Users report dead Apple TVs after installing software update - Page 2

Two updates ago ... my appleTV could no longer play 1080p tv shows / movies ... had tons of trouble doing just about anything. Then after the September update ... everything works fine again.

I am now reticent to update it at all anymore since it is working fine now.

Now imagine this happening on a 55" television.

Is there a Apple store in all 50 states?

Thank goodness it's just a hobby. Imagine if this had happened to iPhones: the shit would hit the fan, then the fan would hit another fan.

You know the saying: "if it ain't broke, try harder."

 

No offence, but you're really just seeing this from your own point of view here.  Not everyone would agree with most of your complaints.  Most of the other products and services you quote are USA only for example so that leaves most of the world not agreeing with you there.  

 

Most importantly, the idea that Apple TV should have apps, messages, email, and Safari, puts you in a very tiny group.  You are basically arguing there that Apple TV should mimic "WebTV" (and it's imitators), all of which were huge failures.  

 

It turns out that most people don't actually want to do email on the TV and don't want to cruise the web on a TV either.  Personally, I'm not against any of your ideas, but you should realise that they aren't really what most people seem to want.  

I bought an Apple TV last August and I don't recall if I ever added the Applecare, altho I'm thinking I didn't.  I've been having lots of problems connecting recently and I had been attributing it to the change to the new modem/router when I jumped to 30.0 cable inet recently.  It will play one video just fine and then the next one just sit there spinning and doing nothing.  Very haphazard on when it will work and really frustrating

Edited by SSquirrel - 11/20/12 at 12:28pm

No. Also I live in a state that has many Apple Stores, and the closest to me is 94 miles away. Popping down to the Apple Store is certainly not an option for many.

You don't think reports of something working fine are as relevant as reports of things not working fine in this context ... really? To explain to you, it means that not all Apple TVs had issues with an update which is very relevant IMHO.

Same here. For some reason though, it finally got through that part after I left the unit unplugged for several hours.

 

I disagree when it comes to software upgrades.   There's no reason why these can't be bullet proof.   There's no reason I should have to bring any device to Apple because they don't have enough QC to supply a decent software upgrade.   Apple used to be just about perfect at this.   There's been plenty of such problems recently.

Any update with any system has a chance of bricking.

The only way to have a aystem that will never ever break is don't use electronics ever.

And, like so many 'major flaws' this one is not universal as a design flaw would be.

But by all means, please go to Apple and tell them how they should be doing things. I'm sure Sir Jony and friends will welcome the instruction since they are so dumb

There is a major part of the issue. It was users that decided 'it just works' means there are never ever any problems. Apple never made such a claim. That phrase was about using the computers.

If users create a blown out bad expectation that is their fault, not Apple. If they bitch and moan ad nauseum about an issue what can be fixed with a patch, or refuse to go to Apple etc, that is on them. Most of these issues are total first world and folks need to get a reality check about the extent of the issue, the nature of blog post hyperbole etc

My 3rd Gen is running just fine.

Regardless of what it's supposed to mean when it is not working it does not "just work", and the Apple TV doesn't work by magic it is still a form of computer.

 

Actually... the #1 rule of Jailbreaking is not to talk about Jailbreaking

 

 

Yes. Every macBook Pro and every ATV is faulty. Your logic is as bad as your trolling.

Edited by Kr00 - 11/21/12 at 3:08am

 The number of variables that can cause a bad firmware installation can be too many to count. What if your internet connection is flakey? Apples fault? What if your ATV runs hot because you choose to sit it on a DVD or other device? Apples fault? Your router reboots in the middle of a download? These random issues do happen, but it wasn't every ATV and every users having the problem. Nobody can give a 100% guarantee with anything, especially electronics. Only an idiot would expect anything to be bulletproof. Even bulletproof glass isn't bulletproof.

The usual experience on the Apple forums is that for every 1,000 posts on a topic, you have:

5 people who actually experienced a problem - but they post 20 times each.
50 trolls who ever even owned the device who post 5 times each saying that everyone seems to be having the problem.
100 people who post "mine works".
250 people posting "Apple sucks".
150 people posting "my cheapo Android device works".
100 people posting completely unrelated issues about different devices.
50 people who are lost and can't find their way to the bathroom.

Notice that there is rarely any evidence about the frequency of these problems.

Absolutely true.

Which is why this type of story is a waste of time. There are millions of Apple TVs out there - there will be problems. Heck, some of them would have failed on any given day even WITHOUT the upgrade. Only a tiny percentage of the people without problems ever post their experience, but more of the people with problems do so. Unless someone actually posts real numbers of how many sets failed, it's pointless.

 

That's blaming the victim, which I mentioned earlier. It also ignores the fact that these boxes were working, then Apple delivered an update that made some of them stop working. Yes, it likely affects a small percentage of users, but that statistic does nothing to help us. Yes, it's a first world problem, because that's where we live. Should any complaint about a luxury item be similarly dismissed? Let's apply that logic:

 

"So what if your AppleTV has connection problems? At least you have access to clean water!"

 

"After your shop serviced my new BMW, it stalls at stoplights."

"Only a few other people have reported this, so you've obviously been swept up in blog post hyperbole. Go away and get a reality check about the extent of the issue."

I'm sure they know how to do it, but the downside is that there is extra cost involved. So it comes down to a cost-benefit analysis, is the extra cost of including the feature more than the cost of dealing with support issues and negative feelings of users. Probably not is the answer.

 

I work every day with a piece of electronics that has a system that makes it impossible for us to "brick" it, even though we do regularly update the "firmware" on it, so I'm not just pissing in the wind here. The reason our electronics has this system in place has it is because the cost of bricking it would be to kill something that cost $350 million, not including the cost of launching it into space.