Apple TV Needs tons of work. Feels very beta

[Steviejobz]

Siri is god awful. Try searching for a name of a person and it's a massive fail.

Also when it gets it right there is a major bug. I get Showtime Anytime because I subscribe to showtime through my cable provider. But when I ask Siri to play Homeland she only gives options for purchasing episodes from iTunes or opening the Showtime app which costs $10/mo. It won't just take me to the Showtime Anytime app.

Already considering a return of this until this basic functionality is restored.

Also in this day and age why am I still using the remote to input user names and passwords? Can we use the keyboard on a laptop or phone? Or speak it through the mic? Totally ridiculous.

 

[AFEPPL]

Siri is the same no matter what the device.
It's something i turn off immediately.

Big surprise is the remote app doesn't work with it....

 

[Steviejobz]

In Music I told Siri to "play Adele". Very simple request. Nothing happened. I mean is Apple trolling us?

 

[dojoman]

Also in this day and age why am I still using the remote to input user names and passwords? Can we use the keyboard on a laptop or phone? Or speak it through the mic? Totally ridiculous.

Can't you pair your iPhone and use the Remote app from phone to type? That was the way it was in previous gen Apple TV but maybe the remote app hasn't updated to work with new one.

 

[Frankied22]

There are definitely some really puzzling omissions in this device launch. I mean they have had a few years to get this product done. It definitely feels bare-bones. I mean the App Store doesn't even let you view apps by categories nor does it let you search with Siri.

 

[Steviejobz]

Can't you pair your iPhone and use the Remote app from phone to type? That was the way it was in previous gen Apple TV but maybe the remote app hasn't updated to work with new one.

No, I have not been able to get this to work. Before under devices the Apple TV would show up and i could use the touch screen and sometimes the keyboard. I hope someone figures out how to do this with the new TV b/c I cant get it to work. Home sharing is on and during setup the phone was used to transfer settings like wifi passwords but cannot seem to use phone to navigate or type on the Apple TV

 

[AFEPPL]

Lets be honest though, its not just this product, the AW, the bugs in OS X, the problems with iOS...
Apple have lost sight of what they "were" in their greed for more sales and profit..

 

[retrospek]

Lets be honest though, its not just this product, the AW, the bugs in OS X, the problems with iOS...
Apple have lost sight of what they "were" in their greed for more sales and profit..

I'm afraid that I agree - They still seem to be good at iPhones and Macs - but everything else is really not good (Watch, Apple Music, Apple TV etc.) They just can't seem to get this stuff right...

 

[Snoopy4]

No, I have not been able to get this to work. Before under devices the Apple TV would show up and i could use the touch screen and sometimes the keyboard. I hope someone figures out how to do this with the new TV b/c I cant get it to work. Home sharing is on and during setup the phone was used to transfer settings like wifi passwords but cannot seem to use phone to navigate or type on the Apple TV

That's just silly. Man. I'm so waiting for this beta project to get right. Jeeze.

 

[mcdj]

No remote app. Siri wonky. Some seriously crappy apps/games, and no way to search them. And it's available in Best Buy before my launch day preorder has even shipped.

I've generally cut Apple some slack when they've botched a huge iPhone or iPad release with massive demand, but this is Apple TV we're talking! Not exactly their hottest product. Kinda pathetic really.

 

[dojoman]

No, I have not been able to get this to work. Before under devices the Apple TV would show up and i could use the touch screen and sometimes the keyboard. I hope someone figures out how to do this with the new TV b/c I cant get it to work. Home sharing is on and during setup the phone was used to transfer settings like wifi passwords but cannot seem to use phone to navigate or type on the Apple TV

Try this..http://www.imore.com/how-automatically-set-your-apple-tv-your-iphone

 

[Frankied22]

I had a feeling when I ordered it that I wouldn't be completely satisfied with it because I've gotten so used to using a Chromecast for two years. The idea of having a setup box with its own logins and photos/music seems a little foreign to me now. I find it much more intuitive to use a phone or tablet (which have their own apps, logins, and data) and just throw whatever you want up to the tv. As much as I don't like Google, it still looks like they are being more innovative in the living room to me. Maybe it's different for different scenarios but living in a house with a couple roommates it's so much easier for us to keep all our own devices and just cast what we want to watch. AirPlay can obviously do the same but there is one big exception. If you're air playing a video and you get a call or try to watch a YouTube video or listen to music on your phone the stream gets cut out. With a Chromecast since the URL gets sent to the Chromecast and the Chromecast streams it you can do other things on your phone without the stream cutting out.

I'm sure in time the Apple TV will offer a lot more advantages, as long as developers invest in making new and creative Apple TV apps, but right now it's really just a catch up device to the Roku and Fire TV. And if you're like me and have gotten used to the Chromecast it's still much easier to just use a phone or tablet and throw media up on th tv. I just wish Apple Music had Chromecast support.

 

[jdmagoo1]

Try this..http://www.imore.com/how-automatically-set-your-apple-tv-your-iphone

That has nothing to do with the problem the OP is describing, you can't use your iPhone to enter app passwords

 

[mic j]

In Music I told Siri to "play Adele". Very simple request. Nothing happened. I mean is Apple trolling us?

Siri for Apple Music won't be implemented until early next year (per lots of articles out there).

Siri is god awful. Try searching for a name of a person and it's a massive fail.

Also when it gets it right there is a major bug. I get Showtime Anytime because I subscribe to showtime through my cable provider. But when I ask Siri to play Homeland she only gives options for purchasing episodes from iTunes or opening the Showtime app which costs $10/mo. It won't just take me to the Showtime Anytime app.

Already considering a return of this until this basic functionality is restored.

I just tried it an it worked fine.

 

[flux73]

I consider this a first release product. Apple never has it perfect on the first try - Siri for iPhone, Apple Maps, OS X, iOS. To be fair, it's probably not a good idea to do it all on the first attempt - if you limit the functionality, you limit the problems. But they do have a good track record of eventually getting it right.

For now, my expectations are pretty low. I'm happy to have the A8 processor, 802.11 ac, touch remote that doesn't require line of sight, and apps. Siri functionality is probably going to be limited for a little while so they can work on her vocabulary of movies and TV shows. I'd imagine it's going to be a high priority for their ATV team. Anyhow, this is the price we pay to be early adopters. Take a chill pill people and watch a movie or something.

 

[Xanderstone12]

That has nothing to do with the problem the OP is describing, you can't use your iPhone to enter app passwords

This thing is boring.. Return.

 

[dojoman]

That has nothing to do with the problem the OP is describing, you can't use your iPhone to enter app passwords

The link shows you how to pair to iPhone. OP wasn't able to do enter password with iPhone since he didn't pair it.

 

[dojoman]

I consider this a first release product. Apple never has it perfect on the first try - Siri for iPhone, Apple Maps, OS X, iOS. To be fair, it's probably not a good idea to do it all on the first attempt - if you limit the functionality, you limit the problems. But they do have a good track record of eventually getting it right.

For now, my expectations are pretty low. I'm happy to have the A8 processor, 802.11 ac, touch remote that doesn't require line of sight, and apps. Siri functionality is probably going to be limited for a little while so they can work on her vocabulary of movies and TV shows. I'd imagine it's going to be a high priority for their ATV team. Anyhow, this is the price we pay to be early adopters. Take a chill pill people and watch a movie or something.

Except this isn't a first try. This is 4th generation Apple TV. It's not like Apple doesn't know how to put together an App store or even Siri for that matter. They have been doing this for years, and they've been known to make a really nice polished hardware/software product. It seems like Apple TV team is clueless about getting this right as if they never talked with software team to come up with flawless user experience.

 

[besler3035]

Siri is god awful. Try searching for a name of a person and it's a massive fail.

Also when it gets it right there is a major bug. I get Showtime Anytime because I subscribe to showtime through my cable provider. But when I ask Siri to play Homeland she only gives options for purchasing episodes from iTunes or opening the Showtime app which costs $10/mo. It won't just take me to the Showtime Anytime app.

Already considering a return of this until this basic functionality is restored.

The Showtime apps don't support Siri yet. Siri support is limited to just a few core apps at this point, but Apple's opening an API for other apps.

 

[flux73]

Except this isn't a first try. This is 4th generation Apple TV. It's not like Apple doesn't know how to put together an App store or even Siri for that matter. They have been doing this for years, and they've been known to make a really nice polished hardware/software product. It seems like Apple TV team is clueless about getting this right as if they never talked with software team to come up with flawless user experience.

The form factor may look the same, but conceptually, this is a first attempt at a new approach - App Store, Siri driven. It all looks simple from the outside, but it's not easy to pull off, no matter how much money you have.

Apple's products almost never have instant universal appeal. They play the long game because they know that people are usually resistant to big change. So they make incremental changes, and keeping focus on just a few important things. Their approach frustrates a lot of people who want it all. *right now*. And it damn well better work flawlessly, or else...

But this is the way Apple has always done things, whether it was the iPhone, iPad, Macbooks, Mac Pro, etc, etc. And even when people complain endless in the short term, Apple tends to win them over in the long run because they focus on the bigger picture. We consumers tend to focus on individual details (lack of 4K, removal of optical audio, imperfect Siri, no killer app on opening day) and we obsess about it.

 

[mcdj]

The form factor may look the same, but conceptually, this is a first attempt at a new approach - App Store, Siri driven. It all looks simple from the outside, but it's not easy to pull off, no matter how much money you have.

Then maybe don't release it until it's ready for prime time and can do what has become expected of it based on pre-existing elements that do actually work in other products.

 

[flux73]

Then maybe don't release it until it's ready for prime time and can do what has become expected of it based on pre-existing elements that do actually work in other products.

If that's the case then the iPhone wouldn't have been released until last year.

Where does this expectation for perfection on first release come from? Has any technology company ever released a perfect product that did everything you could have ever hoped for?

 

[mcdj]

If that's the case then the iPhone wouldn't have been released until last year.

Where does this expectation for perfection on first release come from? Has any technology company ever released a perfect product that did everything you could have ever hoped for?

The iPhone surfed the web, sent and received calls and texts, and played movies and music, among many other things, reasonably well, if not darn well, and certainly as well or better than anything that preceded it.

The Apple TV is a 4th gen device. No one is asking for perfection, but reasonable expectations can't be dismissed by comparing it to a first gen device from 8 years ago. And the comparison doesn't even work, because the 2007 iPhone, despite some hiccups, was stellar. The Apple TV 4 appears to be anything but stellar.

A 4th gen product needs to at least be able to do what its predecessors did, equally well if not better. And if its DNA comes from other successful products, it should competently represent that heritage well too.

Using a touchpad to scroll through letters one at a time is 2 steps back. Voice recognition that does not work as well as it does in other mature products from the same company is a step backwards. The inability to pair the latest and greatest keyboard with the newest media box, while allowing that keyboard to be paired with OLDER hardware is just plain dumb.

Evident of the scattered nature of this device is its very release...loyal customers who preordered on launch day are still waiting for a SHIP date, while any schmo can walk into a store today and buy one. That epitomizes the Apple TV 4 in a nutshell.

 

[Steviejobz]

The link shows you how to pair to iPhone. OP wasn't able to do enter password with iPhone since he didn't pair it.

I did pair it. When first setting up Apple TV they make it easy by telling you to put bluetooth on and be very close to the Apple TV. However after the initial setup, when entering codes for downloaded apps (like your netflix credentials) you cannot use your phone. So for every app you need to repeat this step. Moreover, for subsequent requests to enter your Apple ID you cannot use the phone.

 

[Rigby]

The link shows you how to pair to iPhone. OP wasn't able to do enter password with iPhone since he didn't pair it.

You can't pair an iPhone to the Apple TV. You can transmit some initial setup data (Wifi and iTunes passwords) via Bluetooth, but that's it. To use the phone as a remote control you'd have to use the iOS Remote app, which works over the IP connection (Wifi or Ethernet). But it hasn't been updated for the ATV4. Since Bluetooth keyboards don't work with the ATV4 either, there is currently no good way to enter passwords.