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My Apple TV 4 Experience

Rigby said:
Yeah, well, so far we have a few thousand apps for the Fire TV vs. how many for the Apple TV?
I doubt that the tvOS app market will be anywhere near as vibrant as the one for iOS. A TV streaming box is a much more limited device than a phone or tablet.
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Depends on your definition of limited. It's connected to a screen, has a touch surface, motion controls, voice recognition, controllers via mfi, connected to the internet, really other than lacking a camera, not putting it in your pocket and the ability to make phone calls there's not much difference between it and an iPhone 6.

Sure it won't have any web browsing for now but if years of trying web browsing on various devices connected to a tv has told me anything, it's that I'll be quite happy if it never has a web browser. That's my personal preference of course.
 
So I registered just to ask this question. Have they updated the home sharing menu? Is it still a horrible list view for movies? I have a lot of movies I've both ripped and bought through iTunes and I've always hated the list view. I want something "Plexish" so to speak. A wall of movie posters would be ideal. Thanks.
 
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TrueBlou said:
Depends on your definition of limited. It's connected to a screen, has a touch surface, motion controls, voice recognition, controllers via mfi, connected to the internet, really other than lacking a camera, not putting it in your pocket and the ability to make phone calls there's not much difference between it and an iPhone 6.
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The touch surface is separate from the display and about the size of an Apple Watch. That alone limits what you can do with the device. A streaming box is also not mobile which disqualifies it for a whole class of apps that are mainly used while out and about. It also isn't Apple Pay-capable and out-of-the-box has no convenient way to enter text or credit card numbers, which makes it pretty much useless for shopping. And on and on.

I'm still wondering: What, besides streaming and casual games, are people expecting to use it for?
 
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The Apple Tv 2 is horribly slow,and i doubt the 3 is much better. It will sometimes freeze for a few seconds when scrolling through something. I Have no doubt the Apple tv with the A8 is much better at that.
 
Rigby said:
The touch surface is separate from the display and about the size of an Apple Watch. That alone limits what you can do with the device. A streaming box is also not mobile which disqualifies it for a whole class of apps that are mainly used while out and about. It also isn't Apple Pay-capable and out-of-the-box has no convenient way to enter text or credit card numbers, which makes it pretty much useless for shopping. And on and on.

I'm still wondering: What, besides streaming and casual games, are people expecting to use it for?
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It's a little bigger than the watches active area, not by an awful lot but a bit. Why does the touch surface need to be attached to the screen? Do you need to see what you touch? We've managed many forms of entertainment without doing so for a long time.
Having used it, I find it in no way limiting as a touch surface or basic controller. And my thumbs aren't obscuring parts of the screen.

You're right about the out and about apps I'll admit, but then, it's not supposed to, that's what the mobile devices are for. Apps will be designed differently, that's all.

There could also be ways around having to enter your card details, more than once at least. I haven't put my card details into any of my regular shops for a couple of years, they store it for me.

Personally I'm expecting nothing more than streaming and some straightforward games. That's what I want from it. Although I do think developers will find weird and wonderful things to do with it.
 
Rigby said:
Yeah, well, so far we have a few thousand apps for the Fire TV vs. how many for the Apple TV?
I doubt that the tvOS app market will be anywhere near as vibrant as the one for iOS. A TV streaming box is a much more limited device than a phone or tablet.
Click to expand...

The AppleTV app market will be just as vibrant and big in sales. The AppleTV is built to extend to home control in addition to the TV. AppleTV4 apps will be a huge seller. Watch for the new list of millionaire app developers.
 
thepixelpusher said:
The AppleTV app market will be just as vibrant and big in sales.
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Don't want to dampen your optimism, but just the sales numbers should tell you that this is impossible. Apple has so far sold more than half a billion phones, and just 25 million Apple TVs. Even if we assume that the new one dramatically increases demand for the device (which I personally doubt), the tvOS market will still remain orders of magnitude smaller than the iOS market in the foreseeable future.
The AppleTV is built to extend to home control in addition to the TV. AppleTV4 apps will be a huge seller.
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I'd actually like that, but unfortunately Homekit is far from being ready for prime time.
 
JustinsUserName said:
So I registered just to ask this question. Have they updated the home sharing menu? Is it still a horrible list view for movies? I have a lot of movies I've both ripped and bought through iTunes and I've always hated the list view. I want something "Plexish" so to speak. A wall of movie posters would be ideal. Thanks.
Click to expand...
I too am curious about that. Especially when it comes to TV seasons
 
JustinsUserName said:
So I registered just to ask this question. Have they updated the home sharing menu? Is it still a horrible list view for movies? I have a lot of movies I've both ripped and bought through iTunes and I've always hated the list view. I want something "Plexish" so to speak. A wall of movie posters would be ideal. Thanks.
Click to expand...

There will be "Plexish" by Plex. :)
 
Rigby said:
Don't want to dampen your optimism, but just the sales numbers should tell you that this is impossible. Apple has so far sold more than half a billion phones, and just 25 million Apple TVs. Even if we assume that the new one dramatically increases demand for the device (which I personally doubt), the tvOS market will still remain orders of magnitude smaller than the iOS market in the foreseeable future.
I'd actually like that, but unfortunately Homekit is far from being ready for prime time.
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Impossible?

You just made my point. AppleTV has not really been pushed by Apple before (selling by your words just 25 million). With the introduction of apps, voice control, games (with impressive Metal language) it will move it to grow to a bigger market to catch up with the iPhone/iPad sales. Plenty of room for growth.

Homekit is in the early stages, so what's your point? That HomeKit will never mature!? Your thinking is very linear and doesn't reflect the facts, successes and major leaps ahead that Apple has had so far in developing it's products.

If you're betting against AppleTV, I'll take the other side of the bet and we'll see who is right by next year this time.
 
thepixelpusher said:
Impossible?

You just made my point. AppleTV has not really been pushed by Apple before (selling by your words just 25 million). With the introduction of apps, voice control, games (with impressive Metal language) it will move it to grow to a bigger market to catch up with the iPhone/iPad sales.
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Uhm, OK. Just do me a favor and don't bet your life savings on that. :)
Homekit is in the early stages, so what's your point? That HomeKit will never mature!?
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If Apple doesn't finally start to put a serious effort behind it, that is a very real possibility.
 
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Rigby said:
If Apple doesn't finally start to put a serious effort behind it, that is a very real possibility.
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How many times we have fools predicted something like this about Apple products? I'll say every Apple products have doubters but boys.. people never learned.
 
Rigby said:
Don't want to dampen your optimism, but just the sales numbers should tell you that this is impossible. Apple has so far sold more than half a billion phones, and just 25 million Apple TVs. Even if we assume that the new one dramatically increases demand for the device (which I personally doubt), the tvOS market will still remain orders of magnitude smaller than the iOS market in the foreseeable future.
I'd actually like that, but unfortunately Homekit is far from being ready for prime time.
Click to expand...

Apple sold 25 million Apple TVs without advertising and until a year ago, buried deep in the iPod section. With all that it still sold. And even though other streaming boxes were more advanced, HBO threw their weight and rep behind the Apple TV with HBO Now. Giving the ATV first dibs. A 3 year old product!!!

Imagine what the sales will be when it gets Apple's full press?
 
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Rigby said:
Uhm, OK. Just do me a favor and don't bet your life savings on that. :)
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Don't have to bet my life savings.

Apple's been a bet that I've already won on. I've made a boatload of cash off their stock, when people expected Apple to fail.

AppleTV4 is just the start of a maturing product line and new income stream for Apple and for the lucky developers whose apps hit it big.
 
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matrix07 said:
Apple sold 25 million Apple TVs without advertising and until a year ago, buried deep in the iPod section. With all that it still sold.
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It actually fell to 4th place behind Roku, Google and Amazon. I doubt that a device for $150-$200 will do much to change that.
Imagine what the sales will be when it gets Apple's full press?
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Isn't that supposed to be right now?

Look, I love my current Apple TV and use it almost every day. But expecting that this product will sell anywhere near the iPhone is just a fanboy fantasy. It's an uphill battle against more popular competitors, and the relatively high price compared to sub-$50 streaming sticks will not help.
 
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Supermallet said:
Personally I think this release is more of a testing ground than a real step forward. This release will let devs create apps and play around with them, and then Apple can release a more fully featured ATV 5 that will have their long rumored TV service and a nice collection of existing apps available on day one.
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There would seem to be no reason Apple couldn't significantly improve the OS and UX with the existing hardware, and not require a new ATV 5 to do so. If Apple comes out with their streaming TV service, I would expect that to go hand-in-hand with a major OS upgrade on the ATV 4.

None of these things were possible with the old ATV due to multiple hardware limitations.
 
Rigby said:
It actually fell to 4th place behind Roku, Google and Amazon. I doubt that a device for $150-$200 will do much to change that.
Isn't that supposed to be right now?

Look, I love my current Apple TV and use it almost every day. But expecting that this product will sell anywhere near the iPhone is just a fanboy fantasy. It's an uphill battle against more popular competitors, and the relatively high price compared to sub-$50 streaming sticks will not help.
Click to expand...

It has nothing to do with fanboys, but rather facts.

Fact: The product price is only a small part of the revenue and Apple has music, movies, TV and app money that will add to the revenue from the AppleTV.

Fact: Apple is looking to create original content to sell as evidenced by them bidding for the "Top Gear" chaps that Amazon ultimately got.

People buying devices like the Roku that just want access to Netflix and some other content and don't need the apps is shrinking. Most smart TV's now have the basics built in for that access.

Apps and custom media delivery, like Apple an Amazon are doing, are creating easy access ecosystems that are meeting the needs of people of the new media age.

The majority of people just want their access to their content and they want it easy without hacking their device. Both FireTV and AppleTV4 are in the beginnings stages of completing the circle of those ecosystems. Roku and others don't have the app developer depth and entertainment content relationships like Amazon and Apple. Google will probably be a player in this space too.
 
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Aluminum213 said:
They didn't even bother to change the look of the physical device after all these year, as if it was some perfect form lol
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Other than simply being present for accolades, I really wonder if J.Ive is doing anything at Apple these days.

Not only is ATV 4 a stale old design but so are MBP's.

With all the bragging, self congratulations, and "awards" this "designer" get's I think it's odd that nothing reflects his "Style" unless you call rectangular boxes like iPhone case, the MBP case the MB case and such... "stylish".

Come on Apple I'm sure you can do better than this... :eek:
 
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I'm also eager to hear if they've improved the 'Purchased' section of the movies and TV apps.
 
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