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First Evidence of Fifth-Generation Apple TV and tvOS 11 Possibly Spotted in Developer Logs
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This argument doesn't hold. If you can use a phone, you can use a Chromecast. It operates like any other app on your phone or tablet. Plus AndroidTV comes installed on many TV's - easy to use. I can't speak to FireTV. But none of these streaming devices (including Roku's and Shields) are cumbersome, hard to use, or hard to figure out. AppleTV's tend to work best for those entrenched in the Apple ecosystem. For those who aren't, the ATV comes up lacking. If the ATV5 comes out more expensive and just has 4K... Lucy, you got some 'splainin to do.
This was my experience as well. Our ATV4 seems like a step backward from the ATV3 in ease of use. We hated the new remote so bad that we went back to using the remote from the ATV3.
I bought the 64 GB model and now I have no idea why. All I wanted it to do was to download and store shows so that I wouldn't have to worry about connection issues with iTunes. But it won't even do that.
Most content is 1080. HBO is definitely in 1080. Hulu has some content in 4K but anything coming from networks is going to be in 1080. Netflix has a bigger 4K library available on their 4K plan.
I don't think he's asking who has more 4K content. He's asking does his 4K content get downgraded to 1080p if it's streamed through the ATV.
My issue with Chromecast is that it requires the use of a smartphone - it's not optional at all. What if I don't want to use a smartphone at the moment? What if I want to relax and not even be able to glance at my unread work email count? What if I want my grandma to use it? What if my smartphone is charging upstairs? Chomecast is a neat compliment to a traditional cable box, but it's requirement of having a smartphone present makes it a nonstarter as a full-blown cable tv replacement.
Roku is awful - super unresponsive and inconsistent UI. I've tried it many times, and just hate it. Worst remote ever too.
AndroidTV, whether it's built in or on Shield, is fine for the most part. However, the fact it has so many features is what makes it complex. I love that the tvOS settings menu, for example, is short and small. Also, I don't get the infatuation with being able to attach an external drive. How is that an appealing solution? I don't want to have to load files from my laptop onto an external drive, and then walk that over to the TV and plug it in. tvOS has many apps that can easily pull from a NAS or shared folder, and that is a much more elegant solution anyway.
My only beef with the FireTV is that I don't like giving Bezos money and thus am not a Prime subscriber, but the FireTV is much less useful without Prime.
Have you tried any of the other options out there? I thought I loved mine until I saw my friends jail broken fire stick.
You continue to willfully misunderstand the entire point of the USB-C port - they never had any intent to directly attach external storage to the Apple TV. They needed a port for developers to use to upload beta software, and USB-C was convenient. They never advertised it as being available for any other purpose. If they had chosen an RJ-11 port instead, would you bitterly complain that you couldn't plug your corded home phone into the port? Dislike the Apple TV if you want, but at least do so for reasons that make some shred of sense.
Comcast recently put data caps on much of the service areas in the states, limiting to 1Tb, with multiple devices and users we easily break that limit... having some solid solution for content would be dream come true. I have in the past had both a powermac G4 and G5 run headless as an iTunes server but it is a waste of power for its intended use. I've looked at symbology and other NAS options but I still have to have a Mac on the network running, connected to NAS, operating as a home sharing client to stream... (yes I am an advocate of a iTunes server with serious storage for local streaming. With a young child I can't tell you how often "little mermaid" "Cinderella" and "beauty and the beast" get played).
[doublepost=1489686961][/doublepost]What would it take to make me want to spring for an Apple TV 5? I can express that in a single word. 4k.
Not only is Siri remote poorly implemented, it's frankly expensive and no longer essential now that iPhone Apple TV remote app is fully functional. In fact, I would love to see a cheaper Apple TV that does not bundle Siri remote.
Can't disagree with this and it's why it was never the sole solution on any of our TVs, seeing as I have 3 younger kids and a technophobe wife.
But I find it a much better solution of sending content to a TV vs. AirPlay, now that casting is far more ubiquitous across both mobile platforms. I love how I can throw up a quick video to my TV from my Mac, iPad, or phone from across the room at a moments notice and then still keep plugging away at something else on the same device. But yeah, as standalone solution, not really ideal in a family household.I had no intention of using this feature on my Shield TV until I saw how easily doing so turned it into a DVR. It's also a great way to turn your Shield TV into a Plex server if you don't have a dedicated, always on computer to use. I have one but so many people I know just have laptops. But otherwise, yeah, the effort required to grab content from another computer, copy it to an external device to then attach to my media box was never appealing to me either.
That's not how I read the question but regardless, both interpretations are based on what the content provider has available. No, HBO is not compressing 4K to 1080. Not the TV shows anyway, the concerts are probably shot in 4K and down converted in post for 1080 broadcast but it isn't compressed at the NOC or VOD servers. Netflix & Hulu don't either - they require multiple versions of shows to be delivered so the 4K version will stream if you choose (and pay for) the 4K version.
Some day Apple will, hopefully, come to learn that crippled products are not in Apple's best interest. Crippled products allow the competition to offer the same product for much less cost.
Originally, Apple products, while not perfect, were on average much better than the competition, supported more open standards, and had better connectivity for roughly the same or better cost. Now, not so much.
Apple seems to think that just because it has the Apple name on it, that the product can do no wrong and is best in class, just because Cook says so. People believed Jobs and he got away with fudging, but no one believes Cook because the products are so far off the mark.
Originally, Apple products, while not perfect, were on average much better than the competition, supported more open standards, and had better connectivity for roughly the same or better cost. Now, not so much.
Apple seems to think that just because it has the Apple name on it, that the product can do no wrong and is best in class, just because Cook says so. People believed Jobs and he got away with fudging, but no one believes Cook because the products are so far off the mark.
My ATV4 remote just completely stopped working, and the unit itself won't hold an internet connection for more than 5 minutes so it needs to get swapped.
I agree that the ATV4 is a step back. I'm currently using the ATV3 again in the interim and it's amazing how much cleaner and simpler it is to use. The ATV4 just took the previous interface and added all kinds of bits of interstitial confusion to it. It's too complex to even describe the problems I have with it, but everything is just totally off and unpredictable and needs so many more swipes and clicks to accomplish anything.
I have yet to figure out how to show only the TV show episodes I own. It's always trying to cross promote things and try to get me to buy an episode I don't have and whatnot.
And Siri is just dumb as a box of rocks. Basic things that amount to simple metadata queries just don't work. Not even talking about deep AI machine learning stuff.
What doesn't make sense? He prefers a media box that allows him to attach external storage---the Apple TV does not. It would be one thing if they didn't include a hardware port at all but in typical Apple fashion, they include the hardware but restrict its use. Other media boxes include external connectivity AND allow the user to actually utilize it. That's a competitive advantage that attracts customer's like the one you replied to away from the Apple TV.
I use the Remote app but it's always an ordeal. It takes several seconds to connect, has to randomly reconnect, sometimes doesn't see one of the Apple TVs at all. Using it from the Apple Watch adds another layer of lag and uncertainty.
Swiping to navigate just sucks, especially when random network lag combines with the input lag from your TV to create extreme pilot induced oscillation.
Nothing works as well as the old, clicky IR remotes.
Depends on what TV you're using. Sources like Netflix offer parallel feeds in 4k and 1080. If you have 4k set you get that feed, if you don't then you get 1080.
Can't say that about the 3rd gen remote. The symmetry and unlit buttons make it difficult to use in a dark room. Apple chose appearance over function in this case.
I agree. The ATV3 is a really good device. It is much cheaper than the ATV4, and the things that both devices can do, the ATV3 does it much better.
I am with you here. I am always having issues on my ATV4. The remote stops working right sometimes, gets really laggy swipes, leading to me to not being able to select stuff because I shoot way past it.
I have found that restarts and charging the remote fixes these issues, but it shouldn't be that way.
Other issues, apps randomly crash, sometimes it just restarts on its own, Hulu has been having playback issues a lot in the past few weeks, sometimes the ATV4 just freezes for a few seconds, Airplay from the phone buffers randomly, the audio level changes randomly when I pause a video.
Plus, the Apps totally suck compared to the ATV3 versions.
The ATV4 is hardly the revolutionary product that Apple claimed it would be.