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What the title says. I don’t know if the Apple TV is sincerely better than the Ultra, but since I’ve built up what I’d consider a fairly standard home theater system (4K tv with HDR, soundbar w/ Dolby Atmos…no surround system or anything overly fancy) the Roku has caused some annoyances. Right now the hassle is the Paramount Roku app keeps blanking the screen when watching Dolby Vision content, sometimes requiring a tv power cycle.
Anyways, I know I’m asking the Apple crowd here but I’m considering the switch but don’t know if it’s a difference of preferences or if Apple TV (4K) is genuinely superior?
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Apple TV is amazing and I used to use Roku.
I have both and prefer the Apple TV but I can see where other prefer using a Roku. Hardware wise the Apple TV is vastly superior to the Roku Ultra. The Apple TV has faster SOC, more ram, more storage, better WiFi and better Ethernet. If you are not doing anything that takes advantage of the better hardware then you won’t notice a difference.
What TV and soundbar do you have? The Apple TV does not support Atmos over an ARC connection so if you have a TV with ARC and a soundbar with one HDMI you may not get Atmos.
Apple TV is in a whole other class. My old Roku Ultra feels like junk in comparison.
I’m an AV tech, dozens of rokus and apple Tvs installed, apple is better I’m my experience
The Apple tv fits into the Apple ecosystem. Watching a movie and your doorbell sees someone at the front door, you can have the Apple tv throw up a picture in a picture when it does. Get a FaceTime call? You can take it in your tv. Have a Facebook video on your phone? Flick it up to the tv.
Beyond that, the Apple tv has the superior processor so everything is always butter smooth and flawless. There are no ads, and Apple isn’t selling your data to anyone.
What doorbell supports this? I have a Ring.
I have a Eufy camera I put on my porch just before the pandemic (so definitely not the latest model), and it does this - get a notification on the Apple TV, with an image in the upper right corner, when someone steps onto the front porch. If I tap the home button on the Apple TV remote while the notification is there, it’ll pause any video and pull the camera feed up full screen.
The camera is also set so it is not uploading anything to Eufy (no monthly charge and no serving as someone else’s remote camera, the way Ring has done occasionally from what I’ve heard) and uses Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video, through the AppleTV (I trust Apple more because security and privacy is one of their selling points - if they got caught doing anything funny with the video, their bottom line would take a massive hit). With that, I can use the Home app on my iPhone to have a live feed of the front porch from anywhere, if I want.
(The irony - got the camera so I could see packages and such on my porch during the day, and then like a month later switched to working from home.)
ring is amazon so it’s alexa. But going to amazon and searching for homekit doorbell (or camera) will bring up several homekit compatible devices.
Alternatively, for things like uniquiti cameras, you can setup a homebridge server that will bring non homekit video feeds into homekit.
I ring my ring cameras through homebridge to make them work with HomeKit. No problem viewing all my cameras on Apple TV
I like the Apple TV as well. I would love to have a hybrid Apple TV with Roku-like remote!
As someone who also came from Roku, let me put it this way: Going from Roku to Apple TV is like going from a $500 beater car to a $100k sports car. It’s higher quality, nicer materials, better user experience, and just faster.
Beyond there being no ads, the UI is very fluid. I often use my Apple TV with my iPhone as the remote, which creates this unique feeling of control over your experience. I feel as though most of the apps on AppleTV are better designed than the Roku versions, and are more likely to get new features first.
If you have the budget, and are already integrated in the Apple ecosystem, this is 100% a solid purchase. I have one, and plan on getting another one for the bedroom (once I upgrade my TV, lol)
Side question: for the iPhone as a remote thing…can multiple users do that? Like can my wife use her iPhone as a remote while I’m at work or is it tied to whoever’s Apple ID the Apple TV is registered with?
Anyone with an iPhone that is connected to your WiFi network can use their phones as a remote. To setup, just open the remote app on your phone and select the name of your Apple TV. A 4-digit code will appear on your TV that you’ll need to enter on your phone. After that you’ll never need to do that again.
Make the leap to Apple TV. It’ll be worth it with your set up
I gave up on the Roku platform after I had to throw away my third, otherwise functional, Roku device because they decided to obsolete them. I don’t know how long I’ve had my oldest Apple TV, but it still works as good as new and it still gets updates.
I used Roku devices up until about 7 years ago, and then I switched to Apple TV. The Rokus were fine at first, but I ended up having all kinds of problems with them. I don’t recall now what those problems were since it was so long ago, but I did have the Roku Ultra. I think it was the first model Roku Ultra they came out with at the time. Haven’t had any problems with Apple TV.
Do you have any other apple devices? If so hands down Apple TV. If you are android and windows stick with Roku.
Only ever had apple TVs but like some have already said, yeah, ATV is overpowered for streaming. No lag or stutters. I have used it on Wifi for ages and now on ethernet. No real issues, except for my actual wifi sometimes.
I’d recommend it if you want something hassle free.
My other family members show up on my device. But I’m the only one that uses them. I own 4 of them.
I put in the AppleTV yesterday and replaced a roku ultra. I can just say, none of it is NEEDED but it is a FAR superior experience. Especially if you use iOS devices as a remote sometimes. Siri, music, airplay, recommendations etc… just better.
Just open your phone and hold it close to the appleTV and it will set it up and log you in. So far we love it. My kids spent all evening using Apple Music with Sing and yelling in my living room… was a good night.
You can set up profiles for each member of your family. Logins to the apps is simplified on most as you just open the app on appleTV and then open the app on the phone and it says Login? and you tap yes and you’re in… you can just tell they thought out the ecosystem for apple users.
I would only say it takes a bit of getting used to
I own an Ultra upstairs and Appletv downstairs. Roku does have ads, but not as many in my opinion as Amazon. I find Air play works more consistently and faster on appletv than on the Roku. My young children enjoy using the remote on Roku more than Appletv. The find my remote sound on the remote on Roku is nice. I think the picture quality is slightly better on appletv than Roku. Appletv will probably faster longer than Roku. Appletv feels a bit more high end than Roku, if you care about that sort of thing.