Q: New Apple TV--Missing optical connection

Many current model AV receivers still have toslink, composite, RCA, etc because their designers wish to provide legacy compatibility. HDMI carrying both video and audio is the new standard and the requirement for toslink is fading away.

I understand that many are upset by this but Apple has never been a company to hang on to old standards. They were the first or one of the first companies to drop floppy drives, and then optical drives from their computers for example. I used the optical audio out on my Apple TV Gen 3 as my receiver had no HDMI ports. I often had lip-sync issues with this configuration so finally replaced my receiver with a modern HDMI based unit.

Agreed.  I certainly recall the floppy and optical transitions.  And legacy accommodation isn't always a good thing.  But there is only 1 HDMI out on the apple TV.  So doesn't that mean a HDMI switcher as well as a new amp/receiver?  In any event, it is all working just fine, just a longer list of Apple Play options.  Thanks for your response.

The HDMI goes to your TV, then dolby digital passes through the TV output to the receiver.  Or, the HDMI goes to the receiver and the receiver passes the video to the TV.  Either way you do it, the Apple TV only requires one HDMI.  The first option is best, since you don't have to change settings on the receiver to get audio for any of the devices you want to use with the TV.

Depending on your TV this may only give you 2-channel PCM audio. I know with my Samsung Plasma TV, connecting the ATV4 via HDMI direct to TV... and the connecting Optical Audio out to the Receiver will result in stereo sound output... no 5.1.

ATV4 --> (HDMI) --> TV --> (Optical) --> Receiver = 2-ch PCM

ATV4 --> (HDMI) --> TV --> (Optical) --> DAC/StereoWirelessHeadphones = OK

That may be fine if you are connecting some wireless headphones but no good if you have 5+ speakers which I have. For now I have the ATV4 connected to the Receiver via HDMI and the the Receiver does the HDMI switching. For wireless/personal audio, Bluetooth wireless headphones will be used.

I don't expect Apple to keep old connectors active but it's still a shame no optical audio out.

Sound great, except TV is 50 feet from all other video and audio equipment.  Thanks, though.  If I ever move I will know how to configure if the TV is within a more reasonable range.

MAcSE1984 wrote:

 

  Will be much more careful upgrading in the future.

You have 14 days to return the product for a full refund. And yes, if you had been more “careful” in upgrading you would researched the new Apple TV and already known that the optical port was removed. Instead you made assumptions that turned out to be wrong. You would have also found out that other streaming box manufacturers have removed the optical port too, like the Roku 4 and the Google Chromecast. Toslink doesn’t support 7.1 encoding. It’s obsolete. Why should Apple spend the time and effort to support old audio equipment like a twenty year old amplifier? There are multiple sources of adapters and dongles out there to keep the old stuff going. You are disappointed because the technology world has passed you by? Welcome to the club.

As for the new Apple TV the improvements in performance are out of the park. Did you know that it has multitasking? I have one movie playing on iTunes and another movie playing on Crackle. I can switch between movies almost instantly by double clicking the Home button. I can make adjustments to the audio settings and then return to either movie with a couple of clicks. Or I can pause a movie and check the weather forecast.

MAcSE1984 wrote:

Had Airplay out of AppleTV 3 to (via digital to analog converter) old (wonderful) amp and then to 4 pairs of speakers throughout the house.  Now I will need to have two apple TV modules in operation.

Or you could buy one of the several adaptors that have a passthrough HDMI port & your choice of separate optical and/or analog sound outputs. Use that with the ATV 4 & then you could use the ATV 3 with some other TV.

MAcSE1984 wrote:

Sound great, except TV is 50 feet from all other video and audio equipment.

So how do you feed the video output of the ATV to the TV? Do you use a 50' HDMI cable?

ATV, Roku, Direct TV feed into Bose home theater in AV closet.  50 foot HDMI from there through attic to Plasma Display.  Works great!

Thanks.  I am aware of the various adaptors,  but out of HDMI ports and really don't want to complicate the system any more with an HDMI switcher.

You seem troll on this site ranting and offering no useful info or help.  Will ignore any future posts you make.

It is a bit sad that Apple has removed support for the Optical connection but it is important to leave the past and go with leading edge.   Apple tends to be at the front of the technology line, not the back. 

Thats why this new box supports 4k, H.265 and 7.1 surround sound.  TosLink is a relic from days gone by.  Move into the future with Apple.

MAcSE1984 wrote:

Thanks.  I am aware of the various adaptors,  but out of HDMI ports and really don't want to complicate the system any more with an HDMI switcher.

Why can't you use the same HDMI port (& 50' cable) for the ATV 4 that you were using for the ATV 3?

I don't think the new ATV4 supports 4K? Did I misunderstand?

No 4K support on ATV4