tvOS 10.2 - Channels ATV benefits?

Channels Apple TV
#1

For the developers,

I see tvOS 10.2 will implement support for the VideoToolbox framework that is available in iOS and MacOS. My understanding is that this allows developers to directly tap into hardware-accelerated encoding and decoding functions.

Just wondering if you think this will benefit to the Apple TV App? Looks like tvOS 10.2 release should be just around the corner.

#2

VideoToolbox provides only a slight benefit on the ATV, and only if you’re watching H.264 channels.

We plan to support this feature, but it might not be until later this year when 10.2 has widespread adoption (since the app would no longer be backwards-compatible).

Compared to iOS, the benefits of VT on tvOS are not as drastic. On iOS we saw CPU usage go from 100% to 30%. On tvOS, it went from 65% to 50%.

#3

Thanks. I try to keep up on the behind the scenes technical advances. Let’s hope the 2017 WWDC will bring some tvOS love.