[Rene Ritchie]

So Apple TV 3 is pretty much an Apple TV 2 with 1080p

What do you want to see on the next generation version?

Wireless HDMI so you can stream to the TV?

Blu-Ray is probably out of the question given Steve Jobs' "bag of hurt" line, as is physical media in general.

Siri control is probably the big one, with an iOS device as the mic.

What about unified Search so you don't have to go into each app to look for movies, actors, etc?

[bujin]

I love my Apple TV. I think the only things I'd like are:

- Hulu, although I realize that this is not a technical issue and probably could be on the current versions

- the ability to link Apple TV's together, so you can go room-to-room without having to start up a program individually. (Again, you can pretty much do this as long as you're using AirPlay from your iPhone/iPad, but not when you're watching a podcast directly from your Apple TV)

[kch50428]

I'd like the current version to respect the "skip when shuffling" option in my music library when playing shuffled on the A-TV via home-sared library...

[sprocket2107]

This is obviously a software thing but I liked how on my PS3 it would auto-play the next episode in Netflix and Hulu plus. It would also auto-play the next episode on hulu on my mac. Maybe it's just me but I found that very convenient.

[kch50428]

I'd like the current version to respect the "skip when shuffling" option in my music library when playing shuffled on the A-TV via home-sared library...

For what it's worth, This seems to have been fixed with the last iOS for AppleTV update

[DaPhoneking]

Playboy channel lol


All jokes aside change the interface back, or at least make the selection cursor easier to read. The current interface makes it hard to see which app (box) you selected.

[SockRolid]

Not to be a wet blanket, but I think there are a few things that Apple TV 4 will not have:

1. No recording. I have a strong feeling that the last thing Apple would ever want Apple TV to do is to record arbitrary content from sources they don't own. There are already tons of DVRs out there. No need to add a me-too product that's just slightly nicer than the current pile of DVRs.

Also, Apple has worked for more than 10 years on the whole iTunes infrastructure. And they'll be working for the next 10 years on building out iCloud. The Apple TV 4 will need to leverage all that hard work and prepare for the next decade. And that means streaming live, rented, and purchased content. Not recording some other provider's content. Apple has eliminated the floppy drive, they've nearly eliminated the CD / DVD / Blu-Ray drive, and now they're targeting DVR recording features.

2. No cable or satellite input. There may be a brief interim period when Apple caves and does deals with a few US-based legacy cable and satellite providers. But aren't there hundreds of them around the world? Wouldn't it be a big ugly contractual furball to try and get them to all sign deals?

I think cable and satellite networks are on their way out. They're very hard and very expensive to extend, whether it means more copper / fiber cables or more satellites. Either technology is costly and trailing-edge. I think the cell carriers, if and when they roll out "real 4G," will be able to step in and replace cable and satellite.

How? By delivering 1Gbit/sec to stationary and slow-moving devices (e.g. walking around) and 100Mbit/sec to fast-moving (auto, train) devices. The ITU 4G requirements include those download speeds. Why bother with wires or satellite dishes if your cell company can stream video at 1Gbit/sec to your Apple TV 8 (or 9 or 10 or some future product.)

Of course, there are a lot of big "if's." If cell companies can actually implement 4G (after the current LTE networks are fully built out), and if 4G really delivers data fast enough to watch video on any device anywhere, and if Apple can do deals with all the TV and movie studios, and if the cell carriers want to do deals with Apple, and if the cell carriers don't enforce money-grab data caps, ad nauseam.

Whew. Well, maybe that went a little beyond Apple TV 4. But I just can't keep myself from thinking long-term.

[SockRolid]

Siri control is probably the big one, with an iOS device as the mic.

Yeah, that could actually be done in the very next Apple TV. And boy would I jump all over that. I still have the original 720p "puck" model. With the svelte but frustrating Apple Remote. It's not the remote itself that's a pain. It's the drilling down, navigating around icons, and the sheer torture of entering text through the onscreen "abc keyboard."

But I'm also thinking that Apple might reserve Siri as an exclusive for the mythical Apple-branded television, if and when Apple ever gets around to shipping one. Siri could be one of the biggest value-adds that Apple could use to sell their TV set. I think we can all see the benefits: instant access to specific content, integrated search for movie titles / actor names / episode titles, plus general Siri queries and iCloud reminder / calendar item creation and simple voice commands to control the TV. And there would be no need to use a second iOS device just for its mic. The mic could be built into the TV.

So maybe Apple will never put Siri into the Apple TV box. Maybe Apple will keep on shipping Apple TV, at $99, with the basic Apple Remote. And maybe the mythical Apple television will be the living room device that gets Siri.

[And, thinking a little off topic, maybe Apple could put an iSight camera into their television set. It could detect and engage individual users, using the iPhoto face detection algorithm, and read very fine finger gestures, which Kinect can't do because it doesn't have the resolution. Just a thought.]

[kch50428]

With the svelte but frustrating Apple Remote. It's not the remote itself that's a pain. It's the drilling down, navigating around icons, and the sheer torture of entering text through the onscreen "abc keyboard."

The iOS Apple app "Remote" takes care of the text entry issue.

[SockRolid]

The iOS Apple app "Remote" takes care of the text entry issue.

OMG. Thanks for the tip about the app. Thank you thank you thank you!

[Edit: Just realized why I never discovered that feature. Because I don't like the idea of using my iPhone to control my TV viewing. I'd rather use it as a second information screen, reading iMDB trivia, queuing up related content on Netflix etc. Not as a super-fancy remote. Not even if it were a Siri interface to Apple TV. Voice should, IMHO, not require a second device from the Apple TV or Apple television. Otherwise the convenience is lost. You still need to find your iPhone, power it up, then launch the right app, then talk into your phone. Terribly inconvenient. The novelty would wear off in 10 minutes.]

[cardfan]

OMG. Thanks for the tip about the app. Thank you thank you thank you!

[Edit: Just realized why I never discovered that feature. Because I don't like the idea of using my iPhone to control my TV viewing. I'd rather use it as a second information screen, reading iMDB trivia, queuing up related content on Netflix etc. Not as a super-fancy remote. Not even if it were a Siri interface to Apple TV. Voice should, IMHO, not require a second device from the Apple TV or Apple television. Otherwise the convenience is lost. You still need to find your iPhone, power it up, then launch the right app, then talk into your phone. Terribly inconvenient. The novelty would wear off in 10 minutes.]

Yep, it's a pain to use your phone for it. It's also a "remote" you don't want anyone else using.

[kch50428]

OMG. Thanks for the tip about the app. Thank you thank you thank you!

[Edit: Just realized why I never discovered that feature. Because I don't like the idea of using my iPhone to control my TV viewing. I'd rather use it as a second information screen, reading iMDB trivia, queuing up related content on Netflix etc. Not as a super-fancy remote. Not even if it were a Siri interface to Apple TV. Voice should, IMHO, not require a second device from the Apple TV or Apple television. Otherwise the convenience is lost. You still need to find your iPhone, power it up, then launch the right app, then talk into your phone. Terribly inconvenient. The novelty would wear off in 10 minutes.]

I use the Remote app mostly with my iPad for text entry when needed, and I have a playlist of over 300 Warner Bros cartoon titles that I can cause to shuffle-play via the app.

[M.J.Clark]

The only reason I have not bought Apple TV is the lack of audio outputs. I have a Boston Acoustics home theater system that does not have an HDMI input into the base unit (came out right before HDMI became popular) and I don't want to send the feed to the TV by HDMI then back to the home theater system.

Instead we bought a Sony blu-ray player with hulu, netflix, pandora, (we don't have cable) and physical audio outputs.

Sometimes I wish there was a way just to integrate everything, but I don't have the tech background to make that happen.

[LCW]

With the iPad release schedule now shifted to Oct... Wonder if we can expect some big news for Apple TV 4 / iTV / etc in the spring?

Love me Apple TV 3... Use it all the time. Can't wait to see what's next!

[GibMcFragger#AC]

The iOS Apple app "Remote" takes care of the text entry issue.

Crap. Why didn't I think of that?? Using the Apple remote to enter text makes me want to kick a puppy (ok no, but close).

[Pontavignon]

All iDevices should via Apple TV 4 optionally be able to simultaneously mirror a game, other app or the web to the TV set or monitor while remaining blank itself so as to operate simultaneously as a trackpad or gamepad. Finger touches on the iDevice (iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch) would be translucently visible on the TV screen and able to engage controls. This would make it unnecessary to ever look away from what you are doing with the TV screen.

This would resolve Apple's biggest problem with mirroring games to the TV: the need to look down at the device to operate finger-controlled (as opposed to motion-controlled) games.

But, other possibilities of this setup are boundless. TV web-surfing becomes practical, as does TV as a working computer projection. Vast improvement as a teaching tool: demo the working of complex apps to large groups (eg. iMovie, iPhoto, Keynote, Pages). Control videos, including zooming and other CD-like features. This latter might make the iDevice version of something like Netflix superior streamed to TV than native-app on Apple TV, which I am sure Apple would not object to.

As I said, endless possibility.

[jtorrebl]

You can use the optical audio out and plug that in to your older pre amp

[jtorrebl]

The only reason I have not bought Apple TV is the lack of audio outputs. I have a Boston Acoustics home theater system that does not have an HDMI input into the base unit (came out right before HDMI became popular) and I don't want to send the feed to the TV by HDMI then back to the home theater system.

Instead we bought a Sony blu-ray player with hulu, netflix, pandora, (we don't have cable) and physical audio outputs.

Sometimes I wish there was a way just to integrate everything, but I don't have the tech background to make that happen.

Use the audio output optical cable. If it won't work get a optical to RCA converter off eBay to get your audio output

[LCW]

Crap. Why didn't I think of that?? Using the Apple remote to enter text makes me want to kick a puppy (ok no, but close).

Works awesome - sooo much nicer to enter text

[Hail Caesar]

I want them to add the App Store and also add more channels, like Amazon, Crackle etc.

[garymorris]

I would like to see Apple TV 4 allow single window/application mirroring similar to what Airparrot does.

[mfm77]

Better integration with educational networks. I have one in my classroom but have to use a private, non-internet network because the ATV doesn't work well with our new network. I tried the Apple Configurator, but that's just one confusing program.

[Craig610]

With the iPad release schedule now shifted to Oct... Wonder if we can expect some big news for Apple TV 4 / iTV / etc in the spring?