Adventures in AV: Apple TV has one key advantage over Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video
2 weeks ago
2 minutes read
I do my best to stick to 4K Blu-rays where I can, but streaming now takes up a large portion of my regular viewing.
There are many reasons for this; a lot of shows I’m watching right now, like the third season which is great It is decreasing on Apple TV and the HBO comedy show I love LA which is currently Sky-only, is not available anywhere else, and I would risk serious spoilers pending a physical release that may never materialize.
In addition, my schedule often revolves around occasional trips around the world to see the latest TV, home cinema and AV releases, which means I’m away from my Sony A80L OLED TV and UBP-X700 4K Blu-ray player. This is where I go back to downloading apps on my iPhone 16 Pro or iPad Air 5th Generation.
Editor’s note: Please excuse the condescension of our senior author…
As mentioned in the previous Adventure in AV that I wrote back in December of last year, I dropped Netflix Premium in favor of Apple TV, and I haven’t looked back since. Since then, I’ve continued to mine Apple’s excellent library, and honestly, I’ve never touched Netflix.
Apple TV has become my best friend on my travels, and I’ve been using it a lot at home too, which made me realize that I hadn’t considered it before. Simply put, Apple TV looks great no matter what screen I’m on.
I have watched the likes of F1, Studio, Declining, The Morning Show, Slow Horses again Knife Edge: The Chase for Michelin Stars on a variety of screens, from my iPhone’s 6.3-inch display to my 65-inch TV screen, and many other displays (OLED and LCD) in between, and the content looked consistently good.
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This may be related to the higher bitrate capabilities of the Apple TV. While Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video average between 10 and 25 Mbps, Apple TV is between 25 and 40 Mbps; and with more available data, we get better quality video and audio.
Even better, downloading Apple TV content for offline viewing with the high-quality download setting used is fun. Based on experience, the content doesn’t seem to be too compressed compared to the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime, which also results in a better picture experience.
Now, I have to address the elephant in the room (or in my example, the airplane cabin). I mostly use the Apple TV app on the Apple iPhone; therefore, I would expect the optimization between software and hardware capabilities of my iPhone 16 Pro to be top-notch.
Streaming on an Android device may yield slightly different results, although I streamed Apple TV content to a Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra (update coming soon) and didn’t notice any kind of visual degradation during my viewing.
If you jump between screens as often as I do, I would again recommend the Apple TV for the best picture quality. Apple’s library has also been involved in recent years, so you’ll find plenty of great shows and movies to watch.
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