The Apple TV 4K is comfortably the best streamer, but only if you change these settings

[What Hi-Fi?]

Apple makes the best video streamer on the market, but here's how to squeeze the best performance out of it.

The Apple TV 4K is comfortably the best streamer, but only if you change these settings : Read more

 

[nervebreaker]

You should also mention that if you are not getting Dolby Atmos showing up on a connected receiver over an HDMI cable test that takes a while to run but then fixes the issue, providing the cable is certified at that level. I lost Dolby Atmos till I found the test, might have had it toggle somewhere in the beta version upgrades

 

[bytchslappa]

"The Apple TV 4K is comfortably the best streamer, but only if you change these settings : Read more"

Maybe if you tested the nvida shield pro in your streamer tests - this statement could not be said.. it makes a complete mockery of whathifi when you haven't even looked at or mentioned it.. the problems you have talked about like screen flickering between content don't exist for example..

 

[Downhuman74]

"If you're in the Apple ecosystem, then the Apple TV 4K is comfortably the best streamer..."​

There. Fixed the headline for you. For someone who's not in the Apple ecosystem, the Apple TV makes zero sense. And there are better options overall.

 

[LillaQuqen]

Having another box for streaming is so 2010. All good TVs come with all the streaming capabilities built in and optimized for the TV you bought.

 

[manicm]

"If you're in the Apple ecosystem, then the Apple TV 4K is comfortably the best streamer..."​

There. Fixed the headline for you. For someone who's not in the Apple ecosystem, the Apple TV makes zero sense. And there are better options overall.

No, even if you're not in the Apple ecosystem it's easily the best AV streaming box, and you can get bitperfect audio out of it through Tidal etc.

 

[ActionJ]

No, even if you're not in the Apple ecosystem it's easily the best AV streaming box, and you can get bitperfect audio out of it through Tidal etc.

Lol, must be an Apple fanboy. Universally accepted nothing beats the Nvidia Shield Pro.
Talk to any Kodi user. Apple is totally gimped with zero passthrough on Kodi.

 

[Pottsy320]

I have two of these, and they accumulate dust on the back of two high end TVs.

There is no audio passthrough for Plex (same for Kodi).

The PCM output (that the Apple TV loves) sounds like mud through my Sonos speakers. This may be the fault of the Sonos, but I don't care, the dreadful Apple TV box remains unused.

I have an Nvidia Shield Pro, but while the audio is perfect, the frame rate issues are horrible.

Also, the Apple TV has a colour tint on all output formats other than RGB high. You can see it, and the calibrator can definitely see it!

Although the interface is slow, the inbuilt apps on my Sony TVs are better than both streamers.

 

[blenky]

This article is nonsense. ATV Netflix app is terrible and way out of date. BBC iPlayer app is a joke. No subtitles or UHD HLG. Amazon app is not much better and the Disney+ app has had major issues for awhile. The best streaming app unsurprisingly is ATV+! For the price of this box the streaming apps should be much, much better. And don't get me started on not having bitstream audio pass through!!!

 

[scgf]

The BBC is the national broadcaster in the UK yet only provides 720p streaming on Apple TV. Apple uses HLS which the BBC will not fully support, the BBC uses MPEG-Dash which Apple refuses to support. The UK licence payer loses out. EE is now providing its TV service via Apple TV so it's customers also get a sub par iPlayer service. The viewer has to use an alternative hardware solution to view iPlayer material in 1080 let alone UHD. It is not acceptable, given we are forced to pay our licence fees.

 

[scgf]

"If you're in the Apple ecosystem, then the Apple TV 4K is comfortably the best streamer..."​

There. Fixed the headline for you. For someone who's not in the Apple ecosystem, the Apple TV makes zero sense. And there are better options overall.

I don’t understand. Why is the AppleTV better if you have a Mac or an iPhone? I have a Google Pixel phone and a Mac Mini and use no interactions whatsoever between my Mac and my AppleTV. When I had an iPhone similarly I didn’t need to interact with the AppleTV. The reason the AppleTV is so good is that you pay for very good hardware and are not constantly bombarded with adverts from streaming companies or finding your devive is prioritising certain platforms. Yes, Apple does push AppleTV+ and I’m not happy about that, but that’s one service and I can overlook it because of the other benefits AppleTV offers. The only fly in the ointment is poor BBC iPlayer support.

Which device do you feel is better than AppleTV? I’ve tried the obvious competitors like Roku, Google TV and FireTV and they were spectacularly awful. The Nvidia Shield I haven’t tried, but isn’t that a bit long in the tooth these days? I’ve love to be convinced otherwise.