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Comment by AlbertCory | Hacker News Reader

Details: I own a Mac & no other Apple devices. My TV is an LG. I have the Apple streaming service on the TV, purely because they have some pretty good shows (Ted Lasso, Separation, Acapulco).

Is there something an Apple TV device would do for me? I'm not seeing it.

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A lot of people prefer standalone streaming boxes over integrated "smarts" because they tend to run more smoothly due to having vastly more powerful hardware and tend to receive software updates for a much longer period (see Samsung smart TVs where features stop working in 1-2 years). A dedicated streaming box also sometimes makes it easier to cut out the egregious data harvesting that smart TV makers employ to subsidize their TVs (though Roku and Amazon Fire devices are still data vacuums).

My personal setup is a 2018 Sony TV with an Apple TV 4K. The smarts on the TV aren't the worst, but the Apple TV handily beats it in fluidity, so the TV has never been connected to the internet and never will be.

Apple TVs make convenient AirPlay streaming targets, not sure how AirPlay support is on smart TVs.

Seamless integration with Apple pay and your Apple account, if you have that.

You can use your iPhone (or iPad?) as an input device for the Apple TV. Very handy for typing in passwords or whatever. Would not apply to you obviously. Can also pair a BT keyboard with the AppleTV for the same purposes, FWIW.

IIRC Apple TVs don't collect the insane amounts of information that smart TVs collect.

Apple TVs might have better interfaces as well, though that's obviously subjective. All the smart TV interfaces I've used have been pretty trash. But maybe they're better now, I dunno.

A media player like nvidia shield or apple tv is just a lot more performant and gets updated for ages. TV firmware mostly gets abandoned when the next generation releases. The interface gets laggy and slow very quickly.

Also, some people have Plex/Kodi setups with a NAS. Not fun to try to play UHD Bluray remuxes on a TV directly.

The Apple TV has a nice interface, has up-to-date apps for all services, will continue to be updated for years, has various apps that might be useful to you, and can even do fairly impressive casual gaming.

If your LG interface is not irritating you and has all the software support you need, then no.

I got one because I didn’t trust my TV enough to connect it to the internet, and I wanted to watch things from my Plex server on my tv.

We use all of the other Apple services too, and our Apple TV facilitates that. Music, TV, Arcade, Fitness, iCloud Photos.

Just depends on your usage.

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