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Saturday Showdown: Apple TV vs Roku 1
Mar 11, 2025
Since the release of the Apple TV back in 2007, it's evolved into an essential gadget for all media streamers, and with that, Apple has invented some competition with the likes of Amazon Fire and the Roku. This week Cult of Mac puts the Apple TV against the entry-level Roku 1.
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hi I'm Steve Smith and welcome to
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another Saturday Showdown the show that
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battles Apple related gadgets against
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the products they're trying to replace
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this week it's a head-to-head battle
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between the Apple TV and one of its
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media streaming competitors the Roku one
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let's get
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[Music]
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started so both the Apple TV and the
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Roku one are very similar in design so
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that's where we're going to start
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off the Roku measures in at 30 mm thick
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and features a very glossy design with
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only the number one in a matte
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finish and it features the trademark
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purple
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tag whereas the Apple TV is the complete
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opposite and it measures in a little bit
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thinner at 23
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mm they both feature this rubberized
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base to make sure that they don't move
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when in your media center as you can see
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they are very similar in design just the
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Roku being a little bit thicker on top
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where it tapers in at the bottom a
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little bit like a macb a but they do
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both fit the palm of your
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hand I'm going to give the design to
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this one to the
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Roku next up are the
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outputs so the Apple TV has the power
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HDMI and a USB which I've never needed
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to use yet optical audio and also the
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ethernet but the Roku one surprisingly
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has an RCA out HDMI and the power
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cord this round is going to go straight
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to the Apple TV as I feel the Roku is
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wasting space with the RCA and also the
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lack of the optical audio it's full HD
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so why wouldn't you want decent sound
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now for the user interface Roku and the
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Apple TV are both very easy to use but
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the Roku having a category list of
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channels with the icons to the right of
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it once you've highlighted the channel
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there's a short description of the
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Channel's
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content whereas the Apple TV on the
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other hand has gone for a very iOS
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inspired look so anyone with an iPhone
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or iPad can pick the product up and get
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using it straight away it has the icons
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which almost look like apps from the
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iPhone then above that it has the
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highlights of the iTunes Store including
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the best films music and TV
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shows so in this I'm going to have to
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give it a draw they're both very easy to
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use and very
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intuitive so next up is content the
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Apple TV has everything available from
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the iTunes Store including the music and
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TV shows it also has quite a lot of
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sport with with the NBA MLB and also Sky
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Sports it's pretty big in the UK along
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with that has things like Netflix and
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YouTube but from what I've seen online
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the apps are very limited compared to
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the US
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version but one of my favorite features
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about the Apple TV is the fact that I
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can stream music movies and photos all
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using
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AirPlay the Roku on the other hand has
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the channel store where it features
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things like Catch-Up TV so in the UK
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it's things like Channel 5 DBC I know in
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the us both the Apple TV and the Roku
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have a lot more channels like Fox and M
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BC but a lot of these apps in the Roku
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store are fillers so they can boast
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about the amount of apps that they do
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have you can also stream content from
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your computer using things like Dropbox
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and also Plex which I had a little go of
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and it was quite good in terms of
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getting video and music from my computer
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over to the Roku also the one thing the
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Roku does have that the Apple TV doesn't
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is games which Apple TV should rarely
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have by now also with the Roku 3 which
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we will have a review of shortly you can
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also use the remote as the game
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controller one of the main issues I had
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with the Roku is some of the featured
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apps that I was excited to use were very
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boogy and they were very slow so I was
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constantly staring at screens like this
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waiting for my apps to load with things
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like YouTube and the BBC I player but
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overall I give this round to the
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Roku and last but definitely not least
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it's time for the
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remote so the Apple remote is very
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simple reminiscent of the original iPods
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with just the first wheel to navigate
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the play button and also the menu which
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functions as the back with the battery
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compartment being very similar to the
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Mac keyboard it's also extremely thin
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whereas the Roku remote has a lot more
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buttons going up down left right back
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home play and Rewind it also requires
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ablea batteries which is probably the
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reason why it's quite a bit bigger than
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the Apple TV
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remote there is also an IOS app for the
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Roku which you can use as a remote but I
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found this a little bit cumbersome as
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there is quite a few buttons and if
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you're trying to use it without looking
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you tend to click on the wrong one with
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Apple's remote app though it's more like
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a touchpad you can swipe across up down
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left and right to get to the apps you
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want tap on the screen to select
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it and then when needed the keyboard
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pops up for
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[Music]
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you what's also great is thanks to
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airplay you can use the YouTube app
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straight from the iPhone to load your
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favorite videos right onto your
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[Music]
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TV but try to type in your search on the
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Roku and I'll ask you to pair it through
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the browser a bit like the old
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PS3 so this round definitely goes to
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Apple well there you have it it's a tie
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I've got to say both products are
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greatly what they do but it does depend
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on your uses if your whole media life is
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already on iTunes then go for the Apple
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TV but of this TV catchup and
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subscription based content you want the
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Roku rocks if Apple gets itself into
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gear at WWDC which I think they will all
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they need to do is add some channels and
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an app store and they'll be
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unbeatable well that's it for this week
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leave a comment below to have your say
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do you prefer the Apple TV or the Roku
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also make sure to hit the Subscribe
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button to see all the best videos and
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giveaways for call to M until next
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time
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[Music]
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