AppleTV alternatives

[stred 0]

have various devices as Emby clients, IOS, windows and an Apple TV 4th gen which is connected to our main TV, as has been mentioned numerous times on this forum the live TV guide is awful and the controls are pretty counter intuitive.

 

what do people recommend device wise that has a proper grid style guide, that can maybe be called up while watching a channel, also has HDMI-CEC so I can use the original TV remote?

 

I've tried the electron emby theatre version on a RPI3 and found it painfull, yet the device runs KODI just fine.

 

i'm thinking the 4K firestick?

 

Thanks

Edited November 16, 2019 by stred

[vdatanet 1549]

I am replacing my Apple TVs with Nvidia Shields. Amazon Firestick 4K, can also be a good, cheaper solution. I even have a pair of Xiaomi Mi Box that also work correctly.

[stred 0]

i'm assuming the Xiaomi Mi box is android? I do have an android tv box A95X-F1 (I think) last time I tried it the emby app in the playstore stated not optimized for the device and black screened the Emby app, will dig it back out this afternoon and retry.

 

Nvidia shields are maybe too much money for me unless I replaced the ATV but I use it as a homekit hub so really need to retain it and apart from the live tv in Emby its otherwise a great device.

 

I think i'll plump for a 4K firestick as they seem to be on offer in the UK currently.

 

Thanks

[vdatanet 1549]

i'm assuming the Xiaomi Mi box is android? I do have an android tv box A95X-F1 (I think) last time I tried it the emby app in the playstore stated not optimized for the device and black screened the Emby app, will dig it back out this afternoon and retry.

 

Nvidia shields are maybe too much money for me unless I replaced the ATV but I use it as a homekit hub so really need to retain it and apart from the live tv in Emby its otherwise a great device.

 

I think i'll plump for a 4K firestick as they seem to be on offer in the UK currently.

 

Thanks

 

Yes, Xiaomi Mi Box is an Android TV certified product and Emby for Android TV works perfect. I don't think A95X-F1 is a Android TV certified product. My experience with that chinese non certified boxes is bad.

[waynepaulward 3]

Yes I got the same problem I got 3 brand new 4K ATV cost a fortune and use my Emby for everything but the guide it’s nasty [emoji1785] I even tried using the Emby on my web os tv ! The guide is perfect but slow as crap [emoji90] that’s the tv’s fault [emoji22] I kind of just favourite my channels and they come to the top of channels And I can see what’s on direct or go into to see what’s up next it’s really not good! I use the iOS Emby app on my phone to look through the guide and to setup recordings. I’m hanging on to my Apple TV’s I’ve been told they are working on it but been working on it a while as it’s hard to code for ....

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ebr 14910]

..and the controls are pretty counter intuitive.

 

Hi.  What controls do you find counter-intuitive?

 

Thanks.

[stred 0]

Hi.  What controls do you find counter-intuitive?

 

Thanks.

 

Hi,

 

For me personally i'd prefer a conventional set top box style control scheme, of course that wont happen on ATV as it doesn't have a dedicated guide button and I can see that not everyone wants things that way.

 

With the apple TV, choosing a channel to play from the guide will take you straight to playing that channel and pressing back takes you back to the guide, if i wish to view information about the programme on that channel I can select it then it shows me the information and pressing play takes me there but from there i want to watch something else its 2 presses of the back button to get me back to the guide, there should be a way to choose a different channel without going away from the currently playing channel, i don't want to play the plex card but last time i used plex for live TV scrolling up or down on the remotes touchpad (cant remember now) brought up a now playing style banner along the top where different channels could be chosen, I know this is all personal preferences and it has to be a one size fits all solution.

 

For the record I chose Emby over Plex because Emby is happy with adding strm files to the media library, aside from the annoyances (for me) with one single device which happens to be connected to my main TV there is nothing I can fault about Emby, it buzzes along quite happy in docker on my server and everyone in my family wether in or out of the house comsumes media from it with no problems.

 

Thanks

[sfatula 185]

 

Nvidia shields are maybe too much money for me unless I replaced the ATV but I use it as a homekit hub so really need to retain it and apart from the live tv in Emby its otherwise a great device.

 

 

Yeah, always surprised by posts that are apparently from people who only use (seemingly) Emby on apple tv. I have 89 apps that I actually use on the Apple TV not counting homekit, built in integrations, etc. Your best bet (other than patience) is exactly as you suggested. There is simply no way, for me, I would replace the box!