I’ve seen a few posts here and there raving about the Apple TV box but it’s always occurred to me what’s so special about it?
A lot of my products are Apple and I’m starting to try and build a smart home (nothing crazy) but I have Sonos, Nest etc and I’m wondering what an Apple TV can offer me. I’ve read a few blogs but nothing seems to scream out at me.
Smart TV’s seem to have a lot of streaming apps and I gather I can AirPlay to it. One thing that I did find interesting though, I saw someone comment earlier that you can just chuck your AirPods on and it seemlessly connects (albeit very rare I’d need to actually do this, like it was suggested if the other half wanted to go to sleep I could carry on and watch tv with my AirPods).
What are the other worthwhile benefits?
If you only use legal streaming services and don’t watch plan to use HIDIVE if you are an anime watcher, AppleTV is great. It is fast, the UI is polished, apps work as they should (except HIDIVE), and Dolby Atmos and Vision content work correctly. You can even match color space and frame rate to avoid 3:2 pulldown and SDR->HDR tonemap issues.
If you plan to use “free” streaming services, get a AndroidTV device. Most of those sites work via the web browser or have an app. AppleTV has no web browser so only a native app or AirPlay is how you play videos.
If you are into the more “mature” content, getting a Roku or AndroidTV is the way to go as those work correctly there and have native apps for some websites.