4 ms·

Not to get off-topic, but why did you buy an Apple TV instead of a Roku (or do you have both)?

wbienek 15y ago
Everyone makies mistakes.
swilliams 15y ago
I have both. The UI on the Apple TV is better (but not leaps and bounds better), and the Netflix quality seems to be just a little better in HD. Both are connected to HDMI. Of course, the Roku also does Hulu and Pandora, and I have a second one upstairs on the non-SD tv. From what I've gathered the Apple TV 2 doesn't play nice on SD.
- jmellicker 15y ago
  We have Roku 2 and Apple TV, the UI on Apple TV is better, esp. Netflix. Roku 2 is 1080p, Apple TV is 720p, but our LCDTV does such a good job upsampling 720p you can't really tell. Roku 2 has access to a lot more content, but the experience of surfing channels is kind of fragmented. The included Angry Birds game and motion remote rock tho!
simplezeal 15y ago
I have both. Roku has high wife acceptance factor, but apple tv has two killer features - YouTube and AirPlay.
- watmough 15y ago
  YouTube is available on Roku, and works excellently. I have all the users that upload old Formula 1, so I can watch old races whenever I want. Democracy Now also has it's own Roku channel, as do many many other things like Ted that you might not have thought of. It's worth spending some time on Google searching this stuff out. I'd say I spend more time watching YouTube, NetFlix and HULU+ on the Roku than any other consumption mechanism. Local news on OTA HD follows behind. One slightly sad note, I only have the base Roku, and it's quite slow (maybe buffering), so my 2 year old is now utterly tolerant of loading bars, and will watch the loading bar, since she knows that content will follow. Her absolutely favorite thing on TV, though she doesn't watch much (seriously), is the mime segment on Nihongo Quick Lesson, NHK's little Japanese-lessons show that runs about 2:15pm, right after her lunch. I guess really, it's not much different to me as a kid waiting for the TV to warm up and show a picture...
- rbritton 15y ago
  As a side note to this, the Apple TV works very, very well for streaming from your iTunes movie library. I'm in the slow-ish process of converting my entire DVD library over to video files that iTunes likes for this purpose.
  - danssig 15y ago
    I have thought about doing this many times but my family is bilingual. If I want the movie in original (usually English) and German am I going to have to rip the movie twice? That would be a deal breaker then.
    - speleding 15y ago
      You can have multiple soundtracks in the iTunes mp4 container. Just use the "Apple TV2" profile of Handbrake. The interface to select the right audio track on the Apple TV is a bit difficult to find (see Google for details).

Everyone makies mistakes.

I have both. The UI on the Apple TV is better (but not leaps and bounds better), and the Netflix quality seems to be just a little better in HD. Both are connected to HDMI. Of course, the Roku also does Hulu and Pandora, and I have a second one upstairs on the non-SD tv. From what I've gathered the Apple TV 2 doesn't play nice on SD.

jmellicker 15y ago
We have Roku 2 and Apple TV, the UI on Apple TV is better, esp. Netflix. Roku 2 is 1080p, Apple TV is 720p, but our LCDTV does such a good job upsampling 720p you can't really tell. Roku 2 has access to a lot more content, but the experience of surfing channels is kind of fragmented. The included Angry Birds game and motion remote rock tho!

simplezeal 15y ago

I have both. Roku has high wife acceptance factor, but apple tv has two killer features - YouTube and AirPlay.

watmough 15y ago
YouTube is available on Roku, and works excellently. I have all the users that upload old Formula 1, so I can watch old races whenever I want. Democracy Now also has it's own Roku channel, as do many many other things like Ted that you might not have thought of. It's worth spending some time on Google searching this stuff out. I'd say I spend more time watching YouTube, NetFlix and HULU+ on the Roku than any other consumption mechanism. Local news on OTA HD follows behind. One slightly sad note, I only have the base Roku, and it's quite slow (maybe buffering), so my 2 year old is now utterly tolerant of loading bars, and will watch the loading bar, since she knows that content will follow. Her absolutely favorite thing on TV, though she doesn't watch much (seriously), is the mime segment on Nihongo Quick Lesson, NHK's little Japanese-lessons show that runs about 2:15pm, right after her lunch. I guess really, it's not much different to me as a kid waiting for the TV to warm up and show a picture...
rbritton 15y ago
As a side note to this, the Apple TV works very, very well for streaming from your iTunes movie library. I'm in the slow-ish process of converting my entire DVD library over to video files that iTunes likes for this purpose.
- danssig 15y ago
  I have thought about doing this many times but my family is bilingual. If I want the movie in original (usually English) and German am I going to have to rip the movie twice? That would be a deal breaker then.
  - speleding 15y ago
    You can have multiple soundtracks in the iTunes mp4 container. Just use the "Apple TV2" profile of Handbrake. The interface to select the right audio track on the Apple TV is a bit difficult to find (see Google for details).