Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

BODYBUILDERPAUL

Suspended
Original poster
Feb 9, 2009
1,773
1,438
Barcelona
EXACTLY what I thought the minute that I heard about an Apple TV app on smart TV platforms. After the quality and speed of that A10X chip on the polished Apple TV 4K, watching your iTunes on a smart TV platform is pretty awful - as expected!

 
  • Like
Reactions: Audit13

Philg5150

macrumors newbie
Jul 23, 2016
19
5
I was looking forward to seeing how this would be implemented. I never thought it would do HDR (any flavor) But no 4K? That has to be a glitch of some kind. I was looking forward to this to help my less techy and budget minded clients and friends that need less boxes but this is a non starter now. Thanks for the heads up Paul.
 

BODYBUILDERPAUL

Suspended
Original poster
Feb 9, 2009
1,773
1,438
Barcelona
I was looking forward to seeing how this would be implemented. I never thought it would do HDR (any flavor) But no 4K? That has to be a glitch of some kind. I was looking forward to this to help my less techy and budget minded clients and friends that need less boxes but this is a non starter now. Thanks for the heads up Paul.

You're welcome buddy! I was shocked about the lack of 4K but i'm not sure if the reviewer is correct on that one. What I am concerned about is that lack of driving power on smart TVs along with their lack of software updates etc.

Very interesting how the reviewer said that that the picture quality was like that of a digital TV channel - ie not great! Along with long loading times and 30+ seconds to get to a high bitrate picture on his 1000mbps fibre broadband.

In short, he made it very very clear that it was no substitute to an Apple TV 4K box which he absolutely loved and he normally is a 4K BluRay connosaur.

Incredibly interesting review - for the iTunes customer or Apple ecosystem fan, there is nothing that comes close to the Apple TV.
 

HDFan

Contributor
Jun 30, 2007
6,672
2,913
Interesting points, inaccuracies as well.

Paraphrasing:

"Go to this App Store and get the app for your Sony, LG"

Only Samsung supports for now.

Implies that will work on all Samsung TVs which it won't, only latest models.
 
Last edited:

atmuwben

macrumors regular
Nov 9, 2013
104
50
The press release says “including titles available in 4K HDR” and the app’s movie descriptions say 4K HDR.
 

ipponrg

macrumors 68020
Oct 15, 2008
2,309
2,087
You're welcome buddy! I was shocked about the lack of 4K but i'm not sure if the reviewer is correct on that one. What I am concerned about is that lack of driving power on smart TVs along with their lack of software updates etc.

Very interesting how the reviewer said that that the picture quality was like that of a digital TV channel - ie not great! Along with long loading times and 30+ seconds to get to a high bitrate picture on his 1000mbps fibre broadband.

In short, he made it very very clear that it was no substitute to an Apple TV 4K box which he absolutely loved and he normally is a 4K BluRay connosaur.

Incredibly interesting review - for the iTunes customer or Apple ecosystem fan, there is nothing that comes close to the Apple TV.

I work on Smart TVs including Samsungs. One of the biggest misconceptions is thinking that Smart TVs will be able to outmuscle dedicated boxes.

What you are really getting out of this is convenience. It would be unrealistic to expect this to work the same as an Apple TV box.
 

jole26

macrumors member
Aug 20, 2018
44
23
A brand new app on a new platform, bound to have some teething problems.

If apps such as Netflix and Amazon can work excellently on smart tv platforms, why shouldn't the Apple TV app?

I don't think that's unrealistic at all.
 

BODYBUILDERPAUL

Suspended
Original poster
Feb 9, 2009
1,773
1,438
Barcelona
A brand new app on a new platform, bound to have some teething problems.

If apps such as Netflix and Amazon can work excellently on smart tv platforms, why shouldn't the Apple TV app?

I don't think that's unrealistic at all.
Problem is they don't work excellently on Smart TVs. Wait until the TV becomes 2 or 3 years old and then look at the mess of Smart TV platforms. No updates, apps missing, apps not loading.
It stands to reason iTunes 4K Dolby Vision Dolby Atmos film requires decent processing power hence the Apple TV 4K carrying the A10Fusion chip. I'm not convinced that Smart TVs with their 'basic' components make a good job of anything.

Could be that licensing wise, iTunes 4K film is reserved for Apple TV 4K only. If these films will not play on the iMac Pro, MacBook Pro etc in 4K then I guess that it would be truly unfair to allow a Samdung product to play it in 4K.
 

-Gonzo-

macrumors 65816
Nov 14, 2015
1,447
788
EXACTLY what I thought the minute that I heard about an Apple TV app on smart TV platforms. After the quality and speed of that A10X chip on the polished Apple TV 4K, watching your iTunes on a smart TV platform is pretty awful - as expected!


That MR 4K Upscaler guy is what’s terrible as he never seems to have a clue what he’s talking about most of the time.
I’ve seen a couple of his ATV4K movie reviews before and his TV picture settings were awful.

The guy that’s done this video shows his TV is displaying in 4K HDR
 
  • Like
Reactions: atmuwben

Max E Verde

macrumors regular
Jan 12, 2005
227
46
New Jersey
I have been using a Samsung 2019 Smart TV for the past couple weeks and I must say they have improved vastly since 2016 which was the last Samsung smart tv I tried using, which was quite appalling. On the 2019, UI is pretty clean, apps switch fast, UI is swift and videos open right away, and I'm pretty sure I saw my iTunes content in 4K (I don't have the most discerning eye and the TV is only 43" though). It even supports bluetooth audio system wide.

That said Smart TVs do have one big problem that will probably remain and that is lack of updates after 3+ years. The firmware updates stop coming and because there are a plethora of OSes and models, developers stop making updates and even pull their apps from the devices.

Also I have had issues with AirPlay where it will time out from pairing unless I toggle AirPlay on and off in the TV settings. I tried a factory restore today so hopefully that fixes it.
 

macbookpro13

macrumors member
Feb 6, 2010
96
7
I'm more interested in how the TV app performs on dedicated devices like the Fire TV 4K. Smart TV apps are usually bad to begin with.
 

Tesjordan

macrumors newbie
May 21, 2019
4
0
EXACTLY what I thought the minute that I heard about an Apple TV app on smart TV platforms. After the quality and speed of that A10X chip on the polished Apple TV 4K, watching your iTunes on a smart TV platform is pretty awful - as expected!

I just spoke to Apple and they confirm 4K video content is viewable via the Apple TV app.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.