Would be nice if you could buy a top-notch TV _without_ all this smart stuff integrated. Just need a glorified monitor with focus on image quality. Guess they don’t build ‘em like this anymore …
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple TV vs Smart TV
- Thread starter Dino F
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Bit rates higher using the ATV4K compared to the smart tv apps, to the naked eye you probably wouldn’t notice any difference mind.
The quality looks better doing A-B tests vs the built in apps on my Samsung TV with the exception of Amazon prime shows that support HDR10+ on the native app.
Streamers are not a direct conduit, they all apply their own processing to the image.
Things look much better with Apple TV 4K than they do with Samsung equivalent apps. Audio is much better as well.
Being an authorized dealer for AppleTV, Samsung, and Sony, with many installs, set-ups, and trouble-shoots under my belt: The best video/audio performance is noticeable (to a professional) via Sony's OLED televisions through the built-in app. If the AppleTV app is not available, then the TV is simply too old. As far as support, I have not found Apple's to be any better or longer lasting than any other brand. Connecting an external device to any type of component will necessarily introduce additional processing, which degrades performance, although Sony's current ability to make anything look superior is not matched at this time. Usability is undeniably in Samsung's corner, unless, of course you are an Apple "fan"; all things Apple will perform better for you, until they are purposely made obsolete for their next offering. Currently, the widely used, and lauded by Apple fans, AppleTV touchpad remote has been replaced by one with hard buttons for people with more common (not to be derogatory) sense. Personally, I prefer AppleTV's older GUI which was not capable of pushing as many unwanted offerings on the user. Data-mining is no less intense on Apple products as any other. Likewise, the only reason Apple products are not hacked as much as others, is because they would rather spend their baseless lives on a larger audience. For Apple fans, usability will be smoother on anything Apple. Sony has also had some serious glitches with their network interface, which appears to have been fully corrected, so far. For some of my Samsung users, I have been able to get The One Remote to control full racks of A/V equipment along with all peripheral devices, including outboard AppleTV's. I don't recommend this, however; I charge by the hour.
So you joined Macrumors today just to make this post?
Since you‘re using your experience as your street cred. Where do you work? Do you have a website?
I have a 2016ish Samsung 4K HDR10 (KS8000), a 2018ish Sony 4K Dolby Vision (900F) and now the new ATV4K gen2.
Until I owned the ATV, I always thought the Sony version of streaming apps I used (Netflix, HBO) were better. The picture quality was better (brighter brights, darker darks, even though it exhibited a bit of black crush on one end a occasionally blown out bright areas). I thought the Samsung version showed more pixelization even when contrast and brightness were properly dialed in. The Samsung apps were more sluggish to respond, and also tended to get caught in loading loops (all my streaming devices are hard wired via ethernet cable to a 300Mbps connection). And the UI was way smoother on the Sony. That said, the Sony was not perfect either. It too would be prone to slow loading of a show on occasion, and apps would need to be manually killed and restarted once every week or two due to god knows what reason.
Enter the Apple TV 4K gen2. Super fast UI. Super fast app load times. Haven't yet had a stream slow down or choke on me. The whitest areas don't get quite as bright as the Sony apps but that also means they don't wash out surrounding darker areas. Very little noticeable black crush. Picture quality comes very close to my 4K UHD disc collection. I could always tell the difference between my 4K discs and the Sammy/Sony streaming 4K of the same movie. Now with the ATV4K gen2? I don't think I could reliably differentiate most of the time.
I've owned the ATV for a nine days now and I've never used my TV apps during that time, nor do I foresee any desire to do so again.
I didn't even cover the audio output, which on 5.1 and Atmos signals, makes my Atmos enabled home theater system sound like it does during 4K disc playback. The TV apps always sounded like a much thinner version of the soundtrack.
Until I owned the ATV, I always thought the Sony version of streaming apps I used (Netflix, HBO) were better. The picture quality was better (brighter brights, darker darks, even though it exhibited a bit of black crush on one end a occasionally blown out bright areas). I thought the Samsung version showed more pixelization even when contrast and brightness were properly dialed in. The Samsung apps were more sluggish to respond, and also tended to get caught in loading loops (all my streaming devices are hard wired via ethernet cable to a 300Mbps connection). And the UI was way smoother on the Sony. That said, the Sony was not perfect either. It too would be prone to slow loading of a show on occasion, and apps would need to be manually killed and restarted once every week or two due to god knows what reason.
Enter the Apple TV 4K gen2. Super fast UI. Super fast app load times. Haven't yet had a stream slow down or choke on me. The whitest areas don't get quite as bright as the Sony apps but that also means they don't wash out surrounding darker areas. Very little noticeable black crush. Picture quality comes very close to my 4K UHD disc collection. I could always tell the difference between my 4K discs and the Sammy/Sony streaming 4K of the same movie. Now with the ATV4K gen2? I don't think I could reliably differentiate most of the time.
I've owned the ATV for a nine days now and I've never used my TV apps during that time, nor do I foresee any desire to do so again.
I didn't even cover the audio output, which on 5.1 and Atmos signals, makes my Atmos enabled home theater system sound like it does during 4K disc playback. The TV apps always sounded like a much thinner version of the soundtrack.
I am more likely to be on the internet from a client's network; and spend more time watching television programming away from home also...too busy making this stuff work for others than to use it for my own enjoyment, I'd rather be riding, hiking, or golfing anyway. Also, if you are not making money off of social media, then you are being used by it.
Since 1998, every one of my clients has been a referral, and appreciate discreet service, so, I don't use my website.
I was on here to gauge how well AirPlay2 is working for Apple users compared to Sonos users and to check for tips to make it work better for my Apple-fan clients. It seems to still be a little glitchy, but much better than the old versions that would drop out too often. I spend a lot of time in studios and equipment rooms with no cell service, but will eventually receive any message, if a cool tip comes through. Thanks in advance!
Last edited by a moderator:
Which disc player are you using? They all seem to take forever to load compared to an app on anything.
Make sure the TV's sound settings are correct for Atmos and HDR, otherwise it will just be compressed.
This.
the Tv app support on my previous Samsung started dropping too quickly. To be fair I had bought the previous year’s model, so I was starting late already. But damn…
My latest Sony is good for apps so far, AirPlay good too, but the user and the ‘it just works’ is much better with my AppleTV 4K so far. For one, YouTube likes to crash on my Sony. Full system reboot fixes it. Plex likes to just spin instead of loading. Hit apps button, load plex again, issue solved. None of that so far with AppleTV4k. Ultimately I prefer to pay for ‘it just works’ versus saving some money but putting up with bugs.
This needs to be said over and over. Apple is massively out in front of privacy when compared to most if not all of the rest. Your indvidual consumer profile is big! business! It’s gotten insidious IMHO (it always was eventually going to get insidious). Get as much of your detailed behavior info as possible, pump into incredible algorithms that even predict possible mood swings, coax impulse buying, match up previous ID behavior to each sale, fine tune and improve coaxing, Rinse, repeat — then spread the wealth to sell and share with others!
Google internal emails discussing and recognizing it’s already limited privacy settings were too easy for users to find. They looked to bury ‘em deeper in the menus.
The whole tracking thing->sales is outta hand. It’s so pervasive that Apple putting in a big privacy setting set off most big media to paint Apple badly (big media too links tracking to FB/google for prizes). Their coaxing sales is now called user experience (what a whopper that one is).
No, there is first party tracking and there is third party tracking(3rd party app watches you even when not using it).
Open an app on AppleTV that wants to track, then see the alert to turn off that tracking (also see the app’s pitch to leave it on). That “little” choice is only on Apple. And That little choice means? one of the biggest market cap companies in the U.S., Facebook, went into a tizzy (and previously made Zuckerberg say they’d get Apple!). Consider why this tracking would mean a multi multi billion dollar company would have a tizzy.
Apple helped force Facebook Google and others toward being out of the third party tracking racket. But they’re still dragging their feet for sure.
Now it’s first party tracking(as you mention). Amazon, Google, Apple have a ton of first party info. Now look at what they state they will do with it (see Apple vs Google and Facebook) and more important where their billions come from. If a company is making multiple tens of billions on advertising (Google and Facebook) you can be sure they are using your data with advertisers in new/exciting! ways to coax you out of your money. Apple makes almost nothing off ads. That’s why you can trust Apple to give you best privacy bang for the buck by far.
That's been similar to my experience. The UI on my Samsung TV was atrocious. It was so slow and app support was laughable.
My Sony UI is a million times faster but definitely can be buggy. Sometime AirPlay flickers and sometimes WiFi on the TV just goes out. I have to restart the TV to fix it.
Currently Oppo 203D. I have been a long time Oppo user, going back to the -83, and have owned a -93 and -103 as well. It was a sad day when Oppo got out of the disc player market. They were truly heads and shoulders above the mass market brands. And yes I have SACD and DVD-Audio discs so I truly valued the compatibility of the Oppo players, as well as their DVD/BD/4K UHD playback.
As long as there are still discs to play, that might be one of the best left. In the past, I mostly used them to get around regional settings for my multi-cultural customers.
It would be difficult and tedious to address the numerous inaccurate claims here. But let's just say your take on reality is at odds with others of us with deep technical experience and expertise. But you're in the business to make a buck so that definitely resets priorities.
Indeed, a word salad of guessing and uninformed speculation. Particularly amused by the "additional processing which degrades performance".
Yeah, that one really put an exclamation point on it.
Thanks for the reply. Hopefully, the amusement makes you happy. Maybe context might help.
Guessing - ultimately always.
Uninformed - always, but never completely.
The reason I prefer Sony's higher end flat panels is, indeed, additional processing. In fact, their OLED panels are made by LG, but, if you put that same panel encased by LG next to one by Sony, you might begin to consider just spending money on a TCL or Vizio. Most people don't care or can't afford to. Then there is someone that will pay to have fifteen full-range speakers, plus two 12" subwoofers, in one room so they can legitimately hear actual Dolby Atmos. Anything less is just a sales gimmick. Not that you can't make other set-ups sound really cool; most people don't even know what "surround sound" is anymore. They wonder why voices on a video aren't coming out of the rear speakers. I tell them why, before setting their receiver or processor to "5ch, 7ch, multi, blah, blah, blah stereo. All of a sudden, their ears perk up as decibels increase slightly from the extra audio info in those speakers, and a smile comes across their face, as they congratulate me for "fixing" their system. If I accidentally happen to click on the VIVID screen setting momentarily, while they are in the room, it is there to stay, and no amount of word salad will prevent them from more congratulations and a fat paycheck.
Sorry perezr10, I tried to list my "creds", but was censored by the MacPlantation. They said I was "advertising". I always considered myself an horrible salesman. Too much factual information causes the potential client's head to swim and can hurt businesses like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Apple.
Kudos for writing the words that fall liberally from your brain. Next time try and arrange them so that they make some sense and address the topic of the thread.