Anecdata-ly - while I was rejigging my home network and media setup (which necessitated disconnecting our previous video-streaming device), my partner started using the Netflix that was built-in to our TV. It performed admirably, and was actually more performant than the equivalent app we'd been using on [Fire TV Stick/PS4 - I forget which] previously.

By all means, rail against anti-privacy, overuse of IoT, adware/spying, etc. - but don't weaken your argument by assuming poor quality of things that _aren't_. It's perfectly possible for an app to do a bad thing well (in this case - spyware _and_ serving up high-quality video).

Yes, the LG Netflix app works as well as anything else I've used (and continues to work after opting out of the various agreements for adware and telemetry, for whatever that's worth). In fact, the LG "magic" motion-sensing remote is quite nice for streaming app UI navigation that's often hit-or-miss on platforms that lack a touch interface or pointing device.

With that said, I only connect my TV (which is also my computer display) to Wi-Fi when I'm actively using one of the built-in streaming apps (so infrequently, most recently when the new Expanse episodes dropped, because Amazon, unlike Netflix, doesn't support 4K streaming on PC or Mac).

The LG versions of all the apps I've used are much better because it allows for cursor control and I feel it more reliably leads to HDR and 4k content.

That's today. Who knows what is going to happen in 6 months.

Edit: there are a lot of people with other smart TVs that progressively got more and more broken applications.

It’s beneficial to use the built in apps on the OLEDs as they automatically play a screensaver when they notice content has been paused over a certain period of time. As well, no need to enable HDR etc for whatever device you are using instead of the built in apps.

I just now setup my LG CX to run through NextDNS to block any ads because of this. Took only about five minutes.

IME, both Apple TV and Amazon Fire stick devices do this too.

This doesn't always work. Some devices use a hardcoded DNS IP. Like Chromecast. Luckily LG doesn't do this.

Just block anything going out on port 53 outside the network and keep a dns sever on the network. (useful to block known tls dns servers like cloudflares 1.1.1.1 as well)

That is sufficient for samsung from my experience. (it does try 8.8.8.8 on its own if my ad blocking server rejects requests)

It still doesn't know DNS-over-TLS but if I start seeing ads I'll disconnect it entirely.

The Apple TV app is horrendous on LG. No HBO Max as well. I agree it's way nicer to have native apps.

> I guess people use the terrible built-in apps?

At the end of the day yes. Especially, with older generations around.

Having a separate remote for volume (separate receiver) and TV is enough of a challenge. Having a 3rd creates all sorts of confusion.

My Apple TV remote controls the speakers via IR, and triggers the TV to turn on and switch inputs via the HDMI. My game consoles also do the latter. The only time I have to dig out the TV remote is when I'm using an old console or need to fiddle with the settings

My LG TV recently updated and gave me AirPlay 2 so it’s not all bad

Agree completely. To do an update, I change my wifi network name and password, do the update, then put the wifi network name and password back to the previous value.

Never ever leave the TV connected.

Samsung forces you to use their built-in app. The HDMI is moved out to a "connect mini" accessory worth $200

The apps on my Hisense TVs are great (and yes I've used a Roku and an Apple TV).

It would strike me as a bad idea if I gave a tiny damn that LG know that I watch garbage on YouTube and Netflix. At some level, you’re ultimately giving your data to someone, so in my case, I use the built in apps on my entry level €300 LG TV. Works great, nice picture, 50” - and I don’t know if the ads are a US thing, as I’ve never seen one. Maybe it’s because I’ve never used it for TV, or perhaps because it sits behind double NAT, or maybe they just haven’t rolled out in this market (Portugal) yet - but honestly, I don’t mind being the product for an absolutely dirt cheap and very respectable for the money screen.

I thought the same and bought an Apple TV. That thing sucks.

Turns out, Roku is way better. With respect to "terrible built-in apps", Apple TV has plenty of those. Netflix, Twitch, sports apps, streaming apps, all way better and more usable on the Roku than the Apple TV. Even after all this time with Apple TV remote, the UX is terrible even if the remote is decent

Man, I completely feel the other way. I've played with Fire Sticks and Rokus and other devices, and they all seem like UX nightmares compared to the AppleTV platform.

That's super interesting.

Can you tell me this, no snark: how the hell do you fast forward or rewind on Apple TV?

You don't! Watch the whole movie, mate!

In any case, here's an article on how to do it:

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-fast-forward-on-apple...

(as a side note: isn't it sad that you had to ask this question? why isn't the button on the remote? or at least discoverable? or at the bare minimum part of an on-screen tutorial when you turn on Apple TV for the first time?)

I own two of them, I know how it is supposed to be done and I _still_ struggle at times to do it reliably with the bundled remote. I recently discovered my TV's "crappy" IR remote can control the Apple TV, avoiding the touch pad altogether. It even supports extra buttons the normal remote doesn't have, such as a dedicated FFW key. I think I've seen this work via HDMI-CEC as well on mines.

> https://support.apple.com/guide/tv/use-other-remotes-atvb041...

Click the right edge of the touch area, advance 10 seconds. Click and hold the right edge, fast forward until you release. Left edge similar but rewind.

You can also click in the middle and then swipe left or right to move the slider.

With the touchy part of the remote, on top?

Also, fwiw, UX isn't the only reason I prefer the ATV. E.g.:

- Doesn't Roku track usage for ads and whatnot, or is that just a rumor?

- There's also how well it integrates with everything else. When I go to a search screen, I can use my phone's keyboard to type. AppleMusic is right there, plus I can easily stream from my in-house library (which, admittedly, I almost never bother doing since signing up for Apple Music). I can throw my laptop screen on the TV if I want. Of course, all of this requires being in the Apple ecosystem, but I happen to be in that ecosystem.

>With the touchy part

Yeah, I get that, but like... What swipe gesture do I use? Maybe the apps I've used that on somehow implemented it badly but I completely fail to scrub thru

> Roku track usage for ads

Probably true, I'm a bit defeated in this domain

> Apple integrations

Yeah, I do like to stream my laptop to my TV sometimes, but once I realized that Roku natively could handle Twitch, sports apps, and streaming apps I have almost never had a use case for doing that

You pause it, and then you can scroll left and right and then unpause

You can also click while your finger is on one side or the other to skip a few seconds forward or back (this gesture is a little finicky)

The current Apple TV remote definitely has some downsides - I'm not a huge fan of it - but I still love my Apple TV overall compared to all other options

Click and then swipe right, IIRC.

I suspect you make it learn a 3rd party remote with those buttons.

Genuine question: what's better about the Netflix app? Haven't used Roku. Seems decent on Apple TV.

What really sucks on Apple TV is the YouTube app. It may be Google's single least competent publicly available software engineering.

edited to clarify question

> what's better about the Netflix app

I can use it with the same remote as I turn my TV on with.

In all honesty, these things all are just feature parity, they perform the exact same between the two devices, but I really feel like the UX of fast-forwarding, rewinding etc is completely MIA on Apple TV and therefore it isn't really superior to the native applications, despite the $200 price point

> I can use it with the same remote as I turn my TV on with.

Any modern TV will let the connected turn it on and off with HDMI-CEC. For Apple TV, you just use the volume or whatever button to turn it on, then hold the home button and tap sleep to turn it off. Roku supports this, too.

Haha, sure, thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, I hate using the Apple TV remote, so I’ll stick to the classic UX on my roku remote

I loathe the Apple TV remote. The Roku remote is my fav although I currently use a shield pro which has been great.

If you have an I-device use the remote on that. iPhone controlling Apple TV is delightful (even allows 1pass access to passwords for accounts)

You've obviously never tried GMail in Firefox, though that's probably intentional.

It makes gmail look bad not firefox. I've moved away from gmail based mainly around performance.

I have also been surprised at how terrible the Apple TV is.

The PBS Kids app is super buggy. It randomly decides to start playing the audio from its home screen over whatever show my kid is trying to watch.

And Emby, which works great on Roku and on iOS, looks great on Apple TV but fails at actually playing videos.