I have the 4 and mine also has a HUGE ad on the right side of the screen.
I have the Roku 4, Nvidia Shield, and the AppleTV 4. The AppleTV has the best interface by a mile. Nvidia is even worse that Roku, though.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Absolutely hate my New Apple TV
- Thread starter utazdevl
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I have the Roku 4, Nvidia Shield, and the AppleTV 4. The AppleTV has the best interface by a mile. Nvidia is even worse that Roku, though.
I hear ya. Would not be a fan of a large ad taking up screen real estate. This said, there have been differing accounts on this and ... I am even less of a fan of not receiving the picture resolution being put out by the source provider. This would be not dissimilar to choosing to watch SD when HD became available. The ad is there only temporarily. The resolution is in play all the time.
Good stuff. I had originally read that it did not. Glad to hear it does. So - two options for 4k, Fire TV and Roku. I would not consider a streamer if it did not offer 4K.
Unless something has been updated recently, I believe the Firetv has 4k at 30hz while the Roku is at 60Hz.
Exactly. That's why I like the remote so much. I don't have to hunt for anything any longer. Just ask for it and click it.
I think that if Siri had come to the ATV first and then integrated with the phone people would mock it much less.
Did you try changing the frequency channels (2.4 and 5 GHz) of your airport extreme using the airport utility app? You may have RF interference from a neighbor transmitting at the same frequency. I use an utility from the Mac app store (wi-fi something, I can't remember...) to see the other wi-fi signals my mac is detecting. You can see which channel would give you the biggest signal to noise ratio and then adjust your airport extreme accordingly. Doing this took care of all my connectivity issues. If there is an issue is usually because a neighbor change his frequency channels and I have to adjust the again so we don;t interfere with each other. The Airport extreme has a setting that it would do it automatically but that has never work for me.
I would second this, and take it a step further. Name your 5 ghz network something different so you can specifically connect ONLY to it. Wider channel, guaranteed AC connection... You may even connect at a local speed higher than that of your internet, and that's a good thing.
I bought 3 of them to replace my existing ATV3s and no issues so far. Don't care much for the light background but that's going to be fixed in tvOS10 with dark mode
Siri search functionality only works for videos in your library that were iTunes purchases. It does not work for all content that could be in your library.
For now, playlists are the only option that provides a viable navigational workaround for media libraries with hundreds or more titles in a single category
If you're on a Mac, I highly recommend WiFi Explorer. Its distinguishing feature from other WiFi scanners is that it'll give you a graphical channel display showing all the nearby networks where they land on the radio spectrum and with a height corresponding to their signal strength (and width showing the adjacent channels they affect) - makes it extremely easy to see which channels are crowded vs. empty. And personally, I prefer having the same SSID on both the 2.4 and 5 GHz networks, so that the software can switch to the currently-better network as needed, but I can appreciate that others may have more complicated networking environments.
Last edited:
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Lets understand your thinking....Nothing was wrong with the third generation Apple TV so you concluded it is time to replace it? Is that it?
Why not? There's barely any 4K content out there and the stuff that is isn't even stream in full blue ray quality lol
5k imac, 4k video recording, high quality photos etc...
you dont always have to get them, you can also produce them by yourself with your own devices.
we have an inconsistence ecosystem now - new atv cannot produce the same quality as older devices.
WiFi Explorer is the one I use and couldn't remember the name. If there is an Essential section on the Mac app store WiFi Explorer should be there.
Yeah I have the tower Extreme and its not the best out there. WiFi seems to loose strength every 4-5 days. I think your AppleTV is fine.
Why don't you try running a 2.4GHz network. 5GHz is great for speed of file transfers, but its range is not as good as 2.4GHz. Also... this is slightly off topic... but for 99% of your usage, 2.4GHz will be just fine and you will notice absolutely no difference in speed between 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Like I said above, 5GHz is great for file transfers between devices on your intranet, but when connecting to the internet (loading webpages, streaming video etc.) there's no difference with your 50MB line.
was also hoping for more from the atv4 but so far it does not have much to offer especially if you live outside US...also own the Shield tv with the leanback android which apart from their game streaming service also is extremely borring.
I cant say I hate it but im just disapointed with it so far... its like app developers really havent been working with it....same goes for android tv system.
just the same as iphone plus models and their landscape mode...not even most of apples own stuff supports landscape mode and my phone is 2 years old now.
I cant say I hate it but im just disapointed with it so far... its like app developers really havent been working with it....same goes for android tv system.
just the same as iphone plus models and their landscape mode...not even most of apples own stuff supports landscape mode and my phone is 2 years old now.
FWIW, in my neighborhood, the 2.4GHz band is quite congested, while 5GHz is wide open. YMMV of course. But it's another thing to consider. Part of the reason I like WiFi Explorer so much - makes it instantly obvious what the "WiFi landscape" looks like nearby.
I know you aren't quoting me but I feel compelled to add my 2 cents albeit relatively moot point since I do own an ATV.
I want to maximize the quality of the content I watch. While 4k/hdr content is few in and far between what is there does look better in 4k vs 1080p. I'd much rather watch the highest quality of the content that is available.
One also needs to keep in mind quality is relative. You say BD (1080p) has better quality then 4K streamed, that can be the case however we are talking about streaming boxes and 4k streamed is clearly and obviously better than 1080p streamed.
I'd argue that 4k WITH HDR streamed rivals BD quality even if its mostly due in part to HDR (yes I know even less content then 4k alone) being a different type of quality then just straight resolution.
As someone that watches a lot of YouTube I go straight to the TV's built in YouTube app since a lot of the content I watch is 4k. This is something I'd like to see in an AppleTV although I feel Google needs to work on their app (it sucks on ATV IMO).
I actually prefer the ATV app, but I typically use the 4K version on the TV like you do. The thing is, compared to other players, the ATV has more unique programming. My Samsung has VUDU, netflix, Amazon prime, YouTube, and other stuff I was using on the Roku. The Appletv has Apple Music, Home Sharing, Photos, the podcast app, AirPlay, etc. As a result, I prefer it to other streamers on my 4K TV.
The Roku is mainly being used with the Vizio 4K TV in my office because I prefer it to Vizio Casting. ( I use a splitter so I have the option to use it in either room)
ATV definitely has its merits, no argument there. Things I've noticed though with modern TV's, I'm using my KS9000 as the example, because that's all I really have to compare.
The built in decoder is much more powerful than the ATV4. Home sharing is great but has its drawbacks. I can pull encoded 4K/HDR videos directly off my NAS (without the help of my Mac) to the TV. I can encode a higher qualities too without the limits of the ATV affecting me.
AirPlay doesn't hold a candle to Samsungs casting feature. It's ultra fast and much more reliable, plus supports casting 4K. Apps work much better with it, you can queue videos, reliably move them into the background, etc etc. All my apps on my iPad from HBOgo to Crunchyroll support it...YouTube, Hulu, netflixs all those. There is no native mirroring though so that could be a problem for many.
All the sharing function can be performed without the ATV but like you I still prefer the ATV when it comes to photos. Samsung obviously doesn't offer direct access to iCloud photos.
Obviously Apple Music isn't built into a TV either.
Built in apps are better. I use YouTube as my example because I use it so often. There is still no refresh feature in the ATV app. To refresh my subscriptions I need to force close and reopen the app. This likely isn't Apples fault but if I just compare what is a better experience it's Samsungs built in app. Hulu is similar, slow and clunky on the ATV. Other apps can be very similar in quality like Netflix but again ATV doesn't offer 4K and HDR.
I'm finding other techs to be making the ATV more and more redundant. Why would I want to watch a lower quality video? Because the UI to get to it is slightly better?
I'll likely always have an ATV since I'm in Apples ecosystem. But with the upcoming PlayStation Neo the ATV will likely be my secondary device that I only use when I want to use iTunes or something.
Just ordered a new Xbox One S to get a 4K device in the main viewing room that has more functionality than the 4K BD player did. I'll be interested to see how my viewing patterns in terms of equipment are altered by this. It supposedly interfaces with the DirecTV box and it will have Netflix, Vudu and Amazon on it, plus the 4K BD drive. I'll keep you peeps posted.
Please do. Be nice to see a comparison to ATV use since most everything else online is Xbox vs Playstation.
If I wasn't so deep in Playstation's eco system with games, trophies, friends, peripherals etc etc I definitely would be getting an Xbox One S. Then again I'd probably be waiting for the Scorpio so its kind of a moot point.
Thanks, it's quite interesting to hear the quality comparisons between the two. My TV is old enough to not have any built-in apps, but one other bit that concerns me is that some of the TV manufacturers have been caught doing some fairly creepy things with built-in apps (perhaps not so much the apps as having a always-on networked computerized beachhead in your living room), like tracking your TV viewing habits and reporting back to... well, probably whoever offers them the most money for the information.
If I were to upgrade to a TV that had built-in apps (I'd be upgrading to get a bigger screen, etc., and it's getting harder to find a non-smart TV these days), I'd probably leave its network connection unconnected (I use the current one pretty much as a monitor - on/off and volume, everything else is the AppleTV since I "cut the cord") and still use the AppleTV for most/all content (I've also got a FireTV, but the AppleTV gets all the viewing time - I like the UI better and it meshes well with the Apple ecosystem - the FireTV is basically an Amazon Prime TV viewing device, purchased during one of their sales - if Amazon ever came out with an app for the AppleTV, I'd probably unplug the FireTV as no longer necessary).
Apple may have other failings, but they've made it fairly clear that their business model is, "we charge you a whole bunch of money up-front for hardware, and we don't rely on collecting/selling - and don't want to collect - lots of data about you". I don't trust the motives of the TV manufacturers as much (they're mostly competing on razor-thin margins and thus have more incentive to look for other ways of making money off of you).