AppleTV wasn't designed to work with Plex, its a hack, which may or may not work well.
But, to each his/her own.
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Roku CEO Calls Apple TV a 'Money Loser', Says Product is 'Essentially' an Accessory for iPad
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AppleTV wasn't designed to work with Plex, its a hack, which may or may not work well.
But, to each his/her own.
That's the nub of it right there. There are a lot of things I wouldn't do if I didn't already have Apple other devices.
Both are closed systems, but in the case of Roku, they allow apps (or channels) to be installed from 3rd party developers.
I see the Apple TV much like the original iPhone with iOS 1.0. It was neat at first, but without the ability to install apps that developers create it's utterly useless.
I'm sure everyone else here will disagree.
As for the other person who asked, I'm not sure if there is a way to make the Roku sleep. I've never looked in to it to be honest. You may just unplug it if you're not using it.
I think you're exactly right. If someone is heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem there's no better option than the ATV. But for those multi-system people, the ATV has no advantage. I have 3 Chromecast and a Roku. Love them. I too am an Apple user (iPad, MBA) but I also use stuff from other vendors (GS3, Nexus 7, XBox, PC's and my newest toy: a Falcon NW Fragbox for gaming). I don't view Apple as the best of the best of the best. They are a vendor with the potential to get my hard earned dollars. Sometimes they do, sometimes the don't. In the case of the ATV, I found products that suit my use case better. Roku better than Chromecast? Yeah, but not by much. The CCast is definitely my favorite accessory right now. I keep one in my laptop bag. I use it with my N7 for quick presentations.<-- See that's a lie. I actually use it to cast Netflix to the TV in our breakroom. Archer for lunch is pretty cool.
You do realise that the A5 is based on the ARM cortex A9 and they pay a license to ARM for every processor they sell.
That's funny. The ATV is the most used device in my house. I don't even know what regular tv looks like any more because I'm either on Netflix or iTunes radio via the ATV.
Not all of us are blind Apple fanboys... Some of us do know in which regards does ATV suck.
Yes, but it sounded like you were criticizing ATV partly because it didn't work well with Plex, which isn't a fair criticism. Criticizing ATV because its a closed system, while Roku isn't, is a fair criticism.
Because of Apple TV I've switched to an all digital movie library. So it's been worth several thousands of dollars of iTunes content from me... I'd call that a cost winner.
And how is their losing money on the device supposed to convince me not to buy it... "For $100 you get something worth more than what's in it, we are the ones making a profit, buy from us."
And how is their losing money on the device supposed to convince me not to buy it... "For $100 you get something worth more than what's in it, we are the ones making a profit, buy from us."
Someone is going to read your quote and go, "Yeah he's right." Well they would be wrong too. There's more to the cost of an item than BOM. Apple probably isn't negative on the ATV (could be, none of us really know) but it's not as simple as dividing the BOM/Sale price and getting 35%.
All that does nothing for me when I want to watch a movie at 11pm in my PJs without leaving the house. AppleTV isn't for "collectors" of media, its just for watching stuff. The vast majority of people watch a movie or TV series once then move on, they could care less about what happens when they're done watching.
The price of a movie to rent on AppleTV is less than the "cost of my time" to fidget with ripping and moving around digital files. If you make $20 per hour, the "cost of time" to watch the show is worth more than the Dollar cost of the show or movie by a large margin. A $5 rental is peanuts.
Hm, insults towards an Apple product.. Somebody feels threatened.
Seems to me that his petty remarks are out of fear that Apple's next top box will wipe Roku off the face of the earth.
Frankly, while I own an AppleTV, I'd rather build my own little media server/Mac Mini before I bought a Roku.
Seems to me that his petty remarks are out of fear that Apple's next top box will wipe Roku off the face of the earth.
Frankly, while I own an AppleTV, I'd rather build my own little media server/Mac Mini before I bought a Roku.
Really?!
I suspect this is an effort more to "define" AppleTV than to outright diss it. 'Course it doesn't have to be accurate ... but it suits Roku to define it in this way. Regardless, he's probably doing this because he's worried ... and he should be. Roku's only claim is that they were in this space early, but we all know what Apple does to so-called "market leaders", don't we?
I suspect this is an effort more to "define" AppleTV than to outright diss it. 'Course it doesn't have to be accurate ... but it suits Roku to define it in this way. Regardless, he's probably doing this because he's worried ... and he should be. Roku's only claim is that they were in this space early, but we all know what Apple does to so-called "market leaders", don't we?
Well, for me, it wasn't. For me (preferring mostly "cult" TV series, Monty Python, Douglas Adams and the like) Amazon's physical BR / DVD offers were, in cases, much cheaper than Apple's DRM'ed and, therefore, on other platforms unplayable videos. This is why I've only purchased some movies from iTunes store while a lot from Amazon.
Of course, one needs to (mass-)rip those discs and convert them to manageable file sizes but, if you have a spare, unused desktop around, it doesn't result in much headache. For example, I could rip my my 2*7 + 6 Star Trek OS BD's in about 20 hours (about 1 hour a disc on my iMac, with an external BD writer) and compress the files with Handbrake in about another 20 hours. The 99,9% of this time completely unattended.
Accessory for an iPad? Is he just completely ignoring the iPhone market? Most likely he is because it is a lot scarier for Roku once Apple puts out something slightly better.
I have a Roku and it works pretty well. The biggest annoyance is the one thing that AirPlay/Chromecast both solve - playing something from my phone. There are channels on the Roku that allow for phone streaming, but they are no where near as slick and well implemented as just hititng AirPlay on anything on the iPhone or using chromecast with Netflix/Youtube. And then there is local content which Apple TV completely dominates. Roku added a photo sharing thing to the app, but it is so slow compared to airplay.
Roku's main advantage is third party development and lower price. Once Apple finally releases a 3rd party SDK Roku will be struggling.
I have a Roku and it works pretty well. The biggest annoyance is the one thing that AirPlay/Chromecast both solve - playing something from my phone. There are channels on the Roku that allow for phone streaming, but they are no where near as slick and well implemented as just hititng AirPlay on anything on the iPhone or using chromecast with Netflix/Youtube. And then there is local content which Apple TV completely dominates. Roku added a photo sharing thing to the app, but it is so slow compared to airplay.
Roku's main advantage is third party development and lower price. Once Apple finally releases a 3rd party SDK Roku will be struggling.
The idea that Roku has found a way to make money on their similarly priced box and Apple hasn't (with all their economies of scale) is simply ridiculous. This comment comes off as desperate - regardless of how good or bad their Roku box is. Roku also knows that, despite his obfuscation, that Amazon is announcing a box/stick next week. Feeling the pressure much Roku?
The new Apple TV better be leaps and bounds beyond the current offering, or Roku and Amazon are going to blow them out of the water. The current Apple TV interface is too clunky and there is no way to add 3rd party apps or channels.
Though I suspect Amazon will do what Amazon does, sell their box for dirt cheap and make money on the content. Chromecast is $35. 1/3rd the cost of the ATV.
With all the software out there that is available to mimic Apple software functions, there has to be something that streams from iTunes libraries to Chromecasts. Silly, but I have software on my computer that makes my pc a AirPlay server, and I can reverse stream to my iOS devices. And my roommate moved from an iPhone 4 to a Samsung G4 and moved her music library from iTunes to the G4 with DoubleTwist. If Apple does ever release an iTunes app for Android, that would be nice.
Though I suspect Amazon will do what Amazon does, sell their box for dirt cheap and make money on the content. Chromecast is $35. 1/3rd the cost of the ATV.
With all the software out there that is available to mimic Apple software functions, there has to be something that streams from iTunes libraries to Chromecasts. Silly, but I have software on my computer that makes my pc a AirPlay server, and I can reverse stream to my iOS devices. And my roommate moved from an iPhone 4 to a Samsung G4 and moved her music library from iTunes to the G4 with DoubleTwist. If Apple does ever release an iTunes app for Android, that would be nice.
Im kinda with the Roku guy here, even though I don't have a Roku and have 2 @TV.
But to be honest I nearly never use them. I just use it for airplay (= accessory for ipad/iphone). I have bought them because I was hoping to either jailbreak it or an appstore would open for it soon.
The @TV itself is a great device and has tons of potential, but apple needs to put an appstore on it to let the developers unleash the true potential of that little box!
I'm even planning to buy myself a new Samsung smart TV, because I need certain apps like Plex or would just like to easily stream content from my NAS (and I'm tired to wait for Apple). A lot of other little apps/games come to mind for an appstore on the apple-tv.
Please Apple, put an appstore on the Apple TV!!!
But to be honest I nearly never use them. I just use it for airplay (= accessory for ipad/iphone). I have bought them because I was hoping to either jailbreak it or an appstore would open for it soon.
The @TV itself is a great device and has tons of potential, but apple needs to put an appstore on it to let the developers unleash the true potential of that little box!
I'm even planning to buy myself a new Samsung smart TV, because I need certain apps like Plex or would just like to easily stream content from my NAS (and I'm tired to wait for Apple). A lot of other little apps/games come to mind for an appstore on the apple-tv.
Please Apple, put an appstore on the Apple TV!!!
I've owned a Roku. They're not bad devices. But their interface is more kludgy than ATV, IMO. And the vast majority of the channels that they offer that are not available on ATV are just junk. In fact, much of what is available on ATV is junk.
The argument that Roku uses, that their box has so many more channels, is just like the argument about all of the channels that Cable TV provides. The few core channels that everyone cares about are available on both platforms, and the interface on ATV is better, IMO.
And I don't know how Apple lost money selling ATV last year when they sold a billion dollars worth...
Grasping at straws.
The argument that Roku uses, that their box has so many more channels, is just like the argument about all of the channels that Cable TV provides. The few core channels that everyone cares about are available on both platforms, and the interface on ATV is better, IMO.
And I don't know how Apple lost money selling ATV last year when they sold a billion dollars worth...
Grasping at straws.
That's because Apple has CONTENT agreements to have stuff on AppleTV to PAY FOR. Roku is nice, but they don't make agreements for CONTENT.. There's only so much usefulness when you are relying on "bring your own" or on other vendors (Netflix, Hulu, etc) to support your platform for NO MONEY. Roku is about to hit that wall hard.
Content BOUGHT OR CREATED isn't in those formats.. Unless you did that on purpose... As much as people complain, those formats are only used by hackers and pirates... CONTENT businesses just don't use them. That's somewhat shallow, but "bring your own" was never a big mainstream thing... Consumer cameras and programs all export to more supported formats.
Sorry, but you don't seem to know much about video formats, to put it mildly. And this isn't helped by shouting (=caps) at all.
There is a reason MakeMKV (prolly the best Blu-ray and DVD ripper) rips dics into MKV files (and not the Apple-native mov / mp4 / m4v ones): it's by far the most versatile container, allowing for a lot of things Apple's natively supported formats are simply incapable of:
- DTS and any kind of HD audio
- bitmap subtitles
- etc.
Needless to say, Blu-ray / DVD discs all have bitmapped subtitles and not textual ones, meaning you'd lose all subtitles if you ripped your discs to Apple-native mov / mp4 / m4v containers.
And that supposes the original audio is in AC3 (the only really common (5.1 AAC isn't one of them) multichannel format supported by Apple) and not DTS / Blu-ray's HD audio. The latter can be fixed by a quick conversion during ripping; the problem of bitmapped subs can't.
So much for MKV users being "pirates"... MKV is far superior to Apple-supported formats. This is why even legit users preferring to purchase and, for mobile playback, rip physical discs use MKV's and not Apple's own formats.
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