sirlance99 said: The new Apple TV is great like you said. Although, just as has been since the beginning, Apple will still be far behind in this space as they always have been. People just care about streaming. Nothing else. Prove it otherwise.
Nobody is making money on the streaming-only products though. Roku is considered the market leader and has a net deficit for 15 years of operation.
Was surprised the other day to see a friend getting rid of his ATV in favor of Roku. He's a Mac guy (has a Hackintosh) so he likes what Apple is doing in general, but not everything. I'll hold onto my ATV 3 as long as I need to until hopefully they're put out a better remote, and lower the price. I love some Apple things, but for some of them you just get that general feeling that you're getting screwed on price without getting much in return. Hopefully all of this pressure from Amazon and Roku will be good for us.
Screwed on price?
How is $179 versus $99 screwed on price? For $79 more you get:
1. Much faster CPU
2. Much faster GPU
NO ADVERTISEMENTS ON THE HOME SCREEN
3. Much more robust App Store and App suport
4. Much more memory - 32 GB vs 8 GB
5. Free 4k upgrades
6. Much better integration with Apple services - Apple Music, iTunes, Photo's, Family sharing
7. Much better customer support
8. Much better build quality
You can say the ATV is more expensive. But it does give you many stuff the Roku lacks. Now its your decision if you need those extras. Many people do.
But saying Apple is screwing people on price is RIDICULOUS.
That feeling of getting screwed on price by Apple is usually caused by the realization that their price increase is not commensurate with the features added and with technology getting cheaper over time, as is usually the case. This is also when seeing others adding features while keeping the price the same, or even lowering it. as far as your numbers above: it's a goddamn TV box, I don't care how much RAM and what CPUs it has. It's also, I believe $179 vs. $79. Not sure how build quality would affect a set top box, it just sits there. The remote design is not good for the ATV, it could be gold-plated for all I care, would be just as finicky. So, that being said: I'll keep using my two ATV 3s for the time being, but good to see competition in this space. Of course I have all my media in Apple's ecosystem and I'm locked in Apple's Hotel California.
The Roku Elite is $99. It’s the one that has 4K and HDR. The $79 model does not.
You say the ATV 4K price is ridiculous.
Well find me a box that has the same specs and features as the ATV4 that cost less? You can’t.
And that’s the point. To some people a faster CPU/GPU is worth the added costs. Others think the UI and remote is worth the extra cost. Or the extra memory. Or the free 4K upgrades.
It may not be worth it to you, but its worth it to MANY PEOPLE. Many people want to do more than just stream Netflix on their box.
So no the price is NOT RIDICULOUS. Besides you need to withhold judgement because you never used a ATV4 or ATV4K. The ATV3 is a whole different animal.
The only RIDICULOUS think is you expecting the BMW of streaming boxes ( ATV 4K) to be the same price as the Toyota of streaming boxes (Roku).
All people care about in this space is streaming movies/shows through Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and the like. That’s all. All the other so called advantages such a gaming apps, people don’t care about. I have yet to see people wanting a Apple TV for gaming apps except on extreme Apple blogs.
Now I’ll finally be getting a new Apple TV 4K, since Apple decided to catch up in this space, only because I’ll get a great discount on it. Also, because I buy digital movie codes on the secondary market where iTunes movies and shows are ALWAYS CHEAPER, because no one buys them as codes for Vudu or UV are more expensive, this will be a bit of savings for me.
The new Apple TV is great like you said. Although, just as has been since the beginning, Apple will still be far behind in this space as they always have been. People just care about streaming. Nothing else. Prove it otherwise.
"People just care about streaming...."
Pretty sad. You just don't have any vision.
This is just in 2007 when people said no one wants to buy an iPhone. All people care about is making calls and text messages.....
Let's be honest, Apple didn't bend over backwards to make it a good gaming (casual or else) machine. Let's not call it a computer either, remember how it was introduced by Jobs ("people do not want a computer connected to the TV"). So, yes, I would love for the ATV to have controllers my kids can use like the Wii (not just thumb controllers, but to involve some kind of movement to get off the couch), but looks like Apple's heart is not into that. Don't blame us.
Ill just share my experience. I’ve bought a bunch of blu rays with Ultraviolet digital copies. I had 3 ATVs- gen 2/3/4 but couldn’t play my UV movies on any of them, so I bought a cheap Roku stick as my ‘Vudu Stick’ basically. It’s easily as good and has a wider range of apps than my ATV4. The ATV4 has a few advantages but at 5x the price. Netflix is way faster on my Roku. Half the time it times out on my ATV. Amazon prime on Roku. Vudu on Roku. It’s also so portable it’s easy to take on vacation for a rainy day. I still use my ATV4 for AirPlay and the kids use it for our more kid friendly iTunes movie library but I was surprised how well the $40 stick stacked up against my $200 ATV4. Still not sure why I bought the larger storage model. I guess I was hoping for DVR capability.
Let's be honest, Apple didn't bend over backwards to make it a good gaming (casual or else) machine.
They don't need to "bend over backwards". iOS is an established gaming platform that continues to evolve in sophistication over time and serves as a natural pipeline of games and apps to the ATV. The A10X + 3GB RAM + Metal 2 + MFi = no barriers to bringing any iOS game to the ATV. They'll all look and run great, and you've got plenty of choices for peripherals to use...like controllers and headphones.
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