5 ms·

Just give me my Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, HBO Max,... All of which are available on an AppleTV, and I assume other less-intrusive devices. TFA comes to t

Just give me my Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, HBO Max,... All of which are available on an AppleTV, and I assume other less-intrusive devices. TFA comes to that conclusion in the last paragraph, but just in case anyone didn't make it that far. And then, as everyone on this page is going to say, never let that TV anywhere near a network connection. Why anyone would go to the effort of dicking with a pi-hole cat-and-mouse game is beyond me. Plug in a box, remove network access to the TV, watch your shows. ...even if it duplicates all the streaming app functionality in the TV itself. I don't know, Samsung's fuckery aside, does anyone seriously think that using the duplicate app on the Samsung is going to be anywhere nearly as pleasant a UX as the AppleTV? IOW, use the AppleTV (or Roku, or whatever) regardless just for the better experience.

nevi-me 4y ago
We have a 45" from ~2013, I used to connect it to the internet in the early days when I didn't have a Chromecast. The UI is underwhelming, and the only times I've used the smart TV features was when a streaming device wasn't working. I've gone through 4 streaming devices, and I think that even if I get a new TV, I'm likely to continue with streaming devices, unless that TV runs stock Android TV. Even then, it'll reach a point where the firmware is no longer updated.
- gw99 4y ago
  Yeah good luck with that. I did the same. Then all the streaming devices stopped working suddenly. Turns out that there was suddenly an HDCP compatibility issue which obsoleted the TV instantly.
ceejayoz 4y ago
At some point, I fully expect the TVs are going to refuse to work after a month of no internet.
- mikestew 4y ago
  At which point I'm personally content to go read a book (on my network-connected Amazon Kindle, of course). But I'm one of dozens, unfortunately for the rest of you because Samsung won't care about cranky old men and their books, they don't spend money anyway.
aaronbrethorst 4y ago
Why anyone would go to the effort of dicking with a pi-hole cat-and-mouse game is beyond me Fun way to pass the time for some folks, I assume.
- cassianoleal 4y ago
  Also the cat-and-mouse mostly happens at the block list level. I just set it up once and my LG TV never shows any ads.
mattmanser 4y ago
One remote is inherently better than two remotes. It's objectively less hassle. The apps are actually mostly identical from experience. I actually use a PS4 at the moment, and it occasionally forces me to update before I can use the TV app, so even more hassle.
- petesergeant 4y ago
  > One remote is inherently better than two remotes. It's objectively less hassle. My Apple TV can turn my TV on and off though, so I rarely need to use the TV remote
  - dangus 4y ago
    On top of that, people who used the old Apple TV remote with the touchpad might not even realize that there's a new one that fixes all the bad design issues of the old one.
  - etempleton 4y ago
    I also just use the Apple TV remote for my tv and it works fine to turn the tv on and off and to adjust the volume, so I never have to touch the TV remote. However, even if I did want to do something like change inputs often I could exclusively use the TV remote and it also works just fine to control the Apple TV. Mileage may vary. My tv is older but does seem to have good CEC support and the newest Apple TV supports CEC. Some devices do not support CEC and it seems others only partially support CEC so when that happens one thing, like the power on and off command, doesn’t work and you end up having to use a second remote anyway, which defeats the whole point.
- domy 4y ago
  I have an AppleTV connected to my Samsung TV, and almost never use the Samsung remote. The AppleTV remote's on/off button switches everything together (through CEC I believe) so in everyday usage I only ever need a single remote.
  - antihero 4y ago
tssva 4y ago
", does anyone seriously think that using the duplicate app on the Samsung is going to be anywhere nearly as pleasant a UX as the AppleTV?" I in general think the Apple UX experience is pretty awful across all their products with Apple TV being the worse of all. I have used the Samsung interface and it is bad but I still dislike the Apple TV more.
- pb7 4y ago
  You're probably in the minority with that opinion. Apple UX is wildly renowned for being great and Apple TV is no worse than any of the competitors. The TV input interface is just awkward in general but being able to use an iPhone to automatically fill in passwords, authenticate purchases, or just use as a second remote is smooth as butter. It's another example of how Apple products are better together within the ecosystem. But even if you don't have an iPhone, the newest remote is extremely good. One of the best products they've made in recent years.
  - tssva 4y ago
    The Apple UX on all devices lacks discoverability which annoys me to no end. I can use my phone to fill in passwords and as a second remote on my Roku TV without needing to be locked in to the eco system of a single vendor. Haven't used the current remote but the previous one was an atrocity.
    - pb7 4y ago
      Yet Apple devices are usable and enjoyed by both young techies and old grandparents and all groups in between. >I can use my phone to fill in passwords and as a second remote on my Roku TV Mind explaining how? No one is "locked in". I can sell my phone and my Apple TV will still be better than all of its competitors.
      - tssva 4y ago
        >Yet Apple devices are usable and enjoyed by both young techies and old grandparents and all groups in between. And many of them don't know the features they could be using and enjoying but aren't because they aren't discoverable. >I can use my phone to fill in passwords and as a second remote on my Roku TV >Mind explaining how? The Roku app allows you to fill passwords via your phone and use the phone as a remote for your Roku. I can also use Roku's private listening feature to redirect its audio to my phone allowing me to listen using the headphones connected to my phone. Roku also has a remote available with a wired headphone jack which automatically redirects the audio to it when headphones are connected to the jack.
autoexec 4y ago
> IOW, use the AppleTV (or Roku, or whatever) regardless just for the better experience. I've never used AppleTV. Does it come with ads and a bunch of data collection too? Roku collects massive amounts of data and has ads. For example: "Roughly twice per second, a Roku TV captures video “snapshots” in 4K resolution. These snapshots are scanned through a database of content and ads, which allows the exposure to be matched to what is airing. For example, if a streamer is watching an NFL football game and sees an ad for a hard seltzer, Roku’s ACR will know that the ad has appeared on the TV being watched at that time. In this way, the content on screen is automatically recognized, as the technology’s name indicates. The data then is paired with user profile data to link the account watching with the content they’re watching." (https://advertising.roku.com/resources/blog/insights-analysis/acr-the-future-of-tv-and-audience-data https://advertising.roku.com/resources/blog/insights-analysi...)
- Melatonic 4y ago
  NextDNS is blocking a CRAP ton of Roku tracking for me. Very successfully. And I never get a single advertisement either!
- cstejerean 4y ago
  I only exclusively use AppleTV and have for a number of years. No ads, and you're asked whether you want to share data for analytics on setup (like any apple device). I'm not aware of any intrusive data collection like screenshots you mention even if you do opt in to share data.
- NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
  >Does it come with ads and a bunch of data collection too? Even with AppleTV+ it contains ads for other content on other services that you have to pay for. You might be able to buy it through AppleTV and watch it there I guess. I don't know I've never tried.
  - thewebcount 4y ago
    Sort of. First, you can turn off a bunch of auto-play previews and the fact that it shows you stuff you haven't added to your "Up Next" list via the System Prefs. I have done this successfully and I no longer get any animated previews of videos I'm not interested in. The AppleTV app (which you don't need to use) itself shows what shows you're watching and if you scroll down or across the categories at the top shows you what shows are on all channels it knows about. That's significantly less problematic than showing ads for arbitrary products. It does know what you've watched because it does stuff like launching the apps for you, and I wouldn't be surprised if they use that data internally. I've never seen an outright ad on my AppleTV other than when watching videos on an app that has ads (YouTube, for example). I have found the ability to see all shows on all channels at once very useful for deciding if I want another service or not. I also sometimes see a show is available on service X, decide I don't want that service, and check to see if I can buy or rent just that one show (or movie) on iTunes. The answer is yes as often as not. Very handy!
bitL 4y ago
My Apple TV is happily showing me ads when watching Amazon Prime Video. So it's up to the app anyway - if Amazon wants to bundle LOTR:ROP with ads, they will do it on any box/platform.
- samtheDamned 4y ago
  This post is more about ads in the ui itself, on top of the individual apps where they already pay more to avoid ads

nevi-me 4y ago

We have a 45" from ~2013, I used to connect it to the internet in the early days when I didn't have a Chromecast. The UI is underwhelming, and the only times I've used the smart TV features was when a streaming device wasn't working. I've gone through 4 streaming devices, and I think that even if I get a new TV, I'm likely to continue with streaming devices, unless that TV runs stock Android TV. Even then, it'll reach a point where the firmware is no longer updated.

gw99 4y ago
Yeah good luck with that. I did the same. Then all the streaming devices stopped working suddenly. Turns out that there was suddenly an HDCP compatibility issue which obsoleted the TV instantly.

ceejayoz 4y ago

At some point, I fully expect the TVs are going to refuse to work after a month of no internet.

mikestew 4y ago
At which point I'm personally content to go read a book (on my network-connected Amazon Kindle, of course). But I'm one of dozens, unfortunately for the rest of you because Samsung won't care about cranky old men and their books, they don't spend money anyway.

aaronbrethorst 4y ago

Why anyone would go to the effort of dicking with a pi-hole cat-and-mouse game is beyond me Fun way to pass the time for some folks, I assume.

cassianoleal 4y ago
Also the cat-and-mouse mostly happens at the block list level. I just set it up once and my LG TV never shows any ads.

mattmanser 4y ago

One remote is inherently better than two remotes. It's objectively less hassle. The apps are actually mostly identical from experience. I actually use a PS4 at the moment, and it occasionally forces me to update before I can use the TV app, so even more hassle.

petesergeant 4y ago
> One remote is inherently better than two remotes. It's objectively less hassle. My Apple TV can turn my TV on and off though, so I rarely need to use the TV remote
- dangus 4y ago
  On top of that, people who used the old Apple TV remote with the touchpad might not even realize that there's a new one that fixes all the bad design issues of the old one.
- etempleton 4y ago
  I also just use the Apple TV remote for my tv and it works fine to turn the tv on and off and to adjust the volume, so I never have to touch the TV remote. However, even if I did want to do something like change inputs often I could exclusively use the TV remote and it also works just fine to control the Apple TV. Mileage may vary. My tv is older but does seem to have good CEC support and the newest Apple TV supports CEC. Some devices do not support CEC and it seems others only partially support CEC so when that happens one thing, like the power on and off command, doesn’t work and you end up having to use a second remote anyway, which defeats the whole point.
domy 4y ago
I have an AppleTV connected to my Samsung TV, and almost never use the Samsung remote. The AppleTV remote's on/off button switches everything together (through CEC I believe) so in everyday usage I only ever need a single remote.
- antihero 4y ago

tssva 4y ago

", does anyone seriously think that using the duplicate app on the Samsung is going to be anywhere nearly as pleasant a UX as the AppleTV?" I in general think the Apple UX experience is pretty awful across all their products with Apple TV being the worse of all. I have used the Samsung interface and it is bad but I still dislike the Apple TV more.

pb7 4y ago
You're probably in the minority with that opinion. Apple UX is wildly renowned for being great and Apple TV is no worse than any of the competitors. The TV input interface is just awkward in general but being able to use an iPhone to automatically fill in passwords, authenticate purchases, or just use as a second remote is smooth as butter. It's another example of how Apple products are better together within the ecosystem. But even if you don't have an iPhone, the newest remote is extremely good. One of the best products they've made in recent years.
- tssva 4y ago
  The Apple UX on all devices lacks discoverability which annoys me to no end. I can use my phone to fill in passwords and as a second remote on my Roku TV without needing to be locked in to the eco system of a single vendor. Haven't used the current remote but the previous one was an atrocity.
  - pb7 4y ago
    Yet Apple devices are usable and enjoyed by both young techies and old grandparents and all groups in between. >I can use my phone to fill in passwords and as a second remote on my Roku TV Mind explaining how? No one is "locked in". I can sell my phone and my Apple TV will still be better than all of its competitors.
    - tssva 4y ago
      >Yet Apple devices are usable and enjoyed by both young techies and old grandparents and all groups in between. And many of them don't know the features they could be using and enjoying but aren't because they aren't discoverable. >I can use my phone to fill in passwords and as a second remote on my Roku TV >Mind explaining how? The Roku app allows you to fill passwords via your phone and use the phone as a remote for your Roku. I can also use Roku's private listening feature to redirect its audio to my phone allowing me to listen using the headphones connected to my phone. Roku also has a remote available with a wired headphone jack which automatically redirects the audio to it when headphones are connected to the jack.

autoexec 4y ago

> IOW, use the AppleTV (or Roku, or whatever) regardless just for the better experience. I've never used AppleTV. Does it come with ads and a bunch of data collection too? Roku collects massive amounts of data and has ads. For example: "Roughly twice per second, a Roku TV captures video “snapshots” in 4K resolution. These snapshots are scanned through a database of content and ads, which allows the exposure to be matched to what is airing. For example, if a streamer is watching an NFL football game and sees an ad for a hard seltzer, Roku’s ACR will know that the ad has appeared on the TV being watched at that time. In this way, the content on screen is automatically recognized, as the technology’s name indicates. The data then is paired with user profile data to link the account watching with the content they’re watching." (https://advertising.roku.com/resources/blog/insights-analysis/acr-the-future-of-tv-and-audience-data https://advertising.roku.com/resources/blog/insights-analysi...)

Melatonic 4y ago
NextDNS is blocking a CRAP ton of Roku tracking for me. Very successfully. And I never get a single advertisement either!
cstejerean 4y ago
I only exclusively use AppleTV and have for a number of years. No ads, and you're asked whether you want to share data for analytics on setup (like any apple device). I'm not aware of any intrusive data collection like screenshots you mention even if you do opt in to share data.
NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
>Does it come with ads and a bunch of data collection too? Even with AppleTV+ it contains ads for other content on other services that you have to pay for. You might be able to buy it through AppleTV and watch it there I guess. I don't know I've never tried.
- thewebcount 4y ago
  Sort of. First, you can turn off a bunch of auto-play previews and the fact that it shows you stuff you haven't added to your "Up Next" list via the System Prefs. I have done this successfully and I no longer get any animated previews of videos I'm not interested in. The AppleTV app (which you don't need to use) itself shows what shows you're watching and if you scroll down or across the categories at the top shows you what shows are on all channels it knows about. That's significantly less problematic than showing ads for arbitrary products. It does know what you've watched because it does stuff like launching the apps for you, and I wouldn't be surprised if they use that data internally. I've never seen an outright ad on my AppleTV other than when watching videos on an app that has ads (YouTube, for example). I have found the ability to see all shows on all channels at once very useful for deciding if I want another service or not. I also sometimes see a show is available on service X, decide I don't want that service, and check to see if I can buy or rent just that one show (or movie) on iTunes. The answer is yes as often as not. Very handy!

bitL 4y ago

My Apple TV is happily showing me ads when watching Amazon Prime Video. So it's up to the app anyway - if Amazon wants to bundle LOTR:ROP with ads, they will do it on any box/platform.

samtheDamned 4y ago
This post is more about ads in the ui itself, on top of the individual apps where they already pay more to avoid ads