Let me begin by stating that I don't watch much TV at all. I'd be more than content with basic cable or just sticking an antenna on the roof and getting whatever I could get. But alas, I don't live alone in this house and my wife watches a bunch of shows. We have FiOS and their multiroom DRV, so she also records several shows. She also watches stuff on nbc.com, abc.com and who knows what else on her Macbook.

I've been thinking she might be a candidate for Apple TV or something similar, but I'll be the first to admit I don't understand exactly what the attraction is. Based on some quick research, it seems that it is a way to view programming available on the internet, on your main TV. And it seems that all those I mentioned in the subject line perform that same function, albeit with some of the same and some different sources.

I'm leaning toward Apple TV only because it looks to be the simplest to just start using with the least amount of setup. She can watch Netflix on the TV instead of on her Macbook. She could watch YouTube videos. And am I correct in that she could also "play" a show from say, nbc.com, and watch it on the TV via Air Play? Any other advantages (or disadvantages) over Roku, Chromecast, etc. that I'm not thinking of?

Seems that the Apple Store has a refurb Apple TV 3 for $75 with free shipping. We've had good luck with refurbs, but would there be any good reason to just go for a brand new at $99?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Apple TV. That's the ticket!

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I'm with GuyGene, the AppleTV has been great for us. Wish it had Amazon Prime but I can get that through Apps on my Vizio TV.

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Grateful11

Got the $80 ATV-2 from the BB deal two weeks ago.
JB'd & installed XBMC. Very satisfied.

I too do not have cable/sat. only OTA but I'm receiving 30+ channels
that are "useful to me". The ATV is a great addition.

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Another AppleTV here. It's done everything I've wanted and done it well. I stream all of my music and movies from my Drobo to my AppleTV. Plus, it's got iTunes Radio now in cad eyou want to listen to some random stuff you may not want to stream. It's my second ATV (I upgraded from the 2 to the 3) and I'd do it again. Good luck.

In my experience the only advantage a Roku has over an Apple TV is that the Roku will play Amazon streaming video.

Otherwise for a person with AirPlay-capable devices and iTunes the Apple TV will do things the Roku cannot.

For Netflix, iTunes videos, and Airplay streaming the refurb Apple TV is a really good choice. There is no reason to buy one brand new for $99. (The only reason is if you were going to give it as a gift and wanted the shiny new packaging.)

The Roku is an efficient device only for viewing streaming content from the Internet. If you have local media (e.g. in your iTunes library), then it is not a good choice compared to the Apple TV.

I don't have much experience viewing YouTube over these devices.

You can stream video from an modern iOS device to an AppleTV easily over your wifi network. The ability to play a show from say nbc.com using the NBC.com iOS app is not guaranteed since each iOS app has its own restrictions on whether or not its content can be streamed over AirPlay. Some do. Some don't. All apps are capable of it, but some go out of their way to disable AirPlay streaming presumably due to content licensing issues.

I haven't tried streaming abc.com, nbc.com, etc. using their website interfaces from Mac OS X, e.g. your MacBook, but I have mirrored my Mac Mini display to the AppleTV reliably. I don't think the web browser has the ability to turn off AirPlay streaming if the website requests it. My guess is that playing the abc.com, nbc.com, etc. streaming in your web browser in MacOS X and viewing/hearing it on the AppleTV will work fine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2013 05:36PM by TheTominator.

Wurm,

Do you and/or your wife have an Amazon Prime account? If so,m then I'd actually consider a Roku over an AppleTV. The Roku allows for Amazon VOD (including lots of free content via Amazon Prime).

The fascination with devices like a Roku, AppleTV and such is the ability to watch lots of great content without the need for cable TV service. For many, plain ol' rabbit ears combined with a dreaming account from NetFlix is enough. Same goes for a streaming account with Amazon. Or, if you have lots of content stored on a computer, you can stream directly from the computer via iTunes or Plex.

Lots of options though what you can do is dependent upon the device. I like the reliability and interface of the AppleTV but it lacks many of the options offered by Roku. For example, for streaming, an AppleTV has Netflix. It doesn't have Amazon. It can receive content via Airplay and via iTunes (from a computer on the network or iTunes store). It doesn't handle Plex. A Chromecast has even fewer options than both the AppleTv and Roku.

An AppleTv isn't all that much simpler to configure and use than a Roku. You'll still need to log into various services in the individual app, i.e. NetFlix. Airplay may or may not be an option, depending on the age of the Macbook. Streaming from iTunes on the computer or the iTunes store also requires some configuration.

FWIW, streaming from a computer is only easy and convenient as long as the computer is running at all times. In my experience, having to power ups computer, power up content, set the stream moving to the receiving device, finding it on said device and watching it is cumbersome at best. That's why I designated an old Mac Mini as a server and leave it running 24/7.

For most streaming, NetFlix, Amazon VOD, iTunes (via the store, not from a computer on the local network) do the trick. So, it's really a question of which services and then based on that which streaming device.

Robert

Roku is a good device, but it has a learning curve.
We also have an ApTV2. If you're well versed in Apple, I'd stick to the ecosystem for something as uninteresting as TV. I'm with you on that.

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Thank you all for the info. I have an Amazon Prime account, but frankly I haven’t seen anything on there that isn’t on Netflix, which is available to the household. Regarding new vs refurb, $25 seems like a high price to pay for pretty packaging...although it will be a gift. ;)

Roku has a PLEX channel and you can install PLEX Media Server on your computer so you can stream you movies on the Roku. Seems to work fine in my very limited testing.

What's the cheapest way to just time-shift OTA broadcasts?

A new TiVo might come my way next year (as part of a cable package), but until then I hate to miss Modern Family, Big Bang Theory, and Downtown Abbey. I guess I could live with setting a fixed time and day for those rather than needing a subscription program listing service.

My 2010 iMac and MBP don't support AirPlay. I got an Apple TV to make it easier to stream our Saturday-night movie (when I haven't gotten a DVD in time), and for streaming kids stuff (like "Magic Schoolbus" and "WildKratz") when the grandkids are here. I can of course stream things from my MBP, connected with an HDMI cable, but the ATV is quicker to set up. The grandkids like our 55" Samsung.

The Samsung has an intermittent flickering problem that makes it unwatchable until power-cycled for a time. I suspect, but can't demonstrate, that it's connected with attempting to fiddle with the ATV, as when I tried to enable a non-Airplay substitute (forget what it was) so I could show photographs from my iMac in a different room. That set it off.

/Mr Lnn

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Quote
TheTominator
In my experience the only advantage a Roku has over an Apple TV is that the Roku will play Amazon streaming video.

Otherwise for a person with AirPlay-capable devices and iTunes the Apple TV will do things the Roku cannot.

For Netflix, iTunes videos, and Airplay streaming the refurb Apple TV is a really good choice. There is no reason to buy one brand new for $99. (The only reason is if you were going to give it as a gift and wanted the shiny new packaging.)

The Roku is an efficient device only for viewing streaming content from the Internet. If you have local media (e.g. in your iTunes library), then it is not a good choice compared to the Apple TV.

I don't have much experience viewing YouTube over these devices.

Some quick clarifications.

The Roku can play local content just fine. The two most popular methods are likely Plex or via the USB port on certain models of Roku. There are many other ways as well. I prefer Plex because all my devices were in some way compatible with Plex and I didn't have to rely on what was often buggy iTunes streaming (which is weird since everything I was using was an Apple product or used Apple software, but I kept tripping over weird bugs with my home media). Plex on the Roku wasn't perfect either, but it has gotten much better over the years and frankly is much more powerful than iTunes. Photos, videos, music, as well as other channels such as YouTube.

The Roku does not support AirPlay, but it does support remote play from Plex, it can beam certain content from the Roku app on Android/iOS, a third party app like AllPlay can add Chromcast style video flinging to the Roku, and I believe there are a few other similar options.

The Roku is pretty awesome if you don't require iTunes Store content, AirPlay, or a built-in YouTube client (the omission is pretty stupid; while there are various work arounds for the Roku, none exist as slick as the Apple TV version). Apple TV is much better now than it was when I first bought my gen 1 or gen 2. Better AirPlay support for iOS devices and the many channels added has really opened up the Apple TV. I still prefer not to lock myself into a specific ecosystem, so I tend to like the Roku better. For what it is worth, the Roku has been much more aggressive with adding features than Apple has with the Apple TV over the last five years.

If I bought an Apple TV, I would go with the refurb. Save your money. Apple is rich enough and they generally provide refurb products indistinguishable from new.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2013 06:52PM by silvarios.

Quote
Mr Downtown
What's the cheapest way to just time-shift OTA broadcasts?

A new TiVo might come my way next year (as part of a cable package), but until then I hate to miss Modern Family, Big Bang Theory, and Downtown Abbey. I guess I could live with setting a fixed time and day for those rather than needing a subscription program listing service.

[Sidetrack from the Apple TV discussion]

Looks like you can get a used TiVo HD Series 3 with Lifetime for about $250-$300 on ebay. Mine has been going strong for 5+ years now and I'm just now tempted to upgrade to the newer Roamio.

for the price of the things vs. the price of cable, pick the features that you like the most and get that device. don't sweat it, you can still buy the other one later. they're not that expensive.

i have a roku which i prefer to amazon support. (amazon prime!) but miss airplay. i might get an appletv at some point.

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Oy. The more I research and think about this, maybe the answer is "none of the above". Whatever we end up with (if anything), I'm getting the impression ease of use is almost more important than content. I just discovered that she has never even backed up her iPhone, doesn't use Address Book, Mail, iCal. She'll occasionally buy a song or album on iTunes, but I don't think she has ever bought a movie or TV show on iTunes.

If I go with Apple TV, it clearly makes more sense to go refurb. A $75 doorstop makes more sense than a $$99 one. ;)

roku has a learning curve? huh? it's brain dead easy.

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It's a short learning curve. You need remember which one is the remote.

We have two refurb ATV3s, looked like new.

There are no mechanical parts except the buttons on the remote.

Just a lower cost purchase going refurb.

Quote
graylocks
roku has a learning curve? huh? it's brain dead easy.

perhaps it is now, but when I got it 3 years ago, it was anything but friendly as compared to ApTV2 which was plug and go and 2 years older.
It still is picky when compared to my iTunes library.
When I drop mixes into iTunes they just show up no matter what they are named.
On Plex, not so much. The regular Roku chans are easy though.

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Chromecast is an easy yes. For $35 it makes Netflix streaming brain dead easy. I keep looking at AppleTV. The only thing that's stopping me is the rumors of an upgrade.

Quote
bhaveshp
[Sidetrack from the Apple TV discussion]

Thanks. I guess I didn't realize it was a sidetrack. So Roku and Apple TV have nothing to do with OTA television?

Quote
Mr Downtown

Quote
bhaveshp
[Sidetrack from the Apple TV discussion]

Thanks. I guess I didn't realize it was a sidetrack. So Roku and Apple TV have nothing to do with OTA television?

No connection. Well, if you have something like the SimpleTV DVR, you can watch live or recorded OTA TV on a Roku channel. Apple TV and Roku do have access to some content if you have a premium TV subscription, but that doesn't really help cable cutters.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2013 10:14PM by silvarios.

I have both an Apple TV3 ($75 refurb) and and a Roku2. Both did great with netflix. The Roku has many more channels, including Crackle which I enjoyed for my Godzilla fix. The ATV has youtube and Mac/iOS integration. Its a tough choice, but either one is less than one month's cable bill, so why not get both?

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Quote
Pam
Chromecast is an easy yes. For $35 it makes Netflix streaming brain dead easy. I keep looking at AppleTV. The only thing that's stopping me is the rumors of an upgrade.

I'd like to agree but...

1) It's telling that you're the first to mention it.
2) While I'm not invested in the current Apple ecosystem at home I have a 2010 Mac mini plugged into my TV to play my movies. I refuse to install Chrome on my Macs due to performance issues I've experienced. My iPad 1 can't run Chrome because it doesn't have a new enough OS. I don't have an Android device. I have a Windows PC that I can put Chrome on... but my employer would prefer that I keep it at certain versions and they haven't bumped up to a new enough version that supports casting yet.

I'd mostly use it to watch Netflix and Amazon Instant... But I tried Amazon and it had some issues that may have been fixed with a more recent update.

Finally, I'm wondering how I'd play all the locally stored movies I currently have - I suppose I'd have to build a little website to link and play each of them in Chrome. It just seems silly that there isn't a prepackaged way to do this.

So, unless you're looking for trouble I'd suggest avoiding the Chromecast route just yet...