I'm really happy with the ATV3. We have 4 of them throughout the house. I love the clean, attractive interface. It's nice to be able to hide "apps" you don't want to see/use, as it keeps the home screen clutter-free. I like the ATV4 too. We have one 32 GB, and one 64 GB. I think each device (3 & 4) has a clear advantage over the other.
ATV3 better:
- Apps are better. People have mentioned Netflix having genres on the ATV3 and not on the ATV4. HBOGO & Showtime Anytime suck on the ATV4 too. They don't offer autoplay. If I want to binge a show I have to go back out to the menu after every episode and select the next episode. They offer autoplay on the ATV3. I also like to fall asleep to shows. If I'm using HGBOGO or Showtime Anytime and I want to keep playing one episode after another until my sleep timer shuts things down, I either have to airplay from an iDevice or use the ATV3 (or another device, like the Amazon Fire TV). ATV4 will play one episode, and then retreat to the show's menu. I know this is the app developer and not Apple, but still. No autoplay is lame.
- Optical audio out. I know there are workarounds for not having it on the ATV4. I'd prefer the ATV4 just included the port.
ATV4 better:
- Having Siri voice search really helps find a show or movie more quickly. If I know I want to watch something, I can get it started much more quickly using that. It's great that the voice search works across providers (iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, etc...) too. We have Amazon devices with voice search, and their devices only search through Amazon's content (although their new devices coming out this month are supposed to work across different providers).
- Siri allows you to go to a specific part of the movie/show very quickly and efficiently. If I want to skip the credits on "The West Wing" (or whatever), I just say "fast forward 45 seconds." You can also fast forward using the touch screen remote very efficiently. It shows you the scenes you're scrolling through on a little box. With the ATV3 you have to hit fast forward like you're ffd'ing through a DVD. It shows you what you're skipping, but not very efficiently. It's more labor intensive and less precise.
- With more power under the hood than the ATV3, I can pull up & search through my iTunes owned content much more quickly. If you have a lot of movies or tv shows, it takes a while for the ATV3 to show all movies/shows. The ATV4 pulls up the entire list quickly.
Both devices have a much more attractive interface than the Amazon devices, for example. Amazon is bunched up and fugly. I suppose it can be cleaned up by rooting/hacking the device, but I really don't like it out of the box. I have 229 videos purchased through Amazon (movies & tv shows combined). When I look at "Your Video Library," it literally lays them all out in a single line in order of date of purchase, from left to right (with the most recent purchase being the first one on the left). It's maddening to scroll through all of your content that way.
I own a bunch of devices.
ATV4 - 2 (one 32 GB, one 64 GB)
ATV3 - 4
ATV2 - 1 (still in the box)
Amazon Fire TV - 1
Amazon Fire TV Stick - 3 (two with regular remotes, one with voice remote)
Roku 2 XS - 1
Google Chromecast - 1
Vizio Smart TV - 1 (not crazy about the apps on smart tv's)
I've never rooted/hacked anything or side loaded anything. I use them all "stock." Apple are my favorite devices. I just wish you could get Amazon (and Vudu, etc...) on Apple devices and iTunes on Amazon (and Roku, etc...) devices. At least you can watch Amazon content on ATV's through airplay via iPhone/iPad.
I wish Apple had future-proofed the ATV4 with 4K. The last time I checked (a couple months ago), there was very little content on Amazon & Netflix in 4K. I suppose it's going to grow exponentially, but having to pay extra (Netflix) for very little content...eh. I still wish Apple had included the ability to watch things in 4K.
This is a pretty fair review of both products. I have some more to add on both.
ATV3 is better:
Stable, it self-reboots only once in a while, a few times a year lately.
Lack of bugs, it is a simple UI, that just works.
Set up, you can take it out of the box, and have it ready to use in a few minutes with little delay.
Restart, if you have to restart, it does so very quickly.
Ease of use, my technologically-challenged parents can use it using their TV remote without losing features.
3rd party remote friendly, you use the remote learning feature, and the button functions are standard for all apps.
Full screen when paused, you can view the whole screen when a video is paused. It is not covered up, or darkened.
YouTube, the app has more options, such as related videos and viewing a persons channel right from a video.
Netflix, Probably the best Netflix UI that I have used so far. You can see related videos, genres, and info about a video.
Hulu, loads fast.
Buffering, never a problem like the ATV4.
Searching, using text entry is easy to use.
Price, you can buy a few refurbished ones for the price of the 64GB ATV4.
Faster, while having a slower processor, it seems faster on many,(although not all) tasks.
ATV4 is better:
App Store, probably (or potentially) the best thing about the ATV4, although quality apps are lacking.
Multi-Task? Not sure if that would be the right word to use, but you can (sometimes) play two apps at the same time.
Netflix, looks pretty.
Voice search, when it works, it is like magic, when it doesn't find something it should, it is frustrating.
Hawaii screen saver, looks unreal, like a videogame. Makes me want to be there.
Not being discontinued, at least not yet.
I could probably name many more for both, but the ATV3 is better in the important ways imo. I wish I could add voice search and multi task to the ATV3. That, plus a few current apps from the ATV4 app store, and the ATV3 would be almost perfect for me.
I think Apple really dropped the ball on the ATV4. I was looking forward to it when it was just a rumored and been mostly disappointed with it so far. The bugs, random restarts, horrible Netflix app, and general chunkiness of it, it feels like it we are all beta testers.
