Apple TV Surpasses iPad in Netflix Streaming Popularity

[Well]

Easy: Netflix is preinstalled on the Apple TV. It isn't on the iPad.

This is an American-based website talking about using an American-based service on hardware/software designed by an American company. So what exactly is the problem then? Should we apologize for being American? I don't go to Macbidouille and complain that they are talking about Orange and not Verizon or AT&T. You see, here's how the internet works:

1.) Someone makes a website that interests a group of people
2.) That website features ads on it to make money
3.) There is no step 3

Rant .. Rant .....

Hmmm. I don't see anything here about MacRumors being only for people from the USA. Have I missed something?

This is an American-based website talking about using an American-based service on hardware/software designed by an American company that is solid to significantly more people around the world, than to people from the USA

Really macduke, you are being very silly.

 

[Tailpike1153]

I haven't switched on TV since 2003 when Britain decided to join US in aggressive neo-imperialistic war and when it used TV to spread its brain washing propaganda filth and lies.

I feel like a new born and celebrate that date as a 2nd birthday

Kill your TV together with that rubbish Apple black box!

8 years without tele. Most impressive. Often wondered if I could do it. The commericial radio is horrid. I don't good reception for the public station. I often wonder if I misunderestimated the effects of watching "W" for 8 years. Perhaps it has made me dumberer than rest of world.

 

[Loonytik]

Duh?

I mean really, people prefer watching Netflix on a giant 42"-60"(Or some other size) HDTV instead of the tiny iPad screen? Shocking!

I have watched Netflix on my iPhone in the past and didn't mind the experience but, I wasn't sitting in front of my LG HDTV either. I stream using a Panasonic Blu-Ray player and have never had freezing issues except with Terminator 2. For some reason that movie freezes every time for me.

 

[klittle32]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148a Safari/6533.18.5)

No surprise. In addition to the screen size factor, I for one think the netflix app on iPad stinks! I is not very responsive and the touch targets are much too small. I hope netflix is working on an iPad app that isn't simply a mirror image of their website.

 

[nylonsteel]

netflix stock has performed well - but the p/e ratio is outrageous - interesting to see if nflx will continue to perform as a company or be the next krispy kreme
i may play the short side later

 

[0815]

without having any numbers to back this up, I dare to say that probably almost everyone (in the US) with appleTV does the netflix streaming, compared to iPad owners, where only a small percentage use it (either because of the small screen or not even being aware that they can do it) ... so don't think there is a big surprise here.

 

[JGowan]

Duh?

I mean really, people prefer watching Netflix on a giant 42"-60"(Or some other size) HDTV instead of the tiny iPad screen? Shocking!

It's an interesting fact, that's all. When you take into consideration that the iPad outnumbers the TV 14 to 1 AND the fact that it's portable and can be take anywhere as opposed to an HDTV that has to remain put, YES, it's wild that TV still is beating the iPad, a device that could be streaming Netflix from just about anywhere where there's wifi, which is everywhere.

If MR.com DIDN'T run this story, people would be wondering where it was and complaining about THAT. The complaints and sarcasm that runs rampant without check on this website have certainly gotten worse over the years. The trolling is unparalleled. This is from a guy who's been here for a little while (Jan 2003).

 

[dave420]

Duh?

I mean really, people prefer watching Netflix on a giant 42"-60"(Or some other size) HDTV instead of the tiny iPad screen? Shocking!
.

It is easy enough to hook the iPad up to a TV. I've only watched Netflix on the device itself a couple times, but many hours with it hooked up to a TV.

 

[ph0rk]

It's all in the connection. Whereas your Apple TV is hard-wired, and connected high speed full-time, the only way to practically watch Netflix on your ipad is wirelessly, which either means you have to be on your wifi network at home, where you might as well watch a tv, or over at&ts weak-ass 3g connection, which reduces your image quality to nothing and continually drops the audio. A big part of the problem is the iPads weak 3G antenna, which, placed side by side with an iphone, only seems to get 60% of the signal strength of the phone...

resulting in a picture like this full-resolution uncompressed png screen capture:

Lame.

I'm sure it varies. I work and live around a college campus, and the entire area has virtually complete wifi coverage, so I can stream netflix pretty much anywhere. I think trying to watch tv while using 3g gets you the performance you deserve.

I pretty much only use it on the ipad when I'm in windows on my mac pro or I'm cooking.

 

[Aelton]

Comcast?

I am curious whether others having the Netflix streaming/buffering issues are using Comcast?

I am, and I am seeing this issue intermittently, and often in the 7-10pm time slot mentioned. I read some speculation that Comcast was playing games with throttling data coming from Netflix due to some peering agreements with L3 and Netflix. The fact that the slowdowns are occurring during what I presume to be peak home internet usage makes me think that perhaps the local network I'm on with Comcast is saturated.

 

[MacManTexas56]

Add to that the $7.99 per month (I think) entry price with Netflix, and it's a doubly good deal.

i wouldn't go that far....the content isn't very good.

 

[jclardy]

I'd imagine at least 90% of people who bought a new Apple TV bought it partly as a Netflix streaming box.

Since Netflix and iTunes are basically all it does right now.

 

[MacManTexas56]

I'd imagine at least 90% of people who bought a new Apple TV bought it partly as a Netflix streaming box.

Since Netflix and iTunes are basically all it does right now.

i bought it for music/photo streaming from my MBA and for itunes rentals. actually haven't tried streaming netflix on it yet, use the ps3 for that.

 

[ravenvii]

Yeah, my family basically bought the Apple TV for Netflix. Works pretty well.

But useless for me still (like the iPad app) since they haven't added support for subtitles.

 

[pjac]

Yeah, my family basically bought the Apple TV for Netflix. Works pretty well.

But useless for me still (like the iPad app) since they haven't added support for subtitles.

That's pretty poor

Of course, being outside the USA we don't even get Netflix (yet).

 

[res1233]

That's pretty poor

Of course, being outside the USA we don't even get Netflix (yet).

In many countries in Europe, the cost of doing business is higher. Sure, there still is money to be made, but it depends on how much you're willing to take up the butt from the EU.

 

[-=XX=-Nephilim]

8 years without tele. Most impressive. Often wondered if I could do it. The commericial radio is horrid. I don't good reception for the public station. I often wonder if I misunderestimated the effects of watching "W" for 8 years. Perhaps it has made me dumberer than rest of world.

It is quite easy actually - try it and you will love it!

I still watch selected movies / documentaries / programs via DVD & Internet - of course! - there are some amazing stuff out there...

But TV, as in local / national channels stuffed with celebrities, random crap, cheap Hollywood trash and laughable political / war propaganda - NO AND NEVER AGAIN they can sell that stuff to someone else!

 

[kdjohn3]

Netflix doesn't stream in 1080i or 1080p to ANY device so that point is mute.

Not true. Netflix has been streaming a limited number of shows and movies in 1080P and 5.1 to the PS3 since October. (I know Lost is 1080P. Not sure what else off the top of my head.) See this Engadget story.

The PS3 interface is adequate, but i'll be going with an Apple TV when it gets 1080P support in the next revision. The thing that bothers me more than anything else about watching on the PS3 is the loud fan. It's nowhere near as loud as an Xbox 360, but it's loud enough to annoy.

 

[Mistrblank]

It's all in the connection. Whereas your Apple TV is hard-wired, and connected high speed full-time, the only way to practically watch Netflix on your ipad is wirelessly, which either means you have to be on your wifi network at home, where you might as well watch a tv, or over at&ts weak-ass 3g connection, which reduces your image quality to nothing and continually drops the audio. A big part of the problem is the iPads weak 3G antenna, which, placed side by side with an iphone, only seems to get 60% of the signal strength of the phone...

resulting in a picture like this full-resolution uncompressed png screen capture:

Lame.

Not an issue, your picture is FUD related to the speed of your network or your poor setup. My iPad and my AppleTV use the same wireless G network and I get pictures of a marked improvement over the one your posted, even when watching a movie only in standard definition through netflix.

 

[JAT]

I am curious whether others having the Netflix streaming/buffering issues are using Comcast?

I am, and I am seeing this issue intermittently, and often in the 7-10pm time slot mentioned. I read some speculation that Comcast was playing games with throttling data coming from Netflix due to some peering agreements with L3 and Netflix. The fact that the slowdowns are occurring during what I presume to be peak home internet usage makes me think that perhaps the local network I'm on with Comcast is saturated.

Probably local network. I was on 16Mb Comcast for a few months and had no issues. We could run 2 Netflix streams (not HD) at once, any time of day, with no problems. Did that frequently

Now I've got a faster Qwest connection. Last night to wind down I was watching Netflix HD on the big screen, my wife was watching something else on her laptop, and my daughter was watching something on the iPod. HD takes a couple extra minutes to buffer, other than that it is very smooth.

I'd say we're getting our money's worth out of Netflix. Although....none of this was with an TV or iPad. Am I off topic?

Oh, and regarding ThunderSkunk....the iPod is a 1G (think...glacial) and wireless G, the laptop has N wireless, but would be on G with the iPod active since I only have one network. No issues. I think you have a problem with your setup. Actually, I've never seen blurring like that. When we do have issues, it shows as skips, not blurring.

 

[Aelton]

Probably local network. I was on 16Mb Comcast for a few months and had no issues. We could run 2 Netflix streams (not HD) at once, any time of day, with no problems. Did that frequently

Now I've got a faster Qwest connection. Last night to wind down I was watching Netflix HD on the big screen, my wife was watching something else on her laptop, and my daughter was watching something on the iPod. HD takes a couple extra minutes to buffer, other than that it is very smooth.

I'd say we're getting our money's worth out of Netflix. Although....none of this was with an TV or iPad. Am I off topic?

Oh, and regarding ThunderSkunk....the iPod is a 1G (think...glacial) and wireless G, the laptop has N wireless, but would be on G with the iPod active since I only have one network. No issues. I think you have a problem with your setup. Actually, I've never seen blurring like that. When we do have issues, it shows as skips, not blurring.

I should note that I only have ever seen issues with streaming when viewing on the ATV. When I use my PS3, I haven't seen a problem.

 

[drinkjuiceshelb]

now if only it wouldn’t freeze….

Yeah I hate that after 20 seconds for either a tv show or movie on netflix, it freezing or speeds up then goes back to normal. :-(

 

[DaREdBaRoN]

Doesn't surprise me. I have 2 Tv's at home and use them all the time. The Tv has the best UI out of all the other Netflix streaming devices I've used. Plus, why would I stream to my iPad at home when I could watch it on my 55" LED?

 

[JAT]

I should note that I only have ever seen issues with streaming when viewing on the ATV. When I use my PS3, I haven't seen a problem.

Then that sounds very local, like your TV. I'm assuming wireless, it could be positioning or an issue with your unit.

 

[ctdonath]

does anyone here watch netflix movies on their iPad?
if so, how hot does the iPad get from watching Netflix movie?

Short:

I do.
It doesn't.

Long:

It's great for watching something I intend to watch alone, or want to watch where I want instead of bowing before the monolith. Great video performance on WiFi; 3G video sucks (as another noted above) but is anytime/anywhere.

It doesn't even warm any discernible amount. Run a high-res video for hours and the metal case is still cool. Not only does it not warm, it doesn't even affect battery life by any appreciable amount.