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Things I hate about the new AppleTV
- Thread starter JWSpaceMan
- Start date
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Surprised no one mentioned the deletion of the ATV3 audio optical out from the ATV4. One has to re-cable their AV setup to get a AV receiver to provide high def multi speaker audio out. Also one can not use the ATR4 for airplay except thru the HDMI cable. BTW the old ATV3 HDMI cable does NOT support audio out since it was dedicated to the optical out port.
Why can't this "smart" remote remember my complete Apple ID login not just the user ID and my DirecTV login?
Overall I am not impressed with this upgrade, in many respects it feels like a retrograde. This would never have happened under Jobs' oversight. Apple's beta testing must be done by a bunch of in-house inexperienced techies who like change just for change's sake. Once a feature or capability has been released and embraced by the user community it should NOT be changed unless their is a problem with it, or a new capability is added which INCLUDES the old feature, or an outside stimulus/event requires it be changed. Their seems to be little or no UI Requirements & Change Control Management oversight. Many of the above documented issues could have been avoided if there had been RCCM coupled with a thorough, REAL user Beta Test phase.
Why can't this "smart" remote remember my complete Apple ID login not just the user ID and my DirecTV login?
Overall I am not impressed with this upgrade, in many respects it feels like a retrograde. This would never have happened under Jobs' oversight. Apple's beta testing must be done by a bunch of in-house inexperienced techies who like change just for change's sake. Once a feature or capability has been released and embraced by the user community it should NOT be changed unless their is a problem with it, or a new capability is added which INCLUDES the old feature, or an outside stimulus/event requires it be changed. Their seems to be little or no UI Requirements & Change Control Management oversight. Many of the above documented issues could have been avoided if there had been RCCM coupled with a thorough, REAL user Beta Test phase.
More specific, please.
I'm guessing many people have surround sound systems. Do you feed the HDMI to the receiver, than the receiver output to the TV? Or how? For me that would mean replacing my receiver, at a cost greater than the ATV.
You make some good points. I just have a few random comments.
1) It would have been nice if they kept the optical out port. However, not only did relatively few people use that port (outside of those of us on these forums), I'm guessing relatively few people even knew what the port was for.
2) HDMI isn't just the future, it is the present. If you can't get multi-channel sound using HDMI, it might be time to look at your A/V equipment. Some of the streaming sticks from Roku and Amazon also lack digital audio out. Also, optical digital output don't support some of the newer audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD:
http://www.cnet.com/news/hdmi-vs-optical-which-digital-audio-connection-to-use/
3) Apple TV should remember whatever login you use to access iTunes content. If it doesn't maybe checking the settings would help.
4) Sadly, we will never know what Steve Jobs would have done. However, Apple removed features from their products more than once under Steve Jobs. Remember when they removed the floppy disk drive from the iMac or when they removed optical drives from MacBooks? Steve Jobs was still alive and running the company when those things happened? In fact, I had the first-generation Apple TV that Steve Jobs announced in 2007. It had composite outputs. Don't see those anymore.
5) Speaking of the first-generation Apple TV, it too had bugs. That's the unfortunate thing about Silicon Valley products: they are often released before they are perfect. That's why I think it is wise to NOT be the first kid on the block to buy the latest gadget.
If you have a typical A/V Receiver, then all devices are plugged into the receiver's inputs via HDMI and then the receiver outputs to the speakers.
I second all of the below. The very worst aspect for me is the lack of keyboard input. Re the remote, fortunately the older remotes work and thus you can actually use it in the dark (without gazing to see where your thumb is). Pairing of remotes is also very buggy and gets in the way if you have more than one Apple TV in vicinity (which I have). Sofar overall a disappointment, definitely not worth upgrading from gen 3.
Yes, the receiver takes all devices including the Apple TVs audio and video and outputs video to the TV audio to the speakers.
This will be a problem for you if your receiver doesn't have HDMI.
You shouldn't consider replacing your receiver to be a chore, but as an upgrade. Much like the ATV3 to ATV4...
For me, just having an App Store justifies the 4th generation. Different strokes for different folks, though. By the way, you can use your iPhone or iPad as a keyboard. That's how I did my passwords when I set up the Apple TV. And I have had no problems pairing the remote. In fact, I don't think I even paired the Siri remote, I just started using it.
Apple TV or not, it is time to start considering upgrading to HDMI. Apple, like always, is just giving people a push (and pissing them off in the process).
I just remembered , what bothers me the most. In the main menu : swipe left - go left, swipe up - go up ... Yet somehow , they've thought that in the multitasking it was a good choice , too. I always , and I mean ALWAYS , swipe to the wrong side in the mustitasking. My mind thinks I'm moving the stripe (akin to iOS6 (and iOS7,8,9 too) multitasking) , and not moving the focus from app to app (such as focus from icon to icon). I know it's just me , but it bothers me. Anyone else has that feeling?
They reversed the scroll/touch direction as it relates to on screen movement compared to how it is on all the other Apple devices.
A toggle would be a nice option.
The lack of optical output is rather annoying, I use a HDMI distribution system, and the sound is dealt with by a separate AV receiver. I previously used the HDMI for the picture and sound for all zones without surround sound, and the optical for the main zone surround sound, through the AV receiver, now I cannot do this, and must buy a HDMI splitter to get sound to the AV receiver, or a HDMI audio extractor.
I have had Apple TV since it began as Steve's "Hobby" in 2007. Thus I have a substantial library in the main three categories: Music, Movies, and TV. It has bugged me ever since "Search" was introduced in Music that that capability does not exist in the other two. I have compensated for that by grouping movies in "Playlists" -- not used as Playlists but as sub-groupings (like all the Star Wars films or Back to the Future or Lord of the Rings...or movies from 1955(!). OK, so Apple TV 4 still doesn't search movies or TV shows. BUT it also won't display video playlists (anymore) and scrolling through 1,400 movies by swiping the touch screen of the remote is carpel tunnel syndrome in one sitting!! The fact that Siri only addresses stuff on the Internet and won't look at my own collection is adding insult to injury. So from a pure utility standpoint with my system and my collection, Apple TV 4 is a step backwards(!). I've owned 8 ATVs over the past 8 years. It is the most used home entertainment device in a long history going back to 1958. But nobody's listening when it comes to making it right for the very people that actually buy media off of the iTunes Store.
PS: And the Composer menu (in Music) is just WRONG. The people who are always interested in "composers" are classical music listeners. When the menu goes: Music/Composer/Song all the "songs" are sorted alphabetically thus breaking up large works like symphonies and particularly operas. If they did it like Artists it would go: Music/Composer/Album/Song which would keep large musical works grouped together properly. For pop-oriented people who really do want to see all the songs, there would be the top menu item in the list of Albums that would "See all songs..." That is the way it is handled by the Remote app on IOS. They do it right. Why is ATV different?
PS: And the Composer menu (in Music) is just WRONG. The people who are always interested in "composers" are classical music listeners. When the menu goes: Music/Composer/Song all the "songs" are sorted alphabetically thus breaking up large works like symphonies and particularly operas. If they did it like Artists it would go: Music/Composer/Album/Song which would keep large musical works grouped together properly. For pop-oriented people who really do want to see all the songs, there would be the top menu item in the list of Albums that would "See all songs..." That is the way it is handled by the Remote app on IOS. They do it right. Why is ATV different?
It doesn't seem to correctly identify my played and unplayed episodes. It generally isn't picking up what has been watched on other devices although sometimes marking as played on Mac shows up on Apple TV. I can watch an episode on the apple TV and it won't mark it as played.
At present I am finding the TV organisation via My Computers better than the App on the ATV.
At present I am finding the TV organisation via My Computers better than the App on the ATV.
I normally do not buy iTunes TV Shows (only movies). However, my wife likes Downton Abby so I bought those. First I bought her the Season 1-4 package and then she liked it so much we bought Season 5 when it came out. And just recently bought Season 6. She had a hard time finding the first episode of Seasons 6 until I took a look at it.
1. They only have 1 icon which is the Season 1-4 icon.
2. They only show 1 line for ALL of the Seasons and Episodes.
3. At first test I thought it started with Season 5 then Season 1-4 then Season 6 but after testing again on a second TV I see that it shows them in order. So you click on the 1-4 icon and they start with S1E1 and scroll right until you find Season 6.
Anyway, as little as I use it I can handle it but this seems crazy. I had considered buying TV Shows as part of a cord cutting plan but this is pretty bad. They really need to put some effort into this. I am ok with all seasons on 1 icon but once you open it then it should be organized by season.
1. They only have 1 icon which is the Season 1-4 icon.
2. They only show 1 line for ALL of the Seasons and Episodes.
3. At first test I thought it started with Season 5 then Season 1-4 then Season 6 but after testing again on a second TV I see that it shows them in order. So you click on the 1-4 icon and they start with S1E1 and scroll right until you find Season 6.
Anyway, as little as I use it I can handle it but this seems crazy. I had considered buying TV Shows as part of a cord cutting plan but this is pretty bad. They really need to put some effort into this. I am ok with all seasons on 1 icon but once you open it then it should be organized by season.
I'd give ATV4 a C+.
Most updates were to benefit Apple and not the user. Things I'd like enhanced - in order of importance to me:
1) Photos/Slideshow - Apple finally got me committed to their platform with Photos and Sharing and Cloud Storage. BUT - the slideshow sucks. I have 5,000 family photos in a shared album and it shuffles about 200 at a time. WTH?
2) Remote - too sensitive, no keypad and I can't even use Siri to enter my passwords
3) Optical Out - again, I committed to Apple/iTunes platform and now I can't play my music throughout my home because there is no optical out for Zone 2. Thus I am forced back to Pandora and a different device.
Most updates were to benefit Apple and not the user. Things I'd like enhanced - in order of importance to me:
1) Photos/Slideshow - Apple finally got me committed to their platform with Photos and Sharing and Cloud Storage. BUT - the slideshow sucks. I have 5,000 family photos in a shared album and it shuffles about 200 at a time. WTH?
2) Remote - too sensitive, no keypad and I can't even use Siri to enter my passwords
3) Optical Out - again, I committed to Apple/iTunes platform and now I can't play my music throughout my home because there is no optical out for Zone 2. Thus I am forced back to Pandora and a different device.
I just bought and setup the ATV4, at first glance i thought it was a fresh and well needed upgrade to ATV3.
Once I started messing around with functionality, playing movies, and music, pushing content from iPhone to the screen I realized a few things...
1-Yes the remote is extremely sensitive, you can reduce the sensitivity to low but that is very slow. I'll try it again
2-The remote does take some getting used to. My media room is a bit dark and for a reason, so I often find myself pressing the mic (siri) button instead of the menu button. Will take some time to get used to I guess. and the scrolling of movies when accidentally swiping the touch screen was a surprise. I have to be careful with that.
3-Siri doesn't work that well yet, saying things like (hey what did she just say) like in the Apple demo didn't work for iTunes movies that I purchased.
4-Siri doesn't also work for searching music. I know they said that's coming.
5-My system strictly uses HDMI so I don't care for the optical out not being there. I love the 7.1 output but my issue is all the digital content for movies on Itunes is only encoded in 5.1. So when will i ever be able to watch these movies as intended?
This is just the beginning and i trust Apple will solve a lot of the issues in future releases, just like iOS and Watch OS.
For now I will enjoy the various apps that I downloaded and finally I get the freedom to install what ever app I want
Once I started messing around with functionality, playing movies, and music, pushing content from iPhone to the screen I realized a few things...
1-Yes the remote is extremely sensitive, you can reduce the sensitivity to low but that is very slow. I'll try it again
2-The remote does take some getting used to. My media room is a bit dark and for a reason, so I often find myself pressing the mic (siri) button instead of the menu button. Will take some time to get used to I guess. and the scrolling of movies when accidentally swiping the touch screen was a surprise. I have to be careful with that.
3-Siri doesn't work that well yet, saying things like (hey what did she just say) like in the Apple demo didn't work for iTunes movies that I purchased.
4-Siri doesn't also work for searching music. I know they said that's coming.
5-My system strictly uses HDMI so I don't care for the optical out not being there. I love the 7.1 output but my issue is all the digital content for movies on Itunes is only encoded in 5.1. So when will i ever be able to watch these movies as intended?
This is just the beginning and i trust Apple will solve a lot of the issues in future releases, just like iOS and Watch OS.
For now I will enjoy the various apps that I downloaded and finally I get the freedom to install what ever app I want
You can get a small box that will take an HDMI input and split off an optical digital audio output in addition to an HDMI output. This is an inexpensive and completely satisfactory alternative to replacing your receiver.
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Double click the home button, sweep left or right to select the app to close, sweep up to close it, much like on iOS.
If TV 4 works similarly to the last generation, you can hold menu button on the watched episode until a menu, in which you can check the episode as watched, appears. I don't have an TV 4 myself, so I don't know with certainty. Though, with the touchpad and all on the new remote, Apple should come up with something more intuitive.
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All technology gets old and will need to be replaced one day. IF 4k is the future as many predict.... You will need a new receiver to pair with all your other equipment that support 4k.
So just got mine:
- Whenever you switch between accounts in iTunes, and you then access music you have to enable iCloud Music Library again.
- No way to switch between iCloud accounts, so we are stuck with 1 account in the house hold for iCloud Photo Library.
- Whenever you switch between accounts in iTunes, and you then access music you have to enable iCloud Music Library again.
- No way to switch between iCloud accounts, so we are stuck with 1 account in the house hold for iCloud Photo Library.
Sorry, missed that detail up thread. I have a harmony remote that will do a lot of the ATV remote functions, but not so much the Siri and touchpad functions. You could easily get by using the harmony remote and leave the ATV remote in a drawer most of the time, but it does seem silly to dispense with it altogether. That makes about as much sense as buying a 4x4 work truck and immediately replacing the wheels with a set from a Mini. A person can probably drive around town o.k., but they've hobbled the 'work' part of the truck.
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Sure, but some people would like to bridge the gap. 4K content is pretty limited right now, and ATV doesn't even offer it. (Heck for many viewing applications scenarios, a 1080 to 4k upgrade really doesn't get you much.) I'd rather spend $26 for a box that will split off SPDIF audio and keep the otherwise perfectly functional receiver/amp for a few more years. I may be old fashioned, but I bought a Bluetooth adapter for car audio, rather than replacing the car soon as they started making them with Bluetooth built in. Then I replaced the adapter with a new one when Bluetooth v4.x came out. That right there has saved me the price of two cars. Imagine what I've saved up for the next big full upgrade!
P.S. I don't know why this thing keeps merging posts. Maybe I need an upgrade.
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