ATV4 vs ATV3 for AirPlay

[profmjh]

Given that all the apps I actually want are already on my iPad, I could just use an ATV for AirPlay.

Is the experience on the ATV4 better than on the ATV3? In other words, if money weren't an option and, for now, you were just going to use AirPlay, would you get the ATV3 or the ATV4?

PS I hated the ATV3. I thought it was irritating and clunky.

 

[zhenya]

The interface of some apps is slightly better with the new tv - i.e. ff/rw is a bit more slickly implemented, but the basic functionality is the same. If you are only going to use Airplay, definitely buy the old model.

 

[profmjh]

If you are only going to use Airplay, definitely buy the old model.

Based on that thinking, I bought an ATV3 a few weeks ago. I hated it and sent it back. So it's an ATV4 or nothing. Being a fanboy, I'm clearly desperate to find an argument to justify buying one, but the reviews (on here) so far are mostly awful and it's a difficult sell.

 

[Poochi]

I wouldn't AirPlay to a TV. Apps look much better on the iPad.

For ATV4, I will upgrade either when it goes on sale or when I see a lot of compelling apps designed specially for ATV, that provide unique experience not available on an iPad.

 

[profmjh]

I wouldn't AirPlay to a TV. Apps look much better on the iPad.

For ATV4, I will upgrade either when it goes on sale or when I see a lot of compelling apps designed specially for ATV, that provide unique experience not available on an iPad.

You're probably right. At the moment the ATV4 has only one of the apps I want. I guess I need to revisit it next year.

 

[critter13]

My house is very old with thick plaster walls so even with a current gen Airport Extreme wifi has trouble keeping a strong signal all the way to my ATV. My ATV3 would rarely get a 100Mb/s signal. Most of the time it was 70ish. So air playing my plex server content from my iPad would struggle at times. It seems to perform better now with the ATV4 and the ATV4 maintains a 144Mb/s connection. Remember this is over a long distance through a lot of walls. So in that sense the ATV4 AirPlay experience is better. Honestly with the increased ram and storage I still think you will want the 4. Universal search is awesome and only going to get better. My 3 feels so clunky now after using the 4.

 

[zhenya]

I wouldn't AirPlay to a TV. Apps look much better on the iPad.

For ATV4, I will upgrade either when it goes on sale or when I see a lot of compelling apps designed specially for ATV, that provide unique experience not available on an iPad.

That's not true. For video, etc. most apps are configured such that the Airplay stream is negotiated directly from the source to the ATV without the iOS device as an intermediary. Ios is only involved for control purposes. Quality is the same as a native app.

 

[d21mike]

True Airplay without Mirroring works very well for me with the "latest" ATV 3 - A1469 - Have not test on my new ATV 4 but assume it will just as well. There are multiple ways to support Airplay of Video which not all iOS Apps support any of them or they support them poorly. For me I mainly used it for Amazon Prime and based on my experience that App was designed the best (or as good) of others I tried. But, I would much prefer Amazon Prime as a native ATV 4 App with SIRI Search like Netflix and others. SIRI Search is really really good. I have Hulu, Netflix, HBO Now, Showtime and of course iTunes. The search results are based on lowest cost as the default when found on multiple places. Also, I tested where I had purchased a movie and that movie was also on (I think) Hulu and it came back with iTunes as the playback because I believe in this case it knew I owned it and free.

 

[Gueeds]

Doesn't the new ATV support h265 with the A8 chip so theoretically, it should be better than the 3 using only h64? On my iPhone 6+, it streams way better than my iPad mini retina did on the ATV3.