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by lobster_johnson 3053 days ago
> Apple TV collecting dust. Replaced by an Android TV due to not making it easy to play all file formats.

The previous Apple TV incarnations were not great, but the current Apple TV is fantastic.

If you need to access your own media, you can run an app such as Plex, Kodi or several of the other alternatives. I've only used Plex, which covers all of my needs.

With the current streaming offerings I'm increasingly less dependent on BitTorrent. Amazon Prime became available last year, but I especially appreciate niche players like FilmStruck (which has a small but rotating subset of the Criterion Collection) and Fandor.
1 comments
jasonsync 3053 days ago
Yes, I used Plex for a couple of years, but it was not really "standalone" ... I had to have a media server (my Mac Mini) running constantly. I looked into Kodi on the AppleTV but it was not trivial to install.

Overall it was easier to just purchase an Android TV device (Nvidia Shield).

I too find that Netflix, a few niche players and the odd movie rental from Google Play covers virtually all of my needs, but there's always something that comes up (someone brings some USB stick over or whatever) which Apple TV doesn't support.

It's odd that Google can develop a TV platform that supports all file formats easily, multiple players etc. and with Apple you still have to jump through hoops to play a file ...

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