Was Extremely Excited, But Now Looking at Other Options.

[Jazwire]

I was extremely excited about Apple TV when it was announced, but after really looking into some of the other solutions out there, apple tv sure isn't quite as "awesome" as I thought.

I been also looking at the Nvidia Shield and it really seems to blow away AppleTV for features.

My biggest let down with AppleTV is it doesn't have:
SlingTV this is almost a deal breaker for cord cutting, this is pretty much a must have.

What does the Shield do that AppleTV does not?

• Well first of all, it has Sling TV (which AppleTV will get eventually, early 2016?) Extremely close to deal breaker to me, it's almost as bad as a streaming box not having Netfilx.
• It has Kodi (Likely Apple will never get this, at least without a jailbreak)
• A lot more games and apps than AppleTV (granted its been out for a couple months so it has a head start, so that somewhat to be expected.)
• It can stream PC games from NvidiaCloud and your own PC (That you already own). That in itself is pretty amazing and not just "mobile games(andriod)" but full blown high-end PC games. (honestly this is not a HUGE deal, I dont hold this against AppleTV, but it is a major perk.)
• The hardware is considerably better. (To be expected since this runs high end games.) Quad-core 64 bit CPU with 3gb ram. Gigabit ethernet (Why appletv doesn't have gigabit ethernet is mind boggling) also Shield is 4k (not a big deal to me at all, but might be year form now)
• You can upgrade memory with micro-sd.

Now AppleTV does have a couple things that I would like and is likely are better.

• Siri "seems" to be better than the Voice Search on the Shield.
• Apple TV is needed to play Apple Music (Which I subscribe too, and use alot.)
• AirPlay, Though Shield has Chromecast but I know Airplay is superior.
• Also I am heavily invested in Apple ecosystem and don't even own an Andriod device.

I am considering just buying both boxes tomorrow and testing them out side by side.

I am really questioning the new AppleTV, I'm not sure is going to do much for me over my current AppleTV. I can still use it to Airplay with, so literally the only "new" benefit I would gain over Nvidia Shield and my old Apple TV is AppleMusic, which, to be honest, I can just continue to Airplay from my phone. So that not even really a completely new feature.

I'm just disappointed that I thought the new AppleTV would be a main entertainment hub and I wouldnt need muliple machines, but it's really lacking some big features that I didn't realize until I looked into it.

I know this is a marketing piece by Nvidia, but it's pretty impressive machine spec / feature wise over all other streaming devices and they surely won't highlight competition strengths.
(Well actually they do show that Roku and Fire have Amazon App and they dont.)
http://shield.nvidia.com/android-tv/shield-androidtv-vs-appletv-vs-roku-vs-firetv

 

[sigftw]

I plan on buying a Roku 4 (when available in the UK) to comliment my new Apple TV but purely for the Vudu app which now supports 4K and doesnt seem to be coming to my Sony Bravia.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Hardware and interface are both basically side issues. It's about ecosystem more than anything else, at least for the moment. Apple is in a position to make the AppleTV what amounts to a huge iPhone. Seamlessly integrated into the entire Apple ecosystem. That's something none of the other boxes can match.

The other angle is content. At the moment Apple has no content channel, but I think we can bet on that changing in the near future, whether it means Apple buying Netflix or Hulu or building their own agreements to create a similar service. Apple will be moving into the content delivery space and doing it on top of their massive iOS/iCloud ecosystem puts the AppleTV at a clear advantage... when it happens. So it kind of boils down to how long Apple may take to make the next step. A year? Two at the most. If you're planning on replacing your streaming box again over the next couple years it kind of doesn't matter which one you get as the landscape is shifting every few months.

 

[masands]

It's $149 and Apple even offers a 14 day return period. Try it and if not, return it.