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Apple TV 4K Gets A12 Bionic

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Re: Apple TV 4K Gets A12 Bionic

#11

And still no support for spatial audio with AirPods Pro? I continue to be mystified why spatial audio only works for watching movies on iOS devices. I know the official explanation is that the host device needs an accelerometer and gyroscope... but Apple TV's tend to stay still, you know. It baffles me why you can get amazing spatial audio watching a movie on a tiny screen... or regular stereo audio watching a movie…

The livestream just said the new iMac supports spatial audio.

Re: Apple TV 4K Gets A12 Bionic

#12

And still no support for spatial audio with AirPods Pro? I continue to be mystified why spatial audio only works for watching movies on iOS devices. I know the official explanation is that the host device needs an accelerometer and gyroscope... but Apple TV's tend to stay still, you know. It baffles me why you can get amazing spatial audio watching a movie on a tiny screen... or regular stereo audio watching a movie…

Well they just announced that Spatial Audio works on the new iMac, so I have no idea what's going on.

Re: Apple TV 4K Gets A12 Bionic

#14

And still no support for spatial audio with AirPods Pro? I continue to be mystified why spatial audio only works for watching movies on iOS devices. I know the official explanation is that the host device needs an accelerometer and gyroscope... but Apple TV's tend to stay still, you know. It baffles me why you can get amazing spatial audio watching a movie on a tiny screen... or regular stereo audio watching a movie…

I’m guessing because the vast majority of the market with a 4K Apple TV is not watching in stereo, but in surround with something like Dolby Atmos.

Edit: For those unfamiliar, spatial audio is a post processing effect that attempts to simulate surround, whereas most home theaters are going to be watching material that has discreet location and channel data, meaning a much more realistic surround stage.

Re: Apple TV 4K Gets A12 Bionic

#15

And still no support for spatial audio with AirPods Pro? I continue to be mystified why spatial audio only works for watching movies on iOS devices. I know the official explanation is that the host device needs an accelerometer and gyroscope... but Apple TV's tend to stay still, you know. It baffles me why you can get amazing spatial audio watching a movie on a tiny screen... or regular stereo audio watching a movie…

I also find it very weird that they would focus this movie oriented feature on a device that is not great to watch movies.

Re: Apple TV 4K Gets A12 Bionic

#17

I find it astounding that Apple ceded control of Wi-Fi routers to companies much less trustworthy than Apple, but they insist on making overpriced TV boxes and smart speakers that nobody is buying.

Their routers ran NetBSD. You can still do that if you want.

As for Apple TVs, I own five.

Re: Apple TV 4K Gets A12 Bionic

#18
Honestly speaking, the problem with Apple TV is that chips like A12 are such a overkill for TV box use cases. I recently purchased a $30 Roku and find it has almost 99% of the features that an Apple TV would have (including airplay2).

Yes, Apple TV would have better color, visual quality, etc, but that's way into the realm of dismissed return for the investment IMHO.

Re: Apple TV 4K Gets A12 Bionic

#19

I'd really love it if I could access the Apple TV while it's not being used. It's very powerful. It could run a home VPN, or accelerated image/video encoding (of which it can do VERY FAST). The reality is that it's a very powerful box that largely just sits there.

Exactly. I have an iPad Pro that is compatible with Checkrain. Being able to SSH into it and do stuff is a useful godsend. I've no idea why Apple won't let users actually use their devices -- and I write this on a rooted Android phone.

>I've no idea why Apple won't let users actually use their devices

Why would Apple let you do it yourself when they can juice their services revenue by making you pay for the same functionality?

Re: Apple TV 4K Gets A12 Bionic

#20

And still no support for spatial audio with AirPods Pro? I continue to be mystified why spatial audio only works for watching movies on iOS devices. I know the official explanation is that the host device needs an accelerometer and gyroscope... but Apple TV's tend to stay still, you know. It baffles me why you can get amazing spatial audio watching a movie on a tiny screen... or regular stereo audio watching a movie…

I’m guessing because the vast majority of the market with a 4K Apple TV is not watching in stereo, but in surround with something like Dolby Atmos. Edit: For those unfamiliar, spatial audio is a post processing effect that attempts to simulate surround, whereas most home theaters are going to be watching material that has discreet location and channel data, meaning a much more realistic surround stage.

A lot of people watch TV/movies at night with headphones instead of speakers, in order not to wake up the kids, grandparents, someone who works early, etc. Especially when you want to fully experience those big loud action sequences without making the house actually rumble.

This is for people when they aren't using their speakers at all.

Edit in response to your edit: I think you may be misunderstanding Apple's spatial audio feature. It's not simulating surround out of stereo audio, it's simulating a sound stage out of the discreet location and channel data you're talking about. It requires surround sound input, it won't operate on stereo input. The surround stage is shockingly realistic if you try it.

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