New Apple TV 4K (4th Gen) - 2026

Playground Hardware
#6

Sorry, but this is apologizing for the obviously wrong. The price increase since mid 2026 is exactly why people are mad, and the lack of truly useful upgrades is not helping.

  • Apple intelligence is a joke. It's made already-terrible Siri slower and barely any better.

  • Wifi7 is sort of nice but a niche for now, BT6 is fine

  • Internal speakers are a nightmare for those that don't want more voice inputs constantly listening

  • 4 homepod speaker support - are they serious? First, you would be out way more than any compentent soundbar set, and bumping up against a component set at the same cost, and for 4.0 faux surround sound. Combine that with the number of complaints here about homepods as apple tv speaker outputs - it's insane.

Now, compare them to almost every other streaming device out there now. Most offer at least similar performance. Bitstream Audio. And at at least 2/3 cheaper.

Also, compare it to the just-released home device, at the same price! Yes, different things, but when you scale them together, it makes even less sense.

This price is just outrageous.

2 Likes
#7

Not really. At least in my view and experience. Better chip more ram. Even better than the MacBook NEO chip.
One of the highest memory in a mainstream streaming device now i think 8GB and 128GB internal storage.

The Nvidia Shield TV Pro, the onIy real rival/competition is also $299 now. And that is from 2019! 3GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. Add more cost to buy a fast usb ssd to connect to it.
Can’t really blame the “Apple Tax” anymore.

Even the newer Google steamer went up from $99 to $149.

Them lower cost Roku, Fire TV etc devices I do not follow, but assume they all got price increases too. And their lower cost for a reason, maybe not necessarily for performance or feature wise, but due to the severe advertising and data mining that subsidizes the cost of them.

But most importantly, of course, Apple TV is the flagship experience for Channels DVR, and while I have tried the other alternatives out there, they do not suit my needs or preferences.

#8

Citing a 20% and 50% price increase to help justify a 100% one since just a few months ago is an interesting tactic.

I think myself, and just about everyone else, assumed the 3rd gen price bump to $249 was to soften the blow when this new one came out at that price point. It now makes that price bump, for years-old hardware that wasn't subject to AI price bumps, even more outrageous.

#10

If you consider making a better product that can actually handle current modern day high frame rate and high resolution video, outrageous, then I guess that’s your view on things. Cause as of right now, unless you hook up a Mac mini or a mini PC, there is no streaming box that can handle such video. now or into the future. That’s my main reason I’ve been wanting an upgrade for the last few years, since YouTube made 4K 60 FPS AV1 or VP9 standard instead of HEVC.

If Channels DVR, developers actually made it possible to use the Apple TV OS version of their app on standard Mac computers, then I wouldn’t even bother having an Apple TV. I would just use my Mac mini as a secondary display.

It’s not Apple’s fault directly that memory chip and storage prices are so insane. Blame the main big ram producing companies. They’re the ones that’s basically making all the profit.

GamersNexus YouTube channel has plenty of feature-length documentary videos on the whole AI and RAM price things.

My purpose of these posts is not focusing on Siri AI that is a completely separate topic and optional-ish feature you can enable on the Apple TV. You don’t have to use it. The additional processing power and ram in the streaming device is useful for other things, not just using one particular feature.
Yes, there are plenty of other features in hardware improvements users wish they had added, but they didn’t, and if they had, it probably would’ve cost about a $500 unit then probably.

Yes, I know all too well that they’re highly hyped up and improved Siri is very lackluster and has exceptional amount of bugs, but it’s still technically in beta anyway. It pales in comparison to Google Gemini or other mature products out there. I never deny that. Even they’re so-called improvements to voice dictation and auto-correct seem to have actually made things worse than they were originally. I’ve had to edit this post several times trying to use voice dictation. It completely screws it up most of the time.

#24

I have been burned too many times by Apple and even outright-announced vaporware to look too far into the future on hardware/software combos.

The inclusion of AV1 in hardware is indeed a plus. It's also 100% dependent on a competitor forking their own software to use it. I would have my doubts, especially with absolutely no mention of it in the release.

I'm more than aware of the RAM pricing lunacy at the moment, thankyouverymuch.

I mean, if i had the wherewithal to run a 899 mac mini (again, not 100% price bumped, even with a much better hardware upgrade!) as my HTPC, I would adore a 299 Apple TV that released me from that. But you are a niche of a niche of a niche, in that regard.

#25

Apple needs to allow mapping of channel numbers / color buttons to be fully compatible with channels DVR (and other apps that use channel numbers like DTV and Spectrum TV)

They are still too locked down compared to android.

#26

What buttons? Apple TV remotes do not have those kinda buttons.
However, third party remotes exists for Apple TV that do have numbers and other buttons.
They mostly are IR based though.
One For ALL makes the remote i currently use, backlit, and has channel up/down Guide and ff/rr and Play/pause. All work fine in Channels DVR. It is a Siri replacement like BT remote with the same programable IR ability as Apples remote. I do not need channel number buttons.

I once did use a USB full keyboard remote thing, connected via my TV and thus HDMI CEC. I recall that worked fine as well in Channels for whatever features that remote supported. However, i can only assume that such a setup will depend on your tv's ability and how well its CEC works with the Apple TV.

#27

Yeah, back when I used a Harmony 650, I appreciated the number buttons and also the screen with shortcuts I could program, it worked great with Channels, but it was infrared only

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#28

As far as the new pricing goes... interestingly enough, the OG Apple TV (released in March 2007) cost $299 for the 40GB model. Apple released a 160GB model released a few months later, for $399.

(for what it’s worth)

#29

I still have one or two of those Logitech Harmony remotes...but they stopped working for me for the most part. Software was always crap. They where discontinued long time ago now, but, apparently, some users still mange to get them to work for them. Last i had tried, the software refused to load at all.
I do miss those remotes. But, not really used the full feature set of them for a steaming box. Mainly just found them super handy when i found in trash or at a thrift store some electronic thingy that had no remote and needed to test it to see if things worked.

#30

Yeah, back when I was using it I had to use the Harmony Desktop software inside a Windows virtual machine, via Parallels Desktop on my Mac in order to update or configure it. A pain in the butt, but it worked. I'm sure it would still work too, but the AppleTV's are now hidden behind my TVs and I prefer using the Siri remote now anyway, with all the extra functionallity it offers, such as precise timeline scrubbing and voice searches, as well as not having to rely on line-of-sight for remote control. Now that Harmony 650 is just collecting dust in a drawer.

1 Like
#31

Yeah, harmony, squeeezebox (I still have one- red), Windows 7 Media Center, XBMC. (I still have a Antec Fusion HTPC case- the one with the big volume knob and VFD)

The Siri remote is crap, I use a Tivo Bolt remote mapped into Apple TV, its IR, but still way better than the neutered Siri. Why Apple does not let more button mappings is beyond me. If I use my OLED TV's (Samsung) basic remote you can buy seperatly, the color buttons wont pass to Channels via CEC, I think other TV brands do, but I buy Samsung only.

Not everyone is watching Nutflix with 6 buttons on a crapified remote.

#32

I tried my old TiVo peanut remote for awhile but the inability to use the tvOS app switcher, Control Center, or Siri, even just for basic voice searches ultimately led to the retirement of that experiment.

#33

App switcher works great with the bolt remote. I dont talk to inanimate objects.

Want to mention the old Western Digital WDTV box was awsome back then. Played everything off the server thrown to it, including DVD ISO rips- menus and all.

#34

Never really understood the need for all the fancy buttons and numbers and shortcuts and things on a remote. Though I initially came from using a mouse and keyboard for my primary media consumption, while connected to a monitor and a computer of some sort.

I am perfectly happy with just using the normal D pad. Especially since channels now has channels collections, and I can easily just put front and center the main channels I tune to. Thanks to fast channels, I have no channels I don’t care about. Everything is curated already and organized perfectly for me.

I don’t really use any other apps at all, occasionally Apple Music and Infuse.

I do use the Siri voice command mainly to turn on and off lights and other smart home things, such as a fan or air conditioner.

#35

I don’t either, but using voice transcription for search requests is a LOT faster than navigating an on-screen keyboard.

1 Like
#36

You can use an IR<->BT bridge and make all the buttons work.

1 Like
#37

Really ?I'll look into that, I will have a makeship Tivo Bolt with all the channels I want and my own virtual channels of my local contect once and for all !!

#38

For those who don't know, Apple offers a 10% military discount. Out of the four ATV4Ks that I have, three of them are 1st gens that I've had since 2017. Nine years is a good run, none of the other streaming devices I've had ever lasted half that. Time to upgrade to the 4th gen.

#39

I know I am late to the party but for those of you who want a harmony like experience try the sofabaton u3, plus it includes bluetooth built in