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Is the Apple TV really worth it?

SirAnthonyHopkins said:
What are the separate use cases? Or were you joking, I can never tell.
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Here is mine. Apple tv for streaming apps and shield pro for plex, emby, and kodi for my media. Reason is that refresh frame rate on shield outside of a 3rd party app is nonexistent and apple handles it well. Plex, emby, and kodi have this capability built in on shield. Apple on the other hand cannot handle passthrough HD audio especially atmos HD as the shield can and this is where the shield excels. Each has their plus and minus so i harness the strength of each device.
 
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SirAnthonyHopkins said:
What are the separate use cases? Or were you joking, I can never tell.
Click to expand...

Although my NVidia shield is much less reliable than my Apple TV I also use it with Plex and Tidal due to its superior audio performance and support for multi channel stereo on my receiver with audio sources.
 
I prefer Apple's UI over anything on any TV manufacturer. I never even see my TV UI since I use Apple TV for all my Tv watching. I got nearly free cable for a year but I turned away their box and use the cable company's tvOS streaming app. All the apps just fit nicely, including my Up Next list, and the UI is so responsive, that I'd hate to have to use a TV's UI.
 
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Well apart from the fact that your Apple TV will be supported for longer and supports a wider range of apps. There are benefits if you have other Apple devices and services

You can use your HomePods as speakers for your Apple TV.

You can control your Apple TV with an iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.

You can use Apple fitness plus on your TV.

Not sure if you can make purchase directly on a smart TV.
 
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Apple TV 4k is great, totally worth it. tvOS is the best, period. Apps are regularly updated. And tvOS It makes using and managing apps/streams/content fast and simple. Apple TV is super-convenient to use, the video and sound quality are top notch, I love the box and the remote.

Television apps are garbage. The LG updates are way behind. I hate using them, I hate navigating around them, I hate having to deal with any of it. The only useful TV app is the "live TV" or "antenna" app if you use an HD antenna to pull in hi-def local broadcasts for free. LG's TV app software is good compared to some others -- and it still sucks.
 
We have two ATV 2021 and they just work flawlessly, but I guess "worth it" is also depending on your budget. The Xiaomi Mi Box and Google TV are much cheaper and also work, but the interface, privacy and user friendliness is of a much lower standard.
 
I paid 2k for my LG OLED and had it connected to the internet. Until it started independently displaying its own shoe ads on top of the NBA games I was watching on my AppleTV. I disconnected the TV immediately and rely solely on my AppleTV, which is the best streaming box on the market. What you gain in giving up a couple of cables you will lose in privacy.
 
ipedro said:
I prefer Apple's UI over anything on any TV manufacturer. I never even see my TV UI since I use Apple TV for all my Tv watching. I got nearly free cable for a year but I turned away their box and use the cable company's tvOS streaming app. All the apps just fit nicely, including my Up Next list, and the UI is so responsive, that I'd hate to have to use a TV's UI.
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While I agree that Apple’s tvOS has a better interface than my TV itself, I really don’t like it much. The top level with buttons for Hulu, Netflix, etc. is fine. One I go below that, it gets murky. There seems to be no pattern nor can I easily find the 3-4 shows I’m watching. Supposedly new shows aren’t, my saved lists go into never-neverland. No consistency from one watching to another. Stuff moves around as if this were a game. And all this happens in Hulu, Netflix, AmazonPrime, and even in AppleTV which I abandoned after my one-year free sampling. Just a crazy interface.

And if that weren’t enough, the same thing happens on my other Apple TV 4K, but differently that its sister. Each viewing is an unwelcome search-and-rescue attempt.
 
SalisburySam said:
The top level with buttons for Hulu, Netflix, etc. is fine. One I go below that, it gets murky.
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Don't understand. Since you can arrange the icons in whatever order you want there shouldn't be any murkiness, other than the fact that you have to deal with all of those icons.

SalisburySam said:
Stuff moves around as if this were a game.
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Can you clairify? The icon positions are fixed. Shows, unfortunately, do move around but that is due to changes in content provider contracts which isn't an Apple issue.

SalisburySam said:
my saved lists go into never-neverland.
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Haven't seen this problem within any of the apps above which you mentioned. Not sure about the AppleTV+ app.

SalisburySam said:
the same thing happens on my other Apple TV 4K,
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Since you can normally synchronize the 2 tvs it shouldn't be an issue.

It would be nice if content providers would allow smoothing integration into one app, but they don't want to do it.
 
I'd been fighting my FireStick 4K for several months. It seemed like the hardware could no longer keep up with the apps anymore. Despite clearing the cache constantly, I had to restart the stick every time I wanted to watch a different app. HBOMax would only work sometimes. YouTubeTV had audio out of sync.

I had always thought that ATV's were overpriced, but I took the plunge during the Prime Day sales and am kicking myself for not getting one sooner. Everything launches instantly. No buffering or stuttering. I actually enjoy watching TV now and don't dread a fight with the hardware.
 
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Update:

My parents’ Roku stick was unusable, so I let them use my Apple TV to access iTunes rentals. I figured this would be the perfect chance to test out whether I can do without an Apple TV.

… I miss my Apple TV ☹️

I didn’t realize how the smallest things (like telling Siri to turn on my TV when I get home from the store), or simply searching something on YouTube from my phone while working can be so convenient. It’s small, and maybe even lazy, but I miss that.

With all of that said, I’m wondering if I should buy a new Apple TV and let my parents keep the old one, or wait for a new Apple TV model. There should be one being released soon, no? 👀
 
Bearygoodfries1 said:
Update:

My parents’ Roku stick was unusable, so I let them use my Apple TV to access iTunes rentals. I figured this would be the perfect chance to test out whether I can do without an Apple TV.

… I miss my Apple TV ☹️

I didn’t realize how the smallest things (like telling Siri to turn on my TV when I get home from the store), or simply searching something on YouTube from my phone while working can be so convenient. It’s small, and maybe even lazy, but I miss that.

With all of that said, I’m wondering if I should buy a new Apple TV and let my parents keep the old one, or wait for a new Apple TV model. There should be one being released soon, no? 👀
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I say save up your Money get the newer version Apple TV because it now can do HDD video and HDMI 2.1! This way you watch sporting events in HHD!
 
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