ATV 4K Aerial Screensavers

I SOLVED IT ( Hacky but temporarily works ) .. Increasingly frustrated with this confirmed Apple bug I played around forever trying to get the screensaver to change. For me the Sahara desert came up every single time so it was super annoying as you could imagine.

The temp fix is: Switch from 4K SDR to 4K HDR, then launch the screen saver in 4K HDR. Then switch back to SDR and you’ll have a different video aerial screensaver. Repeat this hack solution as needed until an Apple engineer fixes the issue.

I’m expecting you won’t want to stay in 4K HDR because of another even more frustrating Apple issue where the Apple TV main menu and various apps weren’t designed for HDR so it looks like the content / screen is quite dim ( especially on Samsung 4K TVs.

In any case, I hope this helps ever so slightly. It did in my case after MONTHS of the same. Good luck. I’ve gone from desert to rotating cities and airports when I honestly thought I’d be stuck in the desert forever destined to live out my 4K life there only to die of video thirst.

Best -S

Having the 32GB model shouldn’t have an impact, unfortunately there is no way to force or choose the screensavers beyond what you’ve already done

You can give feedback to Apple here

Product Feedback - Apple

FYI: My main unit is the Apple TV 4K (64Gb) and I own 3 of the 2016 Apple TV 4th models (a 64Gb and two 32Gb),after replacing three Apple TV 3rd Gen units.

Unfortunately, there’s no tried and true way to force the download of the additional Aerial Screensavers, nor is there a way to select or even identify favorites. That would be an excellent feature to add in the near future (ahem, @Apple.com).

First, I discovered that new Aerial screensavers are pushed to the Apple TV 4 & 4K randomly; I’m still not certain if goes by serial number, IP address, or region (as some of my Apple TV’s are in separate geographic locations within the same state). If you select "Daily" updates, the process will begin sooner than if you choose "weekly", etc., etc., and of course, the "Daily" update guarantees the highesr number of unique scenes, which remain stored on the Apple TV 4/4K.

I have not observed any differences between my 64Gb and 32Gb models.

I did notice that some of the Aerial scenes on the 4K model can be much shorter in length than the original 4th Gen, which can detract from the experience once you have several disparate scenes accummulated in its memory. The scenes play one after another and flipping from a nighttime cityscape to a sunny windswept desert, to a trip down an urban waterway, to gentle clouds across mountain peak, then to a bird’s eye view of an interstate system (ugh - who voted for that one?) can really be a really jarring effect.

Basically, to get the maximum number of unique scenes, you need to set the Aerial screensaver new scene download frequency at "Daily" and just .....wait. It will sit there, seemingly stuck on the default, but eventually, it will get going and new scenes will appear. It might take a week or two or even up to three, but it WILL happen.

Finally, there is one known "hack" (though it barely qualifies for the term) which worked (at least prior to TVOS-11) to recover the default Aerial Scene -which is a useful tool especially if that annoying highway system keeps playing or something else you don’t like pops up.

Go to Settings > Screensaver and switch from Aerial to something else, like your iCloud photos. Then force the screensaver to start playing, either by holding the "Menu" button on the Siri remote, starting the Screensaver in Settings, or by selecting the screensaver "Preview". Make sure the non-Aerial screensaver actually starts and displays its content, allowing it to play for 30 seconds to a full minute. Then go back to Settings > Screensaver and select "Aerial". Start the screensaver again and it *should* go back to the default scene.

This technique can sometimes be used to force downloads of new Aerial scenes as well....but it never downloads or displays them immediately, which is the reason I did not include this a my primary solution. Using it prior to TVOS-11, it always took days for new scenes to make their way into the Apple TV 4’s memory banks. I also have not tried on any of the Apple TV 4K’s, nor any of the Apple TV 4’s since TVOS-11.....so please let me know if anything has changed since the update.

I really love the new Apple TV 4K .....I haven’t touched my Google Chromecast Ultra since the Apple TV 4K was delivered and I previously used the Chromecast Ultra daily.

I just would like more 4K content .... please 🍎!

Using 4K, 4K HDR, nor any other video quality configurations, should not have any effect whatsoever on whether the Aerial Screensaver App downloads new video content.

The Aerial App has the exact same "glitch" on the non 4K Apple TV 4th Gen (2016 & current iteration) and it is totally unrelated to the quality settings (4K, 4K HDR, etc.).

No offense - just don't want userss looking for real gelp to become confused or to be mislead by a fallacy submitted by user with good intentions but little understanding of how the software works.

Look - you misunderstand the question, the issue, and the process.

This is not an issue about "certain" screensavers not being downloaded, but *any* new content being downloaded.

The resolution is irrelevant unless the user was asking about specific scenes, which he/she is not.

So your answer/info pointing to the resolution settings is therefore misleading and confusing to those searching for help with this very common glitch that is identical on all the Apple TV models using Aerial.

Again, it is, as they’ve continued to add more over time. So, when the post was originally made, there were even fewer available. This has nullified typical day/night cycle functionality as well. For the moment you’re getting everything they have available as they add more. Original functionality will be restored as more are made available in 4K HDR. So in the future, if you’re going to be condescending, make sure you’re correct. Here is the list of screensavers that are currently available in 4K HDR (as of today). Please tell me more of my good intentions but poor understanding of Apple TV Software.

{ "version" : 1, "initialAssetCount" : 4, "assets" : [ { "id" : "6154CA95-ED90-446A-9C29-F46EDA2B3741", "url-1080-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D011_C009_2K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-1080-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D011_C009_2K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D011_C009_4K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D011_C009_4K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "accessibilityLabel" : "Dubai", }, { "id" : "829E69BA-BB53-4841-A138-4DF0C2A74236", "url-1080-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LA_A006_C008_2K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-1080-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LA_A006_C008_2K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LA_A006_C008_4K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LA_A006_C008_4K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "accessibilityLabel" : "Los Angeles", }, { "id" : "6E2FC8AC-832D-46CF-B306-BB2A05030C17", "url-1080-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LW_L001_C006_2K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-1080-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LW_L001_C006_2K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LW_L001_C006_4K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LW_L001_C006_4K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "accessibilityLabel" : "Liwa", }, { "id" : "AC9C09DD-1D97-4013-A09F-B0F5259E64C3", "url-1080-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D008_C010_2K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-1080-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D008_C010_2K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D008_C010_4K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D008_C010_4K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "accessibilityLabel" : "Dubai", }, { "id" : "89B1643B-06DD-4DEC-B1B0-774493B0F7B7", "url-1080-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LA_A009_C009_2K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-1080-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LA_A009_C009_2K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LA_A009_C009_4K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LA_A009_C009_4K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "accessibilityLabel" : "Los Angeles", }, { "id" : "30313BC1-BF20-45EB-A7B1-5A6FFDBD2488", "url-1080-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/HK_B005_C011_2K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-1080-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/HK_B005_C011_2K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/HK_B005_C011_4K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/HK_B005_C011_4K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "accessibilityLabel" : "Hong Kong", }, { "id" : "49790B7C-7D8C-466C-A09E-83E38B6BE87A", "url-1080-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D001_C001_2K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-1080-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D001_C001_2K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D001_C001_4K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D001_C001_4K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "accessibilityLabel" : "Dubai", }, { "id" : "30A2A488-E708-42E7-9A90-B749A407AE1C", "url-1080-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LA_A005_C009_2K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-1080-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LA_A005_C009_2K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LA_A005_C009_4K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/LA_A005_C009_4K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "accessibilityLabel" : "Los Angeles", }, { "id" : "802866E6-4AAF-4A69-96EA-C582651391F1", "url-1080-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D001_C005_2K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-1080-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D001_C005_2K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-SDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D001_C005_4K_SDR_HEVC.mov", "url-4K-HDR" : "https://sylvan.apple.com/Aerials/2x/Videos/DB_D001_C005_4K_HDR_HEVC.mov", "accessibilityLabel" : "Dubai", } ] }

Also, to be clear, I’m familiar with the glitch you’re talking about, but given that he’d just upgraded, there was a chance it wasn’t that but rather what I’m talking about. If this was the case and he was still having trouble, this information might have been helpful.

I’m having the same issue except I will get one screen saver but shows. It just keeps repeating over and over and over. I had tried the method of changing between HDR and SDR to get a different screen saver but it didn’t work for me. I really hope that Apple does something about this soon.

Yes. As I said I switched between HDR and SDR and each time selected aerial each time. On SDR I only get a flyover of the street in Dubai. In HDR I only get the Hollywood screensaver. These are the only two screensavers I can get, and by switching between HDR and SDR at that. Leaving it on HDR leaves me stuck with Hollywood.

I have the same issue but not quite as bad. I also have the new 4k version and its's 64 gigs. I have it set to download a new arial screensaver daily. It came with 3 to start. the Sahara, Greenland and Dubai. It dowloaded the Hollywood one first then only it would play over and over for almost 2 days. The first three stopped playing. Long story short within about a week I had 8 including the Sahara and Dubai one that originally stopped playing. Never got the Greenland one back. A month or more went by and not one new screensaver. I did talk to support and they said they would look further into it. I did have the previous generation Apple TV and it downloaded everyone that is available and cycled through all depending on if it was day or night.

If you’re running 4K HDR, that’s why. Greenland isn’t mastered in HDR yet. Only some from Dubai, Hong Kong, LA, and the desert are available. I believe Greenland is preloaded, but once you configure the device in HDR, it replaces that one as soon as it completes downloading an HDR scene. I find this frustrating because we paid a premium for a higher end device and the best picture quality and have fewer options than the cheaper version. I’m hoping Apple delivers the remainder of the scenes (and perhaps some new ones) very soon.

My bad. Actually, I had tried your method on my own previously. I was still left with only the one screensaver(Hollywood). I'm running the latest OS, 11.1 though so I'm not sure if this makes a difference. It's quite frustrating. I have two other Apple TV 4's in the house which work as they should. I don't know why the 4K is limiting me to only one screensaver, and as some have reported, taking days or weeks until it downloads a new screen saver. My other Apple TV 4's download new screen savers that day or the next.

An update: It's been 3 days and just now a second screensaver has come onto the TV. It's now rotating between the Hollywood one and it looks like flying over Tokyo at night. The only issue is that they are both night time screen savers that are showing, even though it's day time. At least there's a second one now. :/