What the new Apple TV 4K leaves out for home theatre: no 4K120, no audio passthrough and no DTSWhat the new Apple TV 4K leaves out for home theatre: no 4K120, no audio passthrough and no DTS

The fourth-generation Apple TV 4K outputs video at up to 4K and 60 frames per second, and its specifications list no audio passthrough and no DTS.

Apple's technical specifications page for the $299 box, which ships on 13 November, gives an HDMI 2.1 port rated for 4K at 60 frames per second with HDR, eARC and Quick Media Switching. The HDR formats are Dolby Vision, in profiles 8.1 and 5, plus HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG. On audio it lists Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 and lossless music formats such as Apple Lossless and FLAC. DTS appears nowhere on the page, and neither does variable refresh rate.

Those omissions are the subject of a 14 October piece by John Higgins, The Verge's senior reviewer for TVs and audio. He had hoped for 4K at 120 frames per second, audio passthrough, an HDMI input and an optical output, and got none of them. He accepts that most buyers will not miss them, but argues they will set the $300 price against streamers from Google, Roku and Amazon at half that or less.

Does the new Apple TV 4K support 4K120 or audio passthrough?

No, on Apple's own figures. Each gap, and who raised it:

• 4K at 120 frames per second. Apple's page caps standard video at 2160p and 60 fps. Higgins wanted it for game streaming with apps such as Moonlight and for gaming on the TV, not for films: the box can already send 24 fps, which a 120Hz TV shows cleanly. Stuff also notes the 60Hz ceiling.
• Audio passthrough. Higgins wants the raw soundtrack sent to his receiver to decode, and says Apple's own handling of audio can cause playback problems. the5krunner thinks Dolby TrueHD passthrough could arrive in software later.
• DTS. Not listed. the5krunner argues it would need a licence Apple has never taken.
• Variable refresh rate and Dolby Vision 2. Neither is on the page; the5krunner lists both as missing.
• Connections. The box has one HDMI output, Gigabit Ethernet and an infrared receiver and transmitter, with no HDMI input and no optical output.

What the new box does add for home theatre

The A19 brings a dedicated AV1 decoder, which Apple says streams at higher quality using less bandwidth, and which Higgins credits for better pictures from apps such as Netflix. The new model can also drive four HomePods as surround speakers, a setup first spotted in the audioOS 27.2 beta. Higgins already owns an Atmos system built on SVS and Revel speakers and says he will not replace it with HomePods.

Engadget's comparison finds the 2022 and 2026 models alike on Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and Atmos. Stuff's Spencer Hart concludes that Apple has made a better box, "but not a better-value one".

Has anyone tested it yet?

No. None of the four pieces is a hands-on review. Higgins closes by hoping the box surprises him, the5krunner has ordered one, Stuff worked from the two spec sheets and Engadget promises a full review later. Reviews should follow the 13 November release.

Our take

None of these gaps is new. The 2022 model stopped at 4K60 and played the same audio formats. What has changed is the price, which rose to $299 with a single model and no cheaper option. A missing feature on a cheap streamer is a quirk. On the most expensive streamer most people will look at, it is a reason to look elsewhere, and that is the heart of Higgins' complaint.

Who it matters to is narrow but specific. Someone watching streaming services through a soundbar loses nothing on this list: Dolby Vision and Atmos are both supported. The people it bites are those with a separate receiver and a library of ripped films, whose lossless soundtracks the receiver will not be the one decoding, and gamers who wanted 120Hz from a game-streaming app.

There is a developer side too. A 4K60 ceiling with no variable refresh rate means tvOS games and streaming clients keep targeting 60 frames per second for another hardware generation, and the A19's doubled graphics performance goes into detail rather than frame rate. Apple has said nothing about whether the HDMI 2.1 port could carry more in a later update, and the5krunner believes the hardware cannot. We would not buy on the hope.

For a home theatre owner already on a 2021 or 2022 box, APPDOOK sees nothing here worth $299: Siri AI comes to those models in beta, and the new remote is sold on its own for $59. Anyone choosing a first streamer for a receiver-based system should wait for the hands-on reviews in November, and check whether passthrough has moved by then.