Just bought my first Apple TV and...

[Ivabign]

I have had a number of Roku players - is the Apple TV that much better?

Let me qualify this - I just set up the Apple TV and the responsiveness of the remote is amazing - it always seems to take a beat before an input is registered with my Rokus (Roki?) I also often have a buffering delay when watching Roku - The Apple TV is not experiencing this - it varies during different hours of the day, so I may still get buffering issues - but it seems like the connection to my wifi is a lot better with the Apple TV.

Everything seems so much more polished - does the Apple TV use better components? I know I am going to lose the darned remote - it is TINY!

So far so good...

 

[TallManNY]

I have had a number of Roku players - is the Apple TV that much better?

Let me qualify this - I just set up the Apple TV and the responsiveness of the remote is amazing - it always seems to take a beat before an input is registered with my Rokus (Roki?) I also often have a buffering delay when watching Roku - The Apple TV is not experiencing this - it varies during different hours of the day, so I may still get buffering issues - but it seems like the connection to my wifi is a lot better with the Apple TV.

Everything seems so much more polished - does the Apple TV use better components? I know I am going to lose the darned remote - it is TINY!

So far so good...

Download the remote app for your iPhone and you can use that when you can't find the remote. Also, if is have to type in a long password for a channel it is easier on the iPhone.

The Apple TV hardware is unchanged from 2013, but it is all based on stuff tested in millions of iPhones. So maybe it is more solid than the Roku.

 

[ozaz]

I don't find the Roku 3 & Apple TV to be any different from a performance/stability point of view. I don't get any buffering with either.

Overall, I prefer the Roku but that's just because of more content.

Were you using the top of the range Roku (Roku 3) or one of the cheaper ones?

 

[Michael CM1]

If you buy all of your content from Apple/iTunes, it's amazeballs. But if you just use Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc., it's not quite as impressive. I have a massive iTunes library, and it makes it mostly easy to play on the big TVs. It has replaced my Blu-ray player, and I was reminded recently of how slow those are when I hooked my dad's back up. I'd love for ALL the special features to be available on these purchases that have iTunes Extras, but it's been a mostly fair tradeoff right now. I have stopped the BD boxes from piling up!

 

[jnpy!$4g3cwk]

Let me qualify this - I just set up the Apple TV and the responsiveness of the remote is amazing - it always seems to take a beat before an input is registered with my Rokus (Roki?)
--
Everything seems so much more polished - does the Apple TV use better components? I know I am going to lose the darned remote - it is TINY!

I agree on both counts about the remote. I love the fast, short-stroke action of the Apple remote compared to Roku, which is more like a traditional TV remote with squishy action (my neighbor has a Roku).

However, I've (well, friends and family) lost three remotes so far. Grrr. They need a remotely activated sound signal to help find it in the furniture or wherever in the universe it is that these things disappear to. (The same place all the missing socks go, I guess.)

 

[thepixelpusher]

If you buy all of your content from Apple/iTunes, it's …. But if you just use Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc., it's not quite as impressive. I have a massive iTunes library, and it makes it mostly easy to play on the big TVs. It has replaced my Blu-ray player, and I was reminded recently of how slow those are when I hooked my dad's back up. I'd love for ALL the special features to be available on these purchases that have iTunes Extras, but it's been a mostly fair tradeoff right now. I have stopped the BD boxes from piling up!

I've pretty much given up buying Blurays, except for the 3D ones I wanted, because iTunes movie purchases include iTunes extras has a DVD menu like interface, playable on computer, AppleTV and all newer Apple mobile devices. And I buy the HD version too. The icing on the cake is that once I buy the movie on iTunes I have the movie and the iTunes extras available on all devices tied to my iTunes account without actually downloading the stuff…it just streams from Apple servers. No Handbrake ripping for me anymore to get my content from disk to iTunes.

I hate the UV (Ultraviolet) download version on Blurays too since you have to go to each studios website and input a passcode and use the UV player app to stream the movie. They don't let you download the movie to iTunes, but just to your device which can get pretty full that way and no backup to cover you from losing it! I hate the UV download version on Blurays and I refuse to buy DVD's because of that. One studio emailed me to say my account was being deleted because I hadn't visited their website in a year to keep my movies active. Screw them! UV is off my list of stuff all together.

Not only that but I bought a Mad Catz Controller (looks like XBox Controller) and I mirror games from my phone and iPad using Airplay on my big screen. The very responsive controller is just like playing XBox and the clarity and detail on the screen is amazing.

Long live AppleTV! I have 2 of the current model and will buy the next rev coming out.