I played around with that new Nimbus controller. I don't know if Apple helped Steelseries design this thing, but it feels as premium as an Xbox controller. It feels great in the hands. Great analog triggers, and sticks that don't have offensively huge dead zones! This thing is near perfection. Played it with Asphalt 8. If you buy the controller, the Apple TV is pretty much a console. I guess it's up to publishers to bring games to the thing, but if you are going to buy an Apple TV, don't pass up on this controller.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Apple TV |OT|
- Thread starter wachie
- Start date
Macho Madness
Member
Apple suddenly shipped my ATV. Says it will be here tomorrow.
infiniteloop
Member
they did supposedly.
eyeball_kid
Member
My TV is still Preparing for Shipment. Apple really dropped the ball on this, especially when this thing is using an old chip. If they were having trouble with production, they should've waited instead of leaving day-one preorders empty-handed.
Yup, Apple did help Steelseries with the Nimbus design. I wouldn't agree that it feels premium or looks good, but it does seem (aside from the Hori pad) to be better than any of the previous MFi controllers. My biggest complaint is that it's really heavy.
re: the keyboard, many developers have filed requests to allow Siri speech-to-text input with the Remote. So they're definitely aware. It's sort of inconceivable that Apple thought shipping with that keyboard was a good idea. The funniest part to me is that switching between upper and lowercase letters requires swiping over to a separate button, instead of making one of the Remote's buttons a toggle.
Yup, Apple did help Steelseries with the Nimbus design. I wouldn't agree that it feels premium or looks good, but it does seem (aside from the Hori pad) to be better than any of the previous MFi controllers. My biggest complaint is that it's really heavy.
re: the keyboard, many developers have filed requests to allow Siri speech-to-text input with the Remote. So they're definitely aware. It's sort of inconceivable that Apple thought shipping with that keyboard was a good idea. The funniest part to me is that switching between upper and lowercase letters requires swiping over to a separate button, instead of making one of the Remote's buttons a toggle.
I guess that explains why it was featured so prominently in the Apple Store I played it in. And it's sold at a pretty good price, especially since other controllers are stupid expensive.
345triangle
Member
apparently they did. that said, i don't think steelseries would need the help to match an xbox controller in terms of feel apple's input was probably more technical.
eyeball_kid
Member
I would expect that apps that low are using one of Apple's TVML templates. They get a lot of functionality for free. But I wouldn't expect that to be typical of TV apps, especially going forward as developers have more time to design more full-featured apps. Those TVML templates are good for content-heavy apps like video streaming services, not so much for other kinds of apps like utilities and social networks.
Yeah, perhaps I'm exaggerating, but I'm too used to iOS Bluetooth controllers not being very good, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found that this was an overall improvement over other controllers I've played with.
I'd hate to see this go to waste, which is why I think it would be great for developers to take advantage of this controller for their games.
eyeball_kid
Member
The no Siri for Apple Music really puzzles me, as they've already done that work. Maybe there's some technical difference between the way iOS and ATV send Siri requests, but offhand I don't see one.
The Remote app...let's forget the ATV for a moment, the Remote app hasn't even been updated for iOS 9 yet and doesn't work with Apple Music at all when controlling a Mac. I don't understand why Apple gives it so little love when it's one of my most-used Apple apps. But I've heard that there's only one engineer assigned to Remote, and they probably aren't even full-time on it.
This. YouTube definitely isn't upgraded, it's just converted to the new graphic style from the old ATV and assume the USA one is the same way. I expect the standard YT UI to come within the next week.
My one big gripe is the in-video menu is tough to close via gesture and Menu ends the video. Also, HBO Now lost auto play
Waylon Drums
Member
I actually miss the old Apple TV app. The new one is just like the iOS apps.
Yeah that's a good point, most of those media apps are pretty barebones and seem to follow the same template. The HBO Go app looks modern/custom though and that's still only ~30mb which isn't bad at all really. I don't think storage space will be an issue on these devices unless you're a heavy gamer.
I was swiping over to the shift button as well but a friend told me that you can just long press on the character to change between uppercase and lowercase. It also pops up a backspace button right there too so you don't have to swipe all the way to the far right.
But yeah this is by far the worst part of the Apple TV experience. Having to type in my super long randomly generated Netflix password with that on-screen keyboard was painful. It's ridiculous that they have no other alternative solution for text input yet.
Well many apps use that pin system which I like quite a bit. Does make me wish the remote had a thumbprint reader and lastpass worked with apps on iOS though.
biggersmaller
Banned
Bought mine today. Native DLNA support would be amazing.
The universal search seems weird to me. It never shows Netflix results if I use Siri or the Search tool, but if I manually select TWD in the trending shows search it shows Netflix. But I am using a VPN and US Netflix so maybe that's why, but it's disappointing for sure. I bet it'll take Shomi and other non-US apps a year to update.
Alright, this is a stupid question, but I'm a little confused about AirPlay. I have an iPhone and a Mac but and want to know what I can get out of it.
I watched a video in which you can air play a video or mirror it, so when it comes to air playing is it like chrome cast? Does the Apple TV need to have an app to support air play or can I just do it with anything? Also when it's air playing and not mirroring, does it need to stay on the video, or can I lock the screen or use a different app while its playing on my phone?
Never used an Apple TV but I'm curious. Thanks.
I watched a video in which you can air play a video or mirror it, so when it comes to air playing is it like chrome cast? Does the Apple TV need to have an app to support air play or can I just do it with anything? Also when it's air playing and not mirroring, does it need to stay on the video, or can I lock the screen or use a different app while its playing on my phone?
Never used an Apple TV but I'm curious. Thanks.
Bestbuy suddenly shipped mine.
sonycowboy
Member
Picked up my Apple TV 64GB from Best Buy at closing time. I'll just return my online apple order to my local apple store next week.
Cons:
1) OMG does that keyboard suck. I also couldn't pair my iMac's keyboard to it or use 1keyboard from my MacBook Pro like I did with my old AppleTV.
2) Going to every <network>/activate site was painful, but still better than typing in anything from the apple tv.
3) App Store discovery is horrible as folks said.
Otherwise, I'm pretty giddy with it.
Does anybody know any cool Siri shortcuts to have it choose a particular show from Netflix if you know it's there?
like: "Show the flash from Netlix", so I don't have choose
I was just playing with
"Go to the beginning" and "Go to the 30 minute mark"
Cons:
1) OMG does that keyboard suck. I also couldn't pair my iMac's keyboard to it or use 1keyboard from my MacBook Pro like I did with my old AppleTV.
2) Going to every <network>/activate site was painful, but still better than typing in anything from the apple tv.
3) App Store discovery is horrible as folks said.
Otherwise, I'm pretty giddy with it.
Does anybody know any cool Siri shortcuts to have it choose a particular show from Netflix if you know it's there?
like: "Show the flash from Netlix", so I don't have choose
I was just playing with
"Go to the beginning" and "Go to the 30 minute mark"
HUELEN10
Member
Jesus, I fucking hate this remote.
Volume up and down get stuck! My volume went up to 80 in like 5 seconds because the damn volume buttons keep sticking.
And the thing has crashed 3 times already. And there is no systemwide overscan option (some Dee's REALLY don't know the meaning of safe area).
Not a bad deal for 14.99 (don't ask), but shit... So flawed.
Volume up and down get stuck! My volume went up to 80 in like 5 seconds because the damn volume buttons keep sticking.
And the thing has crashed 3 times already. And there is no systemwide overscan option (some Dee's REALLY don't know the meaning of safe area).
Not a bad deal for 14.99 (don't ask), but shit... So flawed.
Yeah those are way easier, but it's still kind of annoying when you have to repeat that same process over a dozen times (once for each app).
There needs to be an area in settings to login with your cable provider once and have all third party apps read from that.
thiscoldblack
Unconfirmed Member
I love everything except the on screen keyboard, as expected. Let me use my phone for that! The trackpad will take time to get used to, but it's not a big deal. There are so many things that I disliked about the previous Apple TV that got addressed in this new edition. I'm really happy about this purchase. Things will get better and better for Apple TV from now on, hopefully.
SmackCrackleNPop
Member
You can click on Play/Pause to toggle between lowercase/uppercase/symbols
This is why I would have liked HDMI passthrough. With handoff/continuity you could see coming calls from your phone and other notifications. Alsomwould let you use Siri a bit like amazon echo.
It being hidden away on a separate HDMI input masks a lot of the possibilities
Oh this is cool. Does it play the latest as in the next one you haven't watched yet? (Not the latest broadcast). If so that might be worth getting just for that. When we sit back in the even to catch up with something the Xbox is ok but you need a remote because voice is shit (Xbox go to plex. Item 3. Item 4. Play. It's like dialling a call centre)
Although thinking about it, half our stuff is on plex or Amazon prime so maybe I'd better wait - if plex gets 'watch my latest parks and rec on plex' then I'll jump in.
Question: do you have to go 'hey siri' or do you oress a button to talk? If you say 'hey siri' wont your iPhone 6s wake up and try to do stuff too? Or your other iOS devices on charge.
It should pair with your iPhone/iPad and use that to securely share passwords for common apps like with Apple Watch.
Or have an app on the iPhone where the Apple TV displays a QR code and the phone scans it, which links to a secure time sensitive url which authenticates it.
Or just update the bloody remote app so you can use it as a keyboard.
How long has this supposedly been cooking for,and it still releases half-baked?
Not to mention, just the simple functionality of when swiping to the end of left or right, just wrapping back around to the other side of the letters, I can't believe anyone thought it was a good idea to release the keyboard in its current form.
eyeball_kid
Member
Well, huh. This was definitely not in the betas that I tried. Maybe they added it in the GM. Though using the toggle button, it only switches between upper-lower. If you manually select the numbers and then press the toggle, it'll switch to special chars, then back to uppercase and lowercase, but stops at lowercase and just switches between upper/lower again. That seems like a bug.
I think there's plenty of people out there who would NOT want phone calls or notifications coming up on the TV. Many potentially awkward situations with the family/gf/bf, or just plain distracting. Maybe make an option, but not on by default.
Apple phased out flash ages ago
Question about HDMI-CEC. When I turn my ps4 on, it turns on my TV and receiver, and changes my receiver input to the PS4. But when I turn off the PS4, it doesn't switch the receiver back to the original input (which is usually the Xbox one with our DVR running through it)
I'm guessing this is a limitation of HDMI-CEC and Apple TV would be the same?
And can you leave the Apple TV in standby and still AirPlay to it - waking it up and switching the input if necessary?
Trying to figure out how it would integrate into my current setup.
I'm guessing this is a limitation of HDMI-CEC and Apple TV would be the same?
And can you leave the Apple TV in standby and still AirPlay to it - waking it up and switching the input if necessary?
Trying to figure out how it would integrate into my current setup.
holygeesus
Banned
My Mac was seeing it as an Airplay device when it was sleeping, so I'd say you can wake it that way.
Buddha Beam
Banned
Mine says it will be here Tuesday so I can't wait. I've wanted this kind of AppleTV for ages.
Haha, unfortunately it sounds like it's a typical first gen Apple product - buggy, underpowered and missing obvious features. I figure by Christmas it'll probably have been mostly whipped into shape via updates.
I hope they update the remote app though. That's kind of shocking that of all things, that's the one ignored.
Does anyone know if the old Apple remote that came with the original AppleTVs works?
Haha, unfortunately it sounds like it's a typical first gen Apple product - buggy, underpowered and missing obvious features. I figure by Christmas it'll probably have been mostly whipped into shape via updates.
I hope they update the remote app though. That's kind of shocking that of all things, that's the one ignored.
Does anyone know if the old Apple remote that came with the original AppleTVs works?
holygeesus
Banned
Yes.
Jax Teller
Banned
I like the new UI, but overall the entire product feels like a beta. As others pointed out already, the keyboard is complete and utter garbage. Apple devs should be ashamed of that. Siri is just so completely limited right now(again, shame on them). App discovery is nonexistent. Audio output seems screwy at best (thought I had a bad unit until I read the official forums). I thought I'd be impressed by the new remote, but it's actually one of my least favorite features. Also wasn't aware of the lack of optical out, which hosed my headphones setup. Buyers remorse kicking in. Thinking about just returning it and sticking with my ATV3 until Apple releases a bunch of software upgrades to make this actually worth the 150 I spent.
Buddha Beam
Banned
That's a relief. If typing on the new remote is as awful as it sounds, I'll just stick with that one a little longer.
Under powered is definitely not a word I'd use to describe it. Outside of that though... Yeah it's a 1.0 product.
For those not liking the remote, try going to the sensitivity setting. Also remember to swipe across the entire trackpad, something I know isn't super easy when you are tripping it. The remote isn't as instantly lovable as I thought it would be but once you get the hang of it, it really is extremely good.
Yes AirPlay will wake the device which will wake CEC setup then, obviously depending on how well your setup works.
Siri seems a little hit or miss but I am also guessing there is indexing hoping on like normal iOS (and new deep links). So I'll give it a couple of days.
Way more good than bad so far. About the only thing pissing me off is the keyboard which they can just fix with the remote app right away at least. Whoever was responsible for going live with the existing keyboard needs to be reassigned..... Hopefully 9.1 gets a major update for it.
The problem isn't the remote, it's the keyboard itself. The old remote doesn't make it any less awful. I've tried.
infiniteloop
Member
Yes, it plays the next one in order that we haven't watched.
For Siri, you have to press and hold the button on the remote.
I'm hoping with the 2016 OS updates that you'll be able to use Siri from iOS/watchOS to control tvOS.
Wrestlemania
Banned
I'd echo most of the issues people have had (bad keyboard/not being able to use an iPhone for text entry, Siri not working for music, bad app discovery), but at least they're all things that should be resolved fairly soon.
It was the best until the Steam Controller came out.
As for Apple TV, they just need to get the new remote app out, Pronto. Let me use my iPhone or iPad to type and I'm good.
Neat! I have to say, the scrubbing in general is great. Everything is crisp and fast.