Hi and hope all are well today. First, thanks in advance for any / all responses. Second, apologies if this isn’t the best place to ask this question.

I’m curious if anyone, has moved completely from using an AppleTV to something else. Current use case for the ATV is a few streaming apps (Crunchyroll / HiDive, Tubi, etc.) and Apple Arcade (a few casual games).

If you did completely switch, what did you decide on using? Did you go back to buying movies / using a DVD/Blu-Ray player, setup a mini PC and stream from websites / rip music and movies, use a gaming console instead, etc.?

Exploring options and entertaining thoughts for right now. Again, thanks and have a good day / evening.

Edit - 2024/01/01 - Just wanted to thank everyone for the lively discussion and resources (links, recommendations, etc.) related to my question.

1 point

I’ve never used an Apple TV, but my smart TV is a Roku and it does most of the things you’ve described. I use Crunchyroll and Tubi and a few other streaming apps including Apple’s. I use Prime Music and it has like 99% of the albums I want to listen to. Obviously it doesn’t have Apple Arcade, but I mostly just play games on my phone anyway. I even put a Roku box on an old CRT TV that I use sometimes for watching older shows in SD format lol! I don’t know if this is the type of answer you were looking for but I hope it’s helpful.

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1 point

As does my fire stick, and even my Vizio smart TV … all except the Apple Arcade

I’ve bent thinking about moving in the other direction. I try to avoid privacy abuse of the SmartTV and Fire Stick is being enshittified, so what should I use? AppleTV seems interesting to try plus games may be fun

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1 point

Appreciate your insights on how you use the Roku devices. Understood about gaming, my eyes can’t handle mobile gaming :)

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-3 points

We have a Roku and host a Plex server. I have never had an apple tv but I don’t think I am missing anything

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2 points

Thanks for the reply. Seems Roku / Plex are a fairly common combination.

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2 points
*

Yup. The generic answer. I’d rec a nvidia shield pro. I have two and fucking love them.

Edit: also prefer jellyfin

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28 points

I have tried Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast (not the new models with an interface), and AppleTV. So far Apple TV is the cleanest without ads or sponsored content on the home screen.

If you find something better please let me know.

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7 points

I like my Roku, but it would be much more annoying without a pihole to block the ads.

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5 points

And telemetry.

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1 point

When I switched my family from predatory directv, this was obviously a question I had, and I ended up going with chromecasts (gen 2 and 3/ultra). Once I showed them how to use their phone as the controller, it immediately clicked, which was fantastic. I thought about an atv or an android box, but that would involve multiple profiles and remembering to switch when someone else wanted to use it (android TV boxes have this buried in the system settings; and I’m the only one with an apple account). Ads were a showstopper for me too, so the pictures/art on the cc when idle was great.

Curious why you went the other way :o

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6 points

Because Google is collecting data on EVERYTHING you do.

https://lemmy.world/comment/6326127

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1 point

But as a person who doesn’t use G services (well, Grayjay)… the question still stands

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1 point

Understood about the ads / sponsored content. I’ve not used anything but an ATV, but I’ve heard similar (ads, interface, etc.). If I come up with a different solution, I will revive the post and let folks know. Thanks.

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2 points

I ran an Apple TV in the living room for a long time to access my Plex server and whatever subscription my wife has this month. As time went on it got more and more glitchy until it came to the point where I had to power cycle the thing every few days. Replaced it with a cheap fire stick, annoyed the crap out of me. Replaced that with a cheap Roku, it was only slightly better than the shitty firestick.

My wife got me the NVIDIA shield pro for Christmas this year, and I picked up the p2920 controller for it. My god this thing is awesome - not only is it the best tv box I’ve ever used, I can use moonlight to play games on my rig or GeForce now to stream games. I highly recommend this thing

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4 points

Roku really should not sell most of their cheapest options, they’re very bad, while the top of the line Rokus are very solid.

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1 point
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1 point

I’m seeing a few comments on the Nvidia. I know of them, but had not really given them a serious look. Thank you so much!

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6 points

Nvidia Shield Pro with the default launcher disabled & replaced, Plex server. I’m pulling the unused apple TV out of the media setup this week.

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1 point

Thanks, this seems like a common theme as well as Roku and Plex. At least you can recoup a few dollars on the ATV if you sell it.

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2 points

Preference on a launcher? I’m getting tired of the google ads lol

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1 point

I use flauncher. It’s ugly and doesn’t have a lot of features but I don’t care. I only have two apps installed, so I’m rarely looking at or using the launcher anyway.

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