Category: AppleTV

New Apple Stuff...my initial thoughts.

9/14/2017

As you probably know, Apple introduced new iPhones, a new AppleTV, and a new Apple Watch this week. Since I am often discussing Apple products, I thought I would give my readers some of my initial thoughts based on the September 12th Keynote.

AppleTV 4K

This was an obvious update and I would have been surprised if we did not see a 4K HDR AppleTV this year. With every other mainstream video streaming box including some version of 4K, Apple had to update their 1080p AppleTV 4.

While I already have 4k built into my Samsung TV apps, the Nvidia Shield, and a Roku, I still prefer the AppleTV and its interface over my other options. I rarely ever use the Roku because it has a huge ugly ad on the home screen and the Shield wastes too much of the screen on stuff I wouldn't prioritize like their suggestions and games. I do like a lot of the features of the Shield, especially the Plex Server, but I still prefer the AppleTV for most TV apps.

Probability that I get it: Very high probability!

Apple Watch 3

I have an Original Apple Watch and for my needs it is a huge time saver. I use it to control my music, change volume, check notifications, check the weather, set reminders, set alarms, add stuff to my calendar, add stuff to my Wunderlist, check sports scores, perform calculations, turn on and off lights at home, set timers, perform image searches, use the maps feature, opening apps like Overcast, tracking my activity for the day, start workouts, etc.

The thing is that there were things missing from the Original Watch that are now included. Actually, every single thing I wanted in the watch (other than an always on clock screen) is now available:

1. Cellular - being able to just bring my watch while out for a walk or at the beach would be awesome. It can now access Apple Music and 40 million songs without the iPhone. I am still wondering if AT&T will try to get $10 extra month for the feature or not.

2. GPS - This is another feature that allows you to leave your iPhone at home when exercising.

3. Water Resistance ("Swim proof") - I like swimming, so having a watch that can work in the pool is a great feature.

4. Siri that can speak to you

With these new features, I think all of the top expected features are intact. At this point, I think they will work on speed (which they have done with every new watch), health features, and coming up with new ways to use the watch. However, this was the Watch I wanted at the beginning.

Probability that I get it: Good (If they charge for cellular, I might hold out...not sure.)

iPhone 8, 8 plus, X

The iPhone has three new models. They are all great and the 8 plus is a nice spec bump over the 7 plus I have now. It is really more like a 7s Plus than an 8, though.

The X is where all the excitement is right now. It has a beautiful OLED screen, a high pixel count that they are calling "Super Retina", an edge to design, Face ID, new and better lenses with optical stabilization on both lenses, new camerafeatures like "TrueDepth" and "Portrait Lighting". In other words, if I were getting a new phone, I would get the one that looks and feels like a new phone.

That being said, the X starts at $999 for the 64GB version. I would need the 256Gb version which starts at $1149 before AppleCare and taxes. Not cheap!

Probability that I will get it: Improbable - While it is a better phone than the 7 Plus that I have now, I just don't feel comfortable spending that much money (even with the AT&T upgrade plan) on a first generation design. The Face ID looks slower than Touch ID, which is also a concern.

I may be getting to the point of diminishing returns on phones. I feel like the 7 Plus is great for all of my current needs and the "notch" in the top of the X is a bit of a distraction that I am hoping they solve by next year. As I told someone earlier today, if they gave me one, I would take it. But it is hard to rationalize $1149 (plus tax and AppleCare) on a new phone when the one I have now is still fantastic.

Should be interesting to see what my favorite tech is this year. Typically, it is the newest iPhone, but that will probably change for my list this year.

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Apple Music- App of the Year

12/29/2015

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Apple Music

Apple Music is my choice for (most under appreciated) app of the year. Thanks to one well known tech blogger not backing up his music files, Apple Music took a big hit right out of the gate. Somehow, this person that writes about tech doesn't have a backup of his music and somehow lost his music. I haven't seen anyone else with this issue, but he got picked up by so many tech blogs (it makes great click bait) that it soon seemed like it was a common issue. Nope, just one person with an issue that also has a big megaphone.

(As a side note: I was reading a year end article just today and his problem was brought up again. If this issue is so widespread, why is everyone just quoting this one guy rather than talking about their own personal experience? Yeah, it appears that the guy was one of the few people that had the issue and if some of the articles about his issue are true, he simply missed checking one of two boxes in the preferences on iTunes. )

Matching

While matching isn't perfect, it is better than not having any of your own music available. I have a 25,000 song library and I admit that I run into an issue with the wrong album artwork or wrong album showing up on occasion, but I don't think it is a federal crime. For one thing, I don't listen to my own music via the service that often (although it is a very nice perk that sets it apart from most of the competition). Since they now have The Beatles, there is even less reason to listen to my own collection.

Secondly, the app has a home sharing button to get to my own untouched collection when I am home (it even supports 24/96 with the right DAC). Apple has millions of songs available and I have never been so desperate to listen to that one album that they may have matched incorrectly that I haven't been able to find something else to listen to. It just hasn't happened.

In short, I look at this as an extra, very nice, feature that has very little to do with the overall experience. For one thing, my 25,000 song library is minuscule compared to their millions of songs. Of those 25,000 songs, a huge majority were matched properly.

If I was so anal that missing one album in 1500 was a huge issue, I would probably just use Plex or DS Audio to access my music when on the road. However, I like having my music combined with the streaming service so I can access nearly everything from one app.

Siri on the iPhone is Seriously Amazing

Siri on iOS has been the real game changer here. It is what sets this service apart from all of the other services and has made Apple Music my favorite and most used app this year.

As I have mentioned in aprior review, the service is absolutely amazing on the iPhone. I can be driving to work and simply say "Hey Siri, play songs from 1972" and music just starts playing. I can also tell it to play songs, albums, artists and they just play.

AppleTV 4 app

The new AppleTV was released with the Apple Music app. I have used Spotify, Rdio, and SiriusXM on my Roku, but they are practically empty shells compared to their iOS counterparts. On the other hand, the Apple Music app is simply amazing on the AppleTV. For example, the videos look a lot better on the big screen when compared to the iPhone/iPad.

Siri has also been added. While it isn't perfect, it is a lot better than other music services on other platforms.

Apple Watch

It is easily one of the best apps on the Apple Watch. It is simply an extension of the iPhone, but it is an ultra-convenient extension. You can play music from your saved library, your saved playlists, etc.. However, the real magic is that it works with Siri for the entire Apple Music database and you can also control Airplay while your iPhone is docked in a separate room.

For You

While other services think I want to hear what my friend is listening to, Apple Music is built around MY TASTE. I prefer this approach. I am old school and consider music to be a personal experience, not a way to follow the crowd.

New

The "New" section is kind of a catch all for just about anything new. I was mainly using it for new releases, but I noticed that Apple has added a new section at the bottom of the page for "Mastered for iTunes" albums.

I think mastering is more important that bit rates once you get in the 224 kbps range and Apple has some of the best masters of many albums. I look at this feature about once a week and it has varied from classical albums (some of the all time great albums at that), Christmas albums, and this week they have singer/songwriter albums (Dylan, Simon, Springsteen, etc.). This section alone is almost worth the price of the service for me.

iTunes Integration

Be aware that my thoughts on this issue go against the grain. Many think that iTunes is getting to be a swollen dumpster where Apple throws everything. I am not going to argue that they might want to think about breaking it up, but I like Apple Music mixed in with my music. I simply leave on Apple Music and uncheck iCloud Music in the preference section after I match new music. This leaves me with everything I want to hear, including my own Apple Lossless files and doesn't include the music that was matched to the cloud.

On the Apple Music app on the AppleTV, you have to listen to the "Computer app" to get your own local library and "Apple Music" for the matched music and songs available for Apple Music. I prefer the iTunes approach, so I don't have to jump from app to app to listen to music.

Connect

\I was a bit baffled by this section when the app first came out. However, I have it setup for genres now and the suggestions are great when you want to hear a suggested album/artist/playlist from "Jazz", "Rock", etc. It supplements the "For You" section, but is better for quickly getting to a genre. As an example, "Americana" had a "A Very Folk Christmas" playlist available at Christmas.

You can also get to genres by going to the "New" section, but this is just a way to flip on the app, click one button, scroll down to the genre you want to hear, and play it.

App of the year

It really is mind blowing to hear all of the complaints about the service. No, it isn't perfect, but I could nitpick just about any service or product out there. I have tried pretty much all of them and none of them are perfect...for one thing, none of them, other than Apple Music, currently work with Siri. If you are on Android, then you do get some similar features, but you have to buy into that ecosystem and I am not going that route (Note: If I was on Android, I would have made YouTube Red my app of the year).

In this case, the features, the compatibility across hardware, and the exceptional Siri control made this an easy pick for my app of the year.

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AppleTV 4th Generation - Updates!!! Woo Hooo!

12/12/2015

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Apple Updates the new AppleTV

Two of my major issues with the new AppleTV have already been resolved:

1. Remote app on iOS - One of my biggest complaints about the AppleTV 2105, is that it no longer worked with the Remote app. This meant that anytime you had to type in a password, you had to bang through it on the "Siri Remote" that is included with the AppleTV. I tried out the Remote app on my iPhone and I could even copy and paste into the Remote app which is great for those using Password managers to create complicated passwords. However, the big benefit is having the iOS keyboard available for typing. (Note: It still doesn't support Bluetooth keyboards, but to be honest, I would personally never use one with it. It would be nice for those outside the Apple mobile ecosystem, though.)

2. Siri integration into Apple Music - Siri is the main reason I use Apple Music. It is amazingly convenient for listening to music at work and listening to music in the car. The downside was that when the AppleTV was released, you had to type in search terms with the remote (partially resolved with the Remote app support I mentioned above). Now you can just say "Play the Thriller album by Michael Jackson" or "play Wee Small Hours by Frank Sinatra" (Happy Birthday, Frank!!) and it will start playing. Also works with commands like "play top hits from 2011" or "play Stone Temple Pilots", which will play their biggest hits. It is AWESOME!

I should mention that it is a bit more picky about how you say the search terms, and in some cases, it gets confused between music and movies. For example, I said "Play Charlie Parker" and it brought up a Benny Goodman movie. However, when I said "Play Music by Charlie Parker" it plays music.

There was also a reported update so that it will work with the Apple Watch, but I don't have a watch, so I can't comment on that one.

For me, these were HUGE updates. I have also heard rumors that Amazon Prime is coming and the AppleTV will eventually be able to be controlled with Siri on iOS. It is great to see the AppleTV move out of "hobby" status with Apple and get game changing updates.

See my prior post with initial thoughts on the AppleTV 2015 version here.

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The New AppleTV: Why not 4k?

9/13/2015

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The New AppleTV: 4k or not 4k? That is the question.

The long awaited AppleTV 4(th generation) has been announced. The biggest and most obvious thing missing was 4k capabilities. I have seen arguments for and against 4k, and I thought I would address some of the arguments against it in this post.

No one owns a 4k television

Is Apple a company that sits and waits for a future technology to be popular before they adopt it?

Let's just look at a bit of their history:

1. MacBook - how many people owned USB-C before they made this the only none headphone port on thus computer?

2. Thunderbolt/FireWire - don't tell me these were ever mainstream.

3. Tablets - where was the large tablet market when the iPad was introduced?

It is obvious that Apple is usually the company that kicks us in the behind and tells us to move on to bigger and better things.

There is no 4k content

There isn't a ton of 4 k content on the commercial market, unless you count YouTube, that I agree with. However, content follows the technology. When I bought my very first 1080i HDTV ( a huge 57 inch Hitachi console TV), about the only thing to watch with it was "Hogan's Heroes" reruns on HDNET. If equipment makers had sat around waiting for content, we would still be be watching old standard def programming. If Apple supported 4k with this box, they would push the studios to provide more content.

There is no benefit to 4k

That is the worst argument. I saw the same argument about HDTV and Blu-Ray. Let's be clear, more pixels equals more detail. Yeah, if you sit too far away to see the extra resolution, then the benefits shrink. However, that has always been the case. It is one of the reasons many people have 65 inch TVs instead of 27 inch TVs these days.

To quote Apple:

"The 27‑inch iMac with Retina 5K display has four times as many pixels as the standard 27‑inch iMac display. So you experience unbelievable detail. On an unbelievable scale."

As you can see from the Apple photo below, 4k represents a huge benefit over 1080p.

Apple simply isn't ready for 4k yet

The amazing thing is that they are already touting 4k video for their new iPhone 6s. To quote Apple:

"It takes brilliant 4K video, up to four times the resolution of 1080p HD video"

4k video recording will already be part of Apple's best selling consumer item by the time the AppleTV 4 hits the market. So are these "brilliant 4k videos" supposed to only be seen on 27 inch iMac displays or would it make more sense to enable us to watch them on the much larger displays in our living rooms?

4k is too expensive to implement at under $200

That would make sense if it wasn't for the fact that the Nvidia Shield does 4k in a similar device for less than $200. In fact, it comes with a gaming remote with a headphone port, 2 USB3 inputs for adding devices like cameras and external drives, has 24/192 high resolution audio included, and 3GBs of RAM. It has Google Voice search, an App Store, and does more than the new AppleTV.

The only place they cut corners is that they only provided 16GB of storage, where the AppleTV at the same price has 64GB. However, that is countered with the fact that the Nvidia has a microSD slot that can provide more onboard storage for games and movies. As an example, Apple sells the 64GB AppleTV for $50 more than the 32GB version. For around $20 you could add 64GB to the onboard 16GBs (giving you 80GB of storage). That makes it slightly more expensive if you need exactly 64GBs, but it scales up nicely because you could add a 128GB card to it later when you need it. With Apple, you are stuck with 64GB until you buy a new AppleTV.

In any event, if Nvidia can offer all that at $200, Apple should be able to offer it even cheaper thanks to the economies of scale. Note: Since I wrote this article, Amazon has announced a new 4k FireTV and Alexa that costs...wait for it.....$99!

So why isn't there an AppleTV 4k?

That is the 4 million dollar question. If I were to speculate, my guess is that there are two reasons.

The first is that Apple likes large margins. It isn't that they could not make a profit by offering a 4k AppleTV at $200. It is that they have a formula that says they need to make X amount on every unit sold or it isn't worth their time.

The second reason is to give them an obvious upgrade path. It is the equivalent of not including a camera in the first iPad or a speaker in the first iPod Touch. Apple, in this area, isn't trying to push us to 4k because they have no dog in that fight. If they had a 4k TV, they would be more interested. In a year or two, don't be surprised if Tim Cook gets up on stage and tells us about the magical, brilliant detail offered with their new 4k AppleTV.

You must hate Apple or be an Android Fanboy

Nope, I own several AppleTVs and love the platform (see my article "In the Defense of the AppleTV" for proof). In fact, I may end up buying one of the 4th gen models down the road if new apps are added that take advantage of Homekit or integrate in a compelling way with iOS.

It is nice that they gave it a spec bump and Siri ( although I would have preferred it to be implemented in a way that made it more similar to the Amazon Echo, but that is an article for another day). I also look forward to seeing the new apps that developers come up with.

Final Thoughts

It may surprise you, but I don't currently own an 4K HDTV. Right now, I own a 32 inch, 4k monitor, though. Unfortunately, at this point, I don't even own a 4k video source to push to the display. I plan to get a new laptop next year when Skylake (that has USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 that will drive two 4k displays simultaneously) is available. In other words, I am buying things now to prepare for the obvious 4k change that is coming. I don't update tech every year, so I always try to plan ahead.

To that end, I waited for Apple's announcement, and since the AppleTV does not support 4k, I went ahead and ordered the Nvidia Shield (it was just delivered, so I will review it soon). I will run it with my 4k monitor until I get the new laptop, and at that time, I will put it in with my 1080p living room system (one of the benefits of having advanced specs is that they are backwards compatible). Then when there is enough content, I will update my living room TV.

As I mentioned, I may also end up with a new AppleTV, 4 but I want to wait and see what it can offer me that I can't get with the combination of the AppleTV 3 and the Nvidia Shield. Right now, nothing I saw in the demonstration is thrilling me, but the spec jump and Siri alone may be enough to sway me since I use so many Apple devices and anything that expands that ecosystem and makes it more user friendly has to be considered.

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Apple Airplay and its Untapped Potential

6/18/2015

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I have written several articles related to Airplay and I am a big fan of the technology. However, it is a mystery as to why Apple hasn’t tapped into the full potential of the technology.

Multi-room Audio

Currently, you have a few options for multi-room audio. You can use iTunes on a computer, which has multiple speaker Airplay built right into the iTunes interface. It also allows you to control the speaker selection using the Remote app on iOS (see pic above). This is about all you can do for multiple speaker playback without third party apps.

Airfoil, which I have reviewed before, allows you to take ANY audio from your computer and send it to multiple speakers. Combined with Airfoil speakers, you can send any audio stream from an iOS device to the Airfoil Speakers program (it shows up in the iOS Airplay menu) on the computer and Airfoil can send that stream to multiple speakers. They also make a nifty little iOS app called AF Remote that gives you the ability to select speakers and have rudimentary control over some applications running on the computer.

Whaale App

In the past, I always thought the reason Apple did not have multiple Airplay speaker streaming from iOS was related to a limitation of iOS or the Airplay technology. However, that isn’t the case.

The Whaale app is the reason I know that Apple is holding out on us for some reason. The app provides multiple room audio to Airplay receivers without a computer in the mix. It will play music being stored on the device and it has plug-ins for internet audio, server audio (if you have a connected hard drive/NAS on your network), Deezer, and Audiobus. It allows you to send audio to several speakers simultaneously or you can even send different audio streams to different speakers from within one app.

This is the frustrating thing about how Apple is currently implementing Airplay. I should be able to do everything Whaale can do from ANY app right from the Control Center.

iOS to iOS Streaming

Apple has an issue with streaming from one iOS device to another. They have claimed that this is a “Post PC” world, yet you need a computer and Airfoil Speakers running on an iOS device to use the iPhone as an Airplay receiver.

There is absolutely no reason that an iPhone, iPad, or iPhone Touch can’t be used as an Airplay receiver for another iOS device. I know some are asking “Why would you want it to be an Airplay receiver”? Well, I have old iOS devices laying around, like a lot of people. If I dock one in something like a Pure i20 dock, I can send an audio stream from the iPad in my hand to the iPhone that is docked across the room. This would fill in for Apple’s Airport Express for audio in setups that use old docks with the old power connector.

Airfoil released Airfoil Speakers on iOS with this ability. You could send audio easily from ANY app on one iOS to another iOS device running the Airplay Speakers app (see pic below - I am sending an iPhone 6 an Rdio stream from an iPad). Apple removed the feature from future purchases. AirMusic (which I have written about in the past) also had this feature. Guess what? Apple removed the app from the app store. I still have both of them and they work great, but Apple is holding out on the people that didn’t buy the app before the feature was removed.

Multistream Audio from One Library

As I mentioned, you can send your “now playing” audio from iTunes to multiple devices. However, you can’t do the same with multiple songs. In other words, if you want to play The Beatles in one room and Nirvana in another, you can’t do that within the same library. Synology has the ability to stream different audio streams (or the same stream) to multiple rooms at the same time using their NAS and the DS Audio app (see pic below). Apple needs to give us the same ability from iTunes/Apple Music.

AirPlay Beats Speakers

Recently, I read an article that Beats had a speaker technology in the works that would compete with Sonos when Apple bought them. It Is being reported that Apple may have put the project on the back burner or completely scrapped it. However, I think Apple is missing an opportunity. Right now there are several third party vendors with speakers and Apple should have a native solution. If they could add direct from the web streaming to AirPlay with Beats and/or Apple branded speakers (my preference would be for a sleek Apple design), they could get a bigger piece of the streaming pie. It would also help with ecosystem lock-in. (AirPlay is the main reason I didn't switch to Android when I wanted a larger phone and Apple didn't make one).

Final Thoughts

There isn't a hardware or software limitation that is causing AirPlay to not completely fulfill its potential. It is a decision Apple is making and I don't understand it. I am hoping with Apple Music and iOS 9, they add some of these great features to the interface. However, all that being said, I still prefer the current version of AirPlay to the rest of the streaming competition.

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Airplay to several devices from iOS using Airfoil

5/29/2014

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I wrote an article about Airplay vs Sonos and got a question about how someone would go about sending an audio steam from an iOS app to several Airplay devices at the same time.

The only way, that I am aware of, requires a computer. Obviously, you could use Logmein or some other Remote Desktop iOS app to take control of a computer and just run Spotify (or another music app) on the computer and use Airfoil ($25) to send that audio stream to any or all Airplay receivers in your home (I blogged about Airfoil in the past). I used this process with great success before Rhapsody (which I used at the time) had an iOS app.

Also, right now the Airfoil Remote app ($5) on iOS will allow you pick a preselected program from a list you created and steal the audio from it:

If you choose Spotify or one of the other popular apps they support, you will gain playback control and metadata with album art:

If you don't want to take control of the computer directly, you can also run Airfoil Speakers on the computer. Airfoil Speakers allows the computer to behave like an Airplay receiver. This comes in handy when you just want to listen to audio from your iPhone over your computer's speakers. You simply start Airplay Speakers on your computer, then it will show up on your iOS device as an Airplay speaker. Once you choose the computer from your Airplay device list in iOS, your iOS device will send the audio stream from almost every app to the computer.

Once Airfoil Speakers is capturing the audio from the iOS device, you can then use Airfoil to capture that stream and send it to any or all of your Airplay devices. The Airfoil Remote app will allow you to control which speakers will receive music and even let you individually control the volume of each of those speakers.

In other words, you just run Airfoil Speakers and Airfoil (two applications) on a computer and then just pick the computer as the receiver for your iPhone. It works great for music and podcasts.

I should mention that Airfoil Speakers for the computer and iOS, is part of the regular Airfoil pricing. It can also be installed on an iOS device and it will enable you to send audio to the iOS device from a computer. Really cool stuff.

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New Apple Stuff...my initial thoughts.

AppleTV 4K

Apple Watch 3

iPhone 8, 8 plus, X

Apple Music- App of the Year

Apple Music

Matching

Siri on the iPhone is Seriously Amazing

AppleTV 4 app

For You

New

iTunes Integration

Connect

App of the year

AppleTV 4th Generation - Updates!!! Woo Hooo!

Apple Updates the new AppleTV

The New AppleTV: Why not 4k?

The New AppleTV: 4k or not 4k? That is the question.

No one owns a 4k television

There is no 4k content

There is no benefit to 4k

Apple simply isn't ready for 4k yet

4k is too expensive to implement at under $200

So why isn't there an AppleTV 4k?

You must hate Apple or be an Android Fanboy

Final Thoughts

Apple Airplay and its Untapped Potential

Multi-room Audio

Whaale App

iOS to iOS Streaming

Multistream Audio from One Library

AirPlay Beats Speakers

Airplay to several devices from iOS using Airfoil

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