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I think Apple TV generally has more clout and has features come to it first. For example, HBO Max had Apple TV support first before Roku.

freeone3000 6y ago
YouTube on AppleTV is the worst experience, though. The UI is incredibly laggy. It's much nicer on Roku.
- hellweaver666 6y ago
  I use YouTube on my AppleTV 4k daily and it works really well. Occassionally there's video lag but the UI is mostly fine.
  - Daho0n 6y ago
    "Mostly fine" is not good enough with the price point on the Apple TV. My Xiaomi box does it better than the Apple TV for a fraction of the price.
- chrischen 6y ago
  I have a Roku streaming stick+ and I found the hardware to be slow. Maybe it's just due to the weaker specs on the stick?
  - ocdtrekkie 6y ago
    Sticks are terrible. I remember getting the Fire Stick and finding it incredibly prone to crashing and regularly overheating. Chromecasts aren't much better, but newer ones are also meatier in size. Video streaming wasn't meant to be done by devices the size of a pack of gum. Roku Premieres are pretty compact but work much better than the sticks. And Roku Ultras are really, really smooth, and support Ethernet!
ocdtrekkie 6y ago
Apple TV is a platform-locking choice. I have an iPhone now, but most of my devices aren't Apple. Rokus pretty happily stream and interact well with iPhones, Androids, and Windows computers without issue. To me, the fact that Roku both operates well and has wide independent app support and also can be mirrored to from nearly any device is a almost completely unmatched feature set. Even if Roku doesn't have my app yet, as long as one device I have it on does, I'm good. Whereas I stumble over if my iPhone can mirror to my LG webOS TV (it can't), for example, and I have to break out a Windows PC just to mirror a show on an app it doesn't have. With regards to HBO Max, that was a contract dispute over advertising share. Roku has had the existing HBO app for a long time.
- chrischen 6y ago
  > With regards to HBO Max, that was a contract dispute over advertising share. HBO Max has advertising? I thought it was just because it was too new (at the time HBO Max was the new version of HBO Now). > Whereas I stumble over if my iPhone can mirror to my LG webOS TV (it can't) Airplay is generally supported by new devices, even LG tvs and Samsung TVs.
  - ocdtrekkie 6y ago
    I was thinking of Peacock/NBC. HBO Max may have been over subscriber fees instead, but the overall jist of when Roku doesn't have an app is that given their market share, Roku tends to insist on extra terms. For ad supported channels, some percentage of ads are served by Roku instead of the channel provider, and I believe when signing up for a paid channel via Roku, they get a recurring cut of the subscription.

freeone3000 6y ago

YouTube on AppleTV is the worst experience, though. The UI is incredibly laggy. It's much nicer on Roku.

hellweaver666 6y ago
I use YouTube on my AppleTV 4k daily and it works really well. Occassionally there's video lag but the UI is mostly fine.
- Daho0n 6y ago
  "Mostly fine" is not good enough with the price point on the Apple TV. My Xiaomi box does it better than the Apple TV for a fraction of the price.
chrischen 6y ago
I have a Roku streaming stick+ and I found the hardware to be slow. Maybe it's just due to the weaker specs on the stick?
- ocdtrekkie 6y ago
  Sticks are terrible. I remember getting the Fire Stick and finding it incredibly prone to crashing and regularly overheating. Chromecasts aren't much better, but newer ones are also meatier in size. Video streaming wasn't meant to be done by devices the size of a pack of gum. Roku Premieres are pretty compact but work much better than the sticks. And Roku Ultras are really, really smooth, and support Ethernet!

ocdtrekkie 6y ago

Apple TV is a platform-locking choice. I have an iPhone now, but most of my devices aren't Apple. Rokus pretty happily stream and interact well with iPhones, Androids, and Windows computers without issue. To me, the fact that Roku both operates well and has wide independent app support and also can be mirrored to from nearly any device is a almost completely unmatched feature set. Even if Roku doesn't have my app yet, as long as one device I have it on does, I'm good. Whereas I stumble over if my iPhone can mirror to my LG webOS TV (it can't), for example, and I have to break out a Windows PC just to mirror a show on an app it doesn't have. With regards to HBO Max, that was a contract dispute over advertising share. Roku has had the existing HBO app for a long time.

chrischen 6y ago
> With regards to HBO Max, that was a contract dispute over advertising share. HBO Max has advertising? I thought it was just because it was too new (at the time HBO Max was the new version of HBO Now). > Whereas I stumble over if my iPhone can mirror to my LG webOS TV (it can't) Airplay is generally supported by new devices, even LG tvs and Samsung TVs.
- ocdtrekkie 6y ago
  I was thinking of Peacock/NBC. HBO Max may have been over subscriber fees instead, but the overall jist of when Roku doesn't have an app is that given their market share, Roku tends to insist on extra terms. For ad supported channels, some percentage of ads are served by Roku instead of the channel provider, and I believe when signing up for a paid channel via Roku, they get a recurring cut of the subscription.