 So you're watching this on YouTube, right? The first thing to know about the new Apple TV 4k is that it doesn't support 4k or HDR on YouTube, which... What? There are basically two ways to review the Apple TV 4k. The first, which is what I think everyone else will do, is to talk about the interface, the App Store, Apple's content deals, and all that stuff is really important. The second way is to be a huge AV spec nerd, which honestly is what's in my heart. But I think you have to do both together, because Apple's decisions about what specs and formats to support really influence a lot of what content is available. So the new 4k Apple TV is the first one to support 4k HDR, which is kind of a catch-up moment for Apple. Most 4k HDR TVs are smart TVs with apps anyhow, and competitors like Roku have been shipping 4k HDR boxes forever. But the Apple TV 4k is the first complete external box that supports both HDR 10 and Dolby Vision. The other thing to know about the Apple TV 4k is that it's really expensive. It starts at $179 for a 32 gig model, the Roku Ultra is $99, and the Chromecast Ultra is $69. And for all that money, you should probably be able to get the most out of your TV in your home theater setup. And with the Apple TV, you just can't. So let's start with some good stuff. First, the entire user interface of the Apple TV 4k has been redone in 4k HDR, which is really nice. The text looks sharp, the graphics are bright, the icons are clear, and there's no mode switching when you click around between apps and shows and movies. Apple's also selling 4k HDR movies in the iTunes store cheaper than anyone else, $20 instead of $30. Apple's also upgrading all the purchases you've already made to 4k HDR when they get remastered. Another thing to know is that Apple's low prices on 4k HDR movies come because they made deals with Hollywood Studios, but they haven't made deals with everyone, most notably Disney. And that means while other services have, say, Marvel movies in 4k HDR, Apple just doesn't yet. So now here's some bad news for spec nerds. The fact that the entire UI runs in 4k HDR all the time means that apps that don't support it, like HBO Go, get upscaled and processed in really weird ways. So we watched The Dark Knight on HBO Go and blacks were way too dark, the lights were way too bright, and all of the film grain got turned into really weird noise. I asked Apple about this and they said that wasn't their intent. What they want to do is preserve the movie as it is in SDR, even though it's being shown in HDR, but they're still working with content providers and studios and app developers to make it happen across their catalogs. I don't know when it's all going to get updated, but right now it just doesn't look good. Apple's big plan is that they'll sign deals with cable providers who will authenticate apps on the Apple TV and then they can show you all the stuff that's available to you, just like a really modern cable box. But the problem is that big cable providers like Comcast and Verizon FiOS haven't signed up with Apple yet, and might never, so you're stuck just activating every single app you can find that your cable provider might support. Apple could build some hacks to help you get through it, but their idealism means they're holding out for the deal. But when it does all work in the new TV app, it's great. You get live sports alerts when ESPN has a game going on, you get breaking news alerts when CNN is cut into breaking news, and it all just feels like a much more modern vision of what a TV can be. There's a lot of other cool stuff happening that really reflects the fact that the new Apple TV has an A10X processor. It's basically a little iPad. So the ESPN app can show you four streams of video at once, and you can move them around, rearrange them any way you want. And because the Apple TV is basically a little iOS computer, you can do all sorts of other things, like play games. Apple told me they think of the Apple TV as a video-first device, but they're excited that games are there because it makes people use the product more. In terms of hardware, the only really notable thing that's changed is the remote. The old Apple TV remote was actually really hard to hold because it's exactly the same top and bottom. So now Apple's added a little white ring around the menu button so you can feel it in the dark. The touchpad is still really, really frustrating though. So there's one more bad thing, and it only affects a tiny number of people, but I'm one of them. The Apple TV doesn't support Dolby Atmos, which is the highest quality surround sound format available. And the real problem is that there's actually nothing on the market that supports both Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos sound, which means I can't get both the highest quality video and audio. And I just don't understand it. The Apple TV is really expensive, it has a really fast processor. Apple told me it's not a hardware limitation. And all of its competitors support Atmos. The $79 Roku supports Atmos. The Xbox One S supports HDR and Atmos. So I just don't know why Apple won't let me unlock all of the power of this box. Here's the thing. I really, really want to like the Apple TV. It's full of good ideas. Siri voice search is a good idea. Having a really fast processor connected to the iOS ecosystem is a great idea. Having Apple, one of the most powerful companies in the world, negotiate for better movie prices is a wonderful idea. But Apple doesn't seem to understand that their TV box is just a box. It's connected to somebody else's TV. It's often connected to somebody else's home theater equipment. And that isolation is really holding this thing back. So about YouTube. The reason the Apple TV doesn't support 4K or HDR on YouTube is because YouTube 4K uses a video codec called VP9, which Apple doesn't support because Apple and Google are terrible at making deals with each other.