Given up on my ATV for now... Have you?

[JoEw]

After many years of countless airplaying and random network stuttering, I have upgraded to a $24 dollar Amazon Fire TV stick, apps I now have Amazon Instant Video, Plex, XBMC (Kodi), and Spotify. While my ATV remains sitting on my mantle, I might dust it off when there is an app store of some kind but my $99 dollar ATV has been beaten by a $24 dollar Amazon android-running stick for now. Whatever Apple has sitting in the lab, I hope they release it soon.

 

[2010mini]

Nope.

Mine still runs like a champ. The only issue i have ever encountered was 8.0 upgrade glitch. But after wiping the device and setting up as new, it has worked like a dream.

yes I do wish for Amazon prime, but air playing is fine for now. I have no use for KODI personally..... I gave up on ripping when Apple finally brought back iTunes extra for the ATV.

 

[ZacNicholson]

I've switched to fire tv and installed xbmc. i had xbmc on my apple tv but it was way too slow. fire tv is so great, plus you can still airplay with an app.

 

[farmkittie]

I have an apple TV and Roku on each TV so I can get Amazon Prime on the Rokus. Have an old Roku XS, two Roku sticks (whatever they're called) and a newer Roku (3?) and four of the most recent Apple TVs. Amazon fire stick back ordered 'til end of the year but I ordered it a while ago.

It will be hard on me when Apple TV is updated because I don't want to shell out for 4 new ones. Maybe I'll just get one and put a new TV in my home office to use one of my existing Apple TVs.

 

[old-wiz]

I bought a Roku mostly because it has Amazon Video support. Haven't used ATV in months. It's still connected to one of the TV ports, but that's all.

 

[Nukemkb]

Apple TV is still my one and only.

 

[mtondreo]

We have tried Roku3 (hooked up somewhere, PS3, Xbox 360 (garbage for media), Boxee, WDTV Live and always revert back to the Apple tv's. I wish it had Prime support - but we typically do not do much searching beyond Netflix.
Aside from it always forgetting our cable subscription and making me grab an ipad and re-log in - - they are the go to in our house.
I would like to see some updates to convince me to buy new ones - but not much has changed on them.

 

[silvetti]

After many years of countless airplaying and random network stuttering, I have upgraded to a $24 dollar Amazon Fire TV stick, apps I now have Amazon Instant Video, Plex, XBMC (Kodi), and Spotify. While my ATV remains sitting on my mantle, I might dust it off when there is an app store of some kind but my $99 dollar ATV has been beaten by a $24 dollar Amazon android-running stick for now. Whatever Apple has sitting in the lab, I hope they release it soon.

Unless those Android powered devices can AirPlay they are pretty pointless in substituting the Apple TV (for me). I like to share my screen when streaming certain websites that do not have apps on either platforms.

 

[Boyd01]

I just bought a second Apple TV a few weeks ago. It does everything I need and at $75 for a refurb, I find it a good value. My daughter has asked Santa to give her one for her family this Christmas too. 🙂

Personally, all I do is use it for viewing my large iTunes Library. My internet connection is really slow so streaming content doesn't interest me.

 

[JackieInCo]

I love my ATV2 so much and I have no plans to find an alternative any time soon. I do plan on getting an ATV3 soon and moving the ATV2 to the smaller TV upstairs which only supports 720P.

 

[firedept]

Been using my ATV3 since Apple introduced it. Never had any problems with it and the family enjoys using it for movies & music, plus the odd photo slideshow.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Aside from it always forgetting our cable subscription and making me grab an ipad and re-log in

I hate this about them. However, the fact this is my number one beef with it says a lot about it overall, no major problems.

I do wish it had Amazon Prime support though...

 

[2010mini]

I hate this about them. However, the fact this is my number one beef with it says a lot about it overall, no major problems.

I do wish it had Amazon Prime support though...

I think that is more about the cable companies than Apple. They want you to re-verify if you don't use the service for a while. Weird.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I think that is more about the cable companies than Apple. They want you to re-verify if you don't use the service for a while. Weird.

From what I have noticed, you have to re-verify the basic cable channels every time you reboot the Apple TV. I have gone months without a reboot and without needing to verify, or sometimes rearrange some gizmos behind the TV a few times in one week needing to unplug things and thus need to re-verify often.

Premium channels such as HBO and Netflix stay logged in just fine though.

 

[Cassady]

Stopped using my ATV2... And replaced it with a 2012 Mac Mini i7... 🙂

When we upgrade the other tv to one with HDMI, the ATV2 will get unpacked - and keep on chugging!

 

[whoiare]

i dont know why these " ATV sucks" posts continue to pop up from now and then. or the i replaced my ATV with <some android based stick> etc.

The ATV is meant to do one thing and it does it REALLY well. Its meant to SUPPLEMENT ITUNES content. THATS REALLY IT! Anything else and its a bonus.

If you are an ALL APPLE household as i am: 2 ipads, multiple ipods, 2 iphones, mac mini as main computer/itunes server, 3 atv 3's, airport express and extreme, and MOST of your family also has Iphones/ipads. Then there is no better solution than ATV.

Examples:

1. We have a new baby. Wife and i are family shared - each has an ipad and iphone. Any family member with i device is added to baby photo stream. All apple tvs are set for said baby photostream screensaver. Therefore any new idevice gets stream, and anytime ATV goes into screensaver all guests can see all latest baby pics. can even save home movies and watch the small baby videos
2. All movies/tvshows ripped for itunes. Meaning start a movie in one room, pick it up on another atv or idevice in other part of house.
3. Remote app and airplay speakers throughout house
4. songs: songs wireless to i devices or played in every atv for complete house sound. All songs/videos/tv shows/pics all in one place all itunes formatted all ready to go to any idevice for when we travel or locally on big screen via ATV
5. i could go on


Amazon prime: im assuming most if not ALL people who use prime for video/music use are prime members for the 2 day shipping NOT For the video/music use. There have been maybe 3 times since ive been a prime and netflix member that i could not find a movie on netflix/download that has been on prime that i had to airplay to an appletv.

the biggest thing id like to see from the new ATV is the ability to select a show and have the ATV pull from whatever source you have available to watch said show and alert you to new episodes when added. Example:
1. you put Big bang Theory as a bookmarked show
2. ATV searches: itunes computer local, itunes purchases/subscriptions, netflix, and CBS/TBS/anything live apps to pull in all episodes
3. all you do is go into TV, select big bang and a season and play any episode from any source and the ATV automatically plays it. instead of having to jump all over the place to find the show you want. ATV records watched status and allows same pick up left off control to other idevices

 

[mic j]

i dont know why these " ATV sucks" posts continue to pop up from now and then. or the i replaced my ATV with <some android based stick> etc.

The ATV is meant to do one thing and it does it REALLY well. Its meant to SUPPLEMENT ITUNES content. THATS REALLY IT! Anything else and its a bonus.

If you are an ALL APPLE household as i am: 2 ipads, multiple ipods, 2 iphones, mac mini as main computer/itunes server, 3 atv 3's, airport express and extreme, and MOST of your family also has Iphones/ipads. Then there is no better solution than ATV.

Examples:

1. We have a new baby. Wife and i are family shared - each has an ipad and iphone. Any family member with i device is added to baby photo stream. All apple tvs are set for said baby photostream screensaver. Therefore any new idevice gets stream, and anytime ATV goes into screensaver all guests can see all latest baby pics. can even save home movies and watch the small baby videos
2. All movies/tvshows ripped for itunes. Meaning start a movie in one room, pick it up on another atv or idevice in other part of house.
3. Remote app and airplay speakers throughout house
4. songs: songs wireless to i devices or played in every atv for complete house sound. All songs/videos/tv shows/pics all in one place all itunes formatted all ready to go to any idevice for when we travel or locally on big screen via ATV
5. i could go on


Amazon prime: im assuming most if not ALL people who use prime for video/music use are prime members for the 2 day shipping NOT For the video/music use. There have been maybe 3 times since ive been a prime and netflix member that i could not find a movie on netflix/download that has been on prime that i had to airplay to an appletv.

the biggest thing id like to see from the new ATV is the ability to select a show and have the ATV pull from whatever source you have available to watch said show and alert you to new episodes when added. Example:
1. you put Big bang Theory as a bookmarked show
2. ATV searches: itunes computer local, itunes purchases/subscriptions, netflix, and CBS/TBS/anything live apps to pull in all episodes
3. all you do is go into TV, select big bang and a season and play any episode from any source and the ATV automatically plays it. instead of having to jump all over the place to find the show you want. ATV records watched status and allows same pick up left off control to other idevices

I whole heartedly agree with you on all your points. Especially the last point about having the aTV search for content you are interested in. One of the main reasons I don't use the internet more for "tv" viewing is having to do search after search after search at different sites to find something to watch. If the aTV could simplify that, it would be a game changer.

 

[sonicrobby]

I gave up on it because I had a rat chew through my Mac mini cable, so I'm using the Apple TV cable as a replacement until I get a new one 😀

But it seems like my Mac mini has essentially replaced my Apple TV. All my tv shows and movies are in my iTunes library, it's hooked up to my tv, and I use the "Remote" app on the iPad to control it. If I bought all my shows and movies through iTunes, maybe I'd use the Apple TV more for streaming them, but I only have a handful of episodes bought through it.

 

[Rainwave]

I just bought a 4k Samsung. Even though the little black box (appletv) can not stream 4k it does a heck of a lot better job with quality the Amazon Prime (tested by using the Prime app within the tv via Ethernet). I also fine that iTunes has a better selection of new movies to rent from what Prime has. Even using the netflix app within the tv for 4k actual viewing (watched house of cards) was a pain to use. Though the picture was more compressed viewing the same show on then apple tv.

Tv was plugged into Ethernet
Appletv was plugged into Ethernet

Just waiting for Cupertino to get it together for a 4k version.

 

[Alrescha]

i dont know why these " ATV sucks" posts continue to pop up from now and then. or the i replaced my ATV with <some android based stick> etc.

The ATV is meant to do one thing and it does it REALLY well. Its meant to SUPPLEMENT ITUNES content. THATS REALLY IT! Anything else and its a bonus.

I agree with this (I have two Apple TV3s and have no problems with them), but I would mention it is not just about iTunes Store content, it is anything you have in iTunes - regardless of the source. As long as it meets the Apple TV's specifications it is good to go, so your Handbrake'd DVDs, Blu-Rays, etc. all work.

A.

 

[campyguy]

I've mostly given up on my ATV - for now, as the thread title indicated. It's still connected to one of my HDTVs, but I haven't turned it on in a few weeks except to Airplay from one of my iPads.

I own a Tivo Roamio, the basic model. Its Netflix app was updated this summer and it's so much easier to use, and it's buffering and navigation is so much better to use now. And, last week Tivo added Prime Video (freaking finally) - I'd actually ordered a Fire Stick (due to be delivered next week) but cancelled that order after seeing the Tivo/Prime Video update!

I own an LTE iPad 3, and find that using the Netflix app with Airplay through my ATV works better than the native ATV app - better/more buffering, control via the ATV remote, ability to rewind 30 seconds...

And, my refurb 2012 quad-core i7 Mini Server just showed up. Looking forward to the HD ATV...

 

[tonyr6]

I switched over to the Fire TV box. It has Netflix and Amazon Instant. I still have the ATV3 connected only for the watch channels (abc, disney) because on the FTV the disney channels apps look like mud and only the ATV3 can play and maintain a HD picture. Also I still need the ATV3 for HBO Go as there is no FTV app for it.

 

[JoEw]

XBMC allows me to stream iTunes match from my iPad/iPhone via the FireTV stick this basically fixed my iTunes needs, I don't use iTunes for videos Plex in my view is far more superior for that and it is cross platform. Also there is an android app that can act as a receiver for airplay (can't speak to quality/consistency though).

As to clarify why these "ATV sucks" threads are popping up it is because the ATV is very much behind what is currently out there and what is sad is that it feels like Apple is on purpose keeping it crippled because they apparently have a new box or actual television in the works. I have used my ATV since it came out a couple years ago and I started getting tired of not having options like I do now and the fact that a $30 dollar device can basically supplant ATV shows how much Apple has kept this device from its full potential. If you are happy with your ATV still that is awesome, but you can't be surprised that other alternatives are gaining popularity over the TV and if you look at my signature I am very much in the Apple ecosystem 😉

 

[jdphoto]

Still using an ATV v3. Being able to throw my display from my MBA or iPhone to the TV has been great and the ATV v3 has Netflix so I'm set. Hoping the next gen has 4k support however as I'm starting to look for a 4k TV.

 

[drsox]

Tried using Apple TV but ended up using the Mac Mini as the media player, mainly for getting access to Netflix. Netflix on the ATV doesn't work for my requirements. I can also use the Mini as my compute server so now it has 2+ uses.