Apple TV "Favorites"

[nosnhojm]

I use the "Favorites" feature on the Apple TV quite a bit. I find a currently airing TV series that I want to watch, add it to my favorites, and then whenever a new episode comes out a [red number in upper right corner of thumbnail] notification will display in the Favorites list to alert me.

Unfortunately, this feature doesn't work very well.

Past Implementation:
- Whenever you viewed the Favorites list, the Apple TV would first check for any new episodes. Because of this check, the loading of the favorites list took forever, but when it did load, notifications of new episodes were present.

Current Implementation:
- Viewing the Favorites list no longer triggers the Apple TV to check for new episodes; instead the list appears immediately but without notifications for new episodes. Eventually the Apple TV will (at some arbitrary time) check for new episodes and display the notifications; but for me, this never happens. My Favorites list remains without notifications until I manually go into each show to check for new episodes.

Since I haven't seen any other threads on this issue, am I the only one using the Favorites feature? Or does anyone know a way to force the Apple TV to check for new episodes (for all favorites at once)?

 

[musicpenguy]

Yea I also get the problem with some shows that it thinks I haven't bought it yet - have to go to purchased tab to watch

 

[nosnhojm]

Yea I also get the problem with some shows that it thinks I haven't bought it yet - have to go to purchased tab to watch

When I get that issue, I reboot my Apple TV and it goes away. I also reboot when it says iTunes is unavailable. I find that I need to reboot too often :-|

I just bought, then returned, the Roku 3. Each have nuances that you have to deal with; but at least the Apple TV does so in style (better UI). Also, 1080p iTunes content is awesome; Amazon is only 720p.

 

[musicpenguy]

Yea I love my Apple TV - even with the quirks - I buy tons of iTunes content and there is no set top box other than Apple's that can even playback that content.

I love the interface and how it all works. It is quite awesome browsing through my 300 plus movie collection that lives in the cloud - plus all of the awesome TV shows.

 

[mitch-4]

Favorites displays previous season or promotional pseudo-season

I also notice the non-refresh of the unwatched count. But usually it updates pretty soon for me.

What bothers me more is somewhat related. When I add a show to Favorites, it really doesn't care what season I was perusing when I did that. Generally it will add the newest or latest season, and that will be the one i'm watching, so it all works out -- I have quick access to the desired episodes, and the little unwatched-episodes count notifier dots correctly update.

But when there is a mismatch, then it takes at least one and often several extra clicks to get to the episodes i mean to watch; and the unwatched count does not reflect that season at all.

If the mismatch is because I'm catching up on an older season, I can understand it's sort of something I brought on myself. (But Roku does it accurately!)

What's a little more galling is when I'm watching the current season, but the cover featured on the Favorites is some put-together "starter collection" or "each actor's favorites" or thematic specials. (This is the case currently with "The big Bang Theory" and "The Daily Show" among others.)

Is there a way I can set it to use the current season (or the one I was in when I clicked "Add to Favorites" instead of some irritating promotional collection pseudo-season that just gets in the way?

Thanks!

==Mitch