With today's smart TV's with all the apps already on it like Netflix, Apple TV, etc etc.
Why buy an Apple TV box?
Why buy an Apple TV box?
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What's the point of Apple TV Hardware?
- Thread starter Mike330R
- Start date
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It’s a uniform experience, all my TVs in the house have the same home screens, I can access photos, music, iTunes purchases.
Overall it’s just a better experience than using the built in apps.
There's a reason you can buy a large high-quality smart television for just a few hundred dollars. Smart TVs are terrible privacy invaders. They monitor and monetize everything you do. It's much more secure to simply turn off the wifi on the TV so it cannot phone home and use your own AppleTV to provide the content you want.
I use the Apple TV for streaming music and looking at photos while my wife uses the apple tv app on her Sony for movies.
!!!
macrumors 65816
These are an exceptionally horrible experience, they:
- Track everything you do and watch
- Have ads, or if they don't they'll be added later
- Have poor performance
- Have lackluster format support
- Require the streaming platform to develop an app for that TV model.
- Don't have Apple TV's audio enhancement options
kissfan
macrumors 6502
“Smart” TVs don’t get app updates as long/often as the Apple TV does.
I find Apple TV streaming picture quality is superior (over my TV) when choosing higher format resolution options available in the latest Apple TV 4K, especially in upscaling HD content.
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baconcat_8964
macrumors 6502
You pay for the experience, for like the large screen design, remote control navigation.
Some countries' streaming platforms even charge extre money on their subscription for the television version.
Some countries' streaming platforms even charge extre money on their subscription for the television version.
Basic75
macrumors 68030
The Apple TV does less spying. Many "Smart" TV's processors are slow.
Casey Royals
macrumors regular
Because I can replace the Apple TV with a new model every few years for a couple of hundred dollars whereas I hope the TV lasts ten years!
Le Big Mac
macrumors 68030
So the Mini plus monitor vs iMac argument . . . computers/processors advance more rapidly than monitors.
DankeBrutus
macrumors regular
Every smart TV I've used has sucked. Even the slew of Roku, Fire, and Google TV sticks suck. I bought a Google TV for my parents a while back and the interface was sluggish and filled with BS. My partner has picked up Roku sticks recently and I'd describe it the same way.
The Apple TV is much, much, faster than a smart TV or competing products. The apps available for it, in my experience, tend to be better than their Android/Linux counterparts, the interface is clean, and the hardware itself is more capable.
aespana
macrumors 6502
Smart TV's OS are just garbage. Maybe, just maybe, Android TV but the user experience with those are just terrible. That's why you buy an Apple TV.
Tizen is the reason of why I wont buy a Samsung TV never again in my life.
Tizen is the reason of why I wont buy a Samsung TV never again in my life.
We have an LG with all the apps and they seem to work fine. Plus you don’t have to change HDMI inputs to use one of the apps or watch regular TV. I bought an Apple TV a few years back and it worked fine wirelessly but I just don’t see the point nowadays.
Royksöpp
macrumors 68030
My LG OLED is full of ads and bloatware. It's a mess. My older TV was a Roku TV which is a superior OS, but It still doesn't compare to Apple TV.
WarmWinterHat
Suspended
We have an Apple TV but it's been relegated to the exercise room for Apple Fitness, Glo, and sometimes YouTube workouts. Everyone in household likes the Roku interface better. The kids always had a difficult time changing inputs on the main TV from the Apple TV when switching to game systems. Easy-as-pie with a Roku TV, since each input is a channel, and it's easier to watch broadcast TV, which we do occasionally.
As for the privacy side of things, every App on the Apple TV does the same logging, sharing, profiling and monetizing unless you only use Apple services on it.
BSDnostalgia
macrumors 6502
All of these TVs spy on the user relentlessly. They also use minimal processors to run the OS, so, after a while, the OS can't be upgraded/patched, then, the apps can't be upgraded/patched. "Smart" TVs are a privacy and security nightmare.
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What’s the point of an Apple TV?
Because SMART TVs actively scan any content displayed in the TV to sell your data to advertisers.
I disconnected all my SMART TVs from the internet.
Because SMART TVs actively scan any content displayed in the TV to sell your data to advertisers.
I disconnected all my SMART TVs from the internet.
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If you don’t mind them spying on you and selling your data to advertisers.
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Most all devices spy on their users. It sucks, but I’m gonna go live in the woods off the grid.
Abydos
macrumors 6502
yeah but my few neighbors shoot anything and everything flying overhead, hell they shoot at everything regardless of its location, do not like intruders of any sortFlock Safety cameras and drones will be watching.
Ben J.
macrumors 65816
Personally, I never had an Apple TV. I have a beautiful LG 55" OLED smart tv (and also a 32" BenQ) and it just functions as a mac sreen. Anything I want to watch, like television channels, sports, movies, Youtube etc, I use a browser or TV app or VLC etc in fullscreen. This way I can have several spaces and swipe between the news, sports, web browsing and all things mac in an instance. Of course, I have subscriptions for many of them.
And everything controlled with mouse and keyboard, no remotes at all.
And everything controlled with mouse and keyboard, no remotes at all.
BSDnostalgia
macrumors 6502
And yet, if they have smart TVs, the spies are already inside the gates. At their invitation.