I never had that problem before they implemented the button push requirement. When I read about how terrible the AT4 experience is I just have to laugh. We have two after coming from cable and there's not much I'd change other than having a prime app.
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.
Farewell ATV4
- Thread starter profmjh
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
How nice for you, thanks for sharing, many have a different experience. Not sure why the mention of the Roku 3, I clearly am speaking of the 2016 Streaming Stick. Plex works fine on my ATV4, I just prefer the UI and it's accompanying snappiness on, again, the 2016 Streaming Stick with the newer version of the Plex app (haven't used a Roku 3). Enjoy your user experience, it isn't the norm.
If you can afford to spend a bit more, I hear you can get high end mac mini's on e-bay for about $560 (that's what I've been using in my living room as my HTPC since 2012). ATV3 in the bedroom. Library is on my Synology NAS, hosting Plex so my ATV3 can play the content via PlexConnect. Using Kodi on the Mini.
I was hoping Apple would have given Siri in Sierra all of the "bells and whistles" of the ATV4 (by indexing the metadata, so you could do things like "Show all of my superhero movies") and move my content into iTunes, but that's not a reality (yet).
Most people could just have the best experience possible using the mini (and the Apple wireless keyboard / trackpad on the coffee table)
Downside is, you have to share it with the household.
I was hoping Apple would have given Siri in Sierra all of the "bells and whistles" of the ATV4 (by indexing the metadata, so you could do things like "Show all of my superhero movies") and move my content into iTunes, but that's not a reality (yet).
Most people could just have the best experience possible using the mini (and the Apple wireless keyboard / trackpad on the coffee table)
Downside is, you have to share it with the household.
Last edited:
How wonderful, if only that were the norm: SlingTV & AppleTV issues
I don't doubt that'll eventually improve, but for now it's to frustrating not to switch inputs over to my 2016 Roku Streaming Stick when using Sling.
Yeah. That would be frustrating.
Guess me and that other guy should go buy a lottery ticket I guess.
THIS over and over! I have a huge iTunes library (18TB on two 9TB RAID arrays of TV shows, movies, podcasts, music, & home videos) and navigating huge category lists (400+ TV shows or 5000+ music artists/albums) with the ATV4 remote is painful; no press of the down arrow and you can variable speed scroll through your available offerings. Search of YOUR iTunes library is only useful if you know EXACTLY what you want - want to just peruse through those movies you have to see what peeks your interest? Not using search for that. And as was previously mentioned, hope and pray (to what/whomever deity you prefer) that you don't slip on the touchpad and cause that menu navigation to go left or right or you take a chance you might have to start back at the beginning of your perusal if you don't get back to the menu list you got swiped out of! Why media that is in the iTunes Library and properly meta-tagged, cannot be made searchable by Siri (List all MY music that is in the Southern Rock genre) is beyond comprehension. If a media file doesn't have at least 1 proper meta-tag, then it is rendered unsearchable to the system; just as it would be left out of a meta-tag search being done by hand on the Mac that has the iTunes App on it. Making the remote all black on one side and only a small visual &/or tactile difference of the surface of the bottom of the remote and the trackpad at the top makes me wonder why Apple bothered to design a dark mode for the ATV's on-screen interface - it's blatantly obvious that no one bothered to actually try using the new device in a darkened room set up for watching a screen during hours of little to no natural light. Loose that slippery little clicker in a reclining chair, deep squishy couch or drop it on a dark floor (and have it slide under the even darker uncharted territories of the savage dust bunnies) and if you aren't one of the fortunate ones to own an iPhone or iPad (or have one of those devices at hand if you do own one/both) and you'll begin to rethink that idea of dimming the lights and snuggling up with your <insert what you snuggle up with here> because you'll be lucky you don't jam a finger while jabbing in the cushions or get your face ripped off by those innocent looking bunnies that live under every piece of furniture that you can't penetrate with the vacuum hose attachment.
NOW that I've ratcheted myself up enough to spin off my complaint box - has anyone had an issue with watching any type of video (movie, TV show, podcast, etc.) and had the sound just drop out? The only way to get it to come back is to either exit out of the currently viewed video and select a different video file or to turn off the home theatre receiver/tv (whatever device you have your audio coming out of). It doesn't happened every time a video file is being watched, but happens at least twice a month or more. I had my original ATV4 replaced under AppleCare after 3.5-4 months and was replaced with a refurb unit at my local Apple Store. This one was fine for about a week and now it intermittently is dropping the audio when watching a video. Doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason for the loss of audio - HDMI cables from TV to ATV & ATV to receiver are tested good; both TV and receiver have no issues with audio when viewing video (any channel from the local cable company or OTA antenna) without the ATV in the device chain. Diagnostic on returned unit did not return any useable data to the Genius tech team at the store or at home-base tech support at Apple.
Also, did something change with how audio/video signal is being processed with the ATV? With my ATV3 and my ATV4 (until just this late August/early September), with an HDMI going from TV to ATV and a second HDMI going from ATV to home theatre receiver (RCA 5.1DD unit), I could load up music tracks and start them playing. If it was night-time and the other half was sleeping while I was awake and working on the computer, I could turn off the TV (so there wouldn't be any light from the screensaver or album art flow) and the audio would continue to play and volume control still with the receiver unit. Now, with the same HDMI cable layout, if I turn off the TV, the audio goes dead along with the TV screen. It seemed that the audio had the ability to pass through the TV and continue to the receiver unit even with the TV power off. Is there a way that I can route the HDMI cables via the TV, ATV & receiver unit to be able to achieve the previous audio play? You need to be able to have access to the TV screen so you can set the tracks/playlist up on the ATV so routing directly between the ATV & the receiver without being able to see the ATV menu/selections won't work. I don't want to AirPlay from the iTunes Library machine to the ATV as I'm usually doing CPU intensive work on it and the extra load of air-playing just makes for longer work processes, harder working computer and usually choppy audio playback.
Thanks to any and all that have any input -
Peach
Peach - I would suggest you try:
1) Installing Plex Media Server (free) onto the same machine you are using for iTunes.
2) Point Plex to the same files iTunes uses (I created 4 Plex "libraries" for TV, Movies, Music, and Home Movies).
3) Install Plex (free) onto the AppleTV 4.
4) Forget about the "Computers" app.
5) Forever be happy.
There are countless advantages of using Plex over Home Sharing, including cross-platform capability to stream to virtually any device (Mac, PC, iPhone, Android phone, FireTV, Roku, etc.), ability to share outside the home, WAYYYYY nicer interface, and more. Plex just added the capability for OTA antenna integration and it works amazingly well. Honestly, my streaming box could be a Plex only device and I'd be happy.
Doing it the way I suggested allows me to pretty simply manage 2 systems. I basically treat any new files as if they were just for iTunes. So if I buy new music in iTunes, load a new home movie, etc. I just do it the way I've always done it and add it to iTunes. Plex picks it up from those folders automatically. I could avoid iTunes altogether if I wanted, but it is not causing any extra work, so I leave it as is.
Note: I typed it in that way to show the steps to move from iTunes/Home Sharing over to Plex.
1) Installing Plex Media Server (free) onto the same machine you are using for iTunes.
2) Point Plex to the same files iTunes uses (I created 4 Plex "libraries" for TV, Movies, Music, and Home Movies).
3) Install Plex (free) onto the AppleTV 4.
4) Forget about the "Computers" app.
5) Forever be happy.
There are countless advantages of using Plex over Home Sharing, including cross-platform capability to stream to virtually any device (Mac, PC, iPhone, Android phone, FireTV, Roku, etc.), ability to share outside the home, WAYYYYY nicer interface, and more. Plex just added the capability for OTA antenna integration and it works amazingly well. Honestly, my streaming box could be a Plex only device and I'd be happy.
Doing it the way I suggested allows me to pretty simply manage 2 systems. I basically treat any new files as if they were just for iTunes. So if I buy new music in iTunes, load a new home movie, etc. I just do it the way I've always done it and add it to iTunes. Plex picks it up from those folders automatically. I could avoid iTunes altogether if I wanted, but it is not causing any extra work, so I leave it as is.
Note: I typed it in that way to show the steps to move from iTunes/Home Sharing over to Plex.
I have seen the Plex application and it is a very nicely designed system, but not for me. I have no other devices in the house other than macOS, iOS and tvOS devices. I don't have cell service currently (having a billing dispute war with the carrier and stopped payment on the bill until they get it corrected), so no need to have library available outside of my own internet network at home. I also tend to drive a lot (I have a CDL) and there is no place for distraction of having to mess with choosing this track or video, etc. when you're hauling a butt-load of heavy trailer behind you
There's only one OTA channel available to my borough with an antenna that isn't roof mounted or adjustable positioned, so I just get what I and my family like to watch from online sources. I use TuneSpan (I can't recommend this app enough if you have a large library and have content on more than one drive - saves any annoyances of iTunes wanting to show you only library at a time and having to go in and change library locations if you want something from the non-current one. Just decided what files will go on what drive, download your files to one location on your storage media (like the Downloads folder or Documents) and if you want that file to be on a different drive then the one it was downloaded to, TuneSpan will move the file to the drive you specify and then update the iTunes Library.xml with the new location and adds that link to iTunes so you don't have to switch libraries to access your media files. Personally, not having bothered with Apple Music (I did use iTunes Match service for a few years), I haven't had very many issues with iTunes or the Home Sharing feature. It is a simple way to get all the media distributed to the devices my family uses and in an interface that they are familiar and comfortable with - I'm the picky one when it comes to form over function issues or just plain unintuitive options. But thank you for sharing your view and suggestions with me - I may not want to leave my "walled garden", but I'm not afraid to look at the other neighbor's flowers and see what is out there!Peach
To each his own. You described the navigation of your huge library as being "painful", and there is an easy remedy (with additional optional benefits). I would not expect Apple to modify the "Computers" app and how it sorts TV/Movies as tvOS was just updated, so it will remain painful. They actually did make a huge improvement by combining TV shows, it used to be far worse as every season was a separate entry.
Anyhow, Plex, at $0, solves that completely. And it would not change 1 thing you do currently in terms of setup/storage. You would simply be adding the Plex Media Server to the same computer currently running iTunes and accessing it from your ATV, iPhone, and even Mac if you wanted.
Anyhow, Plex, at $0, solves that completely. And it would not change 1 thing you do currently in terms of setup/storage. You would simply be adding the Plex Media Server to the same computer currently running iTunes and accessing it from your ATV, iPhone, and even Mac if you wanted.
The navigation of the library is "painful" on the ATV4 with the new Siri remote; not in general usage terms. The way the remote "scrolls" when using the remote trackpad is tedious and making a "mis-step" with your finger gestures to move through a long list of items is pretty high up in the betting pool. My fix for it currently is to just use an AppleTV silver with buttons remote that was issued with the ATV3 devices. If I want any info from Siri, I can just yell over to my iPhone on my desk and get the needed info; she's of no use currently for asking her to do anything with a user's personal media files and iTunes Library. Do miss the Lightning charging of the remote's battery on the ATV4 remote, but I have a drawer full of hundreds of button-type batteries and a nice supply of the type and size required of the ATV3 remote.
Peach
Exactly. Which is why I suggested Plex as a fix for the pain. The navigation with the ATV4 remote is approximately 1 billion times easier within Plex as compared to the Computers app. Anyhow, if you are OK dealing with the navigation issue, the Computers app certainly does the job.
It is just that within a thread titled "Farewell ATV4", with the primary point being the poor Computers app, a swap to the widely enjoyed and free Plex app seems to me like a no-brainer to at least try. Generally, the Plex ATV app is conserved the best of all Plex clients, which is saying a lot as they all beat the Computers app IMO.
I wouldn't say that; my ATV3 has gotten to the point that it reboots itself after about 3 minutes of playing anything, whether it's Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, etc.
Plex is a definite solution for navigating through long lists of movies or tv shows. I used to use it but have switched to Infuse which is a software based program. If you don't need to do transcoding then Infuse may work fine for you. Great interface, very responsive and offers several different ways to view your library. They have a free version and a paid version both available in the app store.
I have 4 ATV3s in my house. They all have been working without a single problem over the past 3 years or so. I use them for mostly Airplay, feeding music to my HiFi and use the built in apps like Netflix, YouTube, RedBull TV etc.
I have nothing to do with games and as far as I'm concerned, ATV4 will give me no additional benefit. Oh, and I hate Siri.
I have nothing to do with games and as far as I'm concerned, ATV4 will give me no additional benefit. Oh, and I hate Siri.
Siri on Apple TV has been far more useful to me than any other device she is on.
Most streaming problem are because third party routers seem not to like the Apple TV 4 device's DNS setup! So just manually insert either Google DNS or OpenDNS DNS servers to fix the streaming issues!
How does Apple not realize the poster art "grid" is better than listing the movies in alphabetical order to scroll through hundreds of them? Like, why wasn't this updated for the Computers App in ATV4? So bizarre.
I bought an ATV4 for my mom because I thought the changes to the remote would be an improvement. Wrong!!! SIRI is spotty and trying to navigate on that little trackpad is VERY error prone...especially for an older person. Supremely disappointed with ATV4 and my mom has gone back to watching old VHS tapes.
Sticking with my ATV2. Love it (and the simple yet VERY functional remote) and use it all the time.
Sticking with my ATV2. Love it (and the simple yet VERY functional remote) and use it all the time.
why not use the ios app to control it ?
anythings better than the awful remote it comes with
anythings better than the awful remote it comes with
I'm about the biggest Apple fanboy you'll meet and yet I can't defend this 4th gen Apple TV. I'm sorry I bought it and am looking to sell it on Craigslist at the moment. It really hasn't offered me anything my gen 3 version did and I HATE the remote so much. I know it's a cliche but Steve never would have let this remote see the light of day. And yet if there was an amazon video app I might have stuck with this thing. A most regrettable purchase to be sure.
The only issue I have is the recent airplay bug that came with the latest tvOS update. Other than that it has been rock solid.
OP hope you find something else that serves your needs.
I am guessing your media is all sourced from means other than iTunes? Using Siri to search media located on a secondary devise is not possible.
Siri is limited to files on the device or on the web. That is how it has always been.
I sincerely doubt Apple or any other media streaming store out there will support user sourced files. My honest feeling about that is they will leave that to the "aftermarket"
CEC is the reason why sound stops when you turn off your TV. CEC assumes you want all attached devices turned off.