Ah yes, I thought it may be some bidirectional data transfer going on with some new HDMI version, but was still surprised my old Pioneer Plasma supported such a thing. Very cool indeed.
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New Apple TV Tidbits: Limited App Discovery, User Guide, Amazon Pulls Apple TVs, and More
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Ah yes, I thought it may be some bidirectional data transfer going on with some new HDMI version, but was still surprised my old Pioneer Plasma supported such a thing. Very cool indeed.
Apple don't care if their content isn't available outside their own hardware, to them it's still a value add, not a core product. Amazon, on the other hand, want to be the next Netflix. Except you can't do that if you're selective about the platforms you make your media available on.
Asking for a $5 credit every time the deliver is late is absolutely reasonable. However - I don't want to dedicate the time and energy into that, and I bet most people would agree. I'd rather just cancel my service, see how much it's worth it to them to try to get me back.
It's much more than that, though. Amazon generally operates an open marketplace in which third party sellers can list pretty much whatever they want (as long as it's legal, etc.). Amazon itself also sells a variety of products, but when you search for things on amazon.com, you're seeing both. Amazon even allows third-party sellers to make use of its warehouses to offer prime shipping. Not only did Amazon decide they're not going to sell the Apple TV and Chromecast directly, they removed all listings, even from third party sellers. (Search for Apple TV, and notice that absolutely no listings for actual Apple TVs come up in the results.)
Personally, I think Amazon needs to figure out what it wants to be. Simultaneously offering a storefront as a service to third party sellers and delisting items that compete with their ever-expanding selection of first-party hardware offerings is a fundamental conflict of interest. This threatens what I see as one of the core tenants of Amazon's business model, as a the canonical listing of effectively every product imaginable.
Who's saying Apple is benevolent? You can't compare Amazon and Apple Stores. Amazon is a marketplace which sells just about anything. Apple stores were created to sell Apple products and a limited number of 3rd party products which complement Apple products. Obviously in retail stores Apple products are going to get preference so with limited store space and increasing Apple products some 3rd party products will get the boot.
Amazon has apps on iOS that aren't giving Apple the 30% cut. They could do the same for TV. And if people complain about not being able to subscribe or purchase something in app they can easily explain why. It might even get Apple to change its policies if it's a real annoyance and enough people complain.
I am pretty sure I got the service free with my Amazon Prime membership. I haven't bothered to try it yet, but if it was on my Apple TV 3 or 4 I would. I suspect like Apple, Amazon ties usage of the service to a hardware sale. Not sure why since they proudly claim the hardware is zero profit. I actually don't get it. Then they lose commissions on Apple TV sales too. Huh? I want Jeff Bezos to explain this to me personally.
Rocketman
Rocketman
Amazon Instant Video is available in the iOS App Store. Just plug your phone into a charger, and launch that app and mirror to your AppleTV. Problem solved.
If you refuse to spend the cost of a few cups of coffee on an Amazon stick to get the service you are already paying for then that is your problem. Hell if you call them up they will probably send you one for free. I have a friend who was using an older Samsung Blue ray player that the app was no longer supported on and Amazon sent him free Blue ray player with a supported app.
I'm really surprise at the lack of App discovery in the new tvOS App Store, I though Apple learned that lesson many years ago. It's just going to get worse and worse as more apps get added or push developers away because they can't get noticed.
Hopefully this will be fixed soon.
It's to bad you can't search for tvOS apps on your iPhone and push them to your Apple TV from anywhere. I can do that with my PS4, buy a game online and it will be waiting on my PS4 when I get home.
Hopefully this will be fixed soon.
It's to bad you can't search for tvOS apps on your iPhone and push them to your Apple TV from anywhere. I can do that with my PS4, buy a game online and it will be waiting on my PS4 when I get home.
Really? A failure of EPIC proportions? To me it just sounds like the Apple Stores received their inventory first. Not too surprising. Could have gone the other way. And then other people would have pronounced the fact they can't walk into a store and instantly buy a unit an Epic Fail as well.
Clearly apple is targeting both smart TV users and those who don't have smart TV. I think with this hardware they are actually targeting people interested in gaming to. Obviously not triple a gamers but people like Nintendo wii users. Remember. Ios is the biggest gaming platform. There are already tons of apps not in smart TVs. Yoga studio, periscope etc. Hopefully this will boost TV manufactures to create simple fast TVs without apps and **** and make them cheaper.
If you already have a smart TV then it really doesn't do anything more than give you games and access to your Apple content, such as iTunes, Photos, etc. To be honest I am massively disappointed. It is the same content that is on all the other devices like Chromecast and Amazon Fire Stick and everything else you have to pay for. People are raving that it has Netflix and that the BBC iPlayer is coming soon. Well my Now TV box from Sky that cost £10 has both of them. There also seems to be no Apple generated apps, let alone anything killer that really shows off its potential. Mines being packed up and going back to Apple. Sorry Apple but it is just a bit dull!!
You know, for every shipment that does not come within the promised 2 day window, you will get one month of free membership. You just have to fill out an online complaint (basically whining about the rip off that you pay and don't get the promised service). Since they are using these days a lot USPS shipments (which causes delays since they keep screwing up shipments) it is adding up quickly and you will get many free month of membership. I guess I will never pay full membership fee again.
Are you searching by the first letter, as shown in the video? By default, most of the apps (including mine) are not visible on the main screen because they're not hand picked by Apple. You have to search by name. (Or by category name, e.g. "navigation")
I'm in BC, with the device's region set to Canada, and I do see the same list as in the video when searching.
seems to be loading up lots now
Just an FYI - the shipping is now WAY slower. I made an order on Monday and Amazon still has not shipped my order. From what I've seen online they are now intentionally holding back orders on the free shipping tier to try to coax you into joining Amazon Prime. Personally, I'll just find my products elsewhere.
Is it just me or is it kind of (very) tiring to use the remote for more than 20 minutes? I like to scroll around and explore when I don't know what to watch... but because of the lack of physical buttons now I can't rest my thumb down.
It's surprisingly uncomfortable.
Also the touch sensitivity seems off... maybe I need to get used to it, but if you move your hand too fast it goes 10 notches, and if you move it too slow lit literally goes 0. Trying to move the cursor by 1-2 is definitely not effortless like it is on a PS4.
Last gripe, Netflix chose to cut off an entire row of items, just to show more preview. Now it's very cramped.
Overall, its cool, but these things above area also quite frustraing... I hope they fix them.
It's surprisingly uncomfortable.
Also the touch sensitivity seems off... maybe I need to get used to it, but if you move your hand too fast it goes 10 notches, and if you move it too slow lit literally goes 0. Trying to move the cursor by 1-2 is definitely not effortless like it is on a PS4.
Last gripe, Netflix chose to cut off an entire row of items, just to show more preview. Now it's very cramped.
Overall, its cool, but these things above area also quite frustraing... I hope they fix them.
It's just came out the cookie jar dude. Yeah other boxes have Netflix too and then? They will never get anything else. Apple TV app store is going to get tons of apps in the coming year.
So you come to that conclusion on day one of the AppleTV app store? Look at the app store for the iPhone ..that had very little when it first appeared as well..but look at it now. I have a brand new TV with built in apps, but they don't work as nice or smoothly as the AppleTV nor does it have anything close the amount or quality of apps.
It was kind of weird, as I "searched" for some apps earlier, such as HBOGO among others and they did not show up as available apps...except for HBO NOW, not HBOGO. Later (about and hour or so) I looked under the apps that I had downloaded in the past "Apps Purchased" and there they were. I downloaded them and now they are on my ATV.
I'm thinking they are working the app store as we speak. Not sure, but found this really weird.
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