I don't understand why the Roku 3 doesn't have an antenna input so users can leverage free local HD-over-the-air channels and hasten the cord cutting revolution.
Without factoring in game consoles, these numbers are just smoke and mirrors nonsense. Where would those percentages fall factoring in the PS3/4 and Xbox 360/One? Considering how Netflix announced last December that the PS3 was the most used set-top device accessing their content, it would clearly present a very different picture. Where would they fall factoring in TiVo and connected TVs? They'd probably be reduced back to niche players where they actually fall.
Just say, “I’m never going to buy an Apple TV because I want to use a hideous and unintuitive interface and manually manage every single piece of my content with separate metadata and subtitle files.”
Says he who has clearly never truly used Plex. I'm not going to argue that its interface is better than the native AppleTV's; it's not. The AppleTV interface is definitely better. However, I'd hardly call it hideous and unintuitive, particularly when I compare it to so-called media extenders like the Xbox 360 which has the most hideous, unusable interface I've ever seen. And while your comment about the interface is somewhat objective, your assertion that metadata is manually managed or that subtitle files must be separate is not. The Plex Media Server can handle embedded subtitles in MKV files just fine, and metadata is hardly manually managed. Plex continually scans media folders for incoming files and downloads metadata automatically. On occasion I have to manually edit metadata, but that's rare and generally happens when I feed it files that have ambiguous filenames. If you're simply stating that you don't like the fact that metadata is not contained within the media file, that's certainly true and I don't disagree that iTunes generally handles this better, but even it doesn't store all metadata inside its files consistently. I've moved content between computers and lost album or movie artwork, director/actor metadata, and absolutely lose the metadata such as date added, last played, play count, etc.
Plex adds so much convenience and automation between its media server, everywhere clients (for me that's Roku, iOS, and Web but there are also Android and Windows Phone clients), and automated transcoding and offline storage with Plex Pass that I live with a less desirable interface (that is, I prefer the AppleTV interface but don't hate the Plex interface) and am not particularly bothered by how it stores its metadata in a separate database. Besides, as I mentioned, iTunes uses a XML-based database file too and stores some metadata outside the individual media files as well.
I use the Apple TV for three things: Netflix, YouTube and AirPlay. Roku is missing two.
Edit: my biggest gripe with Apple TV is the fact that the physical remote is not Bluetooth LE, but IR with an incredibly narrow focus-range.
Your gripe is easily addressed by Apple TV's support of third-party remotes. You can quickly teach it your remote's commands. No fiddling with "learning remotes" required.
Probably not. Have you heard anything about that taking off as a viable competitor?
Also, the incredibly low priced app iVI (on the Mac App Store) is absolutely brilliant. You can load an MKV which it will then determine if it's a movie or TV show, then locate the show name, season, episodes, release data, and other metadata, then strip off the MKV container and wrap it in an MP4 or M4V container, and finally add to iTunes. It can do all this in under 30 seconds without having to re-encode a video that is already H.264 simply because it has an unsupported container.
I don't understand why the Roku 3 doesn't have an antenna input so users can leverage free local HD-over-the-air channels and hasten the cord cutting revolution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by caliminius
Where would they fall factoring in TiVo and connected TVs? They'd probably be reduced back to niche players where they actually fall.
Exactly. TiVo provides all of the Internet content, plus allowing you to record 4 (6 if cable) broadcast shows simultaneously. Then stream that recorded content to your iPad/iPhone whenever you want. Now with out of home streaming, you can watch your stuff anywhere. Exclusively on Apple iDevices. Apple should buy TiVo, incorporate their tech into ATV, and the battle would be over.
I'm finding I stream Netflx and my collection of movies using my smart,( dare I say it) Samsung tv. The interface isn't as clean but I only need to use one remote. When I upgraded my Blueray player to include a Receiver the girl who bought my old one wanted it because it had a usb port. She uses it to connect an external hardrive loaded with movies.
The ATV gets used for airplay (maybe 60 minutes a week) and itune rentals. By playing with the DNS I can get Netflix from other countries but seldom do that.
When atv can run plex without a hack, then I'll (and many in my friends and family) will purchase atv over roku. I am a long time apple fan and dev, this is the only area I don't own an apple product. Apple is missing the mark here. Plex is my media world for many reasons. It's either buy a Mac mini, or a roku. Not going to buy a Mac mini for every tv in the house
Apple TV has been the greatest addition to my home since we moved into a place with a dishwasher. I have every movie I own on an unraid server in a closet and my iTunes library points to it. Turn on home sharing and I've got a tiny box that replaces a huge entertainment center full of DVD boxes.
Couple that with air video HD and I've got a home theatre suite. Without the help of plex
sounds like a great setup. Were some of these movies DVD? How did you rip them to your desktop?
I ripped the DVDs using handbrake and the blu-rays I used MakeMKV. Then I opened up subler (the best application for re-wrapping instead of converting) to convert the .mkv to m4v. I also threw in the .srt (subtitle file) and metadata and imported it all into a file then threw it on the server. So now I've got metadata and soft subtitles. Perfect setup for a household who has mixed feelings on subtitles. Haha
Unless Apple does something really amazing with their next gen ATV, I'll stay hooked on Roku. They seem to be getting better and better. Love the USB port, Plex, channel choices, speed, remote, etc... At-least for now the races winner is easily Roku.
"People buy Apple TV because they want to solve a problem %u2014 they want to get content from the small screen to the big screen," he said.
This people wants to get content from the cloud to the screen. If it's on my pad, the viewing angle is wider and the resolution is better, so I wouldn't AirPlay it.
As an owner of Apple TV gen 3 (and gen 1) and Roku 3 (and LT), I can say they're both great boxes.
Apple TV has by far the better, more consistent interface, and bluetooth keyboard support is handy (Roku's iPhone app supports typing on iPhone, but the box doesn't directly support a BT keyboard AFAIK).
Roku has two things Apple TV doesn't that made me want it - 1. Amazon streaming (great for Prime members), and 2. Cross-service search. I have several streaming services - Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix, and HBO Go. Nice to have the ability to search for a title and see where it's available instead of having to go into each service and search there. Killer feature, and if Apple TV had this and an App Store (which would result in an Amazon app pretty quickly) I can't think of anything that would make me recommend a Roku over Apple TV, other than price.
I have the first gen Roku HDXR. I have YouTube...it's a private channel I think is no longer available, but it still works great for me.
Some of the new Roku's have a remote with a headphone jack. Have not used it, but it seems like a cool, useful feature.
There's also a YouTube channel available via Plex. The interface isn't nearly as good as that of the AppleTV's, but it does give you access to pretty much everything: your subscriptions and playlists, top videos, searches, etc.
but those consoles cost 200%-400% more than the AppleTV for most of their product cycle.
You are not comparing Apples to Apples.
What next? Include PC's and Tablets that can also stream movies to your tv?
What does price have to do with anything? Consoles are in the category of set top boxes, i.e., you put it on a shelf and probably never move it again.
And maybe this will illustrate my point. If Apple and Roku have 80% of the narrowly defined "set-top streaming device" category but represent only 20% of actual streamed content, doesn't that paint a very different picture of the "dominance" of these devices?
This article is trying to paint Apple as one of the leaders of media streaming but really they're just another player on a crowded field.
Comments
I don't understand why the Roku 3 doesn't have an antenna input so users can leverage free local HD-over-the-air channels and hasten the cord cutting revolution.
Just say, “I’m never going to buy an Apple TV because I want to use a hideous and unintuitive interface and manually manage every single piece of my content with separate metadata and subtitle files.”
Says he who has clearly never truly used Plex. I'm not going to argue that its interface is better than the native AppleTV's; it's not. The AppleTV interface is definitely better. However, I'd hardly call it hideous and unintuitive, particularly when I compare it to so-called media extenders like the Xbox 360 which has the most hideous, unusable interface I've ever seen. And while your comment about the interface is somewhat objective, your assertion that metadata is manually managed or that subtitle files must be separate is not. The Plex Media Server can handle embedded subtitles in MKV files just fine, and metadata is hardly manually managed. Plex continually scans media folders for incoming files and downloads metadata automatically. On occasion I have to manually edit metadata, but that's rare and generally happens when I feed it files that have ambiguous filenames. If you're simply stating that you don't like the fact that metadata is not contained within the media file, that's certainly true and I don't disagree that iTunes generally handles this better, but even it doesn't store all metadata inside its files consistently. I've moved content between computers and lost album or movie artwork, director/actor metadata, and absolutely lose the metadata such as date added, last played, play count, etc.
Plex adds so much convenience and automation between its media server, everywhere clients (for me that's Roku, iOS, and Web but there are also Android and Windows Phone clients), and automated transcoding and offline storage with Plex Pass that I live with a less desirable interface (that is, I prefer the AppleTV interface but don't hate the Plex interface) and am not particularly bothered by how it stores its metadata in a separate database. Besides, as I mentioned, iTunes uses a XML-based database file too and stores some metadata outside the individual media files as well.
I use the Apple TV for three things: Netflix, YouTube and AirPlay. Roku is missing two.
Edit: my biggest gripe with Apple TV is the fact that the physical remote is not Bluetooth LE, but IR with an incredibly narrow focus-range.
Your gripe is easily addressed by Apple TV's support of third-party remotes. You can quickly teach it your remote's commands. No fiddling with "learning remotes" required.
Wish Boxee was still in the picture, I use mine every day and it's pretty great.
Agreed - Boxee was/is great. Much better then XBMC (which, aside from pretty menus, I never really got the point of).
Probably not. Have you heard anything about that taking off as a viable competitor?
Also, the incredibly low priced app iVI (on the Mac App Store) is absolutely brilliant. You can load an MKV which it will then determine if it's a movie or TV show, then locate the show name, season, episodes, release data, and other metadata, then strip off the MKV container and wrap it in an MP4 or M4V container, and finally add to iTunes. It can do all this in under 30 seconds without having to re-encode a video that is already H.264 simply because it has an unsupported container.
Tip of the week - great app. Thanks!
I don't understand why the Roku 3 doesn't have an antenna input so users can leverage free local HD-over-the-air channels and hasten the cord cutting revolution.
Where would they fall factoring in TiVo and connected TVs? They'd probably be reduced back to niche players where they actually fall.
Exactly. TiVo provides all of the Internet content, plus allowing you to record 4 (6 if cable) broadcast shows simultaneously. Then stream that recorded content to your iPad/iPhone whenever you want. Now with out of home streaming, you can watch your stuff anywhere. Exclusively on Apple iDevices. Apple should buy TiVo, incorporate their tech into ATV, and the battle would be over.
The ATV gets used for airplay (maybe 60 minutes a week) and itune rentals. By playing with the DNS I can get Netflix from other countries but seldom do that.
My Raspberrypi is next to my arduino as well.
Couple that with air video HD and I've got a home theatre suite. Without the help of plex
Unless Apple does something really amazing with their next gen ATV, I'll stay hooked on Roku. They seem to be getting better and better. Love the USB port, Plex, channel choices, speed, remote, etc... At-least for now the races winner is easily Roku.
I have the first gen Roku HDXR. I have YouTube...it's a private channel I think is no longer available, but it still works great for me.
Some of the new Roku's have a remote with a headphone jack. Have not used it, but it seems like a cool, useful feature.
This people wants to get content from the cloud to the screen. If it's on my pad, the viewing angle is wider and the resolution is better, so I wouldn't AirPlay it.
Apple TV has by far the better, more consistent interface, and bluetooth keyboard support is handy (Roku's iPhone app supports typing on iPhone, but the box doesn't directly support a BT keyboard AFAIK).
Roku has two things Apple TV doesn't that made me want it - 1. Amazon streaming (great for Prime members), and 2. Cross-service search. I have several streaming services - Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix, and HBO Go. Nice to have the ability to search for a title and see where it's available instead of having to go into each service and search there. Killer feature, and if Apple TV had this and an App Store (which would result in an Amazon app pretty quickly) I can't think of anything that would make me recommend a Roku over Apple TV, other than price.
Roku: power adapter
AppleTV: power cord
that's it; it's the design concept...Apple just seems to get it
Maybe you can get Apple to explain it to me.
Your choice of products comes down to that?
I have the first gen Roku HDXR. I have YouTube...it's a private channel I think is no longer available, but it still works great for me.
Some of the new Roku's have a remote with a headphone jack. Have not used it, but it seems like a cool, useful feature.
There's also a YouTube channel available via Plex. The interface isn't nearly as good as that of the AppleTV's, but it does give you access to pretty much everything: your subscriptions and playlists, top videos, searches, etc.
what about AirPlay?
How do you play your purchased music, video's, and photo's?
Easy. Through the Roku App. Supports all 3. Granted, it works through your WiFi, but it's always worked perfect for me, every time.
What does price have to do with anything? Consoles are in the category of set top boxes, i.e., you put it on a shelf and probably never move it again.
And maybe this will illustrate my point. If Apple and Roku have 80% of the narrowly defined "set-top streaming device" category but represent only 20% of actual streamed content, doesn't that paint a very different picture of the "dominance" of these devices?
This article is trying to paint Apple as one of the leaders of media streaming but really they're just another player on a crowded field.