Actually it is is possible to have seperate buttons by using the "learn remote" feature with any third party IR remote.
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Apple TV or Roku 3? ...
- Thread starter cmeisenzahl
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Actually it is is possible to have seperate buttons by using the "learn remote" feature with any third party IR remote.
Thanks for the comment
I've had difficulty with apples learn remote option and my existing unused remotes. I've also searched for a list of all additional, learnable, apple tv remote commands without any luck. Do you have a link to the full list?
I'd be very surprised if they actually had a skip forward command as I described for the roku, but I can believe they might have a discreet skip back, and depending on ATVs responsiveness to multiple quick presses that could still be a nice plus.
The commands are broken up into two sets: basic and playback.
Basic
- up
- down
- left
- right
- select
- menu
Playback
- play
- pause (note: this command doesn't seem to actually work during playback)
- stop
- rewind
- fast forward
- previous chapter
- next chapter
- skip back (10 second intervals)
- skip forward (30 second intervals)
Thanks so much for the info. I am really happy to be wrong about the skip forward
.Have you found that the AppleTV will respond consistently when you press multiple skip commands quickly, does it keep track ?
I will get this working with my universal remote and report back. This could be VERY valuable for me.
Thanks
Pete
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Here's my report.
This all really works EXACTLY as I would want. I used an old samsung remote as the basis for these commands, and updated my universal remote to incorporate them.
I have skip back/forward working consistently with any number of quick presses, as well as the chapter skipping back/forward, and discrete PLAY. BTW, the way this seems to be working for me, in answer to your issue with the playback commands is this:
PLAY appears to be a discrete PLAY (not a play/pause toggle), but PAUSE actually IS a play/pause TOGGLE. This is a very reasonable approach IMO, and might be my preferred behavior.
This whole change with discrete skip commands makes a huge difference for me, so thanks VERY much for this input APlotdevice
Pete
Huh, so it does. It just didn't work properly with the pause button on my universal remote for some reason; Re-programmed it to respond to a different button and now it works fine.
Well anyway, you're very welcome!
Well anyway, you're very welcome!
I'd have to disagree with this. Closed caption is very important to me as well. In recent months I've found that amazon on roku seems to have as great a percentage of closed caption titles as iTunes.
But the titles that have them are often different between the two services. I'll always choose the streaming service that has closed caption (between iTunes on appleTV and amazon on roku or netflix on either), and its another reason why I like having both boxes.
Pete
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You can "airplay" on the ROKU using Twonky Beamer. It's free. You download it onto your iOS device and onto your ROKU and it functions just like AirPlay. And there's a podcast channel for ROKU so you don't have to use Plex to get those. And you can side load beta/private/banned channels like youtube, etc. I've never used anything but Apple computers, but didn't hesitate to get a ROKU when I learned how limited the current Apple TVs are in comparison. Hopefully, the next iteration will step up the game a bit because it doesn't even seem like a fair fight at this point. Why would you pay the same price for a device with less functionality and 1/10th of the content? It just seems obvious to me.
I tried Twonky Beam during the brief period that I owned a Roku. It's not remotely as versatile as AirPlay.
It's neither. AirPlay will work with any site that supports HTML5 video. Twonky doesn't even seem to work with major sites like Blip.TV.
(Sure there's a Blip.TV app on the Roku, but it's completely broken. Only showing a fraction of the available content and crashing whenever you type a space into the search!)
About to subscribe to Netflix. Understand it is solely personal preference, but why do you feel that Amazon Prime is "better" than Netflix? Thanks.
Having Amazon Prime myself, I can say the free two day shipping and monthly book rental ON TOP of the streaming service is pretty sweet.
I have both. I use Roku for VUDU (a lot) and Amazon Prime (a little) which is much better to use then Sony Bluray player, which I use for Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall. I use AppleTV for iTunes and hulu+ (which has a great art movie collection; I don't watch any tv shows). If AppleTV gets VUDU or Prime I won't have a need for the Roku since I don't watch porn on my tv (which Roku has private channels for.)
I'm not a heavy user of the aTV. I really like that when I need to use it for streaming audio from my iPad or renting a TV show or movie from iTunes it is always ready. Have never had an issue with it.
Slightly off topic, a decade or so ago when living overseas we tried to watch the Apple keynotes. We had 12mb DSL but it stuttered, locked up, sometimes audio only. Now I can buy a TV show through aTV from iTunes and watch it on a 55" Sony screen and it starts up about 20s after I click OK and plays through with no stutters or lockups. Amazing how much things have changed.
Slightly off topic, a decade or so ago when living overseas we tried to watch the Apple keynotes. We had 12mb DSL but it stuttered, locked up, sometimes audio only. Now I can buy a TV show through aTV from iTunes and watch it on a 55" Sony screen and it starts up about 20s after I click OK and plays through with no stutters or lockups. Amazing how much things have changed.
I have had intermittent problems with netflix. Sometimes it will not stream in HD. I can go to Amazon prime bring up the same movie and it is streaming in HD. Plus it cost less and I get two day free shipping on orders. It may not have as many movies but it has newer ones.
The one thing netflix has over amazon is that I can stream on 3g, amazon has to be on wifi.
My remarks was reference to Vudu. Which is digital copy service like iTunes. For example the Hobbit did not get Close captioning on Vudu until about 4 months after it's release.
I have atv3, bit I'm planning on getting a Roku 3 and see which I like better. I really want the remote with the headphone connection, from there I will see which I like best. The wife wants EWTN in spanish and some other channels. We order from amazon and have stuff forwarded by a service, I am interested in amazon prime.