Netflix's New Interactive 'Black Mirror: Bandersnatch' Episode Doesn't Work on Apple TV

[beanbaguk]

I have to confess, when it comes to watching Netflix, Amazon Prime or even using my Plex server, I've switched to using my built-in Samsung smart TV apps.

I have an ATV4 (not 4K), and I find I get built in 4K content with the Samsung apps, it's much faster to load than the ATV and appears to have the features.

I still use my ATV but predominantly for music and some dedicated TV apps like BBC iPlayer and my IPTV, but otherwise it's a bit redundant these days. (Even my Samsung has STB Mag Emulator so no real need for ATV for IPTV anymore).

 

[theluggage]

Is it anywhere as engaging as Netflix's riveting, interactive movie "Puss in Boots"?

You choose: [Yes] [No]

 

[jarman92]

Not when the box is included with anything you buy these days (Amazon, Netflix, etc fund this by paying the manufacturer to put their buttons on, plus the TV maker sells your viewing information), the interface is often better (i.e. keyboard in the remote or Wii-like mouse), and the only reason why you'd upgrade is to watch 8K 4D video, in which case you need a new TV anyway.

No, you need to upgrade when the already slow CPU becomes unbearable and the already horrendous UI gets even worse. Then you have a lovely 4K TV with a useless streaming “box.”

 

[jdiamond]

This to me seems like an intentional design and artistic decision considering ‘black mirror’ refers to the reflective surface of a phone screen. So it would only make sense to make it available predominantly on mobile.

The show is called "black mirror" because the episodes hold a mirror up to society and showcase the potential darker outcomes that could arise if we continue our current course. Think of it as a sub-genre of SciFi.

 

[i hate phones]

Not surprised. Apple TV is dead unless they integrate it into A TV set soon. Google have this sector nailed and it’s the only thing android I have in my house. Originally Brought an Apple TV for Netflix, then when I upgraded to a 4K tv, Id have to buy another, newer, Apple TV. Why would I do that when the TV comes bundled with 4K Netflix through google?

It’s dead as a hardware box.

Thanks to bandersnatch, I was reminded once again how much I hate hate hate the android part of my TV (less than a year old). Tried launching netflix a few times and sat there staring at a black screen for awhile. 3rd or 4th try it finally booted all the way through so I could actually watch it. If i had to use that everyday I'd give up TV altogether. Apple tv is by no means perfect, but it's at least mostly enjoyable to use

 

[konqerror]

No, you need to upgrade when the already slow CPU becomes unbearable and the already horrendous UI gets even worse. Then you have a lovely 4K TV with a useless streaming “box.”

Apple's device is now even worse than the TV. Because they shove in Homekit, Siri, recommendation services, games to eat up the CPU. Smart TVs don't have that degradation. Fundamentally they select a stream and show it.

You're making a case for smart TVs. I have a 2014 era Amazon Fire and a smart TV from the same era. The Fire is unusable, Amazon on the TV works just fine.

You also realize that Apple TV uses the exact same Amazon, Youtube, Hulu, etc. UIs as the TVs? The providers aren't going to customize for the large number of platforms out there. Same consistent UI, so Apple has zero advantage.

 

[jkwr]

Uh, no?

Having owned every black puck Apple TV, a Nexus Player, and two Nvidia Shields, unless you're slinging games from your GeForce-equipped PC, the Apple TV is the best box there is. As for the built-in menus on TVs, they're turds. Slow, don't deliver 4K (and I'd wager HDR is out of the question as well), and they just have bad GUIs.

My 2015 Sony 55" Android TV disagrees. 4k Netflix with HDR thank you!

 

[MattXDA]

My 2015 Sony 55" Android TV disagrees. 4k Netflix with HDR thank you!

As does my LG OLED. Faster than an Apple TV actually and no issues with Dolby Vision (not sure if they patched that bug on ATV yet)

 

[bgrubin]

I think it's open to interpretation, but I think "black mirror" refers to the reflective surface of any screen. Including television screens. Considering the show started in 2011, a bit before we really knew of the smartphone obsession, I actually think the original meaning was really limited to tv and computer screens, but evolved to include smartphone screens too.

You kids, so focused on technology The reference is actually very much older than you think!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_a_glass,_darkly_(phrase)

The interpretation is that our knowledge is imperfect, that we can not know the whole truth, but only part. In this case, in seeing the future we can only see a small portion of what may come, and the rest we predict poorly--as through a glass, darkly.

 

[bitfactory]

Apple's device is now even worse than the TV. Because they shove in Homekit, Siri, recommendation services, games to eat up the CPU. Smart TVs don't have that degradation. Fundamentally they select a stream and show it.

'eat up the cpu'? lul

Apple deserves a lot of scorn for a lot of things, but their chips absolutely DEMOLISH anything found in a similar form factor - especially 'smart' tvs.

 

[KPandian1]

You kids, so focused on technology .

The interpretation is that our knowledge is imperfect, that we can not know the whole truth, but only part. In this case, in seeing the future we can only see a small portion of what may come, and the rest we predict poorly--as through a glass, darkly.

Or, focus on the science behind the device. And, the metaphor!

The perfect surface that reflects a " single ray" of light without refraction or scattering of the incident ray - producing a perfect reflected ray of light.

"... and the rest we predict poorly--as through a glass, darkly." "Through rose-colored glasses is the common usage for this - the opposite of a Black Mirror.

The keyword is "Mirror", not look-through glass.

 

[chainmailr]

I gave up on my Apple TV, and it's collecting dust. MacBook connected with HDMI continues to be the only failproof way to watch stuff on a TV.

I don't even have the remote for it cause ofc it got lost. I can't use the remote app because you need a physical remote to set it up.
[doublepost=1546405810][/doublepost]

Apple's device is now even worse than the TV. Because they shove in Homekit, Siri, recommendation services, games to eat up the CPU. Smart TVs don't have that degradation. Fundamentally they select a stream and show it.

As someone who just spent 30 minutes trying to connect a Nintendo Switch to a Samsung smart TV, I disagree with this. And while going through the settings, I found out the TV even has an antivirus system on it. OSs in odd places like TVs are typically bad.

 

[geoff.barnett]

According to a Netflix support document, its interactive content is limited to smart TVs, streaming media players, game consoles, iOS devices, and Android devices running the latest version of the Netflix app.

Those with Apple devices are going to want to use an iPhone, iPad, or web browser to watch "Bandersnatch" to get the full experience. If you try to watch on the Apple TV, you will see a message that the interactive content can't be displayed, with Netflix recommending that you watch on another device.

This is a clear case of Netflix focusing development on the most used platforms. There are many more Android derived media boxes and TV's than there are Apple ones, so it is not surprising that the pace of Development for Netflix on Android devices is faster when it comes to developing for larger screen devices.

Black Mirror is also coming from a British Production house, in the UK the AppleTV is far less popular than the Amazon FireTV devices. FireTV has always been far cheaper and it actually supported the BBC's iPlayer service much sooner than the AppleTV range, there were no compelling reasons to choose AppleTV devices early on, they are much more expensive and there was no compelling content available on the device in the UK market, Apple had not focused on UK content partners in the same way it did in the US, so the ATV was basically an expensive paperweight if it wasn't Jailbroken. The only content services available on it were iTunes and Netflix. Many CableTV boxes in the UK also had Netflix as they were branded Tivo boxes, so the appeal of ATV was seriously limited.

UK consumers chose the FireTV and other Android based devices because they had iPlayer, Netflix and Amazon Instant Video (previously Lovefilm in the UK, prior to acquisition by Amazon), in the UK there is no Hulu, which was a launch service for AppleTV in the US and a big pull for the AppleTV, additionally the FireTV was (and still is) super easy to side load applications like Kodi to, so they remain far more popular than the ATV, especially among cable cutters.

 

[sofila]

I think it's open to interpretation, but I think "black mirror" refers to the reflective surface of any screen. Including television screens. Considering the show started in 2011, a bit before we really knew of the smartphone obsession, I actually think the original meaning was really limited to tv and computer screens, but evolved to include smartphone screens too.

The show is called "black mirror" because the episodes hold a mirror up to society and showcase the potential darker outcomes that could arise if we continue our current course. Think of it as a sub-genre of SciFi.

You kids, so focused on technology The reference is actually very much older than you think!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_a_glass,_darkly_(phrase)

The interpretation is that our knowledge is imperfect, that we can not know the whole truth, but only part. In this case, in seeing the future we can only see a small portion of what may come, and the rest we predict poorly--as through a glass, darkly.

Or, focus on the science behind the device. And, the metaphor!

The perfect surface that reflects a " single ray" of light without refraction or scattering of the incident ray - producing a perfect reflected ray of light.

"... and the rest we predict poorly--as through a glass, darkly." "Through rose-colored glasses is the common usage for this - the opposite of a Black Mirror.

The keyword is "Mirror", not look-through glass.

Black Mirror: screen powered off that reflects and shows the inverted user's image (not the real one but a derivative of it) aka the main and final responsible of tools usage or abuse. The same user is going to face consequences for his behaviour

 

[Michelasso]

Apple's device is now even worse than the TV. Because they shove in Homekit, Siri, recommendation services, games to eat up the CPU. Smart TVs don't have that degradation. Fundamentally they select a stream and show it.

No. My Bravia TV with Android has a degradation on performances just while changing volume in Prime Video (measured. The idiotic Linux's kswpad0 process kicks in and the audio/video stutters).

Do you realise that the ATV 4K CPU has an Antutu benchmark of 200K+ vs the 27K of a Sony Bravia TV (AF9/ZF9 excluded)?

You're making a case for smart TVs. I have a 2014 era Amazon Fire and a smart TV from the same era. The Fire is unusable, Amazon on the TV works just fine.

You must be lucky. The Android TV part of my 2016 Sony Bravia is a total piece of junk. Lagdroid at its finest! With the ATV there are people going hysteric if just after a (quite fast) reboot there is a little frame rate drop scrolling the icons. And yes, I have had even Netflix lagging on my Bravia TV, that has been the final drop that made me drive 30Km to buy an Apple TV 4K. In Android any app installed can be a resource drainer. And guess what? It usually is...

You also realize that Apple TV uses the exact same Amazon, Youtube, Hulu, etc. UIs as the TVs? The providers aren't going to customize for the large number of platforms out there. Same consistent UI, so Apple has zero advantage.

That's also wrong, at leat regarding Prime Video. Assuming as UI you include the media player UI. Prime Video on ATV uses the standard tvOS media player. Which indeed is much better than that piece of garbage one finds in Fire OS and Android TV. If I want to go back or forth 10s I just push a bit the touchpad in the left or right border. To move to a particular position I pause and swipe. I change language and subtitles on the fly. With Prime Video standard interface it's simply a nightmare: "Press left, wait, no! It went too behind. Press forward, wait. Oops! I went too far, let's go back again!". You want to change language? Stop the video. Exit the video. Go to language, select the language. restart the video. Hallucinating. Only the Home screen is the same.

 

[2979382]

Uh, no?

Having owned every black puck Apple TV, a Nexus Player, and two Nvidia Shields, unless you're slinging games from your GeForce-equipped PC, the Apple TV is the best box there is. As for the built-in menus on TVs, they're turds. Slow, don't deliver 4K (and I'd wager HDR is out of the question as well), and they just have bad GUIs.

LG's Web OS has a decent set of apps and 4K streaming is pretty solid too, however, the Apple TV by far is the best experience one can have. I own both version 4 and 4K and have never had issues with either of them.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

His point is the world has moved beyond boxes and these apps are built into the TV. Like he said, if apple wants to push into the market they’re going to have to do platform agnostic with their content. I’d use them if I had an app on my LG, or on my non smart TVs that have a Roku (the legit best box btw). Unless you are an apple devotee why would anyone lock themselves into their content platform?

I'm not locked into anything. Literally anything I could want to watch is available on my Apple TV, including my movies bought elsewhere (thanks to Movies Anywhere).

And Roku is terrible. I can't wait to replace the one at my girlfriend's with the Apple TV 4 that I'm not using currently.

 

[Spoon!]

That’s not true of all TV’s. We have an LG OLED TV and use the installed Netflix, Amazon and Hulu apps on it, via ethernet, for all our streaming. Quality in HD and 4K is superb.

Yeah my TV has 4K Chromecast Ultra built in and it looks awesome. I still prefer my Apple TV though for navigation.

Or we could go off of what the creator where he refers specifically to TV and mobile screens.

Skip to 4:30 to see "What does the title black mirror mean?"

I think that'll work.

 

[bitfactory]

I gave up on my Apple TV, and it's collecting dust. MacBook connected with HDMI continues to be the only failproof way to watch stuff on a TV.

I don't even have the remote for it cause ofc it got lost. And no, I can't use the remote app because you need a physical remote to set it up.
[doublepost=1546405810][/doublepost]
As someone who just spent 30 minutes trying to connect a Nintendo Switch to a Samsung smart TV, I disagree with this. And while going through the settings, I found out the TV even has an antivirus system on it.

I bought a Sony TV not really worrying about the OS in it. It's Android and it's an ABOMINATION to mankind. Seriously one of the worst pieces of software I've ever used. Thankfully I hardly ever have to go into it.

 

[andyp350]

This to me seems like an intentional design and artistic decision considering ‘black mirror’ refers to the reflective surface of a phone screen. So it would only make sense to make it available predominantly on mobile.

So what’s your explanation for why it’s supported my games consoles and smart TVs?