School me: Apple TV VS Chromecast

[spikerS]

So, trying to learn the differences between the 2 devices and services.

What are each of the strengths and weaknesses of each?

What costs are associated with each?

Besides the ~$70 price difference, what other costs are involved, and which is better?

[Unknown303]

They are not the same. You should compare the Apple TV to the Nexus Player for a more direct comparison.

http://play.google.com/store/devices...d=nexus_player

[pheoxs]

Apple TV - having a remote is nicer so you don't always need a phone/ tablet. And it supports nhl Game Center. Doesn't support Plex which is what my media server runs which is kinda stupid. Only way it will play local media is if you have a server with everything running in iTunes.

Chrome cast - lack of remote is annoying as you always need to remember to charge the tablet. Being able to be watching something on the tv, shift it back to the tablet and keep watching in say the kitchen is awesome. Great for parties, multiple people can connect to it and build playlists in YouTube so you always have music going. Supports plex which is great for playing all my local media. Can also cast entire browser from a laptop if you use Chrome. Doesn't support nhl game Center unless you cast it from a laptop which I found to be slightly laggy

The Apple TV has actual apps and channels for it, the chrome cast basically just lets you put certain apps from your phone into the tv. Best bet is to look what apps each supports and go from there.

Also I use my roku more than either

[dr_jared88]

Originally posted by Unknown303
They are not the same. You should compare the Apple TV to the Nexus Player for a more direct comparison.

http://play.google.com/store/devices...d=nexus_player

While I agree the Chromecast and Apple TV aren't a direct comparison, depending on what spikerS is looking for may be enough then spending the extra on the Nexus player.

I have two Chromecast's and use them daily. It is incredibly simple to use for apps that support it such as Netflix, Youtube, Google Music, etc.

For the price it is certainly a great bang for your buck.

[spikerS]

you guys are right, chromecast wasnt quite what i thought it was.

what about apple tv vs roku?

[Unknown303]

Originally posted by dr_jared88


While I agree the Chromecast and Apple TV aren't a direct comparison, depending on what spikerS is looking for may be enough then spending the extra on the Nexus player.

I have two Chromecast's and use them daily. It is incredibly simple to use for apps that support it such as Netflix, Youtube, Google Music, etc.

For the price it is certainly a great bang for your buck.

I agree and I actually have both Apple TV and a Chromecast. The wife prefers the ATV but I like my Cromecast.

[syscal]

Originally posted by spikerS
you guys are right, chromecast wasnt quite what i thought it was.

what about apple tv vs roku?

I had the same question last month. Found an awesome site to help explain it all http://lmgtfy.com/?q=apple+tv+vs+roku

[rage2]

AppleTV's strong point is that it's a universal interface for all apps. Once you figure out how to use one, every single app is pretty much the same. Parents and Grandparents love it because it takes 5 mins to learn.

Another strong point is if you're tied into Apple's ecosystem. You can easily buy and rent movies in their store, and everything is available on the cloud. If you subscribe to iTunes match, all of your music is there without needing your phone/tablet.

AppleTV also supports airplay (basically what Chromecast does) but for iOS and OSX devices so you can playback content or mirror the screen directly onto the TV via AppleTV. There's android support too, but from what I've seen, not as reliable as native support. The big advantage for airplay vs chromcast streaming is that everything is supported natively with Airplay, where as chromecast you can only use supported apps.

The biggest downside is if you have a lot of movies on your local server. There is native support for playing it via iTunes, but it's pretty terrible as you have to use iTunes, and you're forced to convert to an Apple friendly format. There is 3rd party support for playing and live transcoding any format to the AppleTV, but that requires you to use your phone/tablet and Airplay to initiate the stream. The app is called AirVideoHD, and it works awesome minus the mobile device requirement.

Some of the more minor features that I use with AppleTV that deserves a mention:

- Netflix: By far the easiest and fastest Netflix interface of any device. I've used 'em all, PS3, XB360, XB1, various TV's, WDTV's, BD players... the AppleTV Netflix app kills 'em all.

- Family sharing: My family is connected to my account, so their AppleTV has full access to every movie I buy.

- Travelling: When I'm at the inlaw's, I simply log in and my entire collection is available since everything is in the cloud.

- At a random person's house: AirPlay supports a feature called Play from iTunes in the cloud. I can choose any media that I have in the cloud from my mobile device, and airplay it to their AppleTV, which authenticates my purchase temporarily on that AppleTV and plays it right off their AppleTV. It's like the "Travelling" mode, except I never have to login, nor give out my credentials.

- Apple ecosystem: I guess it's a plus and a minus in one. Everything you buy is available on all of your devices. I have in my hand on my phone 200+ movies that I've purchased and can watch anywhere I have internet. Streams great on LTE too if you can afford the data, or free on wifi. The bad? You're really tied down to the Apple ecosystem once you've got a sizable investment into it. I haven't bought a bluray in years (3D movies being an exception), and so I've got a couple grand of movies and music tied to the system. Really tough to leave and move onto a different platform as I'd either have to download everything locally which gives up cloud convenience, or rebuy everything in whatever cloud service I want to move to.

[killramos]

Originally posted by spikerS
you guys are right, chromecast wasnt quite what i thought it was.

what about apple tv vs roku?

Have you considered just using your xbox one?

Seriously though, it does DLNA etc ( you can even do the plex app if you want it super polished).

You can rent movies on it if you choose to.

Has Netflix, Gamecenter, etc.

Best part: You already own it so its free?

[rage2]

Originally posted by killramos
Have you considered just using your xbox one?

Seriously though, it does DLNA etc ( you can even do the plex app if you want it super polished).

You can rent movies on it if you choose to.

Has Netflix, Gamecenter, etc.

Best part: You already own it so its free?

I haven't had great experiences renting and purchasing movies on the XBox network, both on 360 and XB1. Streaming the movies, the quality jumps back and forth because it's struggling to transfer at the highest quality setting. Guessing it's poor connectivity between Shaw and Microsoft's network, although my games seem to download pretty quick at 50mbits.

[killramos]

Originally posted by rage2

I haven't had great experiences renting and purchasing movies on the XBox network, both on 360 and XB1. Streaming the movies, the quality jumps back and forth because it's struggling to transfer at the highest quality setting. Guessing it's poor connectivity between Shaw and Microsoft's network, although my games seem to download pretty quick at 50mbits.

Weird i have always found it to be a great experience so long as you wire your home network. Don't even bother with wireless.

I agree that its not the best optimized streaming system (Netflix is king here imo) but it works just fine for me and the library is huge and nothing is to expensive.

I just wanted to point it out as an option, and a particularly good one if he is planning on using it on the same tv as his xbox. If he is putting it somewhere else well that's a different story because for 400 dollars an xbox does not work better than apple tv.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by spikerS
what about apple tv vs roku?

I have a Roku3 set up with a US subscription (just using UnoTelly) and it works great.

I can use all of the US based subscription services (Hulu, Amazon Prime etc) without having to worry about US credit cards and addresses since Roku proxies all of the payments.

Netflix and Hulu are also blazing fast on the Roku3.

[rage2]

Originally posted by killramos
Weird i have always found it to be a great experience so long as you wire your home network. Don't even bother with wireless.

Yea, found it weird too. It does the same thing on both my XB1's, one on wireless and one wired. The XB1 wireless is great (it supports 5ghz N) and I see identical network performance from both. The PS4, which only supports 2.4ghz N, *needs* to be wired.

[The_Penguin]

I used to use 2 Popcorn Hour players and YAMJ to manage my downloaded content.
I also had Plex so it seemed silly to have a copy on the plex server, and then running a script to generate the menus on the Popcorn boxes. Tried Chromecast, and while it worked ok, they were a bit flakey on wireless. Finally decided on 2 Roku 3 boxes on the main TVs, and Chromecast on the less-used TV.
LOVE the Rokus! Plex, Crackle, Netflix etc. all work really well, and they're wired, so rock solid.
Will keep the 2 Chromecasts and sell the Popcorn boxes and call it done.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Just get a WDTV Live. No iTunes to deal with, no file format issues, no screwing around with US subscriptions, it just works every single time and plays anything you throw at it. It's cheaper too. Dead simple to use. Plug in your own media from an external source, or stream it wirelessly or wired. You can even cast your phone screen with one click to view YouTube in perfect quality just like a Chromecast. It has Netflix and Spotify built in as well.

[heavyD]

I agree with Rage in that if you are a big Netflix user Apple TV blows everything away with accessibility and ease of use. First time I tried Nexflix on my PS3 I thought something was wrong as I couldn't search all their movies like I could with Apple TV but that's the way it is on other devices. PS4 and XB1 are both no better and painful in comparison to ATV. Honestly if I had to use other interfaces I don't think I would drop Netflix.

[ganesh]

Question for rage2 , does Apple TV supports all the audio fromats for the movie?
I want to stop purchasing BD's and go with a cloud ooption. From what I have seen it looks like ATV doesn't support all the audio fromat. Is that true?

[rage2]

Originally posted by ganesh
Question for rage2 , does Apple TV supports all the audio fromats for the movie?
I want to stop purchasing BD's and go with a cloud ooption. From what I have seen it looks like ATV doesn't support all the audio fromat. Is that true?

No DTS, DD 5.1 only. Best movie to rent/buy to test out audio performance, Heat (1995).

If I was to make an educated guess, the next AppleTV will probably support DTS and 3D, in which case your cloud purchases will automatically upgrade (at least for audio).

Apple launched iTunes extras a few months back, which basically packages all of the BD extras to their system, and all my old purchases upgraded for free.

[supe]

Originally posted by rage2

- Netflix: By far the easiest and fastest Netflix interface of any device. I've used 'em all, PS3, XB360, XB1, various TV's, WDTV's, BD players... the AppleTV Netflix app kills 'em all.

I'm going to argue that chromecast is at least on par if not better. Searching for content through a mobile interface is so fast and smooth. To me thats the highlight of chromecast.

[rage2]

Originally posted by supe
I'm going to argue that chromecast is at least on par if not better. Searching for content through a mobile interface is so fast and smooth. To me thats the highlight of chromecast.

Yea, I was speaking purely from a UI perspective using TV and remotes (what most people use).

Even using the cast method, you can use the Youtube app on your iPhone and airplay it to AppleTV anyways. Same thing.