Reviewers find Google's answer to Apple TV chaotic, complicated - Page 2

You said it! Those Google/Android fans are rabid here today!

Soooooo, another engineer's wet dream from Google. Is Google Wave fully integrated into it? If not, they should since it seems that they're going for the consumer who craves complexity. They might actually lure Windows Media Center owners into the fold. Woohoo!

Internet based TV seems to be in turmoil at the moment. Anyone else noticed Hulu is blocking Boxee for example? They seem to be unable to provide complete shows, many vanishing in days and whole seasons missing.

For what it's worth here is my input on what I prefer. I like most Apple approaches but on this I like an ad based system for regular TV shows the way Boxee and Hulu do it. For movies I have no problem with the Apple way, and will rent to pay for newer stuff commercial free. However, I'll take a few ads for free older movies.

I am sure there is a market for paid, ad free regular TV but I just don't value TV shows that highly. I realize I am paying twice over on FiOS now, I pay a subscription and have to put up with ads. So I'd see free access on the net when I wish with ads as progress.

So to summarize;
TV. I like free content with a few ads as Hulu do it only better ... i.e. complete seasons and no vanishing shows. I don't mind if they are running a week behind releases of latest episodes.
I like the same as above for older movies.

I like paid for rent, ad free, recent movies.

Make this possible on my ATV with the ability to stream to any device I own as well as HDMI and I am a happy camper.

I know the content providers are the hold up on much of this as they want to be the ones making the $s not Apple or who ever but they need a front man and Apple is their best bet IMHO.



Just my 2 cents.

People who bought sony's version of this called Cycle Energy at twice the cost & less the number will surely know.

To be an Apple killer doesn't Apples product first have to be a success!

The only way any of these have a change of succeeding is if they actually start to play your regular tv content, until then it's hopeless. Especially when you consider people making traditional set top box's are adding things like iPlayer and cost less than an Apple TV.

Once AppleTV gets an app store, it's all over for everyone else...

Hulu app, VLC app, Sports apps, News apps... FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS apps... it would kill the competition.

as long as it gets the support.

Have you seen the reviews of every apple/google product on Yahoo? Someone from google must be their spouse. The reviews are horribly one sided and seem to be misinformed or only know half of apple's side when they write the reviews.

So someone needs to be reviewing on Apple's behalf...

Looks to me Google is taking over where MS left off. Fractured, unintuitive, crappy experience. No thanks...I'll wait for Apple's take on things...

For example even w/o "cut, copy and paste" I found the first iPhone to be a fantastic improvement compared to the phones I had used before. And now the iPhone 4 is a dream.

Same with AppleTV...I still maintain the photo display with music behind on a 50" flat screen is worth the price of admission for AppleTV...we view more photos this way than any other way before.

Albums, shoe boxes full of photos, hardly ever on a computer! My GF has a closet full of big, clunky, dusty, ugly photo albums she never looks at...all my photos are in my computer, the cloud and on an ext. HD and are viewed 2-4 times a week by her family and friends. (I'm not allowed to have any friends, especially if they have a vagina!)

Best!

yes, the people that think apple tv is wonderful just don't get it. google tv is a step in the right direction but ATV is just a waste of 99 dollars.

You are not with my ex are you?

Roku xds won out over apple tv for me now.....but am awaiting my Logitech Revue which will banish the roku to some forgotten display in another room ha.

Google TV doesn't support QuickTime! That's pretty telling!

I disagree about AppleTV. I think it's a very useful device, so long as you're not counting on it to replace your cable service.

I personally think it's a great way of getting my music into my living room through my theater speakers when I have people over without having to bring my macbook into the room and hook it up (and laptop speakers are never worth a damn, anyway). I bought a lower-end BluRay player a few months back that doesn't have Netflix Streaming, so I'm also looking forward being able to watch Netflix on demand on my tv as well.

I would have never paid the $229 or whatever the old Apple TV cost, but this new one at $99 is at a good price that makes it seem worthwhile.

Hopeless???

I think you're being a little premature with your pronouncement.

250,000 units isn't quite hopeless. Wait until the next quarter (at least). Then we can decide if it's hopeless.

(there are a lot of companies (like almost all) that would love to sell 250,000 units of anything.)

A little harsh and self centered, no? If you have no need for a workstation with expansion slots and the ability to hold four hard drives, you could say the same thing about the Mac Pro

I use my ATV daily. I watch video podcasts, listen to music and enjoy my photos all via the ATV. And don't forget Netflix, which really does look noticably better than it does on my Tivo, Xbox 360 or PS3. At $100 it's a bargain for all of that. If you scatter them throughout your house you get whole house music for a fraction of what a sonos or other similar system would cost you. I'm always amused at Leo Laporte ragging on Apple for price, yet waxing poetic about all the sonos devices he has


I'll take that bet.


While I don't think I will watch a two-hour film with Airplay off an iOS device, Airplay will be huge with mobile devices because of it's dynamic and instantaneous nature. The first time a friend comes over to my house and is able to throw content from their iPhone or other iOS device on my TV in a matter of seconds, I guarantee they will be getting a $99 ATV of their own. At $100 it's an impulse buy for most, and everyone loves seeing their content, especially personal photos and videos on their TV. In a few years every TV will have AirPlay and no ATV required. I think this is Apples longer goal. I think they would much rather eliminate the need for a set top box or smarts at the TV and instead leverage the computing devices people already own. Makes more sense to me than media center PCs or Google TV. Remember, AirPlay will work with Windows and Macs too. I will watch a movie via AirPlay if its on my Mac. Or I'll just watch it via Netfix like i do now. How can Google TV beat me sharing my MacBook Pro screen on my TV via AirPlay? It can't. It's a solution for a problem that won't exist once AirPlay becomes more prevalent.

Finally, if Apple follows though on their promise to open up Airplay, look for every consumer point and shoot camera to start adding Airplay. Apple has enough momentum with the iOS to break down resistance due to their shear inertia.

Airplay also solves the "what do you use as an interface for the TV" by taking the TV out of the equation. The TV is now an external monitor instead of another computing device - it's brilliantly simple and far more elegant than trying to connect some new box to a TV and it sells more iOS devices


Our stagnation is a direct reflection of the dual stranglehold of the media companies and the cable companies. In Europe they have pure IP TV "cable systems". It will come here eventually, but it isn't going to happen any time soon \

In the mean time, all they are managing to do is to encourage me to look at how much time I waste watching inane programing on TV and instead encouraging me to do other things instead

Have you ever tried to use DNLA? There is a reason only geeks know what it is.

It's also why within a couple of years AirPlay will rule the roost and DNLA will be (thankfully) forgotten.

Especially with cheap devices like the iPad, why would I want to clutter up my TV display with PIP for search?

I never got PIP when it started as a fad in the 80's, and I really don't get it today. I would much rather leave the content of what I am watching front and center, and do supplemental activities like search on a secondary device. Only google would have the hubris to emphasize search over the content you are watching

Well, I have this thing called a computer where I process and analyze large amounts of information. Once I identify and either subscribe or bookmark what I am interested in, I consume it with my Apple TV.

Pretty simple and very effective. And if I want something spontaneous and ad-hoc, I can search for it. Companies other than Google can search too

I've never once seen that.

Which Google products specifically?

Wait. Are you saying that Apple's entire foray into search has been chaotic and complicated? I'm pretty certain that they are currently working on it, and we'll see it get better in future releases.

You can count on it.

People like us need Apple.

So do you set it to record stuff on the dvr then?

Does Google TV have an implementation of Netflix?

That is the single feature of aTV that I use all the time. I am not the type of person who likes to watch the same movie over and over so the fact that I have several ripped movies on my Mac that I can stream to aTV, I rarely do. I'm with Pogue on this one. When I watch TV I don't want to fiddle with complex controls, I just want to sit back and enjoy. If the mood strikes me to surf the net for a moment while I'm watching TV, I have my iPad right there beside the couch.

Until recently, I've only been mildly curious about TV. But now, TV, like many other Apple products, is about integration. To be fair, so is Google's attempt with Google TV. But Apple, more than many other manufacturers, has the better track record of balanced and useful integration with their products. Even more importantly, Apple is better at User Interfaces than everyone else.

I've been using AirPlay (formerly AirTunes) through an AirPort Express to stream iTunes content to my home theater for a while, controlling it with the Remote app on my iPhone (which also can control my Verizon FiOS HD DVR, FTW!!). My new Blu-ray player can stream Netflix and YouTube (the first device I've owned that can stream content from these providers) to my home theater, which I've really been enjoying. The interface is functional enough, but it's a bit clunky.

I suspect TV would not only handle all these tasks, but perform them more efficiently and with a better on-screen UI. And, of course, I can still use the Remote app on my iPhone. From everything I've read, everyone who has an TV, absolutely loves it. I definitely want to give it a more serious look now.

Very, very good point. My wife likes to surf while watching TV, and so do I upon occasion, but why subject each other to that process?

With Netflix coming to Canada I picked up an ATV. I did look at a few other options but ended up with an ATV after trying one the Apple store. The remote is a work of art. Won't have to worry about lost battery covers with it. It is a bit of a pain typing with it but OTH it is the only remote that my wife actually understands how to use.

Almost every day I find a few more things that the ATV will do, Iuniversity, podcasts, TV stations etc. I won't say it is perfect but I don't have time or patience to fiddle with setting up a media box. The ATV pretty much worked from the moment it was powered up. There's probably a fairly big market segment that has similar needs.

WTH is google voice?? I'll have to get my kids to try to explain it to me. LOL

Like many that have posted here, I did not see any reason to get ATV. After all, I have 2 TiVO HD units which stream Netflx pretty well. But at $99, I figured I'd give it a shot, just for grins. While I am a big TiVO fan, their implementation of Netflix, while adequate comes nowhere close to what you get with ATV. Things like ff/rw work really well on ATV whereas are really hit or miss on TiVO. Also, you can search and watch instantly on ATV without having to go through the computer first.

My college age son has indicated that once live sports is available to be streamed, perhaps with a NFL/MLB type app, he will probably give up cableTV in favor an ATV device. I am unlikely to go this route since I would rather not have to wait close to a year to watch my favorite cabletv shows such as "Weeds", "Dexter" etc.

I ended up getting a Mac Mini to use as a headless media server. All of our iTunes content is stored on it, and it runs headless and streams to the various Macs and the ATV, plus is backed up using TimeCapsule.

ATV is a very nice little product. at $99 you can get one for every TV in the house. or even just your sound system (bye bye Sonos). add Remote and AirPlay on your iOS devices and lots of stuff pretty much "just works" anywhere in the house.

but it is still basically an iTunes media extender + Netflix/YouTube. when Apple adds apps for it, then it will be a great little product. you'll be able to turn any TV in the house into a info portal to whatever you and your family are into in a much more focused way via specialized apps than searching the web and hoping to find a good website. and the games of course.

Google TV's approach is the opposite - unfocused search ... except for the ads targeting you! and Google hoped to add to that the same rip-off-the-content strategy it has used to kill newspapers - grabbing television shows from mediaco websites to repackage them for your viewing with Google's ads.

but this time the mediacos aren't going to let Google rip them off like that - ever. instead we will see network subscription deals available thru anything - GTV, ATV, Roku, TiVo, etc. Netflix has shown that business model can work. Hulu Plus is the first of these, more will come.

Hmmmm..... so you want a box that sits on your TV that can play TV content ??? Isn't that like driving a car around ..... while towing another one to make sure the first one is working ??? \

You nailed it, gcom. We just aren't there yet. Current devices are to what will come as PDA's were to today's iPhone--a pale precursor. And I am an owner of the latest ATV.

Hey look, serial douche-bag "Steve-j" gets banned and a few days later "Bill-G" registers and immediately begins multiple postings in the same manner. Let's see if the IP addresses match....

So interestingly a large number of my colleagues rushed out to buy several of these for in their homes - multiple sets require multiple ATVs. They report that streaming content has never been easier and they have multiple sources to supply to the devices.

A large number of these people are engineers and geeks. How do you square those purchases with your commentary? Not that you need to or are even required to do so. It;s just that your commentary is dismissive from an acutely personal perspective it seems. These exemplars are a practical counterpoint to your objections.

I haven't purchased an Apple TV because I do not use the television that much. However I did buy the Apple battery system to supply rechargeable batteries for my mouse and BT keyboard (and the darn Wii remotes too). Much, much better battery use life, charged and set-aside batteries don't need to be "topped-off" - they hold a charge for a long time in the drawer and the doggone charger doesn't suck current when not in use - unlike previous chargers. Six months of use have been significantly better than any other recharge system we've used - and we've tried most of them.

Again, your disdain seems acutely personal with no actual experience to support it - no?

This is just my humble opinion, but I have owned the Apple TV and have used the Google TV.

The Apple TV is very nice. It is easy to use; something that any Mom/Pop or Grandparents could use. BUT, it is SO LIMITED because the shows that can be rented are but a small portion of the iTunes TV and Movie library.

We bought the Apple TV (and got rid of it) so as to cut our U-verse TV from the U-200 package to the U-basic. We planned on renting 4 shows that we cannot get on the local channels but after the purchase we learned that those shows (and many others) can only be purchased for $1.99 (not the $.99 rental price). So if we continued down this route we would end up paying not much less than what it costs just to have a U-200 account with AT&T. If Apple would allow ALL of its shows to be rented, things would be different. Yes, yes...it is the networks. Well, if Jobs had spent as much time, energy and money trying to get this accomplished as he did pursuing the Beatles on iTunes...then just maybe the Apple TV would be worth the cost. I love the Apple in theory, but not in execution.


The Google TV is a geek's wet dream. That Sony remote is so very cool, but when I come home I just want to veg for an hour or two (once in a while), not fight with a ginormous remote and a cobbled-together OS. The Google TV sounds great, but I always thought that it would have problems since it doesn't provide any of the content and instead relies upon simply pulling it from the net. I am rarely right, but I just knew that the networks would play games and block Google TV just as Hulu Plus is limited on non-desktop OS computers.


After returning the Apple TV and passing on the Google TV (friend owned it and returned it) we have gone back to the U-200 package on Uverse, using our slim Xbox 360 as our DVR (it will pay for itself in a year) and Netflix streaming device.

I hope Apple and Google can both get their devices to do more, but right now they are just not ready for primetime and/or too limited.

I often wish a MAC address could be used to block certain people here.

Oh God! Here we go again. ATV doesn't fit your needs so it's "wholly unnecessary? Wasteful? Laughable? Utterly forgettable?". It's not a matter of your opinion. It's a matter of Apple rethinking the original ATV and possibly taking it in a different direction and making it more of a logical choice for someone like me and others.

I have a Netflix account. I wanted to be able to watch their streamed content on my TV instead of my Mac. I didn't want a Wii or an Xbox or a new BD player and especially a new TV just to get my Netflix content. For $99, it's what I've been waiting for. And with all my media stored on my Mac, I can stream my music and view my photos and movies on my home theater as well. It sits in my media cabinet totally unnoticeable unless I actually point it out to someone. At $99??? Perfect!

Sorry that you don't happen to need one of these.

People like us are so lucky that Steve makes the devices so simple to use.

The IP address thing works very well.

"hey ma, run down to the general store and fetch us one o them thar apple tv thingys, i hear they are as easy to setup as opening a six pack of coors light. but check make sure we can get dukes of hazzard reruns too before you go spending all that money, ya hear?"

Welcome back Steve-J!

Mods, do we have to have this troll post another two or three hundred posts before you cut him?

I think Apple TV is brilliant. What it needs to be perfect is apps. By "apps" I'm not talking about facebook or games. I'm talking about apps that would be similar to Plex plugins. I want a Comedy Central app, or at least a Daily Show app. And I'd love to be able to get live channel apps. Then I'd be rid of cable for good!