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Apple's Eddy Cue on Existing TV Interfaces: They're 'Pretty Brain Dead'
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To me, Sky is one of the only TV interfaces that 'just works' & is easy to navigate & find things - even my 4 year old can use it. I will say however, that why is it no one can ever get their head around the blue 'sky' & black 'tv' button on the top of the remote, I'm forever getting my wife saying 'the remote doesn't work' & having to explain for the thousandth time that you need to press 'sky' to make the remote operate the sky box & 'tv' to make it operate the tv /end rant
That's the problem - without adverts, there will be no TV industry. Ad's pay for the content - if you want original content, you have to pay the price & in the long term it's going to be either much much higher monthly bills or advert 'breaks' during every streamed show that can't be skipped.
In the UK we pay £12 per month for the BBC which has no adverts, times that by every TV station & it gives you some idea of the amount of money that an advert fee streaming future would cost! (Yes I know the BBC gives many channels & Radio for the £12 per month, but it's also non-profit & is paid for by every UK TV owner, so therefore cost per month per individual can be used as a ball park example)
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My initial comment wasn't regarding the courage of it - I agree with you there - but rather the poster I had quoted that mentioned their arrogance. It does take a lot of arrogance to pat yourself and describe yourself with terms like 'courage' on the back the way they did in that keynote. I don't think anyone would argue Apple is full of arrogance - and that certainly isn't always a bad thing.
Just the cable box interfaces alone make me want to slit my wrists...slow, ugly, hard to search, huge blocky text can't even fit full program names or channel names, and all built to cater to the lowest demoninator- some old bag with a TV from the 60s and bad eyesight. Did I meantion slow and ugly?
Cable providers haven't been bothered to give us nice fluid modern interfaces because, well.... why exactly? Lack of competition? Well, yes and no....or because they've stuck to the old ways and got their heads up their asses? Reminds me of the company culture that burnt US car manufacturing to the ground. Had no idea what people wanted and everyone lost faith.
People will leave and are jumping ship from these providers, huge numbers of us would leave this second if we weren't handcuffed to their 3 decades old business models. FFS it almost costs me more per month to just have internet than it does to have internet + phone + cable together. But only if I call them every month to get "the special". And then I have a billion channels of content that I don't care for, that's a pain to navigate through and full of screaming advertising.
Providers, please just let go quietly....focus on infrastructure, give us our feeds, our internet, and otherwise stay out of the way. Thnx.
Cable providers haven't been bothered to give us nice fluid modern interfaces because, well.... why exactly? Lack of competition? Well, yes and no....or because they've stuck to the old ways and got their heads up their asses? Reminds me of the company culture that burnt US car manufacturing to the ground. Had no idea what people wanted and everyone lost faith.
People will leave and are jumping ship from these providers, huge numbers of us would leave this second if we weren't handcuffed to their 3 decades old business models. FFS it almost costs me more per month to just have internet than it does to have internet + phone + cable together. But only if I call them every month to get "the special". And then I have a billion channels of content that I don't care for, that's a pain to navigate through and full of screaming advertising.
Providers, please just let go quietly....focus on infrastructure, give us our feeds, our internet, and otherwise stay out of the way. Thnx.
This from the mastermind that brought you Apple Music. TV interfaces might be brain dead, but so is iTunes and Apple Music. Fix it Eddie.
Television "needs to be reinvented" because of confusing, hard to navigate interfaces.
Big words when when you are describing something even children and grandmothers can navigate in its current form.
Why don't you take a long, hard look at iTunes, mr. Cue.
Anyways, traditional TV with set transmission schedules will very soon be a thing of the past. No need at all to reinvent the wheel at this point in time when it comes to old school television.
Big words when when you are describing something even children and grandmothers can navigate in its current form.
Why don't you take a long, hard look at iTunes, mr. Cue.
Anyways, traditional TV with set transmission schedules will very soon be a thing of the past. No need at all to reinvent the wheel at this point in time when it comes to old school television.
Allow tvOS apps access to the current content stream. Allow access to viewing history. Allow a containerization of current streaming content. Provide whatever permission model is necessary for content providers to allow this with their content.
When we are to the place that a 3rd party app can provide a Mystery Science Theater 3000 type experience with content, then we are finally getting someplace.
When we are to the place that a 3rd party app can provide a Mystery Science Theater 3000 type experience with content, then we are finally getting someplace.
I must say, TV interface (along with navigation unit in car) is pretty retarded. I bought a $1300+ tv that if you press a button on the menu you kind of have to wait until it switch to the next option.
iTunes, App store is pretty retarded too.
iTunes, App store is pretty retarded too.
OMG give the Eddyman a Roku + Amazon Echo
(then redo the interview...)
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(then redo the interview...)
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So: we should be positive that he understands what he should have accomplished by now..?
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I'm hardly even using my Apple TV (4th gen) these days.
All the streaming apps I'd use frequently (BBC iPlayer, Netflix, NOW TV, Plex) have equivalent apps built in to my TV.
Yes, the Apple TVs UI is faster and better, but the difference isn't big enough to trump the annoyance of having to switch back and forth to the Apple TV interface.
Also, in the case of iPlayer, the streaming quality is far better on the TV's app compared to the Apple TV app!
The only exception is probably YouTube, where the voice search capability on the Apple TV makes it a vastly better experience.
All the streaming apps I'd use frequently (BBC iPlayer, Netflix, NOW TV, Plex) have equivalent apps built in to my TV.
Yes, the Apple TVs UI is faster and better, but the difference isn't big enough to trump the annoyance of having to switch back and forth to the Apple TV interface.
Also, in the case of iPlayer, the streaming quality is far better on the TV's app compared to the Apple TV app!
The only exception is probably YouTube, where the voice search capability on the Apple TV makes it a vastly better experience.
HBO apps are garbage. I find myself adding HBO shows to Sonarr (tv torrent auto downloader) to watch on Plex even though I have HBO. When I look at the new shows list on Plex, it always shows me everything available, which isn't true on HBO GO, which makes me dig deep for new episodes annoyingly often.
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Is switching to the Apple TV UI more involved than pressing a button on your ATV remote? HDMI-CEC turns on my TV (if it isn't already on) and sets the video input pretty seamlessly. My personal favorite YouTube experience is browsing on my iPad and Chromecasting the stream to any TV in my home since Chromecasts are so cheap.
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Is switching to the Apple TV UI more involved than pressing a button on your ATV remote? HDMI-CEC turns on my TV (if it isn't already on) and sets the video input pretty seamlessly. My personal favorite YouTube experience is browsing on my iPad and Chromecasting the stream to any TV in my home since Chromecasts are so cheap.
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Cheap shots. Siri has no problems understanding Guns and Roses, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga or even Father John Misty or Great Good Fine Ok on all 5 of my devices
If Eddy Cue wasn't in charge of the negotiations with the TV companies we probaly would have had a deal by now.
I could not have said it better. Apple needs to get back to concentrating on making their stuff better. Customers have been asking for this for years and still nothing is done about it. It is like if you don't buy the movie from Apple it does not exist yet it is controlled by iTunes. We can't even get a new Mac in less than 2 years now.
Networks are the issue here. I get so frustrated that I have to repeatedly sign in to an app on my ATV just to watch a show. I pay $200+ a month for cable and internet. I should be able to watch whatever I want from my cable provider on whatever device I want, whenever I want. Why did single sign on up and vanish? Just not ready? Is it in any of the new betas? I am hoping this comes soon because it's becoming frustrating. I see what Cue is saying though, eventually the networks will adapt and realize that streaming/on demand is the future of TV. Open it up already.
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Apple likely wants too much money out of the deal. I think they should (and this is going against what Apple has always done) take a deal at a small margin or even break even just to get this market headed in the right direction. With Apple backing a new TV streaming package, it would blow up. While they are at it, let's get an Apple TV or Apple Movies subscription, similar to Apple Music. I would gladly pay $30 a month for all the TV shows and Movies that are on iTunes.
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Apple likely wants too much money out of the deal. I think they should (and this is going against what Apple has always done) take a deal at a small margin or even break even just to get this market headed in the right direction. With Apple backing a new TV streaming package, it would blow up. While they are at it, let's get an Apple TV or Apple Movies subscription, similar to Apple Music. I would gladly pay $30 a month for all the TV shows and Movies that are on iTunes.
Yeah, switching to the Apple TV isn't a problem. As you say, just click the Siri remote and it switches instantly. It's getting back to the (LG) TV that is the hard part!
First you have to pick up the TV remote (The TV's remote can control the Apple TV, but not vice versa). Then it's a 3-step process to switch the input back to built-in via an on-screen interface. The TV asks you to confirm that you want to do this, which is just really annoying. There's even a button labeled "input" on the TV's remote which really ought be able to do all this with one click, but it doesn't work that way.
Of course, this is all LG's fault for poorly designing this aspect of their UI, not Apple's.
But, another reason why I don't like watching video on the Apple TV - it tends to have subtle-but-annoying judder and A/V sync issues. Perhaps this is due to the 50Hz vs 60Hz thing and isn't an issue in 60Hz countries like the USA, but it doesn't happen when using the built-in TV apps. I've tried tweaking all the AV settings on the TV to try and fix this, and some of them help a little, but it's a pain to do and doesn't completely fix the problem.
(Games etc on the Apple TV are all perfectly smooth and in-sync, so the issue is specific to video playback)
Cue loves to talk big on TV but I see no evidence of Apple bringing anything new to the sector. The ATV interface is just a grid of apps, which you get on a Roku, Fire TV, PS4, Xbox One, and many other devices. You click on Netflix and get the same Netflix interface on every device.
They have Siri search, which is essentially a US only feature, and app availability outside of the US is utterly hopeless. Every other streaming platform is better for UK streamers simply because they actually offer UK content. When the PS4, a device which Sony went out of their way to stress was a gaming device only, blows away the ATV for UK apps.
The ATV is a dud. Even the siri remote is uncomfortable to hold and barely works. LG's pointer remote is a much better way to get around a TV interface.
Sorry Eddy, the ATV needs to go back into the shop for another total reworking.
They have Siri search, which is essentially a US only feature, and app availability outside of the US is utterly hopeless. Every other streaming platform is better for UK streamers simply because they actually offer UK content. When the PS4, a device which Sony went out of their way to stress was a gaming device only, blows away the ATV for UK apps.
The ATV is a dud. Even the siri remote is uncomfortable to hold and barely works. LG's pointer remote is a much better way to get around a TV interface.
Sorry Eddy, the ATV needs to go back into the shop for another total reworking.
Its funny how Eddie critizies TV as being confusing and yet we have the horrible app known as iTunes/Apple Music.
Sorry, but when my kids were younger like 6, they easily handled changing the channel, yet I keep getting befuddled in trying to get what I want out of iTunes.
Sorry, but when my kids were younger like 6, they easily handled changing the channel, yet I keep getting befuddled in trying to get what I want out of iTunes.
