Anyone got experience with BOTH the Apple TV “app” on new smart TVs *and* with an Apple TV box? Is the app good enough that you don’t need the box anymore?

You shouldn’t plug your tv into the internet :)

Can you touch on some of the downsides and implications?

The TVs are actively gathering data by design and proven security breaches if they have a mic or camera. I’m not a tin foil hat person... I use Zoom, a credit card, and even a Safeway member number. But no way would I connect my TV to the internet. AppleTV is the firewall.

💯 hard same. I bought a "commercial display" because it's almost impossible to find a not-smart TV these days. Just give me a panel and I'll add the smarts I trust (Apple TV) externally.

One problem — YouTube app on Apple TV 4K doesn’t play 4K or HDR (doesn’t use VP9/VP9.2 codec). This is such a stupid pissing contest between Apple and Google. It’s truly wonderful when multi-billion dollar companies can’t cooperate for the benefit of the customers who made them.

The next version of YT will be using the new codec, so we just have to wait.

Which new codec do you mean? VP9 has been our forever. I can’t tell if it’s Apple blocking VP9 or YouTube refusing to load it, but since VP9 works on YouTube app on iPhone X and Chrome on macOS I’m more inclined to believe this is an Apple thing.

AV1. Quting from iMore: "AV1 is the next, next-generation video codec. It's open and royalty-free, like Google's VP series, and Google has bought-in to the extent they've shelved VP10 for AV1, which is about as bought in and bought in can be." imore.com/why-you-still-cant…