OT - Streaming device options

[FQDawg]

Anyone here use Apple TV? Plusses? Minuses?

We currently have an Amazon Fire TV box that's several years old that we're thinking about replacing. Apple TV seems like a good option (primarily because they offer HBO Max and Amazon doesn't yet) but it seems way more expensive than just getting the most recent version of the Amazon Fire set-up.

Anybody have any thoughts?

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Appletv Has some neat features but Roku and fire sticks are a lot cheaper and have a lot of features as well. We have an Apple TV that’s older that needs to be replaced and just haven’t done it yet and we also have a Roku and it does really well and is so much cheaper.

 

[FQDawg]

Thanks. The cost is kind of my hold up. We'd like to get HBO Max, which isn't available on Amazon or Roku yet but is on Apple TV. Just having a hard time justifying the inflated price for Apple when it seems like HBO Max would be the only real difference for us.

 

[Seinfeld]

I can’t say that I’ve tried this, but FYI that there seems to be a fairly easy workaround for getting HBO max on fire tv. Just have to google it, and there are some instructions to follow

I’ve tried Apple TV, Roku, and fire sticks, and my personal favorite right now is the 4K fire stick. It’s fast, it’s highly customizable, it’s cheap, and I like the UI.

For me, the Apple TV is only worth the price if your house is a giant iOS ecosystem. If you have bunch of Apple devices, subscriptions, ets, it’s nice to have. If you don’t, it’s just not worth the high price. Both Roku and Fire will likely provide what you need and more for a lot less money

 

[mcdawg22]

I second this. I have a Roku and 2 Firesticks. The Roku loses signal or can’t find it once a week. The Firesticks never have a problem and one of them is further away from the modem than the Roku.

 

[fishwater99]

4K Fire Sticks are my choice also. Just bought 2 more, so have 5 now. About to tell Direct TV to take a hike.

 

[Bobby Ricigliano]

I tried it after I got over the anxiety over possibly screwing something up. It worked out ok.

 

[mstateglfr]

We have 2 TVs with ROKU(different generations) and have used that for the last 7 years ever since we first dropped satellite. Roku is easy to use, reliable, and not expensive.

Just yesterday I bought a gen4 AppleTV specifically for a single app that runs on it(Zwift) for exercise. Its cheaper and easier than buying a new laptop.
Last night as I set the AppleTV up, I liked how easy it was to use the remote(touchpad), but at the same time I also recognized that its not needed and the simple plus sign on the roku with 4 directions does just as well at navigating me to where I want.
Its like a lot of what I think of Apple- overly designed and neat features, but ultimately no better than a quality alternative.


I dont have anything else apple(the rest of my family is all iphone), so maybe if I had an iphone I would find the AppleTV cooler?...just a possibility guess.




As for HBO Max...wow what a cluster17 that has been for HBO/Warner. They had HBO, HBO GO, HBO NOW, and HBO MAX at one point and surveys showed consumers had no idea what was going on.
So its announced that HBO GO would be discountinued and HBO NOW would turn into regular HBO. WHAT?!?!
HBO MAX is then offered as a free upgrade in many instances to replace the old services.
Shitshow.

This does a great job of summarizing the absurdity- https://www.businessinsider.com/hbo-go-vs-hbo-now-vs-hbo-max

 

[PBRME]

Getting HBOMax free with AT&T. Can’t remember if it’s because of cell or internet.

 

[dawgman42]

Each of my two TVs has a fire stick (get the 4K one even if the TV is only 1080p or 720p), a Roku Ultra, and a Chromecast. My media room TV also has an Xfinity Stream, and I'm about to replace an older Chromecast 4K with the new Chromecast with Google TV. I just used an HDMI switch and universal remote on all but the Fire Stick (and Chromecast obviously). Most of these are cheap enough to have several options. I think the Fire Stick 4K is the snappiest of the bunch, but I enjoy having access to all of them. I'm not an Apple person at all, so I have no insight or good opinion on the Apple TV.

 

[johnson86-1]

Anyone here use Apple TV? Plusses? Minuses?

We currently have an Amazon Fire TV box that's several years old that we're thinking about replacing. Apple TV seems like a good option (primarily because they offer HBO Max and Amazon doesn't yet) but it seems way more expensive than just getting the most recent version of the Amazon Fire set-up.

Anybody have any thoughts?

I have a roku box and a fire stick. I'm pretty indifferent between them except the roku box has been more reliable. Less glitchy when navigating and also don't need to unplug and plug back in as much, which is sort of a pain because of the accessibility of my wires.

I have used other people's apple tv and it seems to move much faster (I would assume that was an internet speed thing, but it's been faster for people with the same basic set up for me and even for people who are in the boonies) and be even less glitchy (although I haven't spent enough time on them to know that for sure). Whether it's worth the price? If it lasts four years, you're talking about $2 or $3 a month difference in cost.

The one feature that would seem worth it to me is that you can mirror your Ipad to it, which would be nice sometimes when we're watching a nephew or niece's sporting event on a facebook live feed. I'm sure there's a way to do that with the roku or fire stick, but that's the benefit of using apple products is you can be pretty ignorant of tech and still get a lot of the features with no hassle.

 

[Dawgzilla]

Im not up to speed on HBO max, but can't you just download it to your phone and then screen mirror it to your TV? Their website says its available for phones and tablets.

And I agree with most comments in this thread. I love the ROKU user interface, but I have migrated to FireTV 4K.

 

[jxndawg]

I've had Fire sticks and Apple TVs for a cpl years now. I was really impressed by the Fire sticks, esp. the value for the money, for a long time. But IMHO, over time, the Fire sticks are a little buggier - sometimes they get a bee in their bonnet about something and get slow and have to be unplugged/plugged back in, etc. My Apple TVs have always run more smoothly. Whether it's worth the price difference, who knows.

 

[FQDawg]

Im not up to speed on HBO max, but can't you just download it to your phone and then screen mirror it to your TV? Their website says its available for phones and tablets.

I've considered this option but my previous experience with casting stuff from my phone says that I can cast or I can scroll stuff on my phone but I can't do both at the same time.

 

[The Peeper]

I've had Roku's since they came out and just don't have many if any issues that are Roku related. I have a LOT of internet issues not related to the Roku (thanks Maxxsuck internet in Starkville) however. Like, why does my internet go down EVERY MORNING AT 6:32 a.m., EVERY DAMN MORNING for about 3 or 4 minutes? I just make the most of it and go pour another cup of coffee and pee during that time, EVERY DAMN MORNING. But, I digress.

I'm not a fan of anything Apple but my daughter does have an Apple TV (and iPhone and Mac and iPad) and when I hang out w/ her and watch tv it seems to be ok but definitely not worth anywhere near the cost difference. I have no experience with Fire Sticks but if its anything like my 10" Fire Tablet, well then, it sucks. I did have a Chromecast once and threw that damn thing outside and ran over it with the lawnmower so many times over the summer it finally disappeared.

 

[af102]

Another feature of the AppleTV that no one else has touched on is the ability to use it as a hub for home automation. This is only useful if you have more devices in the apple ecosystem, but it's a cool integration. I can tell my remote to turn on the backyard lights if someone pulls into the driveway late at night without having to dig my phone out or get up.

 

[dickiedawg]

The thread so far seems to echo my experience, having had all three and use them: They're all pretty good. They're all pretty straightforward to navigate.

As for your specific question, to me the Apple TV doesn't justify the extra expense on its own. HBO Max would have to add a lot of value for me to consider paying $100-$150 more for the box (in addition to the $15/month the service costs, which is comparatively high).

That said, if you're not going to miss the $149-199 any more than you would the $50 for a fire stick, and it makes your life easier, go for it.

 

[TrueMaroonGrind]

My in-laws got one for Christmas a few years ago. I have Rokus setup everywhere in my own house. Plus a couple of the Smart Samsung TVs. I like Roku the best because it is simple and affordable.

I differ from mstateglfr in my experience with the remote. I hated it. I can’t believe they made 4 directions and a select button so complicated. Fast forward and rewind are finicky to say the least. Maybe it is just personal preference, but I felt like they wanted you to feel like an idiot if you had never used the remote before.

Other than that the interface is clean and streams pretty perfectly. Good product, but like most things made by Apple it is overpriced. You’ll pay 3x as much for a marginally better user interface and a “cool” remote.

 

[DawgInThe256]

We have Apple TVs and a couple of TVs with Roku built in. For HBO Max, I have a connector that provides HDMI output from my iPhone that I can plug into my Roku TV.

Advantages of Roku:
- Cheaper
- Remote has mute button
- I personally don't like the Apple TV remote. It's too easy to accidentally hit the touchpad and it's really hard to fast forward, etc.

Advantages of Apple TV:
- Supports HBOMax
- Works with iOS ecosystem: AirPlay, iTunes library, etc.

 

[mstateglfr]

Im not up to speed on HBO max, but can't you just download it to your phone and then screen mirror it to your TV? Their website says its available for phones and tablets.

And I agree with most comments in this thread. I love the ROKU user interface, but I have migrated to FireTV 4K.

You can mirror it. The MAX app reviews in Google play are hilarious to read because of this. People over and over complaining that there is picture but not sound. Or sound but no picture. Or any number of other issues, and all end with 'fix it!'

 

[mstateglfr]

My in-laws got one for Christmas a few years ago. I have Rokus setup everywhere in my own house. Plus a couple of the Smart Samsung TVs. I like Roku the best because it is simple and affordable.

I differ from mstateglfr in my experience with the remote. I hated it. I can’t believe they made 4 directions and a select button so complicated. Fast forward and rewind are finicky to say the least. Maybe it is just personal preference, but I felt like they wanted you to feel like an idiot if you had never used the remote before.

Other than that the interface is clean and streams pretty perfectly. Good product, but like most things made by Apple it is overpriced. You’ll pay 3x as much for a marginally better user interface and a “cool” remote.

I think the remotes TouchPad is neat, but overly complicated. I mentioned to my wife last night that I like the roku's physical + on the remote. NES perfected the up/down/left/right design 35 years ago. Its simple and reliable.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Refurbished Apple TV. I have three.

The OS just keeps getting better, especially if you have multiple streaming sources and subscriptions.

I've also slowly bought a nice selection of movies I keep on an old Mac mini and NAS that we can stream to any room.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

I have a house full of Macs so it makes sense for me to have an Apple TV. I'm able to throw stuff from my laptop or my iPad or my iPhone to the Apple TV but the biggest advantage is having an old refurbished Apple Mac mini that pretty much runs my entire entertainment system from the closet. I have music movies at my fingertips and I'm using a lot of their apps for things like Amazon, Netflix, HBOMax, YouTube, etc. etc.

It did cost some money but over time I was able to find cheap refurbished or secondhand Mac Minis and Apple TVs to put it together. I took several old hard drives and build my own storage system to keep my movies and music on. You can do this through the cloud now but it's a lot faster if you're not downloading things.

I found the refurbished Mac mini server with six cores for $250. I added a couple of RAM sticks and it's zips a long fine. We're about to buy a home and I'm gonna put it in under the TV stand and just use another HDMI input from the computer to the TV so I can use it as one big giant monitor as well..

 

[Sundawg1974]

Have rokus on all tvs. Have google chrome ast on one with the Roku. Use chromecast for HBO max and Peacocok. They will not allow mirroring from my iPad, but chromecast will work

 

[DawgInThe256]

I believe Peacock is available on the Roku now

 

[RocketDawg]

It's also in the LG store, if you have an LG television. They don't have ESPN though for some reason.

 

[TrueMaroonGrind]

I think the remotes TouchPad is neat, but overly complicated. I mentioned to my wife last night that I like the roku's physical + on the remote. NES perfected the up/down/left/right design 35 years ago. Its simple and reliable.

As my digital devices professor said “Keep it simple stupid”. Being complicated for no real benefit to the end user is wasteful. I think the previous Apple TV had the iPod circle as the main interface. I loved those. Simple, reliable and useful.

I would agree with the original D-pad comment. There is a reason it has stuck around for so long.

 

[HughJazz]

Have the Apple TV and love it. Streams Hulu live perfectly and the picture is always clear. Also hardly any load time changing channels. If you like making terrible parlays like myself the ESPN app let’s you throw up the quad screen and you can be your own Scott Hanson. The touchpad remote takes some gettin used too but it like magically connected to my sound bar and will turn it on by just clicking the volume up button. Also turns my older tv off and on with a click of a button.

 

[WrapItDog]

I believe Peacock is available on the Roku now

Correct - I watch the Dan Patrick Show using my Roku and Peacock