[spike021]

I've had an Apple TV for about 2 years. Last year I bought a Chromecast (against my better judgement) for my parents because their "smart" TV apps are awful. I would've bought them an Apple TV but they didn't want me spending that much on them, unfortunately.

But long story short, like you're saying the Apple TV's UX is on another level from the (previous) Chromecast since it lacks its own UI and controls. It's definitely one of the painpoints that I've noticed my parents having difficulty with.

Whereas Apple TV has an easy to use UI (other than individual streaming apps sometimes making their own media player UI, like Disney+ and Amazon Prime, which are awful).

[smolyeet]

i agree. at the time i purchased an AppleTV because ChromeCast was just awful. I'd lose connection from my iPhone, browser, friends would lose connection. Streaming from Plex was terrible. I liked just being able to have a dedicated box but didn't want to get a Roku/FireStick.

I'm glad they finally introduced this but it's a bit too late for me .

[seppin]

I hate that you can't browse media on your iphone while broadcasting to your appletv. Any video that comes up will take the place of what's playing on your TV

[jayd16]

A chromecast is not in the same product category as a an AppleTV. You'd want an Android TV box/stick for that. Chromecast is more like a cloud connected miracast/DLNA target.