I was pleasantly surprised when the original 4K Apple TV managed to wed my home theater system very well so that magical things happened like the entire system turning on and off with voice commands or one button push. I can’t see a ROKU doing that. The price is certainly not an issue as this is an item for people who shell out 2K+ for a large 4K HDR TV and at least as much for the rest of their system. I’ll need to replace my TV & home theater receiver to have a use for this item. The timing suggests that we may have come to rest in what has seemed like an annual change in high end specs from 1080P Dolby Digital 5.1 all the way to 4K HDR 60fps Dolby Atmos. I know that 8K is also out there - not only does the M1 chip struggle with this, but also it presents cabling challenges.
I understand that they are selling the remote separately and it works with older models. I have to replace one of our remotes so glad of this.
All the reasons Josh outlined, including the ecosystem play, are reasons for me to fork over the extra bucks to have the two AppleTVs in our house.
I think that in fact the remotes that came with every Apple TV since the 2nd gen. are “forward compatible”–and for all I know the one that came with the 1st gen too?
Yeah, I’m using the 3rd-gen ATV remote with my HD. It’s obviously not quite as functional but it works. Looking forward to a new remote where my first order of business is not to consult a manual to use it to the full!
I’m sure they’ll push 8K in the future, but I don’t see the point. Most people can’t even get the full benefit of 4K. You need a BIG screen and you need to sit super close to it. Nor do I care for 60 fps content, because it just looks weird and cheap to me (like those awful Hobbit movies). Might be cool for sports, though.
I’d rather have HDR than 4K if I had to choose. HDR makes the biggest difference in picture quality since the jump to HD.
So glad the new remote is backward compatible with the Apple TV HD. 
I hate the remote that came with it, it’s often causing things to happen I didn’t intend when swiping the trackpad. Probably the worst ergonomics of any remote ever designed.
Oops, this just in on MacRumours. I don’t care, but some may.
8K will likely need a 60 inch TV from about 9 feet viewing distance to look best. But the progression from 480P in a 27in CRT to 42 inch HD Plasma to 50 inch 4K HDR has been pretty seamless with respect to space due to the changes in technology and bezel size. The overall size of the screen has remained fairly constant especially in the vertical and weight specifications. The increase in width is really a function of the change in aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. But there is nothing left to downsize for the jump from 50 to 60 inch screen. For most homes, we make be at peak TV with 4K HDR. The next visual frontier is VR
Now there’s a vexed question. You might be interested in this 13-year-old discussion (and the comments–the subject is LCD projectors, but the history of the origin of 24fps and the way commercial theaters used double shuttering to mitigate its effects is interesting.
@Julia A possible use case for the Apple TV is to run Apple Arcade games.
@Shamino I totally share you view on the ghastly UI and performance of all smart TVs. A big culprit is that smart TVs are designed by accountants who shave the specs of the hardware to the minimum RAM and CPU performance to save 0.000001cents per TV. Even though the now previous AppleTV 4K is in computing terms practically an antique its performance and memory still hugely exceeds most smart TVs.
Sadly Apple increasingly these days also try and shave the specs to save 0.000001 cents per device. As a result they previously removed the USB port from the AppleTV. I have not seen a definitive indication but I presume the new model has not reinstated it. As a result Apple stupidly cannot allow the AppleTV4K to do video calls like the Portal device from FaceBook. With Apple having added a feature to the new iPad Pro to ‘follow’ the speaker around a room this is something that would have been perfect to do with the AppleTV4K. Furthermore games could have ‘watched’ the player to see if they were doing certain actions as part of the game play.
Note: The removal of the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors from the Siri remote is another symptom of removing every last possible thing to shave the cost. This has apparently broken several games. It also prevents Nintendo Switch style controlling of games.
How stupid to omit the U1 chip from the new Siri remote. Of course this could be intended to encourage/force the sale of lots of replacement remotes.
Slightly off topic. Siri has just got panned again by the UK’s ‘The Gadget Show’. It came last - again. Even HomeKit also failed to connect to a smart light bulb unlike Google and Alexa despite there being a QR code provided with the bulb.
Whilst I totally agree with HomeKits ability to work without the Internet and to ensure good security and privacy it is falling so far behind the competition that such benefits are worthless.
I’m looking forward to the new Siri Remote. I hate the one I have, which more often than not does something I don’t intend when I pick it up or accidentally bump it in the wrong spot. It’s also unnecessarily difficult to feel which is the top of the remote. These are shortcomings that the “old school” remote didn’t have and which, therefore, actually made it more useful in many ways than the Siri Remote.
A post was merged into an existing topic: How to Use Color Balance in tvOS 14.5
I see the new remote is available separately for order today for delivery in a week or so.
Oops, a month or so, sorry. You can also pre-order at Best Buy, among others.
Two notes about Apple TV Remotes:
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A major complaint about the old remote is that it is difficult to tell the top from the bottom. There’s an easy fix for that–use the Lightning port at the bottom to attach a tail. You could attach a short recharge cable, or, more elegantly a wrist strap. Apple used to sell the wrist strap, but it is still available here
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I received a set of AirTags today and bought some Belkin holders for them. Note that the holder can be easily separated from the keyring (or, in an alternate version, an attachment loop). Anyway, I looped the Apple wrist strap through the hole in the holder to attach the Airtag to the remote.
I have just posted this in Apple Discussions:
“The Apple promo refers to controlling the TV with power and mute buttons. I am hoping that the mute function also works with Homepods connected to the ATV. It makes perfect sense but that doesn’t mean it will work - it has taken years (nearly typed tears!) for Apple to come up with a mute button.
I guess I will have to wait until people receive deliveries in mid-May and report back.”
BTW my current Siri Remote has a small plastic button stuck on the lower surface to tell up from down.
Also I might submit a design suggestion to Apple that the remote has a small LED that glows if an Apple Watch is in proximity 
Thanks for the story, Josh.
I find the lack of Find My support unconscionable. The remote and AirTags were announced simultaneously. And remotes are the proverbial poster child for lost devices, second only to keys. And they already conceded to making the remote bigger anyway, and also removed the gaming sensors.
I hate when people suggest Apple just wants to make money off you, but this is not looking good.