Apple expands the reach of the iTunes ecosystem to multiple TV vendors (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Worlds collide! This is actually brilliant and won’t stop here.

https://9to5mac.com/2019/01/06/sams...dd-itunes-movies-and-tv-shows-apps-airplay-2/

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It really makes sense. While I understand Apple’s desire for a closed ecosystem where everything just works, it must be limiting when all other storefronts work on all other devices except for iTunes purchases needing an AppleTV. And with just about every new TV, cable box and disc player coming with the ability to add apps, that’s a huge market that Apple was cutting itself off from.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

This is good news though I am surprised the company would undercut Apple TV which has been the exclusive up until now.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Me too. I think they must’ve realized that they were ceding too much of the market. You can get pretty much any combination of devices to play content from pretty much any storefront, except iTunes, which was AppleTV only.

iTunes is the only storefront that will upgrade your purchases for free, from SD to HD, HD to 4K, etc. If you’ve got one of these Samsung TVs that’ll do iTunes and you have the choice of using Vudu, FandangoNow, Google Play, Amazon Prime, and iTunes to make a purchase and they’re all charging the same price, iTunes offers a clear advantage over all the other storefronts with the free upgrades. Nobody else offers that.

They sell more iPhones than AppleTVs, and this will make it easier to buy something on an iPhone and watch it on the TV without needing the AppleTV. There’s a part of the audience that cares about that kind of thing too.

I never thought it would happen but I only see benefits.

 

[Mark Booth]

No amount of software enhancement will encourage me to ever buy another Samsung branded product again.

No more Sony products for me either.

LG, please stay in business.

Mark

 

[Ronald Epstein]

No amount of software enhancement will encourage me to ever buy another Samsung branded product again.

No more Sony products for me either.

LG, please stay in business.

Mark

Mark,

I am with you. I am an LG guy forever more. Though the only drawback is that they are based on WebOS instead of Android which makes pairing them with home security devices impossible. Still I am nitpicking here

 

[Sam Posten]

Vizio too.
https://www.vizio.com/apple

 

[Sam Posten]

https://www.macrumors.com/2019/01/06/airplay-2-smart-tvs-details/

 

[Scott Merryfield]

No amount of software enhancement will encourage me to ever buy another Samsung branded product again.

No more Sony products for me either.

LG, please stay in business.

Mark

We have two Samsung 49-inch displays -- a 4K unit in our master bedroom, and a 1080p display at our South Carolina condo. While I prefer the Vizio 4K display in our main HT room (have a 70-inch M-Series), the Samsung displays have been okay for the money I spent on them (the 1080p display was only $300 last spring) and how they are used. The Samsung 4K display was more difficult for me to calibrate than the Vizio, but I did finally get a decent SDR and HDR picture -- had to use settings from the RTING.com website, as I couldn't get anything dialed in using my calibration disc.

For the main display in our home theater, though, I would probably lean towards an LG or another Vizio. Hopefully it will be quite a few years from now, though, before I need to think about another display purchase.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Vizio too.
https://www.vizio.com/apple

Would love to see iTunes on the Roku platform. That would give me access to Apple's content from all the displays in our Michigan home, plus our South Carolina condo. I only own one Apple TV device, and their high price precludes me from purchasing any more -- especially when I already have more affordable Roku devices everywhere else.

 

[Sam Posten]

LG too. Looks like Sony is the only one out.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/7/18172054/lg-will-bring-airplay-2-support-to-its-2019-tvs

 

[Sam Posten]

Would love to see iTunes on the Roku platform.

And Playstation, Xbox and Amazon devices, yeah.

 

[Wayne_j]

Although airplay 2 support is different than actually having iTunes movies and tv apps on the TV.

 

[Sam Posten]

Sony is IN
https://appleinsider.com/articles/1...airplay-2-and-homekit-support-to-upcoming-tvs

 

[Mark Booth]

Sony is IN
https://appleinsider.com/articles/1...airplay-2-and-homekit-support-to-upcoming-tvs

Too bad it won't be a retroactive upgrade for current Sony TV owners.

I still have my fingers crossed that Pioneer updates its current AV Receivers to support AirPlay 2. My Pioneer SC-LX801 already has standard AirPlay. It would be awesome if Pioneer updated it to AirPlay 2.

Mark

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Would love to see iTunes on the Roku platform.

That's what it would take for me to take iTunes seriously as a digital video retailer. The small handful of iTunes movie purchases I have made I watch through other retailers via Movies Anywhere because I refuse to be boxed into proprietary playback devices to view my purchased content.

 

[Sam Posten]

So you have chosen your boxed in proprietary platform of choice and screw all the others, amirite?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

So you have chosen your boxed in proprietary platform of choice and screw all the others, amirite?

Come on now, Sam. Until these announcements, content purchased through Apple was only available for playback on Apple hardware (not accounting for Movies Anywhere) . Meanwhile, content purchased elsewhere is available across pretty much every streaming hardware platform, including Apple hardware.

 

[Patrick_S]

Worlds collide! This is actually brilliant and won’t stop here.

https://9to5mac.com/2019/01/06/sams...dd-itunes-movies-and-tv-shows-apps-airplay-2/

The use of the word brilliant is not correct, this move was necessary for Apple to remain competitive in this market.

 

[Sam Posten]

It's brilliant to start with Samsung. And was correct, that it's going to be on Tizen, Android and many other devices past there. Necessary for survival is very debateable. Necessary for the dominance Apple desires, compared to the fragmented market of other marketplaces its brilliant.

@Scott Merryfield The comment was in response to the poster not taking Apple seriously as a movie provider. Apple is both the first and biggest in market, so my reply was as hyperbolic as theirs.