Apple TV: 2 weeks in

[robertk328]

Now that many have had their Apple TV for two weeks now (or even if you haven't), what is your feeling on the purchase?

Are you still glad you bought it? Wish you had waited?

It would also be good to include if this is your first Apple TV or a replacement for a precious generation.

 

[JBaby_9783]

I love it. I upgraded from an tv 3.

 

[StraightlineBoy]

I've had mine for a couple of weeks (32Gb) now upgrading from a ATV2 and I'm liking it more with each passing day. My ATV2 never saw much use. Terrible range of channels in the UK, regretted buying that.

As soon as I found I could easily watch video direct from my NAS the new box scored a lot of points with me. My Mac has been on DVD ripping spree ever since and soon the DVD player and all of my DVDs can go in the attic making under my TV much neater. I've got a bunch of concert DVDs, so much better to have something like a big video jukebox.

Have just got a SteelSeries Nimbus game controller today, very nice. I deliberately avoided any gaming until my controller arrived. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should! Geometry Wars with the controller is great.

I'm glad I took the plunge because as Apple stuff goes this is almost pocket change and if it never amounts to much then what I'm already using it for justifies the price to me.

 

[Just_Me_D]

I'm very pleased with the purchase of my TV (4th gen), and I'm impressed with the way games look and run on the device. Heck, I even purchased a new Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station to connect my TV to.

 

[dvcrob]

Way better that previous version. Lost of potential with Apps. Less excited about the remote. I like the touch pad for games but prefer hard buttons for navigation.

 

[jph59]

Liking the new Apple TV, now not being too tech savvy can someone answer this question for me. I have tons of photos in iCloud however only the most recent photos show in the photo app on ATV. Am I missing something here ! To view all my photos at the moment I mirror iPad to ATV, it would be nice if there was an iCloud app on ATV to avoid doing this.

 

[Team George]

Got mine today - first ever ATV. I love it! Can't wait to see what else pops up in the App Store.

 

[Mr.Willie]

P

As soon as I found I could easily watch video direct from my NAS the new box scored a lot of points with me.

Please elaborate. I've had my media ripped for a long time, but always had the computer on with iTunes running. Finally bought a dedicated server, but still get frustrated when iTunes swaps the default folder to the local disk from the network drive. If a 'puter is no longer needed, I'll upgrade today.

 

[StraightlineBoy]

I've downloaded an app on my new Apple TV called filebrowserTV by Stratospherix (about $3) and it reads media directly from my Synology NAS and plays them on my TV. It doesn't rely on iTunes in any way.
As far as I can tell this app only works with media that the AppleTV reads natively (e.g. MP4, M4V) so you need to ensure you rip any DVDs in a compatible format. There may be other apps that work with all file formats or are free but this one works fine for me.



For what it's worth I've had a similar experience of iTunes and my NAS and gave up because iTunes managed it so badly. I keep my music on my computer within iTunes and keep video on the NAS away from my iTunes library

 

[kingweb]

Well it has potential, but I still say it sucks for the main reason that there is no remote app on the iPhone and no way to have IP control. I bought 4 of the 64gb models. I returned 3 of them. I need ip control to work. It used to work on the 2nd & 3rd gen. If you want to use a foreign language for text entry, you are now SOL because there is no app. I used to be able to do that with the iPhone app.
One little thing drives me nuts. When you highlight an app or button, it is very inconspicuous. There used to be a clear outline of what you selected. Now, it is only slightly larger and unnoticeable. Very often it takes me an extra look or two to figure out hat is currently selected.
Siri sucks. Rarely understands what I want.
Sorry to be negative. I own 4 3rd gen atvs and I had high hopes for this one, but so far I am very disappointed.
Also there is no web browser. I was really hoping for that.
Honestly I think that this is the worst product that Apple ever put out.

 

[StraightlineBoy]

You're mixing up worst with least suited to your specific needs; Apple have definitely made worse products

 

[kingweb]

Not true. I saw many people complain about the app not working anymore. Even the guy in the apple store couldn't believe it. I told him that was the reason I was returning it. He said not true, it does support the app. I proved him wrong in the store, and he was shocked.
Why would you take away such a good and basic feature? Every other streamer box can be controlled via an app or IP control. Roku, etc. Apple always approaches things as if their systems are the only ones in the world. I use a universal remote app to control everything. Now I can't use it.
I can't enter a foreign language anymore. I'm sure people in countries that don't use the Latin alphabet won't be very happy since they can no longer use their alphabet. Basic stuff!

Siri not understanding me isn't my specific need. I hate voice control stuff anyway to begin with, but regardless, it doesn't work well. I was born and raised in the US, so I don't have a thick foreign accent. I have a loud voice too. It just gets it wrong more often than not.

The other stuff ok, maybe that is my preference.

Ohh yeah, I forgot to mention they removed the optical audio output! WHY?!! Some people, myself included used it. I used my apple TV to play audio in a 2nd zone. Now I can't do that. Well, actually I can. I need to buy an HDMI audio extractor. Another $50 on top of the already high price.

The only thing that is really an improvement here is the App Store. And that is a hoax, because they could have done it via a software/OS update to the older Apple TV's. But obviously that wouldn't be as profitable.

 

[Frehley]

the thing that upsets me the most is that Apple did away with the optical audio out...makes it a "darn" sight harder to get the sound through my audio system. Finally had to use the headphone jack from my TV to the receiver. Why would they get rid of this?

 

[Tytanious]

I'm really frustrated that Siri won't search for local content. I have hundreds of TV shows and movies ripped from my DVD collection into iTunes and I don't ever want to play $2.99 to watch one episode of a show.

 

[robertk328]

I'm really frustrated that Siri won't search for local content. I have hundreds of TV shows and movies ripped from my DVD collection into iTunes and I don't ever want to play $2.99 to watch one episode of a show.

Is there a way to add keywords to that data? So Siri has something to search?

 

[iRube]

I got the large-storage to replace my 2-Gen. ATV. I'm still glad I picked it up. It's pricey but snappy and loaded with potential, particularly with the app selection in the store. I love the NAS apps. For me a killer app.

 

[Dave Marsh]

As soon as I found I could easily watch video direct from my NAS the new box scored a lot of points with me. My Mac has been on DVD ripping spree ever since and soon the DVD player and all of my DVDs can go in the attic making under my TV much neater. I've got a bunch of concert DVDs, so much better to have something like a big video jukebox.

I have around a thousand movies in a RAID box serving as my iTunes Media source. Over 300 are Apple downloads, with the rest ripped copies of my DVDs. The new Apple TV (4th gen) plays the Apple movie downloads as full HD with 5.1 sound. The ripped movies were all all encoded with 5.1 sound, and play that way through my old Apple TV (3rd gen), but the new Apple TV only passes stereo to my receiver, even though the receiver displays it as 5.1. Very odd and disappointing. So, for older ripped movies I want to hear as 5.1 now, I have to repurchase them from iTunes.

 

[Dave Marsh]

I'm also experiencing a random playback stuttering from my iTunes purchased movies saved to my RAID box. In a discussion forum at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7314597?tstart=0 a few other Apple TV (4th gen) owners are also experiencing this issue. iTunes purchased movies streamed directly from Apple's servers buffer and play back fine, but locally stored Apple purchases have this random stuttering issue. One user speculates that the new Apple TV may not be buffering locally stored movies, which would be bad, if true.

Apple is shipping me a replacement, but if this is a software issue, that won't fix this problem. We've confirmed my local gigabit Ethernet is performing up to specs, and anyway these movies play back fine to my old Apple TV (3rd gen).

 

[TurboTiger]

If anyone has Amazon Prime Video - is the quality of Air Play better than it was on previous  TV's?
TIA

 

[robertk328]

The Amazon Prime function being MIA is a bit of a bummer, but seems there's enough going on that it's not too bad. Our smart TV has it built in (with a shortcut button on the remote) if needed.