New world here for TV

WATCHING television used to be so simple.

There were four major channels, your aerial could probably tune in three of them, and you could watch whatever shows were broadcast at that particular moment.

With greater technology, however, comes greater choice and a lot more complexity.

Now you can watch almost any show at any time and with a clarity and colour almost indistinguishable from real life.

But to do so you must sign up to the right videoon-demand or catch-up service, work out how to connect it to your television, secure an internet speed fast enough to reliably deliver it, and navigate as many as three remote controls.

By the time you find something to watch, you could be too exhausted to view it.

Apple’s new solution to this streaming-TV snafu lands in Australia today and, for the first time, the small black box delivers next-generation screen clarity, cinematic colours, and plenty of local content.

Not all major TV services are represented on Apple TV 4K yet, however, and you’ll need a reasonable broadband speed to see its full potential.

If your television is both big and modern, there’s a good chance it features a 4K or Ultra High-Definition panel.

These screens have been sold for the past five years and offer four times the resolution The jump to 4K resolution is the most obvious upgrade to Apple’s set-top box but it’s not necessarily its most compelling addition.

Lining up first in its menu is a new app, confusingly titled “Apple TV”.

This app collates TV shows and movies from a host of video-on-demand and catch-up TV services, puts them all on one screen, and highlights new, noteworthy, and trending TV shows.

When you’ve set it up, you no longer look for TV shows by provider but by title.

It’s like going shopping for pants and finding someone has raided all the individual stores and laid them out for you in one location. of full high-definition.