroidTV is a different interface than the version that exists on FireTV. It's more polished than the FireTV version, but the recent additions to all the plex apps around recommendations really annoy me. I don't want Plex to try to be Netflix, I want it to show me unwatched videos in one section and all videos in another section, and that's basically it. Plex on iOS does the same thing, though, so my guess is that Plex on the apple TV won't be better.
- draw_down 11y agoI haven't bought an Apple TV thus far because I have lots of media that I'm pretty sure it won't play. But this new interface looks fantastic, particularly with the improvements to seeking (a hobbyhorse of mine - underpowered boxes plus crappy software makes it an often frustrating experience) and the addition of Siri. I don't think the remote looks that great for games, though.
- dv35z 11y agoAppleTV plus a Synology NAS is a pretty great combination. I have a Synology NAS, with an archive of movies stored on it. It also has a torrent client, which can pull down media directly. The Synology media service indexes the movies (finding cover art, genre, ratings), and makes them available for playing within the LAN. The best part is, the media service is AirPlay-compatible. Using Synology's (decent) iOS app, I can (1) Search for & initiate a download using the NAS on-device torrent service, (2) Stream that movie directly to an Apple TV - all controlled by the iOS device. Pretty slick. I might also note, because the NAS & AppleTV are connected to the router by ethernet - not wireless - there is no lag/buffering/etc.
- draw_down 11y agoBut it won't play Matroska/Ogg/AVI, will it? This is my concern, I have a ton of stuff in non-MP4 formats.
- abritinthebay 11y agoCorrect - though this is mostly due to there being little/poor hardware support for those formats. Natively the Apple TV (currently, don't know the new model) supports H.264, MPEG4, and MJPEG - all of which are trivially supported by actual chipsets. Matroska/Ogg/Avi aren't as well supported (or well used, tbh.. other than Avi which is a container anyhow)
- lukifer 11y agoIt's a little roundabout, but I use AirVideo HD [1] with a separate iOS device to get around this. My media server recompresses content to MP4 in realtime, which then bounces to the AppleTV via AirPlay, which all works seamlessly for being so janky. Assuming Apple isn't too tight-fisted with TV app approval (which remains to be seen), I imagine the AirVideo folks will pull off a better version of the same thing using a native app. [1]: http://www.inmethod.com/airvideohd/index.html http://www.inmethod.com/airvideohd/index.html
- masterleep 11y agoHow about an Apple TV that doesn't need to be rebooted every couple of weeks to keep working?
- georgerobinson 11y agoI like the Apple TV. It solves the two frustrations I have with the Fire TV stick: 1. I can’t search across both Netflix and Amazon Instant Video, instead I have to search both one after the other. 2. I like how you can ask Siri “what was that?” or “what did they say?”. I’ve been watching House of Cards and found myself asking that question quite a bit. On Fire TV, this involves rewinding, turning on subtitles, catching the missing text and at last turning subtitles back off again. Such a chore! I really like how Apple solved this problem. I have yet to see a similar feature in Fire TV.
- chambo622 11y agoFWIW Android TV does universal search very well, and has had it since launch. But I do think that this Siri integration is a notch above what anyone else has right now.
- dublinben 11y agoNumber one is just a function of the FireTV exising to drive you to Amazon rentals. The Roku has had a comprehensive unified search interface for many years.
- el_benhameen 11y agoI don't think that Amazon Instant is a supported platform, at least not yet. I do agree that these are neat features, though.
- qdog 11y agoOn my phone in the airport, so only skimmed article. Is Amazon an apple app? Not an Apple guy, but thought older apple tv didn't have Amazon. Regardless, the new TV just bought has netflix etc. and controls stereo cia CEC. Stereo supports airplay, so I expect in future my bar to buying another box is very high. Asking Siri does sound convenient, but not sure worth it to have yet anoyher device to deal with. Wife is exceedingly happy to have one remote that "just works" compared to the mishmash of deviced I had prior to buying new stereo and "smart" tv that support CEC.
- jsonmez 11y agoWas hoping for a NES remote...
- seivan 11y agoThey could have made it like the Wii controllers (but touch d-pad) where you got a NES controller when holding it with two hands. That was a pretty clever idea by Nintendo.
- sjg007 11y agoIt be nice to get a dropcam tv app.
- Kexoth 11y agoI only wonder why the baseball app has the current stats still 'hardcoded' in the video stream & not programmable through the app?
- ascagnel_ 11y agoThe scoreboard is burnt-in by the sports channel carrying the game; to the best of my knowledge, there's no way to get the raw switched video feed before the graphics crew touches it.
- Kexoth 11y agoI understand that, but the app was from the channel broadcasting the game, so I guess they have control over it :)
- aroch 11y agoThey leave the scoreboard because it contains branding for the host team / stadium and frequently the local affiliate actually running the broadcast. NFL Gamepass, and both NHL and MLB live air the original broadcast feed.
- meatysnapper 11y agoA bluetooth remote... oh dear. What happens when it won't sync? EDIT: I've worked a bunch with bluetooth on iOS and I'm not super confident in it. IR anyday for me.
- jsz0 11y agoIf no paired remote is detected I'm guessing it'll prompt you to re-pair?
- Cshelton 11y agoHave you worked a lot with Bluetooth 4.0? Or previous Bluetooth versions? I've found BT 4.0 is tons better than say...Apple's old keyboard and mouse...which is a PITA.
- meatysnapper 11y agoYeah, it's better, but 1/50 it doesn't work is super frustrating. Especially if there are multiple apple tvs in a house, I could see this being a problem where the remotes get confused. At work we have a bunch of apple tvs hooked up to presentation tvs/projectors and we all just use the hdmi cable to the screen directly. I do not trust Apple to have their wireless issues sorted out this time.
- angryasian 11y agoWhy even focus on the remote ? I understand its to make it accessible to people outside of the apple ecosystem, but it would have been nice to see better integration with an iphone app.
- sanderjd 11y agoYeah I might consider this if it turns out they have both, eventually. I get that you massively limit your market if you don't have a remote at all (like chromecast), but for me, it's so much more convenient to have everything on the phone.
- daxelrod 11y agoThey already have a Remote app http://www.apple.com/apps/remote/ http://www.apple.com/apps/remote/ that has all of the functionality of the last-gen Apple TV remote (plus things like a keyboard). I would be extremely surprised if this weren't updated.
- sanderjd 11y agoNeat, thanks for the link.
- xienze 11y agoThey've had an Apple Remote app for quite some time. Works just like they showed in the demo with the added bonus that you can use the iPhone's keyboard for text input.
- interpol_p 11y agoI'm a pretty heavy Apple TV user, and the reason I love using it is because of the beautiful, slim aluminium remote. Aside from when I lose it, which is always. I'm not sure about others but I hate using my phone as a remote: grabbing it, unlocking it, launching the remote app. And then having to think about its battery level (especially if using AirPlay). It's nice when you're in a tight spot (have to enter a sensitive password in front of friends, need to AirPlay a quick video), but a phone is horrible as a general purpose remote.
- robotresearcher 11y agoI found the fashion shopping segment repulsive. The physical audience was muted and Eddie Cue took the piss immediately afterwards.
- devindotcom 11y agoRepulsive because of the conspicuous consumption, or something else?
- robotresearcher 11y agoThe conspicuous consumption exactly. After the gross gold watch anything is possible I guess.
- kin 11y agoThis changes gaming. I need a bluetooth controller accessory and devs will really be able to go far with this. edit: While everyone here seems to disagree, many indie devs have been waiting for this for a while. It will essentially be the biggest indie console market. Ouya was unproven hardware and lackluster adoption. Innovation wise, sure, there's nothing new here in hardware nor software. But in terms of form factor, dev kits, and market, this will be very different.
- untog 11y agoThis changes gaming Not really. The Wii has had this stuff for a long time, and for a more direct comparison, so has the Roku 3. Neither has changed the world, and while Apple has a greater chance of doing so, success is far from assured.
- kin 11y agoThe 'this' I think you're referring to is motion control. While the Wii certainly didn't change the world it was very revolutionary and drew its competitors to copy w/ the Kinect and PS Move. Something revolutionary in this day and age will definitely be some VR related breakthrough. In any case, it wasn't what I was referring to. I'm referring to the idea of bringing the iOS marketplace to the big screen. It's the most adopted marketplace of both users and developers and while there isn't much to show for it now on the Apple TV I think time will bring many options of entertainment.
- dublinben 11y ago>This changes gaming Does it really? I think the failure of greatly hyped consoles like the Ooya have demonstrated that there isn't actually much of a market for this. Hardcore gamers already have fully-powered systems. Casual gamers don't care about playing on their TV.
- oalders 11y agoIf you have small children that are constantly playing with your phone, being able to direct them at this other device could be a big win. I'm looking forward to getting my phone back.
- guelo 11y agoJust last night I walked into my living room where I have Chromecast's shitty screensaver "backdrop" running on my TV and there was an ad on the screen! I was seriously pissed off, I'm not going to have my TV be an ad billboard for Google, I'm done with them. I'll consider this Apple TV, though I think I'll end up with a Roku.
- rictic 11y agoOut of curiosity, what was the ad?
- Yhippa 11y agoReally? I rather like their picture scroll. Sometimes when I have nothing to watch I'll just have that running in the background. What's pretty cool is that through the Chromecast app you can find more information about the picture. I've collected a lot of potential vacation destinations this way.
- whoiskevin 11y agoWhy do you leave your TV on in the middle of the night?
- protomyth 11y agoThe iPhone and iPod touch are going to make really crappy game controllers. I would get the AppleCare+ if you have kids or are a bit of a klutz. I get the feeling a case with a Nintendo wrist strap might not be a bad idea.
- tedajax 11y agoThe Harmonix game demo was beat for beat exactly the same as the Wii and Kinect demos we've been seeing for years.
- kdamken 11y agoAll those features are just fine and dandy, but did they finally address the issue when streaming shows via hulu or netflix the audio and video eventually gets out of sync and you need to restart the Apple TV to fix it? If so, I'll order mine right now.
- rev_bird 11y agoCordcutter here -- AppleTV looks like a handy way to combine my Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Instant streams, but can anyone comment on whether it's worth the price if I'm not really plugged into the Apple media ecosystem? I quit the iTunes store after I discovered (too late, my fault) that all the audiobooks I'd bought from them could only be downloaded once, then were lost forever. I've got a Chromecast and it works fine, for the streams it supports. But does AppleTV content justify the extra cost?
- pragone 11y agotl;dr: IMO, no I've got the previous version of Apple TV and a Chromecast. Long story short, I use both devices exactly the same. The only differences really is how I communicate with each device - remote control for Apple TV vs phone/computer for Chromecast. The Apple TV does do streaming much smoother than casting from Chrome, and of course you can use any window, not just a website. I think like most things though, it depends on the person. I'm a medical student, so it's not like I have free time to kill playing games on a new platform or discovering new shows.
- JohnBooty 11y agoI have and enjoy both the Roku 3 and the current (not the one announced today) AppleTV and aside from Apple stuff like Airplay video streaming and iTunes cloud integration, it doesn't really give you much over and above the Roku 3. Of course, the apps and games on the new Apple TV change the game entirely... if any of that interests you.
- rev_bird 11y agoGood to know, thanks. I've been looking at the Roku 2 for a looong while now. Not really interested in getting mobile games on my TV, might just go with that instead.
- morley 11y agoIf the price difference doesn't deter you, you might be better off with a Roku 3 (or waiting for a Roku 4, if such a thing is in the pipeline). I have a 3 and sometimes the framerate drops a little bit, so I can't imagine what using a Roku 2 is like. (The framerate drops occur when navigating the interface, not when viewing content.)
- lovich 11y agoSo, does this support connecting to a dlna server or can we only watch content that comes through an app?
- zelos 11y agoAre TV boxes really a growth market though? This looks kind of interesting, but most new TVs already have Netflix, Amazon, iPlayer etc. At $149/199 it's not exactly in Chromecast territory, either.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 11y agoQuite a few dumb tvs out there. Gave my sister-in-law a Chromecast for her birthday last year, but might get an AppleTV for her if it does Plex. I think they'd prefer an onscreen display. My coworker uses a Roku despite the Plex app on his tv, apparently that's pretty clunky.
- rev_bird 11y agoHonestly, smart TVs creep me out. The ones I've used have had impossibly annoying menus and inexplicably slow connections. My parents' smart TV buffers low-res Netflix shows to the point that it's sometimes unusuable. I brought my Chromecast over once and it worked perfectly. Not to mention hooking my television up to the internet means I'll be getting ads from the software (Hulu, broadcast commercials) AND the hardware. No thanks.
- quicklyfrozen 11y agoHow often do you get updates for your smart TV? For mine, practically never -- and I've also had the fun of climbing behind the TV to pull the plug because it froze up on several occasions. The TV works much better as a dumb TV, so I just use a Chromecast and Blu Ray player instead. When those get too dated, they'll be cheap enough to replace.
- rsynnott 11y agoUntil the manufacturer stops supporting them, and the service provider changes out from under them (YouTube killed off various old clients a while back by retiring an old api, say). People keep TVs for a LONG time; you're probably looking at an expected lifespan of 10 to 15 years. I suspect that smarttvs may ultimately be a fad; a little box makes more sense given the replacement cycle. This is especially true if the gaming aspect takes off; a 150$ box that is refreshed every year or so looks more attractive than something built into your 600$ TV that is supposed to be replaced every 15 years.
- osi 11y agoI wonder about the range of the remote. Right now I can keep my Apple TV in a media closet and use an IR extender with the remote. Will BT 4.0 work 40+ feet away through walls?
- cromwellian 11y agoMy take on why this has no change in denting the console gaming market: https://plus.google.com/+RayCromwell/posts/gENFJnoUUWK https://plus.google.com/+RayCromwell/posts/gENFJnoUUWK Pundits are out in force suggesting that the new Apple TV is going to somehow put traditional game consoles out of business, but this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the traditional console market and the difference between console games and casual gamers. The iPhone and iPad has massively grown the casual gaming market, bringing whole new demographics into gaming, and it has disrupted the handheld gaming market, but it has not done so at the expense of console gaming. The core defining characteristic of casual gamers is the ability to get into, and out of a game quickly. They consume games in small bitesize pieces, waiting in line, in downtime between other activities, not in multi-hour binges. Being mobile helps this mode of consumption, because your mood for gaming can arise in many circumstances, and you can instantly satiate it on your mobile phone, without having to arrange TV time or disturb someone else. By contrast, TV console gaming has a high transaction cost. You have to travel to your living room, turn on the TV, find the controllers, boot up the game, make sure no one else wants to use the TV for other purposes, etc. Moreover, console games are designed more as a TV experience, for someone to play 30, 60, 120, even 240 minutes at a time. The new Apple TV, from it's leaked specs, is essentially a casual gaming machine hooked up to a TV. This might spell trouble for the Nintendo Wii, but Sony and Microsoft? The Apple HW is no where close to current generation console level specs, and anyone creating content for it will be faced with casual gamer price expectations. How many publishers will want to spend tens of millions of dollars on triple-A titles and sell them in the app store? That would be like Marvel selling their next movie for 99 cents. Is EA going to put out a $1.99 version of StarWars Battlefront? They're not going to get console ports or exclusives of current games until they've exhausted the markets on other platforms. So, without content to draw the people who want a 2 hour immersive gaming experience, they won't get console gamers. But what of casual gamers? How many people will exchange the convenience of playing Angry Birds on their phone with playing it on their TV? My guess is, people have moved on from wanting to sit in front of their TV and that casual gamers are mostly mobile gamers. I don't think this product fits either market very well, and the primary use case of it will remain video streaming, of which is is much more expensive (and less capable, no 4k streaming) than cheaper streamers already on the market.
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- untog 11y agoNow let's play the game of "guess which provider won't be on the AppleTV". Amazon, perhaps? This post cord-cutting TV world is pretty awful. I don't want to have to download an app for every video provider, if they even have one for my platform at all.
- ThomPete 11y agoGive it time. They all will eventually.
- untog 11y agoIt depends. Amazon aren't ignoring platforms because they don't have time, it's because they want people to guy a Fire TV Stick/whatever.
- robwormald 11y agoat $39 or whatever it costs, I suspect they aren't making a whole lot of profit on the hardware. They have an iOS app, I expect they'll have an AppleTV pretty rapidly.
- untog 11y agoI suspect they aren't making a whole lot of profit on the hardware They aren't. The idea is to get you using one and then make money from that usage.
- robwormald 11y agoWhich is why having their app on AppleTV makes sense, no? They don't care about the device playing the content, just that they're selling the content.
- MiguelHudnandez 11y agoAmazon is not just selling content, though. Their push with Fire Sticks and Fire TV is in part to get "Echo" / "Alexis" into the living room. Until you can ask Siri to buy you laundry detergent in your next subscribe-and-save order, Amazon wants to own whatever you use instead of Siri.
- tjmc 11y agoPissed that they dropped the optical audio port. We regularly stream music through the AppleTV to an amp with the TV turned off. I get why they dropped it - newer amps have Bluetooth or HDMI through ports. But I'm happy with the old amp and standalone HDMI splitters are chunky and expensive. Any other options out there?
- jmnickels 11y ago+1. I pump the ATV via optical out into an external DAC and then onto my amp. The HDMI out is used purely for video. I don't want or need my audio path traveling over HDMI.
- nixpulvis 11y agoHearthstone on my TV please.
- 147 11y agoYou'd be hard countered by Nozdormu.
- zyxley 11y agoThe remote looks a whole lot like a Wii controller in disguise. There's even a wrist strap accessory. What I'm really curious about is if there will be any support for pairing multiple remotes. There could be a lot of Wii Sports knockoffs popping up that would want to take advantage of that...
- rebootthesystem 11y agoI wonder if they have a 30% take on retail apps. That alone is a non-starter because 30% is massive for companies selling real physical products. For reference, Amazon charges 15% and offers best-in-class world-wide fulfillment and customer service.
- listic 11y agoWhat hardware should I use if I want to be able to display arbitrary content on my TV and decide the lifecycle of my hardware myself? Apple TV isn't it, right?
- feld 11y agoApple TV is most likely it because Apple devices receive OS updates longer than the competition.
- robwormald 11y agosuddenly the Apple Game Controller framework makes a whole lot more sense.... https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/ServicesDiscovery/Conceptual/GameControllerPG/Introduction/Introduction.html https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Servic...
- astaroth360 11y agoUniversal Search -- Yay, Apple once again catches up to the rest of the group! Now we get to wait for their crappy-come-lately tv service to come out and have "revolutionary features" like a queue.
- ThomPete 11y ago3rd Party game controller http://www.apple.com/tv/games-and-more/ http://www.apple.com/tv/games-and-more/