Tag Archives: 4th Gen

Apple TV 4th Gen- 30 Hidden Secrets/Tips of the new Remote Control and Box

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Apple last week released their new Apple TV. And with the new box came a new remote control. The remote control has many more features than you might have released. Below are a list of them all –

– Unsure what you can ask Siri, press the Siri button and wait and a list of commands will appear.
– Dedicated volume buttons which will work with your TV and / or receiver out of the box. The settings can be tweaked via the settings app, remotes and devices, home theatre control.
– The volume buttons can be programmed using the hidden infra red blaster to control the volume on TV’s and other devices that don’t support the HDMI-CEC protocol.
– To programme the infra red blaster, go to the Apple TV settings app, remote and devices, volume control and learn a new device. Just follow the instructions.
– Double Press the Home button brings up the app switcher / close apps menu.
– Press the Menu button twice to start the screensaver, three times for voiceover.
– Apple TV network strength is displayed in Settings under General, About.
– Move around the screen: Swipe up, down, left, or right on the Touch surface.
– Select an item: Press the Touch surface.
– Return to the previous menu: Press the Menu button.
– Return to the Home screen: Press the Home button.
– Press the Play/Pause button once to change the keyboard between uppercase and lowercase.
– The touch surface can be adjusted for sensitivity in the Settings app under Remotes and Devices, Touch Surface Tracking
– The triple-press Home button accessibility short cut can be changed in the Settings app under General – Accessibility, Accessibility Shortcut.
– The battery level is listed in Settings, Remotes and Devices, Bluetooth.
– Video: Swipe to the right or hold down the right side of the Touch surface.
– Audio: Hold down the right side of the Touch surface to fast-forward. Press right to skip a selection.
– Video: Swipe to the left or hold down the left side of the Touch surface.
– Audio: Hold down the left side of the Touch surface to rewind. Press left to restart a selection. To play the previous selection, press left twice.
– During playback, press the right side of the Touch surface to skip ten seconds ahead. Press left to skip back ten seconds.
– Video: Swipe down during playback, then swipe right to browse available options. If available, you’ll see settings like subtitles, closed captioning, video chapters, audio, and speaker settings.
– Audio: Choose a song and press to play it. Then press the Touch surface to see all of the tracks on the album or playlist. From here, swipe up and select the More icon at the top of your screen. The options you see might vary.
– Restart Apple TV: Hold down the Menu and Home buttons until the status light on your Apple TV begins to flash. Then let go.
– Put Apple TV in Sleep mode: Press and hold the Home button, then select Sleep. You can also go to Settings, scroll down, and select Sleep Now. This can also turn put your TV in standby.
– To move the position of an app, position over it and hold down the touch surface until the icon starts to jiggle. Then using the touchpad area of the remote swipe left, right, up or down to move the app, and press the touch surface once more to finish.
– The touch surface can detect faster swipes, so that a faster swipes results in faster on-screen scrolling.
– Move over any letter on the keyboard and hold down the touch surface to bring up a contextual menu, which includes uppercase letters, accents and a backspace key.
– Move over a song and hold down the touch surface to bring up a contextual menu, which includes various Apple Music options.
– Save money on film and TV rentals/purchases if your select Standard Definition quality in Settings, Apps, iTunes and App, iTunes. You also will suffer less buffering on a slower bandwidth.

I must admit I was quite surprised by all the options I discovered using the new Apple TV and remote. I also have found it annoying as seem to move or pick up the new remote and accidentally press the track pad area, which switches from normal TV to Apple TV when I don’t want it to.

Apple has activated Top Charts section for Apple TV apps and the official Plex app has arrived.

The new Apple TV – First Impressions plus Reviews of Apple TV Games

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The new Apple TV arrived today and was ready waiting for when I got home from work. The new Apple TV replaces my 2nd generation Apple TV.

Setting up was a breeze. It asked if I wanted to use my iPhone to set up and copied the settings across. However, I decided to start again and proceed with a manual set up as I have both a UK iTunes account and a US iTunes account. The US iTunes account enables me to watch US TV shows and films normally well ahead of the UK releases and also provides a wider selection of media.

This is where the 4th generation Apple TV scores highly in my book. It allows you to log in to iCloud, Game Center with whichever account you want, and then with the iTunes/App Store account you can add more than one account which is what I have done. So I have my UK and US accounts added and can switch on the fly by going into the settings, accounts and select whichever option I require.

For the initial installation, I used my UK iTunes account as I have all my apps associated with this account. It showed 30 apps/games already available for Apple TV. I have decided install the following games – Crossy Road, Oceanhorn, Canabalt, Badlands, Asphalt 8, Jetpack Joyride, Edge Extended and 10 Pin Shuffle Pro Bowling. Apps I have added are YouTube, Flickr, Sky News, Netflix and YouTube. BBC iPlayer is not available yet but the BBC have stated a dedicated app is coming.

I have to say the set up process is a breeze and the layout is great. What is not so great is app discovery and there is no categories. Under app purchases, categories do exist, so I imagine it won’t be difficult for Apple to tweak the app discovery to include categories.

The new remote control is excellent. I would suggest not rushing to buy a MFI Game Controller until you have tried the new remote. Siri on the Apple TV is a bit hit or miss. I asked for the film “The Martians” and it kept coming up with “The Motions”. I then told Siri “You are dumb”. Siri replied “I tried my best”. I laughed out loud! But when it works it really works well but does need some improvement.

Within the settings app, there are loads of other settings which have loads of options for the quality of the audio and video. Neat.

Storage. Now you can buy the Apple TV with 32gb or 64gb storage capacities. To give you some idea of the space taken up by the games, Oceanhorn is top at 185mb, Asphalt 8 is 95mb, so based on that I cannot see the need for 64gb at all. Of course, the extra storage might be used to store films and TV shows which could burn up the space quickly, but seriously 32gb should be fine.

Wallpapers. The aerial wallpapers are beautiful and if opted to use, will need a download of 600mb per month. You can select how often to download these too.

So what are the games like to play?

Oceanhorn – on start up needed to download the game chapter. This took 2 mins. After that the remote was used and worked brilliantly.

Asphalt 8 – took 10 mins to download first part of game which clearly got deleted after playing. You turn the remote horizontal and go off racing. I thought the odd frame got missed, but seriously it was great fun to play. Each level took just over a minute to download.

Games – I have played quickly all the games installed and they all work really well. Canabalt was better on the big screen than my iPhone. Edge Extended applied itself superbly to the Apple TV. Crossy Road is just a ball of fun. Badlands is a good game and adapts nicely to the Apple TV.

So how does this compare to the Amazon Fire TV? Well voice control on the Amazon Fire TV is better and more accurate. Amazon Prime becomes a bonus with the Fire TV along with the content available, but when it comes to apps or more importantly games, I really believe Apple already has the edge and its only just launched.

My final thought. This is a brand new Apple TV which is all about the apps. Based on my initial experiences I do believe Apple has already got the edge on the gaming front, and the potential/future looks even more promising. If you have any other Apple devices, this new box is recommended.

Update – I have been playing Oceanhorn for a while now and this game does work well. In terms of other non gaming apps, there is a shortage versus other systems but I hope this gap is bridged as developers release new apps. If you already have an Apple TV, I don’t see the need to rush out and get one of these unless you like the idea of a new Apple TV and the ability to play games from your TV.