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With screen mirroring, Apple TV offers the ability to play any game in the App Store on a TV wirelessly without having to buy a controller. That game library w

With screen mirroring, Apple TV offers the ability to play any game in the App Store on a TV wirelessly without having to buy a controller. That game library will likely always be larger than this one. Granted, you must have an iPhone or iPad, but I am surprised that Apple does not tout this feature more. I use it daily and it is pretty awesome.

bratsche 13y ago
If AppleTV let me watch Amazon Prime video it would be perfect. I use Amazon Prime and Hulu+ for TV, and right now the only device I have that lets me watch both is my PS3, and its UI sucks (plus it's constantly requiring me to download updates).
- dankoss 13y ago
  Amazon added this about six months ago, but it requires another iOS device: http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/17/amazons-instant-video-app-adds-airplay-support-for-streaming-to-apple-tv/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/17/amazons-instant-video-app-a...
  - smackfu 13y ago
    Interesting that Amazon now has a pretty good motivation to remove this feature.
    - twoodfin 13y ago
      Why? Amazon wants to make money on the blades (content), not the razor.
      - esrauch 13y ago
        Except they are now selling a razor that "works best" with their own blades.
        guiambros 13y ago
        Don't get confused: Amazon will always sell you both razors and blades. They're not in the business of winning one specific category: they want to win everything. That's why you can use the Kindle app on your iOS, or Android, or web browser. Or Amazon Prime on PS3/4, Xbox One/360, Roku, iOS. They don't have to kill the iPad; they just have to win every book reader.
        rednukleus 13y ago
        Except Amazon Prime still doesn't work on Android, other than the Fire. Kindle is truly cross platform, but Prime streaming video is not.
    - ycaspirant 13y ago
      Why? That's like saying that Amazon has a motivation to remove the Kindle app from iPhones and iPads so that you'll be forced to buy their Kindle. Amazon actually doesn't care if you buy their hardware or not, they only care about selling you content.
- sosborn 13y ago
  Constantly? http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3/history/ http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3/history/
  - saturdaysaint 13y ago
    Compared to any other device I use, PS3 updates are unusually intrusive. Almost nothing seems to be done automatically, so I'll end up with 5 minutes of downloading update apps and system updates before I can do what I intended to do when I sat down. Oh, and the updates are often "required", meaning you're prevented from even running your out of date app. I'm hopeful that they fixed most of these issues for the PS4 (hard to believe there was no App Store or Play Store when the PS3 came out).
    - sosborn 13y ago
      > PS3 updates are unusually intrusive I totally agree with that statement, I just was taken aback by the word "constantly."
    - tehwebguy 13y ago
      Agreed - the worst are the ones that just tell you to update but don't provide a button to take you to the update option.
    - tass 13y ago
      They're using it as an incentive to purchase PS+ - so I don't think this will be fixed with PS4. I find it distasteful being forced to pay to prevent being blocked by updates when all I want to do is watch a video. http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/settings/autodownload.html http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/setti...
- calvin 13y ago
  I've had a Roku for more than a year and it offers both Amazon Prime video and Hulu+. (And Netflix and many other apps.)
- 72deluxe 13y ago
  Have you noticed how Amazon Prime now has the rubbishest films on it for the "included with Prime" section but the films you'd expect to be included are now "buy!" or "rent!"
- peatmoss 13y ago
  I have started to discover that a killer feature of the Apple TV is the ability to use the iTunes Music Store. It very often has movies (even obscure ones) that don't exist on Netflix or Amazon free or paid. For any given movie, the chances of me finding it on Apple seem to be best of all services.
ambler0 13y ago
The lag is terrible with mirroring. Apple TV won't be viable for gaming until the game is played on the box itself and there is a low-latency controller.
- laxatives 13y ago
  Similarly, I've never understood the purpose of ChromeCast. The lag makes it completely unusable for video (I'm getting ~1 frame / 3 seconds), making it a glorified radio with cellphone/laptop remotes.
  - zequel 13y ago
    Odd, I've streamed Netflix to Chromecast and my laptop video to Chromecast just fine. It may be your wifi connection.
    - Crito 13y ago
      I believe there is something more nuanced going on with Chromecast "casting" performance. Netflix is fast obviously because you are just telling the chromecast to stream netflix itself, not "casting" it to chromecast. Same goes with youtube. However "casting" performance for me is even worse than the described .3fps on my Chromebook Pixel that isn't running ChromeOS. And my LAN is fast enough to use mplayer over ssh/x-forwarding... Trying chrome tab casting in Debian on a Chromebook Pixel burns the Pixel up, with it being very obvious that the Pixel is the bottleneck. Trying to video encode the "cast" tab without using hardware support maybe? I'm not sure, I haven't really investigated it further.
      - nkozyra 13y ago
        I find the critique confusing, too, because I streamed a 1080p movie to my Chromecast by dragging it into Chrome and then casting from Chrome itself. No problems. It played fine.
        Crito 13y ago
skrowl 13y ago
Fire TV screen mirrors from Kindle Fire HDX tablets (smaller, lighter, cheaper than iPad). Not sure about other Android tablets (at least until XDA geeks get ahold of one).

bratsche 13y ago

If AppleTV let me watch Amazon Prime video it would be perfect. I use Amazon Prime and Hulu+ for TV, and right now the only device I have that lets me watch both is my PS3, and its UI sucks (plus it's constantly requiring me to download updates).

dankoss 13y ago
Amazon added this about six months ago, but it requires another iOS device: http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/17/amazons-instant-video-app-adds-airplay-support-for-streaming-to-apple-tv/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/17/amazons-instant-video-app-a...
- smackfu 13y ago
  Interesting that Amazon now has a pretty good motivation to remove this feature.
  - twoodfin 13y ago
    Why? Amazon wants to make money on the blades (content), not the razor.
    - esrauch 13y ago
      Except they are now selling a razor that "works best" with their own blades.
      - guiambros 13y ago
        Don't get confused: Amazon will always sell you both razors and blades. They're not in the business of winning one specific category: they want to win everything. That's why you can use the Kindle app on your iOS, or Android, or web browser. Or Amazon Prime on PS3/4, Xbox One/360, Roku, iOS. They don't have to kill the iPad; they just have to win every book reader.
        rednukleus 13y ago
        Except Amazon Prime still doesn't work on Android, other than the Fire. Kindle is truly cross platform, but Prime streaming video is not.
  - ycaspirant 13y ago
    Why? That's like saying that Amazon has a motivation to remove the Kindle app from iPhones and iPads so that you'll be forced to buy their Kindle. Amazon actually doesn't care if you buy their hardware or not, they only care about selling you content.
sosborn 13y ago
Constantly? http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3/history/ http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3/history/
- saturdaysaint 13y ago
  Compared to any other device I use, PS3 updates are unusually intrusive. Almost nothing seems to be done automatically, so I'll end up with 5 minutes of downloading update apps and system updates before I can do what I intended to do when I sat down. Oh, and the updates are often "required", meaning you're prevented from even running your out of date app. I'm hopeful that they fixed most of these issues for the PS4 (hard to believe there was no App Store or Play Store when the PS3 came out).
  - sosborn 13y ago
    > PS3 updates are unusually intrusive I totally agree with that statement, I just was taken aback by the word "constantly."
  - tehwebguy 13y ago
    Agreed - the worst are the ones that just tell you to update but don't provide a button to take you to the update option.
  - tass 13y ago
    They're using it as an incentive to purchase PS+ - so I don't think this will be fixed with PS4. I find it distasteful being forced to pay to prevent being blocked by updates when all I want to do is watch a video. http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/settings/autodownload.html http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/setti...
calvin 13y ago
I've had a Roku for more than a year and it offers both Amazon Prime video and Hulu+. (And Netflix and many other apps.)
72deluxe 13y ago
Have you noticed how Amazon Prime now has the rubbishest films on it for the "included with Prime" section but the films you'd expect to be included are now "buy!" or "rent!"
peatmoss 13y ago
I have started to discover that a killer feature of the Apple TV is the ability to use the iTunes Music Store. It very often has movies (even obscure ones) that don't exist on Netflix or Amazon free or paid. For any given movie, the chances of me finding it on Apple seem to be best of all services.

ambler0 13y ago

The lag is terrible with mirroring. Apple TV won't be viable for gaming until the game is played on the box itself and there is a low-latency controller.

laxatives 13y ago
Similarly, I've never understood the purpose of ChromeCast. The lag makes it completely unusable for video (I'm getting ~1 frame / 3 seconds), making it a glorified radio with cellphone/laptop remotes.
- zequel 13y ago
  Odd, I've streamed Netflix to Chromecast and my laptop video to Chromecast just fine. It may be your wifi connection.
  - Crito 13y ago
    I believe there is something more nuanced going on with Chromecast "casting" performance. Netflix is fast obviously because you are just telling the chromecast to stream netflix itself, not "casting" it to chromecast. Same goes with youtube. However "casting" performance for me is even worse than the described .3fps on my Chromebook Pixel that isn't running ChromeOS. And my LAN is fast enough to use mplayer over ssh/x-forwarding... Trying chrome tab casting in Debian on a Chromebook Pixel burns the Pixel up, with it being very obvious that the Pixel is the bottleneck. Trying to video encode the "cast" tab without using hardware support maybe? I'm not sure, I haven't really investigated it further.
    - nkozyra 13y ago
      I find the critique confusing, too, because I streamed a 1080p movie to my Chromecast by dragging it into Chrome and then casting from Chrome itself. No problems. It played fine.
      - Crito 13y ago

skrowl 13y ago

Fire TV screen mirrors from Kindle Fire HDX tablets (smaller, lighter, cheaper than iPad). Not sure about other Android tablets (at least until XDA geeks get ahold of one).