you do know you are going to eventually have to replace your receiver, right? You can hold out for as long as you like, but.........
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Things I hate about the new AppleTV
- Thread starter JWSpaceMan
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you do know you are going to eventually have to replace your receiver, right? You can hold out for as long as you like, but.........
This is my first Apple TV that I ever owned, the fourth generation. Impressions after two months: The AppleTV department needs a serious makeover. Apple TV software design has a very different philosophy then OS X and iOS. First, when you stream audio through airplay, you cannot use plus and minus buttons to change the volume levels, which is ridiculous in my opinion. You have to stop the movie get out of the app, going to settings and change the levels there. And Another small ridiculous thing is that the volume menu doesn't start from the current setting, you have to start from 0%. A lot of times connection to airplay speakers is lost, so you have to connect back in the middle of the movie, or restart the whole Apple TV. I think airplay support is fundamental and needs to be fixed ASAP.
The other things are: lack of support for dictation, and clinging onto the old retarded smart TV text input where you type in each a letter from a layout with arrows and select button, that is like the Stone Age of smart TVs, why don't they use the technology they have with iPhones in even smart watch can do text input with dictation. Siri is still next to useless. The remote is poorly designed, whenever I pick it up I was end up pressing a button, and holding it in reverse, because it's hard to tell which is the front in which the back in a dark room.
The other things are: lack of support for dictation, and clinging onto the old retarded smart TV text input where you type in each a letter from a layout with arrows and select button, that is like the Stone Age of smart TVs, why don't they use the technology they have with iPhones in even smart watch can do text input with dictation. Siri is still next to useless. The remote is poorly designed, whenever I pick it up I was end up pressing a button, and holding it in reverse, because it's hard to tell which is the front in which the back in a dark room.
What I have noticed that is stupid about ATV4 hardware.
The programming port on the box is not the same time as the provided cord.
It is missing ports. I would have liked to see in and out audio. Data storage ports are missing where I could connect my movie collection directly instead of clogging up my network.
Another game controller set? Why not work with existing controllers like playstation 3 and 4 that many already have without a jailbreak?
The remote is quite horrible in the dark. The remote is not intuitive as to which side is up in full lighting. The charging port is made to look like the ir port on the opposite side. If you're nearly blind or have dim lighting, you often fumble on which way is up. There is a little bit of texture difference on the two ends but it usually takes a compare move to figure it out in the dark. Of course you can destroy the overthought esthetics and add a googly eye to the bottom, but then you'll be jiggling the eye instead of watching the tv.
The programming port on the box is not the same time as the provided cord.
It is missing ports. I would have liked to see in and out audio. Data storage ports are missing where I could connect my movie collection directly instead of clogging up my network.
Another game controller set? Why not work with existing controllers like playstation 3 and 4 that many already have without a jailbreak?
The remote is quite horrible in the dark. The remote is not intuitive as to which side is up in full lighting. The charging port is made to look like the ir port on the opposite side. If you're nearly blind or have dim lighting, you often fumble on which way is up. There is a little bit of texture difference on the two ends but it usually takes a compare move to figure it out in the dark. Of course you can destroy the overthought esthetics and add a googly eye to the bottom, but then you'll be jiggling the eye instead of watching the tv.
Yes, but for $26, I get exactly the same viewing and listening experience as I would if I spent $500 for a new receiver now. Once I have everything hooked up, all the wires are hidden away, and I don't mess with or look at them, unless something goes wrong. So at this point, my entertainment experience is identical either way. Why would I spend the extra $474?
By the time 4K or 8K is standard both for TVs and content, we'll be several generations down the road for other home theater A/V gear. There will be new connectors, or perhaps no connectors. Then I'd have to buy another new receiver for $500, along with the new TV and the new ATV and/or other means of delivering content.
Hey, I ordered an Apple Watch in the middle of the night on release day. I'm not a Luddite, but I can tell the difference between spending money on something because it offers a new experience and buying something because it is just new.
a few hundred hours isn't very long in product development, perhaps not long enough to realise a fundamental redesign is required
I agree with many of you that they really screwed the pooch on that remote. Steve would have been disappointed.
First of all, why does this 4th gen ATV feel like it's still a 2nd gen product? They've had many years to perfect everything and this is what they came up with? Why is it that when you allow ATV to control other components like your TV it automatically switches the other component off when you put ATV to sleep? It should also allow you the option to switch back to the original input. Now, I don't even bother to put it to sleep. I just let it sleep automatically so that I can keep my TV on.
I think since Steve's death, the management team including Jony are slacking off because no one's there to make them work harder. They now all of sudden seem to have lots of time to do lots of other things like giving interviews. Steve always talked about focus. How is talking to lots of press focus?
Now that that's out of the way, let me discuss how Steve would have made Jony and the team designed the remote. The remote has too many buttons! A much better remote would be designed this way: Have the entire top face of the remote blank and touch sensitive like the top half of the remote currently. Then put a touch ID on the bottom. The entire remote is to mimic that of a mini iPhone or iPod touch. Put two volume buttons on the left top side of the remote just like an iPhone/iPod. Then put the "back or menu" button on the upper right side of the remote like where the power button is on the iPhone/iPod. People are use to interfacing with iPhones and iPod touches. What the remote should do is allow what you can do on an iPhone/Ipod touch. Gestures. When you want to use voice press and hold the touch ID buttons just like on an iPhone. You need to buy or authenticate, use the touch id again. Instead of the display being on the remote itself like an iPhone, you now use you TV as the display. You can swipe, pinch, etc. The actions you use the existing ATV remote continues to work the same way except now the surface you have is much bigger. Because it’s bigger you can do gestures easier as well which introduces additional functionality. Play and pause is just a push-click on the touch surface. You can use quick double click for something else.
THAT, would have been the coolest remote ever! But instead, we get this turd. Jony and the team are now asleep at the wheel.
First of all, why does this 4th gen ATV feel like it's still a 2nd gen product? They've had many years to perfect everything and this is what they came up with? Why is it that when you allow ATV to control other components like your TV it automatically switches the other component off when you put ATV to sleep? It should also allow you the option to switch back to the original input. Now, I don't even bother to put it to sleep. I just let it sleep automatically so that I can keep my TV on.
I think since Steve's death, the management team including Jony are slacking off because no one's there to make them work harder. They now all of sudden seem to have lots of time to do lots of other things like giving interviews. Steve always talked about focus. How is talking to lots of press focus?
Now that that's out of the way, let me discuss how Steve would have made Jony and the team designed the remote. The remote has too many buttons! A much better remote would be designed this way: Have the entire top face of the remote blank and touch sensitive like the top half of the remote currently. Then put a touch ID on the bottom. The entire remote is to mimic that of a mini iPhone or iPod touch. Put two volume buttons on the left top side of the remote just like an iPhone/iPod. Then put the "back or menu" button on the upper right side of the remote like where the power button is on the iPhone/iPod. People are use to interfacing with iPhones and iPod touches. What the remote should do is allow what you can do on an iPhone/Ipod touch. Gestures. When you want to use voice press and hold the touch ID buttons just like on an iPhone. You need to buy or authenticate, use the touch id again. Instead of the display being on the remote itself like an iPhone, you now use you TV as the display. You can swipe, pinch, etc. The actions you use the existing ATV remote continues to work the same way except now the surface you have is much bigger. Because it’s bigger you can do gestures easier as well which introduces additional functionality. Play and pause is just a push-click on the touch surface. You can use quick double click for something else.
THAT, would have been the coolest remote ever! But instead, we get this turd. Jony and the team are now asleep at the wheel.
they don't have the people to do this..all at apple are trying to make watch 2, a car, and desperately searching for something new to replace the dying iPhone and tablet sales. Apple is simply a giant company with tons of money, not knowing what to do with it.
It's a new device. I expect a few more updates to work out the kinks. Sometimes Netflix and Hulu refuses to load or display content. Reboot sometimes fixes it. Local streamed movies may stutter then fixes itself eventually. Or pausing and starting temporarily fixes it. Even low quality SD from iTunes or local movies stutters during play. Hope future updates fixes these annoying movie playback.
Apple TV 4 is a complete fail. Utterly terrible experience except for the fanboys for whom Apple can do no wrong. After Steve Jobs, Apple completely lost its mojo. Tim Cook doesn't even use the damn products that he launches. If he had spent even 5 minutes with this turd box he would have sent it back to the drawing board. But instead, he delegates these decisions to his lieutenants. As for Jony Ive, he doesn't do anything at Apple anymore except grant interviews and make stupid videos that people make fun of all over the internet. All of the design work at Apple is done by people EXCEPT Jony Ive. He is there in name only, and collecting a ridiculous paycheck with stock options.
Apple has become a victim of its own success. Apple TV could have, and should have, been a much better product. But instead, Apple takes 3 years of R&D to launch a Roku. But it's not even as good as Roku. Apple TV 4 is obsolete already without a 4k output. For that you'll have to buy an Apple TV 5. And did you know that Apple is already testing the Apple TV 5? Yup... Apple is already testing the updated version that it will want to sell you later this year with amazing 4k resolution!
Apple has become nothing more than a company that has been cashing-in on the visionary products Steve Jobs set into motion. The only new product out of Apple since Jobs' passing is the Apple Watch, and what a disappointment that has been. Apple TV feels like it was designed by RIM.
Apple has become a victim of its own success. Apple TV could have, and should have, been a much better product. But instead, Apple takes 3 years of R&D to launch a Roku. But it's not even as good as Roku. Apple TV 4 is obsolete already without a 4k output. For that you'll have to buy an Apple TV 5. And did you know that Apple is already testing the Apple TV 5? Yup... Apple is already testing the updated version that it will want to sell you later this year with amazing 4k resolution!
Apple has become nothing more than a company that has been cashing-in on the visionary products Steve Jobs set into motion. The only new product out of Apple since Jobs' passing is the Apple Watch, and what a disappointment that has been. Apple TV feels like it was designed by RIM.
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I disagree about Apple TV being a complete failure. Yes, it is an incomplete product, just like most Silicon Valley products when they are first released. The iPhone and iPad weren't totally ready for prime time, either. I know this is supposed to be a "4th Generation" of the Apple TV, but it really a reboot of the device, a rollback to another version 1.
I wonder if "regular" customers will think the Apple TV experience is so bad. The responses I read on these forums reminds me of how people complain about limitations of iPhones/iOS that regular consumers don't notice or care about. Regarding 4K, how much 4K content is there? It's only been a few months since an Ultra HD/HDR Blu Ray standard was implemented, and some 4K TVs don't even support it. It could be years before 4K TVs become standard and even then, it might be years before regular consumers care.
Roku is a very good product, one that I recommend to people who aren't locked into the Apple ecosystem. However, I don't see how it is going to be any better than Apple TV in the long run, especially as more quality apps enter the Apple TV apps store.
I dont know if its already mention before, i want a facetime or skype or video calling compatible with the apple tv. Imagine facetiming your parents or loved one via apple tv. If apple open up the video calling sdk, all video calling apps can take advantage of it. Live chat, news etc. It will be huge. Maybe can use usb-c at the back to connect with the compatible camera.
I agree with all of the issues outlined in the crankiest posts above: wonky remote, authentication issues, etc.. My biggest beef is with the content providers who, apparently, dragged their collective (ahem) "feet" about porting their cable-subscription-dependent iOS apps to TVOS. So, at launch, no MaxGo, no Encore Play, no Starz Play, no EPIX, no Movieplex Play...just the same old stuff bloated out with a bunch of underwhelming BS. I take it this is partly Apple's fault (more backfiring strategy a la Apple Music and the above-referenced OTT service). I don't care. Back to AirPlaying this missing content from my MBP, iPad or iPhone. The TVOS entertainment ocean is like the Pacific Gyre: a mass of floating garbage and the rest is mostly empty.
My family is the opposite. Did your family use the ATV 3 much? My point is we're they really happy with ATV 3 and remote and hate ATV 4 and remote. I am very happy with the ATV 4 and remote. But, I would not mind it being a little bigger. I may consider one of the cases to simply make it bigger. We have game controllers made by third parties. I wonder if any of the current third party remote companies could make a replacement.
My new irritant. Failed HDCP handshakes. We have an older set in the guest room and when you switch between inputs, the digital handshake intermittently fails. Ironically, this came after and update to the Netflix app, or what appeared to be one. It had a blue dot next to it. It's irritating the crap out of my in laws who are here. Have to turn the TV off and back on to clear it. BD player and DirecTV don't have this problem, only the AppleTV and when it happens it's not just to Netflix. It's to iTunes as well.
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I don't even use the dang thing. I have my Harmony remote and I'm golden.
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I don't even use the dang thing. I have my Harmony remote and I'm golden.
Yes, they are avid ATV 3 users. I didn't really care for the ATV 3 remote either (too small, not ergonomic and easily slipped from your hand), but at least I didn't have to turn a light on every time to use it to see if it was upside down. IMO, the new remote is just as slippery, not ergonomic and I find myself all over the place with the touchpad.
The opinions from my family members were unsolicited. The day after I replaced the ATV 3 with the 4, as soon as I got home, my daughter told me "I hate the new apple TV".
The opinions from my family members were unsolicited. The day after I replaced the ATV 3 with the 4, as soon as I got home, my daughter told me "I hate the new apple TV".
The only thing I like about the apple TV 4 is that it has a native Plex app (and this is still a work in progress). Nobody at my house plays any of the games I downloaded, and TBH my wife hates the remote...
I've been checking the app store regularly and haven't seen anything innovative or compelling... It would have been easier to just allow limited media style apps on the Apple tv 3...
I've been checking the app store regularly and haven't seen anything innovative or compelling... It would have been easier to just allow limited media style apps on the Apple tv 3...
Same. We have a Harmony Smart hub and remote which connections via Bluetooth. We love the remote. Just wish it had a lock so that when my young daughter or cat jumps on it it doesn't pause/switch activities as it needs no line of sight. That is annoying.