Making the most of the latest Ultra HD televisions, Apple's new media player takes movie night to the next level.

Obviously it's only worth getting excited about the Apple TV 4K ($249 32GB, $279 64GB) if there's an Ultra HD television in your lounge room. Apart from video quality, the new player is almost the same as the old 4th-gen Apple TV ($209, 32GB) which has taken a price drop to make way for the newer model.

One improvement is that the Apple TV 4K doubles the grunt under the bonnet thanks to the A10X Fusion chip, helping cope with the added demands of Ultra HD resolution and other picture improvements that you won't see if you don't have an Ultra HD television. You might appreciate this performance boost if you use the Apple TV as a games machine.

There's also support for Gigabit Ethernet and simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi so the box can stream via both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz at once, to help cope with the extra demands of Ultra HD.

Look sharp

Dive straight into the "Video and Audio" settings and the Apple TV 4K proves its worth, not only in raw resolution but also in overall picture quality.

You can opt for a wide range of resolutions including 1080p Full HD or Ultra HD, at 50Hz or 60Hz, with the player able to upscale lower-res content. There's also support for High Dynamic Range if your television can handle it – offering more vivid colours along with extra detail in the brightest highlights and darkest shadows.

Better yet, the Apple TV 4K supports both standard HDR10 and the advanced Dolby Vision HDR which optimises the picture for each scene in a movie, but unfortunately you'll need a new Dolby Vision-capable Ultra HD television to do it justice.

The need for speed

Apart from needing an Ultra HD screen, you also need enough bandwidth to get Ultra HD content into your lounge room. Sadly we're not all blessed with decent home broadband, but thankfully Apple's iTunes store can be more forgiving than Netflix when it comes to running over a slow connection.

Netflix demands at least 15 Mbps to watch Ultra HD content, along with a top-tier $17.99 p/m subscription, otherwise its impressive adaptive streaming dials down the picture quality.

Unfortunately the Apple TV's Netflix app doesn't support Ultra HD yet, but Australian streaming rival Stan (co-owned by Fairfax Media) does and Ultra HD might also be available via Amazon's upcoming Prime Video app.

Freeze frame

Unlike streaming services such as Netflix, watching movies from the iTunes store offers the advantage of buffering – which isn't a dirty word.

Sometimes it helps for your video player to download the next few minutes of the movie in advance and store it in the "buffer", to ensure the movie plays smoothly even if there are fluctuations in your download speeds. There's only a problem if the buffer runs dry and the movie freezes, which is what people usually call "buffering".

Netflix doesn't keep a buffer in reserve so if your broadband connection fluctuates Netflix dials down the picture quality on the fly, which can be quite distracting. The picture will only freeze if your broadband really craps out.

Traditionally the trade-off with buffering on an Apple TV is that when you rent a movie the box starts downloading the video immediately, but it won't let you press play until there's enough in the buffer that it's confident the movie won't freeze before you reach the final credits.

On a fast connection the delay before you can start watching is only a few seconds, but if you're on a slow connection and you're prepared to wait longer then you can watch Full HD and Ultra HD movies from Apple at better quality than Netflix could run over your broadband.

Quick Start

These days Apple has added a "Quick Start" streaming option which is enabled by default on the Apple TV 4K. Like Netflix, this setting ensures that a movie starts playing immediately by dialling down the picture quality if your broadband can't handle the load.

While Quick Start is user friendly, thankfully you can disable it to ensure that you get the best possible picture quality if you're prepared to wait a little longer before the movie starts playing.

To further complicate things, Apple says you can't "download" Ultra HD movies, only stream them, but that's referring to desktop and mobile devices.

The Apple TV 4K still buffers Ultra HD movies to ensure smooth playback, you can see this in action if you watch the internet traffic running through your broadband modem. On 100 Mbps cable with Quick Start disabled you're still asked to wait a few seconds before the movie plays, while via your modem you can see that it's downloading at around 80 to 100 Mbps.

Press pause on an Ultra HD movie rental from Apple and it clearly continues downloading in the background, while the onscreen timeline shows you how much is in the buffer. Meanwhile Netflix doesn't work this way because it doesn't buffer, so as soon as you press pause on a Netflix movie you can see that it stops downloading in the background.

Put to the test

LG has lead the way in embracing Dolby Vision, making LG's 65-inch C7 Ultra HD OLED television a great choice for putting the Apple TV 4K through its paces.

The iTunes Movie store now joins Netflix as one of Australia's few sources of Dolby Vision content, while we wait Dolby Vision to come to a new generation of Ultra HD Blu-ray players and discs – which shouldn't be far away as the first discs are appearing in the US.

The good news is that Apple has struck deals with the major movie studios to offer Ultra HD and HDR movies in the iTunes store at HD prices, plus any movie you've already purchased or redeemed in HD will be upgraded to Ultra HD for free if it's available in the store.

Dive into the Australian movie store and you'll find around 60 Ultra HD titles available to buy or rent, with new releases like Wonder Woman and Spider-man Homecoming as well as older titles such as The Martian and Deadpool. At least half are in Dolby Vision.

Movie night

While the iTunes Movie store has always offered impressive picture quality compared to its online rivals, over the years the Apple TV's SD and HD movie rentals have still fallen short of DVD and Blu-ray quality.

Remember there's more to picture quality than raw resolution. Online movie rentals tend to dial down the bit rate which can lead to murky pixelation and a loss of detail in the shadows compared to watching the same movie on disc. If you're fussy about picture quality and you've invested in a decent television then you'll appreciate the difference.

Thankfully the Apple TV 4K's Ultra HD movies look fantastic – watch Wonder Woman, Pan or The Martian and the picture is vivid and the motion smooth, while even the darkest shadows still look clear. It's a testament to the Apple TV 4K's picture quality and the improvements in streaming codecs over the years.

That said, if you really look very closely you can see how Apple's online movies still fall a fraction short of Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. Examine faces in darkly lit scenes, like young Diana's firelit chat with her mother, and you'll see the slightest traces of blocky pixelation compared to the disc. To be fair, even on a 65-inch OLED you need to be within 2 metres of the screen and really paying close attention to see the difference.

Unfortunately I was less impressed with the Apple TV 4K's Dolby Vision performance. Wonder Woman in Dolby Vision on the Apple TV 4K looks no better than the Ultra HD Blu-ray disc using standard HDR10, even when studying the brightest and darkest scenes. Meanwhile Pan in Dolby Vision, coming from Apple, falls short of the Pan Dolby Vision test clips I've seen from Dolby on the same LG television. Once again, Apple's Dolby Vision looks no better than HDR10 on disc.

I won't pass final judgement until Dolby Vision players and discs officially hit Australian shelves, but it's looking like optical discs are still the best option for passionate movie lovers who want the absolute best in picture quality.

Another frustration is that, while the Apple TV 4K handles Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 audio, it hasn't added support for high-end Dolby Atmos soundtracks. There are reports this will come later with a firmware update, but for now if your lounge room is Atmos-ready then you'll still need a disc player to make the most of it.

So what's the verdict?

The Apple TV 4K ticks a lot of boxes for Ultra HD-capable lounge rooms, especially with Apple keeping down the price of movies. If you've got the bandwidth to do Ultra HD justice, then Apple's streaming box is good enough for your average punter to abandon physical discs without regret.

If you're a stickler for detail then I'd say a question mark still hangs over the Apple TV 4K's Dolby Vision performance – for those lucky enough to own a compatible television – but it's difficult to settle that argument until Dolby Vision gets a foothold in Australia.