I want extra folks knew about these 4 hidden Apple TV options

Wanting a mini-PC, an Apple TV 4K might be probably the most highly effective media streamer you should buy, and that is earlier than its anticipated fall 2026 refresh. The secret is that Apple reuses iPhone processors, that are frankly extreme if all you are attempting to do is watch Netflix or YouTube. The 2026 refresh might make the field able to operating console-quality video games, competing along with your PlayStation 5, or not less than your Change 2.

There’s greater than uncooked horsepower at work, although. There are different {hardware} and software program options at play, a few of them meant to assist streaming video, others with a wider focus. I will contact on just a few of my favorites right here, however there could also be extra. “Hidden” can also be a relative time period on this context, since a function one individual considers obscure is likely to be in each day use by another person.

Audio and video calibration along with your iPhone

Retaining colour and audio sync on level

In most conditions, there is not any urgency to calibrate video output. With the proper image mode, trendy TVs are typically adequate out of the field, and the Apple TV is primed to match decision and HDR codecs. However if you wish to guarantee correct colours, there’s an possibility to make use of your iPhone to routinely right them, one thing that after required a devoted software. I can not vouch for the way shut this will get to skilled calibration — however most individuals do not want that precision.

To get began, head over to Settings – > Video and Audio, then choose Colour Steadiness beneath the Calibration part. You will be prompted to purpose your iPhone’s Face ID digicam near the display screen, and the method ought to be accomplished just some moments later. The one catch is that Face ID requirement — in case your iPhone is an older mannequin with Contact ID, you are out of luck.

One thing fewer persons are in all probability conscious of is that you need to use an iPhone to repair sync points with wi-fi audio system, notably after they’re utilized in tandem with wired ones linked to a receiver. Below Calibration choices, click on on Wi-fi Audio Sync. You will be prompted to carry your iPhone subsequent to your TV or the wired audio system. After it performs a sequence of take a look at tones, tvOS will make changes to maintain your audio system in unison.

Matter and Thread help to your sensible house

Extra vital than you would possibly understand

For years, Apple’s biggest barrier to success within the sensible house world was the authentication tech it imposed on HomeKit. Accent makers needed to bounce by hoops to accommodate it, which regularly wasn’t well worth the hassle after they might add Amazon Alexa and Google House and name it a day. That, in flip, led to a dearth of merchandise for individuals who have been Apple-exclusive.

Matter helps to show issues round. If you happen to’re not conscious, that is a common pairing normal, permitting you to hyperlink equipment to ecosystems that are not instantly supported. You might, in some instances, find yourself sacrificing just a few options, however the Matter spec is constantly evolving, and Apple is considered one of its backers — so it is not about to endure something that may hamper compatibility on Apple gadgets.

The Apple TV 4K routinely operates as each a House Hub for HomeKit and as a Matter controller. The latter is vital not only for pairing Matter merchandise within the Apple House app, however in going the wrong way, pairing merchandise with the likes of Alexa, Google House, or Samsung SmartThings.

Thread, in the meantime, is a low-power mesh protocol meant to interchange the likes of Zigbee and Z-Wave. In the meanwhile, it’s a must to purchase the top-end Apple TV to get this function — however should you do, it could actually open up entry to quite a lot of gentle bulbs, sensors, switches, and different suitable equipment. Your Apple TV merely acts as a “border router,” permitting these merchandise to speak to gadgets on Wi-Fi and the web. There are literally quite a lot of sensible house merchandise that may double as border routers — however that is an apparent place to begin, and the extra of them you could have, the higher.

A number of ranges of dialogue enhancement

By no means miss something once more

My listening to is not that nice. I am not onerous of listening to, per se, however my ears aren’t precisely delicate anymore, and I am extra liable to lacking one thing if I am not staring on the display screen your entire time — say if I am largely simply listening to considered one of my PEV movies whereas I work on meal prep. For that cause, I typically have some form of dialogue enhancement possibility on, someplace.

You may flip on dialogue enhancement in a short time on an Apple TV by mentioning playback controls, then clicking on the audio wave icon. The precise choices you may see will depend upon the Apple TV you could have and which audio system or headphones are linked, however there’ll in all probability be not less than two ranges, and naturally you may disable enhancement at any time.

If you happen to’re actually struggling to know folks, you may allow an possibility known as Voice Isolation. To do that, simply go to Settings -> Accessibility. Be warned, although, that this fully isolates dialogue within the audio combine, and dramatically lowers the amount of all the pieces else. It is legitimately meant for folks with listening to injury or different disabilities.

In truth, all types of dialogue enhancement have an effect on the dynamic vary of your audio. You would possibly wish to keep away from it, then, should you’re attempting to get probably the most out of a sound system.

Setting any AirPlay speaker as a default output

Why wasn’t this there from the start?

One of the best cause to purchase a HomePod is to pair a pair with an Apple TV. Even HomePod minis might be an improve over your TV’s inside audio system, and second-gen HomePods supply not simply higher vary, however Dolby Atmos. There may very well be extra incentive to purchase one after Siri AI rolls out this fall, however we’ll see how quickly Apple rolls out the mandatory {hardware} upgrades.

Till just lately, HomePods have been the one wi-fi audio system you would set as a default audio output. There could have been technical causes for this, reminiscent of assured audio sync, or the software program framework concerned — nevertheless it at all times smacked of favoritism, since there are third-party AirPlay audio system that sound simply pretty much as good or higher than Apple’s personal. You have been solely in a position to decide on these as short-term outputs, so that you needed to choose them once more each time you sat down.

As of tvOS 26, you may lastly make any AirPlay 2-compatible speaker your default. Head to Settings – > Video and Audio – > Default Audio Output. This does include some caveats, the large one being that you just will not get ARC or eARC help — you want HomePods if you wish to share audio with different gadgets linked to your TV. Additionally, system alerts and sport sounds are funneled by your TV’s audio system as an alternative, and there is a increased likelihood of lag. Nonetheless, you may in all probability take pleasure in Dune much more if the combination is loud and bass-heavy.

Connection Sort

Wi-fi

Model

Apple

Colour(s)

Midnight, White