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Apple Sold 2 Million Apple TVs Last Year in US, Trailing Behind Chromecast and Roku
- Thread starter MacRumors
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Agreed. Huge missed opportunity. An App Store would have made the Apple TV as must have as the ipod, iPhone or iPad when they were first released. Hardly anyone knows what an Apple TV even is.
I won't use / support any streaming devices, including Apple TV, etc, because I like to have control of my content without relying on one of these devices. Im not reliant upon internet access to watch a movie / show. I prefer this on Blu-Ray disc, and these devices cannot stream blu-ray quality.
Having a physical movie disc, means I can watch it without worry about internet access, no downloads and a lot better quality - with no DRM restrictions (I remove these for a personal backup). Streaming is mainly about convenience, but now when you lose control rights.
Having a physical movie disc, means I can watch it without worry about internet access, no downloads and a lot better quality - with no DRM restrictions (I remove these for a personal backup). Streaming is mainly about convenience, but now when you lose control rights.
To be fair, Roku is only available in UK and Canada and Chromecast in Canada and a few European countries, while Apple TV is available worldwide.
*Buys Chromecast*
*Wastes his money by never using it*
*Tells people on a forum*
*Get's the highest rated comment*
They really have missed a trick once again, I have loved our ATV 2 and the 1 before that but most people I try to convince either but a Roku or Jailbroken an AT2 instead of buying 3, in fact on Ebay ATv3 can be had for £30 where as ATV2 is over £140! because they are so popular with Plex and XBMC.
I think Apple spend too much time spreading their engineers around and missing opportunities, I have to say my friends Roku looks much better than my ATV2, I mostly use it for streaming films from my iTunes or Airplay, but having just discovered PLex it's way better than my iTunes movie Library plus I can add any format I like! Once I installed it all of our home movies I archived via iMovie come up, iTunes won't do this cos it's such limited format, I was going to convert them all one day , now I won't bother!
I think Apple spend too much time spreading their engineers around and missing opportunities, I have to say my friends Roku looks much better than my ATV2, I mostly use it for streaming films from my iTunes or Airplay, but having just discovered PLex it's way better than my iTunes movie Library plus I can add any format I like! Once I installed it all of our home movies I archived via iMovie come up, iTunes won't do this cos it's such limited format, I was going to convert them all one day , now I won't bother!
So by that logic they should never have made iTunes, iDVD, Quicktime, integrated MP3 and all the other codecs on iPhones, iPads and iPods, included CD/DVD burners in their Macs and also not allow you to install 3rd party apps on Mac OS, just in case you install something "naughty" like uTorrent or VLC...
Considering they don't advertise it, haven't updated it in a while, and it's only just left "hobby" status, third place isn't bad.
So is AppleTV
Im still using the 2nd gen 720p. They aren't going to sell more if they are t going to offer new features and capability.
AppleTV - Good But Frustrating
I've had AppleTV for some time now. In many respects it works just great and I'm now using it much more to stream content from my iMac - especially movies etc. There are, however, two big bugbears for me.
1) It is incredibly US-centric. There are Apple customers outside the USA - not that you would know it from the channels available on AppleTV. Surely it can't be too hard to negotiate rights to stream Freeview channels in the UK. Every other box on the market can do it.
2) Facilities to organise content are way too limited. As streaming becomes a more common way of storing and viewing content there have to be better ways of classifying, sorting and retrieving content.
I've had AppleTV for some time now. In many respects it works just great and I'm now using it much more to stream content from my iMac - especially movies etc. There are, however, two big bugbears for me.
1) It is incredibly US-centric. There are Apple customers outside the USA - not that you would know it from the channels available on AppleTV. Surely it can't be too hard to negotiate rights to stream Freeview channels in the UK. Every other box on the market can do it.
2) Facilities to organise content are way too limited. As streaming becomes a more common way of storing and viewing content there have to be better ways of classifying, sorting and retrieving content.
Apple completely blew Apple TV with underinvestment, poor planning, a hopeless UI and dreams of stupid amounts of rentseeking.
There's an easier way. Try 'Beamer'. It's the best $15-$20 you'll spend for streaming any type of file, of any size from you Mac. MKVs play flawlessly (you can try it for free as the trial version plays for 15 minutes).
I have to say that Chromecast is the Apple device that Apple never did. It's beautiful in its combination of simplicity and power – exactly what Apple is known for. The Apple TV looks awkward in comparison, a set-top box that harkens back to the early days of cable and satellite TV, and that's no easy feat to pull off when the Apple TV is streamlined for a specific purpose already. Chromecast is finally getting mirroring "officially" too.
Google outdid Apple on this one.
Google outdid Apple on this one.
I use Beamer to stream movies (avi, mkv, whatever) or music to AppleTV from my Mac. Works seamlessly. Doesn't require any mirroring or iOS devices either.
*Buys Chromecast*
*Wastes his money by never using it*
*Tells people on a forum*
*Get's the highest rated comment*
*Points out obvious stuff on forum we already know*
Exactly my point: quite possible that Roku and Chromecast outsell the AppleTV in the US, but in most parts of the world, they aren't even trying.
Roku and Chromecast are even far more US-centric. See above.