decoderring

badmonk said:

I guess I am an outlier but I love my ATV 4K.  One small remote to replace all others and the knowledge that perhaps I am not being as extensively data-mined.  Plus love the screensavers when the TV is on idle.

My only issue are the designs of the individual apps (Netflix (buggy), Prime (ugly and clunky) whereas Hulu, Max and the AppleTV app itself are just fine.

I love my Apple TV as well. I have a minimalist AV setup, and the Apple TV is an integral part. There’s nothing else I’d use for what it does.

But it certainly isn’t perfect. The hardware and software choices Apple makes (or doesn’t make) I think make the product less stellar than it could be.

Tangential to the discussion but pertaining to piling things into the Apple TV+ app:

Watching movie trailers on Apple TV has always been such a pleasant experience. Tons of trailers for lots of different types of movies, all available to watch at your leisure on a big screen at home (or elsewhere).

Last week, I opened up the Trailers app on Apple TV, and I learned that the trailers had been integrated into the Apple TV+ app. I click the link, and I'm brought to a very discouraging place: There are a total of five trailers to watch but a ton off movies to pre-order. I supposed one can watch previews for movies for pre-order, but I hate this approach:

• As someone more interested in small-production films than in the big blockbusters, my inclination is to think that movies for pre-order aren't going to include movies I'd have seen trailers for otherwise;
• The intent with the change seems to be that you can watch trailers if you like, but the emphasis is on purchasing the movies.

It just completely turned me off and had me being very wistful for an Apple that just doesn't exist anymore.

It would be interesting if they were a new version of the AP Max , and the fact will be made public during the presentation.

AppleTV+ is up to $12.99CDN.

I was thinking of resubscribing to watch the new seasons of Foundation, Invasion and For All Mankind.

If I do, I’ll do a bunch of binge-watching over the next few cold months and probably cancel again. I’m not a huge TV watcher, so lots of monthly fees don’t make sense for me. And Apple’s fees are fairly substantial now.

I gave up Apple Music when an audiophile service became available here in Canada, but had I stayed with it I’d just eat the increase (probably) since I listen to so much music.

chasm said:

I’m still confused about why this was needed specifically for the Apple Vision Pro. As noted in the demo, there are speakers built right into the device that are meant to direct audio into the ear, featuring two drivers on each side — exactly so you don’t have to further block ambient sound by wearing earphones under the band that goes around your head.

Perhaps it’s to share audio with someone who doesn’t have a Vision Pro.