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I think the apple tv has the best Netflix interface

C

Che Castro

macrumors 603
Original poster
May 21, 2009
6,009
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Today i tried Netflix on the ps3 it looks just a little better than the roku , but thats not saying much


I dont know how to describe it but the interface on the roku & ps3 look like it was done in the 1990's

Which Netflix GUI do you like the most , from what device

Since everything nowadays comes with Netflix
 
I like the Roku Netflix interface much better than the ATV2.

When I start watching the Roku it always brings me right back to where I left off. The ATV usually points me at the iTunes movie store when I start watching it after a long pause. Then, I have to navigate over to Internet/Netflix/Instant Queue (5 items down the list). Roku gives me immediate access to my queue from the Netflix home page, and also gives me Search, Top Picks, Recently Watched, etc. from the same page. I love the program info that pops for the selected item.

Fast-forward and rewind is awkward on both devices, but I think it's more predictable on the Roku.
 
The interface on ATV2 is fine.

However, too many movies that play right with Netflix/PS3 don't play right with Netflix/ATV. Lately the biggest problem is movies with the soundtrack, but no audio/dialog track. WTF?
 
I have the PS3, xbox and :apple:TV2 and to me there is no comparison, the :apple:TV2 is far better (PS3's most recent update is an improvement, but not close yet).

I've also setup the Roku for my inlaws...and I don't find it to be as user friendly as the apple...the one flaw in my opinion w/ the apple is the lack of a way to get to the home screen...sometimes you are five plus layers in and have to click 5 x to get back...a minor annoyance

I haven't had any problems with playback...so I'm not sure what I'm looking for with that
 
I have the Roku 2 and ATV2. Although ATV2 has better Netflix interface, 1080p on Roku 2 with Netflix can't be beat.
 
penguy said:
I have the PS3, xbox and :apple:TV2 and to me there is no comparison, the :apple:TV2 is far better (PS3's most recent update is an improvement, but not close yet).

I've also setup the Roku for my inlaws...and I don't find it to be as user friendly as the apple...the one flaw in my opinion w/ the apple is the lack of a way to get to the home screen...sometimes you are five plus layers in and have to click 5 x to get back...a minor annoyance

I haven't had any problems with playback...so I'm not sure what I'm looking for with that
Click to expand...

I can help you with this, just hold the the menu button down and you will go back to the main menu.
 
I've used PS3, Roku and ATV2. I prefer the AppleTv interface, but that doesn't really mean that the others are bad. This is all personal preference. I think that my preference is probably driven by the fact that I was already using the ATV1 before I got my hands on the ATV2. Familiarity is good.
 
Be aware that the Roku 2 has some issues now with washed out blacks. Pretty bad. The original Roku 1 had a default HDMI output of 4:2:2 which produced a better picture. The Roku 2 for some reason defaults to RGB 0-255. Go to Roku forums, and there are a lot of complaints about it. Roku messed up on this one. I notice the washed out blacks too on my Pioneer Kuro. Really obvious watching Netflix.
 
I just find more hidden movies with the apple tv then i do with other devices

Without searching for actual tittles
 
KevinC867 said:
I like the Roku Netflix interface much better than the ATV2.

When I start watching the Roku it always brings me right back to where I left off. The ATV usually points me at the iTunes movie store when I start watching it after a long pause. Then, I have to navigate over to Internet/Netflix/Instant Queue (5 items down the list). Roku gives me immediate access to my queue from the Netflix home page, and also gives me Search, Top Picks, Recently Watched, etc. from the same page. I love the program info that pops for the selected item.

Fast-forward and rewind is awkward on both devices, but I think it's more predictable on the Roku.
Click to expand...

Fast forward and rewind is one of my favorite parts of the ATV2. Especially the somewhat hidden ability to do 30 second skip forwards and 10 second skip backwards. But you need to program another remote for that feature to give it discrete buttons for it to work well. On the little aluminum remote you have to click twice for the 30/10 second skip which is not all that accurate or efficient.

I use a Harmony One with my Apple TV but even any regular non universal remote can be programmed for it.

The Apple TV2 has hands down the best Netflix interface. Never use Netflix on my PS3 anymore. Even if the interface was better, it takes far too long compared to the ATV2 to get to your Netflix stuff and start watching.

Now that going in and out of a Netflix selection in your queue no longer sends you back to the top of the list, I can't find any issues at all with the ATV2 Netflix interface.

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penguy said:
I have the PS3, xbox and :apple:TV2 and to me there is no comparison, the :apple:TV2 is far better (PS3's most recent update is an improvement, but not close yet).

I've also setup the Roku for my inlaws...and I don't find it to be as user friendly as the apple...the one flaw in my opinion w/ the apple is the lack of a way to get to the home screen...sometimes you are five plus layers in and have to click 5 x to get back...a minor annoyance

I haven't had any problems with playback...so I'm not sure what I'm looking for with that
Click to expand...

Just hold down on the menu button for two seconds and it will always send you directly back to the home screen no matter where you are or how deep you're in.

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darster said:
I have the Roku 2 and ATV2. Although ATV2 has better Netflix interface, 1080p on Roku 2 with Netflix can't be beat.
Click to expand...

Except Netflix doesn't have any 1080p content. Certainly none that go over 5mbps which means if they do have it at those bitrates then it will look worse than 720p.

In reality, any device that is claiming 1080p Netflix is actually just upscaling the 720p Netflix to 1080p. Something which your TV can do already and probably better than a cheap media center device can do.
 
Believe me, on my Pioneer Kuro, Netflix streaming on my Roku still looks better than my ATV2. Yes, it's compressed 1080p, but unfortunately, so is Apple 720p streaming. So compressed 1080p still looks better than compressed 720p.
 
I just had my wisdom teeth removed last week and got an XBox 360 Kinect the week before that. I spent my off days watching Burn Notice and four words became my words of the week. "XBox, play next episode."
 
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