Apple TV sounds great but it is not an option for me ITunes store films are just not competitive I can get the same films a lot cheaper. Apple needs to price its films better then I may be interested.

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fixed, thanks.

If Apple allowed the installation of entertainment apps like FilmON, and other TV station players (like RTE & 3Player here in Ireland) that would make the Apple TV FAR more appealing.

A $50 AndroidTV stick with a cheap $20 remote is better then this. At least I can install Kodi with sportsdevil and popcorntime and stream away if I chose. Please I hate Itunes so much. Its a clunky pos that has gone backwards in performance and functionality.

A set-top box? Seriously? Who in their right mind bothers with such antiquated notions these days? Step 1: Go to tv store. Step 2: Buy tv. Step 3: Take tv home and get everything a set-top box will give you without the need to actually buy a set-top box. These products are really for poor people or stupid people or both. There is no reason whatsoever to buy one. One tv. One remote. All the content you could ever need. Hell, all the top manufacturers have voice control built into the remote control or just by yelling at the tv anyway. Most have gesture control and laser-pointing-esqe remotes as well.

A set-top box? Seriously? Who in their right mind bothers with such antiquated notions these days? Step 1: Go to tv store. Step 2: Buy tv. Step 3: Take tv home and get everything a set-top box will give you without the need to actually buy a set-top box. These products are really for poor people or stupid people or both. There is no reason whatsoever to buy one. One tv. One remote. All the content you could ever need. Hell, all the top manufacturers have voice control built into the remote control or just by yelling at the tv anyway. Most have gesture control and laser-pointing-esqe remotes as well.

Smart TVs are not all made equal, and many of them do not have all the capabilities that Roku, Apple TV, and even same smart blu-ray players have. Not only that, but you're also talking about the very high end smart TVs. Are you telling me, that i should go and buy the high end smart TV for a "complete package" for typically $1000 over the non-smart or even lower-end smart TV that looks, for the most part, the same quality wise? over paying 50-120 for a Roku or blu ray player? Obviously, most TV manufacturers try and make that $1000 go further with more Hz and ports and etc. but the actual side-by-side comparison is usually not worth $1000, again this depends on the TV, but there's no way i'm going to pay $1000, for having a Smart TV that has all the apps and capabilities as a Roku or etc., no freakin way. As to the Apple TV. Great, a way for Apple to release something and make it cost more, go apple!...........................

A set-top box? Seriously? Who in their right mind bothers with such antiquated notions these days? Step 1: Go to tv store. Step 2: Buy tv. Step 3: Take tv home and get everything a set-top box will give you without the need to actually buy a set-top box. These products are really for poor people or stupid people or both. There is no reason whatsoever to buy one. One tv. One remote. All the content you could ever need. Hell, all the top manufacturers have voice control built into the remote control or just by yelling at the tv anyway. Most have gesture control and laser-pointing-esqe remotes as well.

My Samsung Smart TV is a piece of ****. The software sucks, it's laggy, Samsung ****ing advertises on it, and half the apps don't even connect to their respective services anymore. The voice control is terrible. Unless future smart TVs comes with Android TV built in or this, I'm never getting one again. My Nvidia Shield is like 10x better than any set top box or smart TV.

My Samsung Smart TV is a piece of ****. The software sucks, it's laggy, Samsung ****ing advertises on it, and half the apps don't even connect to their respective services anymore. The voice control is terrible. Unless future smart TVs comes with Android TV built in or this, I'm never getting one again. My Nvidia Shield is like 10x better than any set top box or smart TV.

^ and this.

If your teevee is that bad, get a new one. If you can't afford it, I'm sure you can afford home insurance... My comments relate directly to functionality and content. There is nothing this product offers which a teevee gives you anyway. I humbly stand to be corrected.

My Samsung Smart TV is a piece of ****. The software sucks, it's laggy, Samsung ****ing advertises on it, and half the apps don't even connect to their respective services anymore. The voice control is terrible. Unless future smart TVs comes with Android TV built in or this, I'm never getting one again. My Nvidia Shield is like 10x better than any set top box or smart TV.

Wife and I were trying to watch The Layover last night and the damn thing kept stopping and giving us the buffering thing - it would hang at 25% for a good ten seconds or more before resuming the show. That happened 5 times in one 40 minute show. Meanwhile the non-smart TV in the other room with the old ass Roku HD never has any issues at all. Thanks Samsung. P.S. The Panny ST50 Plasma I had previously (my son broke it with a drumstick) had a fantastic smart chip in it. It was as good or better than the Roku software.

If your teevee is that bad, get a new one. If you can't afford it, I'm sure you can afford home insurance... My comments relate directly to functionality and content. There is nothing this product offers which a teevee gives you anyway. I humbly stand to be corrected.

Or just have a PC/console hooked to your dumb TV.

If your teevee is that bad, get a new one. If you can't afford it, I'm sure you can afford home insurance... My comments relate directly to functionality and content. There is nothing this product offers which a teevee gives you anyway. I humbly stand to be corrected.

I don't really get your argument. You're suggesting that I buy a new $1000 TV to get around these issues, instead of buying a $150 device? I've honestly been shopping for a new TV because I want 4:4:4 support -- all the Smart TV's I've come across suck. You talk about offering features but you don't talk about how well those features are implemented. Yeah, maybe the TV has all the same checkboxes as the Apple TV, but the Apple TV checkboxes are way easier to use, visually more appealing, and often have greater extent of that functionality. With Smart TV's the UI design is terrible. There is no open development platform, you're basically at the mercy of Samsung/LG/etc to expand the content and features. The voice control is god awful. It doesn't integrate with third party services at all (At least neither both the Samsung TV I own, nor the LG's I've tried support voice searching through Netflix content). And AFAIK there is no Smart TV capable of game streaming from my PC to it, which the Shield is capable of. Idk -- to me a good experience is worth far more than a bunch of features. I can't stand Samsung phones for the same reason. Touchwiz looks like Bob Ross took a nature colored **** on the screen. The features are all thrown together like a mess. The interface doesn't cohere to either Android standards or Samsung's own standard, they use radial menu's in some places and square menu's in others. Newer TV's, like Sony, are just starting to integrate things like Android TV into the TV itself -- I think that's pretty cool. The interface is pretty well designed, it has a market, the voice control is actually acceptable, etc. But the home grown Smart TV interfaces like LG's WebOS garbage or Samsung's Trash Hub or w/e it's called -- those can die in a fire.

If your teevee is that bad, get a new one. If you can't afford it, I'm sure you can afford home insurance... My comments relate directly to functionality and content. There is nothing this product offers which a teevee gives you anyway. I humbly stand to be corrected.

Average App Count TVs : 6 to 450 apps Roku: 2000+ Apple TV: Not sure, can't find list, but is the only device that allows access to itunes music, movies, etc. Android: Not sure if i can get a list because it seems to depend on what Android the device is using Average cost Low end smart TV: 75-250$ over price of the base TV, and these generally suck in terms of app count, performance and user interface High end smart TV: 400-1000$ over price of base TV, generally much better performance, user interface and app count compared to low end smart TV Roku: 50-100$ Apple TV: 69$ (until the one being listed here is released ofcourse) Android: 25-200$

Why in the hell would I ever spend 2000 dollars on a ****ing TV with a piece of **** Snapdragon 400 that will be impossible to upgrade in two years when it doesn't run anything? Why would I ever not just have a box that costs 50-200 dollars that does tons of stuff, is constantly updated, and can be upgraded without significant cost or difficulty. Anyone who thinks the market works like that is living in a fantasy world.

A set-top box? Seriously? Who in their right mind bothers with such antiquated notions these days? Step 1: Go to tv store. Step 2: Buy tv. Step 3: Take tv home and get everything a set-top box will give you without the need to actually buy a set-top box. These products are really for poor people or stupid people or both. There is no reason whatsoever to buy one. One tv. One remote. All the content you could ever need. Hell, all the top manufacturers have voice control built into the remote control or just by yelling at the tv anyway. Most have gesture control and laser-pointing-esqe remotes as well.

Please share the drugs you are on. Its the only way to understand your dribble. Ill keep my ancient ION2 HTPC over a smart tv any day. This is your opinions, not facts. So stop acting like a know it all a$$hole.

So, basically, the Apple TV set op box, do exactly what all connected TV and oother set op box tv with Android ( or their own OS ) is doing, including voice recognition... ( I admit that Siri could be more appealing that the standard voice recognition on every TV from Sony, Samsung, LG .. ) but looking how it have fail so far.. ( peoples just dont want to speak to their TV lol ). Basically the announce was they will not anymore limit the Apple TV to to Itune so ? I understand that they try to sell us their product, but if they can only not start with " we want to bring a new experience on the TV"; etc .. on the end we have allways the same **** who is made since 10 years by other TV and set op brands. Right now, i re - read all the articles i have seen 2 days ago, about how Sony was fear the new Apples TV who will compet with their consoles in the games segment... and coould completely crush the consoles segment. Now they come with the A8 .. They dont wanna make competition with their Iphone6s and Ipad on performance side lol ?

Average App Count TVs : 6 to 450 apps Roku: 2000+ Apple TV: Not sure, can't find list, but is the only device that allows access to itunes music, movies, etc. Android: Not sure if i can get a list because it seems to depend on what Android the device is using Average cost Low end smart TV: 75-250$ over price of the base TV, and these generally suck in terms of app count, performance and user interface High end smart TV: 400-1000$ over price of base TV, generally much better performance, user interface and app count compared to low end smart TV Roku: 50-100$ Apple TV: 69$ (until the one being listed here is released ofcourse) Android: 25-200$

You points hang on cost. What about people upgrading their teevee to UHD? or just buying a new one, etc etc etc - when they do, having to purchase a STB in addition to a new teevee has no merit or point when the teevee will do everything an STB will do.

You points hang on cost. What about people upgrading their teevee to UHD? or just buying a new one, etc etc etc - when they do, having to purchase a STB in addition to a new teevee has no merit or point when the teevee will do everything an STB will do.

and your end-all post hangs on the idea that cost isn't a problem for, well, anyone. Which is a ridiculous notion. Also, not all UHD TVs are smart. Most UHD TVs from the main manufacturers are smart, but again, not all from the main manufacturers are GOOD smart, there are low-end smart UHD TVs that are slow and not reliable. I know this, as i SELL them. I'll only say that in terms of UHD, and smart, it CAN be a good idea to get a TV with smart in it then as, depending on the TV, you can get 4K content. But that'll only last so long And you say my post only stands on cost? My post, specifically related to Roku, stood on ease of use compared to MOST smart TVs, performance compared to MOST smart TVs, and Apps, compared to ALL TVs (except with Roku built into them). Why do i fixate on cost? Obvious, for 150-800 dollars cheaper, and sometimes more, i can get good performing, easy to use and so many more Apps compared to any TV that i could ever want! And what is the main difference, for spending so much less?....I have to have a tiny, tiny box...boohoo..... You keep saying that the TV will do everything the STB will do, but i feel you are not listening at all, so i'm going to ask you a question, a very simple, simple question. Please tell me which TV offers over 2000+ apps on it. Now, they have started releasing TVs with Roku built into it, in which case that actually is a decent idea. However, it's not that great of an idea yet, since there are no 4K TVs i can find with Roku built into it, but it will support 4K when one is released. Point being is, even the highest end samsung or sony or vizio TV with smart in it (not roku) does not do everything a Roku will yet you keep saying they do.

I love my Roku. Best $30 I've spent on electronics in a long time. My Vizio "Smart TV" is essentially useless (slow, unintuitive apps). All my TVs have a PC connected to them. The PC is a bit more cumbersome than a set-top but you know what? I can always make it do what I want, something I can't say about set-top boxes, etc. Perhaps I'll see one of these new AppleTVs at a friends but I personally don't do Apple products. Never been a fan of their "way" of doing things nor their pricing.