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Things I hate about the new AppleTV
- Thread starter JWSpaceMan
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I really like mine! In fact, i'm a bit confused at some of the stuff people are complaining about here lol. I legit laughed when i read that someone accidently hit menu three times and got voice over. I legit laughed out loud. That's like saying, I accidently shot my dog three times, it wasn't on purpose, there is no excuse for accidently hitting that button three times, and even if there were...... you need a new type of remote / platform to use, as clearly technology isn't for you. I also noticed the vote system listed all of the options relating to " bugs ". As far as I know, there are no bugs in the new Apple TV OS, at least none that have been mentioned in the update recently. There are things people don't really like, but that's not a bug. Not including keyboard support isn't a bug, it's by design. Additionally, if you think the images are to big on cover art, also, not a bug.
On that note, has anyone actually FOUND any bugs with the new apple t.v OS, or is everything just preference?
On that note, has anyone actually FOUND any bugs with the new apple t.v OS, or is everything just preference?
The thread topic is about things people hate about the ATV4.
I really wish I could use Siri to search my home movies - single biggest missing feature IMO.
Hope I am not a laughingstock...but I did this by accident too. I thought my remote was not connected, and was trying to simply do anything to get the ATV to respond. I guess at some point in that process I hit the menu button a few times in sequence and turned on Voice Over.
I just set up the new ATV yesterday to replace 1 of my ATV3s. Some comments...
1) Remote - Several people have commented about finding the orientation of the remote. I agree that the buttons probably should be off-center so that it is easier to identify top and bottom without looking. However, the telltale that I use is the volume button. That button is a single toggle, and on the right side. As opposed to the Siri and Play/Pause button on the left that are 2 independent buttons. So it is easy to tell from touch.
2) Remote touch pad - I agree that it is sensitive. I like the speed for normal use, but what is a bit frustrating is the accidental touches while watching something. It is easy to FF or REW when picking up the remote to adjust volume. I would suggest that Apple can easily fix with software updates. Maybe when something is playing, the touch pad is "deactivated" until you give it a quick tap. Maybe even make it an option people can turn on or off.
3) Homesharing - I am used to it after so many years of using ATV3s. But really, the grouping of TV shows by season as opposed to by show, then season, is baffling.
4) Authentication - This must be a provider issue as all streaming boxes require logging into each app separately. I really wish there was a "password management" capability to centralize this. When you have multiple streaming boxes in the household, and invariably NBC Sports or ESPN or Showtime etc need to be re-authenticated, it is an unnecessary hassle that should be able to be overcome. Even if I had to go into iCloud.com to manage my ATV settings it would be an improvement over the current state.
5) UI - My biggest complaint is the white screen. I much prefer the dark background of the ATV3. I hope they add an option to change background color in the near future. I like the interface overall, except for the background.
1) Remote - Several people have commented about finding the orientation of the remote. I agree that the buttons probably should be off-center so that it is easier to identify top and bottom without looking. However, the telltale that I use is the volume button. That button is a single toggle, and on the right side. As opposed to the Siri and Play/Pause button on the left that are 2 independent buttons. So it is easy to tell from touch.
2) Remote touch pad - I agree that it is sensitive. I like the speed for normal use, but what is a bit frustrating is the accidental touches while watching something. It is easy to FF or REW when picking up the remote to adjust volume. I would suggest that Apple can easily fix with software updates. Maybe when something is playing, the touch pad is "deactivated" until you give it a quick tap. Maybe even make it an option people can turn on or off.
3) Homesharing - I am used to it after so many years of using ATV3s. But really, the grouping of TV shows by season as opposed to by show, then season, is baffling.
4) Authentication - This must be a provider issue as all streaming boxes require logging into each app separately. I really wish there was a "password management" capability to centralize this. When you have multiple streaming boxes in the household, and invariably NBC Sports or ESPN or Showtime etc need to be re-authenticated, it is an unnecessary hassle that should be able to be overcome. Even if I had to go into iCloud.com to manage my ATV settings it would be an improvement over the current state.
5) UI - My biggest complaint is the white screen. I much prefer the dark background of the ATV3. I hope they add an option to change background color in the near future. I like the interface overall, except for the background.
The only thing I hate is that the remote refused to pair when I first got it so I literally couldn't do a thing. I let it charge for hours. I tried holding down the buttons that manually re-pair. I tried rebooting the thing multiple times. I don't have a USB-C cable so I couldn't manually restore it. The only thing that worked was borrowing my uncle's old ATV3 remote. I didn't have mine since I was traveling to see family. Once I used the old IR remote to finish setup, it paired immediately. What a stupid glitch that caused me hours of time trying to figure out. I was really close to chucking the thing out the window. Glad I didn't because now I like it. Looking forward to the remote app getting updated with all the new features, an Amazon Prime streaming app and a streaming service from Apple.
I love my new ATV4, I am a little perplexed by the My Computer part where you go into your movies, and it's THE SAME LAYOUT as ATV3 scrolling down Alphabetically to find a movie you want, and not a grid of the posters to choose from, that is very bizarre they didn't update this.
I love it. Only issue is the Photos app doesn't work. Once I sign in it goes right back to the sign in screen, over and over. All setting correct in iTunes but nothing. Basically given up.
This may not be Apple fault, but the UI on the ATV4's Netflix app is horrible.
It looks nicer that the ATV3's UI, but trying to browse for stuff on Netflix on the ATV4 is not user friendly.
I use my ATV3 to browse for stuff, then watch it on the ATV4 because it is on the larger TV.
I wished Netflix would of modeled their app from the ATV3 version.
It looks nicer that the ATV3's UI, but trying to browse for stuff on Netflix on the ATV4 is not user friendly.
I use my ATV3 to browse for stuff, then watch it on the ATV4 because it is on the larger TV.
I wished Netflix would of modeled their app from the ATV3 version.
I think it's a great improvement over the 3. I enjoy gaming on it (especially after side loading an emulator).
However:
- I hope they can improve the remote somehow with software updates. Sometimes it straight up sucks. I thought when I first purchased it maybe there was a learning curve. I am kind of an idiot, though.
- Logging into apps over and over stinks, but I'm glad they finally got around to making the remote app work. I would have used a hardwired keyboard before that update to the app over the Siri Remote and keyboard layout.
- They definitely need to improve the organization with respect to the UI. This is something they should have done long ago with the 3.
Once they iron out these details I don't see myself ever frustrated with the device. I'm hoping 9.2 chips away at a few of these things, and look forward to the addition of the new remote app.
However:
- I hope they can improve the remote somehow with software updates. Sometimes it straight up sucks. I thought when I first purchased it maybe there was a learning curve. I am kind of an idiot, though.
- Logging into apps over and over stinks, but I'm glad they finally got around to making the remote app work. I would have used a hardwired keyboard before that update to the app over the Siri Remote and keyboard layout.
- They definitely need to improve the organization with respect to the UI. This is something they should have done long ago with the 3.
Once they iron out these details I don't see myself ever frustrated with the device. I'm hoping 9.2 chips away at a few of these things, and look forward to the addition of the new remote app.
Here's my list:
• Remote: Everything everyone else says. Too sensitive on the touchpad, too hard to input letters with, too symmetrical to identify up from down, etc.
• Backgrounds: The white backgrounds are atrocious. They make my big screen TV look like a spotlight emanating from my living room
• Siri: She is just bad. Understands the first 2 words at best and then can't figure anything out. I can't ever seem to find a sequel that has a secondary title (such as "Avengers: Age of Ultron")
• Netflix interface: I know this might not be Apple's fault, but why is 2/3rds of my screen dedicated to a preview image of something I am trying to scroll off of and only the bottom 3rd of my screen available for what I am clicking through? Also, where is my "Recently Watched" playlist? If I finish an episode completely of something that is not on "My List" and have to come back for the next episode later, I have no way of finding that show again without doing a search. Moronic!
• Play Button: Why isn't the Play/Pause button on the remote the same as clicking on the trackpad area, like the way it was the same as the center button on the 1st-3rd generations remote? Why make this change?
• Gestures: Why is swipe down now the "info/subtitles menu" gesture and swipe up the "time bar" gesture when "click down" used to be "time bar"? Why switch how we get a time bar to the exact opposite of the old (and more instinctive) way?
• Computers: When I am looking at my own content/films, the system defaults to the long alphabetical list of films, and doesn't remember that I prefer the Genres option, like the old AppleTV remembered (or defaulted to).
• The App Store: Why on Earth am I not able to sit at my computer and scroll through the AppleTV App Store apps and select what I want, and then have them load on my AppleTV. The AppleTV is literally the worst way to navigate the contents of the store (for several of the reasons listed above) yet it is the ONLY way to interact with the app store. This issue is inexcusable and prevents me from properly taking advantage of the greatest difference between the AppleTV 3 and AppleTV 4.
Individually, none of those issues is all that awful, but combined they make me feel like I am some kind of beta streaming box, and certainly not as polished or smooth as the AppleTV 3 I was coming from. The only thing that has kept the AppleTV from going back to the store is the "Reduce Loud Sounds" feature, which is a godsend for myself and my wife, as my wife could never hear the dialogue in films, so we would turn the volume way up, only to wake the neighborhood at the slightest action sounds a scene later.
• Remote: Everything everyone else says. Too sensitive on the touchpad, too hard to input letters with, too symmetrical to identify up from down, etc.
• Backgrounds: The white backgrounds are atrocious. They make my big screen TV look like a spotlight emanating from my living room
• Siri: She is just bad. Understands the first 2 words at best and then can't figure anything out. I can't ever seem to find a sequel that has a secondary title (such as "Avengers: Age of Ultron")
• Netflix interface: I know this might not be Apple's fault, but why is 2/3rds of my screen dedicated to a preview image of something I am trying to scroll off of and only the bottom 3rd of my screen available for what I am clicking through? Also, where is my "Recently Watched" playlist? If I finish an episode completely of something that is not on "My List" and have to come back for the next episode later, I have no way of finding that show again without doing a search. Moronic!
• Play Button: Why isn't the Play/Pause button on the remote the same as clicking on the trackpad area, like the way it was the same as the center button on the 1st-3rd generations remote? Why make this change?
• Gestures: Why is swipe down now the "info/subtitles menu" gesture and swipe up the "time bar" gesture when "click down" used to be "time bar"? Why switch how we get a time bar to the exact opposite of the old (and more instinctive) way?
• Computers: When I am looking at my own content/films, the system defaults to the long alphabetical list of films, and doesn't remember that I prefer the Genres option, like the old AppleTV remembered (or defaulted to).
• The App Store: Why on Earth am I not able to sit at my computer and scroll through the AppleTV App Store apps and select what I want, and then have them load on my AppleTV. The AppleTV is literally the worst way to navigate the contents of the store (for several of the reasons listed above) yet it is the ONLY way to interact with the app store. This issue is inexcusable and prevents me from properly taking advantage of the greatest difference between the AppleTV 3 and AppleTV 4.
Individually, none of those issues is all that awful, but combined they make me feel like I am some kind of beta streaming box, and certainly not as polished or smooth as the AppleTV 3 I was coming from. The only thing that has kept the AppleTV from going back to the store is the "Reduce Loud Sounds" feature, which is a godsend for myself and my wife, as my wife could never hear the dialogue in films, so we would turn the volume way up, only to wake the neighborhood at the slightest action sounds a scene later.
Great list. There are other issues, but this list pointed out the biggest issues.
The greatest things about the ATV4 are things that Apple ended up neutering, such as requiring the remote for apps.
At this moment in time, the ATV3 is the better device overall. While the ATV4 has the potential to be great, currently there are too many things holding it back.
ATV3 can be better device than ATV4 , in the same way that the iphone 5s with iOS6.1 can be better than iphone6s with iOS9
I feel like it is a little different for the ATVs. In my opinion, just about everything is better on the ATV3. The few things that make the ATV4 better, such as App Store, and a better Hulu UI doesn't make up for having so many things worse on it.
People like to bring up the fact that the ATV4 has more powerful hardware, but for things like Hulu and Netflix, you would never know it. The ATV3 is just as fast for many things, and when restarting the device, the ATV4 takes 2x or 3x as long to restart.
Although, I do notice a difference when compared to the ATV2, the ATV4 apps are a little faster.
For iPhones, people may miss a feature or a few things from a prior iOS, but there are so many things that seem unpolished on the new ATV4, that it feels like an unfinished product.
I bought ATV4 for the games, and apps, and so far, I'm not disappointed.. I'd like to browse iTunes music store the old way, I'd like to open my iTunesLP, but, what the hell... Free Infuse, no jailbreak needed, some great apps and some favourite games, and it's good for me... It will only get better in a few months or so.
I posted a number of things about the ATV4 that I dislike a few days ago in this thread. In terms of performance, there is no comparison that the ATV4 is far superior to the ATV3. Forget speed to open apps and starting locally hosted videos. Those things are certainly faster, but when watching a TV episode or movie, having it start a couple of seconds faster is not overly important.
But the performance of apps such as WatchESPN and NBC Sports is light years better on the ATV4. Sunday Night and Monday Night Football and the college bowl games have been flawless for me. Whereas with my old ATV3, sometimes WatchESPN was, well, unwatchable. It could be my imagination, but it seems the picture quality in these 2 apps is better too.
Because of those 2 apps alone, I am replacing the other 2 ATV3s in my house with the ATV4. I can live with the other shortcomings.
But the performance of apps such as WatchESPN and NBC Sports is light years better on the ATV4. Sunday Night and Monday Night Football and the college bowl games have been flawless for me. Whereas with my old ATV3, sometimes WatchESPN was, well, unwatchable. It could be my imagination, but it seems the picture quality in these 2 apps is better too.
Because of those 2 apps alone, I am replacing the other 2 ATV3s in my house with the ATV4. I can live with the other shortcomings.
Couple things I dislike (hate feels like a strong choice of words for these mirror annoyances).
I may have mentioned this but chapters no long work in my movies. They are there but it's like the ATV4 ignores them. Saying "skip to next chapter" brings up a strange option to open computers.
Also pausing a video darkens the screen and the time bar thing stays at the bottom. That's fine but if you were pausing a movie or tv to actually inspect the image or trying to see something more clearly it's more difficult. Generally the timer and screen dimming go away but not anymore.
Strange things happen when paused for too long. Sometimes I get the nice aerials, sometimes I just get a blank screen, sometimes I get both, than when resuming sometimes it backs out of the apps. It's not really a deal breaker but certainly strange inconsistent behavior.
3rd party devs namely YouTube. Turning over everything to 3rd party devs can be a double edge sword. I use YouTube quite often and it's just not that good. There is a lot of lost functionality. I can see one of the problems and it's the remote, for all I'm concerned Google devs will need to sit and and totally rethink this app and god knows how long that will be, or even if they care at all. Their current port just won't work, in their defense looking at a remote that uses a button labeled menu to go back with no other in app buttons available aside from enter (pressing the touch screen) it will be quite the task to make a decent app.
The already mentioned voice search for home sharing. Interesting enough did you this works if you scrolls to the movie you want to select (so it's on the screen) then say "play (movie name)" it will work? Weird right?
AirPlay used in apps. Sometimes a commercial will knock it out of AirPlay with an error on the device. Hulu does this rarely. YouTube does this constantly.
I can almost see some programmer at Apple running his fingers through his hair saying "do you see why we didn't want an App Store?"
How much storage do I have left? I need to get a ad laden or pay for a 3rd party app?
Hopefully with time things will get better. There are a lot of good things too.
I really like the Siri searches and how it doesn't effect what I'm watching. You can tell they spent a lot of time wanting to make it easy for you to buy movies.
Connectivity has been great via Ethernet and wireless AC. And overall AirPlay has seemed to work better, sometimes my atv3 just refused to work.
I may have mentioned this but chapters no long work in my movies. They are there but it's like the ATV4 ignores them. Saying "skip to next chapter" brings up a strange option to open computers.
Also pausing a video darkens the screen and the time bar thing stays at the bottom. That's fine but if you were pausing a movie or tv to actually inspect the image or trying to see something more clearly it's more difficult. Generally the timer and screen dimming go away but not anymore.
Strange things happen when paused for too long. Sometimes I get the nice aerials, sometimes I just get a blank screen, sometimes I get both, than when resuming sometimes it backs out of the apps. It's not really a deal breaker but certainly strange inconsistent behavior.
3rd party devs namely YouTube. Turning over everything to 3rd party devs can be a double edge sword. I use YouTube quite often and it's just not that good. There is a lot of lost functionality. I can see one of the problems and it's the remote, for all I'm concerned Google devs will need to sit and and totally rethink this app and god knows how long that will be, or even if they care at all. Their current port just won't work, in their defense looking at a remote that uses a button labeled menu to go back with no other in app buttons available aside from enter (pressing the touch screen) it will be quite the task to make a decent app.
The already mentioned voice search for home sharing. Interesting enough did you this works if you scrolls to the movie you want to select (so it's on the screen) then say "play (movie name)" it will work? Weird right?
AirPlay used in apps. Sometimes a commercial will knock it out of AirPlay with an error on the device. Hulu does this rarely. YouTube does this constantly.
I can almost see some programmer at Apple running his fingers through his hair saying "do you see why we didn't want an App Store?"
How much storage do I have left? I need to get a ad laden or pay for a 3rd party app?
Hopefully with time things will get better. There are a lot of good things too.
I really like the Siri searches and how it doesn't effect what I'm watching. You can tell they spent a lot of time wanting to make it easy for you to buy movies.
Connectivity has been great via Ethernet and wireless AC. And overall AirPlay has seemed to work better, sometimes my atv3 just refused to work.
The remote leaves to be desired, both in terms of software and hardware. Navigation in the movie app is a total desaster it keeps jumping between the genres on the and the right part of the screen where the movies are unless you are really careful scrolling down. Pulling down the in-movie menu to chose language/subs takes ages to work sometimes, and skip back/forward takes several pushes. Picking up the remote is an annoying experience also not just because its so small but also it sometimes accidentally moves playback to a totally different part of the film.
Overall I like my Apple TV but its heart breaking to see all tbe potential going to waste.
Overall I like my Apple TV but its heart breaking to see all tbe potential going to waste.
When pausing, the scrubber window (or whatever it's called) takes up some of thew screen. I you just want to pause so that you can view the frame frozen, it's difficult. They should just allow the frame to freeze with nothing obstructing the view of the frame.
I just got the 64gb one to replace the 3rd gen I had. So far I like it alot and haven't had any issue at all. My 1 gripe is when browsing a TV show. I have all 9 seasons of X-Files and it just says Play Episode 10 (for instance) and if I don't wanna start there I have to scroll all the way to that episode or to maybe the episode before it or what ever. Wouldn't it make sense to show all seasons so you can just scroll down to the season instead of having to scroll through 100+ episodes. >_>
The big (and daft) failure that drives me crazy is the listing of TV shows viewed under the 'Computers' menu. On the ATV1 they were listed by TV show name; clicking into the series gave a list of available seasons from which you drilled down to the individual episodes. Easy, neat, kept the complete list of shows short. Since the ATV2, series have been split out in the list so every series appears as a different show. Daft.
Also, in 'View by Date', the name of the show is not shown - just the episode number and episode name. In all previous versions of the ATV it showed episode name and show name. Now I don't know if it's Episode 4 of Show X or Episode 4 of Show Y unless the artwork associated with it contains the shows name!
On the plus side, playback of streamed content seems much happier. But I'll agree the remote is overly sensitive and it intuitively feels like the volume control is on the wrong side when used in the right hand. Breath near the thing and you've skipped along the show, lose it in the sofa and when you sit down the ATV4 turns on and switches the TV over!
Also, in 'View by Date', the name of the show is not shown - just the episode number and episode name. In all previous versions of the ATV it showed episode name and show name. Now I don't know if it's Episode 4 of Show X or Episode 4 of Show Y unless the artwork associated with it contains the shows name!
On the plus side, playback of streamed content seems much happier. But I'll agree the remote is overly sensitive and it intuitively feels like the volume control is on the wrong side when used in the right hand. Breath near the thing and you've skipped along the show, lose it in the sofa and when you sit down the ATV4 turns on and switches the TV over!
I couldn't agree more.
The remote is AWFUL, totally counter intuitive. The previous remote was oversimplified to the point of being completely non-inututive as well, but now I'm missing IT! The touch sensitive trackpad is poorly designed and after weeks of usage, I still don't dare pick it up "incorrectly" and set off undesired functions. By touch alone, I still cannot find the volume buttons reliably and in the dark, it's impossible to really tell which direction it's pointing. Siri has yet to work at all and it just makes me think that Apple either has become too completely isolated in their think/testing tanks, or they really and truly have just not figured this one out.
There is just so much about this implementation that reeks of the loss of the ultimate gatekeeper, Steve. Really shouldn't have let this one out in the wild.
The touchpad sensitivity can be adjusted, similar to a computer mouse.
Settings → Remotes and Devices → Touch Surface Tracking
Settings → Remotes and Devices → Touch Surface Tracking