Good catch by Kirk McElhearn:
You’ll notice that there is no longer a Toslink (optical audio) output on the back of the Apple TV. The only option you have is HDMI; this is fine to connect to a TV or AV amplifier, but if you want to connect an Apple TV to a DAC, and then to an amp, you’re out of luck. Of course, one option is to use both: an Apple TV 3 for music only, and the new Apple TV for videos, games, apps, etc.
The TOSLINK connector was originally designed by Toshiba as a proprietary interface for Toshiba CD players (TOSLINK = Toshiba Link) but was widely adopted by the rest of the industry.
Personally, I’ve never used the optical interface on the old Apple TV. I won’t miss it, but for folks who do use optical, good to know the deal on this.
I use this and it will be missed. I love Apple, but not the continued dumbing down of things. My whole home audio is based on TOSLINK – thankfully mostly from Airport Express devices. I suppose soon those will be gone as well.
In my basement I have an Airport Extreme plugged into a mini amp which connects to each room in my house. I can use Remote to control the on and off as well as volume level of each room vs. the old switches and volume knobs next to light switches.
When I build a new house I won’t mess with in-home speakers again most likely but this has been a great way to retrofit my home to work with iOS and not to have to buy separate airplay speakers for every room.
The Apple Airport Express also has optical output and supports AirPlay. Yes, it is more expensive.
I used it only because the HDMI in the old Apple TV was incompatible with my surround receiver. I noticed the new Apple TV uses HDMI 1.4; wasn’t the old one HDMI 2.0? I’m hoping the new one will be compatible with my receiver. Otherwise, I won’t be able to use it.
Well, there are HDMI splitters which give you both a HDMI and an optical audio output from HDMI input. They are about 20-30$ and need their own power adapter. So you are not out of luck.
I guess this is a cost saving measure to keep the price below 150$. Maybe, a year or two from now the optical output is restored.
Now that’s bummer – I use iphone/ipad to stream music from my NAS and then airplay to apple tv that is connected via optical to DAC. This means I won’t be buying a new one, shame really.
As a studio owner, and home “HiFi” enthusiast, I used to use TOSLINK for a lot of things as well. DAT decks.. older Apple Airports, CD players, DVD players, Cable TV boxes.. and the list goes on. But since HDMI is here, almost nothing is running TOSLINK anymore… Good or bad.. can’t say… but I understand how it will be missed by some… As we move to more and more copy protected digital streams in the living room, what I miss MOST is the totally lack of viable outputs to record from. Most new receivers have no “Tape Output”, simply because no one records anything anymore… at least via analog. While I can listen to a vinyl record thru my Denon receiver, I can’t really record it to anything…
FYI, the new Apple TV (ATV4) uses HDMI 1.4. The old one used HDMI 1.3 (I believe). When (and if) Apple TV moves up to 4k video, they’ll likely move to HDMI 2.0. Short of that, HDMI 1.4 is all that’s needed.
Right, and this also shows that the new Apple TV can’t handle 4K video with a software upgrade. (Technically it could handle 4K at 24 fps, but that’s not fast enough; the iPhone records at 30 fps.) So for 4K support, it will need a refresh.
Ah that’s good to know. I’ll wait, then. Before someone says it… yes, I know there’s not much 4k content, but I imagine there will be in the next couple of years and I don’t see any reason to dead-end myself with a new ATV that can’t handle it.
This is a major bummer. I use optical audio on 2 of 3 of my latest gen Apple TVs. I totally missed this when reading about the new specs. Damn.
Losing TOSLINK just means that it’s time for me to use the audio that’s been on the HDMI cable all along. Good HDMI-capable HDTVs will pass that audio through to their own digital output (coax or TOSLINK), even multi-channel, high bit-rate audio. Easy.
This wasn’t a surprise. Take a look at the Amazon Fire Stick, any Roku, Chromecast, etc.
Exactly, and with most AV-Receivers, which have HDMI in and out, it is not a problem either. I see that it affects a few people, but it should not bother most users.
I still hope for Apple to do a “pro” version down the line with a built in Airport base station (would be everything I need for travels and in the weekend home)… Maybe that could also include some more connectivity.
I had a much simpler setup, but the optical out was great to AirPlay audio to the main amp (a/v receiver) without having to run the big screen. Having ditched the receiver for a quality stereo amp, I have to use an express which luckily has an analogue out for the amp now, so the optical on the atv3 is unemployed. Not having to buy a separate DAC is bloody brilliant seeing I spent big (for me) on the amp.
What about the 4K out of your new iPhone?
I wonder how much one less hole saves on each unit?
Not likely seeing they prefer removing things. Great idea though.
Well, yeah, there’s that disconnect which is odd. But the common retort to things lacking good 4k support is that there’s really no streaming content done in 4k (hulu, netflix, etc). While it’s odd that you seemingly won’t be able to use the new ATV to stream 4k shot on your new iPhone that’s mostly an edge case.
I use optical as my receiver doesn’t support hdmi, it’s no surprise Apple dropped it as hdmi has it all built in.
An hdmi-spdif splitter will give you the optical output, Google “hdmi spdif splitter” and you’ll see plenty of choices for as little as $20
Sorry, I knew exactly what you meant. Our broadband is so rubbish, most of the time we can’t even run youtoob at 480. I suppose it’s challenging to stream and display 4K though, let alone AirPlay it. I wonder how much power it’s going to use to AirPlay the 4K home vids into a 1080p device.
It’s not dumbing down – it’s that TOSLINK is a non-feature to pretty much everyone.
It’s a set-top box; it’s meant for video and audio together (unlike the AP EX)… and that means HDMI is a superior solution to the connection issue.
It’s 2015, after all – even the HT receivers of most of a decade ago still had HDMI input with combined audio.
No.
Why would it ever have been HDMI 2.0? It’s not a 4K device, which is about the only significant thing 2.0 added to the spec.
Old ATVs were no higher than HDMI 1.4.
(I can’t say for sure what version, since Apple doesn’t mention HDMI versions in it specifications for the old AppleTVs.
I don’t think ATVs have previously used any features that would have required even HDMI 1.3.)
HDMI is back-compatible to the lowest common version’s capabilities, as far as I’ve ever seen.
The new one should work fine with your current stack.
The old Apple TV doesn’t work with my receiver. If both are 1.4, that would mean the new one won’t work either.
Ah, I missed that.
What kind of receiver is that? One that’s pre-HDMI 1.2?
I’m amazed, honestly. The AppleTV was never a cutting-edge device in terms of using HDMI output features.
It’s not so much the hole as the chip and transmitter behind the hole.
That something like 99% of customers not only don’t use but didn’t even realize wasn’t just a 1/8″ headphone jack.
HDMI audio is the way; people who want just audio and no video have a product already- the AirPort Express, which is about $50 cheaper than the new ATV.
“Travel AppleTV with Airport Hub” has a market size of roughly one person, though.
(Actually, they sort of have that now.
It’s the Mac Mini.)
I have a Pioneer VSX-521 that supposedly supports HDMI 1.4a, but the Apple TV hasn’t worked properly with it. It’s also possible that it could be a HDCP issue instead, but I’m not really sure.
Far more than that. Small flats, dorm rooms, conference rooms, mobile presentations… My company alone would buy 40-50 of these.
While the Mini does have internet sharing, it is by no means a replacement for a base station. And from a business perspective it has far higher deployment, maintenance and support cost… Completely different thing.
I’m told this splitter ignores (strips) HDCP from an HDMI feed. I’m wondering if the existing Apple TV is incompatible with my receiver because of HDCP issues, so I’m tempted to buy this and see if it fixes compatibility. http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B004F9LVXC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1ZYV6S9H2V6G6&coliid=I9VNY97Z67BJT&psc=1
An Apple TV + AirPort Base Station would be fantastic. Maybe even integrate a much bigger hard drive so it can function as a Time Capsule as well. It would be nice to have one device for everything.