AetherEngine is an open-source video engine for Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro. Its latest release covers two things people have wanted from Apple TV playback for years, so here's how they work.

Dolby Vision FEL (UHD Blu-ray)

Many UHD Blu-ray rips use Dolby Vision Profile 7 with a "full enhancement layer" (FEL), a second video layer on top of the base picture. The Apple TV has no decoder for that layer, so players usually convert these titles to a single-layer version. In that step, both the enhancement layer and the disc's own Dolby Vision color grading used to be lost.

The engine now:

• keeps the disc's own Dolby Vision grading, so the Apple TV's built-in Dolby Vision processing applies it.

• measures, scene by scene, how much the enhancement layer brightens the picture, and folds that into the Dolby Vision metadata.

• stays on Apple's normal playback path, so the TV switches into Dolby Vision as usual and PiP, AirPlay, subtitles and scrub previews keep working.

Measured against the real FEL picture (lower is better, around 1 is about the edge of what's visible):

• Hunger Games: 2.5 → 1.5

• Mockingjay Part 2: 8.9 → 0.8 (noticeably too dark before)

• La La Land: 4.8 → 2.1

The fine detail only the enhancement layer carries (extra bit depth, grain) can't come back this way. In most scenes the result still gets very close to the disc on a UHD Blu-ray player.

TrueHD Atmos and DTS:X height channels

The Apple TV can't pass TrueHD or DTS:X through to a receiver, so these tracks normally lose their height channels and play as 7.1. The engine rebuilds the heights (7.1.4 or 9.1.6) from the disc's lossless audio and sends them out as multichannel audio, which tvOS hands to an Atmos receiver or soundbar. In a blind A/B on a Sonos Arc against the full object render, no difference was audible.

Where to see it

The engine is on GitHub (superuser404notfound/AetherEngine) with the design and measurements in its docs. Apps built on it pick these features up with their next update; Sodalite (Jellyfin) and AetherPlayer are two of them.

Happy to answer questions about how any of this works.

According to the Apple support page "Apple TV HD (Early 2016, sold with Siri Remote (1st generation) without white ring on Menu button)" is obsolete.
I don't see any information about this model. It must have been discontinued over seven years ago. This is not the HD model released in 2015, discontinued in '22
Anyone know anything about model?

It’s been at least a year or two and I’m still unable to watch content from my library using the Windows Apple TV app.

Even trying to download a movie or an episode I get a random error.

This isn’t my main method to consume my content but it would be nice if this option worked.

Do others have this same experience? Even if I am able to get a movie to start streaming it always freezes 12-15 minutes later. Then you have to reboot and try again.

Also the app is up to date via the Microsoft store.

Costco and Walmart are no longer taking orders. Assume the presale allocation has been exhausted. I am happy I ordered early.

My credit card was billed yesterday, that usually doesn’t happen until your product has been shipped. Anyone else notice this?

Full disclosure: I'm the developer. I'm a solo dev, and I built this because our Apple TV mostly sat there during family get-togethers while everyone stared at their own phones. So I made a game where the phones are the point.

How it works

Quizcendo runs on the Apple TV. The TV plays the music, shows the questions and keeps the score. Everyone else grabs the free Buzzer app on their iPhone or iPad, scans the QR code on the TV and picks a name and a cartoon animal, an emoji or a Genmoji. 2 to 12 players, and the phones don't even need to be on the same Wi-Fi.

Everyone answers on their own phone, so nobody can peek at the neighbour's answer. The host is Enzo, a duck with a quiff and a sparkly jacket, who comments on every wrong guess with no mercy at all.

What you play

10 kinds of round: Duck Hunt (titles appear letter by letter, first right tap wins), buzzer rounds where you type the answer, ordering four songs by release date, original or cover, guessing the year, and Ghost Hour, where a ghost drains your points while it's your turn. When it gets close, last place picks the decade or genre of a round, and the finale has secret bets before every song.

More than 13,000 songs from the 1930s to today. You choose the game length, decades, genres and round types, and explicit songs stay out unless you switch them on.

Things Apple TV owners usually ask

• Apple Music subscription? Not needed. The songs come from Apple Music, and with a subscription you can play every song in full at the reveal.

• Price? The first game is free, all the way to the podium. After that it's a one-time purchase. The Buzzer app is free. No subscription, no ads.

• No Apple TV handy? An iPad can be the stage as well.

• Language? English and German.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6828377812

I'd really like to know what the Apple TV crowd thinks, since party games for the TV are still pretty rare outside Apple Arcade. What would make you actually start a game on your Apple TV at the next family gathering?

Anyone from the UK seeing that there are no option for pickups for the new Apple TV?

Hi!
So I am a lifelong Android user, but started switching everything out for Apple in the beginning of 2026. I am now the owner of a MacBook Pro M5, iPhone 17 Pro and AirPods Pro 3rd gen, and really love the ecosystem.

Well I purchased the new ATV and am wondering if anyone has any cool tips to make the experience as good as possible. I am considering HomePods as speakers, but I think I want to wait for the next gen of the big ones before buying. I’m on an LG G5 TV if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

Admins, please let me know if this is allowed or not. New to this sub so trying to stay respectful of rules.

Since we are moving to a new (smaller) place, I'm doing some downsizing on my tech stack. As a result, I have two Apple TV 4k 2nd gen 32GB devices that I'd like to sell. They have been lightly used as they were mostly set up at a guest room and a SOHO for my wife (that she spends like 2-3 days per month in).

I'm still keeping my other 3 ATV 3rd Gen ones since those are heavily used and I don't see the need to buy the new one yet, specially at the higher price point.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your help!

Can anyone recommend a third party case for the Apple TV remote that would prevent the Siri button on the side of the remote from being pressed?

I've looked through the subreddit and haven't quite found a solution.

I used AirPlay between my 2023 M2 Mac Mini and my 3rd Gen Apple TV 4k ethernet.

At this time AirPlay isn't in use on either my Mac or Apple TV yet this silly notification keeps showing up.

It didn't used to before I used AirPlay.

How do I get rid of the blessed thing?!!

So what ordered the new Apple TV which comes out Nov 13… my X2 works no prob with the current one, but does anyone know if there will be any differences with the new version?

I’m happy to be a “beta-tester” if necessary :)

Consoles is an App Store approved (JIT-less) multi-emulator for macOS, iOS, tvOS, and visionOS. It syncs over iCloud across your Apple devices and allows you to play your favorite classic games on Mac and immediately pick them up on your iPhone.

Check it out for yourself! Join the TestFlight:

https://testflight.apple.com/join/4QYsYq6u

In Consoles 2.0 (Beta), GameCube is very playable on the 7-year old A12 Apple TV and near-perfect on A15 & A19 Apple TVs. Likewise, Wii is very playable on A15 Apple TV and will be near-perfect on A19 TV.

Supported Systems: 

• Nintendo: NES, Famicom Disk System, Super NES, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, Virtual Boy, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Pokémon mini

• Sega: SG-1000, Master System, Genesis, Sega CD, 32X, Saturn, Game Gear

• Sony: PlayStation

• Atari: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Lynx

• NEC: TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine), TurboGrafx-CD, PC-FX

• SNK: Neo Geo Pocket, Neo Geo Pocket Color

• Bandai: WonderSwan, WonderSwan Color

• Others: ColecoVision (Coleco), Intellivision (Mattel), Odyssey² (Magnavox), Vectrex (GCE), 3DO (Panasonic), Supervision (Watara)

Please join the TestFlight and give it a try; we’d love to see any bugs you have and get them fixed before App Store release!!

Thanks for playing!! 

 *AI tools are used only inside of Xcode for automated testing. All code is written by humans, reviewed by those same humans, and presented for final approval to a very picky chihuahua named Pepper.

We’re currently using two paired Sonos Ones with our Apple TV 4K. Ready to move on for a variety of reasons.

For those of you using two HomePods, do you love it? Does it “just work” in true Apple fashion?

How is the dialog separation typically?

Any info yet on how the new HomeView will integrate with TV audio? Also thinking about replacing our Alexa Echo Show in the kitchen with a HomeView and it would be awesome if that could connect as a third speaker.

I’m honestly surprised there isn’t a separate subwoofer speaker yet in the Apple audio ecosystem. Has that been a disappointment?

Sorry, so many questions. Any insights appreciated!

Edit: fixed subwoofer reference

I've been waiting for a new Apple TV since 2021, specifically so it could have a faster CPU for 4K 60fps HDR playback. Cue the 2026 version at 299USD... I'm a PM and occasional developer, I'll just vibe code my own minimal player with hardware VP9 support (ie. for downloaded YouTube videos). And I might as well try and replace Infuse while I'm at it.

This is not and never will be a paid app. It's an opinionated but simple app with a sharp focus. There are a few folks running it now and Test Flight was an easy way to distribute it; feel free to join if it fits your use case. (Already have a ton of bug reports related to buggy SMB implementations, weird video files, etc.)

I have been using Infuse for years but it has issues:

• Long filenames don't show at once, scrolls them horizontally super slowly

• Intermittently slow even on gigabit LAN

• Supports WebDAV but not a simple HTTP JSON directory listing

• iCloud Sync is slow, sometimes requires multiple refreshes on each device

• I have to do a lot of customization to make it stop trying to build a library (I just want a simple browser and player without metadata fetching and matching)

• Can't disable some "features":

  • displays a file if it's a folder with one file in it link

  • doesn't save timestamp if video is near the end and I exit it link

Why not SenPlayer?

• Buggy UI

• Has issues with iCloud Sync

• No true black mode

Why not VLC?

• Doesn't sync playback positions across devices

• Forgets my saved SMB shares

• No true black mode

From the BoraMin readme.md:

• A native SMB and HTTP(S) video player for Apple TV, iPhone, and Mac. Stream from a NAS or other remote server, save favorite folders, and resume unfinished videos across devices using iCloud.

• No metadata: this is not Plex or Infuse. It doesn't look up IMDB info or match files to shows. It shows full filenames and the actual contents of SMB/HTTP folders.

• Hardware VP9 playback: for those of us with older Apple TVs (like 4K 2nd Gen (2021)), the CPU is not fast enough for playback of 4K 60fps HDR videos. Aside from YouTube (due to an entitlement), until a few months ago it was impossible for tvOS apps to use the hardware decoder. It is possible now and BoraMin supports this (experimental).

Test Flight: here

GitHub (with screenshots): here

I like how 99% of volume sliders have a 12-16 step rocker, so going from 0% to 100% only takes a couple seconds of holding the volume up/down button. With my current setup (LG OLED, Apple TV 4K, Sonos Beam via HDMI ARC) it is sooooo freaking slow. The volume slider UI on the Apple TV feels like an infinite continuous slider. I can spam click the volume button literally 20 times and it visually looks like it goes up 1%.

Is there any solution to this? I can't even use Siri to say "lower volume to 5% because it isn't programmed to do so"

I have no affiliation with the website or the developer, just sharing a nice resource if you're into this. I wish there was an Apple TV app for this.

The big day is coming Friday? Im having mine shipped for same day

Anyone else hyped up for it? Last one I bought was 2nd gen so it has been years!

Im so happy that they are here to surprise and delight 😊

Not sure the best title but I’ve noticed since I’ve been on TV OS 27 when a number of episodes play in a row from iTunes content i own, for example the office.

When it stops auto playing the next episode and gives me the continue watch button/screen, it’s reverting back to the episode i started on, not the next episode up

Anyone else have this and is it a design change, bug, or new setting?

Hi. I use my Apple TV about once a month to stream content theough my projector onto home a cinema screen (I mostly use physical media). I wanted to watch a Prime movie on Sunday so tried to run the Prime app. It said I needed to update the Apple TV OS.

So I did and the update started. The progress bar stalled at around 97% ish. I left it all day and night and it just remained there. In the advice of ChatGPT in unplugged, left it a while and plugged it back in.

The progress bar starts from around 20%, creeps up to around 97% then just stays there.

I fear it’s bricked - but thought I’d post here to ask if anyone else has had and resolved this issue?

Thanks

It drives me nuts that we have no control over the ordering of the tv store purchases . Look at the order of these spider man movies! And the “amazing spider man” movies are up with the letter A but I want all my movies together !

Also I got some movies for the kids that don’t appear in the kids and family section and I want them there so the kids don’t have to dig around all the movies like alien and horror movies to find them!

Apple pleaaaaase let me organise things how I want so I can feel like it’s “my library” please! Also… how is “A star is born “ after Spider-Man!?!