“I picked Apple TV mainly because our household is heavily invested in Apple’s ecosystem – my wife and I both have Macs, iPhones and iPads,” Dwight Silverman writes for The Houston Chronicle. “We’ve been pretty happy with the choice, but still, I remained intrigued by the Roku 3.”
“A few months ago, I decided to give one a try. After using it side-by-side with the Apple TV, I have to say that I’m glad I didn’t try it back in June, because it would have made the decision that much more difficult,” Silverman writes. “In many ways, the Roku 3 is superior to the Apple TV. If I’d bought it originally, I wouldn’t have regretted the decision.”
“My previous Roku experience was with the very first model, and I remember its carousel-style interface as being slow and clunky,” Silverman writes. “But with the Roku 3, the software has been overhauled and it’s much easier to use. The home screen has 3 columns – a selections menu on the left, a center well with installed channel icons, and a right column that provides information about your selection. It’s not quite as elegant as that found on the Apple TV, but it’s simple and gets the job done.”
“In terms of sheer number of channels, the Roku 3 kicks the Apple TV to the curb, but quantity doesn’t necessarily equate to quality,” Silverman writes. “Roku now says there are more than 1,000 channels, but the selection is a great example of Sturgeon’s Law, which says that ’90 percent of everything is crap.’ Of the supposed 1,000+ channels, I’ve only managed to find 30 that I want to keep in the My Channels list. And even then, I probably only watch a handful.”
Much more in the full review here.
Apple TV UI is due for a big update. I hate having to hit the menu button 18 times to get out of 18 layers of choices in order to see the “home screen” (ever use Netflix on your Apple TV?). I need a home screen button, just like the iPhone.
Press and hold the menu button on the Apple TV remote takes you to the home screen from anywhere.
THANK YOU!
hahahaha!!!
I’m not sure where I learned that. Likely a board like this. Surely not reading the manual!
Well you learn something everyday! But will they stop moaning! Probably not. People just want change even when it is not needed.
Here’s anothergood tip. Press MENU and the bottom of the round main button together and hold for a few seconds……the Apple TV reboots. This was really useful back in the old old days. Now I rarely have to do this. But still a useful trick.
People seem to spend more time moaning than reading the instructions.
Great news! Thanks for the tip.
Press and hold the down arrow to enther chapter skip/ selection mode for movies
Here is a comprehensive list
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3176
You don’t even have to hold down. Just press down to get the chapter selection mode. Pressing up will show the regular progress bar.
Don’t you hate it when the obvious functionality was there all along and your complaint completely unnecessary?
Yes.
I think we’ve all been there. 🙂
Airplay seals the deal for me as I can play anything off my iPad or MacBook on my tv. That easily trumps the Roku. And I have both.
same here, Airplay rocks.
Yeah, I own the Roku, and for me, the deciding factor was third party content. Yes, the reviewer is correct, there’s a lot of garbage that’s available for the Roku, but there’s plenty that’s good stuff that wouldn’t see the light of day on Apple TV because Apple TV is a closed platform. For example:
-The Mormon Channel
-BYU TV
-The Young Turks
-TED
-NASA TV
-Several local news stations (I live in the NYC area and still get WTHR from Indianapolis)
I think the market can tease out which Roku channels are good and which ones are crap. But Apple TV doesn’t even allow that level of diversity and competition to take place.
NASA would be a selling point there for my wife.
But as to your point on choice – I fully expect the next iteration of the ATV to go at least near to the full App Store experience we enjoy on our iPhones. We’ll see, and it is time. Right now, you are absolutely correct that the choices are a bit too limited. But I love my ATV.
Oh, it’s past time. The fact that ATV has remained closed for this long is the reason why Roku even exists today.
I’d say that at some point that NASA TV will be added to the channel line up on Apple TV.
I think there are plenty of quality channels that could make it on AppleTV. But once you get to that point, you might as well just open the platform up and let the market decide.
Oh, shoot. I forgot PBS and PBS Kids. 😀
Eric,
There literally is an app for that:
Mormon channel app for iOS – airplay to Apple TV
BYU TV app for iOS – airplay to Apple TV
The Young Turks – also available on YouTube
TED app for iOS – airplay to Apple TV
NASA TV app – airplay to Apple TV
Local News – if they have video on the net – airplay to Apple TV via browser
PBS and PBS kids apps – airplay to Apple TV
Just sayin’
We love our Apple TV just fine. Even we update our old CRT Sony to a 4K smart Sony TV, we’ll keep our Apple TV attached.
I use them both. There is a plethora of crap I’m not interested in on both. I prefer the AppleTV because of AirPlay. I like watching SkyNews on the AppleTV.
If I were one of these “I gotta use anything else at all because I just hate Apple” types, I’d probably like the ROKU much better, but I’m a happy citizen of the Apple ecosphere and I love that anything I’ve ever purchased on iTunes ever is instantly accessible on my AppleTV.
Things were very slow for me for the last couple of weeks and all I did was buy movies, binge TV shows (finally saw Game of Thrones… omg… the red wedding), and buy books.
I love moving from computer, to iPad, then to AppleTV and back if I want. Beats the crap out of ROKU.
Yeah, that ROKU remote control, which looks like it popped straight out of 1973, is pretty impressive. Big, black, boxy, and clunky. The feel of the buttons is a little more modern — say, circa 1982.
As for the interface, it’s lame. You don’t really want to compare other people’s interfaces to those of Apple. Seriously.
The included Netflix app doesn’t include subtitles for the movies, nor a number of other features you get with the AppleTV Netflix app.
And if you PAUSE on Netflix on the ROKU, the picture size inexplicably shrinks by about 50%. So if you wanted to examine something up close with a still picture, you can’t.
If you want a better Netflix app, you have to pay four bucks to ROKU for it. Lame.
But hey, ROKU does have the Glen Beck channel, and who doesn’t want that?
*said with a suave Latin accent*
“I don’t often watch Glenn Beck. But when I do, I prefer to watch him on The Young Turks.
“Stay thirsty, my friends!”
On the contrary, I would say the Roku interface is very Apple-like (in a good way; not the iOS 7 way). It is elegant and intuitive. I think these guys took notes from Apple.
I recently finished my basement into a small media/computer room. When I moved the tv down, my Apple TV got hooked up immediately. The Roku is still upstairs connected to nothing. Just don’t feel the need for it right now.
ATV2, Jailbroken, XBMC, 12TB NAS … with all my DVDs ripped.
Bliss.
I would like my AppleTV better if it had the ability to play video files from my server, in any format they might be in. The best it can do now is to play mp4 video from my big mac’s iTunes library, which is great, but the vast majority of my media collection is in .avi .wmv .flv .mkv and Apple’s own .mov (why can’t AppleTV play .mov?).
But the Roku cannot do the job either, so it’s got to be a dedicated Mac mini as the media server.
Need to jailbreak and run xbmc or convert all…
I lost an iPhone 3GS to jailbreaking. Never again.
I love my WD TV Live Hub Media Center 🙂
The Roku can do that. Install Plex Media Server on your mac and download the Plex client app on the Roku and you are good to go.
It is the best combination for playing any video type on my TV.
I am aware of several streaming media applications available for the Roku, but they require using a Mac as the decoder/streaming video supplier. I’m waiting for a single device to be able to directly decode the files on my Snyology server without any other CPU but it’s own. I previously had a PS3 connected to my big Mac with a media-streaming app, but then the PS3 died.
I hope that the next AppletTV with an A7 chip will have the power to do what I want.
Plex support Syncology devices
https://plexapp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201373823
Which Synology server do you have? I was just looking at them.
Uhmmm you can absolutely play .mov files on the Apple TV. I do it all the time on mine.
montex, .mov is a container (like mp4 (mov actually formed the basis for mp4 but I digress ;-)))
At any rate mov is a container in which there can be many different types of audio & video file types & codecs (COmpression/DECompression schemes)
Your .mov files likely contain a file (or compression) type that the Apple TV software can not decode (and there are codec’s that apple no longer has the rights to produce (like sorenson)
This is similar to the reason that Mavericks won’t play some .mov files that lion would (codec licensing)
Your best bet would be to DL a copy of Handbrake (free at handbrake.fr) and use it to re-encode all or your noncompliant .mov files over to mpg4/h.264 format (.mp4 container file with h.264 media format) which is not only compliant with the software in the Apple TV but also can be played on the iPad or iPhone using hardware decompression (very battery efficient)
I use Air Video Server on the iMac and Air Video Watch on my iPad to stream these files via Airplay and Apple TV. I also use CineXPlayer HD which works in a different way.
Roku is LEAGUES ahead of Apple TV just for sheer fact of content. If Apple would quit trying to control every bloody piece of content then the Apple TV would be amazing but alas it is not in Apples DNA to be this open with partners and developers. I regularly use several channels on the Roku which just aren’t available on ATV including a channel that connects to the media server I have running on my network (Plex) and let’s me browse and watch my own content. ATV should be this feature rich but it’s not… all it has is air play which isn’t the best solution for many things. There is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to control. Up until that point, the more control the better quality and options. Once you hit that point and exceed it however, the more control the worse the quality and options… Apple always runs full steam ahead through the point of diminishing returns and then some.
I just don’t understand why Apple can’t open a “channel store” on Apple TV and let everyone in who wants to develop for it. They do it for iOS and the Mac, why not the Apple TV?
——RM
A “channel store” would put apple in the role of subscription TV provider — essentially a cable company. Broadcasters are going to want the same deal they have with existing cable companies — bundled packages of channels, etc. Effectively, this would make Apple just another provider. Not sure they want to be in that business.
To bother getting into the business, I think they’re going to want to be able to claim they revolutionized the market a la iTunes Music Store. Direct, a la carte channel subscriptions, operating at a loss for a while, with the bulk of revenues going to the broadcasters.
Even then, without the bundling model, I don’t believe the broadcasters will see enough profit to sign up. Why mess with a good thing?
No, I wasn’t clear. I didn’t mean “channels” in the broadcast sense, I meant “content apps”. For example, when Major League Soccer wanted to get onto the Apple TV, it was a big hassle for all involved as they had to negotiate with Apple to get that spot on the home screen. By contrast, when MLS wanted to get on the iPhone and iPad, all they had to do was submit their app to the App Store and wait for approval.
Why can’t Apple TV apps be handled the same way as iOS, is what I’m asking. Content providers shouldn’t have to wait for Apple to push out an update to the home screen — they should just have an App Store like iOS and the Mac.
——RM
Have you not heard of Airplay?
If you have an app on iOS that streams video, you can send it to your Apple TV. Seriously.
Yeah, but it’s a lot more convenient to have the channel right there on the Apple TV, isn’t it?
——RM
+1000! Apple gives you what *they* want to give you; not what *you* want. Same reason they wouldn’t give you Blu-ray. They want to lock you into their cloud and sell you their content.
If one can afford Apple products, then one can afford having AppleTV and Roku. I do.
Roku+: Mormon Channel and BYU TV
AppleTV+: AirPlay
Native support of PLEX Media Client is a must for me so the Roku 3 is my go to device with a library 1400+ .mkv movies. Although as inexpensive as an AppleTV is, there’s no reason not to have both if it were absolutely necessary.
I think we will be really surprised at the next Apple TV.
The clincher for me in buying the Roku was the ability to hook up to an older tv without HDMI.
The older TV thing sealed it for me too. I would love to have an ATV, but it doesn’t support my kit.
Prefer the original Apple TV over the hockey puck. 160GB of internal storage is great for the hospital call room and sometimes the component output comes in handy.
Have both and they serve different needs. AppleTV is best at grabbing conent from your computer, or grabbing iTunes content.
Roku seems to be more like a traditional tv programming service.
I use my AppleTV to stream from my computer via Airplay.
Roku currently occupies my time just a little more than AppleTV.
Both were worth the investment.
The lack of direct support for Amazon Prime on Apple TV blows.
Not so much really. Amazon prime blows, same money as iTunes but far more locked down and restricted & poorer video quality to boot. Prime is a step backward.
I want to see SD rentals for $1.29 & HD for under $2 just like I can get at the red box on the (virtually every) corner. From somebody… anybody!
However… until the studios and distributors grow a pair and tell the cable & Sat companies that they stand in line for content like everybody else and don’t get to strangle internet distribution “just because that’s how it used to be done” I don’t think that is too likely. And I will have to continue to traipse down to the corner to pick up movies.
Apple TV 2 because you can jailbreak and install Xbmc. Then all the movies and TV you want. Roku is ok never used it but some people like it. I think comparing roku to Apple TV non jailbroken is like apples to oranges. Sure both are TV viewing but roku has more options. Appel TV is mainly for streaming content from Apple.
I had to spend as much to hook up my Apple TV to hook it up as I did for the unit. Optical to Analog for the audio which used a two adapters and a good quality HDMI cable ran me around $110. That’s my only minor complaint.
As usual, Apple makes it very easy to update the units firmware, so I’m sure a lot of the gripes I see people posting will be addressed at some point.
I have an Apple TV 2 and a ROKU 3.
The main reason I have the Roku is to be able to access Amazon Prime movies.
If Apple TV supported Amazon Prime movies, I wouldn’t need the Roku.
The implied conclusion of this article takes me back to the loathsome cable days – zillions of channels for $40 bucks a month – and nothing to watch.