As well as its new phones and smartwatch, Apple announced a new version of its TV streaming box, the Apple TV 4K. Features include support for UltraHD (although Apple calls it 4K) and HDR. Apple said that the box supports both HDR10 and Dolby Vision. The processor is an Apple A10X Fusion chip, as used in the iPad Pro. The box scales lower resolution content up to UltraHD. Apple has modified Siri to respond to requests for 4K content. The box willl support AirPlay 2 when it arrives later this year, for support of wireless external speakers.
Apple TV 4K starts at $179 (US) for 32GB or $199 (US) for 64GB, joining Apple TV (4th generation) 32GB at $149 (US)
Analyst Comment
We heard at IBC that the Apple TV (along with the Apple iPhone X) will support HLG (The Waiting’s Over:Apple Shows the X). One of the reasons that has become known is that companies providing compression service have enquiries from content owners that want to broadcast to Apple phones and TVs, If they want a good SDR image as well, they will have to have both an HDR and SDR stream, unless, of course, they use HLG, as they can then provide a single stream. That is, as they say a ‘no brainer’.(BR)
