AppleTV 4K = $90!

[TheForce]

The Remote Control takes some getting used to (I went in to settings and slowed it down a bit) but you should also be able to control your Apple TV with your iPhone and Watch. The Screen Savers are a nice touch.

I figured out how to reprogram the ATV4 to receive codes from my Home Theater Master MX850. So I can now store away the little Apple remote. Back to one remote for everything in my room.

I still need to figure out how to keep the ATV4 powered up when not feeding signal because I am watching DishNetwork DVR or a BluRay player. I do get the free AppleTV+ and my wife got a new iMAC in August. Me a new iphone11 Max Pro that day it was released.

Verizon has free Disney but I would have to make quite an upgrade at over $120 per month to qualify. So I'll just pay the $69 per year to Disney.

We binge watched The Morning Show and thought it was very well done. Very true to how things really work in TV.

 

[Foxbat]

I still need to figure out how to keep the ATV4 powered up when not feeding signal because I am watching DishNetwork DVR or a BluRay player.

Are you saying you want to disable the Apple TV 4K going to Sleep After a period of inactivity? Or, something else?

You can try adjusting the "Sleep After" time in Settings :: General​

You'll like this, Don, on the Mac, open QuickTime, cancel the Open File window, go up to the QuickTime Player File Menu, and select New Movie Recording. This brings up a QuickTime window of your Mac's FaceTime (if so equipped). If you click to the right of the red Record button, you get a dropdown menu and you should be able to see your Apple TV listed amongst the Video and Audio sources. I used this technique to record the video in this post.

 

[TheForce]

Thanks Roland. I figured out all my needed controls and added them to the scripts in my MX-850 remote. The Power ON button was not needed now since I just used the Never Sleep setting and moved the ATV4 power to a switched outlet.

I see when commercials are running on a program that allows commercials, you can't skip past them like I do with my Dish DVR. While the video and audio quality is considerably better than my Dish DVR, because of the limit to skip ahead it will remain my preferred viewing for programs I DVR but are loaded with long commercial breaks.

Had trouble with You Tube App. Got it loaded but nothing past the first screen.

Do the subscription channels like Hulu bill my Apple Card account? Some Networks access my Dish account.

 

[Foxbat]

If you have a channel App like TBS, ESPN, SyFy, etc, you can sign in with your Dish credentials. If you have used your iPhone to log in to your Dish Account and use the option to save your passwords to your iCloud, you can use your iPhone's Apple TV Remote app to autofill the credentials on your Apple TV. If you used your Apple account to subscribe to a service like HBO Now, it goes against your Apple Account and as a bonus you can buy iTunes cards at a discount when offered.

 

[rad]

Do the subscription channels like Hulu bill my Apple Card account? Some Networks access my Dish account.

I'd always check what Apple charges for something via their ecosystem vs paying the provider directly, it's usually cheaper.

 

[TheForce]

I must have had the wrong YouTube app loaded. Found another and it's working great. Been binge watching Hulu Handmade today. Quality was really good. After suffering through 5 episodes, I decided to upgrade my account to no commercials. Glad I did. I could not figure out how to upgrade on the computer to my Hulu account, nor on the iphone. However, went back to the AppleTV and looked in the settings and found it. Simple to do and watching these shows sans commercials was much better. The skip ahead works really nice but the commercials has it disabled.

 

[TheForce]

Update- So far, I got everything working on my AppleTV with Apple+ shows Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, You Tube, and Showtime.

The remaining problem seems to be Disney+ Movies except the really older ones. I get sound and no picture. I checked Disney+ on my iphone 11 Max Pro and it plays all movies fine.
It seems movies listed as 4K HDR 10bit are the ones that won't play via the Apple TV to my Projector.

I set the projector and my Apple TV for 4K HDR. All Amazon and Netflix content in 4K HDR plays fine. The color space is set for BT2020 (10 bit) on the projector as well as my AVR.


The fact that Disney+ plays these movies fine on my iphone tells me that Disney+ is not having problems like they did when they first launched.

I can only get the Apple TV to play Disney Movies with HDR if I disable pass through and let the Apple TV convert the movie to 4K 60p SDR.

I also tested 4K 30p HDR output and that doesn't work. Even though that spec is within the range of my projector and AVR.

So for now, I'm good with 4K 60p SDR setting in the Apple TV.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

That was my thinking when the Apple Tv app came out as well. I assume the main draw of the box itself is the slick operation? Maybe it has other capabilities that you cant get with the App?

Speaking of the shield, I did pick up one of the 2019 models a couple of days ago. Pretty nice device, and runs Android Tv nicely.

Have three Apple TV's, one 4k. My entire music and movie library is on it, so since my living room Apple TV is connected to my Denon receiver it provides access to all my music.

My 4k Apple TV is on a TV that is a Roku TV. Just find the interface on Apple TV much easier to deal with. Only criticism - is the Apple TV+ is confusing as heck, as they have been blending their new stuff with what are basically ads for for-purchase films in the Watch TV app. Just a poor implementation.

 

[ncted]

I'm seeing some odd issues with my AppleTV 4K with the new tvOS:

1. On some CBS AA shows, we get weird narration. It is a computerized female voice. Voice over and Audio Descriptions are turned off. Same shows on Firestick and Browser do not have the narration.
2. On several apps, the audio just has no bass at times. Sometimes it will randomly show up part way through a show and then disappear again.
3. Audio sync issues on Hulu and Netflix.

We have switched back to a Firestick 4k in the living room for now, but that has an issue where YouTube has audio dropouts while using BT headphones. Why is it so hard to get this right?

 

[TheForce]

I recently noticed many HDR movies from Amazon Prime have no video, just audio with the Apple TV 4K. HDR on Netflix, Disney+ are fine. I wanted to watch one so I tried my new Sony cheap UHD player and after activating Amazon Prime on it, those movies play fine.

Must be something I'm overlooking as to why only Amazon Prime HDR content has no video. Two months ago I had no problems.

 

[lparsons21]

We have switched back to a Firestick 4k in the living room for now, but that has an issue where YouTube has audio dropouts while using BT headphones. Why is it so hard to get this right?

That’s the question for all of these boxes and streaming apps. FireTV gets DD5.1, Atmos and UHD on nearly all the apps available for it except for the AppleTV+ app. But that app on a Roku gets Atmos but Netflix on Roku doesn’t. AppleTV has all of it except no DD5.1 on Hulu.

And don’t get me started on the different UI’s for the exact same service on the various boxes!

 

[ncted]

Updated to 14.2 today. All issues appear to be resolved.

 

[ncted]

FWIW: I ordered a Function 101 (F101) AppleTV remote and received it yesterday. It is physically larger than the AllforOne (AFO) Streamer remote we have been using, but still fits comfortably in my hand. Button presses are less mushy than the AFO. The F101 remote obviously has no extraneous buttons that don't do anything on the AppleTV like the AFO remote does.

The AFO remote does have backlighting, and the Play/Pause and RW/FF buttons are more centrally located and are noticeably large when feeling around for the button you are looking for where the corresponding buttons on the F101 are at the bottom of the remote, which seems less intuitive and easy to reach on first use. This reminded me somewhat of going from the Dish 5.x-40 series to the DirecTV Universal remotes with the trickplay buttons at the top of the remote. It isn't bad, but is just easier (for me) to get used to remotes with the most common buttons centrally located.

Given the price of the F101 is twice that of the AFO, I am not sure it is worth the extra money, especially when we are talking about buying an extra remote to use with an already expensive device. I'll have to see what my wife thinks if I can get her to pay any attention to it over the holidays. I am planning to add AppleTVs to our other three TVs over the first few months of 2021, so having the best possible remote is key.

 

[harshness]

You can do more than just watch TV and movies on Apple TV you can also play games, listen to music and view photos.

You can do that on most streaming platforms. The difference with Apple TV is that they try to corral you into doing it through some manner of Apple subscription (especially iCloud).

The non-Apple boxes (and some of the sticks) also provide USB jacks so you can easily plug in a external drives or a digital still or video camera.

 

[ncted]

Additional info on the F101 remote:

The FF/RW buttons on the top row skip ahead/back 10s. The bottom FF/RW buttons don't seem to do anything. It might vary per app. I was testing with YTTV and Prime Video.

Edit: In other apps, like CBS AA, the bottom buttons work like normal FF/RW. Also, Prime Video does behave like the CBS AA app with tvOS 14.3.

At first ask, my wife seems to like the AFO remote for the smaller size and button layout. She said the feel of the buttons on the F101 remote we good, but it is harder to tell the buttons apart on the F101. She really likes the Firestick 4K remote, so any change is going to annoy her.

 

[ncted]

After a bit more testing, there is some inconsistency with trick play with the advent of tvOS 14.3. YTTV, YouTube, and Disney+ all behave differently than Netflix, Prime Video, AppleTV+, Hulu, and CBS AA. Those three apps all behave in their own custom way, depending on which remote is used and which buttons are pressed.

 

[Foxbat]

YouTube has always irked me with their playback controls. The argument is that YouTube should present a consistent UI across all platforms, which fails to acknowledge the different methods of interacting with an App on the supported platforms.

TV devices are not computer screens or touch screens (despite what your toddler insists when he smears his PB&J-laden fingertips across your 65” OLED panel) and the method of interacting with them isn’t the same. Apps that follow Apple’s tvOS UI guidelines are easier to navigate with the included AppleTV remote.

By the way, have you tried using your TV’s remote to control your AppleTV via CEC? It works with my Sony remote and presents the familiar FF and RW buttons, along with Play and Pause. Back works as Menu.

 

[ncted]

By the way, have you tried using your TV’s remote to control your AppleTV via CEC? It works with my Sony remote and presents the familiar FF and RW buttons, along with Play and Pause. Back works as Menu.

I have not. Interesting.

 

[ncted]

YouTube has always irked me with their playback controls. The argument is that YouTube should present a consistent UI across all platforms, which fails to acknowledge the different methods of interacting with an App on the supported platforms.

TV devices are not computer screens or touch screens (despite what your toddler insists when he smears his PB&J-laden fingertips across your 65” OLED panel) and the method of interacting with them isn’t the same. Apps that follow Apple’s tvOS UI guidelines are easier to navigate with the included AppleTV remote.

By the way, have you tried using your TV’s remote to control your AppleTV via CEC? It works with my Sony remote and presents the familiar FF and RW buttons, along with Play and Pause. Back works as Menu.

Works surprisingly well except for waking up the AppleTV.

 

[ncted]

After watching multiple shows this evening on YTTV with both remotes, I definitely think the AFO remote is the way to go if you are a YTTV subscriber (assuming you don't like the Siri remote, which I don't). For all other apps, the F101 remote is superior.

The big problem is the F101 only offers 10 second skip in the YTTV app with no preview pop-up. It is akin to the 30 second skip from the Hopper, but requires a lot more button presses. The bottom row of FF/RW buttons don't do anything in the app. Only the skip forward/back buttons do.