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Last I checked which was pretty recently, Apple TV has no Amazon Video app. I love the Apple TV OS interface the most by far...but no Amazon in there? So weird.
 
Last I checked which was pretty recently, Apple TV has no Amazon Video app. I love the Apple TV OS interface the most by far...but no Amazon in there? So weird.

Talk to Amazon. Apparently the app is ready but they are holding off releasing it for some reason.
 
Talk to Amazon. Apparently the app is ready but they are holding off releasing it for some reason.

My guess would be they waiting for Apple to approve it. Apple of course thinks we don't need it because they are about to come out with Pro content which will be lacking for sure.
 
My guess would be they waiting for Apple to approve it. Apple of course thinks we don't need it because they are about to come out with Pro content which will be lacking for sure.
No. Apple has no reason to hold it back so long as it complies with the rules. Apple was exited to announce it was coming to ATV. Why would they block it?
That said I wonder if this is a negotiation to have content purchases enabled in-app. They might be fighting over the 30% cut.
 
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No. Apple has no reason to hold it back so long as it complies with the rules. Apple was exited to announce it was coming to ATV. Why would they block it?
That said I wonder if this is a negotiation to have content purchases enabled in-app. They might be fighting over the 30% cut.

Whatever the reason, they had better work it out before January 1, since Apple went out of their way to promise it “later this year”.
 
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Seems like most of the early teething problems (native resolution & frame rate aside) are due to people not understanding the importance of or how to calibrate for HDR or Dolby Vision. I have 2 LG OLED's, both are ISF calibrated. Up until the ATV4K, the inbuilt apps were easily the best picture quality for streaming compared to my other streaming devices. As I'm in Australia, I can only watch Hulu, via a 3rd party app. The ATV4K is my device that I can use for that and obviously having my Itunes library upgraded to 4K was a huge bonus. Can't wait for 11.2, then it really will be the One Box to rule them all.
 
While a lot of these smart TVs are good now. Down the road they rarely get updates and brand new apps usually come to streaming boxes first.

My newest TV is a Samsung 46-inch I bought about 5 years ago. They were really pushing that Smart TV stuff, and I bit. Not sure why, aside from the Apple TV wasn't to its fourth generation yet. Netflix et. al were OK, but that was about it. Nowadays with a fourth gen Apple TV, I don't even use those features. One time when I checked back on those built-in TV features, they ran so slowly and were ridiculously outdated based on functionality.

The only great thing about Smart TVs is they obviously have WiFi so you can download software updates. Sometimes this means your TV still works or it doesn't. But the apps get outdated quickly, and Roku and Apple TV seem to have much better controls and UI.
 
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Part of me wonders how much more it would cost to support essentially double the current models they sell, simply without the smart features. Retailers have to stock twice the inventory, and deal with customer exchanges without having stock in a smart model, when they have 6 non-smart models sitting there. Whatever they make up in cost savings from eliminating parts, they have to make up in increased costs elsewhere, loss of volume part discounts, and potentially even lost sales when the model a customer wants isn't readily available.

They already do that. Samsung artificially separates its product line into hundreds of models, different price categories, different markets, different "uses", etc. All with the goal of raising artificial barriers between markets and confusing the customer so that Samsung makes a few more bucks here and there.

The irony is that most of their models perform well enough for everything, while the price difference exists solely to comfort the people who buy the expensive models, to make them believe that a $1500 tv is worth three times the price of the basic model; in reality the tech and the manufacturing process are the same, and the differences in quality between different models of the same tech process come down to slight (miss)calibrations and other fluff. Sometimes it happens that a more expensive Samsung model is a worse performer than a cheap low-mid range tv.

But that's nothing new.
 
4. Longterm OS support (It's highly doubtful LG, or any TV maker will update your tv's OS & apps after a year or more. Profit margins are stretched way too thin to put R&D into outdated models.)
This is a great point. And now that I think about it, it is actually one justification for the unicorn Apple Television. Personally I doubt it will happen, but you know Apple would keep providing continuous updates, bug fixes, and features and thy tend to keep supporting their devices for many years. Also you wouldn't have to worry about them spying on you or recording you (tv manufacturers have already been caught doing this), selling your information, or pushing ads at you. Companies like Sony, Samsung, LG, etc. are, as you say, unlikely to keep supporting the platform for long and even then the support you do get will be spotty.

On the other hand, the AppleTV still has some issues (not all Apple's fault but still) that prevent it from becoming my one and only source. The lack of Amazon Prime app is a major reason, and while it does have a Playstation Vue app, the UI is terrible on Apple TV. And I continue to be frustrated by the remote in general (bad ergonomics, sketchy trackpad, no lights, too small to keep from getting lost, button too easily triggered, not 100% reliable CEC power, etc.)
 
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The disadvantage (for me) of the TV based/running apps: lack of support & updates.
On my <1y old 7000 series, some apps (youtube-Synology-Plex-...) need to be restarted multiple times per day (running slow/no content refresh/stuck navigation/...). Sometimes they force me to unplug (not stand-by) the TV for a full restart of the app.

Hint: use the voice command 'close app' /'close' instead of unplugging. It forces the TV to fully shut down the app and you can restart it.
 
Just a few reasons:

1. Better interface. (as per 360's post above)

2. Integration with iTunes (buy your movies once and watch them on any device - no hassle)

3. Airplay (easily stream photo & video from your iDevice to your TV)

4. Longterm OS support (It's highly doubtful LG, or any TV maker will update your tv's OS & apps after a year or more. Profit margins are stretched way too thin to put R&D into outdated models.)

5. Privacy & security of your personal data. Selling user data is an easy way smart TV makers can make up for tight profit margins. See: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro...vs-are-sharing-your-voice-data-with/index.htm AND https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/vizio-tracked-sold-user-data-millions-smart-tvs-ftc-says AND https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/7/14527360/vizio-smart-tv-tracking-settlement-disable-settings AND on and on...

//

+1

I'm just waiting for my LG TV to be installed and the ATV 4K is sitting there patiently waiting.
I didn't realize #5 though. Not surprised however!

For me, I have a Synology server and my photos are being added (slower than I'd like...need to spend more time on it), BUT, I tried the LG app instore and didn't like it. I saw a demo of the DS Photo app (on the ATV) and it's geared more towards how I want to view my photos.

I'm not a huge fan of Photos just yet. I'm still using Aperture and exporting jpgs onto the Synology in order. I need to finish organizing everything then I might make that jump to Photos (or something else). For now, AP still works. Oh interestingly enough, Synology now has a demo for a beta version of a new Photos type app. I might try that once I finally get my library organized enough (last few years are good....previous lot...not so much! lol)

Great point about the OS support. At least you know Apple is committed, but I suppose if a TV manufacturer changed their OS then one could buy a device to replace those needs.

Cheers,
Brian
 
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This may be a very specific advantage, but I am waiting for Atmos support for the atv as this will be the only way to play atmos content on my lg oled due to my soundbar's inability to receive atmos through ARC.
 
This may be a very specific advantage, but I am waiting for Atmos support for the atv as this will be the only way to play atmos content on my lg oled due to my soundbar's inability to receive atmos through ARC.

If your soundbar does not support ATMOS (speakers not there), what good is it going to do to send the ATMOS signal to it?
 
It can receive Atmos through the hdmi inputs, just not via ARC.
Are you sure?
Going via ARC, first thing that counts, is your TV's audio handling ability. AVR/soundbar etc will just get what TV is willing to send.
Second, it is highly unlikely, that your TV supports lossless Dolby TrueHD, so no sound at all from that stream.
You could try to play a file, where Atmos rides on Dolby Digital+ 7.1 stream. It may well be passed out via ARC.
At least that is what my Sony does. That is because it officially supports only PCM, DD, DD+ and DTS on it's ARC output. None of the lossless audio formats. I get silence from TrueHD&Atmos track, I get Atmos sound from DD+&Atmos track.
 
Are you sure?
Going via ARC, first thing that counts, is your TV's audio handling ability. AVR/soundbar etc will just get what TV is willing to send.
Second, it is highly unlikely, that your TV supports lossless Dolby TrueHD, so no sound at all from that stream.
You could try to play a file, where Atmos rides on Dolby Digital+ 7.1 stream. It may well be passed out via ARC.
At least that is what my Sony does. That is because it officially supports only PCM, DD, DD+ and DTS on it's ARC output. None of the lossless audio formats. I get silence from TrueHD&Atmos track, I get Atmos sound from DD+&Atmos track.
2017 LG OLEDs do support TrueHD on the TV and over ARC.
 
I have a SONY 900e and love the TV, but the android OS was very disappointing and sluggish. So I bought ATV 4K and the difference is huge. It’s an upgrade over Android OS.
 
Are you sure?
Going via ARC, first thing that counts, is your TV's audio handling ability. AVR/soundbar etc will just get what TV is willing to send.

Unfortunately the last part is not true in this case. I have a K950 atmos soundbar, and it has been well documented amongst us users that it will not support atmos via the arc connection, only through the other hdmi inputs, regardless of my tv's (lg oled b7p) ability to send it over arc.
 
I just bought a Samsung TV and I have to say- I agree with the above poster. We use the Apple TV very rarely now, and the greatest benefit I have noticed is we no longer have to use the Apple TV remote with its stupid "gesture based" finger sliding control! The TV remote took over controlling it- very impressed. So for those rare times when we use it, we can use the tv remote.
 
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