Month: June 2026

In the old days (20^th century), watching television was a simple process; you connected your cable box (unless you were using rabbit ears for “over the air” broadcasts) to your television’s input, and all the programing flowed through the cable box. Simple, right?

But then came the advent of broadband into your home, and suddenly there’s a whole new way to get content – via the internet. Suddenly, you realized you don’t have to be a slave to Optimum, Comcast, or whatever cable provider serves your location. You can stream content using a piece of hardware that connects to the internet, such as Apple TV (the device, not the service), Google TV Streamer, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Roku, among others. Or via a “Smart TV” – a set with these features built in.

But there are a couple of problems here; for one, smart TVs don’t have a great interface, and are clunky to work with, as far as adding apps, navigating smoothly, and trying to keep things simple. Another issue, non-smart TVs are becoming increasingly difficult to find. But does that mean you’re stuck with the terrible interface (usually Google/Android) forever?

No, it doesn’t. While devices from Roku, Amazon, and Google all have their pros and cons, the best option (IMHO) is Apple’s streaming media hardware, aptly named Apple TV. Like other Apple products, its interface is simple and easy to navigate. It’s plug-and-play, simply connect it to an open HDMI port, instruct your TV to default to that port, and you’re ready to go. Sign in with your Apple Account, and you can download whatever apps (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc.) you need, and you’re ready to go. This setup bypasses the “smart” features on your TV, and allows you to have a more streamlined interface, and less hassle dealing with Android store (an entirely different set of sign ins!) and all that stuff on your smart TV.

The Apple TV streaming media player.