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I hate Smart TV's and prefer the AppleTV!!!
- Thread starter jwolf6589
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I bought my Panasonic plasma at Best Buy eleven years ago. Yup the tv operating system hasn’t been updated in probably 10 years but with my AppleTV, I get everything I want. Turns out that is my newest system. My other two tvs are Sonys from at least fifteen years ago Also with AppleTVs.I am lucky I am still using Panasonic Plasmas connected to AppleTVs.I bought one of them so long ago, I bought it at Sears.
I wish they sold TV's without "smart" software. Just a high end panel with TV settings menus. Those customers tend to run a 3rd party streaming device. "Smart TV" should be a Entry level base model. I never use the Built-in streaming or other "Smart" features. I adjust the Video settings and and turn off any unnecessary settings and then leave it alone. I use a Bluray player or AppleTV device.
I agree. I would also use cable if the landlord at my place cared about sports which he does not.
I see no point in using Apple TV, I have a Sony Bravia A90J Master Series 55" TV its fast though the menus, has every app I can think of and Dolby Atmos and you can also use the TV screen (which is left right and central speaker as a central spekaer with a AV amp. Also Sony has Bravia core which gives blu-ray quality films as long as you can get over 80Mbps.
You can adjust the picture precisely I use Dolby Vision Dark on some apps, Dolby Vision light on others. Also the TV gets updates for security and to sort out bugs, improve picture quality etc and it all works just fine. I do wish companies did make dumb TV's so if you wanted to use a separate TV box you could without duplicating features if that's what you prefer. It would probably give your TV a longer lifespan. At the moment Sony and Samsung are using QD OLED which is meant to be much brighter than the WOLED panels with heat syncs like my A90J but I am not the kind of person that buys a new TV every two years I cant see the point and to me the piucture looks astounding also QD OLED screens have moth eye filters so are really hard to clean without leaving blue smears, mine i can clean easily, its only 3 years old but was bought as new last year in a sale for half the price of when it was new which would have been £2600. Technology has improved so TV's apps stay working for for years now and Google TV works very well. Apple TV just like Sky in the UK never really gave me what I wanted without more clutter.
You can adjust the picture precisely I use Dolby Vision Dark on some apps, Dolby Vision light on others. Also the TV gets updates for security and to sort out bugs, improve picture quality etc and it all works just fine. I do wish companies did make dumb TV's so if you wanted to use a separate TV box you could without duplicating features if that's what you prefer. It would probably give your TV a longer lifespan. At the moment Sony and Samsung are using QD OLED which is meant to be much brighter than the WOLED panels with heat syncs like my A90J but I am not the kind of person that buys a new TV every two years I cant see the point and to me the piucture looks astounding also QD OLED screens have moth eye filters so are really hard to clean without leaving blue smears, mine i can clean easily, its only 3 years old but was bought as new last year in a sale for half the price of when it was new which would have been £2600. Technology has improved so TV's apps stay working for for years now and Google TV works very well. Apple TV just like Sky in the UK never really gave me what I wanted without more clutter.
I don't disagree & would love a "component" TV that was basically just a display with plenty of HDMI sockets (no audio either - you can't fit decent speakers in a TV).
However, I suspect the reality is that a modern digital TV needs a powerful processor anyway, so adding the "smart" features doesn't really add much to the bill-of-materials and the manufacturer can get extra revenue from pushing services etc.
As long as the TV allows you to ignore the "smart" features and connect your own kit, I don't think the "smart" stuff is costing you anything, and is quite possibly making the TV cheaper.
What brand? I have had Samsungs and now LG - without issue.
As a HARd rule, and I NEVER connect IOT devices to wifi or home network (temporary access).
I'll connect to guest network on separate subnet, ONLY if needed for initial setup / firmware update.
After that there's no data leak out of those idiot apps on the TV.
The HDMI ARC works great to my receiver, and Apple TV serves up the input.
I actually prefer my LG OLED system over AppleTV even if ATV is much smoother and faster. And it all comes down to the Magic Remote with it's Wii-like pointer capabilities. Having to write even one word with the Apple Remote is so slow in comparison that it borders on unusable to me. If Apple just incorporates that functionality then it's completely superior.
Out of curiosity, I checked on the apps on my Panasonic tv. The tv is 11 years old but as a plasma TV, the image is still great. First app, Netflix - it loads and asks for the user login but then it says Netflix is not available in my region. Next app, YouTube - it starts to launch but crashes. So zero for two. There are seven blank icons where there were apps but those no longer do anything. Home Shopping Network — an app I never used. Launches but says “No longer available”. Ok, enough testing, basically at this point my tv is an over the air tv and a monitor for my Apple TV. No surprise to me as I figured that would be how things would work and a big reason I get Apple TVs - because they do get updates and if your AppleTV becomes obsolete but the TV is still good, I just get a new AppleTV as they are relatively inexpensive.
My wife after I bought an AppleTV: "Wow, I did not know how bad we needed this". We've got a 2020 Samsung Smart TV. And the AppleTV has been such a sigh of relieve. The difference in user experience is day and night.
For me, the LG C3 OLED apps on webOS have been a better overall experience than Apple TV. The Apple TV is also very glitchy with this TV, experiencing random blackouts. And I tried all different combinations of settings between HDR, DV, dynamic frame rate, QMS-VRR, etc. Could never get it to play anything reliably.
I have had absolutely no issues after going with the LG apps. Built in apps seem to be a lot more junky when you buy a lower end TV that comes with worse software and/or hardware that struggles to run them.
I have had absolutely no issues after going with the LG apps. Built in apps seem to be a lot more junky when you buy a lower end TV that comes with worse software and/or hardware that struggles to run them.
The Apple TV is fine. It worked flawlessly on other TVs. Just not the new LG that has introduced QMS. The two don't play nicely. In the end I'm fine with that because the Apple TV literally does nothing I need or want that the TV doesn't already do. I kept the ATV with my old TV in a different room for use with HomePods as speakers since I had a couple HomePods I wasn't using.
ONE HOME SCREEN. The most underrated feature of the Apple TV when using 2 more more ATVs. Identical app layout from one TV manufacturer to another in our home.
My TVs run Android. It's OK, not much in the way when I don't want to use it. Usually I don't. It's kinda good that it's there, I think.
The living room TV's OS isn't even connected to the internet. HDMI CEC works so what I pickup is usually the Apple remote and power on/off the TV with that one anyway.
Some older smart TVs I've handled have terrible lag, though. Now *that's* a nightmare.
The living room TV's OS isn't even connected to the internet. HDMI CEC works so what I pickup is usually the Apple remote and power on/off the TV with that one anyway.
Some older smart TVs I've handled have terrible lag, though. Now *that's* a nightmare.
Mine is connected to an aerial but also with Wi-Fi and is fast as it has a quad core processor and a AI image processor and upscales much better than a Apple TV could. I tried and returned the Apple TV it just wasn't for me.
Photos - don't care about.
Podcasts - don't care about.
Music - LG has that and works great.
Airpods - would be nice, but I don't need this in my living room/main TV. I use this occasionally with the bedroom TV at night that I moved the ATV to.
Apple TV app store - have yet to wish for any apps I had on my ATV that I can't get on the TV.
As I said, nothing I need or really want that I can't get with the LG. Clearly some features are more valuable to you and it's good that Apple TV can provide them.
It's not like I've never tried Apple TVs. I've had 3 of them. I know what they can do. I've decided they aren't worth the expense (for me), especially since the latest model is very glitchy with the QMS-VRR function. Smart TVs have gotten better and like I said in my first post, the cheaper TVs are a lot worse. When your TV is nearly $3K it tends to work better out of the box (although still obviously doesn't have some ATV features that simply aren't in the software).
I go further than that. I never use the smart functions on my Google equipped Bravia. Even connecting the Satellite aerial is a pain. I always try to buy the dumbest TV in the range and use smart peripherals. Then I can change them as often as needed independently. Apple TV, Satellite box, Sonos, MacMini are connected. The first two auto-start the TV.
