Hey everyone! Love the comments! Keep ‘em coming. The new ATV 4K is going to replace a Chromecast at home for a longer term eval. Anyone interested in a full-on flagship streamer battle? Also, for anyone wondering why get a streaming box when Smart TVs exist, maybe go check out my video on why I think Smart TVs are dumb. Or should be dumb!
This video didn't mention being able to play lossless music from the Apple TV. I bought a Sonos Arc surround sound system with subwoofer for my living room and bedroom...music is studio quality and so clean. The Apple TV is the best streaming box at not only video and audio but music too.
In my opinion with the tv makers just make a awesome tv with no apps. Use the pros for that hence Apple TV. Maybe you can answer this, I heard that when you use Apple TV all information goes through apples servers which are top quality. Any truth in that?
I agree. We have a 2019 Vizio M7 series and navigating through "Smart cast" is horrible. We've been using the Firestick for awhile now. Sooo much better than the TV interface.
The combination of using your AirPods Pro/Max with transparency mode and head tracking is just UNREAL. It's like being in the room and using your surround sound speakers on full blast all while someone can sleep in silence right next to you. The way it follows your head as you stand up and move is next level.
I totally agree. I live in a condo and with the AirPods Max headphones it sounds like I have a very expensive home theater setup except there aren’t physical speakers everywhere and I don’t piss off my neighbors at night. It’s truly an underrated experience.
My previous gen Apple TV 4K gets plugged into a Denon AVR. If I upgraded is there a way the AirPods Pro could “override” the output into the AVR and surround speakers? Thanks in advance.
I've used Firesticks, Rokus and now the Apple TV for the last 2 years and I'm definitely most impressed with the Apple TV. My main issue was the ads that are present in the first two and the thing that impresses me the most about the Apple TV is how it just works with my iPhone and the rest of my Apple products. Also, when getting more than one apple tv, the second or third ones are set up automatically the same way you already have the first one set up, which is a time saver. Any and all streaming apps are present, they don't block one because it's a competitor to their streaming platform and they all just seem to work like they should. The design is as simple as it can get. I get home, tell Siri to turn on my Apple Tv and play music and she does just that, it works great.
The Apple TV feels slick but semi enthusiast to me. You have to be really into specs and stuff to be willing to blow the amount of money on what’s essentially a cpu upgrade.
I must say having a pair of AirPods Max with spacial audio connected to an Apple TV is seriously impressive. Living in an apartment I can't have a fancy surround sound system without getting some complaints. This is a perfect alternative that I don't think is talked about enough. thanks for bringing it up
Caleb since you are someone that regularly configures and optimizes TV pictures, how accurate is the Apple TV’s tool compared to what you normally change??
The personal home theatre experience Caleb mentioned is really underrated. Especially for people like me whose family hates loud speakers/subs, getting that experience all to myself (and pretty impressive) is awesome!
Great review and summarising why I don't need to upgrade from my current, old 4k Apple TV: - no HDR10 TV - got XsX and PS5 for gaming - still overpowered - still super fast
@@ndimageryanddownoutproduct1071 I mean.. haven't found anything that wouldn't work or that would be slower than my smart TV.. so yeah, overpowered. Perhaps I'm missing a side-by-side reference but it's still pretty quick in my eyes
There's so much more to the Apple TV than just streaming apps. There's Share Play, which I think is an awesome idea, although I haven't used it as yet. The fact that AirPods are automatically detected and so seamless to connect, and now you can connect multiple pairs simultaneously is awesome. Also hooking up a game controller to play games is why you have that A15 in there. I just wish Apple Arcade got some actual triple-A titles, or if Apple did a deal with Nintendo to bring some of their games to the platform, which would be revolutionary. Right now I can't think of any feature I'd like to have other than more high quality gaming content. Oh and a better game controller API which knows which controller I have hooked up and shows the correct mappings. I have a PS5 controller, but there are so many games that show Xbox button mappings and then I need to try and remember which button maps to which on the PS controller. However, this is also something that developers need to be more cognisant about.
@@TristanTheVRGamecat I do have a real console (PS, Xbox and Switch) and a gaming PC. I don’t think that the Apple TV is over priced. You’re entitled to your financial and ethical views, so you do you.
From what I see, this is a very limited streamer. For example, you can't even install your own media player app (Kodi, Emby, Jellyfish, etc.) to play your own media. /fail
@@moto-rambler Yes you can. I have Plex installed on my Apple TV and I’m running my own Plex server with my own media. Although I barely use it, because there are so many streaming services to choose from.
Can we please get a shoot out for the best streaming devices? (cube, ultra, shield & Apple) Each of these are the best in their respective categories and all have support for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.
I just got the LG C2 which produces an amazing picture and a 10/10 gaming experience. However, I wish LG would make the user interface more like the Apple TV. I like the little clutter big tiles that are easy to scroll through on the Apple TV. I always find myself reaching for the Apple TV remote instead of using LG’s built in interface when I want to watch content. It isn’t a huge issue because when I turn on my Xbox or Apple TV the LG automatically opens those inputs, but when I have to scroll the LGs Home Screen it can be overwhelming and annoying to find what I want. Great video.
@@luisenrique510 yes you’re right. Samsungs tizen is on their tvs is straight garbage. I’ve bought the new S95B 2 weeks ago and returned it after 3 days. Not specifically because of the os but I had a dead pixel in the oled panel. I’ve now bought the Sony A95K instead and oh boy this google tv os feels like it’s 5 years ahead of Samsungs os 😂.
No issues with my lg c9. I wonder if apple tv will be an update i need when i only have iphone and nothing else from apple. Havent felt any significant slowdown in the lg UI
Totally agree on the wonders of Spatial Audio. I recently purchased a gen 2 Apple TV 4K and AirPods Max, and I just packed up a bunch of my expensive audio gear because I'm just never going to use it again. It is truly the best audio experience I've had in my home, and it blows away my previous solution of running audio off the Roku app to my earbuds during late night listening.
You can connect any Bluetooth headphones, but you need AirPods to get spatial audio. The AirPods Pro sound good, but the AirPods Max are on another level entirely.
@@qcsupport2594 i have oled c9 my tv get no update anymore but apps get update I really want the apple tv but I don’t know is it necessary if its jot better than native apps
I bought a TV with inbuilt Chromecast, as well as Android TV and although it worked good, I decided to get the Apple TV 4K (not the 2022 version, although I'll be getting one). I was shocked that it made a marked difference in pcture quality as it was able to use all the bells and whistles this new TV came with. I cannot overstate how much of a difference in terms of picture quality (I reckon something to do with scaling and compression), but more so with colours and the HDR.
That doesn't sound right. If you were using your built in apps they should have all supported 4k and all the HDR formats. If the Apple tv looks way better then your apps must not have been working properly
The built in apps on my LG C2 work great and the picture quality is amazing. I know there won't be any quality upgrade for me but I want everything to go through my yamaha receiver so I may get an apple tv or a nvidia shield tv pro
I really don't get what goals Apple is trying to accomplish here. They're basically charging a $20 dollar difference between wi-fi and ethernet. Plus HDR-10+? Not ever 4K TV has HDR-10+. Also, they added gigabit support I get that, but not every consumer has gigabit as its not available in all areas yet. I get gigabit speeds on my current Apple TV 4K. The Apple TV is the only product Apple adds minimal upgrades to.
Did you know that pressing the TV/Control Center button and the Volume Down (5 seconds) will reboot your remote? Also, I have had issues with my remote not IR controlling my receiver and this is how I fixed it.
Shield Pro is still a bit more versatile and can work as a Plex server, but Apple is now less intrusive with ads compared to the Google Discovery landing page. Mostly an ecosystem choice.
@Scott Sneddon Even though i personally own the shield pro. It is starting to get outdated. It doesn't HDR10+, nor can it play HDR in youtube, and even though it has a tegra x chip for gaming, it's already gettiing beaten by the last 2 years of snapdragon chips and that doesn't even compares to the performance apple is giving with their A15. Yet I still am rooting for the sheild as it still has the best support for Plex especially for audio passthrough, it also is the best android TV box you can get and it's also least annoying when it comes to google tv supported devices. Also personally i find apple tv OS to be quite limiting as I do with every single apple product. Android still has alot more versitlity than apple TV if you use it to the fullest. But right now Nvidia really needs to release and update for the shield, which unfortuntely is very unlikely since the shield was never Nvidia's biggest priority and they only made it to use more of the tegra x chips.
I’m waiting for version 2! Can we get this Q1 2023 lol I don’t want to get an outdated shield pro to be hit with a new version release. Also, worst case I’ll buy the new apple 4K or older shield. Need a side by side comparison for AI upscaling. Don’t care for other functionality. Show me the resolution performance period
@Scott Sneddon Actually for apple it's quite the opposite. Now more than ever they have more interest in the apple tv as they have been introducing new services like Apple TV +, Arcade, and fitness. These new services will just work with better on the apple tv and they need the apple tv to be updated to take advantage of their new services
Yeah Apple TV 4k doesn't have direct pass through for lossless audio so hard pass no matter what the ecosystem from my point of view. What were they thinking?? Shield has had it since like 2016
@@tim3172 Dolby Atmos is object-bases position metadata to create surround sound, and is implemented on Dolby Digital+ format (compressed) and Dolvy TrueHD (uncompressed). When you are using Dolby Atmos, you are using one of those formats
I have an Apple TV in every room. We use them more than anything else. The interface is fantastic and the universal search feature using Siri is super helpful.
@@michaelwright9101 Yes,I brought my first one because I needed it for Ecobee thermostat geofencing to work with my iPhone. Geofencing works natively in the Android app. I bought the second one for the remote upgrade. Refused to pay $60 for the stand alone remote. I own pretty much every streaming device minus the Nvidia Shield. I own about 12 -15 streaming devices. About 2 of each minimum. With all of that being said. TVOS and Roku interface sucks. RoKu has made major improvements in OS11. Live TV integration in TVOS is pathetic.
💯 agree on spacial audio, its fantastic. Late night when I switch to Airpod 3’s, the spacial audio is damn near same as the full home theater sound I have setup too. Its impressively good.
I think I have or had all of the various streaming boxes except the Shield. Among the ones I've used, the Apple TV is easily the nicest streaming box, and it is well worth the premium. It is an appliance you use every day and never want to think much about, which is exactly the kind of thing Apple does really well. Honestly, it is not so much that the AppleTV is some amazing thing, it is more that the competition is so terrible/weak. Amazon's FireTV is basically a deal where you pay less for the hardware in exchange for being constantly marketed to and pushed into the Amazon ecosystem. It works, but the UI is about marketing first and user experience last. My Fire stick lives in the TV in the guest room, where I essentially never have to use it. Chromecast is Google's version of the Fire stick, with similar drawbacks coupled with slightly less polished and stable software, so it is basically hot garbage. If you are going for the cheapest possible streamer, at least the Fire stick rarely crashes. Roku is a noticeable step up from both of those options. It is not a complete Trojan horse of advertising, the interface is stable and simple, and it isn't going to constantly annoy you day-to-day. Less advertising doesn't mean none and Roku is still a bit too ad-heavy, particularly the junky screen saver, but it is probably the best choice if you are on a budget. I upgraded from a Roku to the Apple TV when I bought a 4k/Dolby Vision capable TV, and I was worried at the time that I was spending too much to get trivial upgrades vs. the Roku. If you are on the fence, pull the trigger, you won't regret the upgrade.
Well the Shield is the only one that supports Dolby TrueHD audio, which is used on most blu-ray's - so if you run something like a Plex server, and want rip all your fully uncompressed blu-rays to hard drive, and have a collection of hundreds (or in my case thousands) of movies on demand, all at full quality, the stupid 2015 Shield is still the only option. Thankfully, Nvidia has continued to update it, and it still runs everything, and is still pretty fast. But if all you're doing is streaming, then they're all basically the same. The AppleTV is by far the fastest thing out there, but if you're a welfare slob, the FireTV will work just fine, just with a much uglier and slower interface (not that it's slow, it's just slower).
@@clotheman actually 2015, I got mine in Nov 2015 - I always upgrade to the latest and greatest and I've bought every new Apple TV and Fire Cube, whatever is the "best", and yet all of them have been a letdown. With the Shield, it's not quite as fast as the latest Firestick, but it's like 92% as fast, it's not slow by any means. Meanwhile Apple has the best hardware, but they lock it down so much, that most of the power goes to waste. The Shield is still chugging along, never has an issue running anything I throw at it. If/when they ever release a new Shield, I'll be getting one.
I’ve had the SHIELD before, and unless you pirate everything you watch, the only benefit is the “AI Upscaling” which is just a gimmick. The Apple TV gives you fat more bang for your buck in my opinion.
Two favorites are Apple TV 4K and Chromecast with Google TV. Apple TV has a lot of bells and whistles that are better for the movie watching experience. The Chromecast with Google TV is better for the sports enthusiast. Google device offers more apps that are actually useful in the sports department while the Apple TV 4K is better with streaming especially if you have your own home media server.
I love the Nvidia Shield Pro more than any player since it not only my player for my streaming apps but it also doubles up as my Plex media server with 40TB of storage attached to it.
And what's your media player? Kodi? All these 3rd party Software are not usable, TH-cam App is always broken. Who supports the TH-cam app on Nvidia Shield?
My favourite stream device is definitely the Apple TV. The thing is so smooth and works so well with the Apple ecosystem. Even the 4th gen HD model still runs great for just streaming services tho I did find it didn’t work good for streaming from a PC using moonlight, going to the 1st gen 4K model fixed this (note the chrome cast is also no good for PC streaming). But I just love the UI and smoothness of the Apple TV, I’ve tried the chrome cast and there’s a bunch of things I don’t like including lag, ads and a worse UI in some areas imo.
Anyone who owns the 2021 version doesn't need the upgrade. You only get HDR10+, the chip or storage won't make a difference. Unless you like to game on it.
Thanks for your comment! I got my 2021 version a few months ago and just found out about this. I have a Samsung TV and wasn’t sure if it’d be worth upgrading. I still love mine !
I've had an Apple Tv since gen 2 before they added 4k. I now own 3 Apple Tv's all over my house, I have always loved the interface the power and speed of the device. And I have been saying this forever.. The picture quality to me always seems to look better on Apple Tv than any other streaming device out there. I'm glad you have finally come to your senses @Digital Trends .. lol great vid buddy. I'm gonna go pick up the new 4K version
Beat ya K! Read my post. With 128Gb I am confident the new ATV will now NOT delete my Infuse metadata. Actually the newest ATV removes a hardware fault in and around the YCbCr green tint issue so that's a positive.
Only thing that apple tv misses for me is a tv guide built into the apple tv app. So when you connect apps to apple tv it auto shows what shows are available to stream currently in a tv guide.
I’m mad at apple for taking out plans to include hdr10 on second generation and that the new sing feature will not be available on the second generation either.
2 problems with this thing: 1: Quite often it doesn’t respond to remote input for a few seconds. 2: In settings you can choose a default and temporary audio output. Why can I only choose TV Speakers as the default audio output? I can choose others for the temporary audio output, but they keep switching off. I.e. it goes back to the TV Speakers.
If it is to connect the default speakers to your home sound system (i.e. soundbar), there is a workaround by running the HDMI from your ATV tot your soundsystem and a HDMI cable from your system to your tv. You can also put an HDMI audio extractor between your ATV and tv to get the possibility to connect your ATV with i.e. a stereo receiver. For changing your default speakers just by your ATV, as far as I can find it is only possible for devices that are part of your Apple home network.
So I’m being forced to buy a soundbar or HomePods? I have a Mac over the same Wi-Fi network with great speakers, but I can only set them (or the Mac) to the temporary audio output. It should play though the Mac all the time.
@@gilles111 I have set up my Mac as a AirPlay receiver. That’s why it can be set to the temporary audio output. Apparently, you have to buy something (a soundbar or HomePods I suppose) directly connected to the TV that can create sound to always have GREAT audio from that device (TV Speakers as the default). Otherwise great sound will always switch off and instead coming from the bad TV speakers. It’s obvious that it should only be temporary for AirPods. But not from a Mac with great speakers. Maybe there’s not a solution as AirPlay functions in that way. Though, HomePods can do it without being connected to the TV???
Depends on what audio experience you want streaming home videos. Shield pro can do bitstream while ATV will do all transcoding and send out as PCM, so not native…
Shield Pro can send-out as PCM as well. I own a Shield Pro but haven't tried an ATV4k. I don't see much of a difference bet. the 3rd Gen. and 2nd Gen. to justify the price difference. I don't have a Samsung television so I don't care about HDR10+.
My only complaint on the new box is that it didn't include Wifi 6e like they did on the new iPad Pro's. Other than that, it looks great and definitely picking it up!
@@wojtek-33 It's... not, though. It uses exclusive band free from the traffic of 5 and 2.4GHz of your neighbors and other devices. It's also faster for things like using Plex and dramatically improves responsiveness to close to that of wired.
I have Apple 4K tv from a couple of years ago. I also have the shield. Both are very good for picture quality. I like you can watch the World Series in 4K UD H . For me I would pick apple 4 k tv.
I have the 2022 Samsung NEOQLED and watching anything from TV’s integrated apps does not compare to Apple 4k 3rd gen quality. On Apple TV the images are sharper, brighter and sound quality is better as well.
I was all about google. I had a chromecast with google tv. When the Apple TV 4K came out last year I decided to grab one and return it if I was no update. It was so damn good I ditched my cc. Apple TV picture quality is second to none! Also the front page curation actually works as it should. I hated that ccwgtv front page was trash.
I love the Thread-hype. In reality it’s just another Zigbee or Z-wave alternative, that hopefully manages to beat both and become a standard. Not because it’s necessarily different or even better, but because we need a standard that companies can rally behind.
@@spacecadet2172 You’re not wrong. And that’s a great advantage for Thread which seems great. But it’s not a technical advantage, as the same would be true for Zigbee if the major companies followed Amazons example. I’m excited for thread, but it requires a hub.
@@andreasb4kken Nobody said it was a technical advantage. You yourself said you hope it becomes a standard and that companies rally behind it. That has literally already come true. I'm not sure where this "hopefully" and all this future tense is coming from. Every major ecosystem has rallied behind it. Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung. Everyone. Maybe you are not familiar with Thread's background? The fact that these 4 companies that despise each other were able to come together on anything is already a gargantuan achievement. Of course it would be true for Zigbee IF IF IF they achieved that. But they didn't and Thread did. That's like saying things would have turned out way differently for Hitler if the Axis powers won WWII. Well of course they would have, but that's not how it played out. Was Bluray better than HD DVD? Was VHS better than BetaMAX? No, but guess what? They didn't get support and thus lost the format wars. It's never been about superior technology.
Anyway, sorry I didn't mean that to come off as harsh as it probably sounded. I think you will be really happy with Thread. It is basically fulfilling the wish that you (and we all) have which is to have one standard that finally all the companies can agree on and rally behind. It's a small miracle that we have Thread and Matter, especially given how acrimonious the relationship is between the major players involved. We have a lot to look forward to and the skies are rosy on the horizon :)
I have the last gen Apple TV 4K, as well as the one without 4K on one of our older TVs. They both work superbly well after a few years of usage, which also means I probably won’t upgrade right now. However, I agree with you on every point… and having a girlfriend that likes to sleep early, the AirPods functionality is just amazing. It makes me feel like I am watching a TV with a hifi system, instead of just regular headphones. It also syncs perfectly, so no lag in the audio either.
My previous gen Apple TV 4K gets plugged into a Denon AVR. If I upgraded is there a way the AirPods Pro could “override” the output into the AVR and surround speakers? Thanks in advance.
Excellent review as always, Caleb. I’m going to be upgrading from a 2017 4K Apple TV on Friday and couldn’t be more excited. The one thing that I’d love for the Apple TV to solve (and I know this is an HDMI and panel issue more than anything) is handshake between devices. From black screens when switching frame rates or HDR modes to just completely messed up sound, I would love for Apple to work on common standards so that when you plug in your top box…”it just works.” Can’t wait to see this new Apple TV in action!
That is the HDMI Forums’ job and sadly they are hopelessly incompetent and corrupt. On the bright side, there is a new tech called QMS which will eliminate the delay and black screen when switching framerates and formats, but no TVs support it yet.
A usb port would be nice.. as ATV OS has vlc in the app store, but how can we add or play any video files if we dont have a usb c port. Also it doesn’t have a browser, most of the Smart TVs have inbuilt internet browsers
I just bought the new Roku Ultra which I love, but honestly the sound issues are really bugging me more than they should but besides that, pretty solid streaming box! Never owned an Apple TV I was thinking about get it before the Roku Ultra but the price was what ultimately drove me to Roku again (long time roku user)
@@bravowhiskeysierra6944 yeah it is! Ease of use and good quality. The only thing that is bothering me right now (and I thought I was alone) is that for some reason the ultra is quite than the express+ I was replacing it. For some reason hb max and TH-cam especially while listening to music it's waaaaaaay quieter and Roku help does not seem to respond to this issue since last year xD but aside from that excellent streaming box and faster than the previous model
I've used an Apple TV since the first iterations (the white boxes) that used old-school hard drives. Now have an old HD hooked up to our gaming TV (an older 4K LG), a 2nd gen 4K on our TCL 6 series, and another 2nd gen on our AWOL UST. I've also always bought them on sale as, yes, they've always been more than a bit overpriced. But they also just work. And I like the consistent UI between TVs. Will I upgrade to the new one? Probably. At least for the projector as it supports HDR10+. Then that 4K can migrate to the LG.
Best streaming device is tricky, but I've got 3 categories. Shield TV Pro for absolute best with the AI upscaling that makes older content look much higher res than it is. Apple TV for simplicity, and those in the Apple ecosystem that want a seamless experience. Chromecast with Google TV for budget device that still does most of what you want. I am going to get a new Apple TV 4K to try it out, but I have a feeling I'll be continuing to use my Shield TV Pro and upgrading a friend or family member's streaming experience with the Apple TV if the upscaling experience isn't as good since I watch a lot of Anime and short of a hand full of movies and some Netflix series most Anime is 1080P or lower resolution.
I have the Shield and Apple TV 4K. Definitely prefer the Apple TV. It's my only Apple device I have. The UI and responsiveness are just leagues better. My Shield is so sluggish.
I think the Apple TV is by far my favorite device. I have one “Roku” Hisense 4K TV that I absolutely hated! But before I threw it out, I tried adding it to the Apple TV… all of a sudden, the TV became pretty good. I still HATE Hisense brightness control… but, it at least makes the TV good enough for my home office.
The Shield Pro is the best streaming box because of codec support, something that reviews don't talk about enough. If you want to run your own Plex server you can direct stream everything without transcoding on the Shield Pro. Plus at the time it supported all the most popular hi-res audio and video formats out of the box (looking at you Roku). The only downside now is the lack of HDR TH-cam support or next gen AV1 codec support, and no HDR10+ IF you have a Samsung TV. They don't just leave it out in the cold after a year or 2 either. They've been constantly updating it, fixing bugs, and improving it which is nice. The AI upscaling is great. Not to mention the backlit remote is great since I like to watch movies and shows in a very dark room. It's still very fast with everything, but it's due for a hardware refresh with increased codec support, HDR10+, and an even more powerful processor. If they offered a hardware refresh I'd buy it today.
Using Infuse on Apple TV requires *quite literally* zero files to be transcoded, ever and it connects right into Plex to support the full library experience. I'd take my 2021 (and 20...17(?)) Apple TV 4Ks any day over my Shield Pro. They've been "constantly fixing bugs" while introducing TONS and TONS of new ones with each release. Seriously, look at the release notes and bug tracking of what Nvidia has broken, fixed. half-fixed, denied breaking, and refuse to fix. The upscaling is nice, though.
@@tim3172 as far as I know, even the new Apple TV still only outputs LPCM and doesn't bitstream, which causes issues with Dolby Atmos and other uncompressed audio formats. I'm unsure if Infuse fixes this as I've never used it. I've read it doesn't support uncompressed Atmos from 4K Blu-rays, only the compressed streaming version, unless something changed recently. So even with Infuse it seems you're losing audio quality. Plus, I'd rather my expensive receiver handle it and pass it to my 7.1.4 speaker setup, rather than a software decode on the streaming device messing with it. Infuse can't get around the LPCM limitation of the Apple TV, and still won't bitstream.
As usual, I learn more from the comments section than I do from the TH-cam video. I have no dislike for the Apple product, but I know my shield pro is amazing as a Plex server as well as watching Apple TV and Netflix in Dolby vision and Atmos. It may be missing a couple codecs, but there's no rush. We could go another year or two without an ugraded model of the shield pro.
@@tim3172 That's my setup Tim and Infuse lifetime (or monthly) has all the audio codecs you currently need. I don't have audio glitches, skips, sound gaps, nada, nothing zero, simply good audio to go with great vision all from my NAS. @Brandon. PCM from Atmos is an Apple thing not Infuse. When Apple let full Atmos come through from a local server it will wipe the competition from the floor. Meanwhile I'm happy enough with the current limitations.
I'd buy an Apply TV tomorrow if it supported TrueHD passthrough. Because it doesn't I have to go with the Shield even though I think in general it's otherwise a strictly inferior product
I use the Infuse app to play all my blu ray rips with True HD and DTS MA, it plays the sound as PCM, so it just shows PCM on my surround receiver instead of True HD or DTS MA, but the sound quality is exactly the same.
I loved my chrome cast with GTV but recently it’s been ultra slow and it’s had some hdmi handshake issues that are not worth buying a new one just to have these issues in a year again.
There's something to keep in mind: if Apple sends you something to review, there's a good chance that you don't wanna lose such privilege knowing that Apple doesn't like bad reviews. After hearing that he was sent a bundle including PS controller from Apple, I'm taking everything with a grain of salt.
I have the original Apple TV 4K - while I do love it, I find the TV OS software kinda glitchy. Screensavers that won’t load, black screens when opening apps at times & slow response times on button clicks. It sounds like i don’t like it, but I actually do love it. This new update has me thinking about an upgrade (if they release any decent Apple Arcade games)
Have you tried to reset it? I use AppleTV since the first and this issue should be rare not standard use. There are many Apple Arcade games which are awesome in tvOS
Although if I had to chose the overall best streaming box, I think by far the Xbox Series S/X is the best platform. Extremely performant, fluid, instant and supports true Dolby Atmos, Vision, DTSX, IMAX Enhanced. For AV fanatics this is a dream streaming box. It supports all of the streaming app including Kodi. Additionally it can be controlled with Google Assistant, including turning it off and on and adding it to your Google routines. Plus it can be controlled from your phone or tablet if you don't have a standalone remote controller for it. With regards to gaming, I dont't think much needs to be added here with Xbox Game Pass and Cloud Gaming as well as streaming games from your console to your phone, tablet or PC. Currently it seems the most fleshed out and market leading gaming subscription out there. If you want something portable then it's also a no brainer to get the Chromecast with Google TV.
For enthusiasts, Apple TV 4K also provides the best frame-rate matching experience for quite a few of the mainstream apps (fixes the 24p judder issue and whatnot). For Amazon devices, the Fire TV OS as a platform has been ready for a while now and, apart from the obvious Prime Video app, no other streaming apps have adopted it. The NVIDIA Shields also support such feature but under BETA version that requires manual input & is a bit hit-and-miss since forever.
Apple let me down with this update because it still only supports profile 5 of Dolby Vision. No profile 7 or 8 & that coupled with the lack of TrueHD passthrough means the Nvidia Shield TV is still the superior HDR experience. At this point I'm unsure if they'll ever support it, which means I'm still relegated to owning both :(
I have the 1st Gen AppleTV 4K hooked up to a LG C1, the video is gorgeous and the sound out of the Sonos Beam plus Play 1 surrounds is quite nice. At night I use AirPods Pro 2 or AirPods Max and the person al audio is beautiful as well. Will probably swap out the Gen 1 on my family room TV for a Gen 2 and repurpose that one for my personal office system
@@farzadjahanfard the apps on the C1 are slower, longer loading times and at least for me they crashed some early on when we first got the TV. Hope that helps.
As a Plex user with 4K UHD Blu-ray rips, the Apple TV 4K isn't even a consideration as it doesn't support Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD, or DTS-X. If you're only watching content from streaming services which is usually only DD 5.1 or DD+ with Atmos, then I'm sure the Apple TV 4K like Caleb said will be great for most people.
It will passthrough Atmos to an Atmos receiver. DV is a pain across the board as it needs to be in the right profiles. Apparently Infuse will play DV Rips by reading a Plex library. I think it needs more time to mature / get adopted. Also as someone that owns a 5.1 set up with B&W 802D + HTMD2 + Linn Akurate. Running E-AC3 640kbps tracks is barely distinguishable as your brain is taking on screen images going mad.
@@SimplySketchyGT Ya, I think it can passthrough as LPCM to receivers. I still use the Nvidia Shield Pro as it can natively play and passthrough all the audio formats as well as play DV Blu-ray rips in Plex.
@@SimplySketchyGT it won't pass-through Dolby TrueHD. IIRC it converts to multichannel PCM with no vertical channels or object based metadata. Defeats the purpose of having lossless rips/remuxes
What do you suggest to use? My TV is a high end 2022 model so the inbuilt google OS is pretty decent but if I wanted the best of the best what’s your suggestion?
@@Lachlan_McDougall if you don't have problems with your TV performance, and you don't have any niche use case (lile a plex server with Hi-Res audio) just use your TV OS
Hey everyone! Love the comments! Keep ‘em coming. The new ATV 4K is going to replace a Chromecast at home for a longer term eval. Anyone interested in a full-on flagship streamer battle? Also, for anyone wondering why get a streaming box when Smart TVs exist, maybe go check out my video on why I think Smart TVs are dumb. Or should be dumb!
This video didn't mention being able to play lossless music from the Apple TV. I bought a Sonos Arc surround sound system with subwoofer for my living room and bedroom...music is studio quality and so clean. The Apple TV is the best streaming box at not only video and audio but music too.
@@lamar310 Video? How so? Definitely not the best for movie audio codecs.
In my opinion with the tv makers just make a awesome tv with no apps. Use the pros for that hence Apple TV. Maybe you can answer this, I heard that when you use Apple TV all information goes through apples servers which are top quality. Any truth in that?
Does it still not support DTS or True-HD? From what I hear the previous model compressed Dolby Atmos as well.
I agree. We have a 2019 Vizio M7 series and navigating through "Smart cast" is horrible. We've been using the Firestick for awhile now. Sooo much better than the TV interface.
From an Android user, hands down Apple tv 4k is the best.
No ads in the UI? I’m sold!
LOL when did apple tv EVER have ads in the us? as a matter of fact ANY apple operating system? it’s not disgusting ass android
The combination of using your AirPods Pro/Max with transparency mode and head tracking is just UNREAL. It's like being in the room and using your surround sound speakers on full blast all while someone can sleep in silence right next to you. The way it follows your head as you stand up and move is next level.
I totally agree. I live in a condo and with the AirPods Max headphones it sounds like I have a very expensive home theater setup except there aren’t physical speakers everywhere and I don’t piss off my neighbors at night. It’s truly an underrated experience.
It freaked me out the other night when the head tracking was turned on, and I suddenly noticed it! Lol.
as an audio engineer I honestly think it makes the soundstage sound absolutely terrible, that is just my opinion though
My previous gen Apple TV 4K gets plugged into a Denon AVR. If I upgraded is there a way the AirPods Pro could “override” the output into the AVR and surround speakers? Thanks in advance.
@@amitandutube - Nope
I've used Firesticks, Rokus and now the Apple TV for the last 2 years and I'm definitely most impressed with the Apple TV. My main issue was the ads that are present in the first two and the thing that impresses me the most about the Apple TV is how it just works with my iPhone and the rest of my Apple products. Also, when getting more than one apple tv, the second or third ones are set up automatically the same way you already have the first one set up, which is a time saver. Any and all streaming apps are present, they don't block one because it's a competitor to their streaming platform and they all just seem to work like they should. The design is as simple as it can get. I get home, tell Siri to turn on my Apple Tv and play music and she does just that, it works great.
Massive Apple fan boys then, don't have any Apple products myself.
The Apple TV feels slick but semi enthusiast to me. You have to be really into specs and stuff to be willing to blow the amount of money on what’s essentially a cpu upgrade.
I must say having a pair of AirPods Max with spacial audio connected to an Apple TV is seriously impressive. Living in an apartment I can't have a fancy surround sound system without getting some complaints. This is a perfect alternative that I don't think is talked about enough. thanks for bringing it up
Please do a comparison between most popular streaming devices. It will be much appreciated. Thanks ❤️
Caleb since you are someone that regularly configures and optimizes TV pictures, how accurate is the Apple TV’s tool compared to what you normally change??
I have pretty expensive TV from Sony. Am I really going to get a better picture with an Apple TV vs. TV native apps?
Wondering this too
The personal home theatre experience Caleb mentioned is really underrated. Especially for people like me whose family hates loud speakers/subs, getting that experience all to myself (and pretty impressive) is awesome!
Scsm
@@craigosterberg5045 System Center Service Manager?
Looking forward to the 128 GB version arriving soon. Great review!
7.3.4 :)
Does the virtual surround with head tracking with AirPods Max work by Bluetooth or wifi. Really interested in investing in this at my home.
Great review and summarising why I don't need to upgrade from my current, old 4k Apple TV:
- no HDR10 TV
- got XsX and PS5 for gaming
- still overpowered
- still super fast
Overpowered?
@@ndimageryanddownoutproduct1071 I mean.. haven't found anything that wouldn't work or that would be slower than my smart TV.. so yeah, overpowered. Perhaps I'm missing a side-by-side reference but it's still pretty quick in my eyes
Thanks Caleb. Can you clone your 2nd gen AppleTV to the new one so you don’t have to reinstall all your apps?
Yes you can enable in the Apple Account Settings as same home screen or smt like that, i dont think this comment is helpful after 2 years afterall
Just recently moved over Appletv from fire cube and I love Apple TV waaaay more especially because I’m in the Apple atmosphere with all other devices.
There's so much more to the Apple TV than just streaming apps. There's Share Play, which I think is an awesome idea, although I haven't used it as yet. The fact that AirPods are automatically detected and so seamless to connect, and now you can connect multiple pairs simultaneously is awesome. Also hooking up a game controller to play games is why you have that A15 in there. I just wish Apple Arcade got some actual triple-A titles, or if Apple did a deal with Nintendo to bring some of their games to the platform, which would be revolutionary.
Right now I can't think of any feature I'd like to have other than more high quality gaming content. Oh and a better game controller API which knows which controller I have hooked up and shows the correct mappings. I have a PS5 controller, but there are so many games that show Xbox button mappings and then I need to try and remember which button maps to which on the PS controller. However, this is also something that developers need to be more cognisant about.
Or you could get a real console and stop supporting greedy apple and they bs over priced garbage
@@TristanTheVRGamecat I do have a real console (PS, Xbox and Switch) and a gaming PC. I don’t think that the Apple TV is over priced. You’re entitled to your financial and ethical views, so you do you.
Apple 4K TV no HDMI 2.1 no sale
From what I see, this is a very limited streamer. For example, you can't even install your own media player app (Kodi, Emby, Jellyfish, etc.) to play your own media. /fail
@@moto-rambler Yes you can. I have Plex installed on my Apple TV and I’m running my own Plex server with my own media. Although I barely use it, because there are so many streaming services to choose from.
I’m having issues with it not responding to remote input for seconds. It happens quite often???
I really love the HomeKit how I can see my cameras when someone is approaching is a game changer
Can we please get a shoot out for the best streaming devices? (cube, ultra, shield & Apple) Each of these are the best in their respective categories and all have support for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.
@Rich Perez I agree with you but Apple TV is less buggy, and thats a factor to consider IMO
@Rich Perez I love my shield had it for over 2 years now but I have to reboot it about every 2 weeks
I just got the LG C2 which produces an amazing picture and a 10/10 gaming experience. However, I wish LG would make the user interface more like the Apple TV. I like the little clutter big tiles that are easy to scroll through on the Apple TV. I always find myself reaching for the Apple TV remote instead of using LG’s built in interface when I want to watch content.
It isn’t a huge issue because when I turn on my Xbox or Apple TV the LG automatically opens those inputs, but when I have to scroll the LGs Home Screen it can be overwhelming and annoying to find what I want.
Great video.
Samsungs UI makes LG feel like a dream… it sucks that in 2022 we’re paying over 2k for a tv and we can’t get a good UI😭
@@luisenrique510 yes you’re right. Samsungs tizen is on their tvs is straight garbage. I’ve bought the new S95B 2 weeks ago and returned it after 3 days. Not specifically because of the os but I had a dead pixel in the oled panel. I’ve now bought the Sony A95K instead and oh boy this google tv os feels like it’s 5 years ahead of Samsungs os 😂.
@@luisenrique510 lg is just as bad
Never had any problems with LG Oled TV UI but just use it to watch TH-cam have Nvidia shield Pro 2015 for everything else.
No issues with my lg c9. I wonder if apple tv will be an update i need when i only have iphone and nothing else from apple. Havent felt any significant slowdown in the lg UI
Is there any difference in picture quality or is it exactly the same?
Totally agree on the wonders of Spatial Audio. I recently purchased a gen 2 Apple TV 4K and AirPods Max, and I just packed up a bunch of my expensive audio gear because I'm just never going to use it again. It is truly the best audio experience I've had in my home, and it blows away my previous solution of running audio off the Roku app to my earbuds during late night listening.
Does it work with any headphones?
You can connect any Bluetooth headphones, but you need AirPods to get spatial audio. The AirPods Pro sound good, but the AirPods Max are on another level entirely.
Focal Utopia headphones + DCS Bartok
The real question is is it better than native apps for Oled tv ?? Quality wise
If it's not now, then it probably will be in 2 or 3 years when your tv has stopped being updated.
@@qcsupport2594 i have oled c9 my tv get no update anymore but apps get update I really want the apple tv but I don’t know is it necessary if its jot better than native apps
Can it do 2160p, 60Hz, 10 bit colour and 4:4:4 chroma at the same time?
How about 120hz would be nice
I bought a TV with inbuilt Chromecast, as well as Android TV and although it worked good, I decided to get the Apple TV 4K (not the 2022 version, although I'll be getting one). I was shocked that it made a marked difference in pcture quality as it was able to use all the bells and whistles this new TV came with. I cannot overstate how much of a difference in terms of picture quality (I reckon something to do with scaling and compression), but more so with colours and the HDR.
Same. Such a huge game changer for streaming quality.
That doesn't sound right. If you were using your built in apps they should have all supported 4k and all the HDR formats. If the Apple tv looks way better then your apps must not have been working properly
The built in apps on my LG C2 work great and the picture quality is amazing. I know there won't be any quality upgrade for me but I want everything to go through my yamaha receiver so I may get an apple tv or a nvidia shield tv pro
Agree!
So at this time of the year should I wait for the next Apple TV or buy this one?
I really don't get what goals Apple is trying to accomplish here. They're basically charging a $20 dollar difference between wi-fi and ethernet. Plus HDR-10+? Not ever 4K TV has HDR-10+. Also, they added gigabit support I get that, but not every consumer has gigabit as its not available in all areas yet. I get gigabit speeds on my current Apple TV 4K. The Apple TV is the only product Apple adds minimal upgrades to.
Did you know that pressing the TV/Control Center button and the Volume Down (5 seconds) will reboot your remote? Also, I have had issues with my remote not IR controlling my receiver and this is how I fixed it.
Great review Caleb, I have the previous gen Apple 4K TV connected to my old Sony XBR5 and it works great and the picture is beautiful 💯
Is this a suitable device for consuming your own media via apps like Emby or Kodi or Jellyfin?
Shield Pro is still a bit more versatile and can work as a Plex server, but Apple is now less intrusive with ads compared to the Google Discovery landing page. Mostly an ecosystem choice.
@Scott Sneddon Even though i personally own the shield pro. It is starting to get outdated. It doesn't HDR10+, nor can it play HDR in youtube, and even though it has a tegra x chip for gaming, it's already gettiing beaten by the last 2 years of snapdragon chips and that doesn't even compares to the performance apple is giving with their A15.
Yet I still am rooting for the sheild as it still has the best support for Plex especially for audio passthrough, it also is the best android TV box you can get and it's also least annoying when it comes to google tv supported devices. Also personally i find apple tv OS to be quite limiting as I do with every single apple product. Android still has alot more versitlity than apple TV if you use it to the fullest.
But right now Nvidia really needs to release and update for the shield, which unfortuntely is very unlikely since the shield was never Nvidia's biggest priority and they only made it to use more of the tegra x chips.
I’m waiting for version 2! Can we get this Q1 2023 lol I don’t want to get an outdated shield pro to be hit with a new version release. Also, worst case I’ll buy the new apple 4K or older shield. Need a side by side comparison for AI upscaling. Don’t care for other functionality. Show me the resolution performance period
@Scott Sneddon Actually for apple it's quite the opposite. Now more than ever they have more interest in the apple tv as they have been introducing new services like Apple TV +, Arcade, and fitness. These new services will just work with better on the apple tv and they need the apple tv to be updated to take advantage of their new services
Shield pro is the best if you want to use Plex, Kodi or syncler. There is no device that can do what shield pro does..
Yeah Apple TV 4k doesn't have direct pass through for lossless audio so hard pass no matter what the ecosystem from my point of view. What were they thinking?? Shield has had it since like 2016
What do you get for free after you have bought the box?
But does it support Dolby Atmos now?
Yes
Not TrueHD
@@joseluislopes3956 TrueHD isn't Atmos...
@@tim3172 Dolby Atmos is object-bases position metadata to create surround sound, and is implemented on Dolby Digital+ format (compressed) and Dolvy TrueHD (uncompressed). When you are using Dolby Atmos, you are using one of those formats
firestick on the go is marvelous. Doesn't need a wall plug!!!
I have an Apple TV in every room. We use them more than anything else. The interface is fantastic and the universal search feature using Siri is super helpful.
The interface is the main reason why my Apple Tv's are nothing more than glorified paperweights.
@@deman19901 you don’t like them but you bought more than one?
@@michaelwright9101 Yes,I brought my first one because I needed it for Ecobee thermostat geofencing to work with my iPhone. Geofencing works natively in the Android app. I bought the second one for the remote upgrade. Refused to pay $60 for the stand alone remote. I own pretty much every streaming device minus the Nvidia Shield. I own about 12 -15 streaming devices. About 2 of each minimum. With all of that being said. TVOS and Roku interface sucks. RoKu has made major improvements in OS11. Live TV integration in TVOS is pathetic.
is it worth the upgrade if I already have a 3rd gen one
💯 agree on spacial audio, its fantastic. Late night when I switch to Airpod 3’s, the spacial audio is damn near same as the full home theater sound I have setup too. Its impressively good.
Could you please tell us what's the point to buy an Apple TV device meanwhile you can use the Apple TV app on your smart TV?
I think I have or had all of the various streaming boxes except the Shield. Among the ones I've used, the Apple TV is easily the nicest streaming box, and it is well worth the premium. It is an appliance you use every day and never want to think much about, which is exactly the kind of thing Apple does really well. Honestly, it is not so much that the AppleTV is some amazing thing, it is more that the competition is so terrible/weak. Amazon's FireTV is basically a deal where you pay less for the hardware in exchange for being constantly marketed to and pushed into the Amazon ecosystem. It works, but the UI is about marketing first and user experience last. My Fire stick lives in the TV in the guest room, where I essentially never have to use it. Chromecast is Google's version of the Fire stick, with similar drawbacks coupled with slightly less polished and stable software, so it is basically hot garbage. If you are going for the cheapest possible streamer, at least the Fire stick rarely crashes. Roku is a noticeable step up from both of those options. It is not a complete Trojan horse of advertising, the interface is stable and simple, and it isn't going to constantly annoy you day-to-day. Less advertising doesn't mean none and Roku is still a bit too ad-heavy, particularly the junky screen saver, but it is probably the best choice if you are on a budget. I upgraded from a Roku to the Apple TV when I bought a 4k/Dolby Vision capable TV, and I was worried at the time that I was spending too much to get trivial upgrades vs. the Roku. If you are on the fence, pull the trigger, you won't regret the upgrade.
Well the Shield is the only one that supports Dolby TrueHD audio, which is used on most blu-ray's - so if you run something like a Plex server, and want rip all your fully uncompressed blu-rays to hard drive, and have a collection of hundreds (or in my case thousands) of movies on demand, all at full quality, the stupid 2015 Shield is still the only option. Thankfully, Nvidia has continued to update it, and it still runs everything, and is still pretty fast.
But if all you're doing is streaming, then they're all basically the same. The AppleTV is by far the fastest thing out there, but if you're a welfare slob, the FireTV will work just fine, just with a much uglier and slower interface (not that it's slow, it's just slower).
This is so sad. The shield is the best console ever to be released and still hasn't been surpassed since 2016. You don't know what you're missing!
@@clotheman actually 2015, I got mine in Nov 2015 - I always upgrade to the latest and greatest and I've bought every new Apple TV and Fire Cube, whatever is the "best", and yet all of them have been a letdown. With the Shield, it's not quite as fast as the latest Firestick, but it's like 92% as fast, it's not slow by any means. Meanwhile Apple has the best hardware, but they lock it down so much, that most of the power goes to waste. The Shield is still chugging along, never has an issue running anything I throw at it. If/when they ever release a new Shield, I'll be getting one.
Ah so your the clown audience they aiming for
I’ve had the SHIELD before, and unless you pirate everything you watch, the only benefit is the “AI Upscaling” which is just a gimmick. The Apple TV gives you fat more bang for your buck in my opinion.
Apple TV is still the best option for me. I haven’t found an app as good as Infuse on other platforms.
I currently have the AppleTV 4K (last version) and I am on the fence if I need to upgrade. I have an LG TV to HDR10+ is not a big deal
Did you upgrade
@@EssenceOfVanity I still have not upgraded, I am skipping this version.
Everyone in my house loves our 2nd gen AppleTV. Can’t wait to upgrade to 3rd gen. My dad will be getting my 2nd gen.
Two favorites are Apple TV 4K and Chromecast with Google TV. Apple TV has a lot of bells and whistles that are better for the movie watching experience. The Chromecast with Google TV is better for the sports enthusiast. Google device offers more apps that are actually useful in the sports department while the Apple TV 4K is better with streaming especially if you have your own home media server.
Can Apple TV 4K start up in the Home Screen directly rather than in a recent location just before power off?
I love the Nvidia Shield Pro more than any player since it not only my player for my streaming apps but it also doubles up as my Plex media server with 40TB of storage attached to it.
Can you save the files directly in the Nvidia so Plex needs no computer acting as a server?
Its great, but the red push in dolby vision makes it a no go for me :(
@Rich Perez awesome!
No refresh rate matching for something that expensive. Gross.
And what's your media player? Kodi? All these 3rd party Software are not usable, TH-cam App is always broken. Who supports the TH-cam app on Nvidia Shield?
Do you have to pay a monthly fee for the apple TV? Or as long as you already have wifi, you are all set ?
As long as you have wifi u are fine
@PingVAL thanks for the reply 👍
My favourite stream device is definitely the Apple TV. The thing is so smooth and works so well with the Apple ecosystem. Even the 4th gen HD model still runs great for just streaming services tho I did find it didn’t work good for streaming from a PC using moonlight, going to the 1st gen 4K model fixed this (note the chrome cast is also no good for PC streaming). But I just love the UI and smoothness of the Apple TV, I’ve tried the chrome cast and there’s a bunch of things I don’t like including lag, ads and a worse UI in some areas imo.
Sony Bravia Google TV powers by Android is much better smart TV
is it better picture quality in movies / tv shows than the 2021 version?
Anyone who owns the 2021 version doesn't need the upgrade. You only get HDR10+, the chip or storage won't make a difference. Unless you like to game on it.
And even HDR 10 + was added in the last TVOS 16 update
Thanks for your comment! I got my 2021 version a few months ago and just found out about this. I have a Samsung TV and wasn’t sure if it’d be worth upgrading. I still love mine !
I want one but I read on internet that a New Apple TV will come this year.
I would love a comparison to Shield Pro 2019. In terms of supported codecs and playing back high bitrate 4K content on Plex for example.
No audio pass through means no lossless atmos so no go for me
Can I not own an iPhone and still enjoy this streaming device? Is this streaming device only great if you're in the Apple ecosystem?
I've had an Apple Tv since gen 2 before they added 4k. I now own 3 Apple Tv's all over my house, I have always loved the interface the power and speed of the device. And I have been saying this forever.. The picture quality to me always seems to look better on Apple Tv than any other streaming device out there. I'm glad you have finally come to your senses @Digital Trends .. lol great vid buddy. I'm gonna go pick up the new 4K version
Beat ya K! Read my post. With 128Gb I am confident the new ATV will now NOT delete my Infuse metadata.
Actually the newest ATV removes a hardware fault in and around the YCbCr green tint issue so that's a positive.
It’s a product I like and don’t fully understand why. It doesn’t do anything that unique other than great touch controls
Only thing that apple tv misses for me is a tv guide built into the apple tv app. So when you connect apps to apple tv it auto shows what shows are available to stream currently in a tv guide.
My Shield Pro still works just fine but I wish Nvidia would update it.
Want features do you need for the upgrade?
Mine isn't showing its age at all. Better they keep support for the current models
How’s the upscaling on the new Apple TV. He didn’t talk about it at all??
I’m mad at apple for taking out plans to include hdr10 on second generation and that the new sing feature will not be available on the second generation either.
You mean that if we go buy a new one , it won't support HDR10 ?
I’ve tried Roku and fire sticks. Appletv is definitely better. No lagging or buffering and the picture and sound was way better
2 problems with this thing:
1: Quite often it doesn’t respond to remote input for a few seconds.
2: In settings you can choose a default and temporary audio output. Why can I only choose TV Speakers as the default audio output? I can choose others for the temporary audio output, but they keep switching off. I.e. it goes back to the TV Speakers.
If it is to connect the default speakers to your home sound system (i.e. soundbar), there is a workaround by running the HDMI from your ATV tot your soundsystem and a HDMI cable from your system to your tv. You can also put an HDMI audio extractor between your ATV and tv to get the possibility to connect your ATV with i.e. a stereo receiver. For changing your default speakers just by your ATV, as far as I can find it is only possible for devices that are part of your Apple home network.
So I’m being forced to buy a soundbar or HomePods?
I have a Mac over the same Wi-Fi network with great speakers, but I can only set them (or the Mac) to the temporary audio output. It should play though the Mac all the time.
@@musictheory4u153 As far as I can find it has to be reachable via airplay to be set as default. Hope they fix it in an update...
@@gilles111 I have set up my Mac as a AirPlay receiver. That’s why it can be set to the temporary audio output. Apparently, you have to buy something (a soundbar or HomePods I suppose) directly connected to the TV that can create sound to always have GREAT audio from that device (TV Speakers as the default). Otherwise great sound will always switch off and instead coming from the bad TV speakers.
It’s obvious that it should only be temporary for AirPods. But not from a Mac with great speakers. Maybe there’s not a solution as AirPlay functions in that way. Though, HomePods can do it without being connected to the TV???
uh, what? Advantage over Roku Ultra?
Depends on what audio experience you want streaming home videos. Shield pro can do bitstream while ATV will do all transcoding and send out as PCM, so not native…
Shield Pro can send-out as PCM as well. I own a Shield Pro but haven't tried an ATV4k. I don't see much of a difference bet. the 3rd Gen. and 2nd Gen. to justify the price difference. I don't have a Samsung television so I don't care about HDR10+.
Please review the Samsung Q990B. I want your in depth review and comparison before purchasing.
My only complaint on the new box is that it didn't include Wifi 6e like they did on the new iPad Pro's. Other than that, it looks great and definitely picking it up!
@@wojtek-33 It's... not, though.
It uses exclusive band free from the traffic of 5 and 2.4GHz of your neighbors and other devices.
It's also faster for things like using Plex and dramatically improves responsiveness to close to that of wired.
What’s the point of a streaming device if you have a smart tv?
I have Apple 4K tv from a couple of years ago. I also have the shield. Both are very good for picture quality. I like you can watch the World Series in 4K UD H . For me I would pick apple 4 k tv.
Can I use the new 4K AppleTV with a HD television?
I just got a 77” Sony A80K, paired with the HT-A7000. Do you think I would get any improvement on picture or audio quality by using a new ATV 4K?
no
Not at all in your case, it would just be a preference for using a different OS to browse and play what you're watching.
I have the 2022 Samsung NEOQLED and watching anything from TV’s integrated apps does not compare to Apple 4k 3rd gen quality. On Apple TV the images are sharper, brighter and sound quality is better as well.
I was all about google. I had a chromecast with google tv. When the Apple TV 4K came out last year I decided to grab one and return it if I was no update. It was so damn good I ditched my cc. Apple TV picture quality is second to none! Also the front page curation actually works as it should. I hated that ccwgtv front page was trash.
So many ads on the CC home page it genuinely was so irritating
Mines in the shed in a box. But it has company, a Chromecast, a Firestick and a Roku all live in that box and get along fine.
Does using an Apple TV make the resolution of the streaming services better than the native system in the TV?
No
I love the Thread-hype. In reality it’s just another Zigbee or Z-wave alternative, that hopefully manages to beat both and become a standard. Not because it’s necessarily different or even better, but because we need a standard that companies can rally behind.
Agreed!
Not really. All the major players have committed to thread. The same can’t be said for the others
@@spacecadet2172 You’re not wrong. And that’s a great advantage for Thread which seems great. But it’s not a technical advantage, as the same would be true for Zigbee if the major companies followed Amazons example.
I’m excited for thread, but it requires a hub.
@@andreasb4kken Nobody said it was a technical advantage. You yourself said you hope it becomes a standard and that companies rally behind it. That has literally already come true. I'm not sure where this "hopefully" and all this future tense is coming from. Every major ecosystem has rallied behind it. Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung. Everyone. Maybe you are not familiar with Thread's background? The fact that these 4 companies that despise each other were able to come together on anything is already a gargantuan achievement.
Of course it would be true for Zigbee IF IF IF they achieved that. But they didn't and Thread did. That's like saying things would have turned out way differently for Hitler if the Axis powers won WWII. Well of course they would have, but that's not how it played out.
Was Bluray better than HD DVD? Was VHS better than BetaMAX? No, but guess what? They didn't get support and thus lost the format wars. It's never been about superior technology.
Anyway, sorry I didn't mean that to come off as harsh as it probably sounded. I think you will be really happy with Thread. It is basically fulfilling the wish that you (and we all) have which is to have one standard that finally all the companies can agree on and rally behind. It's a small miracle that we have Thread and Matter, especially given how acrimonious the relationship is between the major players involved. We have a lot to look forward to and the skies are rosy on the horizon :)
I have the last gen Apple TV 4K, as well as the one without 4K on one of our older TVs. They both work superbly well after a few years of usage, which also means I probably won’t upgrade right now. However, I agree with you on every point… and having a girlfriend that likes to sleep early, the AirPods functionality is just amazing. It makes me feel like I am watching a TV with a hifi system, instead of just regular headphones. It also syncs perfectly, so no lag in the audio either.
My previous gen Apple TV 4K gets plugged into a Denon AVR. If I upgraded is there a way the AirPods Pro could “override” the output into the AVR and surround speakers? Thanks in advance.
If you have an older apple tv box and really want the new remote. You can just buy the remote. Just a heads up.
Excellent review as always, Caleb. I’m going to be upgrading from a 2017 4K Apple TV on Friday and couldn’t be more excited.
The one thing that I’d love for the Apple TV to solve (and I know this is an HDMI and panel issue more than anything) is handshake between devices. From black screens when switching frame rates or HDR modes to just completely messed up sound, I would love for Apple to work on common standards so that when you plug in your top box…”it just works.” Can’t wait to see this new Apple TV in action!
That is the HDMI Forums’ job and sadly they are hopelessly incompetent and corrupt. On the bright side, there is a new tech called QMS which will eliminate the delay and black screen when switching framerates and formats, but no TVs support it yet.
Need to get out more 😂
A usb port would be nice.. as ATV OS has vlc in the app store, but how can we add or play any video files if we dont have a usb c port. Also it doesn’t have a browser, most of the Smart TVs have inbuilt internet browsers
I just bought the new Roku Ultra which I love, but honestly the sound issues are really bugging me more than they should but besides that, pretty solid streaming box! Never owned an Apple TV I was thinking about get it before the Roku Ultra but the price was what ultimately drove me to Roku again (long time roku user)
Roku is great. Best bang for the buck.
@@bravowhiskeysierra6944 yeah it is! Ease of use and good quality. The only thing that is bothering me right now (and I thought I was alone) is that for some reason the ultra is quite than the express+ I was replacing it. For some reason hb max and TH-cam especially while listening to music it's waaaaaaay quieter and Roku help does not seem to respond to this issue since last year xD but aside from that excellent streaming box and faster than the previous model
Roku is 100 times better.
@@beng4647 do you have TH-cam TV on your Roku? The image is really poor. I suspect TH-cam Tv not roku but not sure. I may try this.
@@fredmanteghian5913 I don't. I tried it. It seemed really expensive for what you got.
Do you need a 4k tv to use this box
I've used an Apple TV since the first iterations (the white boxes) that used old-school hard drives. Now have an old HD hooked up to our gaming TV (an older 4K LG), a 2nd gen 4K on our TCL 6 series, and another 2nd gen on our AWOL UST. I've also always bought them on sale as, yes, they've always been more than a bit overpriced. But they also just work. And I like the consistent UI between TVs. Will I upgrade to the new one? Probably. At least for the projector as it supports HDR10+. Then that 4K can migrate to the LG.
Can I jailbreak it or stream movies?
Best streaming device is tricky, but I've got 3 categories. Shield TV Pro for absolute best with the AI upscaling that makes older content look much higher res than it is. Apple TV for simplicity, and those in the Apple ecosystem that want a seamless experience. Chromecast with Google TV for budget device that still does most of what you want. I am going to get a new Apple TV 4K to try it out, but I have a feeling I'll be continuing to use my Shield TV Pro and upgrading a friend or family member's streaming experience with the Apple TV if the upscaling experience isn't as good since I watch a lot of Anime and short of a hand full of movies and some Netflix series most Anime is 1080P or lower resolution.
No ads on the Home Screen is the best feature of the Apple TV 4K
I have the Shield and Apple TV 4K. Definitely prefer the Apple TV. It's my only Apple device I have. The UI and responsiveness are just leagues better. My Shield is so sluggish.
This is how ALL Apple products work 😉
I think the Apple TV is by far my favorite device. I have one “Roku” Hisense 4K TV that I absolutely hated! But before I threw it out, I tried adding it to the Apple TV… all of a sudden, the TV became pretty good. I still HATE Hisense brightness control… but, it at least makes the TV good enough for my home office.
The Shield Pro is the best streaming box because of codec support, something that reviews don't talk about enough. If you want to run your own Plex server you can direct stream everything without transcoding on the Shield Pro. Plus at the time it supported all the most popular hi-res audio and video formats out of the box (looking at you Roku). The only downside now is the lack of HDR TH-cam support or next gen AV1 codec support, and no HDR10+ IF you have a Samsung TV. They don't just leave it out in the cold after a year or 2 either. They've been constantly updating it, fixing bugs, and improving it which is nice. The AI upscaling is great. Not to mention the backlit remote is great since I like to watch movies and shows in a very dark room. It's still very fast with everything, but it's due for a hardware refresh with increased codec support, HDR10+, and an even more powerful processor. If they offered a hardware refresh I'd buy it today.
Using Infuse on Apple TV requires *quite literally* zero files to be transcoded, ever and it connects right into Plex to support the full library experience.
I'd take my 2021 (and 20...17(?)) Apple TV 4Ks any day over my Shield Pro.
They've been "constantly fixing bugs" while introducing TONS and TONS of new ones with each release. Seriously, look at the release notes and bug tracking of what Nvidia has broken, fixed. half-fixed, denied breaking, and refuse to fix.
The upscaling is nice, though.
@@tim3172 as far as I know, even the new Apple TV still only outputs LPCM and doesn't bitstream, which causes issues with Dolby Atmos and other uncompressed audio formats. I'm unsure if Infuse fixes this as I've never used it. I've read it doesn't support uncompressed Atmos from 4K Blu-rays, only the compressed streaming version, unless something changed recently. So even with Infuse it seems you're losing audio quality. Plus, I'd rather my expensive receiver handle it and pass it to my 7.1.4 speaker setup, rather than a software decode on the streaming device messing with it. Infuse can't get around the LPCM limitation of the Apple TV, and still won't bitstream.
As usual, I learn more from the comments section than I do from the TH-cam video. I have no dislike for the Apple product, but I know my shield pro is amazing as a Plex server as well as watching Apple TV and Netflix in Dolby vision and Atmos. It may be missing a couple codecs, but there's no rush. We could go another year or two without an ugraded model of the shield pro.
Hi, Do you know if the new Apple TV 4K can now play Dolby atmos to two pairs of headphones? Thanks
@@tim3172 That's my setup Tim and Infuse lifetime (or monthly) has all the audio codecs you currently need. I don't have audio glitches, skips, sound gaps, nada, nothing zero, simply good audio to go with great vision all from my NAS.
@Brandon. PCM from Atmos is an Apple thing not Infuse. When Apple let full Atmos come through from a local server it will wipe the competition from the floor. Meanwhile I'm happy enough with the current limitations.
You use the built-in apps on your Smart TV? That's very Myspace.
Great British accent Caleb 😂
Is that what that was? 😅
@@sbriley79tx 😂 Better than I could ever manage
If I use the Apple TV app on the Samsung, will it still play HDR10+? Or is there added benefit to the Apple TV device?
I'd buy an Apply TV tomorrow if it supported TrueHD passthrough. Because it doesn't I have to go with the Shield even though I think in general it's otherwise a strictly inferior product
I use the Infuse app to play all my blu ray rips with True HD and DTS MA, it plays the sound as PCM, so it just shows PCM on my surround receiver instead of True HD or DTS MA, but the sound quality is exactly the same.
I loved my chrome cast with GTV but recently it’s been ultra slow and it’s had some hdmi handshake issues that are not worth buying a new one just to have these issues in a year again.
There's something to keep in mind: if Apple sends you something to review, there's a good chance that you don't wanna lose such privilege knowing that Apple doesn't like bad reviews. After hearing that he was sent a bundle including PS controller from Apple, I'm taking everything with a grain of salt.
Did they fix the problem where TH-cam adds mess up the video feed and skip around when in match frame rate?
I have the original Apple TV 4K - while I do love it, I find the TV OS software kinda glitchy. Screensavers that won’t load, black screens when opening apps at times & slow response times on button clicks.
It sounds like i don’t like it, but I actually do love it. This new update has me thinking about an upgrade (if they release any decent Apple Arcade games)
Have you tried to reset it? I use AppleTV since the first and this issue should be rare not standard use. There are many Apple Arcade games which are awesome in tvOS
How long until compression will no longer be an issue with streaming services?
Although if I had to chose the overall best streaming box, I think by far the Xbox Series S/X is the best platform. Extremely performant, fluid, instant and supports true Dolby Atmos, Vision, DTSX, IMAX Enhanced. For AV fanatics this is a dream streaming box.
It supports all of the streaming app including Kodi. Additionally it can be controlled with Google Assistant, including turning it off and on and adding it to your Google routines. Plus it can be controlled from your phone or tablet if you don't have a standalone remote controller for it.
With regards to gaming, I dont't think much needs to be added here with Xbox Game Pass and Cloud Gaming as well as streaming games from your console to your phone, tablet or PC. Currently it seems the most fleshed out and market leading gaming subscription out there.
If you want something portable then it's also a no brainer to get the Chromecast with Google TV.
I don't understand the purpose of streaming tv boxes. Don't TVs come with streaming apps in them?
For enthusiasts, Apple TV 4K also provides the best frame-rate matching experience for quite a few of the mainstream apps (fixes the 24p judder issue and whatnot).
For Amazon devices, the Fire TV OS as a platform has been ready for a while now and, apart from the obvious Prime Video app, no other streaming apps have adopted it.
The NVIDIA Shields also support such feature but under BETA version that requires manual input & is a bit hit-and-miss since forever.
frame rate matching does not work for peacock though.
Hi Caleb. Does the box straight through Apple Music Hi-Res lossless?
Apple let me down with this update because it still only supports profile 5 of Dolby Vision. No profile 7 or 8 & that coupled with the lack of TrueHD passthrough means the Nvidia Shield TV is still the superior HDR experience. At this point I'm unsure if they'll ever support it, which means I'm still relegated to owning both :(
Let me see if I can squeeze Apple for some juice on future updates. Especially TrueHD!
@@Caleb_Denison It would be greatly appreciated!
@@Caleb_Denison Make it happen Caleb ! :)
A big slap in the face. I just bought 2021 Apple TV earlier this year. I hope it’s not much better than than the 2021 one.
I have the 1st Gen AppleTV 4K hooked up to a LG C1, the video is gorgeous and the sound out of the Sonos Beam plus Play 1 surrounds is quite nice. At night I use AirPods Pro 2 or AirPods Max and the person al audio is beautiful as well.
Will probably swap out the Gen 1 on my family room TV for a Gen 2 and repurpose that one for my personal office system
Hi do you think its better than native apps on c1 quality wise speaking
I use to have a gen 1 sonos it sounds much better with Apple Music than it airplay 2
@@farzadjahanfard the apps on the C1 are slower, longer loading times and at least for me they crashed some early on when we first got the TV. Hope that helps.
Will this stream Atmos Audio to my Sonos ecosystem?
As a Plex user with 4K UHD Blu-ray rips, the Apple TV 4K isn't even a consideration as it doesn't support Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD, or DTS-X. If you're only watching content from streaming services which is usually only DD 5.1 or DD+ with Atmos, then I'm sure the Apple TV 4K like Caleb said will be great for most people.
It will passthrough Atmos to an Atmos receiver. DV is a pain across the board as it needs to be in the right profiles. Apparently Infuse will play DV Rips by reading a Plex library. I think it needs more time to mature / get adopted. Also as someone that owns a 5.1 set up with B&W 802D + HTMD2 + Linn Akurate. Running E-AC3 640kbps tracks is barely distinguishable as your brain is taking on screen images going mad.
@@SimplySketchyGT Ya, I think it can passthrough as LPCM to receivers. I still use the Nvidia Shield Pro as it can natively play and passthrough all the audio formats as well as play DV Blu-ray rips in Plex.
@@SimplySketchyGT it won't pass-through Dolby TrueHD. IIRC it converts to multichannel PCM with no vertical channels or object based metadata. Defeats the purpose of having lossless rips/remuxes
What do you suggest to use? My TV is a high end 2022 model so the inbuilt google OS is pretty decent but if I wanted the best of the best what’s your suggestion?
@@Lachlan_McDougall if you don't have problems with your TV performance, and you don't have any niche use case (lile a plex server with Hi-Res audio) just use your TV OS