AppleTV or SmartTVapps?

[zoran]

In what way is the ATV better than to use the SmartTV apps for browsing the internet or doing internet stuff on your TV? And what stuff is that? What exactly can AppleTV do?

 

[RobbieTT]

It would be a big list with a focus on speed & unbeaten AV quality. Easier to state where the ATV4K is worse - namely YouTube (no 4K content) and, arguably, the Siri remote.

Personally I have no issue with the Siri remote once fitted with a good cover, but I know it really bugs a lot of users.

 

[zoran]

ATV is better on speed and quality u mean, and worse in YouTube compared with the TVapps?

 

[waw74]

with aTV, developers can re-use most of their code for iOS apps, in other words most of the code is good for at least 1 billion active devices.

with smart tv, they have to develop an app for each brand, which might only be a few million units,

if you had to focus development on 1 platform with 1 billion users, or 5 platforms with 200 million between them, which would you choose to focus on?

Apple also has an established and reliable way to make money from your apps.


although as said before
apple doesn't support the video codec that YouTube uses on any device, so you're going to get better looking video directly on your TV.

and amazon prime, I have to search for better versions occasionally, I've had a couple times, that the aTV will have 4k, but not HDR. While the same show on my TV is 4k HDR.
Not to mention having 2 versions of every show, and it seems they don't want you to find the 4k version, I'll have to search "show name uhd" because "show name" only shows the HD versions. but that's on both my aTV and the TV.
as opposed to Netflix which will just stream the best version your device and network can play.

 

[Ballis]

I prefer the ATV because it aggregates pretty much all content into one app.

 

[satcomer]

Plus using Smart Apps might lead to the situation of the current spying in Smart TVs! Even the the FBI article on Smart TVs spying!

So using an external Apple TV or most any (except from Amazon) External boxes is a safer way!

 

[HDFan]

In what way is the ATV better than to use the SmartTV apps

If you search the forums you'll find that most reviewers say that the TV apps are not as good as those on the Apple TV. The apps likely are not updated as frequently, and not at all after a few years. As app resource demands increase you can simply get the latest Apple TV. You don't have to replace your TV to run the current apps.

 

[Abazigal]

In what way is the ATV better than to use the SmartTV apps for browsing the internet or doing internet stuff on your TV? And what stuff is that? What exactly can AppleTV do?

Personally, I find that the hardware (especially the specs in the 5th gen Apple TV) make for a more fluid experience.

One downside is that the YouTube app doesn't support native 4k, but I find that it looks just fine on my 4k tv.

Then there are the iOS-only apps such as photos, podcasts, Apple Music and apple arcade if you are heavily into the apple ecosystem. You can view photos that you have taken on your iPhone, or stream music, or even play the odd game that works well on the big screen such as Oceanhorn, Evertower or Shantae (with a game controller). I recently purchased an app (Broadcasts) that lets me access radio channels.

There's also the promise of better privacy, because smart TVs are notorious for tracking what you do on the tv. Apple TV either doesn't, or any data that does get collected should stay inside Apple, and the manufacturers don't get any of that.

And while this will prove divisive, I actually quite like the tv remote as it allows me to quickly and easily scrub through content, even if I do end up holding it upside-down once in a while.