Anyone getting the new Apple TV?

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Webhead
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#1416980 30-Oct-2015 13:23

littleheaven:
jarledb: Can confirm that Siri works if you have an american iTunes account and set it up as being in the US (including not allowing it to use location services) and setting the timezone to be in the US

Awesome! Any downsides to turning off location services and setting timezone to US? I currently run my ATV3 on my US iTunes account so that won't be a huge change for me, but I'm not sure about the other settings. It's a good workaround until we get our own Siri (hopefully).

Well, setting it to be "in the US" means that its showing things like temperatures in fahrenheit instead of celcius. Guessing it will show me weather for Cupertino (which is what I put as location) if I ask what the weather is like, without stating where. It did show me weather for Napier, New Zealand when I asked specifically though.

I wanted to be sure that nothing tripped up the activation of Siri, so it may well be that it will work even if you allow location services, but I am pretty sure you will have to select "United States of America" for region and use a US iTunes account for Siri to work.

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geekiegeek

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#1416995 30-Oct-2015 13:32

jarledb: Can confirm that Siri works if you have an american iTunes account and set it up as being in the US (including not allowing it to use location services) and setting the timezone to be in the US

I guess I can live with the timezone difference, I currently run in US mode apart from the timezone.

littleheaven

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#1416999 30-Oct-2015 13:39

jarledb:
littleheaven:
jarledb: Can confirm that Siri works if you have an american iTunes account and set it up as being in the US (including not allowing it to use location services) and setting the timezone to be in the US

Awesome! Any downsides to turning off location services and setting timezone to US? I currently run my ATV3 on my US iTunes account so that won't be a huge change for me, but I'm not sure about the other settings. It's a good workaround until we get our own Siri (hopefully).

Well, setting it to be "in the US" means that its showing things like temperatures in fahrenheit instead of celcius. Guessing it will show me weather for Cupertino (which is what I put as location) if I ask what the weather is like, without stating where. It did show me weather for Napier, New Zealand when I asked specifically though.

I wanted to be sure that nothing tripped up the activation of Siri, so it may well be that it will work even if you allow location services, but I am pretty sure you will have to select "United States of America" for region and use a US iTunes account for Siri to work.

Thanks for the info. I'm guessing that fiddling around with the settings would toggle Siri on and off depending on what you did. Going to have a good play over the weekend. Will report back with the results.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

sdav

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#1417006 30-Oct-2015 13:52

From memory with the old Apple TV I was able to log in to a us account for iTunes but have the Apple TV region set to NZ with no adverse results.

sdav

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#1417010 30-Oct-2015 13:57

tdgeek:
sdav:
littleheaven:

Oh, thanks sdav, it was the Verge review I read. I couldn't remember which one it was. I think their point was that as a media streamer it's bang on when compared to the competition, but that there's so much unexplored potential.

I still struggle with how software comes in at a 9. I think it's weird to give software a high mark for it's potential which will likely require a software update to unlock said potential ha!

Anyway, still waiting for mine. Joys of Rural Delivery!

Look, feel, what it can do now, how easy it is to use. I think all of those can add up to a high score if every one of these facets were really good

We've all seen software that is well featured but is butt ugly, or bland looking. Or great looking software that is actually lite and/or buggy

Yeah I get what you mean but I thought that's what performance would be for! But yeah, Apple is known for consistent software.

littleheaven

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#1417051 30-Oct-2015 14:39

sdav: From memory with the old Apple TV I was able to log in to a us account for iTunes but have the Apple TV region set to NZ with no adverse results.

Yes, on my ATV3 I can go from one iTunes account to another (US to UK to Australian) to get it to display the appropriate apps for that country, and watch those apps, without actually changing the region on the device. But I'm not sure if the more sophisticated OS on the new device might make that a little more difficult.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

littleheaven

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#1417063 30-Oct-2015 14:55

Okay, I've gotten home and set my new device up. Set location to NZ, turned location services on, logged in with my US iTunes account and it asked me if I wanted to use Siri, so I said yes. Then used it to search for movies with Tom Cruise and asked what the weather was like. Worked perfectly. So the US iTunes account seems to be the deciding factor. Off now to download all my favourite apps!

Edited to add: Siri doesn't speak, just returns text responses. Is that what it does on this device? Also, when I said "Siri, I can't hear you" it replied "silence is golden" lol.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

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geekiegeek

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#1417096 30-Oct-2015 15:35

littleheaven: Okay, I've gotten home and set my new device up. Set location to NZ, turned location services on, logged in with my US iTunes account and it asked me if I wanted to use Siri, so I said yes. Then used it to search for movies with Tom Cruise and asked what the weather was like. Worked perfectly. So the US iTunes account seems to be the deciding factor. Off now to download all my favourite apps!

Edited to add: Siri doesn't speak, just returns text responses. Is that what it does on this device? Also, when I said "Siri, I can't hear you" it replied "silence is golden" lol.

Sounds awesome! cant wait to have a play. Mine has just arrived in my hand in Wellington.

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#1417137 30-Oct-2015 16:25

littleheaven: Okay, I've gotten home and set my new device up. Set location to NZ, turned location services on, logged in with my US iTunes account and it asked me if I wanted to use Siri, so I said yes. Then used it to search for movies with Tom Cruise and asked what the weather was like. Worked perfectly. So the US iTunes account seems to be the deciding factor.

Indeed. Thats quite a bit better than what I had initially done. Have changed to your setup now and its working nicely so far.

Off now to download all my favourite apps!

Which apps would that be? Any recommendations?

I am hoping Plex will be out soon, going to have to use the Fire TV mostly until Plex is available for Apple TV. I see there is a "Plex client" available in the Appstore, but it looked pretty weak.

staticnz

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#1417196 30-Oct-2015 16:56

I am hoping Plex will be out soon, going to have to use the Fire TV mostly until Plex is available for Apple TV. I see there is a "Plex client" available in the Appstore, but it looked pretty weak.

Is that "Simple X"? I heard Plex was supposed to be out at launch, so maybe in the next few days.

psychnurse

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#1417197 30-Oct-2015 16:56

You think we will be able to have multiple country apps sitting next to each other. e.g 7plus from aussie beside BBC Iplayer from UK?

jarledb

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#1417208 30-Oct-2015 17:05

staticnz:
I am hoping Plex will be out soon, going to have to use the Fire TV mostly until Plex is available for Apple TV. I see there is a "Plex client" available in the Appstore, but it looked pretty weak.

Is that "Simple X"? I heard Plex was supposed to be out at launch, so maybe in the next few days.

Yes, "Simple X" was the app. I see at Macrumors that Plex has confirmed an app, but have not seen any time when it should be available.

jarledb

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#1417209 30-Oct-2015 17:06

psychnurse: You think we will be able to have multiple country apps sitting next to each other. e.g 7plus from aussie beside BBC Iplayer from UK?

I think I will let someone else play with that. If it works as on the iPhone you should be able to log into another iTunes account and download the apps. That would be great.

Would do it, but I am just too chicken (and have enough other things to frustrate me these days).

psychnurse

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#1417229 30-Oct-2015 17:32

jarledb:
psychnurse: You think we will be able to have multiple country apps sitting next to each other. e.g 7plus from aussie beside BBC Iplayer from UK?

I think I will let someone else play with that. If it works as on the iPhone you should be able to log into another iTunes account and download the apps. That would be great.

Would do it, but I am just too chicken (and have enough other things to frustrate me these days).

OK, ill order one for xmas

littleheaven

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#1417230 30-Oct-2015 17:33

jarledb:
psychnurse: You think we will be able to have multiple country apps sitting next to each other. e.g 7plus from aussie beside BBC Iplayer from UK?

I think I will let someone else play with that. If it works as on the iPhone you should be able to log into another iTunes account and download the apps. That would be great.

Would do it, but I am just too chicken (and have enough other things to frustrate me these days).

Well, I have done it for you! And it is glorious. Go into settings, to Accounts, and it has an "add accounts" bit so I logged into my US, UK and Aussie iTunes accounts, downloading apps as I went. Nothing for the UK channels yet - though there was the TVPlayer app which gives you free free-to-air access to some of the UK channels. Aussie has a TenPlay app already. All the apps, regardless of where they came from, stay on the screen. I watched a bit of a show on TenPlay (while still logged into Aussie iTunes) and then went to the Hulu app which came from the US store and watched a bit of The Voice on that. So, like the PlayStation, it seems you just need to change iTunes accounts to download the apps, then you can stay on whichever one you like while you use them. Once more channels come out with apps, it'll be fantastic.

Other thoughts - the interface is very smooth and fast, and while it's a pain not having a proper keyboard for it yet, the touch remote makes manual entry much faster than with the old click remote.

I just asked Siri to shut the device down, and while it can't do that, it did display instructions for the hot-key sleep (long-press home button).

The Menu button is "back one screen", if you are looking for it like I was.

SimpleX isn't bad, I've downloaded that. My main issue is my Plex server not identifying all my files at the moment. Shouldn't have renamed them when I downloaded them, lol.

Edited to add: Awesomely, the Accounts section remembers all the Apple IDs you've added, and you can just flick between them by scrolling up and down and selecting the one you want. At the moment I've got home sharing and iCloud on my NZ account, and the device set to my US one. So far, very happy. It's doing exactly the things I wanted, and now the downside is waiting for broadcasters to develop their apps.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

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