Why buy an  TV?

[synicalx1]

My main reasons;

1. TV's and their apps are supported for waayyyy less time than an ATV.

2. Remotes for the TV's are nowhere near as sleek/nice as the ATV one, and Siri is actually pretty useful for searching for stuff.

3. I personally prefer my TV to just be a screen and nothing else. A good screen should last a long time and you can plug whatever functionality you want into it.

My relatively high-end Sony TV stopped getting updates 1 year after I bought it, and started getting sluggish a year after that to the point where it was incredibly frustrating to use. It also connected to my neighbours open wifi without me telling it to after I removed it from my wifi, presumably so it could still show me ads. I ended up popping the back off it, and yanking out its wifi antennas - after that it's been a GREAT dumb screen and the menus/UI are now very responsive.

 

[apocalyarts]

For me it's definitely the privacy / UI aspect, everything ad-free of course. In my household the TVs have disabled Wifi and are offline, I only hook them up once or twice a year for updates.

Also Audio return channel. I have an old homepod as my main speaker for everything, including PS5 and sorts.

 

[shinigamii]

Not sure if it’s just FOMO, but modern 4K TVs have built-in apps like Netflix, Prime and tv+. I also use my PS5 for gaming and occasionally YouTube.
With a sound bar connected in optical, that’s 2 remotes and 1 HDMI port used.

From first glance, it’s seems quite annoying to have another remote and use up another HDMI port on the TV. Or is there a niche I’m missing?

Yeah, in a normal 4K smart TV we get so many apps and connections to other devices, Apple TV is a waste of money!

 

[Beefbowl]

At least three reasons for keeping an Apple TV around:

1) I have two Sony TVs (x800d and x900f) and the Apple TV+ app isn’t available for either.

2) I spent a couple of years ripping all of my DVDs to iTunes-compatible formats, and while I’ve replaced the majority of those with iTunes store purchases I still have about 300 movies and quite a few TV shows that are most easily accessed through the ATV “Computers” app.

3) I use two Homepods for audio, replacing a 5.1 speaker system. It’s probably not as good, but it’s good enough to fool my increasingly-older ears and I really enjoy not having all of the wires from the traditional surround setup.

More subjectively, I find the ATV apps more responsive than the ones built in to my TVs and prefer the ATV remote to the Sony remote.

 

[RobbieTT]

For me it is quite simply the highest picture and audio quality device when compared to any other in-built or streaming box.

It is also fast, reliable, privacy focused, security focused, well-supported, anchors HomeKit/Thread/Matter, integrates with all Apple devices, synchronises with all other ATVs in the house, has proper ethernet and excellent wifi, works with Plex for NAS stored content, DVR or broadcast TV, provides security camera / doorbell feeds... and my list goes on!

 

[Bento.Box]

I've never found the Apple TV appliance to be of any use to me.
It lacks local storage (that's where all my music, movies and series are stored), a SPDIF-out connector and various plugins, such as ad-free youtube.

Currently I use a raspberry pi4 with a hifiberry card and a 5TB 2.5" disc attached via USB3 running libreelec with my non-smart TV. I can control it with the TV remote via HDMI.

The competing apple product would be a mac mini. Much more expensive, but also more capable.

 

[RobbieTT]

I've never found the Apple TV appliance to be of any use to me.
It lacks local storage (that's where all my music, movies and series are stored)...

Currently I use a raspberry pi4 with a hifiberry card and a 5TB 2.5" disc attached via USB3 running libreelec with my non-smart TV. I can control it with the TV remote via HDMI.

Your contribution makes no sense at all. The Rπ4 is gutless when compared to an ATV and pretty-much defines the term 'lack of local storage'.

You overcome this by connecting to an external USB3 drive. For me I can connect my ATV to any local Mac, iOS device, over-the-air TV, DVR, iTunes or (primarily in my case) a NAS that has far more storage and flexibility than any USB3 drive. Plus the ATV connects to iCloud or any cloud provider, Apple Music, Spotify or any of the major streaming services in Dolby Vision, Atmos or other HQ/HDR sources.

☕️

 

[Bento.Box]

Your contribution makes no sense at all.

Maybe you just don't understand the use case and come to false conclusions.

You overcome this by connecting to an external USB3 drive. For me I can connect my ATV to any local Mac, iOS device, over-the-air TV, DVR, iTunes or (primarily in my case) a NAS that has far more storage and flexibility than any USB3 drive.

I can also connect the HTPC to my NAS (and to other devices). I frequently do so when I copy over new tv series and movies.

But why should I constantly let run another device that draws comperativly a lot of power? one 2.5" disk draws less than 5W of power, the whole installation draws less than 15W (the USB PSU can supply 5V at 3Amps).

Plus the ATV connects to iCloud or any cloud provider, Apple Music, Spotify or any of the major streaming services in Dolby Vision, Atmos or other HQ/HDR sources.

All stuff that I don't need. The only streaming service I use is youtube. And that should be ad-free of course.

Adding more dependencies in the form of network/internet connections and additional devices makes hardly sense when 99% of the time it only has to play the files I click on with my TV remote (ATV even needs an additional remote).

 

[curnalpanic]

annoying to have another remote

My TV remote is my only remote.

 

[Eric Idle]

I've never found the Apple TV appliance to be of any use to me.
It lacks local storage (that's where all my music, movies and series are stored), a SPDIF-out connector and various plugins, such as ad-free youtube.

Currently I use a raspberry pi4 with a hifiberry card and a 5TB 2.5" disc attached via USB3 running libreelec with my non-smart TV. I can control it with the TV remote via HDMI.

The competing apple product would be a mac mini. Much more expensive, but also more capable.

You must have a slow internet connection. I listen to all my music, and watch all my movies/TV shows without any problem. I click on it, and it starts playing. What would local storage give me? I have unlimited storange with Apple TV.

 

[Bento.Box]

You must have a slow internet connection.

1Gbit/s Fibre bidirectional.

Don't know whether that's slow where you come from.

I listen to all my music, and watch all my movies/TV shows without any problem. I click on it, and it starts playing. What would local storage give me? I have unlimited storange with Apple TV.

So you upload all the stuff that you want to watch/listen to and isn't available on apple tv to apple tv? How does that work?

What happens if you're on the road, you always use and pay for roaming? What if you have only internet via Inmarsat or Iridium? Will you pay that price as well and wait for a week to download?

 

[TSE]

I have an xbox series S that replaced my AppleTV 4k. It basically does everything I want it to do and more.

It's not for everyone though. It uses much more electricity, and does at times feel clunky as a home media device. But those aren't enough reasons for me to have an AppleTV as well. I sold it.