new appletv might be coming

[Itzme1234]

So is there any chance I'll be able to remove all the ugly ethernet hardware and wires from my entertainment system and go with Wifi?

[timstephens24]

So is there any chance I'll be able to remove all the ugly ethernet hardware and wires from my entertainment system and go with Wifi?

Usually the best option is going to be having hard wires since you don't have to worry about wifi signal strength, etc. But with 802.11AC it's gotten to the point where we can probably get away with no wires if your device has 802.11AC. The only thing bad thing about 802.11AC is that the 5Ghz signal doesn't go that far (the higher the frequency the less wall penetrating power it has) so in my opinion you need a few AC access points spread around the house, and those should be hard wired.

I have 3 802.11AC Google Wifi devices (1 is my main router) and 3 802.11AC AirPort Extremes (all wireless access points) spread throughout my house (3 levels, 3500 sq ft) and I can do without wires on all my Apple TVs. I still keep them wired out of habit and I spent a lot of time and effort putting a drop at every TV, but that will probably go away in my next house when I move next year and just have one drop in each room for the wireless access point (possibly in the ceiling).

[davilla]

Gigabit ethernet? What for? We are talking about a streaming device, no NAS on which several devices might rely on and therefore I can't think about any useful purpose of GB ethernet on an ATV - respectively, what would be the theoretical required bandwidth for 3D 4k HDR HFR material with accelerated Atmos encoded?

Tim, I'm just curious. No pun intended.

I was in the 'only hardwire' camp until a year or so ago when I updated my house router which had 802.11ac. While a 100Mb ethernet 'should' handle most realistic video content when streaming, a higher net connection becomes noticeable on initial load/play and seeking. This is when bandwidth spikes way above the media content bit rate as buffers and caches are filled. This has to happen even before the player can start playback. It all depends on how much delay before play one can tolerate.

[eazytv]

Well, don't get me wrong. I appreciate having higher bandwidth hardware as well, however, I have not yet had any issues with the 100Mbit ethernet - and all my movies are high-bandwidth files. The "most annoying" hiccup is the NAS wake-up time. Switching on my TV equipment, firing MrMC, accessing the database and the movie starts to play 5 seconds later as the NAS needs to wake up the HDDs. Buffering? Done in an instance. Indeed, there are minor hiccups when seeking but I'm not sure whether these would not occur with a Gbit network card installed in the ATV.

However, the NAS is connected with a Gbit ethernet connection to my switch and optical/fibre cable is already ready to use once I really need the bandwidth.

Anyway, I do looking forward for the next keynote.

[davilla]

"Apple to Hold Product Launch Event on Sept. 12"

Nice, I'll be in an airplane on the day

[timstephens24]

Only $12 for in-flight WiFi! But the stream would probably suck...

[davilla]

I might hit the ground before their event, flying east to west at o-dark thirty.

[davilla]

atv5, three-core A10X Fusion CPU. like iPad Pros
supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision and of course 4k

[timstephens24]

I just want some Atmos to go along with all.

[timstephens24]

2x CPU power, 4x GPU...