GRM Hive Opinion of Apple TV (for wife and kids usage)

so what's up with Apple TV? Is it easy to use? Is it cost-effective? Does it offer network / local OTA options?

AppleTV is great, once you hack it to use Kodi (aka XBMC).

No OTA options, its just a streaming media box with an Apple logo, software and apps.

A Roku is a better option, IMO, since it does nearly everything the AppleTV does, except iTunes content for much less money.

I would look at the various "channels" available for both to choose the content that works best for your family.

For OTA, just hook up an antennae to the TV.

I like ours. We got it fo free. Super easy to use. The kids like to hide the remote, but we can use our phones as remotes. Hot ticket is to find a friend with a fancy cable subscription and use it for HBO go. Plenty of stuff for the kids on Netflix.

I find it pretty useless, cant get it to mirror my phone, bought it to stream media (putlocker, etc.), it fails at that.

We're an iOS household, and the two AppleTVs we have work great with our devices and have a familiar user interface. We have both the gen 3 and gen 4 models - I've never used any of the gen 4's apps or extended features, so save your money and get the cheaper model.

We also have two Rokus (a 2 and a Streaming Stick) and and my brother has a Chrome Stick. I prefer the UI of the AppleTV but the Rokus are the best value--they offer a vast selection of channels to choose from. I don't have any experience with the Amazon Fire products.

It seems to be the only game in town if you want to access your iTunes library on the tv. Otherwise, no clue. I had a chrome cast and that was worthless.

Additionally, if looking for a streaming device, get something that is self contained rather than one that just mirrors your phone.

Like nderwater, we use ours as an easy streaming option for my laptop and our phones/pads. It just works, simple. My laptop has access to streams and other media that my phone does not. For a perfectly legal example, Hulu is free on a laptop while you have to pay for it on a phone. Or, I can stream F1 from Channel4 via laptop but that does not seem to be possible on a phone. I don't know of a self-contained option that can do that.

I sometimes use it for Netflix, but everything can access Netflix.

The other thing we use it for is the screensaver. It picks photos from a certain directory off my Macbook, and we have a slideshow of our vacation and fun pics running most of the time while I play music off the iTunes library.

So for those uses, it's great. All of the other apps are just a bit clumsy to use with a remote, so we don't. Ours is a few years old, I'm going to guess 3rd generation.

I'm happy with our AppleTV.