Hi all!
I want to buy the new apple tv. I was comparing them and the most important difference to me is the ethernet port, but I don’t want a pay a considering amount just for a port.
I saw another difference is the Thread technology, I look for what it is and I found some info, but TBH, I didn’t understand ANYTHING hhahahahaha
I understand that you can control your smart home devices, but I already do that with my old apple tv. So anybody can me the difference or what is new about it?
In: 1
Thread is a new standard for wireless network communication, being developed specifically for IoT and home automation devices. (IoT = Internet of Things, basically the move to put computers in everyday devices to make them “smart”.)
Ethernet is great, but some IoT devices are too small for that to be feasible. Also it’s not realistic to wire Ethernet to every light socket and power outlet.
WiFi is a decent alternative, a standard for ubiquitous wireless networking. The problem is it requires a relatively large amount of power for transmission and processing, which you can’t afford on small devices, possibly with small batteries. Also it needs a central access point like a WiFi router that everything connects to, that makes whole-house coverage more difficult.
Many current home automation devices use Zigbee or Z-Wave. These are low-power wireless protocols designed with IoT devices in mind. One major advantage is that they use mesh networking, that means that some of the devices (eg. those connected to mains power) can relay communications to other devices, providing better wireless coverage using a “mesh” of radio transmitters. The problem with these protocols is they are fairly proprietary, meaning some manufacturers are unwilling to adopt them, making them incompatible with other devices. Fragmentation is a huge problem for home automation.
Thread is destined to be the way forward for IoT wireless communication. It’s an open standard based on Zigbee. Basically, it *is* Zigbee, with a few technical tweaks, and licensing that makes it more practical for other vendors to adopt it. Which makes it more likely a wide variety of vendors will do so, making them compatible with each other at least at the hardware level.
Keep in mind Thread is only part of the equation – the radio communications standard for the hardware. The software counterpart to Thread is Matter, which ensures that the commands sent over the network (eg. Thread, Wifi or Ethernet) will be understood (ie. they speak the same “language”). So it’s best to look for devices that support both Thread and Matter, although the standards were only recently released so it will take time for such devices to hit the market.
It’s great that you can control all your current IoT devices with your old Apple TV, but that’s most likely because you’ve only bought devices that Apple TV supports, whether that’s a deliberate decision or sheer luck. It’s very easy to buy devices that *aren’t* supported. If that’s just because of the software protocol (eg. Matter, HomeKit, Google Home, Alexa, or any of the dozens of proprietary standards) then at least there’s a possibility that a firmware update can change that if the manufacturer desires. But if it’s because of the hardware (eg. Thread, Zigbee, Z-Wave, WiFi, Ethernet, or other proprietary protocols) then it can’t be changed without buying a new device.
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