Apple Seeds Third Beta of tvOS 11.2 to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]

Monday November 13, 2017 10:10 AM PST by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming tvOS 11.2 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the second tvOS 11.2 update and two weeks after the launch of the tvOS 11.1.

Designed for the fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV models, the tvOS 11.2 developer beta can be downloaded onto the Apple TV via a profile that's installed using Xcode.


According to Apple's release notes, the tvOS 11.2 update enables a new AVDisplayManager feature for developers, designed to allow the device to automatically switch video display modes to match the native frame rate and dynamic range of video content.

The update includes support for switching the Apple TV 4K display output to SDR for apps that are GPU-bound when running in HDR and it re-introduces the Unwatched category in Home Sharing for Movies, TV Shows, and Home Videos.

Apple says tvOS 11.2 also adds new features, bug fixes, and security improvements to the tvOS operating system.

Update: Today's tvOS 11.2 beta has also been provided to public beta testers.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 12
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Caution)
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CarlJ
14 months ago

Apple has made good on its Amazon Prime app promises and integrated it by default into the TV app, my mistake that was just wishful thinking

Apple said Amazon would be releasing an Amazon Prime Video app this year. When Amazon releases the app, if they follow the appropriate APIs, then the Amazon content will show up in the TV app, just like the videos from dozens of other provider's apps. The indications are that this will happen. The year isn't over yet. No need to get snarky about it.
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TallGuyGT
14 months ago

But now that they're working on a fix to that worble, what is the reason that I would turn on HDR on a SDR display?


I’ve found that Apple’s implentation of “remapping” SDR content to HDR can make SDR content look worse. I’m glad they’re letting that be a user setting.

If you have an SDR display, this wouldn’t affect you. The AppleTV will always display SDR since it knows your display isn’t HDR capable.
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Turning on HDR, in theory, when using a SDR TV should produce SDR colors as intended. The reasoning is that HDR can (and some say should) act as a ‘container’ wherein SDR, since it is a smaller range of colors, can also fit. Indeed, this is actually how Apple employs HDR on the Apple TV 4K, come to find out.


In this case, the AppleTV wouldn’t attempt to display HDR since it will know the display is SDR (not HDR capable). It determines this during the HDMI “handshake”.

The problem is the opposite direction - trying to remap SDR content as HDR. I think the AppleTV does a poor job of this. My Sony TV has a built-in setting called “Live Color”, which does a slightly more respectable job of simulating an expanded dynamic range.

Glad that Apple is now giving us the option. I prefer to watch content in the native format, with a minimum of processing.
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Craiger
14 months ago

Apple has made good on its Amazon Prime app promises and integrated it by default into the TV app, my mistake that was just wishful thinking


I don't understand. What are you complaining about here? Amazon hasn't even released their app yet AFAIK.
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