So. I just bought a new telly and to my surprise, not, the OS is rather bad and has very limited amount of apps. Therefore I’ll invest further in either Apple TV or the Firestick. Anyone got any recommendations, tips or hot takes on this? Which has more adds, and can it be blocked via DNS? Further read that Firestick could be jailbreaked, that has my interest 🦊
My hot take is the AppleTV will last you years where the fire stick will probably get frustrating after a while.
By that I mean the AppleTV is fast. Of the other streaming devices I’ve used (newer chromecast, Rokus), my first gen AppleTV 4K still is snappy and feels better. I think I got this thing in 2018.
That may not be the end all for you, but when you compare a lot of these devices back to back, the AppleTV just feels better to use.
I am not a fan of Apple but I completely agree. I was a home automation programmer for years and that included AV.
Personally I use a Roku I got for free but AppleTV has unmatched quality and experience for a standalone streaming box.
The only downside is that IP control requires you to set it up as part of your apple home. If you don’t want to do that, you’ll have to use IR and IR control sucks.
I also much prefer the old remote design (without Siri) but that’s just an opinion.
My brother is a home theater project manager, and he generally likes Roku the best since they can integrate it easier (or something). But they just feel cheaper to me overall. And I have a pretty standard 5.1 setup (hopefully adding Atmos soon), so the AppleTV works great in my setup.
I really like the original 4K remote. It lets you zoom around the interface so fast.
He’s right! Roku is soooo easy to integrate…you just plop in the IP and give it permission and you’re good to go. They have GREAT drivers for every system I have experience with.
The biggest downside of Roku is the gigantic ads on the home screen. To get rid of those you need to do some router config which can be annoying (or impossible in some situations) but when I use it I don’t spend much time outside of apps
Also agree with Apple vs Firestick. The Firestick felt extremely sluggish. I personally just use my Xbox, so if you already have one then it’s a great option. I just bought a Logitech external remote since I don’t like to use the controller all the time.
I hate everything about the firestick. The only two streaming boxes worth using are AppleTV and Roku imo
The old remote as in the one that’s probably around 7 years old? There are two Siri Remotes. A glass one with just a track pad and some buttons and an aluminium one with a circular trackpad that also has physical navigation buttons and the rest of the buttons. Both have Siri
Good call, I forgot gen2 existed.
Yes I meant the original AppleTV remote with the rectangle trackpad. I unironically think it’s the best mini remote ever made lol
Y’know, I honestly really liked that remote too. Although I will say, after using, I like Gen 2 as well. When I hear “the old remote” though, I think of the ancient one without the trackpad that legit just had navigation buttons haha
I’m down with any simple remote. Can’t stand number pads or extra buttons
Completely agree
AppleTV UI is smooth, and it builds a “master queue” of programs you are watching or want to watch across services (similar to Plex). The exception to this is Netflix — they refuse to “opt in” to this service for some reason.
It also doubles as a Homekit hub if you need something like that.
For what it’s worth, I have an Apple TV, I love it. Really smooth, fast interface. Works really well. Voice search isn’t even terrible! For an Apple product. It really improves the TV experience. My only frustration is mixed app support, e.g. Netflix has an app that works fine but it doesn’t integrate into the rest of Apple TV which sucks. Also… apples walled garden can be annoying at times, so I also have a chromecast for the rare case I need to go around one of apples arbitrary restrictions.
Netflix refuses to integrate with any other companies product FWIW, webos, tvOS, android, etc.
Honestly, it’s so annoying. Netflix has started getting really bad and not just because of their refusal to integrate into the TV app
Why not a Roku device?
If you are going to pay for a lot of subscriptions, Apple TV is probably better.
If you want to use your own media from nas, stream torrents, ad free YouTube Vanced, use iptv subscription then Apple TV is not for you.
FireTV 4K is full of ads and is slow; also, the 3rd party apps vary greatly. Nebula crashes a lot, and Crunchyroll is a hot mess. I was thinking of replacing it with an Apple TV, but since I’d like a device for indie games and Honkai Star Rail, I’ve decided to get a mini PC instead. It’s arriving today, so I can’t tell you how it is, but price wise, it’s $185 and it runs on an Intel N100, so it’s energy efficient.
Nice one, enjoy 👌
FireTV has a bunch of ads and it seems harder to remove on the newer models / firmwares. For Android, I would suggest something with Android TV like Chromecast with Google TV or Onn Android TV. I have no experience with apple tv so I can’t be sure.
I have a fire TV cube that feels very responsive and generally works well. I have never used an apple TV device though.
I mean to me Chromecast/Google TV is the obvious best choice of all of these.
Sorry but, Not in a million years 🙃
It just lets you literally cast all the apps from your phone right to the TV? I’m not really sure why you would be so against it.
I just don’t use nor trust Google
They are saints compared to Apple and Amazon tho
Pick your poison…
If you want to watch Twitch, get the Firestick.
Not much of a Twitcher, but thanks!
Neither. Both take away your freedom. This is subjective, but I would personally put a little media computer together. They sell them as small as a deck of cards and will have more than enough power to do 4K. Then, you can choose if you want ads, choose which services to use, choose which software you want, use whatever peripherals you want, etc.
