I understand if you don't have an app on your Smart TV that you use (like YouTube TV) then you would need a streaming box...but my point was in my case with my LG I do have YouTube TV, Netflix, Amazon, Sling, Vudu, FandangoNow etc (seems like most of the major ones)...what would the ATV or another box offer me was my question...iTunes sounds better then Vudu so that's one major plus but having a million other apps doesn't necessarily make the box better...that's like saying I have 500 cable channels even though you probably only watch a small percentage of them...
It's not that the apps aren't available on the television, but in my case the apps on my Samsung (a KS9800) tend to not work very well. For instance, almost a year after getting the television, there was a longstanding bug in the Samsung OS that wouldn't see me as logged in and offered no access to a login screen, effectively locking me out of authenticating Netflix, Hulu, etc. I was forced to stream video through my PS4 Pro until Samsung sorted it out. With some apps, the usability was different depending on device...some apps on my FireTV in the bedroom allowed smooth scrubbing with the remote, but the PS4 version might require you to select an onscreen fast-forward button which was tricky to control. The ATV apps all use Apple's video API so scrubbing video is consistent in every app you're using...it's smooth & fast and you get a little preview icon of what's onscreen as you do it. It also lets you easily "snap" back to to where you started.
Like everything Apple does, there's a lot of attention to detail and user experience. If I had to list what I like most about the ATV, it would be these:
- interface is clean and easy to navigate; 4K and HDR titles are prominently advertised
- iTunes has a ton of content, often obscure things I haven't seen elsewhere
- iTunes has sales all the time; I've bought tons of movies for under $8
- if a title you own gets a 4K/HDR update, Apple upgrades yours for free
- Siri works well on the ATV; she can locate just about anything across all apps
- anything I buy I can stream on a television, or download and play on an iOS device
That being said, the 4K version had some bugs at launch that have been (mostly) stamped out. It doesn't really do anything that you can't technically do on other devices, but it's easily my favorite streaming box out of all of them.
Apropos of nothing, I LOVE the screensaver wallpapers on 2018 LG OLEDs.
The screensavers are fantastic...I actually look forward to seeing the new ones they add.