Conversely, my parents love using an old with a wireless keyboard/trackpad as their HTPC. It's the same interface they've always used, so no tutorial was necessary, just a $20 peripheral.

or you could use a fire tv stick which is a lot cheaper and can run Kobi and its add-ons

I actually have used a Fire TV Stick, and have one of my own that I got on Black Friday. Yeah, it's a lot cheaper, but the experience - in my opinion - is a lot worse. Likewise, I'm not interested in being able to run Kodi, so it's not a differentiator for me. I've invested my media in Plex and prefer to stay there.

I'd wager that anyone who owns and operates a computer would find connecting a cable (or even more simply, chromecast) to their TV and computer and then opening up youtube, netflix, hulu, plex easier in the long run than having their son who works in tech come over and set up a black box with a bunch of apps on it. The input device (mouse, keyboard, trackpad) is already much more familiar than a new remote.

tvOS needs an update? How do I do that? This version of tvOS breaks my favorite app? How do I downgrade? Do I really have to type in my password with this little remote to authorize a purchase? Oh, I'm supposed to buy a bluetooth keyboard to enter passwords/text?

My 70 year old father had no problem getting chromecast to work with his computer and TV. He saw the thing advertised on TV, bought it, set it up, and uses it to watch youtube on the big screen.

I find this whole coddling the older generation mentality a bit strange honestly. Sure, I'll show my dad how to backup his computer with time machine and how to install an adblocker in Chrome...but I'm betting he's had a computer and a TV for long enough that he can figure out how to stream shows to his TV without Apple TV if he wants to.

I'm really glad that your older father can handle his tech. I hope when my parents are 70 that they can still handle business. But while they've never really been afraid of technology, they've not taken to it as quickly as others, like your dad.

I think you missed my bigger point, which was that because you don't see the need for the device doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I also have my own AppleTV, which I love very much. Yeah, I could hook any of my multiple computers to it, or buy one that I dedicate to it full time, or anything, but I don't want to. I want to grab a remote, which is basically a glorified d-pad with some extra buttons, and see content. I don't want to have to bring down my computer, or keep a spare power brick by the entertainment center, or navigate to Netflix.com before getting on the couch, or having a 50 foot cable strewn across my room. I'm happy to experiment with my computers, but when I decide that it's time to zone out and watch TV, I don't want to be doing my day job of running a computer.

As for updates and stuff, you've clearly not used an AppleTV in a while, since they can auto update now and you wouldn't notice. You can't, but could never downgrade, and that's not important to me to be able to do. And with their iPhones, they can type on their iPhone's keyboard instead of the tiny remote that you really have a distaste for.

I'm not coddling my parents, but I also don't think that having a dedicated box that really does "just work" is coddling. Plenty of people keep cable around solely because there's no thought to you - you turn on a box, and pictures come out.

But you keep doing you, and I'll keep doing me. Plenty of room for both of us.

Yeah you're right. I can see how that would be less overhead.

I guess I'm just frustrated because it seems like another sort of useless thing that is going to draw a lot of money and developer time and effort for what I view as not terribly important, especially for the amount it costs.

Didn't mean to project my frustrations onto you or attack you/your parents personally. Just trying to get to the bottom of why people purchase and use Apple TV, and I see why now. It's easy and requires no thought, which is exactly what you need when you're getting in the mood to relax and watch some shows.

It may seem frustrating at first. But when tv networks (and not just them, but also newspapers, big brands, podcast networks…) switch from having 'channels' to having 'apps', you'll see the genius behind it, and why it's worth the developer time. That's what I'm looking forward to.

It's all good - I enjoy the dialog. I didn't read an attack, and we can still be anonymous Internet friends. I get your point, too, and I'm very glad you see mine now. Other than being easy, there's really functionally little else that the AppleTV does for me (notable exception - HomeKit bridge). I'm willing to pay the convenience fee, though, so I don't have to deal with the rest of those things.

I spend all day with computers, most of the time fighting to make them work the way I want them to (bug fixes, learning new stuff, etc). When it's TV time, it's TV time, not "oh man, Plex was running fine last night, what happened..." time.

Are you implying that every single person under the age of 70 should be able to do it because your 70 year old father can do it? That's a pretty broad statement backed by nothing but anecdata.