New Apple TV - no volume control...

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › New Apple TV - no volume control...

manta

249 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#69067 2-Oct-2010 17:30

I'm very impressed with the new Apple TV; it's a slick bit of kit BUT amazingly it has no means of controlling the volume, neither on the included remote nor on the iPhone remote app. Is this an oversight or what?

To control the volume you need to go back to the remote for the device through which the ATV plays and yet for all other functions you can use the Apple remote or the remote app. Bizarre and a bit annoying.

ZollyMonsta

3009 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 379

ID Verified

Trusted

#387168 2-Oct-2010 17:39

Actually it makes sense really.

Especially if you are going through an amp.

Have seen too many cases of people turning down the volume on the device, then turning up the tv. and then complaining about lots of hum/hiss on the sound.

Check out my LPFM Radio Station at www.thecheese.co.nz - Now on iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Radio Garden

As per the usual std disclaimer.. "All thoughts typed here are my own."

Nety

2584 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#387171 2-Oct-2010 18:17

ZollyMonsta: Actually it makes sense really.

Especially if you are going through an amp.

Have seen too many cases of people turning down the volume on the device, then turning up the tv. and then complaining about lots of hum/hiss on the sound.

Not to mention then almost blowing the speakers when they switch to another source. Good move I say.
Get yourself a Harmony remote or similar and it becomes a non-issue.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

mikerussellnz

283 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#387191 2-Oct-2010 20:16

Yeah, I wish you could somehow disable the volume on sky boxes. I have had multiple occurrences of changing input to sudden excessive volume.

reven

3748 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

#387196 2-Oct-2010 20:41

yeah i agree, i think its a good move. who uses the volume on these things anyway? i always control the volume on the device playing the sound (amp/tv)

reven

3748 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

#387197 2-Oct-2010 20:42

on a side note, anyone notice the price of it has gone up on apple.co.nz ? it now is saying $170, before it was $169 i believe. not a big thing, but still.

bcourtney

652 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 27

Trusted

#387212 2-Oct-2010 21:38

reven: on a side note, anyone notice the price of it has gone up on apple.co.nz ? it now is saying $170, before it was $169 i believe. not a big thing, but still.

You're aware of what happened on a national scale to goods and services pricing on Friday, aren't you?

Keeping the increase to just $1 was fairly generous of Apple

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

manta

249 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#387219 2-Oct-2010 22:17

I do have a Harmony ONE remote which does everything I want it to on all my devices but it will never be able to control Apple TV and iTunes in the way that the Apple remote can. So once running the Apple TV it makes sense to at least have the option to control volume using the Apple Remote (& app). However, if you are not able to control your devices sufficiently well that you can't avoid sudden variations in volume then I guess you would not need the option of controlling the volume remotely.

reven

3748 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

#387231 2-Oct-2010 23:09

bcourtney:
reven: on a side note, anyone notice the price of it has gone up on apple.co.nz ? it now is saying $170, before it was $169 i believe. not a big thing, but still.

You're aware of what happened on a national scale to goods and services pricing on Friday, aren't you?

Keeping the increase to just $1 was fairly generous of Apple?

Yeah but that price was listed before you could buy it in most places. It was really just a pre order price. And apple would have been fully aware of the gst change. Still can't pick it up at any stores (correct me if I'm wrong)

corksta

2405 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 382

Trusted

Subscriber

#387245 2-Oct-2010 23:50

reven:
bcourtney:
reven: on a side note, anyone notice the price of it has gone up on apple.co.nz ? it now is saying $170, before it was $169 i believe. not a big thing, but still.

You're aware of what happened on a national scale to goods and services pricing on Friday, aren't you?

Keeping the increase to just $1 was fairly generous of Apple?

Yeah but that price was listed before you could buy it in most places. It was really just a pre order price. And apple would have been fully aware of the gst change. Still can't pick it up at any stores (correct me if I'm wrong)

Nonsense it was a pre-order price! That's what the price was prior to GST going up, it's as simple as that. If you ordered it before 1st October you paid $169, order it now it's $170. If GST didn't go up it would still be $169.

Everything on their online store has gone up. if I ordered an iPhone on the 30th it would have been $1099, order it now it's $1123. The wait time is still 3 weeks so that does make the pricing on the 30th a 'pre-order price'? Of course not, the new price is the result of the GST increase, that's all there is to it.

Nety

2584 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#387531 4-Oct-2010 08:13

manta: I do have a Harmony ONE remote which does everything I want it to on all my devices but it will never be able to control Apple TV and iTunes in the way that the Apple remote can. So once running the Apple TV it makes sense to at least have the option to control volume using the Apple Remote (& app). However, if you are not able to control your devices sufficiently well that you can't avoid sudden variations in volume then I guess you would not need the option of controlling the volume remotely.

Interesting. What does the apple remote offer that the one cannot? I have found soft buttons can be a bit of a pain for things that are not actual buttons but normally you can find a reasonable compromise.

manta

249 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#388859 6-Oct-2010 18:12

Nety:
manta: I do have a Harmony ONE remote which does everything I want it to on all my devices but it will never be able to control Apple TV and iTunes in the way that the Apple remote can. So once running the Apple TV it makes sense to at least have the option to control volume using the Apple Remote (& app). However, if you are not able to control your devices sufficiently well that you can't avoid sudden variations in volume then I guess you would not need the option of controlling the volume remotely.

Interesting. What does the apple remote offer that the one cannot? I have found soft buttons can be a bit of a pain for things that are not actual buttons but normally you can find a reasonable compromise.

The One offers the functionality that the Apple remote offers (ie very basic functionality only) whereas the Remote App on the iPhone offers far greater functionality (browse album art, playlists etc) but without having to turn the TV on and it is in this TV-off mode (who needs their TV on when listening to Music?) that I'd like to have control over the volume, even if it only controlled the volume output of iTunes, which the previous version of Remote App did.

Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

robbyp

1199 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8

#388871 6-Oct-2010 18:44

manta:
I'm very impressed with the new Apple TV; it's a slick bit of kit BUT amazingly it has no means of controlling the volume, neither on the included remote nor on the iPhone remote app. Is this an oversight or what?

To control the volume you need to go back to the remote for the device through which the ATV plays and yet for all other functions you can use the Apple remote or the remote app. Bizarre and a bit annoying.

It should be like the tivo remote, where you can program the remote s volume keys to you TV. APple products do however have their annoying quirks.