Apple - Apple TV - 64GB (4th Generation) - Black

An easy-to-navigate interface and an App store with an extensive set of apps to choose from. The modern hardware makes for fast navigation, quick download of apps and in my experience so for, glitch-free streaming. Not once have I encountered any "buffering" of video though I subscribe to Comcast Blast! Pro (150mps) service. For those that want "totally" free TV apps such as PlutoTV, TubiTV, Haystack, PBS, ABC, NBC, CBC and many others provide access to a wide selection of shows and movies for free with only minimal interruption of ads. One annoyance however (and not a fault of Apple TV) is many of the apps such as those from ABC, NBC and CBS require a Cable TV subscription to see "this week's" episodes. For "cable cutters" subscribing to a couple of services such as Hulu and Netflix provide you with more than you can possibly watch for a fraction of typical cable. Some such as Hulu even provide an option to pay like $2/ month extra and NO commercials!!! I am not a sports fan so uncertain what the options are here. The interface is much like using the iPhone or iPad. An upcoming release of TvOS will supposedly bring "folders" to group related apps. The downside of the app-centric interface for some and all of the choices is that the experience is not as streamlined as the typical "cable box" but it is not much different than the typical smart phone or tablet. Airplay is a slick feature for displaying iPhone, iPad or MacOS content through the AppleTV to your big screen. This is the coolest way to view your vacation and family photos and videos!!!! If you have other Apple products in your home, this feature alone makes the Apple TV a very compelling choice. The Siri remote communicates with the Apple TV through Bluetooth, so you don't need line-of-sight for the remote to work. For those wishing to use this with a Universal Remote, since the Siri Remote communicates with the Apple TV through Bluetooth only so you can not "train" your remote to recognize it. What you "can" do however is teach the Apple TV to recognize another remote (such the remote from your old CD player that no longer works) and once Apple TV has learned the codes for basic control you can train your universal remote to recognize the codes from that old remote. It sounds like a bother, but there are only a handful of controls for the Apple TV so it is not a problem. If you had a previous generation Apple TV I have read that it will recognize those codes so if your universal remote was previously programmed for an early version of Apple TV you might be in luck and not have to change programming. There is no IR code for the "Home" button on the Siri remote. Some of the "touch" functions of the Siri remote also have no corresponding IR code. And of course, you can't "talk" to your universal. That all said, once a universal remote is set up there is really little missed from the Siri remote. If you use Siri a lot on your iPhone or iPad, you will enjoy that feature of the Siri remote. If you do not use Siri, once you have your universal remote set up there is no real need for the Siri remote. All in all, the product seems like an excellent value for the money.

I have owned an AppleTV since they've been a thing but Apple really go it right in the third generation. I have used that model (and still do) for most f my streaming, which is content I've purchased from iTunes. However, I've begun to dabble in the realm of streaming television. I'm a cord cutter at heart and not a heavy TV watcher but am excited to try out any alternative to cable and satellite, both that have gone unchallenged for too long. I took the plunge and tried a monthly plan with Playstation Vue. That plan gave me access to some channels lineup with the previous model of AppleTV, but this fourth generation opens it all up with its apps. Just like on a phone or tablet, these apps tie in to the content providers offer. Some content is free, but with a subscription to some service (from the despicable cable and satellite contractual services to a la carte services like Vue or Sling) one can log in and watch seasons worth of content and in many cases watch live television. The caveat of doing this with the AppleTV is that one has to log in to each individual app. This is the case with Playstation Vue and other fringe services. With certain providers it takes only one sign in on the device across multiple if not all apps. And as Tim Cook has said, the future of TV may actually be apps. Though clunky at times, apps give access to all this content usually in binge worthy portions. But it's not just TV. All the features I enjoyed with my 3rd gen AppleTV I still have. I still can stream my media from iTunes. I can now use this set top box as a hub for Apple's HomeKit automated smart house app. This feature was missing from previous versions. I had to use an iPad to automate the house which meant I couldn't take it away from home wifi. Anyone in the Apple ecosystem who has invested with Philips' bulbs and iHome (and others) switches now have a central hub to control it all with the mobile (Apple) devices. Then there are the apps. Yes, there's apps for different channels to stream content, but there are actual apps just like one would download to a phone or tablet. I had considered this was gimmicky and an add on but the idea seems fleshed out. There's no huge games one would get for Playstation or Xbox but there are time killer games that will be tied in to your other versions. With a GameCenter account, data will flow between devices. Unlock a new outfit on your iPhone in Minion Run, it'll be available-as well as your progress- on the AppleTV. I thought it'd be no fun on a large screen but it plays just as well taking into consideration the Siri Remote that comes with the AppleTV. The remote is responsive, touchpad nice and very simplistic, easy to use. Like on the iPhone, Siri takes some use to get used to. But once you understand how to use it (rather, how to say it) it works quite well. It being rechargeable by Lightning cable is nice, again, especially if you're in the Apple ecosystem. No doubt you have Lightning cables lying all about (one is included with this device). The caveats worth mentioning is the premium Apple price and the remote. Yes, it's expensive. But I don't regret upgrading to it. There's many more features this offers over the previous model. The remote, while nice as a remote and is quite useful for most time killer games, is not a controller for more in-depth games (nor is it ergonomic, I've got a hand cramp now typing about it). There is a controller on the market for it (heavily pushed in Apple Stores though Apple did not build it) but that's another cost if casual gaming is that important to you. This may still be a niche product but I believe it's a viable one for cord cutter Apple devotees. If you're not then other offerings out there may be better. Me, well, I use my Playstation Vue subscription more on my AppleTV than I do on the Playstation 4.

I have been using Apple TV's for years since the 1st generation. We have an extensive Apple network in our home. Currently we have 5 3rd generation ATV's in the house and I decided to upgrade the family room unit to this latest one. Set was easy, as I expected, but here is why I scored it 1 Star. Firstly they have removed the ability to have background music of my house (from my iTunes library) when using the slideshow feature to view my photo albums. So we can now sit there in silence while watching photos! Secondly, they have changed the overall background color from black, easy on the eyes, to white, too much on the eyes! We have a Samsung 65inch curve TV and the white background was just too much. Thirdly, in the Movies and TV show section they have increased the size of the movie jackets so there is less content on the screen, so you are constantly scrolling to see more. Other things that bothered me was the finger control on the new remote, its a little to sensitive so its all over the place and hard to keep in control and SIRI is useless. Tomorrow this goes back to BB. I am shocked that Apple has decided there choices for me instead of me. All other devices from other manufacturers allow you to customize your experiences with the way you interact with your stuff but Apple seem to be on a trend to take that away. I called Apple support to make sure I was not missing something and they confirmed they took the music feature away from the slideshow and they confirmed they did. When I asked why, they told me they felt it was better that way!!!

04/30/16 - Since I bought this thing Nov 2015; it has the worst interface I have used in a long time. The OS and apps do not refresh. So many app issues. Movies app, my movies purchased icons do not show up (over 400 movies after 30 minutes of waiting) nothing. TV app, takes at least 1-2 minutes to show purchases, now. Back in Feb, I went to Apple forums and requested assistance with the TV app, nothing was showing up (I dislike comments like "mine works", great, then you shouldn't be on this forum) would not let me buy anything or my old purchases were not viewable. Apple people are not helpful, no step by step instructions. In the end It was Apple, that had a server issue even though the APPLE server showed it was working for everything. Screen saver - Photos (remember how you used to just select photos and it would just show up as a screen saver, I do) Now it has to be a shared album. You can't just put pictures in your photos via iCloud, it has to be "shared"; wtf. Again, Apple Forums, they had no clue of how to teach someone to use the product. and said, "mine works". My opinion, stick with Gen 3 if you HAVE to have Apple. I have other set top devices that work better. I play on all platforms, so I don't lean on any ONE device, but I will say I have sold off a lot of my Apple Products. tvOS a waste of space. I use my devices, if you aren't having issues GREAT, but if you are like me and like diversity, then you would have come across situations like mine. Wiping out devices is fine with me, I can recover quite quickly. Back Up is never in one place.

I've had Apple TV's in my home since the 2nd Generation came out and had 3 in my home including two 3rd Gens. This is a great upgrade to those. First of all, I like the remote a lot better. Though not perfect, I like that it has a touch pad for navigation. It's a small form-factor, which I think is good but also a little slippery in hand. I purchased a silicone cover for it which vastly improves grip in hand. The IOS upgrade is better laid out than before and it's pretty easy to customize what you want to appear on your home screen as well as where it appears. The addition of Siri seems great but she still has a hard time understanding my inputs consistently. I had hoped this would make inputing passwords and such easier but i end up getting frustrated with Siri and use the manual input, which I think is terrible. One cool feature is the remote instantly worked to control the volume of my Samsung TV. Don't need it since I have a Logitech Harmony 950 remote but cool anyway. The remote works great as a controller for games. You cannot get a second one and use it for multi-player games as only one Apple remote can be used at a time with each TV console. We bought an additional Steelseries Nimbus controller which works flawlessly with the Apple TV. My kids love it and prefer to use it over the Apple TV remote. I like also that you have additional memory options for consoles. I have one of each, a 32GB and a 64GB. Love that the games are relatively inexpensive compared to Xbox or Playstation games. Apple's library of games is very limited right now but should improve over time. Minecraft is getting major play with my boys so hopefully that will hold them over for a while. They also like the AG Drive, Tennis and dancing game so we are good. I look forward to see what developers will release hopefully in the very near future. The only wishes I have for the Apple TV is; Better character input or... Get Siri to be more consistent. It would be nice if instead of a smooth slippery surface they did something slightly rougher for better grip. Overall I would recommend this as an upgrade over the 2nd or 3rd Get. If buying for the first time, you'll be happy with it and can expect the platform to continue to improve over time.

I had the Gen 2 previously and unless you are a big Siri user I don't see much improvement. It's slightly faster but I never felt the old one was too slow. There's really no new apps yet, you get similar TV, weather, streaming options, etc. That likely will change over time, but for now it's still the same essentially as the old apple TV. There's still no Amazon app, I don't know if that's Apple or Amazon but if you have Prime it may be an issue. I've yet to see any impressive feature of this over the older units. The games are no better than what was on the Iphone so I haven't found many of those that are worth playing on a TV screen. A huge disappointment for me was how it handles your photos. You can use your photos as a screen saver but it will only use 100 of them. So you can have 1000 photos in your iphoto album but the Apple TV will only store and use 100 of them, and it won't go out and get a new batch of 100 unless you remove and re-add the album manually. It basically makes the new Apple TV useless as a photo album/screens saver. It will use more photos for a screen saver if you use home sharing but that means your laptop etc has to be on, and you have to have itunes open at all time. Previous Apple TV models would stream all your photos from the icloud as a screensaver. It's been brought up to Apple and they have no plans to change it. I also prefer the old remote, the scrolling doesn't seem that great on the new remote, there are times it can't tell what way I'm swiping etc. and the interfaces of the apps etc. isn't great, they've made them larger, so you get even fewer apps/shows/etc. on your screen at a time it makes it harder/slower to navigate to and find what you want. One plus I have noticed is that previously I had problems streaming video from my macbook pro to my older AppleTV smoothly, if I streamed from my iphone it was fine, with the Gen 4 it's now smooth with both. If you like iphone games and siri, if you don't already have an AppleTV, and if you don't have Amazon prime it may be worth it. For most people I still don't think there's much more offered than the $60 gen 3 offers.

I've owned all the apple TV's, this one is by far much improved with the App Store being available now, and choice of storage. The interface feels right at home, like I'm just using my iPhone. Setup was super simple. All I had to do was hold my iPhone near the Apple TV and the Apple TV took over and automatically picked up my secure network, Apple ID, photos, music etc.... That one was brilliant apple! I am still however getting used to the remote. It is growing on me though, it is very sensitive but you are able to adjust its sensitivity with 3 pre determined levels. The remote requires no batteries, it is charged when it needs to be via lightning connector. I've had no problems with it whatsoever, even far away. as far as apps for it go, seems there isn't a vast amount of them but just enough to satisfy you I guess. Apparently some aren't as compatible with Apple TV as they need to be. I have not personally experienced this yet, everything that I have downloaded (35+ apps) have all been just fine except for one game wich was "lumino-city" (keeps crashing). if your a fan of Apple Music you'll love it on Apple TV, all your downloads show up in ATV also. I love the fact that you can jailbreak and side load Apple TV again. I have Kodi and some other non-native apps installed on my ATV via IpaWind and a computer. All you'll need to do that is a usb2 to usb-c cable, and a computer. Can also use X-code if you have a Mac to sign your own applications. Games are fun to play on this, the remote can be turned sideways and used like a gaming controller. The thing that really stands out for me with this ATV though is its app menus, homescreen, generally anything you open up..... The colors and definition the Apple TV generate are mesmerizing!! Everything is laid out perfectly and just plain looks spectacular! For those of you trying to decide whether this box is worth the money, or torn between a cheaper android set top box and this, take my advice, especially if you own an iPhone or like apples products and give this a try! You won't be disappointed! I would absolutely recommend this to my friends.

After having enjoyed the 3rd gen model for a few years, I decided it was time to upgrade. Mostly due to the new features and now the 3rd gen is being neglected on updates. Form factor: Still a beauty. Small and can be placed just about anywhere. Width and length about the same and height is a bit over twice as tall. Connections: This is what contributes to less than 5-star. The lack of a SPDIF optical port is a negative for my situation. I have an older Denon A/V amp that does not support HDMI. I really don't feel like spending another $1500.00 just to stream music so I now have to run HDMI to my TV, and then run an optical from the TV to the amp. Streaming music: Works great if you are streaming from your MAC/PC with iTunes or from your music stored in your iCloud account. But for streaming internet radio stations, you have to use a 3rd party app for that. IMO, this is a slight ding. I'm currently searching for an app that does what I need without bloat and preferably for free. This results in the loss of another star. Streaming video: Another area where it's great if it's coming from your PC/MAC, iTunes, etc. The addition of the TV app from Apple much improves this, but it still could be better. Other apps/services like DirecTV Now, Sling, etc are a must have if you really want video entertainment. Siri remote: Voice commands are a welcome addition. It has worked very well in searching. But I find the touch sensor to always be either too sensitive or not enough depending on the task at hand. For best results, you should pair a bluetooth keyboard for many navigation tasks. Also, the swiping action can vary depending on the app you are using at the time. I would like to see more consistent implementation. It's a good addition that the Siri remote will also control primary TV functions. Overall, I believe that the 4th gen Apple TV is a welcome addition to our home. I believe that it will only improve over time as more services become available. (and maybe after I'm willing to upgrade my amp)