The new Apple TV

One word. China. Wait for it on eBay. Beware though that it may be sketchy initially.

BBC have dropped F1 to cut costs. Channel 4 have taken over FTA F1 in the UK.
Is there a C4 app?

Do you need a VPN to use the BBC iPlayer app? I have a UK iTunes accountā€¦

Youā€™ll need something like Getflix or Unblock-US to access iPlayer.

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I only use Getflix. It works beautifully with that.

For what its worth, I have all FTA channels streaming live over my network to my ATV 4.
This is how I do itā€¦

  1. Apple TV 4 (ā€¦of course)
  2. HDHomerun Connect (https://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/connect-au/)
    I got this on ebay for $220 (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Silicon-Dust-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-/281903226750?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276)
  3. Channels App (http://getchannels.com)ā€¦also shows how it all hooks up
    Costs $22.99

It has a few minor issues to do with the TV guide (or lack thereof) but it does have a ā€˜Nowā€™, ā€˜Nextā€™ & ā€˜Progressā€™ of current show, which I canā€™t get to sync with whats on.

Additionally, it also picks up sum radio stations like any digital tv tuner does on your computer (albeit SBS & ABC/JJJ).

I can now switch the Apple TV on, watch live tv, swipe between channelsā€¦It has definitely changed the way I watch FTA TV.

Hopefully, in future updates of the Channels app, I would like the ability to pause live TV & a DVR to record to network storage.

Peace out!!!

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Thanks for sharing - does seem expensive to have to spend an additional $250 to still have to use a digital tuner when most TVs have one already built-inā€¦ but I do like the idea of being able to watch FTA via digital tuner on all LAN connected devices!

Itā€™s all about having all my entertainment in the 1 place. Yes it is a little expensive but this is how I envisaged how it all should workā€¦TV anywhere anytime with the convenience of OS X/iOS, not only for me but the mrs, kids & any family guests as well who arenā€™t as tech savvy as myself. They all (well most) know how an iPhone/iPad works!

I also have an Elgato Netstream which I use to stream live FTA TV to any of my (7) iOS devices & have 2 other HDhomeruns on my network for redundancy for my future additional Apple TVā€™sā€¦

The final piece to the puzzle was the Channels app & once I put it all together it was like magic, lolā€¦IMHO, itā€™s worth every centā€¦

Thanks, It seems to work well. Will have to see how much BBC I watch to work out if it;s worth longer term investment than the free trial period.

I have a Beyonwiz PVR with a 1TB hard drive and with Infuse I can see all my recorded tv shows on the Apple TV through the samba share on the Beyonwiz. Not quite live TV (I can watch the Beyonwiz for that) but useful to have access to my recorded shows via Atv.

I still kick myself for not realising when Tivo sold off their network package keys towards the end, would mean anything could go onto our Synology. Oh well.

I considered getting the Beyonwiz PVR & still may get one. I like the fact that it has multiple tuners & can be streamed over the network. It would be killer if they had an app for the ATV 4 though, similar to the iOS app.

I also have Infuse, which is excellent & my go to app for all my movies. I use to use Plex a few years back but I moved away from having to have my Mac Mini on & running the Plex Media Server in the background. Instead just went with a HDD attached to my Airport Extreme. This work well for my situation at least.

Also, I like the fact that I have 1 remote for everything when Iā€™m watching TV now & I can access all my media through the Apple TV, whatever it may be.

Theyā€™re on midseason break, starts up again in March.

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I picked up a Gen4 ATV lat week and am having mixed feelings about it.

Background
I have a Mac Mini running Kodi to playback video from a NAS.
I grabbed an ATV3 last year to plan Netflix and Hulu.
FTA TV was handled through the TVā€™s built in tuner on the off chance we actually watch FTA, although I do have a 1TB PVR in a cupboard I occasionally think about hooking back up for recording the news.

Everything is routed through a Yamaha Receiver to a Samsung TV.
Everything is controlled through a Logitech Harmony One remote.

The Mac Mini does a couple of background tasks too; Central iTunes Music Server (played to AirPlay Speakers around the house) and OSX Server to caching updates. It used to also do AirPlay (before the ATV3). The caching isnā€™t really needed anymore (Iā€™m now on a high speed connection) and I could load iTunes is largely replaced by direct streaming through Pandora (or I could load iTunes onto my NAS).

The New
The ATV4 replaces the ATV3 completely PLUS with Plex and/or MrMC it does the video playback from NAS too.

1st up, the remote. Itā€™s a huge step forward from the old remotes, Siri integration is greatā€¦ but since I have a Logitech remote it means I need to have a second remote to use any of the advanced features. I think it will also need a little tweaking (or re-learning on my part) before Iā€™m comfortable with how the Harmony will work with the ATV4. Within apps it behaves differently to what I am used to.

Since I have a receiver AND TV I donā€™t know that I can have everything turn on/off with the ATV automagically, but something to look into one day.

Similar to the old ATV3 Netflix, Hulu and Apple purchases work brilliantly (although Iā€™m struggling with how different Netflix is now vs the old version, but Iā€™m sure Iā€™ll get used to it).

Plexā€¦ well Plex works very well with a but. As much as I try to love it, itā€™s always a little clunky for me. Fast Forward/Rewind currently has lots of issues, but saying ā€œskip forward 5 minutesā€ or ā€œskip to 1 hour 23 minutesā€ works** (In theory). Iā€™m also finding everything is transcoding and while I have a fast enough server behind it, it still sucks if you try and skip forward / back it lags out and doesnā€™t always come back.
Itā€™s a new app on this platform and it will get batterā€¦ but we will see. (Essentially it needs itā€™s only video player rather than replying on the Apple built in one that requires everything to be transcoded).

MrMC
Itā€™s Kodi for ATV4. It works brilliantly, just like it did on the OSX before. The limitations are no pluginsā€¦ so no skins that the family are used to and no extra little plugins that we are used to. That said it seems very stable for me and no one has complained significantly a week in.


tl;dr
I have sort of replaced like with like but with compromises. Sure I theoretically have less power draw and have to switch between less stuff, but itā€™s change for change sake. Everything was working anyway.

As a second unit on a bedroom TV (which I donā€™t have) it would be awesome. A single box that brings me everything I want with a single remote. Great.

But for me, Iā€™m trying very hard not to pack it back into itā€™s box and sell it on the only thing I will be missing is the Siri integration.

Seen the proposed app switcher in the 9.3 beta?

Why would you do that? Why make it less useable? I liked the separated cleanliness of the current TVOS app switcher.

In any case, I wasnā€™t going to update anyway. Iā€™ve resolved not to be a guinea pig with TVOS and let others test it out. I refuse to be a victim of planned obsolescence on my Apple TV like I have been with my iPhone and iPad.

Folders are welcome though.

Gawd. Thatā€™s just awful. It could be the one thing that will send me back to my ATV3 (or even 2)

To make it match the app switchers on the iPhone/iPad, thatā€™s pretty much the only reason.

A new app switcher? No way. Iā€™m going back to Front Row because I will not stand such dreadful offences!

Digs out ancient iMac, wonders why nothingā€™s supported anymore, rages blindly at modern life

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Iā€™m thinking it might be time to start hunting down some of these in Australia for all these devices that canā€™t be turned off (which makes re-setting things a little easier when you need to). Might also be very very handy for me since I leave a bare figure of 8 connector on my desk to swap different battery chargers on/off as needed.

Solved. Switch off auto update. Iā€™ll keep it the way it is, thanks.

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