All the streaming boxes suck now | Hacker News Reader

All the streaming boxes suck now

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49 pointsmfiguiere63 comments

The AppleTV works great, and you can switch the Home Screen from “grid of apps” to “TV Guide”. The only service that doesn’t seem to participate in Apple’s aggregation among the services I use is Netflix.

Also the Emby app is decent.

I agree - Apple TV is very tolerable. Most importantly it's fairly robust.

I wanted to try the Apple TV, but the interface was riddled with ads. Same issue with Roku.

I’ve seen no ads on my AppleTV, other than what apps/services show me.

However, each app in the top row gets to populate the top half of the screen with its own content. I primarily use Netflix, which just displays the shows I recently watched. Maybe other apps are showing you the ads you’re seeing?

There are no ads on my AppleTV. Maybe this depends on which apps you have installed - Apps get to put content (usually stuff you're in the middle of watching, or new shows) on the AppleTV home screen. Perhaps some are abusing this privilege?

There are no ads on the Apple TV.

What do you consider "Ads"?

Did you see new movies on different services and consider those as ads?

Or did you get ads for a new detergent and the local grocery chain?

I read that you now need to have an iDevice to use Apple TV, which would make it a bad experience for those not in the Apple Ecosystem. [1]

[1] "The Apple TV expects you to have an iPhone in order to accept new iCloud terms and conditions": https://9to5mac.com/2023/01/16/apple-tv-iphone-required/

I believe that's since been fixed.

Never affected me here in the UK. We are an Android household but have an AppleTV which has continued to work perfectly. Very happy with it.

The appleTV is locked down and unusable for doing anything remotely interesting.

This website is "hacker news".

Hacker News is a misnomer.

Mainly it's people bitching about Apple, hawking their doomed startup, or pretending to know Rust but all of that is too much for a snappy website name.

edit: Also, sometimes people will wax poetic about a shitty project some dude did on a Thinkpad running i3.

The Apple TV works well as a consumer product though, it's reliable, it's simple to use, everyone in my house knows how to operate it, so on and so forth.

Being on Hacker News doesn't mean that every comment needs to praise how interesting technology can be, as I grow older I get a lot more value from reliable boring tech than when I was younger and riding the waves of the next Linux distro that promised me to be able to configure everything under-the-sun as I pleased.

Yeah, it might be unusable from a "hacking" perspective, it's still a great product for a streaming box that doesn't suck :)

What are you looking to do with Apple TV that you can’t do?

Yet I originally moved from roku to appletv specifically because I could sideload "real" apps much easier.

I've used an AppleTV almost daily for several years, ever since the first ads appeared in my Roku, and I've never heard of this 'tv guide mode'. A quick google didn't find much, so I'm sure it's got some other strange Apple-branded name. I'll look for it next time.

I'm referring to the "TV" app, which aggregates content from all of your streaming services, or, at least the ones that participate in Apple's aggregation program like Apple TV+, Hulu, HBO. The article refers to this cross-vendor aggregation as "TV Guide".

Ah; that isn't something you can "switch the Home Screen to", though.

Apple TV is by far the worst streaming box. It's only barely tolerable if you are part of the Apple ecosystem, which most of the world is not part of.

Navigation sucks. Definitely a case of neither form, nor function, guiding the UX experience. Navigation is inconsistent within the interface itself, and Apple forces services to modify their interfaces to meet Apple's nonsensical requirements, so streaming service UXs on the ATV are inconsistent from every other platform for which they are available.

The Apple TV remote is alternatively too sensitive and not sensitive enough, and the Apple TV is prone to lagging, which compounds these sensitivity issues.

And profiles/multi-account management is so bad it would make Steve Jobs want to smash every ATV box into a million pieces. A child's profile has access to adult content by default which defaults the entire point of having a profile just for kids.

How do you switch the Home Screen to TV guide? I googled this but couldn’t find it.

Its pretty good overall. My two complaints:

- It bugs out on 5.1 dolby audio with my attached sonos soundbar. I very frequently need to either restart all devices or force stereo to get any audio, especially on netflix/hbo/disney

- Its not screen time integrated for kids. I can setup profiles but they do almost nothing useful.

Let's rephrase that:

All the commercial streaming boxes suck now

As mentioned elsewhere a single board computer like a Raspberry Pi running LibreElec + Kodi still works fine. Jellyfin is another good alternative.

It was clear from the outset that commercial streaming things would eventually turn into steaming piles of muck since that is the way all such things go. The same is true for "smart" televisions (and most other commercial "smart" things) as there is always the urge to "monetize" that extra channel which has been opened to the customer, to "partner" with "affiliates" to deliver "added value", to... turn everything into shit.

Run your own things instead using free software on your own hardware without ties to some data-leaching mother ship somewhere out on the 'net.

Where does Plex fit in though?

Because it's free but absolutely riddled with ads these days.

The Jellyfin of the hoi polloi?

Plex is why Jellyfin forked away.

Riddled? There's one section with their crappy D-list movies you can stream. You can turn that off easily.

The author's comment about the NVIDIA Shield is dead-on. I love mine and I think it's the best streaming box on the market. But it's a total afterthought from the company.

It was amazing. Google fucked it over when they forced Nvidia to “update” the interface with advertisements.

There are third party launchers, but they’re not as smooth.

So typical of the modern Google. Shoving ads at us down every possible channel.

Google is an ad company, with a side business in hardware and software. No surprise there.

Not in my experience, but I got the cheaper one, so of course it's terrible.

I'm no expert here — but I find the Chromecast box excellent.

Maybe that's because I'm comparing it to a laggy Samsung UI with squishy remote buttons?

Even so, it feels well-designed and well-executed. And cohesive, unlike some of the other Google Home / Nest products...

The best streaming boxes these days? A not-too-outdated laptop that's been retired from everyday use. Sure, it's bulkier than your 'streaming box' but it can double-duty as a backup laptop for browsing or play some basic indie games on the TV. Install an ad-blocker, install your browser of choice. It probably already has Windows 10 or 11, so you're good to go - you can even install a VPN and unblock various regions for streaming services.

With a decent amount of on-board storage, and all of that - you can set it up to be an HTPC. Most laptops within the last 3-4 years will support 4k over HDMI. Those with a discrete GPU definitely will. If it has an integrated GPU, with intel 610 or newer - it most likely will.

You can buy a remote and an IR sensing dongle. Or go with a small handheld keyboard and touchpad.

Not the best option honestly, a lot of services offer a crippled experience through the browser or on desktop OSs in general. Not to mention HDMI copy protection and the ever-evolving requirements to circumvent it.

For the moment I'm happy with my Apple TV and Plex/Jellyfin, but the situation feels a bit precarious.

What I want from a streaming box: I click a button, it wakes up, I can play whatever I want including stuff I downloaded (Plex). This is exactly what the Apple TV gives me.

What I don't want from a streaming box: Install updates, have a bulky laptop stand next to my tv, install an ad blocker, have a browser, add dongles to then use some control with many buttons.

>What I don't want from a streaming box: Install updates, have a bulky laptop stand next to my tv, install an ad blocker

You don't need an ad-blocker: you can just watch lots of annoying ads.

If you don't like that, you need an ad-blocker. Almost no one wants to give you a service that isn't full of ads. Remember, they promised this with cable TV back in the early 80s: "pay a monthly fee for our TV service and you'll never have to watch ads again!" It was a lie. Anyone promising the same today is also lying.

I'm using YouTube Premium, Netflix and Apple TV+, there's no ads on these services.

I'm using torrents and mpv, there's no ads on these services :sunglasses:

Yep, that's exactly what the cable TV subscribers said too.

Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

So what is your suggestion then? Not use streaming services at all because they potentially get ads in the future?

I don’t see any ads on my Apple TV

In the Apple TV interface, there are tiles for other shows and movies to watch, some of which I'd have to pay extra to watch. Which is totally an ad. If you have AppleTV+ you might not be seeing those as ads because you don't pay a la carte for each show.

Hard disagree. I ran various HTPCs over the years, including Windows, and they're untenable with streaming. No remote control is any good at any web interface. Many services block surround sound and the highest resolutions on any full PC experience (Windows, Mac, Linux, whatever).

I'm forced to agree with the article's premise - everyone's gotten worse. I loved my NVIDIA Shield, but Google's UI refresh made it into another adfest like all the cheapest devices so there's no point in paying for the premium experience. I tried to use an XBox Series X which works fairly well but its apps are all neglected - Paramount Plus had subtitles broken for a long time, the back button works only half the time, and Plex will randomly flash static on the screen when streaming plain old h264 from the local network.

I've recently ordered an Apple TV, which is my last hope. If that's garbage, perhaps it's time to stick to my new year's resolution and stop watching things on the TV.

> Many services block surround sound and the highest resolutions on any full PC experience

I have 4k streaming from Netflix, Disney, Prime. I don't know about sound, but as far as resolution is concerned, I'm fine here.

> I'm forced to agree with the article's premise - everyone's gotten worse.

I also agree. Windows has native apps for most of the streaming services - have you tried that? You get full 4k, audio and all the usual bits (as far as I'm aware, but I haven't tested).

> Plex will randomly flash static on the screen when streaming plain old h264 from the local network

I have not experienced this.

> I have 4k streaming from Netflix, Disney, Prime.

No you don't. Disney and Prime both only stream in HD in the browser/Windows App and Netflix requires Edge or Safari to stream in 4K and is limited to 720p in Chrome.

I have a really hard time telling the difference.

Edit: in the "App Setting" on the Edge browser, it says up to 4k UHD. On the Windows Store App, in the same place, it says "Up to HD". I use the browser most of the time, and if I'm only getting HD then it's just really good.

>I have not experienced this.

AV setups are a pain to debug and I have no patience for it. Something in the Plex -> XBox -> HDMI Cable -> Receiver -> TV pipeline has issues, and it's only Plex on the XBox. Plex on any other device (including Android devices hooked up to the receiver/TV) are fine. Other apps on the XBox are fine.

I also have massive issues getting content to direct play on my XBox that worked fine on my Shield similar to this user: https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/xmg7xk/xbox_plex_why_...

I haven't tried the Windows apps lately, but with whatever they're calling the framework-formally-known-as-UWP I doubt they're much better than the XBox versions. Heck, I bet the XBox versions get more testing.

> Plex will randomly flash static on the screen when streaming plain old h264 from the local network.

Like, actual old school static like on an analog TV that's tuned to a dead channel? Because (with the exception of the HBO intro sequence), that really shouldn't be happening since the switch to digital.

The premise is that they all suck because of things like universal search that isn't universal. That's a pretty minor complaint.

A laptop connected to your tv works pretty well, but its a far more fiddly experience than any of the streaming boxes. If it works for you that's great, but if you were to try and sell it as a competitor to apple tv or Roku you'd be laughed out of town for the terrible UX.

> if you were to try and sell it as a competitor

I never claimed it has the superior UX. It will never be, probably. As a product, it's not a HTPC - it's a laptop.

I use exactly this setup with a Logitech K830 https://www.logitech.com/en-ca/products/keyboards/k830-illum... and I couldn't be happier. The keyboard is extremely robust (had it for about 10 years, spilt coffee on it once).

You can sit on the sofa, surf normal websites on your TV using the setup, etc. Connect various external HDs for any downloadable content, run programs to do said downloading, use VLC, etc.

I have a 1080p TV and run Windows at 200% on it, sure there's not that much room for content but for casual surfing and file browsing etc. it's fine.

Does a Raspberry Pi with LibreElec/Kodi count as a streaming box?

Cause it's absolutely excellent.

If you combine it with a seedbox?

I built an HTPC three or four years ago and I could never go back.

Has anybody noticed that image quality in Netflix on Apple TV is very variable? Often it is great, but sometimes quality goes way down. Like VGA or something. Force killing the app usually fixes the problem, not always though.

There is a bug since at least two years where Netflix streams at roughly < 480p if you have a ATV4K hooked up to a 1080p screen.

Do you know what the trigger is? I’ve never seen that so I’m guessing there’s some unlucky hardware combination or some network quality misdetection?

I have the same issue. I have to reboot it like once a month. Although it seems to affect every app and not just Netflix for me.

I just plug my laptop to the hdmi cable. Still noy sure why I would need a tv box.

Is there one service that combines all the streaming services for one monthly price?

it was called popcorn time

It's still available -

https://github.com/popcorn-official

It is called a PlexShare.

It used to be a cable subscription but then we all cut the cord and now have to subscribe to multiple services. Of course it’s not exactly equivalent but the result has not be an unalloyed improvement.

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