At the presentation of the new iPhone 11 and 11 Pro, among other new products, we were shown the final versions of two new Apple services that will be available by subscription: Apple Arcade and Apple TV+.
The first is a gaming one, with a bunch of great games, without any donations and with the ability to play offline. Everything sounded great from the stage, the promo videos were pleasing with graphics and stories, but in reality...
Some iOS 13 users managed to access Apple Arcade a little earlier than the official launch, and the experience was not so enthusiastic.
In short: out of more than 50 games available at launch, literally 5-6 turned out to be really worthwhile. The rest are casual games, the App Store has plenty of analogues, and some won’t launch without an Internet connection.
So what awaits us in the Apple TV+ video service?
What's available?
At launch, Apple is offering eight shows on its video service, both for family viewing and for children or adults. This is the drama "The Morning Show" with Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA7D4_qU9jo
In addition to him, there is the show “See” with Jason Momoa:
Cartoon "Snoopy in Space":
Alternate history "For All Mankind" in which the Soviet Union was the first to land on the moon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3RjayAF0b4
The tenth episode of the Dickinson series about a young rebel played by Hailee Steinfeld:
Children's show "Helpers":
A strange mixture of "Charmed", "Jumanji" and "Stranger Things" in the form of "Message from Ghosts":
And the documentary “The Elephant Queen”:
Applications work perfectly on all platforms
Apple TV+ is available on all Apple devices, on the web, on select LG and Samsung TVs, and on Roku set-top boxes.
I use Apple TV+ most often on my Mac, and sometimes I open it on my iPhone. In both cases, the service is integrated into the TV application, where you can buy movies.
TV is perhaps the largest legal catalog of 4K HDR films. In other services, the maximum resolution is usually limited to Full HD.
The apps work great on all platforms. All films and TV series have Russian subtitles; voice acting is available only for cartoons.
It is also worth noting that Mac users can download content. I have never seen such a function anywhere. This may be due to the fact that other services only work in the browser and do not have an application for macOS.
I miss the Skip intro button in Apple TV+, which is available in Netflix and KinoPoisk. With its help, you can skip the screensaver and not rewind the video manually. There are no more complaints about the applications.
What's with the voice acting?
There is no Russian or Ukrainian voice acting. But there are subtitles. Some people may not like it, but that's just the way I see it.
Several voiceovers are available: Spanish (a couple of options for different regions), Italian, Portuguese, German and Japanese. Moreover, Japanese voice acting is the worst from the point of view of the work of a sound engineer - there is just a voice at the microphone without regard to the room. And this is dubbing, that is, the original English track cannot be heard at all.
A still from the series “See”. Source: Apple
The library of films and TV series is constantly growing
The main difference between Apple TV+ and other streaming services is its unique films and TV series that are not available anywhere else. Apple produces many of them independently.
This is a unique approach that, as far as I know, no one else is using. Netflix produces its own production, but also buys a huge amount of content from other studios. KinoPoisk, Okko and HBO Max, which is not available with us, work in a similar way. Disney+ is somewhat similar to Apple TV+, but it is still different due to the fact that it had many famous films at the start.
Apple took a unique path. She brought in famous actors and directors to create series that no one had ever heard of. In addition, at the start there were very few of them.
But time passes, and over the year many new series in different genres have appeared on Apple TV+:
? Tehran, drama: Mossad agent falls into trap after failed mission in Iran? Ted Lasso, comedy: American football coach moved to England and took over the local club? Tiny world, documentary: a series about the smallest creatures on our planet? Mystical quest, comedy: about the developers who created the popular game? Truth be told, drama: Podcast author solves a high-profile murder, but an innocent man may have gone to jail? Home before dark, drama: a nine-year-old girl tries to solve an unsolved case in a small town that her father left many years ago
It couldn't be done without films either:
? The Banker (review), drama: two black entrepreneurs in the 1960s buy up banks in the US with the help of a fake white worker? Greyhound (review), action: a destroyer captain tries to transport thousands of soldiers and supplies across the Atlantic? Young Politicians Documentary: More than a thousand teenagers from across Texas come together to create a model for true democratic government
This is just a small part. Apple releases new content on Apple TV+ several times a month.
And that's not counting the large number of bonus materials, including interviews with the actors. This is rarely the case with competitors, but Apple has a streamlined production of additional content.
What is the price?
In Russia - 199 rubles. Price in the USA and Ukraine is $4.99. In the Republic of Belarus - $5.99. Strange pricing.
There is a trial period of seven days. However, if you purchased a new iPhone, iPod, iPad, Mac or Apple TV after September 10, 2022, your trial period will increase to one year. For example, I signed up, but the money will only be debited on October 31, 2022. Sounds interesting!
But subscribers wrote to us that an annual subscription is available even on devices purchased at the end of last year. In general, this question is not very clear.
If for some reason you do not have a free annual period, then contact Apple support, not us. You probably do not have the latest version of the operating system installed.
Also, if you want to save money, then pay for a yearly subscription at once:
This will be the subscription price for family access for six people.
Lots of content? Definitely not
We are promised a bunch of interesting films and TV series from leading studios.
On the official page dedicated to the service, we are told: 7 TV series and a couple of films will be available at launch. A little later, 3 more films and 2 TV series will appear.
In total, in the first month, 9 TV series and 5 full-length films will be available to users.
Apple TV+ is a service with completely original content, which is designed primarily for Americans. This is evidenced by the presence of a talk show with host Oprah Winfrey, who is incredibly popular in the States.
Admit it, have you watched at least one episode of the show with Oprah Winfrey? Are you looking forward to her new project exclusively on Apple TV+?
Interesting? (not really).
Original content will be available in 100 countries, including Russia. I have not found a single mention or fact that domestic studios are actively collaborating with Apple to release exclusive TV series and films in Russian on TV+.
Imagine, “Happy Together”: a full-length film. Only on Apple TV+.
It’s probably good that they don’t cooperate, right?
Thus, the question of localization arises: will the show be dubbed into Russian by voice? Hardly. Most likely, subtitles await us.
I subscribe to Amediateka, ivi, Amazon, YouTube Premium and Netflix. In total, every month I give 2,724 rubles. for all these services. Do I feel sorry for adding 199 rubles to this amount? for Apple TV+? No.
I just don’t understand at all what to watch there, given that all the series that Apple offers at launch can be watched with a free 7-day trial subscription.
Of course, lucky are all those who are going to buy a new iPhone, MacBook and other gadgets: for them, a subscription to Apple TV+ will be completely free for a whole year.
Connecting IPTV without JailBreak
IPTV is digital television operating via the Internet. In the case of tvOS, access to online broadcasting is carried out through the Pager service, to configure which you need to:
- Using any gadget, open the Pager website and agree to the terms of use.
- Confirm availability of Apple TV.
- Complete registration. You must provide a real email address. An email will be sent to the specified email address with a link to confirm your registration.
- After activating your account, log in to your personal account using the previously created login and password.
- Launch the set-top box and go to “DNS Settings” (section “WiFi”).
- Select manual mode and enter 062.109.022.177.
- In the “Basic” section, disable the transfer of information to the corporation.
- Using the “Play” button located on the Remote, open “Profiles” and create a new one with the address ru/atv.
- Sign the prefix on the resource website.
- Replace any standard service with Pager (the new utility will be launched through the icon of another service).
- Add the identification number from your PagerTV personal account to the tvOS memory and save the settings.
- Download an M3U playlist with a list of desired TV channels from the Internet.
- Launch Pager on the media player by clicking on the previously selected icon.
It is important to note that this method does not deprive the media player of the official warranty and service center support. Owners of second and third generation set-top boxes can take advantage of the Plex vulnerability of their devices and set up digital television in the following way:
- Go to “Settings” and change DNS manually to 062.075.229.047.
- Launch the standard “Trailers” application, which will automatically display digital TV channels from Unli Movie.
- If desired, reassign UM to any other icon.
Both methods use a system vulnerability that allows you to temporarily disconnect the device from the Apple server. It is worth saying that failures and errors may occur in the operation of third-party resources, which can only be eliminated by regularly rebooting tvOS.
Other launch methods
If you don’t have time to deal with DNS, then streaming video broadcast on the official websites of popular channels (like Channel One or Match TV) will help you save money; you won’t have any problems downloading applications from the App Store, where collections of television programs are available. Well, where would we be without special digital television connected directly to the set-top box? For this you should contact the provider directly!
Features of the fifth generation console
Among the advantages of the fifth Apple TV are:
- Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support. Dolby standards are responsible for high (the best to date) quality of video and audio playback. It should be noted that Vision and Atmos are not common in the production of televisions and TV accessories due to their high cost and complexity of implementation.
- 4K HDR and Full HD SDR. The Five can play video in both standard and extended dynamic range (with a color depth of up to 12 bits). Thanks to intelligent conversion, the Full HD format is stretched to 4K resolution and runs on a large screen without pixels or extraneous noise (artifacts).
On the other hand, due to the updated version of tvOS, the 4K set-top box does not support a number of third-party TV services. If the device is incompatible with the required resource, all that remains is to wait for a new vulnerability to be discovered in the operating system, and then perform manual DNS settings or modify the firmware.
