If I only have a “normal” HDTV with no plans to upgrade to 4K in the near future would I see a noticeable difference with the 4K ATV or should I save a few pounds & buy the 4th egn?
Ian - The 4K ATV has double the frame rate of the 4 ATV, which means better picture quality, much smoother motion, etc. I can personally attest to the “quality” of the 4 ATV as I recently used mine to ride Zwift. In a nutshell, the picture quality and frame rate was significantly poorer than my iPhone 8 Plus. If you want the best gaming experience, I’d fork over the extra bucks for the 4K.
Don
Hi Don.
That’s good to know thanks.
I currently Airplay Zwift from an iPhone 6 to a HD TV & while it’s adequate it’s not great so I think either of the ATV options will be a vast improvement.
I’m leaning towards the 4K as it will hopefully be a little better than the 4th gen & I want to get the most future proof model available at the minute.
It’s not that much extra so I figure it’s worth it.
Hi Ian,
I used to use my iPhone 7 Plus as my rig to run Zwift, there was no issues whatsoever on a 32’ HD tv via a lightening to HDMI connector.
But I wanted my iPhone back whilst in use…
I just last night used my new 4K Apple tv on a 50’ Sony 4k tv and I can honestly tell you now it looked, rode and felt amazing. You will NOT be dissapointed, in large bunch rides, to dust kicking up just past the jetty or seeing the sunrise over Wattopia it all looked lovely. I did have to use the mobile link on my iPhone when required as the ATV only has a limited bluetooth connections, I used my Kickr, Powertap P1’s and my tickr heart rate. My cadence just connected through the app as it’s less important to me to have first hand.
That’s excluding the fact you are future proofing your Youtube and other Apps etc with the A10x chip and not the A8.
Ride on!
Thanks
Ant
Hi Ant.
That’s really useful info Ant thanks.
I need 3 BT connections (cadence, trainer & HR) so I’ll also need to connect using Mobile Link which was worrying me slightly as well.
ATV 4K certainly seems the way to go for the little extra it is even though I can’t quite stretch to a 50 inch 4K TV just yet!
Thanks for the reply & Ride On!
HI guys. Can anyone using the Apple 4k tell me if it is possible to create custom workouts? There is no option to do so when using the 4th gen TV. Thanks Paul
I’ve been using a 4 year old macbook pro hooked to the tv via hdmi. Last night I tried the Apple Tv app with my 2 year old Apple TV - it was fine. I didn’t really notice a significant difference in quality. So, You may not really need the latest 4k Apple TV.
Interesting…
Everything I’ve read says that the 4K is worth the extra even if I don’t have a 4K TV.
I’m staring at 120" screen at 1080p from 8 ft. away, which clearly is not as sharp as my retina display laptop. So maybe my standards aren’t super high. But, I’m quite satisfied with the image from my laptop connected to the projector via HDMI, as well as the image from the Apple TV. And I do really like the immersive feel of the giant screen.
I just have the 4th gen Apple TV (not 4K) and a rather old computer monitor with an HDMI to DVI cable and it works great. Nope, not as pretty as the 4K, but if you’re going for budget, then the non-4K gets the job done fine. The game runs smooth, but naturally looks less impressive in group rides with 100+ riders, but the data is processed fine, even if the graphics get a bit blocky. Since the 4K came out, it got easier to get a used 4th Gen for a great deal, which is what motivated me.