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No 4K Video Streaming Support for Upcoming Apple TV Set-Top Box

Sunday April 5, 2015 2:21 pm PDT by Eric Slivka
Following up on last month's claim that Apple is planning to show off a revamped Apple TV set-top box with App Store and Siri support at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, BuzzFeed now reports that the new box will not include support for 4K video streaming even though several services like Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube offer content in the high-resolution format.
“4K is great, but it’s still in its infancy,” said one source familiar with Apple’s thinking.

Enabling 4K video support in Apple’s first major overhaul of Apple TV in three years might seem like a smart bit of future-proofing — particularly given reports that the A8 chip in the guts of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is 4K-capable. But it’s arguably an unnecessary one at this point.
The report points out that 4K streaming is expensive for content providers given the bandwidth required, and the vast majority of Americans do not even have Internet connectivity at fast enough speeds to support such streaming. Still, those who do currently stream 4K content or hope to in the relatively near future are likely to be disappointed by Apple's decision to forgo support in the next Apple TV.

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Beyond existing Apple TV services and new third-party apps, the revamped Apple TV is also expected to support a package of streaming television channels if Apple can manage to reach agreements with the necessary content providers. Apple is reportedly in talks with ABC, Fox, and Disney, as well as Discovery and Viacom, to try to put together a "skinny" TV package of select channels that would reportedly cost consumers somewhere in the range of $25 to $40 per month. Apple is said to be aiming to announce the service at WWDC in June and launch it in the September timeframe.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 12
Tag: buzzfeed.com
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Neutral)
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Sonmi451
44 months ago

There is no reason to have 4K support on the current generation Apple TV as most content is not yet available in 4K. By the time mainstream 4K content becomes available, Apple will be prepared.


There is some content but Apple is going to be late to the 4k party it seems.

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To get the best out of 4K streaming, you need a 4K tv....which I am not willing to pay $6000+ for a freaking tv


Do some research instead of throwing out wrong numbers.
Rating: 40 Votes
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chirpie
44 months ago
Forget 4K for 4K TVs, 4K would look better on a 1080p set just because of the chroma resolution upgrade.

It's always odd how Apple is so purposeful in dragging their feet for some technologies, but goes balls to wall for adopting certain features/interfaces for the latest and greatest.
Rating: 35 Votes
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DavidTheExpert
44 months ago
There is no reason to have 4K support on the current generation Apple TV as most content is not yet available in 4K. By the time mainstream 4K content becomes available, Apple will be prepared.
Rating: 29 Votes
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Ballis
44 months ago
As long as it has an AppStore, Im getting it. 4K can wait. I cant even tell the difference from 1080p videos anyways.
Rating: 15 Votes
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jglonek
44 months ago

To get the best out of 4K streaming, you need a 4K tv....which I am not willing to pay $6000+ for a freaking tv


Not even close, not anymore. 2015 4K TV's are coming in at 2014 1080p TV pricing.
Rating: 15 Votes
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gmanist1000
44 months ago

To get the best out of 4K streaming, you need a 4K tv....which I am not willing to pay $6000+ for a freaking tv


50" 4K for $899 http://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-P502ui-B1-50-Inch-Effective-Refresh/dp/B00MK39H68/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1428270288&sr=1-3&keywords=50+inch+4k
Rating: 14 Votes
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rekhyt
44 months ago

Forget 4K for 4K TVs, 4K would look better on a 1080p set just because of the chroma resolution upgrade.

It's always odd how Apple is so purposeful in dragging their feet for some technologies, but goes balls to wall for adopting certain features/interfaces for the latest and greatest.


Thing is, is that Apple can't compel people to buy 4K TVs, and upgrade their Internet for reliable 4K streaming.

The removal of a CD drive, floppy drive, Flash support on iOS, on the other hand... they can.

So no. It's not odd.
Rating: 10 Votes
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pavelbure
44 months ago
They won't have a 4k apple tv until there is 4k in iTunes store.
Rating: 10 Votes
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sepahewe
44 months ago
How about us non-Americans who do have more than necessary bandwidth? I live 2 miles outside of a town of 24000 people, and my choice is 100M or 1G :)

I'm disappointed in Apple, they used to be forerunners....
Rating: 10 Votes
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camsoft
44 months ago
I don't understand the negativity in these posts. I've got a 4K UHD TV by LG and it only cost £650 ($970). I don't think that's expensive at all, 4K is getting cheaper and more people are buying them. I know other people with 4K TVs.

Also I have Netflix 4K and Amazon Instant Video 4K on my TV so I would definitely want this on the next Apple TV. I hate the interface on my TV and would much prefer to use an Apple TV instead of the built-in apps.

4K is clearly the next big thing and it would be very stupid of Apple not to support it especially as they take years to update Apple TV so if they don't add it now it would likely be another decade before they do!
Rating: 9 Votes

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