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Roku in Talks With Apple About AirPlay 2 Support
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The more Apple spreads to the better. Airplay here Apple pay there. These are the small things nobody notices that gain huge momentum over time.
The problem with atv is that Apple tried to make it into a gaming platform with no gaming controller. Why they thought that would work is beyond me. Kinda as stupid as the HomePod not having Bluetooth while trying to be an upscale speaker...
I suppose now I have absolutely no reason of ever buying an AppleTV and that suits me just fine. I'll be ready to pick up a $99 Roku Ultra any day now.
I can only speak to Roku (as I own a bunch), yes, with the higher tiered option they include a microSD slot, so in theory you could have HUNDREDS of gigabytes of local storage and use Roku's built in media player to view them. I personally have a Plex server, but I've used it once or twice in the past. It also has some casual games (maybe not to the tier of AppleTV, but I mean, if you want "game performance" you should be looking at a real console). That's 3 out of 3 for at least $100 less
While I don't agree that Roku is a nothing company. Apple is not and will not ever sell a TV unless the cable tv market is hurting. It needs the situation to be like the pathetic state ATT was back in the early 2000's, when it was named Cingular. Only then will they be opened to "real" changes and not the crap that Comcast, Cablevision and Verizon dribble out every year.
Unfortunately Steaming is kicking their (Paid TV) ass big time so by the time they are ready to change it will be too late.
Having Apple Music and AirPlay (for photos and short videos) on my TCL Roku tv would make me VERY happy. I don’t love the Roku experience, but it’s ok. And the tv is very nice for how stupid cheap it was.
This is to push apple’s services revenue and make way for their streaming service. Makes sense for everyone.
This is to push apple’s services revenue and make way for their streaming service. Makes sense for everyone.
@jinnj Agreed. My response wasn’t meant to suggest that Apple would produce or compete in the display space. I was pointing out more that “Apple won’t be crushing anyone” in this sphere. Recent conference calls have posted towards more of an emphasis on services than hardware, and offering iTunes purchased content on other devices via airplay 2 and Apple iTunes App/channels doesn’t hurt anyone. In many ways cut out the middle man and have a wide distribution for Apple services and content. The sunset may be on appletv, as many consumer smart displays will already have access to the content through app/channel or airplay. Apple hasn’t ‘crushed’ any streaming box or stick. Apple is more interested in distribution channels than hardware in this space.
And for the record, I love Roku-and have been using it more than AppleTV. Most of my iTunes content is available through Movies Anywhere and Comcast Stream isn’t (last I checked) available on AppleTV, Netflix, Hulu, BritBox, amazon Prime, are all there. TCL Displays use Roku for the OS, and are generally decent displays, so I certainly welcome this rumor.
And for the record, I love Roku-and have been using it more than AppleTV. Most of my iTunes content is available through Movies Anywhere and Comcast Stream isn’t (last I checked) available on AppleTV, Netflix, Hulu, BritBox, amazon Prime, are all there. TCL Displays use Roku for the OS, and are generally decent displays, so I certainly welcome this rumor.
The Roku OS & interface is very clean, intuitive, and impressive... however, the (typically lower priced) television manufacturers that primarily utilize it use silicon ridiculously inferior to an Apple “A Series” chips; you’re left waiting 30 seconds sometimes waiting to stop looking at a Netflix splash screen, for example... even on a more high-end, expensive recent set.
We had great integrated systems among all venders until today. Called a wire. Need to change a device, add to ones system, easy, connect to the wire.
Now along comes the electronic wire WiFi, and the connection became vender specific. Limited to no mixing of devices outside of the first venders system one picks. Or scraping and starting again. Apple Airplay 2 has the potential to fix the electronic wire WiFi mess.
Would it not be nice to have Apple, Google, Amazon, Roku, Sonos all integrated with Apple Airplay 2? Then we the consumers would have choices as to what device meets are needs, maybe all of them on one system. The best solution would be to open source Airplay 2 or another like software to accomplish a standard.
Starting to miss the the old days of the wire.
Now along comes the electronic wire WiFi, and the connection became vender specific. Limited to no mixing of devices outside of the first venders system one picks. Or scraping and starting again. Apple Airplay 2 has the potential to fix the electronic wire WiFi mess.
Would it not be nice to have Apple, Google, Amazon, Roku, Sonos all integrated with Apple Airplay 2? Then we the consumers would have choices as to what device meets are needs, maybe all of them on one system. The best solution would be to open source Airplay 2 or another like software to accomplish a standard.
Starting to miss the the old days of the wire.
I think that’s pretty much meaningless because Roku would want you to buy new hardware for that.
It's more than just because they haven't made it a priority. It's also price. Amazon and Google are flooding the market with cheap, but very usable devices. The much larger, more expensive Apple TV has no real advantages over these other devices if you are not purchasing exclusively from the iTunes store or use the Apple TV as a Homekit hub, therefore, decoupling the service from relying on specific hardware is a required move, not a power play, especially if they aren't going to compete on the low end.
And as services like Netflix and Hulu have large amounts of customers that access them via browser, I doubt purchasing one or the other would be a good move due to Apple's security concerns. Telling people they'd need to shift to privacy first Safari and not use Firefox and Chrome would not go over well. And that's not even considering what content providers would do.
I have both, and I don't really use the Roku much anymore. It's relegated to a TV that doesn't get a lot of use. I definitely prefer the Apple TV. I wouldn't call the Roku awful, but the Apple TV is better.
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It will be interesting to see how far back they go. So far only Vizio has said they're supporting a lot of older models, and I think that was only to 2016 models, but we'll see what actually get's left behind. For instance, Amazon Prime was support the Apple TV 2, but that never happened (I suspect Apple talked them out of it).
Well there is the nVidia Shield which is more or less similarly priced as the Apple TV 4K. I'm not trying to defend the Apple TV 4K but still only Amazon has Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support as well, those come with licensing fees. I think its fairly priced in a way in that sense.
Anyone willing to pay a starting price of $1000 at 40" LED LCD TV with Apple TV integrated?
Or am I the only one who actually want an Apple TV set? Yes it will be expensive, you can't compare it to TCL or other Android TV which sells your Data as part of the package.
If Apple can make HomePod, why not HomeTV.
Or am I the only one who actually want an Apple TV set? Yes it will be expensive, you can't compare it to TCL or other Android TV which sells your Data as part of the package.
If Apple can make HomePod, why not HomeTV.
Good call, I totally forgot about Dolby Vision! Roku does support Atmos pass through but no Vision (just HDR10)
Normally I'd say different strokes for different folks, but seriously don't get this sentiment at all. By far in almost every review the only drawback is price for ATV and people talk about the advantages of the UI and the processor in it over Roku. So...awful? Really?
Indeed. If Apple is going to crash any of these big TV players, it needs to bring up something revolutionary and totally a game changer (like iPhone was on 2007) Otherwise it has absolutely no chance. Both LG and Samsung are coming up with some mesmerizing TV's.
This is obviously just like the new Samsung TVs. Apple offers airplay 2 in exchange for putting iTunes being on Rokus for their upcoming streaming service.
Did Apple change their policy on ratings for shows? Or is it still going to be family friendly stuff?