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Roku Announces Five New Streaming Devices Between $30 and $130

JackANSI said:
No personal attacks, just saying that for the class of user you seem to fall under, maybe the very basics might be a stretch.

It's good that you have prior experience with a "menu" button being a "back" button, but "menu" does not suggest "back" for everyone, unless of course the last place you were was the "menu".

If you look at the remote as a whole (in context), it's quite obvious. Never had to explain it to anyone before and frankly didn't know that people existed who would be so dense.

It's like talking to a wall, except the wall might actually learn something...
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Again with the personal attacks...
 
Rigby said:
You have in the top shelf whatever the currently selected app wants ... which in most cases are ads for content offered by that app.

Personally I think the top shelf occupies way too much room. I'd rather see another row of apps.
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If you consider content you can watch then anything is an ad. The difference is that on the Roku I don't even have to have the service and I can't hide it. On ATV4 you have the service (and therefore can watch the content) or you move it from the top shelf if it's bugging you.
 
QuarterSwede said:
If you consider content you can watch then anything is an ad. The difference is that on the Roku I don't even have to have the service and I can't hide it. On ATV4 you have the service (and therefore can watch the content)
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I cannot watch the "top movies" in the iTunes store unless I first buy them. I have also seen ads for the Showtime add-on in the Hulu topshelf, which you can't use unless you pay extra for it.
or you move it from the top shelf if it's bugging you.
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You can't "move it from the topshelf". The app decides what shows up there.
 
Rigby said:
I cannot watch the "top movies" in the iTunes store unless I first buy them. I have also seen ads for the Showtime add-on in the Hulu topshelf, which you can't use unless you pay extra for it.
You can't "move it from the topshelf". The app decides what shows up there.
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I believe what he's getting at is, a) the only apps that display associated content in the top banner area on the screen are the apps in the top row, and b) what apps occupy that top row is entirely up to you. If the information they choose to show in the top row doesn't suit you, you're free to put other apps in the top row instead.

The only Apple app I still have in the top row is the Music app, and as an Apple Music subscriber, there isn't anything they show there that would cost me extra to play. Netflix and Hulu, also in the top row, haven't shown me anything I couldn't watch, and often something I've been watching is displayed, so picking up where I left off is one click away.

By comparison, from what I remember of Roku (I have a version 3 around here somewhere), they showed me ads where it was clear that I was not the owner of the device, I was the product that was being sold to other companies, who in turn hoped to persuade me to buy some random other thing, with no way to opt out. I was a bit appalled, honestly. I mean, imagine if you bought a new Mac, and started it up and there was a window on the screen that you couldn't hide or cover, that kept trying to sell you beer, or razor blades, or diapers or something. And Apple's position on the omnipresent ad window, which had never been mentioned in the promo materials, was "well, yeah, of course that's there". Amazon has Kindle models that are partially ad-supported, but they're pretty up-front about, "this model is cheaper because it will displays ads when you're not using it", while Roku just feels like its perfectly okay for them to put ads on my TV screen, cluttering up the interface, using space that would be better filled with useful and pertinent information.

The Amazon FireTV has recent things and things that are free-because-you-have-Prime, on the home screen, but they also have numerous rows of TV shows, movies, and apps, for sale, right on the home screen, and an unremovable, changing, banner ad at the top for a movie they want to sell you. They intermingle, on the screen, things you own or already have access to (because they're free or included with Prime) right next to things that cost extra, because it's a way to make money off of you. It's centered around media that you already have or they'd like to sell, and apps are treated as just another kind of media. (I have a FireTV because it was on sale - Black Friday or some such - and I already have Prime, so it was a way to see Amazon's Prime Video - I don't use it much.)

On the Apple TV, the screen (aside from that top bar) is filled with app icons that are there because you've put them there, or you've chosen to leave them there, and the only things that could possibly present ad-like stuff on the top of the screen are apps in the top row, which you have complete control over - you can stuff any apps you don't care about into a folder and never look at them again, if you want.
 
I was late this kind of stuff but we got a chomecast last weekend and my wife thinks it's the cats meow. This kinda makes me wish I had gotten it instead.
 
CarlJ said:
By comparison, from what I remember of Roku (I have a version 3 around here somewhere), they showed me ads where it was clear that I was not the owner of the device
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Do you also feel that you don't own your iPhone since you occasionally see ads in apps?
I was the product that was being sold to other companies, who in turn hoped to persuade me to buy some random other thing, with no way to opt out. I was a bit appalled, honestly. I mean, imagine if you bought a new Mac, and started it up and there was a window on the screen that you couldn't hide or cover that kept trying to sell you beer, or razor blades, or diapers or something.
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What hyperbole. There is a single ad tile on a single screen in Roku's menu tree, and I have never seen anything but Roku channels or movie/TV content advertised.
On the Apple TV, the screen (aside from that top bar) is filled with app icons that are there because you've put them there, or you've chosen to leave them there, and the only things that could possibly present ad-like stuff on the top of the screen are apps in the top row, which you have complete control over - you can stuff any apps you don't care about into a folder and never look at them again, if you want.
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That's very useful if those happen to be the most used apps.
 
Rigby said:
Do you also feel that you don't own your iPhone since you occasionally see ads in apps?
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No, don't be foolish - I choose to load apps on my phone. iOS is not showing me ads on my home screen, but the Roku is. Do you really not understand the difference?

And I'll let you in on a little secret - NO apps on my phone display ads. I prefer "pay up front" apps. If a free-to-download app has ads with no option to remove them, the app gets summarily tossed in the trash.
 
Creek0512 said:
Are you joking? The ATV4 remote is the easiest to RW or FF with. You can either click the side to jump 10 seconds, or click the center and scrub to the exact time you want. Or you can use Siri to go to whenever you want.
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If you want to watch something whenever you like without ads, then buy the digital copy from iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Google, wherever.
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Will try that tonight to see if it works as well as you say. Maybe its just me. Whenever I drag my finger tip across the surface, it doesn't track as well.
Off topic, tonight's NFL game is on NFL Network. We should be able to watch it on Apple TV app, correct?
 
Rigby said:
I cannot watch the "top movies" in the iTunes store unless I first buy them. I have also seen ads for the Showtime add-on in the Hulu topshelf, which you can't use unless you pay extra for it.
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You pick one or two if you count music too. What about the rest of the App Store? For the most part you have access to what shows up. On the Roku you're stuck looking at a 1/3 screen ad you can't change, period. That my main point.
Rigby said:
You can't "move it from the topshelf". The app decides what shows up there.
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I mean move the app from the top shelf not the top shelf content.
 
For what it's worth... I seem to collect these devices as part of a larger home theater hobby. I tend to use them for a while then they collect dust. The one exception is the Roku, which has been my primary streamer for years. And that is counter to my innate desire to switch devices (which is probably why I keep buying them). For me, it's the most consistent, versatile, and has the best app support. I also own: Apple TV 3 & 4, Fire TV, Choromecast, Chromecast Audio, Tivo Bolt, and various apps TVs and other devices. I currently use the Tivo for Netflix and Amazon - mainly because it's the only streamer I own that supports 24fps, and Roku for everything else. Apple TV is usually unplugged unless I play a game on it. The Chromecasts and FireTV are in storage - occasionally pulled out to test new things. I use a Harmony remote, so device remotes don't really matter to me. I do use Cast functionality a lot, but both the Tivo and Roku support it so the Chromecast is redundant in my use case.
 
God forbid Roku puts a number keypad on their remote. Do you know how much of a PITA in the TWC app it is to go from channel 2 to 300. I shouldn't be forced to buy a universal remote which actually doesn't work on the streaming stick.
 
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