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Sell me on Apple TV

kofman13 said:
So I am already heavily invested and in love with the apple eco system. I have a MacBook, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods.


BUT I use a chrome cast with my 4K tv. It was only $35 and gets the job done. Although always loading things from my phone can be annoying plus connecting to it and loading the corresponding app on the chrome cast I.e. YouTube or HBO takes ages sometimes and is clunky.


The tv itself only has Netflix YouTube and amazon prime built in apps and performance is even worse.


What other benefits would I have from switching to apple tv? Does Apple TV have as many apps as chrome cast does? Do they load fast? Is there a list of compatible services that Apple TV provides? Chrome cast basically supports any app You can have on a phone. Wouldn’t want to lose apps by going to apple tv


Also I just read I can connect my AirPods to Apple TV. That already gets me super hype. Is this true?


How’s the performance on 5ghz dual band WiFi? Ethernet isn’t an option for me where my TV is
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I despised Apple for many years. Now I wouldn’t go without it. AppleTV is great for home applications. I wouldn’t use it on a large format display like a home theater, at least for now, but it’s fantastic for typical television applications. It’s only downsides are picture quality on a 100” screen, lack of 3D and lack of Atmos/DTS:X support.
 
Snoopy4 said:
It’s only downsides are picture quality on a 100” screen, lack of 3D and lack of Atmos/DTS:X support.
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I don't know why it wouldn't look decent on a 100" screen - 4k was designed for huge screens, wasn't it? Since I don't have one I couldn't offer any advice there. As far as Atmos, Apple has already said it would be no problem to enable it in a future tvOS update. Whether that happens is another story.
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kofman13 said:
guys i went and got the apple tv 4k a few days ago and its absolutely a game changer, i love it so much thanks for all the input!!!!!!
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I'm glad to hear that. Did you get the DirecTV Now bundle or did you buy the aTV 4k outright?
 
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Snoopy4 said:
I despised Apple for many years. Now I wouldn’t go without it. AppleTV is great for home applications. I wouldn’t use it on a large format display like a home theater, at least for now, but it’s fantastic for typical television applications. It’s only downsides are picture quality on a 100” screen, lack of 3D and lack of Atmos/DTS:X support.
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I run my Apple TV 4K on a 115" screen and it looks fantastic, much better than the TiVo I used to use for streaming on my projector. Everyones eyes are different however.
 
Sill said:
I don't know why it wouldn't look decent on a 100" screen - 4k was designed for huge screens, wasn't it? Since I don't have one I couldn't offer any advice there. As far as Atmos, Apple has already said it would be no problem to enable it in a future tvOS update. Whether that happens is another story.
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I'm glad to hear that. Did you get the DirecTV Now bundle or did you buy the aTV 4k outright?
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It’s the compressing that makes large format screens an issue. Everyone’s eyes are different and I notice the macro blocking. For me physical media is vastly superior to ATV on a large format screen, at least right now.
 
1. AirPlay. Any Apple device to the ATV.
2. If you download the app VLC, you can then upload video files right into the ATV and play them.
3. If you have music you like on any device, you can get iTunes Match ($25/--->YEAR<---), and upload any amount of music, and then play it through the Music app on the ATV.
 
I purchased one of the first Apple 4k units - yuk! It took me a full day with Apple support to simply get my unit active and then I learned 4k was not supported on the Apple 4k. Also, some issues with slow response from the remote, issues with frame rate selection, too much manual setting required. Dumped that sucker quickly - yuk.

Fast forward to 6 weeks ago - my Sony A1E 65" has stunning image quality - mind blowing with our OPPO 203 UHD player. However, it has the horrible Android OS = pure crap. I decided to try the Apple TV again - wow, what a difference with this unit and newer firmware/software. Excellent image quality while streaming over wifi and impressive auto switching / remote operation / etc.
 
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Pros:
Really fast performance
Access to photos in iCloud
Affordable 4K movies on iTunes
Insane upscaler
Access to movies and photos on my Synology NAS
AirPlay
Nice remote control
Can act as a HomeKit control unit
Plex

Cons:
Price. :/
Still no YouTube videos in 4K
 
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Did they ever make it possible to view 4K videos from your phone over airplay? Without this I see absolutely no reason to upgrade my ATV 4 since the 4K version doesn't play Youtube videos in 4K and my Samsung smart TV apps can already stream Amazon, Netflix etc in 4K
 
I’d like to add that scrolling through a movie or tv show is so nice with Apple TV remote (or iPhone remote app). You can just click one and drag 45 mins in an instant. I also use this for PS Vue when watching dvr’d shows. Most remotes don’t do this nicely.
 
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gregs826 said:
I’d like to add that scrolling through a movie or tv show is so nice with Apple TV remote (or iPhone remote app). You can just click one and drag 45 mins in an instant. I also use this for PS Vue when watching dvr’d shows. Most remotes don’t do this nicely.
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That's true. For scrolling the directional pad on my Sony remote control is just rubbish. The Apple remote control is fast and convenient. And for entering longer text (like email address or password) the iOS atv remote app is my first choice. ;)
 
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Sill said:
I don't know why it wouldn't look decent on a 100" screen - 4k was designed for huge screens, wasn't it? Since I don't have one I couldn't offer any advice there. As far as Atmos, Apple has already said it would be no problem to enable it in a future tvOS update. Whether that happens is another story.
[doublepost=1524015185][/doublepost]

I'm glad to hear that. Did you get the DirecTV Now bundle or did you buy the aTV 4k outright?
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Outright. I had 30$ gift card already plus don’t care for direct tv
 
kofman13 said:
guys i went and got the apple tv 4k a few days ago and its absolutely a game changer, i love it so much thanks for all the input!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I held out on an apple TV for years thinking they were useless and overpriced. Well, my xbox just died, and since I don't have much time to play video games anymore, I decided to replace it with an apple TV 4K. Wow. I'm really impressed - it's fast, quiet, and tiny. I love the content-focused interface and how you can select from multiple video services just by searching using siri. I should have gotten one of these things sooner.
 
uller6 said:
I held out on an apple TV for years thinking they were useless and overpriced. Well, my xbox just died, and since I don't have much time to play video games anymore, I decided to replace it with an apple TV 4K. Wow. I'm really impressed - it's fast, quiet, and tiny. I love the content-focused interface and how you can select from multiple video services just by searching using siri. I should have gotten one of these things sooner.
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Totally agree and i'm with you on that. I'm the same with iPhone - just wish i'd got one from day one as it was a true game changer for me! I had a Blackberry before my first iPhone and I hated it - so complicated and then one day, its software froze and that was it - i lost everything. The iPhone was such a revolution :) Same with Apple TV but i've been clever with it as i've been on the ATV bandwagon since the ATV 2!!! Just awesome!
 
The app ecosystem is pretty solid. I really like the fact that I was able to put all my old BluRay movies on an 8TB NAS drive directly attached to my AirPort Extreme, and was then able to stream them all to the Apple TV using Infuse. This is something that the LG operating system built into my TV couldn't do.

In addition, the kids are enjoying Pokemon TV (pretty much every Pokemon episode ever made for free), and it's got HBO and Netflix (in 4K!) and YouTube (although the app sucks after a recent update), and it's got great apps for my local TV stations and my entire iTunes library is on there with all my music and movies. The music being on there allows me to play it on the surround sound bar I've got attached as well, which isn't bad.

Also, when you buy a 4K HDR movie on iTunes, it costs the same as the 1080p BluRay, while the 4K BluRay is much more expensive AND all my 1080p movies that had a 4K version got upgraded for free.

In addition, the makers of Journey, a great PS3 game, is making their next game pretty much exclusively for the Apple TV, and many iOS games work for it, too, although if you wanna game I still do recommend a Mac (possibly with bootcamp), Switch, or PlayStation 4.

On top of that, I live in Europe, which means we've got a 50Hz legacy that's been mixed up with a 60Hz US legacy, and so now every time we get something, it's hard to tell if it's gonna be in 50Hz or 60Hz. Well, AppleTV is capable of detecting what the refreshrate is of what I'm watching and telling my TV to refresh at the correct rate so I don't get stutters or blur from interpolation, which is another awesome feature.

And, of course, it all builds on the famously colour-correct QuickTime, so if you've got a well calibrated high-end TV, everything looks stunning.

Personally, I think it was a good investment.

And oh yeah - it's tiny and makes no noise, which actually allowed me to position it behind the screen! People who visit can't even tell it's there until I turn it on. And it's got AirPlay 2.
 
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Ishayu said:
The app ecosystem is pretty solid. I really like the fact that I was able to put all my old BluRay movies on an 8TB NAS drive directly attached to my AirPort Extreme, and was then able to stream them all to the Apple TV using Infuse. This is something that the LG operating system built into my TV couldn't do.

In addition, the kids are enjoying Pokemon TV (pretty much every Pokemon episode ever made for free), and it's got HBO and Netflix (in 4K!) and YouTube (although the app sucks after a recent update), and it's got great apps for my local TV stations and my entire iTunes library is on there with all my music and movies. The music being on there allows me to play it on the surround sound bar I've got attached as well, which isn't bad.

Also, when you buy a 4K HDR movie on iTunes, it costs the same as the 1080p BluRay, while the 4K BluRay is much more expensive AND all my 1080p movies that had a 4K version got upgraded for free.

In addition, the makers of Journey, a great PS3 game, is making their next game pretty much exclusively for the Apple TV, and many iOS games work for it, too, although if you wanna game I still do recommend a Mac (possibly with bootcamp), Switch, or PlayStation 4.

On top of that, I live in Europe, which means we've got a 50Hz legacy that's been mixed up with a 60Hz US legacy, and so now every time we get something, it's hard to tell if it's gonna be in 50Hz or 60Hz. Well, AppleTV is capable of detecting what the refreshrate is of what I'm watching and telling my TV to refresh at the correct rate so I don't get stutters or blur from interpolation, which is another awesome feature.

And, of course, it all builds on the famously colour-correct QuickTime, so if you've got a well calibrated high-end TV, everything looks stunning.

Personally, I think it was a good investment.

And oh yeah - it's tiny and makes no noise, which actually allowed me to position it behind the screen! People who visit can't even tell it's there until I turn it on. And it's got AirPlay 2.
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Truly brilliant review!!! I've noticed that iTunes are selling some classic films for £1.99 this week. Even Independencee Day in 4K HDR!!! £1.99 to own - WOW!!! And the classic 'Fight Club'
 
ajohansson said:
I have been running apple tvs for a long time. This ATV4 I just got sent me over the edge and forced me to PLEX. Could not be happier with PLEX. No limit to continuous viewing. Plex available on multiple platforms. You can search with it. Good by apple tvs. I really wish you could make itunes and apple tvs work like Plex. When you do I will be back.

Look into plex, super easy I just downloaded and it and made my library point to my itunes library. Im basically running them parallel. Love it! I can even play my whole library anywhere I want!
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What are you using as a plex server? I really want to love plex, even have a premier subscription, but i don't want to leave my computer on all the time, or turn it on when I decide to use plex on my ATV. So I purchased a synology server with an intel chip... a good one, upgraded the Ram... and have been disappointed. It's fast enough playing movies... but sorting through my collection (about 1000 movies) is a lot slower than iTunes.. and when I click on something, its obviously going back out to the net and loading meta data instead of storing it on the server, its just that slow. Like 15 to 30 seconds slow. Versus iTunes which is pretty much instant for me. Is there a setting I am missing? or do people just accept this because once they DO start playing a movie it works fine.
 
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