Actual Apple TV's

Eircom_Sucks

anybody else think they are missing out on making an actual tv ???

most tv's nowadays are smart

seems like a no-brainer ?

samsung have their own tv why no apple ?

Gregor Samsa

Samsung have been making TVs since 1970. They're not a company that just recently decided to make smart TVs because they make phones and tablets.

It's pretty certain that Apple have weighed up the pros and cons of producing smart TVs vs a standalone box (Apple TV), and there were rumours going around for years that they were going to do it. It wouldn't surprise me if they developed the idea to the prototype stage, and it's possible that it's something that could be revived in the future. But ultimately, it's a business decision.

The advantage of the ATV is that it's a small, inexpensive box that you can pair with any TV from any manufacturer - so you're not competing with other TV makers. No one has more than one TV in their living room, but plenty of people have a smart TV and multiple smart boxes. People have multiple TVs in their houses, but they don't necessarily go to the expense of having them all top of the line smart TVs (remember, a lot of the smart TVs on the market aren't all-singing, all-dancing Android machines. They're proprietary systems with a limited number of built in apps that tend to lose support as the years go on).

If they were going to get into making TVs they'd probably have to have a range of sizes, as the market is quite fragmented based on the size of TV people can fit, which adds complexity.

In the end, Apple's main revenue in this area comes from subscriptions, not hardware. They've already got Apple TV+ built into a few smart TVs and smart boxes/dongles from other manufacturers. It will be interesting to see where they go with pushing Apple Arcade. Some rumours have it that they'll be announcing a new ATV box today, with a focus on games. I wonder will AA be something that starts to appear on 3rd party hardware at some point, so they can cast their net a bit wider on the subscriptions.

Tvs I wouldn’t really expect them to make but I can’t understand why they don’t make monitors. If they made a monitor similar to the iMac screen I would be brilliant imo as ofter market monitors just aren’t the same with the MacBook as using an iMac screen.

I do think the Apple TV is much better than a smart tv also, I’ve two at this stage and one is on a smart tv and it is much much better imo.

Gregor Samsa

Kate Scrawny Dish wrote: »

Tvs I wouldn’t really expect them to make but I can’t understand why they don’t make monitors.

They do, but it's five and a half grand. And that's without a stand.

https://www.apple.com/ie/shop/buy-mac/pro-display-xdr

(I know your point is that they should make an affordable monitor for normal people. They used to, but got out of doing that for some reason).

Oafley Jones

TVs are a extremely low margin product (if any) and they’re rarely replaced within seven years. It’s a ****e business to be in. Apple do need an inexpensive replacement for their Appletv though.

flexcon

When you buy a lovely 1K TV you are probably going to keep it for 8-10 years

By then the internals would be slow and useless.

My advice for anyone buying a smart tv, forget the smartness. it will become obsolete faster than your TV> segregation is key. I'd buy the smart box separate that can be upgraded

Creamy Goodness

Apple have shown with the Apple TV and the Siri remote that I wouldn't buy a TV from them at all. TV's need to be solid and have a good remote. The Siri remote is the worse product Apple have ever produced.

Apple also have a hatred of ports, my LG has 4 HDMI ports, tons of connections for speakers and etc., you think Apple would build a TV that amount of connectivity? We'd be lucky to get a single HDMI port.

flexcon

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Apple have shown with the Apple TV and the Siri remote that I wouldn't buy a TV from them at all. TV's need to be solid and have a good remote. The Siri remote is the worse product Apple have ever produced.

Apple also have a hatred of ports, my LG has 4 HDMI ports, tons of connections for speakers and etc., you think Apple would build a TV that amount of connectivity? We'd be lucky to get a single HDMI port.

Exagggerated but I get the idea :D

flexcon

flexcon wrote: »

When you buy a lovely 1K TV you are probably going to keep it for 8-10 years

By then the internals would be slow and useless.

My advice for anyone buying a smart tv, forget the smartness. it will become obsolete faster than your TV> segregation is key. I'd buy the smart box separate that can be upgraded

While I agree that an Apple TV is much better than the smart functions on a smart tv I don’t know if there is a single tv on sale nowadays that isn’t smart, certainly not any mainstream or high end ones anyway.

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Apple have shown with the Apple TV and the Siri remote that I wouldn't buy a TV from them at all. TV's need to be solid and have a good remote. The Siri remote is the worse product Apple have ever produced.

Apple also have a hatred of ports, my LG has 4 HDMI ports, tons of connections for speakers and etc., you think Apple would build a TV that amount of connectivity? We'd be lucky to get a single HDMI port.

The Apple TV is a great bit of kit in fairness. Leagues ahead of fire stick, chrome cast and built in smart tv functions.

OU812

flexcon wrote: »

When you buy a lovely 1K TV you are probably going to keep it for 8-10 years

By then the internals would be slow and useless.

My advice for anyone buying a smart tv, forget the smartness. it will become obsolete faster than your TV> segregation is key. I'd buy the smart box separate that can be upgraded

I just wish I could buy a 4k UHD monitor. No smarts, No tuner etc.

TV comes through an external box & the ATV is a separate box, take the gubbins out & make it cheaper for me.

Creamy Goodness

Kate Scrawny Dish wrote: »

The Apple TV is a great bit of kit in fairness. Leagues ahead of fire stick, chrome cast and buy in smart tv functions.

I agree and I love the fact that it’s separate. But it’s €200 and it’s main selling point really is Apple TV+. Which can be had for free if you buy an iOS device and or have a smart TV. I don’t think it offers good value for money compared to the chrome cast/fire stick etc. The experience is top notch but that can only get you so far.

If apple were to do a full tv they’d need to really justify the price, the Apple TV box at the moment really doesn’t show they’d be capable of that.

JoeA3

I’m as big a fan of Apple products as anyone here but I’m not blinkered. I have a couple of Apple TV’s in the house and honestly they get feck all use in recent times. Occasional airplay use aside, I don’t have much use for them. I used to rent movies in their App Store a lot. Can’t remember the last time I did. I don’t see the value in the Apple TV device anymore, certainly not at its price point.
I have a 5 year old Sony Bravia which is still really good when it comes to the smart stuff and a €30 fire stick is impressive for the money too imo. And the telly has built in chrome cast so I generally find little reason to bother powering up the Apple TV.

I did wonder myself years ago why Apple didn’t get into the actual tv business, but as others have said it’s not really their game. It’s a very low margin business, people don’t change tv’s every year like they do phones and the likes of Sony/Samsung have it fairly sown up.

salamiii

apple tax you would have to buy a new one each year

440Hertz

TVs really need to get dumber. Most of this stuff should be driven by an easily upgradable external device.

Most smart TVs in reality probably spend 90% of their time plugged into a set top box for satellite, cable or streaming anyway.

My experience of most of them is you’ve some rubbishy, underpowered computer hardware and a terrible GUI full of gimmicks that does nothing particularly useful.

There’s a demand for a top notch display and audio system. That’s actually what older TVs always aimed at at the premium end.

You generally want the TV interface to just get out of the way.

salamiii

you need a dash cam front and back to catch people

OU812

JoeA3 wrote: »

I’m as big a fan of Apple products as anyone here but I’m not blinkered. I have a couple of Apple TV’s in the house and honestly they get feck all use in recent times. Occasional airplay use aside, I don’t have much use for them. I used to rent movies in their App Store a lot. Can’t remember the last time I did. I don’t see the value in the Apple TV device anymore, certainly not at its price point.

I'm exactly the opposite, Use it daily. Have a US account too and the store there has a lot more content than here but it works without VPN.

Although my remote has a dedicated Netflix button (which I'm sure they paid handsomely for), I prefer to use the Netflix app as it a better picture from the ATV.

ATV is used daily in multiple rooms. On a cost basis it's probably one of the best value devices apple produce.

JoeA3 wrote: »

I have a 5 year old Sony Bravia which is still really good when it comes to the smart stuff and a €30 fire stick is impressive for the money too imo. And the telly has built in chrome cast so I generally find little reason to bother powering up the Apple TV.

a €30 fire stick cannot compare at all with an ATV 4k

Oafley Jones

OU812 wrote: »

a €30 fire stick cannot compare at all with an ATV 4k

It’s doesn’t compare. That’s why Apple is sticking the app on third party hardware. Their 200 euro device just doesn’t compete with devices that are a quarter of the price, especially when you look at the new generation of devices (chromecast with google tv etc).

Apple’s remote is an appalling piece of design as well, I’ve a silicon cover and I’m still wondering about the layout half the time. For me it’s second only to the hockey puck mouse in terms of ****e Apple design I’ve used.

OU812

Oafley Jones wrote: »

It’s doesn’t compare. That’s why Apple is sticking the app on third party hardware. Their 200 euro device just doesn’t compete with devices that are a quarter of the price, especially when you look at the new generation of devices (chromecast with google tv etc).

Apple’s remote is an appalling piece of design as well, I’ve a silicon cover and I’m still wondering about the layout half the time. For me it’s second only to the hockey puck mouse in terms of ****e Apple design I’ve used.

I agree with you on the remote. I prefer to use the basic controls my tv remote provides unless I have to dig down into sub menus.

Don't agree on the less expensive hardware though. ATV is one of the best devices out there (at a premium price point).

JoeA3

OU812 wrote: »

a €30 fire stick cannot compare at all with an ATV 4k

I completely agree. The stick does the same job for most people for a fraction of the price.

As I said, I am a fan of Apple products and when the ATV came out first I thought it was a great bit of kit, there was nothing much else out there like it. Netflix was still in its relative infancy and content was rubbish. Prime didn’t exist, etc. So I used the Apple store a lot for content. Now there’s so much more choice and the Netflix / prime / Disney apps all work perfectly on loads of other devices.

Granted my own ATV is the pre 4K one, so I would assume the newest one (when coupled with a good 4K tv) is probably a very nice bit of kit but it does come at a nice premium which Joe Soap is unlikely to see the benefit in.

OU812

JoeA3 wrote: »

I completely agree. The stick does the same job for most people for a fraction of the price.

As I said, I am a fan of Apple products and when the ATV came out first I thought it was a great bit of kit, there was nothing much else out there like it. Netflix was still in its relative infancy and content was rubbish. Prime didn’t exist, etc. So I used the Apple store a lot for content. Now there’s so much more choice and the Netflix / prime / Disney apps all work perfectly on loads of other devices.

For *most* people. Maybe.

I'll agree to respectfully disagree with you, I've found most devices to be buggy & laggy, but maybe most people don't mind that.

You get what you pay for.

Oafley Jones

OU812 wrote: »

I agree with you on the remote. I prefer to use the basic controls my tv remote provides unless I have to dig down into sub menus.

Don't agree on the less expensive hardware though. ATV is one of the best devices out there (at a premium price point).

How do you feel it’s better? What separates it verses the cheaper products. The games? Personally, I don’t care for the interface, which I feel is burdened by apple’s positioning over the years. I use it solely for the my movie collection. YouTube quality is cack on it still. Anything else I’ll play on the TVs native apps.

OU812

OU812 wrote: »

For *most* people. Maybe.

I'll agree to respectfully disagree with you, I've found most devices to be buggy & laggy, but maybe most people don't mind that.

You get what you pay for.

Fully agree, fire sticks are buggy and slow. Chromecast means you have to use your phone all the time and can’t use a remote which I hate.

I am actually fairly new to getting Apple TV’s I only got my first one last year and my second one about two months ago. They are both used for hours everyday. Much prefer using all the appa like YouTube, plex, Disney, IPTV app etc on the ATV compared to the mix of alternative than can do it but none can do it all or do it nearly as well.

Also while I actually don’t mind the Apple remote I have a harmony remote to control all my device so it’s a one button press to change from satellite box to Apple TV and then work away, I’d be longer taking out my phone to go chrome casting. I do have a chromecast too and it has its place but it’s basically redundant since I got ATVs.

Only certain tvs have appleTv+ also so it’s a pain to watch it on the big screen unless you have one of them or the ATV.

You can also connect an ATV to wired internet which to me is another big advantage.

Oafley Jones

Kate Scrawny Dish wrote: »

Fully agree, fire sticks are buggy and slow. Chromecast means you have to use your phone all the time and can’t use a remote which I hate.

Things have moved on, particularly with the new chromecast which has a fundamental change in how it operates.

OU812

Oafley Jones wrote: »

How do you feel it’s better? What separates it verses the cheaper products. The games? Personally, I don’t care for the interface, which I feel is burdened by apple’s positioning over the years. I use it solely for the my movie collection. YouTube quality is cack on it still. Anything else I’ll play on the TVs native apps.

Personally feel it never lags, GUI is well thought out & natural. I don't play games on it so cant comment on that. Integrates seamlessly with all my other gear. It just *feels* like a quality product (which I'd expect based on price).

I buy the movies & TV shows I watch, rather than stream sub standard, this fits in really well with that.

flexcon

Apple TV main selling points to me

App Store
Apps that just work. They don't crash, they don't make the entire device sluggish and they are consistent in their UI layout

Power
the Apple TV is a solid performer. It does not slow down after a few months, and you don't need to go clearing the cache file. It has a very clever built in caching system that cleans itself.

UI
It's an impressively simple UI. plus, it mimics and feels familiar to iOS and iPad OS. Consistent. My parents therefore can get along with it nicely.

Ive gone though my fair share of devices and honestly the Apple TV is fantastic.

HOWEVER

If you want true competition - go for the nVidia shield. Roughly same price but its leagues more powerful than the Fire tv stick. IF you want a solid device, but not a Apple option - Go with this

This advice comes from someone who has years dealing with IPTV and "cracked APK" files from Android.

Easy life > Apple TV
Piracy life ? Android TV