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Returning it...

B

balconycollapse

Cancelled
Original poster
Aug 7, 2003
213
98
I'm within my 15 days at Best Buy and this thing just got reset reboxed ready to go. It has sim neat features but at the end of the day it feels like a newly skinned Apple TV 3 with little compelling in the app department.

The 3 does media just as well with AirPlay and Home Sharing to fill in the Plex/Air Video HD gap. When QVC is the most compelling app on a platform then it's not a good sign. I'm not sure productivity, news, magazine or Wii U level games will get here for a year. Maybe never due to the single user login and bad text entry interface.

Not letting me use my phone remote and the one button games is just being difficult to sell extra remotes. I think I only tried one game that would let a person turn the remote side ways.

It's still a hobby and it's very much a Field of Dreams product approach -- but they could have included some interesting 1st party stuff!
 
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I had bought the 64GB model and the $29.99 AppleCare--$242 with tax I think. I decided the 64GB is not necessary since you cannot download purchased movies and TV shows on the device storage. Apparently it is just for apps only and 32GB will be enough. I got my $242 back and purchased an open box 32GB on Bestbuy.com for $139 and saved around $100. This wasn't worth $242 I had originally spent with the AppleCare.
 
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I had an Apple Watch on launch day. I'm aware of ramp up times. It has had excellent 1st party applications and the 3rd party ones have been gaining steam. This ATV4 has butt 1st party applications and no examples of "cracked the code" killer 1st party app or 3rd party. How many Holy Bible and Fireplace apps?! For some reason they removed a decent 1st party app in Podcasts. Where is Apple News? Maybe some Split Screen goodness. Maps? iBooks?
 
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johnothy said:
I had bought the 64GB model and the $29.99 AppleCare--$242 with tax I think. I decided the 64GB is not necessary since you cannot download purchased movies and TV shows on the device storage. Apparently it is just for apps only and 32GB will be enough. I got my $242 back and purchased an open box 32GB on Bestbuy.com for $139 and saved around $100. This wasn't worth $242 I had originally spent with the AppleCare.
Click to expand...

I realized this quick. I returned my 64gb Apple TV. And bought a 32. After thinking it through. I don't do that much gaming. And if I were to download any games. They would be just a handful anyhow. Everything else I do is strictly streaming from Netflix, plex etc. so I don't need the extra storage. I also got a refund on my nimbus controller. I see no need as of now to have it. If in the future I find myself wanting it. I can buy another. But for now I feel better doing what I did. Selling an old roku stick, and my prev Apple TV to help offset the cost of the 32 I just bought. Feel like by doing this, I can more justify the purchase I made.
 
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lsutigerfan1976 said:
I realized this quick. I returned my 64gb Apple TV. And bought a 32. After thinking it through. I don't do that much gaming. And if I were to download any games. They would be just a handful anyhow. Everything else I do is strictly streaming from Netflix, plex etc. so I don't need the extra storage. I also got a refund on my nimbus controller. I see no need as of now to have it. If in the future I find myself wanting it. I can buy another. But for now I feel better doing what I did. Selling an old roku stick, and my prev Apple TV to help offset the cost of the 32 I just bought. Feel like by doing this, I can more justify the purchase I made.
Click to expand...

Good, I'm glad I'm not the only one that came to this conclusion. I felt like 64GB was the smart decision at first, but now see it's not necessary.
 
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IndianBird said:
That's what happens when you buy day one of a new product and expect everything to roll out with it.
Click to expand...
To be fair, it's "Day 1" of a product delayed for several years.

The OP has a solid point. For a product that was supposed to be graduating from "Hobby" to full fledged product line then it's extremely surprising how unprepared the product turned out. This isn't WatchOS which is a new product in a new category. This is Apples 4th upgrade in 10 years. So it's okay to have expectations.

- Missing 1st party apps
- Very late release of the new OS to Devs
- Missing key hardware components
- Inferior in several aspects to previous generation
- Remote feels untested"
- Double (Triple!) the price
- Yet another Apple product that shipped unfinished

Look, I got mine and like it just fine. But I can see why it's disappointing to some because as a huge AppleTV fan then it's disappointing to me too.
 
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I like the ATV so far, I think people need to be patient. Once killer apps reach the store, then we cans ee the full potential of this product. It might take 6 months or more but it will come.

The only thing so far bugs me is when I have it running it has been slowing down my entire internet connection to a crawl to all my other devices. Once I turn ATV off, everything goes back to normal. Really weird.
 
urkel said:
To be fair, it's "Day 1" of a product delayed for several years.

The OP has a solid point. For a product that was supposed to be graduating from "Hobby" to full fledged product line then it's extremely surprising how unprepared the product turned out. This isn't WatchOS which is a new product in a new category. This is Apples 4th upgrade in 10 years. So it's okay to have expectations.

- Missing 1st party apps
- Very late release of the new OS to Devs
- Missing key hardware components
- Inferior in several aspects to previous generation
- Remote feels untested"
- Double (Triple!) the price
- Yet another Apple product that shipped unfinished

Look, I got mine and like it just fine. But I can see why it's disappointing to some because as a huge AppleTV fan then it's disappointing to me too.
Click to expand...

No comment on other items but remote. I have universal remote URC-880 ($400 remote) that i use to control my devices. I always toss any device factory remotes in the box and never use them. I was planning to do the same to apple siri remote, even after a few hours of use. Never like touch control (except iphone).

oh boy, apple did it again. they make it work (hdmi CEC, touch, siri command). now I use Siri remote more, and my universal remote is not used much anymore. I never thought this would ever happen.

things like "turn on subtitle", "launch walking death on netflix", turn on/off/volume receiver and TV with simple click. playing Asphalt 8 using gyroscope. it is bluetooth, no need RF receiver, when ATV is in closet.
 
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urkel said:
To be fair, it's "Day 1" of a product delayed for several years.

The OP has a solid point. For a product that was supposed to be graduating from "Hobby" to full fledged product line then it's extremely surprising how unprepared the product turned out. This isn't WatchOS which is a new product in a new category. This is Apples 4th upgrade in 10 years. So it's okay to have expectations.

- Missing 1st party apps
- Very late release of the new OS to Devs
- Missing key hardware components
- Inferior in several aspects to previous generation
- Remote feels untested"
- Double (Triple!) the price
- Yet another Apple product that shipped unfinished

Look, I got mine and like it just fine. But I can see why it's disappointing to some because as a huge AppleTV fan then it's disappointing to me too.
Click to expand...

I am tired of the excuse it's a new product. It will get fixed. Whatever happened to the Apple that put more time into quality control? They are slacking. Same thing with the watch. Release it. And hope you can work the kinks out later. You normally don't see that from Apple though.
 
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normanfox said:
oh boy, apple did it again. they make it work (hdmi CEC, touch, siri command). now I use Siri remote more, and my universal remote is not used much anymore. I never thought this would ever happen.

things like "turn on subtitle", "launch walking death on netflix", turn on/off/volume receiver and TV with simple click.
Click to expand...

I agree the remote was working great with CEC and the Bluetooth was nice. Siri was very responsive and did a great job of transcribing.
 
T5BRICK said:
I was wondering this today, but I really don't think that Apple News app would really present itself well on a HDTV. Maybe it could work with some tweaks.
Click to expand...
I think it could have worked with some text zoom and reader mode to avoid ad popups. But I spose it depends on the screen size.

The new TV has such pretty screensavers that give the feeling of hustle and bustle with the city below. I wanted some of that with news notifications and social networking on a drawer that slides out over the show -- kinda like the one off to the right in OSX with the two finger to the left gesture.

I wanted to "dual screen" on one screen if that makes sense.
 
Cool that somebody posted the screen savers on YouTube. I now play that list on shuffle on my ATV3.
 
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It's clunky, and due to Apple and 3rd part software, not close to its full potential. But it';s a relatively blank slate with a lot ore horsepower and abilities than its predecessor.

I ordered two, and returned one that was unopened. It's an OK bump for our main TV, but wasn't yet worth it for some of the others. Besides, we'll likely go 4k on 1 or 2 of our TVs in the next two or so years, so there's that.

Taking a wait and see approach before a mass upgrade (we have a big family), but glad to have one of the new systems. I think software upgrades and 3rd party apps will steadily improve.
 
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I haven't really had the problems people are experiencing. It is better than my ATV is every single way. Siri works as expected (better than on my iPhone), the remote is better, and the apps are more polished.

I guess my only knock is sometimes there is "studders" in video playback that is 100% the ATV.
 
lsutigerfan1976 said:
I am tired of the excuse it's a new product. It will get fixed. Whatever happened to the Apple that put more time into quality control? They are slacking. Same thing with the watch. Release it. And hope you can work the kinks out later. You normally don't see that from Apple though.
Click to expand...

I don't know if you saw my thread but I couldn't even set it up in an older system since it only boots in 1080p (game consoles boot in 480p and lets you set it to what you want later).
 
Whew!
I thought I was the only person who was completely disappointed by the new AppleTV.
First time I've ever wanted to return an Apple product.

My biggest beef: no Podcasts app. (yes, I know I can Airplay from my other Apple devices, etc...)
Second issue: The new HBO Go app interface drives me nuts. Way too much searching around for things that should be available within 2 clicks.
The design emphasis seems to be about showcasing the the new full screen backgrounds and
not on usability.
 
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lsutigerfan1976 said:
I am tired of the excuse it's a new product. It will get fixed. Whatever happened to the Apple that put more time into quality control? They are slacking. Same thing with the watch. Release it. And hope you can work the kinks out later. You normally don't see that from Apple though.
Click to expand...

Really? iPhone 1 at launch, no copy and paste, no mms messages, no AppStore or sdk. Apple TV 1 at launch, completely reliant on a host computer running iTunes, unable to play music and return to the home screen, or anywhere else without the music stopping. Podcats support horribly implemented, no third-party content. To name just a few of the glaring omissions and snafus since 2007, the list goes on. The last, near perfect at launch, new product Apple put out was likely the original iPod in 2001.

It's not uncommon, and hasn't been for quite some time, for Apple to put out a new product (and in many ways the Apple TV 4 is a new product for Apple, carrying nothing but the shape from the previous two generations) and provide only the essentials, or the essentials as Apple see it, then continue to refine and improve the product throughout it's life.

There's plenty of things I want to see improved on the Apple TV and I'm sure most of them will be in time. But the days when Apple put a new product into a consumers hands that was damn near perfect are long gone. And thanks to the complexity and scope of the devices, the software, the content deals and back room negotiations and the consumer expectation among other things. They aren't coming back.
 
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