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Apple Not Yet Ready to Show Major Revamp of Apple TV Hardware

Sunday October 20, 2013 7:48 pm PDT by Richard Padilla

Following a Tweet last month in which he hinted at an updated Apple TV arriving sometime this month, former TechCrunch writer MG Siegler is now "pouring a small amount of water" on his own claim, suggesting that major changes to Apple's television-related hardware are not yet ready to be shown.

Well, now I feel the need to pour a little — just a little, mind you — cold water on the rumor fire. While I still haven’t heard anything concrete, the most recent whispers I have heard is that the Apple TV project has been delayed a bit.

That doesn’t mean we won’t see an Apple TV update at the event — we could see an updated unit with a spec bump or something. But the thing to be more excited about, the device with some sort of newfangled control system, doesn’t seem like it’s ready just yet.

Siegler notes that he had originally heard about a new Apple TV hardware (not a television set) targeted for a November launch, but that the information was not concrete enough to warrant a full article at the time. Given the publicity his original Tweet garnered, however, he has felt the need to address the issue now that it appears his original information is unlikely to pan out on that timetable.

Last month, 9to5Mac separately reported that Apple has been testing Xbox Kinect-like motion control for televisions, though it was unclear if that would make its way to the Apple TV set-top box or was being held for a standalone Apple television set farther in the future.

Apple will hold a media event this Tuesday, October 22 where it is expected to unveil both the fifth-generation iPad and the second-generation iPad mini, along with other Apple products such as OS X Mavericks, the new Mac Pro, and updated Retina MacBook Pros.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 12, tvOS 13

Tags: MG Siegler, Apple TV Guide

Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Top Rated Comments

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arn

77 months ago

Seems to me that a lot of the front page speculation stories never have enough information to warrant a full article, half article, or even a mention on the front page. I know the site is MacRumors, but a little more real information, and a little less speculation would be highly appreciated.

So don't report on rumors.... got it. :)

Seriously though. It's not like rumors are published at the cost of "real" information.

arn

Rating: 13 Votes

AngerDanger

77 months ago

Maybe Tim will give us a little "One more thing" of his own on Tuesday. Apple TV is a great device that potentially can be something a lot better.

I'm hoping for a "Wait, what's this behind my ear?"

Rating: 11 Votes

koban4max

77 months ago

Maybe Tim will give us a little "One more thing" of his own on Tuesday. Apple TV is a great device that potentially can be something a lot better.

there is no more "one more thing." It's more like, "Thank you folks, have a great day."

Rating: 6 Votes

gnasher729

77 months ago

It was my friend's birthday a couple of weeks ago and he had treated himself to an Apple TV, which was sitting there in the plastic wrapping when I saw him. I had to tell him, 'You should know, an update is heavily rumoured to launch shortly'.

So he had to take his present, purchased with birthday money, back to the Apple store for a refund; and has no idea if a new one is out. It now looks like he will go back and buy it if it's not announced tomorrow, hoping it won't be updated before next year.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

If you had kept your mouth shut, your friend would have enjoyed his Apple TV for weeks and would have been quite happy and content. Because of you, he went through all the trouble going to the store, returning an item, then going back again, buying the same item, and looking like a right idiot, and all for nothing.

Rating: 5 Votes

Gasu E.

77 months ago

Boy, I am so glad I don't have friends like you. You are a killjoy. He would have set up the Apple TV, had fun with it, and would have cared very little that a marginally better version came out a few weeks later. Now you have convinced him it is not good enough to have 99%; he should not be satisfied without that absolutely latest speed bump. Thanks to you, "he had to" make multiple trips to the Apple store, for very little if any benefit. You have added sour to the sweet. You imagine you are being thoughtful, but you lack true empathy. Your friends will be happier people if you learn when not to open your mouth and "help" them.

Rating: 4 Votes

JoshAlfie

77 months ago

I thought the person who I quoted was saying you could actually play them on the Apple TV somehow. I don't see how it's possible.

EDIT: Whoops, posted too soon.

Oh, you use the Computers feature. Clever!

Better than that is to use Plex. No need to convert to mp4.. You can run Full HD movies (mkv) on your iDevice and AirPlay it to your TV without quality loss.

That's what I do anyway :)

Rating: 3 Votes

fullauto

77 months ago

Of course not, they lost 26,495 hours to a one-of-a-kind Leica camera. :rolleyes:

Rating: 2 Votes

dlondon

77 months ago

I have long predicted that the new TV product would plug the hole that was left in Apple's release calendar by shuffling iPads to the fall.

Spring - TV
Summer - Macs, iOS, OS X
Fall - iPhones, iPads

I had thought that they might start seeing some seeds during this week's keynote to setup the full unveil next year, but it seems like they won't have time or don't need to right now.

I wonder if Apple should move some of their typical announcement/release dates. WWDC is usually held in June so presumably they don't want to release iOS devices until after this date to benefit from the latest enhancements. However, if iPhones are announced September and iPads October, this puts a huge pressure on manufacturing similar devices around the same time especially given the number of iPhones they are now selling. Both devices use similar parts so it would be better if these devices were released further apart.

The most logical solution is to move the iPhone earlier in the year, given that people will buy the iPhone whenever it is releases and the iPad probably benefits more from the Christmas/Holidays sales period. However, if the WWDC remains in June and iOS beta testing takes several months, then the iPhone can't really be much earlier than the current period.

Rating: 2 Votes

TTile

77 months ago

Better than that is to use Plex. No need to convert to mp4.. You can run Full HD movies (mkv) on your iDevice and AirPlay it to your TV without quality loss.

That's what I do anyway :)

Or just run VLC on your macbook and airplay it to the ATV.

----------

Watching content from network drives is essential for me. Currently, you have to either jailbreak (not possible on ATV3) or import the content into iTunes and have your computer running to watch your own content. I have an ATV but I have to use my Smart TV, Blu-Ray player or PS3 (depending on which room I'm in) to watch my content. The ATV is more than capable of doing this.

I currently only use the ATV for Netflix or Airplay. At £99, I would purchase an ATV for each TV if it could stream contents from NAS drive and had more UK content.

Yeah it would be slightly more elegant for the ATV to support a wide range of video formats (ie MKV) allowing videos to be easily played from a network drive. That being said, opening the VLC player on my MBP and streaming the video via Airplay to my ATV is still rather elegant.

Rating: 2 Votes

woodbine

77 months ago

For me an app on my iPad that totally replaces the current remote, and supersedes all current app remotes. I want to be able to type on my iPad and do search like that. I'd like an app that mirrors what I see on my TV.

Rating: 2 Votes

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