Apple TV 4k Review - Is it worth the upgrade from the old one?

VIDEO INDEX:
00:38 - Hardware overview / pricing
01:19 - Differences vs. 1080p Apple TV
02:01 - No HDMI cable included, buy the right one!
03:29 - Remote control
03:42 - 4k Experience on the Apple TV
04:29 - Setting up 4k HDR manually
04:55 - Does not auto switch resolutions
06:14 - Finding 4k content
07:35 - Free 4k movie upgrades
08:06 - Movies Anywhere Service Recommendation
09:18 - Digital audio support
09:57 - Features Unique to Apple TV
10:18 - Integration with Apple Photos / iCloud
12:19 - iPhone / iPad integration for remote control
13:00 - Apps purchased on iPhone or iPad available on Apple TV
13:18 - Gaming
14:19 - Siri integration
16:10 - Check if your TV apps are enough before buying

The Apple TV 4k is set in its ways - it will always stay at 4k HDR no matter what you play on it - meaning movies and content that are not encoded with HDR in mind may not look as good. Other players activate HDR mode only when needed.

I found that it wasn't so smart at figuring out what my TV's capabilities were. I had better luck with the much less expensive Roku Stick that gave me a more in depth analysis of my television's capabilities.

All in it's a nice device but I think if you have a fancy new 4k television you might want to check first and see how the built-in apps fare with your favorite media providers.

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[mchaluvr]

this video says it was made in 2017 but every fiber of my body screams '97 infomercial

[LonSeidman]

One note- an upcoming update looks to be adding the ability to match frame rate and HDR settings to the content being played. Also there is indeed a fan inside but it’s not making any noticeable noise. Next week I’ll be looking at cord cutting / cord shaving solutions for the AppleTV

[LubomirGeorgiev]

Couple of comments from personal experience:
1. There is a fan in the 4K version, however, it's almost never on. No way you can hear it..
2. Even if you do not have a 4k TV I would recommend getting the 4K Apple TV if you care about gaming.. The new Apple TV is wayyy smoother in every single game i've tried compared to the old 1080p version.
3. Dynamic HDR is supposed to come in iOS11.2

[jeeptrail]

Hey Lon thanks for the tip on the Movies Anywhere. just gave it a shot on my Roku and works like a charm for most of my purchased iTunes content.

[pepsicolazero]

Xcode 9 lets you sideload apps via WiFi, provenance and Kodi work fine on the atv 4k Lon

[smulemagicpiano]

When i bought my gen 4 and when i updated it it came up list whit the new stuff and it Said 4K but i bought mine whit 1080p

[David_Bellows]

So you upgrade from 1080 to 4K for 20 dollars?

[davidhobson]

Good review. My new ATV 4K will not play through Sony AVR. Works well connected to Sony TV. Have not found solution.

[gerriwohltmann]

Thank you Lon. Have a Samsung with 1080 and looking for a current Apple TV. Lots of info and hoping to re-watch and digest.

[macinman]

Picked one of these up today and giving it a test drive to see if it resolves some of the issues I was having with a ROKU. I have a 4th generation on a 1080p TV and it's been rock solid. As far as lossless audio, you can purchase and app called "InFuse" from the App store, and it will play the lossless audio. It is true that apple doesn't support these formats with the included software, but the app mentioned works great. You can either have it pass through as the standard DD / DTS formats, or have it pass the lossless tracks as PCM.

[theuncodedcommunity]

Can u use the Apple TV with out the internet wire an you can use WiFi or yuh need the internet wire to go inside

[BamBasse]

According to the iFixit teardown it does indeed have a fan.

[TechTimeWithEric]

I am still using an Apple TV 3 which works just fine for me for watching Netflix and YouTube. The only reason that I am thinking of upgrading to the 4 is that Motor Trend On Demand doesn't work with the 3.

[vladislavkuznetsov]

Upcoming tvOS 11.2 solves most of these HDR problems

[movietime]

Hi Lon, what model and brand hard drive are you using with your shield?  Thanks

[brianicole]

I'm not sure wheater to get this or the 4th gen

[connorthornberry]

Awesome video have been curious about it

[staticfade]

Lon great review. Question for you about Plex and 4K HDR....how is that content? Do the colors look vibrant as a Shield or an iTunes sourced video?

[foxglove]

Sums up my feeling when I bought the 1080p Apple TV. I was shocked at how unApple like the product was, but kept telling myself to hold onto it because Apple will do a lot of cool stuff on it. 2 years later, and for me not much has changed. Other than some games I barely ever use it, plus aside from apps/games I'm not that invested on the Apple TV Ecosystem, so that might be part of the issue as well.

[howardhdavidson]

As a extremely early adopter of TV technology, we are being led into a situation where we are paying many different sources for less and less quality content. As in the UK we just had Sky tv that would cover everything including HD when it first arrived and 3D all major football matches and a large range of all the new series from the US and good live entertainment.Now we are having to pay sky extra for BT sports subscription to watch All the European champions league match and pay for box office movies and Sky are not buying programs as they are being split between all the many other TV streaming companies.Now if you don’t have or want a sky Q-box you will have to pay Netflix, Apple, Ect for decent 4K content in a very limited low quality and quantity.We are also being led into false and very complicated technology that most do not truly understand.I find it typical that Apple dropped the optical Toslink output on this new 4K Apple TV box to make connections more complicated unless you have a very late AV amp that passes through 4K and HDR otherwise you need a HDMI splitter or use the ARC Input on your amp as in my case I have so many different bits of equipment connected to my AV amp I have run out of HDMI ports.True Dolby Vision can really only be Watch on a 12bit screen to receive the full benefits of the HDR mastering.People are buying all this equipment and spending a lot of money and giving themselves a big load of problems and headaches.just to watch a film that is really no better than a B film of old if not worse.So now the picture quality is great, if you really know what your doing and don’t find it all confusing but the content is total Rubbish.Sorry This is how I see this TV mess we have now.it’s costing a lot more money in high speed broadband TVs that date in a year and many other ancillary bits of equipment and the time spent setting up this equipment correctly and continual software updates.Does the result justify all the effort and time we spend just to get a better picture than we had, there is a limit to what can be achieved..We have come a long long way in terms of picture Quality and Cinematography and equipment.I believe Now we are going into a phase of overhype and marketing is taking us for a total ride..