Yes plus bank discounts some yes actually make it very similar to us pricing!
Apple TV 4K experience?
- Thread starter renegade
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superczar
Skilled
AirPods are sure priced obscenelyExpanding on that, I think a 3k OnePlus pods is equivalent to a 21k ipods pro for my usage. I don't bother to understand why anyone would buy that. Esp something that has high probability of getting lost. But would I have bought it if it were selling for 9k, most likely.
Similarly, is the 18k ATV equivalent to a 6k FS4K in terms of normal usage, most likely. Will I still buy the ATV, most likely.
Maybe in a pre corona world. Right now it's faster to wait.
Having said that, deals and the likes bring them to a saner price point.
Again, on the point of value derived vs the absolute premium paid, some find them totally worth it
(to elaborate, 3K vs 10K may seem like a 300%+ premium on paper but its just 7K in absolute terms)
BTW vanilla AirPods were down to 8K on FK day before yesterday
Between me and my wife, we have lost two pairs yet gone back to them for replacements + a pro.
The primary reason is the call quality and the convenience- I have wasted enough money on supposed AirPods killers (Jabra and Samsung) but found none that comes close to call quality on voip/POTS calls for the listening party end.
given that our primary income is based on a job that requires a lot of talking, it makes the purchase a no-brainer.. The seamless switching is just an added (but substantial) benefit.
I am a bit of a smart home/automation freak.
I have probably gone through almost every smart speaker by amazon/google/apple over the years - - and currently have 10 on daily active duty around the house.
Likely The only two models I haven't tried are the echo studio and the new nest audio
The big HomePod (which is sadly discontinued) and partly for the small one too, The AQ , responsiveness and accuracy (esp on home automation commands) s quite a bit superior to Alexa...
As for the the smart home accuracy of google home , the less said the better.
As for the AQ alone , the HomePod (large) is far superior to the competition (I haven't tried echo studio though as stated- but then the price differential argument doesn't hold true)
The small one too is excellent too- and better than the nest hub.. Haven't tried the new nest audio - but again, the price differential argument doesn't stand
On you latter point, is it technically possible to get more from alternatives that what apple would cost ? probably yes..
But when you tie It up altogether, the amount of time/tweaking/ fixing that goes into getting most of these alternates to the same level of user experience ( if at all) - the value equation starts to look very different
Of course, if your use cases are very specialised, alternate options will yield better performance at a lower cost to boot
But for most of us regular joes, the amount of software testing/ QA/ performance optimisation that AAPL does on their products - it makes the small premium totally worth it
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Not sure what you mean price differential point doesn't stand
Homepod mini is 10k. In 7k which is 30% less than mini I can get a Google nest audio or an Amazon echo. It is not possible for homepod mini to even compete with these full size speakers. I would never waste money on the apple product but I can tell you both the Google nest audio and Amazon echo sound amazing for that price. I tried to read some reviews right now, none of them compare the homepod mini to fullsize Amazon and Google speakers. I am sure if the small speakers were better than the larger ones (highly unexpected) a lot of apple fanboys will be going crazy posting the videos.
There is no point comparing full apple speaker to these as that is 3x-4x as expensive.
So the price differential definitely exists where you can get a lot more for the same amount of money. However as you said for you money is not a barrier, in which case i dont understand why you don't go for actually good speakers like Sonos or even something like a bluenode. Without price barrier, I can guarantee they will sound 10x better than the homepod
Regarding siri vs Alexa vs Google.. You are the first one who prefers siri... None of the reviews say so. Siri is so far behind Google in terms of ai, deep learning, machine learning applications it is not even comparable. Maybe you don't use Google services which is why you are not able to understand the brilliance of Google assistant
To your point of tweaking I have been using both Amazon and Google speakers for almost past 3 years now, never felt a need to tweak Anything. Although and this is by far the biggest plus point, if I wanted to I can tweak most items and experiences on Alexa as well as Google home but i am sure if i get the homepod as a gift to waste some time on, it will not play along with half of my equipment
For example I control my Yamaha ht, projector and jriver nuc via Alexa and nest mini. Now to do that from apple, I am sure apple would either need me or the company to pay money to apple before they decide to "allow" me to use my device in a way I want to
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superczar
Skilled
Wait - to set things straight, Of course money is a barrier for me.
I , like most other people on this forum am an absolute value seeker.
On your first point, I haven't heard the Nest Audio but it is extremely unlikely it will match the full homepod - that's just plain physics
I haven't heard the Echo studio either - so I cannot say it it will match up or not - but the studio costs more than the HomePod anyway.
As for your point on Sonos, no, I won't spend money on Sonos (or bluesound).
I am a bit of a sound freak too - and I have over the years, been lucky. enough to setup at least a couple of dedicated setups that are way (and I mean way) superior to what any Sonos would sound.
And no . I won't compare HomePods to a dedicated stereo - because that is just not a fair comparison either in terms of price or use case
As for Siri - I never said it is superior
I just said its far more accurate (and responsive due to local processing) on home automation commands - which is something that holds 100% true
So before you brush my comments aside in favour of web reviews, I don't think you will find a single review on the Interwebs / YT / elsewhere that would even touch upon this for a moderate HA setup, let alone a large multinode one
Why does a nest audio need to compete with homepod full though, it is less than the price of the mini. The comparison should be nest audio or echo (not dot) vs homepod mini? Similar to your point on plain physics, this is what sounds like plain physics to me, a decent bigger speaker is going to be better than an awesome small speaker
About your home automation experience, I don't have any experience with that as the most smart thing in my house is a bulb and that too is useless to me [emoji14] so I will take your experience as the truth for that. I thought you were saying as an assistant siri is better, which is where I have experience on ipad compared to. Google. And Amazon
superczar
Skilled
All I am saying is the value equation is nowhere as extreme as you are making it out to be
Is the nest audio better than the HomePod mini? Perhaps, no way for me to say till I actually hear it.
Is the HP mini better than the Nest hub - absolutely (I have both)
Is the Echo studio better than the HP mini - very likely (I don't have studio but it will surely be better)
Is the HP large better than the Echo studio - maybe yes, maybe no - But the echo studio anyway costs more
On a side note, on HA, the primary reason I have tried so many smart speakers is because of the extensive home automation that I have done (someone featured it on hackaday.com as well)
Specifically on that front, HomePod is quite superior to Alexa.. And GH just falls aside
Homekit has an open framework for non commercial integration unlike Echo (which partially does) or google (which makes it extremely extremely difficult)
Lookup homebridge or alternatively, home assistant for an easy and beginner friendly mechanism to do so ..
Any API exposed by your equipment will likely be integratable with Siri
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Just to update that it's available on sale now. Though deliveries are restricted due to lockdown.
I have used all three popular streaming devices. For me it is Apple TV FTW. The convenience of changing audio output device and the overall smoothness of the experience alone is worth the premium.
I only decided to keep the mi box because usb port was need of the hour for me.
I only decided to keep the mi box because usb port was need of the hour for me.
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raksrules
Elite
Do you happen to have other apple stuff in your home and how are you able to integrate or leverage them to better use with apple tv? I am just trying to understand the use case as I have many apple stuff like iPad, iPhone, apple watch and Macbook.
Basic ecosystem benefits that I actually enjoyed were -
> Integration with photos app. You can see all your photos and videos with perfect clarity on your tv screen. Like even live photos work pretty well.
> Airpods and bose headphones work pretty seamlessly across all apple devices.
> Airplay/drop has no issues unlike with Fire TV and Mi box.
> I also use screen mirroring at times to type youtube comments, to read work pdf's etc.
> Another cool feature is the automatic redirect to phone keyboard which allows you to use your phone's keyboard whenever you need to type somethin in your Apple tv.
Every streaming app is better optimized, it is easier to switch language, subtitles and audio output device. You also have the option to select low noise mode which will reduce noise in the films you are watching and give better dialogue clarity/ less noise disturbance at home. Internet quality drops are handled pretty well with almost 0 buffering.
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TinTinSnowy
Adept
I am using JioTV Box in one TV and FTS latest gen in another. Satisfied with both. I prefer JioTV STB over anything now a days. Seamless integration with OTT platform subscriptions through JioFiber and universal Jio remote works like a charm.
Rahul
Skilled
I am also using ATV 4k for last couple of years, earlier it was ATV gen 2 for almost 8 years. I bought the 64GB version for ATV 4K, frankly it has no use, 32GB would have been sufficient. Difference between 32and 64 is not like iphones price. I have connected a NAS storage with the router and ATV is also connected with network cable so can play hi-def content from NAS storage, works really well. Audio quality is good with Airpods pro. Also works well with Dolby Atmos soundbar i have had for sometime. I feel its worth only if you are already into apple ecosystem, using mobile or watch as a remote is very convenient also audio connectivity works very well without any fuss and audio quality is great. Also support in terms of software is really great from apple, i used the ATV 2nd gen for almost 8 years and it worked great. UI was still very smooth, without any lags whatsoever.
Is it from power ON or sleep?
Got a used 2017 64gb 4k for 10.5k. I sold my HD earlier, but realized I can't live without ATV! Even subscribed to Apple one subscription for 195/month.
Even if you have poor internet, the atv just manages to stream the best quality without buffering which is kind of a magical life saver feature. This is its best feature for me.
Second best feature is the ability to switch between audio devices/subtitles in one press. Reduce noise feature is godsend when ear fatigue kicks in on headphones.
Streaming quality wise, Mi box is worst, fire TV is a bit better but still slow, apple TV is on another level!!
Even if you have poor internet, the atv just manages to stream the best quality without buffering which is kind of a magical life saver feature. This is its best feature for me.
Second best feature is the ability to switch between audio devices/subtitles in one press. Reduce noise feature is godsend when ear fatigue kicks in on headphones.
Streaming quality wise, Mi box is worst, fire TV is a bit better but still slow, apple TV is on another level!!
From power on.
Seriously TWO seconds??? this is what i call apple fanboyism
.It takes at least 15 seconds!!! Of course its definitely faster then even firestick 4K.