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It's not that bad. Just slow to navigate and a little clumsy for searching. But it does the job.

My in-laws sit down once a week and go through the Guide, deciding what to watch. Then, whenever they want something to watch, they can go to the Planner. Apple is right - the TV should do this for you.
 
It really is beyond belief how bad Siri still is. After all these years, it doesn't seem to have gotten much smarter. What are they doing over there?

Seems the execs are milking existing products and filling the bank account for their retirement. Lots of lunches and high power meetings with little work to be done. Once these fat cats like eddy retire, maybe Apple will start moving forward again. Complacency has set in big time.

Given Siri came to Mac, it's outright embarrassing how Apple has not invested in it. I just bought Amazon echo and dots for the house and Siri is not an option , I'm not asking for the best, I just want average persormance among the AI assistants , not dead set last.
 
Amusing that he talks about brain dead UI when TV is essentially a grid of apps. If I want to know what to watch where does TV tell me that?

You tell it what you want to watch, and it finds it for you. However you're right, it needs a TV guide, and a way of bookmarking content, and more content sources.
 
Correct, I dumped the DVR Cable box because it was just another device to manage and operate. Now if Apple TV would just open things up a bit, I would have ONE box. A happy camper!
 
So which is it..

Automobile industry or the TV industry? Seems they can't make up their mind, as they have both put each in the backseat.

"TV providers are too stringent, it needs time. No room to innovate. Let's make a vehicle while we wait."
"Man, this vehicle project is getting nowhere! We've hired all we can. Let's go back to television"
 
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Seems original content is the only way to go if Apple wants to get into the television business.

Netflix is already doing this... At first i didn't like it, but they are coming out with some good stuff.

So which is it..

Automobile industry or the TV industry? Seems they can't make up their mind, as they have both put each in the backseat.

So your saying Apple is confused? That doesn't surprise me at all.
 
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...So your saying Apple is confused?...

Not necessarily confused, but lacking the vision of a product before expending all your resources and tons of money at. The determination to push through the impossible to create a revolutionary product that completely turns an industry upside down.
 
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Well he is certainly right about "Sky" in Europe. Worst usability ever
Not Europe anymore, mate
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what world does Eddy Cue live in to believe that the apple tv actually is any better (in many cases worse) than other devices like Roku , Amazon, google, etc.

Time and time again Apple has shown that they cannot create the software.
Agree... to me the best interface is no interface.

Airplay... or Chromecast
 
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Hey Eddie. For 10 years I've had to scroll through hundreds of my movies to get to the one I want and Siri doesn't work with a personal library. That's pretty brain dead.

Siri does work with a personal library now. However, the file names can't have special characters (Empire_Strikes_Back) or run-on spellings (EMPIRESTRIKESBACK) if you expect them to work with Siri search.
 
Me too! But I was raised in the 80's on MTV and cable TV. My daughter's teenage friends, however, rarely watch TV. They could care less. They watch YouTube personalities, music and whatnot. Simultaneously co-mingled with social media.

I just can't really see "TV shows" in general as being a huge part of Apple's future. Not if their future customers aren't sitting on the couch watching TV every night...
You are right about the kids and their behavior. Actually a little sad since there is little value in the youtube content. No character development, little plot or storyline. What I see is mostly junk that and reality tv like silliness.
 
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"The problem is the interface," he said. "The ways you interface with it are pretty brain dead."

Yes, we have siri that I can use on my phone but not my appletv.

we have a rubbish keyboard experience

we have a wall of apps that is not that great to deal with when they take up so much screen and a touchy remote
(never mind netflix desire to take up 2/3 of their screen with worthless pictures)

but TV's interfaces are the issue.

if that is the best apple can do, its not really better
 
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Right. When i started using computers, it was amazing and I pretty much stopped watching TV. I still watch films, the odd series on Netflix... and my 2011 Mac, 2014 iPhone, 2012 iPad, cheap projector and dirt-cheap Chromecast are cost-effective and time-saving ways of doing so. Why does Apple want to cater to the couch-potatoeing industry so hard exactly?
Why courting soap opera makers when you can captivate kids with swift playgrounds? What is Apple's mission in 2016? Surely not providing 'a bicycle to the mind' anymore...
 
Maybe I'm just in one of "those moods" (last night's Presidential excuse for a debate might have helped cause this) ... but you know something? I'm really REALLY tired of all the excuses about how making this stuff work is supposedly a difficult challenge and tough to get right.

It's not rocket science! It's simply a matter of making a decent GUI front-end for selecting what you want to watch on TV or what you want to record for later. IMO, Tivo did a pretty darn good job of doing this the right way, YEARS ago, with technology far more limited than what's available for a reasonable price today.

Most competitors like to pretend Tivo never existed though, since that stuff is all patented/copyrighted and doesn't do them any good.

The real problem is simply that Apple can't get its way, getting all the content owners on-board with making everything available via the Apple branded set-top boxes, under any kind of licensing terms and conditions Apple finds favorable/profitable enough. So it keeps deflecting, talking about refocusing on these other supposed challenges of making a better interface to using your TV.

IMO, the *only* way Apple can really twist a critical mass of people to become AppleTV customers and regular users is by providing enough ORIGINAL content that's only accessible with one. That's going to be a big financial expenditure -- but probably no more than it wasted on the now scaled-back electric car project.

There are a lot of great television shows that were cancelled prematurely for various reasons, and others that someone wanted to produce but the pilot episode didn't make the cut for a network. IMO, Apple could get a LOT of mileage out of simply paying up to revive a bunch of those. A third season of Jericho, anyone? Bring back FireFly?
 
Try the new 65" LG OLED TV running WebOS—the thing has about 10 different settings UI menus with different styles located in different parts of the OS. It's the most bizarrely confusing UI I think I've ever seen. It's horrendously confusing! Apple needs to pull their finger out and just buy Netflix. Netflix has the future of TV in the bag at this point. They've the right recipe—no ads—best new content devision of any network—no need to DVR—decent price—no contract: impluse. Apple, buy them up, make a great Netflix app and give ATV owners a special price on subscription below other device owners and get everyone and their uncle to want an Apple TV. Get the whole planet moved over to streaming their TV shows and films. Own streaming and over time build ATV into the living room platform and get that money paid for Netflix back. Would be worth it. Then offer a special subscription price of $39 per month on a contract which includes a 65" OLED Apple made fully integrated television with upgradable brain via additional $149 purchase that pops in the back.
 
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Siri does work with a personal library now. However, the file names can't have special characters (Empire_Strikes_Back) or run-on spellings (EMPIRESTRIKESBACK) if you expect them to work with Siri search.

Siri works with nothing.

Unless you are in the chosen markets.
 
Almost hate to say it but I like the way TV works today - somewhat less than before because more and more stuff isn't TV anymore but shows from applications (Netflix, Amazon, etc). I have one big guide that I can search and select what I want to watch. I record almost everything (except sports and news) so not only can I watch when I want but also skip commercials. If I can't record and skip commercials and political ads then I'm not interested.
I also have no problem pressing a button rather than asking Siri to tune to something.
Do I hate the prices we pay today - yes but I guarantee it will be worse in the future with paying this service and that service and another one etc.
 
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I use google to find stuff on the app store. Their database programmers should be fired.

As far as tv programming. Forget the apple tv. We just use an old mac mini with eyetv and ota antenna - a smart tv that accesses netflakes and amazon prime. We don't have cable but get all we need and more.
 
Buying Netflix would be another potential path to getting a lot of desirable content, quickly. But let's be honest here... Can you see Apple continuing to commit in the long run to keeping Netflix front-end software updated on all the devices that run it today? Are they going to get a whole group of developers to code updates for the Sony Playstation version, for example? What about the Linux based version the Roku boxes use?

I think it's far more likely they'd buy it and quickly turn it into an "Apple only" app (sort of like they did with the Logic Pro music creating app for the Mac when they bought it). Because from their viewpoint, the financial investment in that would be to lock in the AppleTV as a "must have" device instead of the "hobby" status it still has today. That would immediately cause a backlash though, with many subscribers cancelling rather than buying new Apple hardware to keep using what they already had on other devices. And all that subscription money would go to another direct streaming competitor, most likely .... maybe Hulu or Amazon? That would just encourage them to invest more in crushing Apple's play in their space.....


Try the new 65" LG OLED TV running WebOS—the thing has about 10 different settings UI menus with different styles located in different parts of the OS. It's the most bizarrely confusing UI I think I've ever seen. It's horrendously confusing! Apple needs to pull their finger out and just buy Netflix. Netflix has the future of TV in the bag at this point. They've the right recipe—no ads—best new content devision of any network—no need to DVR—decent price—no contract: impluse. Apple, buy them up, make a great Netflix app and give ATV owners a special price on subscription below other device owners and get everyone and their uncle to want an Apple TV.
 
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