Apple TV4k is it only good with ATV content?

bodone

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Hi,

Picked up an Atv4k from BT deal. All set up, connected to a Dennon 4400, LG E6 65 Oled and 5.1.4 speakers. It’s running Infuse/Netflix/A Prime and with gigabit connection to a synology NAS with 4K MKV files mostly with true HD Atmos etc based sound.

And I have to say, the picture is average and the sound is below average, this is in comparison to an existing Zidoo x9? Am I missing something, everyone is raving about picture quality and sound and i don’t see or hear it?

Sound I know is hampered by Apple and this unit is going into a projector room where we will likely keep the existing 5.1 setup so I guess I can live with it. Is it it only with original Apple TV content that this unit shines?
 
The PQ and SQ with streaming services isnt really down to a particular box - it's due to the real limiting factors in streaming - the video bitrate and moreover the use of DD+ audio.

Itunes movies and ATV+ look better than the other services due to the bitrates Apple use along with DV and Atmos and not really the ATV 4K itself - although its still probably the best option for Itunes even with TV and stick ATV apps now available.

For Netflix there is a thread about Atmos ATV issues. For lossless rips then it depends on whether the ATV 4K allows lossless codecs.. It decodes audio to PCM but like on a blu-ray player that in itself doesnt reduce quality.
 
Depends on what your intending on using it for I guess.
4K HDR/DV & Atmos movies at cheap prices is what everyone is raving about and yes IMO the PQ on iTunes bought/rented 4K movies is pretty fantastic for the vast majority.
Take Gemini Man for example, even my missus who usually can’t tell the difference between SD & HD said “Wow it’s like you’re there” and I don’t even have a HDR or DV screen.
Apollo 11 was another thing of beauty.
 
I've just gone to an ATV (mainly to take advantage of the cheap iTunes movie deals). I previously had an Nvidia Shield.

Comparing the two, the SHIELD was superior when it comes to upscaling 1080p footage to appear 4K, the dedicated AI chip really was impressive. However, I'm perfectly happy with how 1080p Prime and Netflix look on the ATV.

So far I have three 4K movies on iTunes (I am just starting the collection!) and I've watched a small amount of one of them and the PQ is fantastic. Really happy with it.
 
It's probably my over expectations. The jump from the mede8er 1080p to the Zidoo 4k material was massive. The ATV4k IMO is just on par, at best with the zidoo.

It's going upstairs at the weekend to drive a 1080p projector so I'm sure it will be fine until i swap out the projector later in the year. It will be interesting to see how it downscales 4k through infuse to 1080.
 
As we learnt with blu-ray players buying a more expensive model doesnt guarantee an improvement in native PQ and SQ. The best reason to buy a box or stick is to get access to the services you watch - so I saw value in an ATV 4K to get access to Itunes in DV and Atmos - other people appreciate the Apple ecosystem, siri, homekit, etc
So its best not to expect one box to give significantly better PQ and SQ for a given 4K service even if its more expensive.
But the UI, the responsiveness, and the apps do vary between boxes as does the handling of 1080 and SD content.
 

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