Hi and hope all are well today. First, thanks in advance for any / all responses. Second, apologies if this isn’t the best place to ask this question.

I’m curious if anyone, has moved completely from using an AppleTV to something else. Current use case for the ATV is a few streaming apps (Crunchyroll / HiDive, Tubi, etc.) and Apple Arcade (a few casual games).

If you did completely switch, what did you decide on using? Did you go back to buying movies / using a DVD/Blu-Ray player, setup a mini PC and stream from websites / rip music and movies, use a gaming console instead, etc.?

Exploring options and entertaining thoughts for right now. Again, thanks and have a good day / evening.

Edit - 2024/01/01 - Just wanted to thank everyone for the lively discussion and resources (links, recommendations, etc.) related to my question.

  • emils@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2516·
    11 months ago

    I’m curious why you would trust Apple and not the others you have listed. All of them will do literally anything to just earn more money and exploit you as much as possible.

      • Handles@leminal.spaceEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        I mean, neither of you is wrong. On user privacy, Apple is probably the least worst of the big providers. At the same time their business model is to lock in users to their platform and hardware. “Once you’ve gone Mac you’re not going back” is the result of a deliberate design choice on Apple’s part.

        Sounds to me like OP is aiming to bypass the entire corporate cloud service mess by going self-sufficient via FLOSS?

      • utubas@lemm.eeEnglish
        66·
        11 months ago

        Apple, the company that has by far the worst anti-consumer practices when it comes to technology and is actively lobbying against you being able to own your products?

          • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
            1217·
            11 months ago

            Because Apple doesn’t rely on selling or advertising your data as a business segment.

            I find this very hard to believe.

            • AtariDump@lemmy.worldEnglish
              131·
              11 months ago

              “We provide some non-personal data to our advertisers and strategic partners that work with Apple to provide our products and services, help Apple market to customers, and sell ads on Apple’s behalf to display on the App Store and Apple News and Stocks. For example, we may share non-personal data about your transactions and viewing activity, as well as aggregated user demographics such as age group, gender (which may be inferred from information such as your name and salutation in your Apple ID account), and region, to Apple TV strategic partners, such as content owners, so that they can measure the performance of their creative work, meet royalty and accounting requirements, and improve their associated products and services.”

              All in all, yes, Apple is generally better than other Big Tech companies (cough, Meta, cough cough, Amazon, cough Samsung), when it comes to privacy. They seem to do a better job at collecting less data, probably because they aren’t trying to sell as many ads as Google and Facebook – yet.

              https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/apple-tv-4k/

              ————

              Roku’s data sharing is vast, which is, unfortunately, too common in the streaming TV space. Automatic Content Recognition or ACR is the way Roku and others try to identify every show you watch whether it be streaming, cable, broadcast on an antenna, or even the DVDs you watch. They collect all this data to target you with new shows, and allow you to be targeted with lots of ads from lots of places. It’s a lot of data collection and you should opt out. Note when you opt out of ACR, a Roku spokeswoman said, “Opting out of ACR does not affect collection of information about the use of Roku streaming channels.” So yeah, they’re still collecting data on you, just a little less.

              https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/roku-streaming-sticks/

              ———-

              Of course, Google uses your personal information to sell those targeted, personalized ads you see all over the place like in your Gmail, in your favorite Solitaire app, on partner websites, and on YouTube. Yup, the ads are everywhere. Google does say they won’t use things like your religious beliefs or health information to show you ads…although we just have to trust them on that. I’m sure we’ve all seen ads based on sensitive things about us that felt pretty creepy. And Google says they won’t use content from your Google Drive, Email, or Photos to personalize ads. We sure hope not.

              Google also says they can collect a good bit of information on your child if they use Google services, including services managed by parents through Family Link for children under 13. The data they say they can collect on your child includes location data, voice and audio information, what apps and devices your child uses, and your child’s activity within Google’s services. And then they say they can use that data to “provide recommendations, personalized content, and customized search results.” Yes, Google is going to push content to your kid basd on their online activities. Google does say that they, “… will not serve personalized ads to your child, which means ads will not be based on information from your child’s account or profile. Instead, ads may be based on information like the content of the website or app your child is viewing, the current search query, or general location (such as city or state). When browsing the web or using non-Google apps, your child may encounter ads served by other (non-Google) ad providers, including ads personalized by third parties.” Parents, if you plan to let your kids use Google’s services, it’s good to do some research beforehand.

              https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/google-chromecast-with-google-tv/

              ———-

              It’s a matter of who sells the least amount of data. Seems to be Apple.

              • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
                35·
                11 months ago

                Seems to be that way. I agree with your insinuation that “they aren’t trying to sell as many ads as Google and Facebook – yet”. I don’t see any special ethics beyond keeping their brand loyalty afloat.

              • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
                22·
                11 months ago

                Fallacious question. In real life there can be no good options. That doesn’t mean we should support one for being less bad.

                • Fizz@lemmy.nzEnglish
                  3·
                  11 months ago

                  If there can be no good options then you have to support the less “bad” option.

          • the_q@lemmy.worldEnglish
            620·
            11 months ago

            A trillion dollars is hard to make without selling data, but fair enough.

            • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              91·
              11 months ago

              It isn’t that hard when you convince a globe that your luxury phone is the only status symbol that matters.

              Apple isn’t perfect, but the premium you pay on their devices does mean that they wrap the data mining bat in some padding first before they beat you over the head with it. Microsoft and Google just keep adding more nails.

                • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                  8·
                  11 months ago

                  Well, I worked for them for quite a while and never saw or heard anything that suggested a large scale data collection program existed beyond the usual analytics that people can opt out of. I’m on a plane, so I don’t have the time to do a deep dig at the moment, but for a quick anecdotal test, I’d say you could just open the menus of a Microsoft computer, Google computer, and Apple computer, and tell me who seems to be shoving more targeted ads down your throat.

                  Sure, if you use their Apple TV streaming service or other equivalent media thing, I’m sure they collect data, sell, and use it, but that is a far cry from some of the really invasive moves we’ve seen from companies that produce ad supported hardware/software.

                  The contents of my computer should be mine because I straight up own it. If I’m connecting to a subscription service that I don’t own, then I have a slightly lower expectation of total privacy.

              • the_q@lemmy.worldEnglish
                51·
                11 months ago

                Go to Google and search for “is Apple selling data”. Have fun reading about how, yes they have been caught doing it in the past and are still being suspected of it. You’re naive if you think just because it isn’t public knowledge yet that one of the cruelest companies on the planet isn’t in to some other nefarious crap.

                  • the_q@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    32·
                    11 months ago

                    I’m not the one going to bat for a trillion dollar company simply because they said “trust me, bro”.

                    Even if you it opt out on Apple devices they continue to gather data. Why do you think they do that? Fun? They just collect it like Pokemon?

                    There only “feeling” I have is pity for naive users such as yourself. As long as Tim Cook keeps telling you it’s safe you can rest easy knowing you’re 100% not being lied to.

    • TORFdot0@lemmy.worldEnglish
      215·
      11 months ago

      Apple is a hardware company first, not an advertising and services company like Google and Roku, and not a literal massive online retailer like Amazon.

      Apple TV is the only one that doesn’t have ads on its home screen. I use an Apple TV to play all my physical media that has been ripped to mov and re-encoded with handbrake