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Why can't I have it all?

profmjh

profmjh

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 7, 2015
1,734
1,800
UK
I'm in the UK. I watch:

1. BBC iPlayer
2. ITV player
3. All4
4. Now TV, with Sky TV etc
5. Amazon Prime
6. Netflix

No-one device offers all of these. At the moment I have Amazon Fire TV, which is excellent but which only covers items 1,2, 5 and 6; and the Now TV box, which is bloody awful, but covers items 2, 3 and 4. I did have an Apple TV (ver 3) but it was too clunky and was only really good for AirPlay.

The new Apple TV will in principle do all 6, if you include AirPlay from an iOS device. But then Siri doesn't cover Amazon Prime, so I'm still going to want to use Fire TV for that, probably.

You can pay to remove ads on the ITV player iOS app, but not on the Fire TV app.

BTW if I'm not into gaming and don't have a 4K tv, is there any point getting the new Amazon Fire TV?
 
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How do you know Siri doesn't cover Amazon Prime? I would just wait until the new ATV is released, see what apps are coming to the ATV (and i think there will be a lot!) and what they're capable of.
 
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Wunderwally said:
How do you know Siri doesn't cover Amazon Prime? I would just wait until the new ATV is released, see what apps are coming to the ATV (and i think there will be a lot!) and what they're capable of.
Click to expand...

He's referring to yesterday's move by Amazon to bar the new AppleTV from their site because they will now only sell streaming devices that stream Prime. That said, this was almost certainly an example of gamesmanship by Amazon, and I would fully expect them to release a Prime app for the AppleTV once sales begin to cool on their own new device. What is clear is that the new AppleTV will not have Prime at or near launch.
 
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The Playstation 3 offers all of the above as apps. The Playstation 4 offers similar apart from All 4. They both also work with plex media server and ps3mediastreamer from any OSX Mac 10.5.8 or above. Additional features that a streamer like the ATV will never have have - Blu-Rays, Avi compatibility and can play media off local drives through a USB drive/stick.
 
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I'm so frustrated by Amazon for the **** they're pulling!

I was looking forward to the Top Gear clone, and would have gotten Prime instantly if they would bring it to Denmark! Honestly now, unless they do decide to bring Amazon Video to the ATV4 I'll just skip it, and even if they do I'm not even sure I wan't it any more.
 
profmatt said:
The new Apple TV will in principle do all 6, if you include AirPlay from an iOS device. But then Siri doesn't cover Amazon Prime, so I'm still going to want to use Fire TV for that, probably.
Click to expand...
In fact, we don't know yet if tvOS apps will be available for your providers. But if (big if) Apple approves an Amazon app, it will probably support the global search API.
 
Rigby said:
In fact, we don't know yet if tvOS apps will be available for your providers. But if (big if) Apple approves an Amazon app, it will probably support the global search API.
Click to expand...
Why do think they would not? I would think any App currently on the iPaf could be in the ATV if the developer wanted to do it. Maybe Amazon would not want to.
 
d21mike said:
Why do think they would not? I would think any App currently on the iPaf could be in the ATV if the developer wanted to do it.
Click to expand...
Mainly because many apps haven't been on the existing Apple TV, even though there were iPhone/iPad apps from the same providers. I'm sure e.g. Amazon would have loved to get on there a long time ago, but of course they compete directly with iTunes in a-la-carte movie/TV sales, so I guess Apple didn't allow them (same with Vudu, CinemaNow, Flixster etc.). Sure, the new Apple TV has an app store, but Apple still has the last word about what apps will be allowed in.
 
As the iPad/iPhone has all of these available, you can use AirPlay in a pinch for any not on the new Apple TV at launch, as you say.

My gut instinct is that now the Apple TV will have a full AppStore all of the above will find their way onto it.
After all the new TvOS is just a variant of iOS with some little changes so there should be no good excuses for them not to.
And with the recent leak that Apple will be opening up Siri to be used on the ATV by third parties there's a better than average chance they will all integrate it.
 
Here's one good reason why Amazon and say, Spotify may not make apps for the new ATV:

Currently some companies don't like the cut Apple takes on in-app purchases, so they direct users of their apps to their respective websites to make purchases (like the Kindle app sending you to Amazon's website to buy books). ATV has no webkit, no way to send people out of the app onto a website. So either they make no app and make Apple's offering weaker, or they make an app but tell people to go to their website on a different device, which makes them (not Apple) look bad. I think most of these companies will choose to forgo an ATV app completely in that case.

As you said, you can still use AirPlay, but that's not as convenient as having the app on board.
 
Supermallet said:
Here's one good reason why Amazon and say, Spotify may not make apps for the new ATV:

Currently some companies don't like the cut Apple takes on in-app purchases, so they direct users of their apps to their respective websites to make purchases (like the Kindle app sending you to Amazon's website to buy books). ATV has no webkit, no way to send people out of the app onto a website.
Click to expand...
That's not it. Apple doesn't allow iOS apps to link to their web sites either. Amazon removed the links from the Kindle app years ago.
 
profmatt said:
I'm in the UK. I watch:

1. BBC iPlayer
2. ITV player
3. All4
4. Now TV, with Sky TV etc
5. Amazon Prime
6. Netflix

No-one device offers all of these. At the moment I have Amazon Fire TV, which is excellent but which only covers items 1,2, 5 and 6; and the Now TV box, which is bloody awful, but covers items 2, 3 and 4. I did have an Apple TV (ver 3) but it was too clunky and was only really good for AirPlay.

The new Apple TV will in principle do all 6, if you include AirPlay from an iOS device. But then Siri doesn't cover Amazon Prime, so I'm still going to want to use Fire TV for that, probably.

You can pay to remove ads on the ITV player iOS app, but not on the Fire TV app.

BTW if I'm not into gaming and don't have a 4K tv, is there any point getting the new Amazon Fire TV?
Click to expand...

Have you considered a Youview box?
It does all with the sole exclusion of Amazon Prime.
 
Wando64 said:
Have you considered a Youview box?
It does all with the sole exclusion of Amazon Prime.
Click to expand...

But then I wouldn't have it all!

I'm resigned to needing two boxes: Apple TV and Kindle Fire TV.
 
profmatt said:
But then I wouldn't have it all!

I'm resigned to needing two boxes: Apple TV and Kindle Fire TV.
Click to expand...
What about the Roiku 4k vs. the Kindle Fire TV? For me I need the ATV for iTunes and I simply like it. But I am missing Amazon Prime and CBS All Access which are both on Roku. I can get Amazon Prime on my 4K Smart TV so I am ok there. I am just hoping CBS comes out soon on the ATV.
 
Have to agree there appears at the moment to be no single perfect device.

I'm currently using a PS3 for plex, Amazon prime and Netflix and youview box for catch up.

Looked into fire tv and roku but Netflix and Amazon prime output in dd+ on both which my soundbase can't decode.

Be great if Amazon prime app does come to new atv.
 
I think and hope the new Apple TV will in time be the best option.

As it is pretty much every service has an app for the iOS AppStore. Considering the simplicity of porting those apps across to TVos there's no good reason why they shouldn't.

Unless providers such as Amazon want to keep their services to their own devices for exclusivity. But if that's the case, why have an iOS app at all.
 
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