Apple TV streaming service

[Chik]

Any thoughts welcome, but namely, whether you think it's worth the bother and why.

Many thanks.

[Matthew Strongin]

I think it's like most of the other streaming services...a few shows that are great and make you forget the subscription cost and when those seasons end you consider cancelling until they come back. I don't think its library is nearly as deep as Netflix, but the convenience of the native AppleTV app is great and the few shows that are good are very good.

[robin3mj]

I think it's like most of the other streaming services...a few shows that are great and make you forget the subscription cost and when those seasons end you consider cancelling until they come back. I don't think its library is nearly as deep as Netflix, but the convenience of the native AppleTV app is great and the few shows that are good are very good.

What he said. The ability to dip in and out of these services is nice. I wonder when they’ll wise up and start having minimum term lengths.
For Apple, Ted Lasso is the standout. I liked the first season of Morning Show but not the later one, though my wife kept watching. Physical was OK. My extended family has been talking about Severance but I haven’t seen it yet.

I think the Disney/Hulu/ESPN bundle is the best bang for buck out there these days.

[Matthew Strongin]

I mostly have Apple TV for Ted Lasso. I just watched Blackbird and it was pretty solid. Agree about Physical. I'm watching it because I'm paying for the service, but don't know that I'd miss it once I cancel (following the last Ted Lasso season).

[j44ke]

Content was good but has flatlined a bit. I think traditional movie producers are getting stubborn about insisting on theater releases. Backwards.

[gt6267a]

Highest quality original content outside of Stranger Things. Tehran, Ted Lasso, Mythic Quest, and Slow Horses were popular around here. AppleTV interface is superior to firestick. Only purchase the current generation with the "new" remote. Its vastly superior to the original AppleTV remote.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Highest quality original content outside of Stranger Things. Tehran, Ted Lasso, Mythic Quest, and Slow Horses were popular around here. AppleTV interface is superior to firestick. Only purchase the current generation with the "new" remote. Its vastly superior to the original AppleTV remote.

Can I just buy this remote and use it with my older AppleTV? Because the older remote I'm using is straight up garbage; so problematic with the MLB.TV app. Edit: It appears not.

[gt6267a]

Can I just buy this remote and use it with my older AppleTV? Because the older remote I'm using is straight up garbage; so problematic with the MLB.TV app. Edit: It appears not.

google says yes. have not tried it myself.

[Chik]

Content was good but has flatlined a bit. I think traditional movie producers are getting stubborn about insisting on theater releases. Backwards.

I sympathise with the producers who have a potentially strong commercial product. Going straight to streaming means missing out on the upside.

Highest quality original content outside of Stranger Things. Tehran, Ted Lasso, Mythic Quest, and Slow Horses were popular around here. AppleTV interface is superior to firestick. Only purchase the current generation with the "new" remote. Its vastly superior to the original AppleTV remote.

What are the advantages of having their hardware? It seems like an expensive white elephant when you can just use a cheap Google dongle thingy to play it on the telly. What am I missing?

[pdxharth]

A cool thing about AppleTv is you can share it with friends and family easily, right through apple. That’s what we do with AppleNews, too. I pay for apple news, my brother pays for Apple TV, and we share them with other family members.

HH

[rec head]

My wife has all Apple everything so we have all their services and lots of their devices.

For watching we use the Nvidia Shield or recent model 4K Apple TV device. I'm honestly a little surprised that using the Apple TV isn't perfect. I thought that Apple would have everything working but they don't. It isn't a bad device, I just thought the Apple premium would mean something. Watching Apple TV on the Shield is fine.

For content I don't think you can go wrong with paying for a month and watching Ted Lasso and Severance. Severance is a slow burn that really starts paying off towards the end. I think the service is about $10 a month and just watching that stuff is well worth it. I've tried several other shows and think I've seen all of Morning Show but wouldn't get Apple TV+ for any of them.

[gt6267a]

What are the advantages of having their hardware? It seems like an expensive white elephant when you can just use a cheap Google dongle thingy to play it on the telly. What am I missing?

I have not used an AppleTV app. Presumably you are not wrong, install the app on google / fire / something and you have a good experience. there are some integrations to use a phone as a remote, the actual apple remote (new one), and integrations with the rest of your apple life (unknown what is possible via the app because I have not used it). other things you might do with the appletv like installing apps / games / etc presumably one could do with a firestick or google dongle type things so no real advantage there.

[COVRTDESIGN]

I only use the Apple TV for mirroring my laptop to one of my screens if I want to watch something on a bigger screen. Other than that I either have the Plex account that has everything on it or I stream sports.

Ted Lasso is worth everything though, especially if you understand UK humor and daily life. They absolutely killed it with that show!

[Chik]

I only use the Apple TV for mirroring my laptop to one of my screens if I want to watch something on a bigger screen. Other than that I either have the Plex account that has everything on it or I stream sports.

Ted Lasso is worth everything though, especially if you understand UK humor and daily life. They absolutely killed it with that show!

Tell me about Plex. Never heard of it...

[robin3mj]

Forgot about Tehran, that is a great show.

We’ve had a couple iterations of the Apple TV and I think most of them also allow you to use your iPhone as a remote, which is pretty handy, especially when you have small kids and the apple remote goes walkabout around the house on occasion.

[Chik]

I only use the Apple TV for mirroring my laptop to one of my screens if I want to watch something on a bigger screen. Other than that I either have the Plex account that has everything on it or I stream sports.

Ted Lasso is worth everything though, especially if you understand UK humor and daily life. They absolutely killed it with that show!

I had a browse of Plex's web site, and this Luddite is a bit foggy on one aspect. Is the Plex Media Server necessary if I just want to watch something from their assortment and don't have my own content to play on the TV screen?

[zetroc]

As someone with no Apple hardware and a Dumb TV, it's difficult to watch Apple TV shows on my television. There's no Android app, which would make it trivially easy to use with my Chromecast, so I end up playing it on my laptop and casting the web browser page in fullscreen mode to the Chromecast. It sucks.

When big corporations can't get along, the customer loses. I'm going to watch a few shows and then cancel it.

[rec head]

There are Android apps but not for every Android device.

[robin3mj]

One more must watch on Apple, if you’re of that generation: The Beastie Boys documentary. Say what you will about many (debauched, sexist. etc) parts of their career in the moment, seeing the remaining two riffing as middle aged dads against the backdrop of the music they made is pretty sweet.

I’ve watched it start to finish a few times and it’s also in my late night “one more half hour” rotation when the Yankee game ends and I’m not quite ready to turn in. You can add the Trojan Records, Eagles, and Linda Ronstadt docus to that list.

[Saab2000]

Speaking of must-watch for music fans, the documentary on the history of Ron and Russel Mael, AKA Sparks, is a great watch. I’ve been a fan for years and loved the film.

Not necessarily an Apple thing but a music thing….