Why One Streaming Device May Not Be Enough (1 Viewer)

[Todd Erwin]

Todd Erwin submitted a new blog post

Why One Streaming Device May Not Be Enough

Continue reading the Original Blog Post.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I’ll have to check but watching Love, Death and Robots on Netflix last night via my TCL with Roku OS, I was sure it popped up with the Dolby Vision logo for me.

 

[Albert71292]

If a service or feature isn't available on the Roku, I can live without it.

 

[Todd Erwin]

I’ll have to check but watching Love, Death and Robots on Netflix last night via my TCL with Roku OS, I was sure it popped up with the Dolby Vision logo for me.

TVs running Roku OS are completely different animals from the Roku devices, especially with Netflix. For some odd reason, Roku TVs can do Atmos, but not the stand-alone devices.

 

[Scott McGillivray]

I had to break down and buy another Apple TV for my second home. I had bought a surprisingly good TCL 50" 4K TV that had Roku built in. It runs Netflix and Amazon Prime just fine. However, it will not run Crave, which is a Canadian service we use to stream HBO and other shows. Plus, without the Apple content, I could not view the many movies and shows which I have bought there. Makes me wonder if having a library online is a long-term solution. I had been a fanatic DVD buyer back in the day and now have just a handful of Blu rays and UHD discs.

 

[Sam Posten]

If the only thing you are missing is 5.1 on CBS on AppleTV, get an Apple TV and start sending nasty grams to CBS. Don't buy a second box.

 

[Sam Posten]

Makes me wonder if having a library online is a long-term solution. I had been a fanatic DVD buyer back in the day and now have just a handful of Blu rays and UHD discs.

Today the answer is AND not OR. In the future it may be viable to go only streaming. The future will never be disk only again. Lotsa dinosaurs unhappy about that meteor but the meteor don't care about how dinosaurs feel.

Good to see you posting Scott! Hope the acting is going well!

 

[Todd Erwin]

If the only thing you are missing is 5.1 on CBS on AppleTV, get an Apple TV and start sending nasty grams to CBS. Don't buy a second box.

Hulu in 5.1 is another - only available on Fire TV. I am hoping that changes with Disney taking the driver's seat.

I actually broke down and now have all three - hence the article.....

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Makes me wonder if having a library online is a long-term solution.

I think the thing for a lot of people, the average consumers that drive the business, is that that group doesn't really want to have a giant library. They want access to the content they're interested in seeing, but the amount of specific interest they have in specific titles is probably less than you or I might feel. Most people these days are probably content with having a streaming subscription to a service like Netflix or Amazon Prime for their general needs, and happy to supplement that with a la carte rentals from whatever service is most convenient to access on the device they have.

People like us that are actually interested in having a specific, infallible collection of titles to watch where access is never in doubt are probably in a very small minority of total media viewers these days.

I think for most people, most of their needs are met with a single device and a subscription, with maybe an individual title purchased or rented here or there.

One brief example to demonstrate how this paradigm shift is affecting me:
-In the past, if there was a TV series that I enjoyed, I would purchase the new season on disc as soon as it was made available. These would typically be released following the end of one season but before the beginning of the next one. I'd enjoy rewatching it before the new season was to begin. The most recent new show that I liked enough where I would have bought it was "The Orville" from Fox. But I watched that show on Fox in HD, but it was released on disc only in standard definition. Meanwhile, the HD versions of the episodes remain available for viewing both on Fox's website and their app and on demand portals (which I have free access to as a cable customer), and also on Hulu (which I also have). In that environment, I couldn't see a reason to purchase the disc. The disc version would be of lower quality than what I saw when the show first aired, and of lower quality than all the services I already have which allow me to watch the show for free. In the past, I'd have needed to purchase that disc in order to have access to those episodes after they aired. In the present, my access to those episodes hasn't changed even though the season has ended.

I think a lot of people got there much sooner than I did, because they didn't really want to own a bunch of stuff in the first place, they just wanted to be able to see it.

 

[DavidMiller]

Xbox One X is my default streamer... Vudu, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime
Roku only for Fandango Now
Apple TV for iTunes

I do agree you may need more then one. However, I have been tempted to get rid of the Roku. I can't even remember the last time I went to it.

 

[Scott McGillivray]

Very well said, Josh. I think you make a good point in asking the question of why we buy physical media. In the past, it was my passion to have a huge library of DVDs, and I wound up with over 500. Now, most everything is available via streaming or at worst I can rent via Apple. But there is something special about some movies that make me want to own a physical copy. Beyond the obvious choice of movies I have acted in, I really want a copy of my favourites. Movies I have watched over and over and will watch again. I don't want to be at the mercy of a streaming service that they may or may not have the title when I want it. Plus, as I just learned with Apple, if I no longer want to support a company, I am beholden to them if I want access to titles I actually purchased. That is rather unfair but unavoidable unless I buy a physical copy.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I really want a copy of my favourites. Movies I have watched over and over and will watch again.

I feel the same way. I suspect we're a dying breed, but that doesn't make the desire any less valid.

My wife has been on this digital train before I was, and even she has some exceptions - she's fine with digital copies for just about everything, but wants to keep her discs of "The Princess Bride" and "Stardust". And she's got a good reason. Those are the two movies that she watches whenever she's feeling sick. Those are her comfort food movies. And she made the not-unreasonable point that when she's sick, she doesn't want to remember which service those movies are on, she just wants to grab the disc and put it in the player and not have to think about it. That makes sense to me. And yet, we have a combined collection of well over a thousand discs, and out of those thousand, she's got two that she wouldn't want to be without. And I think that's probably closer to where most people are.

Plus, as I just learned with Apple, if I no longer want to support a company, I am beholden to them if I want access to titles I actually purchased. That is rather unfair but unavoidable unless I buy a physical copy.

They are working on that at least, but it doesn't appear that Canada yet has all of the options we have in the U.S. I hope that they straighten it out for you guys. In the U.S., most studios now participate in something called Movies Anywhere, so that even if you purchase a title just in iTunes, it links up with all of the other major retailers, so that you can view your purchases on basically any device with any provider. There are some studios who aren't participating yet, and it only works for movies and not TV shows, but it's my hope that eventually the entire industry will move in that direction, where all of your purchases regardless of where you made them will remain accessible to you on any device. It's a work in progress to be sure, but I think that's where this is all heading.

 

[Robert Crawford]

A long time ago, I decided to invest in having Roku and AppleTV units in all three of my HT setups.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I have both Apple TV 4K and Roku Ultra 4K devices in my main system (along with two UHD disc players and a SD-DVD player), similar to @Robert Crawford above. However, the Apple device gets used for streaming the vast majority of the time. For the other 4 displays in the house, we have various Roku models attached for two reasons: (1) they are a lot less expensive than the Apple TV, and (2) Comcast provides an Xfinity app for Roku that eliminates the need to spend $30 per month renting cable boxes for 3 displays. Last time I checked, that app was not available for the Apple TV.

I have been taking one of our Roku units with us when we travel to our condo in South Carolina in the spring and autumn -- mostly because it's a lot easier to disconnect from the display in our basement than removing the Apple TV from the main home theater. However, I have purchased so much content via iTunes that is exclusive to that platform that I may just buy a spare power supply for the Apple TV, which will make it pretty easy to remove from the main HT. I can then take the Apple device to South Carolina.

 

[Todd Erwin]

dupe post

 

[Todd Erwin]

However, I have purchased so much content via iTunes that is exclusive to that platform that I may just buy a spare power supply for the Apple TV, which will make it pretty easy to remove from the main HT. I can then take the Apple device to South Carolina.

With the Apple TV app coming to Roku before the end of the year, this may not be necessary.

 

[DaveF]

I’ll have to check but watching Love, Death and Robots on Netflix last night via my TCL with Roku OS, I was sure it popped up with the Dolby Vision logo for me.

Right! I knew there was something I was watching I’d forgotten about. Need to get back to LDR.

 

[DaveF]

I’ve got a TiVo, a couple AppleTV’s, and a Shield. It’s crazy pants inexplicable that CBS and Hulu don’t do surround sound on the aTV.

Netflix is, hands down, the most popular subscription streaming service available today. Much of the service’s original programming can be streamed in UHD with Dolby Vision or HDR10 high dynamic range, with many movies and shows also offering a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Presently, only the AppleTV 4K can deliver Netflix with all of the above.

It should be noted that aTV can’t do the Netflix Choose-Your-Own-Adventure stuff.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/28...h-apple-tv-chromecast-netflix-devices-support

 

[Josh Steinberg]

CBS is 5.1 on an AppleTV. Didn’t used to be when the service debuted but has been since at least this January.

I’m surprised about Hulu though. My receiver doesn’t display exactly what format the AppleTV puts out (and I’ve yet to find a display within the AppleTV showing what the audio format being used at any given moment is) so it can be difficult for me to determine what the format is.

 

[DaveF]

Oh, right. I got confused by Sam’s post above.