Is the Apple TV the best streamer you can buy now? | The case for Apple TV

The Apple TV has gotten a less-than-glowing reception from us for the past several years, but as streaming TV has evolved, the Apple TV 4K looks better than ever. Was the Apple TV just ahead of its time, or have we just woken up to it?

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0:00 - Intro
1:31 - Previous Opinion
2:22 - Tons of Horse Power
3:12 - Apple TVOS
3:49 - Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and HDR10
4:24 - Premium Interface
4:46 - Other Premium Features
5:39 - No Home Screen Ads and More Privacy
6:53 - Final Thoughts

In our studio:

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#AppleTV #Apple #4K #AppleTV4K #TVOS #HomeTheater #HDR #DolbyVision #iOS #AppleEcoSystem

[karaleighkirk]

Honorable mention for the ATV screensaver. The long, extremely high quality, drone shots are so completely relaxing.

[RevMHK]

The killer feature for me is the ATV4k’s ability to output Spatial Audio to an atmos enabled receiver. Some well produced tracks on Apple Music - classical music in particular - are just so immersive and impactful in this format.

[joelgreen]

I’ve owned every rendition of the Apple TV mostly because I loved the integration of the screensaver with my family photos. They are fantastic responsive devices and we have on all of our systems at the house. Expensive yes, worth it? Yes!

[_alexMadeira]

I got one last year, one of my favorite devices ever. It’s fast, I can link my streamings services into the TV app, the Siri integration is very nice, and the integration with other Apple devices is super useful.

[bweber]

Can you please do a VS of high end streaming devices. ie Shield, Roku Ultra, Fire Cube, and Apple TV. I would love to see a best of the best.

[TurtleMatey]

Would you still recommend the Apple TV 4k if I'm not bought into the Apple ecosystem?

[raulgarcia]

Been with AppleTV since the gen 1. I currently have the first gen 4K edition. I got it for the atmos since I didn’t have a 4K tv. It worked very well with a few quirks but when I upgraded to a 4K tv with Dolby vision it was a game changer. The AppleTV practically set itself up now behaves as if it’s the tv’s OS. The best part was not having to re-enter all my log-in credentials when I changed TVs

[jrod]

I love my shield pro. I prefer android but its nice that apple has something for it's consumers aswell.

[SuperFredAZ]

For $50 I have a a Rolu streaming stick, it works perfectly and is cheap enough to keep in every room

[ooFalconoo]

I have an Apple TV 4K and I love it, but I have to use my Chromecast with Google TV 4K for HDR10+ with Amazon Prime or for Dolby Atmos with Plex etc. Do you really think that the Apple TV 4K is superior to the NVidia Shield Pro or for that matter the Chromecast with Google TV 4K?

[merciless]

I don’t even use LG’s WebOS apps I my LG 65 inch G1 when I’m streaming. I use my Apple TV 4K. It’s worth every dollar! It has every app you can think of. Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Tubi, Peacock, HBO Max, Pluto, YouTube etc. I love to game on it as well using Apple Arcade.

[brianginn]

Does it work via Bluetooth to my The Five’s?

[alter-ego-]

Absolutely correct!
I too thought Apple TV was a gimmick until I owned a 4k tv myself last year.
The quality of panel is one thing, but without a good UI the overall experience fails drastically.

[NuclearSoda]

I don’t recall any ads in the google tv platform…

[openaperture]

Ive loved Apple TV for years but currently it has a bunch of problems - Amazon no longer outputs HDR or match frame since the last update and Atmos tracks on Netflix have had problems with pops and clicks since TVOS15

[HydraSpectre]

My only problem with it is that it doesn’t support DTS audio, which is important for IMAX Enhanced.
And it doesn’t support HDR10+ for Amazon Prime Video and Hulu.

[cpatterson]

I had two OG Homepods sitting around doing almost nothing when at some point they were updated to be useful as Atmos speakers for the Apple TV. It was a no-brainer to make the switch from built-in Roku to Apple based on that alone (my Samsung soundbar sucked). The airpods feature is also a nice bonus.

[Monsoon]

Been using Apple TV since the beginning, through its many versions. A few years ago, I got curious and tried a ton of the others: Roku, shield tv
Pro, assorted Amazon devices…kept coming back to apple as much as I wanted to get away. No ads! That’s a big one for sure. Speed, ease of use…it’s excellent.

[alexreynoldsjr]

Lack of ads was one of the reasons I got a Shield, but now I have ads thanks to software updates. Good pints were made here. A lot has changed. Would love an Apple TV and Shield head to head video.

A few years ago I would never have switched, but would it be worth it now?

[MrThebadger]

Big thing the current Apple TV is missing is some kind of advanced upscaling engine. The new one has a neural engine that could handle the AI and it would go a long way to improve HD picture quality on that thing.