Apps Is a Dedicated Apple TV box still required?

[Huntn]

...if you buy a new smart TV?

I'm about to purchase a 4k 65" Visio TV. It looks amazing!
My initial research indicated that I will no longer need a dedicated Roku box, because my impression is that every channel that it carries is available on the TV's hub that I am purchasing, most importantly Netflix and Prime Video.

Now here's the question, do I still need a dedicated Apple TV box, or is it available now as a channel along with the thousands of other channels? I have not purchased many movies for streaming, but the ones I purchased through Apple TV, I want top know if I can access them through an Apple TV Channel on my new TV?

Thanks much!

 

[Release]

I won't have an AppleTV channel as far as I know but If you have a "Movies Anywhere" account, you can link that to your iTunes account and it should show up in their app.

 

[Huntn]

I won't have an AppleTV channel as far as I know but If you have a "Movies Anywhere" account, you can link that to your iTunes account and it should show up in their app.

Is there a subscription fee for Movies Anywhere?

I should have asked about an ITunes channel available on other than iOS devices, and I suppose not. Apple is a little too proprietary at times for their own good.

 

[nburwell]

You probably don't need it. Although the Smart TV I purchased late last year, my wife still bought me the Apple TV 4K for Christmas last year. I didn't bother connecting my UHD TV to our home wi-fi as we already have the 4th gen ATV (now 4K ATV). Plus, I prefer the UI and interface of the ATV over connected TV's. YMMV.

 

[Audit13]

Movies Anywhere is an excellent service; however, it doesn't support any TV series purchased from iTunes such as Sharp Objects and Game of Thrones.

 

[Rigby]

Movies Anywhere not only doesn't work for TV shows, but also quite a few movies, since not all movie studios are participating (the biggest ones being Paramount and Lionsgate).

In general, it depends on what apps and services you want to use. Vizio recently announced that they will support iTunes movies in their "Smarcast" software (there's a list of supporting models in this Macrumors article), so if iTunes movies are all that you need that might cover it. You probably won't find apps such as Infuse in the same quality on a smart TV though. Another question is if the UI is as good as Apple's, if that's something you care about.

Personally I'm actually the other way around: I don't trust smart TVs further than I can throw them, given that there have been various privacy violations. So I never connected my smart TV to the network and continue using the ATV for everything.

 

[coops]

up to you...

I have a Sony a8f. Lovely - but even this high end Sony OLED is sluggish as far as the 'smart' functions go... and that's before

"As part of a "pilot program", Google has via an update pushed a new 'sponsored' row to the home screen of some Android TVs. It affects Sony TVs and possibly other devices."

https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1554707566

Think you'll be getting regular updates and support for your visio smart system?

I'd much rather pay up for an Apple TV 4k (or your choice of external device that is designed and supported to doits specif job and not just tick some marketing boxes), in the same way most/a lot of people pay up for a decent audio system rather than the equally limp built in audio capabilities.