> IOW, use the AppleTV (or Roku, or whatever) regardless just for the better experience.
I've never used AppleTV. Does it come with ads and a bunch of data collection too? Roku collects massive amounts of data and has ads. For example:
"Roughly twice per second, a Roku TV captures video “snapshots” in 4K resolution. These snapshots are scanned through a database of content and ads, which allows the exposure to be matched to what is airing. For example, if a streamer is watching an NFL football game and sees an ad for a hard seltzer, Roku’s ACR will know that the ad has appeared on the TV being watched at that time. In this way, the content on screen is automatically recognized, as the technology’s name indicates. The data then is paired with user profile data to link the account watching with the content they’re watching." (https://advertising.roku.com/resources/blog/insights-analysi...)
I only exclusively use AppleTV and have for a number of years. No ads, and you're asked whether you want to share data for analytics on setup (like any apple device).
I'm not aware of any intrusive data collection like screenshots you mention even if you do opt in to share data.
>Does it come with ads and a bunch of data collection too?
Even with AppleTV+ it contains ads for other content on other services that you have to pay for. You might be able to buy it through AppleTV and watch it there I guess. I don't know I've never tried.
Sort of. First, you can turn off a bunch of auto-play previews and the fact that it shows you stuff you haven't added to your "Up Next" list via the System Prefs. I have done this successfully and I no longer get any animated previews of videos I'm not interested in.
The AppleTV app (which you don't need to use) itself shows what shows you're watching and if you scroll down or across the categories at the top shows you what shows are on all channels it knows about. That's significantly less problematic than showing ads for arbitrary products. It does know what you've watched because it does stuff like launching the apps for you, and I wouldn't be surprised if they use that data internally. I've never seen an outright ad on my AppleTV other than when watching videos on an app that has ads (YouTube, for example).
I have found the ability to see all shows on all channels at once very useful for deciding if I want another service or not. I also sometimes see a show is available on service X, decide I don't want that service, and check to see if I can buy or rent just that one show (or movie) on iTunes. The answer is yes as often as not. Very handy!
The main menu/home page does not serve ads. It just lists your installed apps.
Using the Apple TV app (which aggregates listings from most services, Netflix being the notable exception) will list shows on services you might not already pay for. But, you don’t have to use the Apple TV app - you can just go straight to the apps you know you want.
I've never used AppleTV. Does it come with ads and a bunch of data collection too? Roku collects massive amounts of data and has ads. For example:
"Roughly twice per second, a Roku TV captures video “snapshots” in 4K resolution. These snapshots are scanned through a database of content and ads, which allows the exposure to be matched to what is airing. For example, if a streamer is watching an NFL football game and sees an ad for a hard seltzer, Roku’s ACR will know that the ad has appeared on the TV being watched at that time. In this way, the content on screen is automatically recognized, as the technology’s name indicates. The data then is paired with user profile data to link the account watching with the content they’re watching." (https://advertising.roku.com/resources/blog/insights-analysi...)