Apple TV User Experience and Related Issues

Preface

With the house just renovated, it’s time to furnish it with appliances, and a TV is undoubtedly essential. Based on my years of shopping experience, I never consider domestic brands for electronics—those who know, know. So, naturally, I opted for a budget model from Sony, a premium TV brand: the XR-65X90J, the entry-level model featuring the so-called next-gen XR chip.

Although it’s a foreign brand, it’s still a product sold in China. As per the usual antics of the State Administration of Radio and Television, some features are inevitably gutted. I overlooked this while researching TVs, only realizing after mounting and powering it on that the built-in AirPlay support had been removed. This meant that to watch videos on the TV, I either had to buy a LeBo screencasting membership to mirror content from my phone (using my existing video subscriptions) or purchase separate TV versions of those video services.

LeBo screencasting allegedly uses a cracked version of the AirPlay protocol, so on Android devices (which TVs run), there can be audio-video sync issues, no 4K support, and the need for extra software—far from elegant. As for buying TV versions of video services… “Why should I pay twice for the same service on my phone and TV after spending over 6,000 on the TV, just because Android TVs stepped on someone’s toes?”—my wife’s exact words.

Thus, adhering to the rebellious principle of “rather throwing money into the water than tolerating disgusting domestic services,” I bought an Apple TV. Why not a domestic streaming box? First, our household is deep in the Apple ecosystem, and second, “with all due respect, I’m not targeting anyone, but all domestic TV boxes” are essentially e-waste—sold cheaply and recouping costs through intrusive ads.

Here’s a bizarre experience I had with a LeEco TV. Once, while playing Zelda on my Switch connected via HDMI, an ad for some XXX razor suddenly popped up at the bottom of the screen. I was stunned: LeEco’s TV could overlay ads on top of the Switch’s signal! Such brazen ad behavior is utterly outrageous.

Other reasons—boot-up ads, 4K support, software ecosystem, and most importantly, what a smart TV box should be: simple and hassle-free, not a battleground with box developers and video services—led me to choose Apple TV.

I bought the 2021 32GB 4K Apple TV directly from JD Worldwide, which took about half a month to arrive. Note that JD Worldwide purchases don’t support 7-day no-reason returns.

There’s an online joke mocking Apple’s naming—calling it “XX TV” when it’s not a TV. It’s not entirely wrong, as Apple TV is just a streaming box like Xiaomi’s or cable set-top boxes. The only difference is its Apple ecosystem integration, which offers seamless experiences if you own other Apple devices. Objectively, it has no other advantages. 4K output? WiFi 6? Google TV boxes and Amazon Fire Sticks support those too.

Usage Requirements

The conditions listed here aren’t absolute barriers but will significantly diminish the experience if unmet.

Non-China Region Account

First, “for reasons we all know,” Apple TV isn’t officially sold in China, which is why you can only buy overseas versions. Logging in with a Chinese Apple ID means you can’t even install apps (no App Store), reducing it to just an AirPlay device.

Thus, you need a non-China Apple ID, preferably a U.S. one for the fullest app selection. Since I share a Family Plan with my spouse, my main account is Chinese, while the Apple TV uses a U.S. account. Top-ups are done via Visa cards on Apple’s U.S. website (though Apple TV itself doesn’t require top-ups—this is just for paid apps; many, like YouTube, are free).

A Router with VPN and a “Airport”

What’s a VPN? Check Baidu Baike’s explanation. Here, it refers to legally using proxy software for the purpose of aligning with socialist core values and legally accessing the global internet.

What’s an “airport”? Check Baidu Baike’s explanation. Here, it refers to proxy node providers, necessary for VPN usage.

Due to the closed nature of Apple TV, its operating system, called tvOS, can essentially be considered a stripped-down version of iOS, and it does not expose system proxy interfaces. As a result, you cannot enable scientific internet access on Apple TV by installing proxy apps like Shadowrocket or QuanX separately, as you would on iOS. Therefore, if you want a better experience—such as watching YouTube, Netflix, HBO, and other services on your TV—you will definitely need a router configured for scientific internet access.

This process may seem cumbersome, but fortunately, the cost is a one-time investment that pays off in the long run. I opted for the R4S soft router recommended by a friend, connecting it as a side router.

Hardware Overview

The package includes only the Apple TV unit, a remote control, and a DC power cable. So, after unboxing, you’ll still need an HDMI cable to connect it to your TV (most TVs come with an HDMI cable included).

Apple TV Unit

The unit has three ports: a DC power port, an HDMI port, and an Ethernet port. For specific technical details, you can look them up online. Note that it’s best to use an HDMI 2.1 cable to connect to your TV to ensure 4K video output (assuming the content is in 4K).

Remote Control

The 2021 latest version of the remote removed the gyroscope compared to the previous model. It features a Siri button on the right side, but Siri voice functionality is limited and requires the system language to be set to a supported language; otherwise, it won’t work. Fortunately, I don’t have any use cases for Siri on Apple TV.

Additionally, I still haven’t fully grasped the relationship between Apple’s account systems.

My Podcasts and Photos are tied to my Chinese region ID, so when I open them, I see content from my primary Chinese account. However, Music and the App Store are linked to my U.S. account. I used to think that Podcasts, Music, the App Store, and iTunes were all tied to the iTunes ID, while Photos were tied to the iCloud ID. Clearly, I still don’t fully understand Apple’s account system.

A new Apple TV purchase comes with three months of Apple’s in-house video service, Apple TV+, and three months of Apple Music.

Installing Apps

Installing apps is as straightforward as searching in the App Store, just like on iOS, so there’s no learning curve.

However, as mentioned earlier, it’s recommended to log in to the App Store (iTunes Store) on Apple TV with a non-Chinese region account, while keeping the device account (iCloud account) logged in with your Chinese region account (if your primary account is Chinese). This way, your Photos app will display photos from your Chinese account, allowing you to view them on your TV (otherwise, the app would go to waste).

Another major advantage of this setup is that when you need to use a keyboard on the TV, your phone or tablet logged in with the same Apple ID will automatically display a notification (only when the device is nearby), prompting you to input text via your phone’s keyboard. You don’t even need to unlock your phone to use it—this is a fantastic experience (I’m sure you’ve suffered through the nightmare of typing with a remote control).

Your phone will pop up with the following interface, allowing direct input:

Video Content

I watch videos on Apple TV in four ways:

1. AirPlay
2. Video aggregation services, such as Emby
3. Directly downloading video apps
4. Using domestic cloud storage services that support WebDAV (my current solution), like Aliyun Drive.

AirPlay

The simplest and most direct method is AirPlay. As part of the Apple ecosystem, the experience is seamless—you can mirror any content from your phone to the TV, provided both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network.

However, note that due to the usual antics of domestic video service providers, if you use the system-level screen mirroring from your phone to the TV, the upside is that everything on your phone—including subtitles and notifications—will appear on the TV. The downside is significant, though: the video won’t fill the screen, leaving black bars at the top and bottom with no way to zoom or expand.

If you use the screen mirroring feature provided by the video service (usually found in the top-right corner of the video player), there’s a chance it might fail—either not casting at all or showing only audio on the TV while the phone displays the video. I haven’t found a consistent pattern for this issue; it seems purely luck-based. Fortunately, it usually works fine, succeeding about 70–80% of the time. The drawback here is that subtitles won’t appear. To display subtitles, you’d need to use the TV version of the video app on an Android TV (not Apple TV). Mirroring from the phone app (which also uses AirPlay) won’t show subtitles.

Normal playback should look like this:

Another point is that some videos, due to copyright protection, do not support casting functionality from video service providers. This is common with currently popular TV series. In such cases, only the first method can be used (which may also fail, as the software detects whether casting is active).

From this, it’s clear that if manufacturers don’t want you to cast, they have the full capability to enforce restrictions.

Video Aggregation Services

There are many such services, and they are undoubtedly illegal. However, because it’s difficult to determine—for example, many operate under the guise of being free (though requiring user activity to maintain access)—they exist in a legal gray area. Additionally, popular shows usually aren’t available immediately, as video service providers aggressively block such content during peak periods to protect their legitimate rights. Older or less popular series, however, face fewer hurdles. Most of these services offer unapproved foreign content, such as uncut versions of Game of Thrones or Empress in the Palace.

Of course, “existence implies reasonableness.” With growing copyright issues, sometimes you only want to watch an exclusive show on one platform but find the rest of its content uninteresting (e.g., The Legend of Zhen Huan on Youku). Paying for a membership just for one show feels wasteful, leading to the rise of private platforms that aggregate content from multiple video services.

A major reason these services haven’t been shut down by domestic video providers is their niche appeal. Most of their content comes from foreign streaming platforms, posing no direct financial threat to local companies.

The service I use is called Emby, a protocol designed for personal home theater setups, similar to a NAS. However, it can also be used to offer paid video services externally.

The basic principle is storing as many movies as possible on hard drives (often measured in terabytes or even petabytes). Once connected to the internet, users can stream any movie from the drive—perfect for film collectors or those who insist on high-quality content, refusing to watch anything below 8K or without Dolby audio.

Some Emby providers operate on a self-sustaining model (like my current VPN service). They sell VPN nodes (charging by data usage) while offering free Emby access, restricting playback to their specific VPN nodes. This consumes user data, creating a closed loop where users must pay for more traffic.

Here’s my experience: Before my VPN offered Emby, my 500GB monthly plan was mostly wasted—I only used about 10GB for browsing, documents, TED, YouTube, and TikTok. After Emby was introduced, I burned through 70GB in a single Saturday, proving the success of this strategy.

This spawned a business opportunity. Some specialize in Emby services, partnering with VPN providers to offer them as value-added perks. This boosts user retention for VPNs while allowing Emby providers to focus on B2B services—a win-win. Plus Cinema is a notable example.

Many online sources claim to offer free Emby access, but they’re not truly free—they cost your time and effort (e.g., answering questions, daily check-ins, maintaining activity to avoid account deletion). It’s better to find reliable friends and pay for a reputable Emby service (since these operate in legal gray areas, they’re not searchable online; recommendations from trusted users are safest).

On Apple TV, I use the renowned Infuse 7 as my Emby client. Its biggest perks are instant playback and automatic subtitle matching, eliminating the need to manually search and rename subtitle files. It also fetches metadata based on video content, not filenames—though how this works exactly is unclear.

For example, even if you download a file named Xia Luo T’s Troubles (a common tactic to avoid takedowns when pirated content first appears), it correctly identifies the movie.

The software requires a subscription or one-time purchase. I opted for the annual plan at $9.99 (under ¥6 per month). A one-month trial is available, after which playback redirects to the payment page.

Note: This price is just for the software. Depending on your Apple ID’s region, you may need to pay additional taxes:

When using Infuse for the first time, after logging into the Emby service, it performs a library scan. This means it scans all the movies in the Emby service to collect metadata and build an index, making it easier to search for movies later. The duration of this scan depends on factors like node speed, network bandwidth, and whether it’s peak hours. During this process, the search icon in the top-right corner will keep spinning, and video playback is unavailable (since the index isn’t fully built yet). My Emby service provider’s library contains about 170,000 movies, and with the airport’s claimed peak speed of 300Mbps, the scan took roughly an hour.

One thing to note is that Infuse seems to consume a lot of storage if you watch many videos. My Apple TV is the 32GB version, and after accounting for system usage and other apps, there should be around 20GB of free space. However, once when I opened Infuse, the app warned me that some files had been cleared by the system due to excessive storage usage, forcing me to restart the library scan from scratch.

Additionally, about two or three times a month, the app will display a message saying it’s optimizing storage and metadata, requiring a few minutes of waiting before it can be used again.

I’m not sure if this is due to my 32GB storage being too small or if it’s just how the software is designed.

Playback quality (depends on the video source and TV):

Alternatively, you can use an app called Emby, but it often malfunctions (getting stuck on the Loading screen) and doesn’t allow scrubbing the progress bar (later I learned this was the video service provider’s fault), so I stopped using it.

If you’re lucky enough to get it working, the playback interface is quite elegant:

However, since this type of service requires an airport connection, the service is inherently unstable. Frequent Loading screens are common, so unless the internet speed is exceptionally good, I avoid using this method when watching movies with my wife. Constant buffering ruins the mood and earns me complaints.

Video Apps

Of course, you can also choose to install video apps directly on Apple TV. However, the U.S. App Store doesn’t offer major Chinese video platforms like iQiyi or Tencent Video—only their international versions are available.

These international versions from Chinese video service providers are either ad-free or have very short ads (compared to the 45-second ads for 30-second videos in China). The trade-off is a severely limited content library, likely due to licensing restrictions (e.g., popular shows may only be available in mainland China). Subscription fees are also expensive (since they’re priced for foreign income standards, converting to RMB makes them costly).

This solution is practically unusable for following domestic dramas. I mention it only because, who knows, maybe one day there’ll be a renaissance, or the Qing Dynasty will rise again? For foreign shows, you can simply download apps like Netflix. However, international video providers are strict about regional licensing (e.g., American shows may not be available in Asia), so your airport service must support unlocking these platforms. This feature is often advertised as a selling point when purchasing airport services (ignore the high-end pricing in the screenshot below).

If you’re not into dramas and just want to watch YouTubers, you can download YouTube directly on Apple TV. Unlike Android TV, where you need a separate “YouTube for TV” (or “Smart YouTube”) app, Apple TV doesn’t require Google services to run YouTube—Android TVs often crash without them.

Apple also has its own original shows under the Apple TV+ service, which requires a subscription (similar to Netflix). New Apple TV purchases come with a free trial (one or three months—I forget, though it used to be a year). Some of their originals include See (starring the “Horse King” from Game of Thrones), Foundation, and For All Mankind. I wasn’t interested, so I canceled after the trial.

Cloud Storage or Local Shares Supporting WebDAV/SMB

This category is represented by services like Alibaba Cloud Drive (a subtle nod to Baidu Netdisk). These platforms offer unlimited speeds and support WebDAV, allowing you to stream videos stored in the cloud using a WebDAV-compatible Apple TV client. Coincidentally, Infuse supports WebDAV. Since the connection is domestic, streaming 4K or Blu-ray content is a fantastic experience. The downside is that banned movies will be censored.

Additionally, this solution has a prerequisite: you must have a soft router/Docker to act as an intermediary service—direct client-side usage won’t work (Aliyun Drive does not provide a publicly accessible WebDAV service). Here, I’m using an R4S soft router with the Aliyun Drive WebDAV plugin from Github. After a simple configuration, it sets up a local WebDAV service, allowing Infuse to connect by entering the soft router’s local IP and port number for playback.

Alternatively, you can use your computer’s SMB sharing to let Infuse play movies downloaded on your PC:

Alternative Solutions

There are some unofficial, more hacky solutions I haven’t explored due to time constraints, but interested readers can investigate, such as:

Watching Bilibili on Apple TV: The miao project (screenshot)

Live TV Streaming

There are times when live TV is needed, like during the Spring Festival Gala or the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Here, Apple TV falls short. You could buy IPTV sources from Taobao and use specific apps to watch, but these are not official solutions and often expire quickly, so I don’t recommend them.

If you insist on this approach, the iPlayTV app (priced at $5.99 in the U.S. store) can be used. You can find streaming sources on GitHub, such as here, and add the addresses directly, as shown below:

A better recommendation is to install apps directly on an Android TV. I use one called “Yangshipin” to occasionally watch CCTV-1 live streams, which brings back nostalgic childhood memories.

Gaming

Yes, the Apple TV—a streaming box—can play games. However, the latest 2021 model removed the gyroscope/accelerometer from its remote, making motion-controlled games like racing titles unplayable unless you use the previous-gen remote or pair an external controller. I’ve tested a PS4 controller, and while I haven’t tried an Xbox controller, it should theoretically work.

That said, the Apple TV is primarily a streaming device, not a gaming console, as evidenced by its modest hardware (and its ~$100 price tag). Beyond initial curiosity, I haven’t used it for gaming much.

Playing games on Apple TV is as simple as downloading the corresponding apps, just like on a phone—no learning curve.

Other Usage Issues

Apple TV Can’t Control TV Volume

Older TVs (like my previous LeTV) may not support volume control via the Apple TV remote. In such cases, you’ll need to manually configure it in the Apple TV settings by adjusting the TV’s volume to its lowest and then a specific level. My newer Sony TV works out of the box.

Turning On Apple TV Automatically Turns On the TV

Older TVs (again, like my LeTV) may not support this feature, requiring you to power them on separately. This is enabled by a universal protocol supported by most modern TVs.

App Crashes

Some apps, particularly Infuse, occasionally freeze. For example, pressing play might load indefinitely, and pausing during this state can break playback, forcing a restart—which often means reloading from scratch. This is frustrating enough to make me consider abandoning Infuse. To force-quit an app, double-click the home/return button (the one to the right of the back button) and swipe up, just like on iOS:

Miscellaneous

Other observations will be added here as they come up.

Final Thoughts

This article covers various issues you might encounter with Apple TV, some of which may require technical know-how to resolve. But where there’s a will, there’s a way.

The content here isn’t exhaustive, and some topics remain unexplored. Feel free to discuss further.

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