Pavel Jelic Alongside AirTags location tags, brand new iMacs and improved iPad Pros, we also finally got to see the new generation of Apple TV 4K at yesterday's Apple Keynote. The original generation of this Apple television is already practically four years old, so the early arrival of a new version was practically certain. The good news is that we arrived relatively soon, and it must be noted that even though it may not seem like it at first glance, Apple has come up with great improvements. Therefore, below you will find everything you wanted to know about the new Apple TV 4K.
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Vratislav Holub Performance and capacity
As mentioned above, in terms of appearance, not much has changed in the box itself. It's still a black box with the same dimensions, so you can't tell the new generation from the old one with just your eyes. What has changed significantly, however, is the remote, which has been redesigned and renamed from the Apple TV Remote to the Siri Remote - we'll look at that below. As the name of the product itself suggests, Apple TV 4K can play up to 4K HDR images with a high frame rate. Of course, the rendered image is completely smooth and sharp, along with truer colors and finer details. In the guts, the brain of the entire box was replaced, i.e. the main chip itself. While the older generation contained the A10X Fusion chip, which also became part of the iPad Pro from 2017, Apple has currently opted for the A12 Bionic chip, which, among other things, beats in the iPhone XS. As for the capacity, 32 GB and 64 GB are available.
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HDMI 2.1 support
It should be noted that the new Apple TV 4K (2021) also supports HDMI 2.1, which is a significant improvement over the previous generation, which offered HDMI 2.0. Thanks to HDMI 2.1, the new Apple TV 4K will be able to play videos in 4K HDR at a refresh rate of 120 Hz. The first information about 120 Hz support for Apple TV appeared even before the presentation itself, in the beta version of tvOS 14.5. Since the last generation of Apple TV 4K has "only" HDMI 2.0, which supports a maximum refresh rate of 60 Hz, it was practically clear that the new Apple TV 4K with HDMI 2.1 and 120 Hz support will come. However, the latest Apple TV 4K currently lacks the ability to play images in 4K HDR at 120 Hz. According to the official Apple TV 4K profile on Apple's website, we should expect the activation of this option soon. Maybe we'll see it as part of tvOS 15, who knows.
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Supported video, audio and photo formats
Videos are H.264/HEVC SDR up to 2160p, 60 fps, Main/Main 10 profile, HEVC Dolby Vision (Profile 5)/HDR10 (Main 10 profile) up to 2160p, 60 fps, H.264 Baseline Profile level 3.0 or lower with AAC-LC audio up to 160Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats. For audio, we're talking HE‑AAC (V1), AAC (up to 320 kbps), protected AAC (from the iTunes Store), MP3 (up to 320 kbps), MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, FLAC, AIFF and WAV formats ; AC‑3 (Dolby Digital 5.1) and E‑AC‑3 (Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound). The new Apple TV also supports Dolby Atmos. Photos are still HEIF, JPEG, GIF, TIFF.
Connectors and interfaces
All three connectors in total are located on the back of the box for the Apple TV. The first connector is the power connector, which must be plugged into the electrical network. In the middle is HDMI – as I mentioned above, it is HDMI 2.1, which was upgraded from HDMI 2.0 in the previous generation. The last connector is gigabit ethernet, which you can use for a more stable connection if wireless is not convenient for you. The new Apple TV 4K supports Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax with MIMO technology and can connect to both the 2.4 GHz network and the 5 GHz network. An infrared port is available to receive the controller signal, and there is also Bluetooth 5.0, thanks to which, for example, AirPods, speakers and other accessories can be connected. Along with the purchase of Apple TV 4K, don't forget to add the corresponding cable to the basket, which ideally supports HDMI 2.1.
The new Siri Remote
As already mentioned above, the biggest changes that can be observed with the naked eye were the new controller, which was named Siri Remote. This new controller has been completely stripped of the upper touch part. Instead, a touch wheel is available, thanks to which you can easily switch between contents. In the upper right corner of the controller itself, you will find a button to turn the Apple TV on or off. Below the touch wheel there are a total of six buttons – back, menu, play/pause, mute sounds and increase or decrease volume.
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Benjamin Levicek However, one button is still located on the right side of the controller. It has a microphone icon on it and you can use it to activate Siri. On the bottom of the controller there is a classic Lightning connector for charging. The Siri Remote has Bluetooth 5.0 and can last several months on a single charge. If you were looking forward to being able to locate the new driver using Find, then I have to disappoint you - unfortunately, Apple did not dare to make such an innovation. Who knows, maybe in the future we will see a holder or case in which you put the AirTag and then attach it to the Siri Remote. The new Siri Remote is also compatible with previous generations of Apple TV.
Size and weight
The size of the Apple TV 4K box is exactly the same as previous generations. That means it is 35mm high, 98mm wide and 4mm deep. As for weight, the new Apple TV 425K weighs less than half a kilo, exactly 136 grams. You might be interested in the dimensions and weight of the new controller, as it is a completely new product, which of course may not suit everyone. The height of the controller is 35 mm, width 9,25 mm and depth 63 mm. The weight is a pleasant XNUMX grams.
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Packaging, availability, price
In the Apple TV 4K package, you will find the box itself together with the Siri Remote. In addition to these two obvious things, the package also includes a Lightning cable for charging the controller and a power cable that you can use to connect the Apple TV to the mains. And that's absolutely all - you would look for an HDMI cable in vain, and you would also look for a LAN cable for connecting the TV to the Internet in vain. Getting a quality HDMI cable is a must, so you should consider getting a LAN cable anyway. In order to be able to watch 4K HDR shows, it is necessary for the internet connection to be really high-quality, fast and reliable, which can be a problem on Wi-Fi. Pre-orders for the new Apple TV 4K start already on April 30, i.e. next Friday. The price of the basic model with 32 GB of storage is CZK 4, the model with 990 GB will cost you CZK 64.
- You can buy Apple products, for example, at Alge, Mobile Emergency or u iStores
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Amaya Toman 