Apple TV 4K with a 1080p receiver

Hey folks! Our third-gen Apple TV needs to be replaced. I have a Sony 1080p receiver (part of a kit from forever ago) and 1080p TV, but I’d like to future proof and get the 4k Apple TV.

I’ve seen mixed answers on whether or not the 4K Apple TV will even transmit a signal to my 1080p receiver. Can somebody clear this up for me?

I don’t see why it wouldn’t, and I’d trust iMore:

Don’t have a 4K television yet? You can still buy an Apple TV 4K and take advantage of the better internals.

Receivers I don’t know much about (though my dad has a Roku Ultra outputting fine to receiver that I’m pretty sure is 1080p, given its age, and I don’t see why the Apple TV 4K would be any different).

I can confirm from personal experience that an ATV 4K works just fine even with a 720p TV.

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Rumors of the next gen Apple TV are for March or April.

There were rumors of one being released early 2020 and it never happened.

While I am now sure this wouldn’t have been a problem, given the post-Christmas sales here in Canada, I just threw money on fire and got a new receiver that will support anything 4K. Problem solved.

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True. But you know how it is with Apple. You can’t discount the rumor of one thing because of another. Some google work will help

It’s working for me. My Sony TV must be at least 10 years old now. It supports 1080p Max, nothing close to 4K

Optical out was the only situation I could figure out here, but I didn’t think that was ideal long-term. Thanks for your thorough answer!

I’m sure these rumors have more truth to them but there were pretty strong rumors an A12 based AppleTV was imminent for Spring 2020 about a year ago.

I held off until the iPhone event this year before caving and buying another 4K because it felt like I’d be waiting at least another 6 months for one.