Earlier today I was watching an older video on YouTube by “8-Bit Guy” regarding what you could do with a 1st generation Apple TV. The video was from 2014, so it’s of course dated, but still, it’s interesting to see what one can do with an old 1st generation Apple TV (I personally have a 2nd generation Apple TV myself, for what it’s worth,) with options like running XBMC or another Linux distribution, as opposed to the rather limited stock software Apple released with the device.
In browsing comments (seriously, why do I at all look at YouTube comments?) I noticed a few that followed the oh-so classic attitude of the commenter suggesting a better way to get the same end result. In one particular comments case, while he praised the idea as being better than using an original Xbox for the same purpose (as that old game console is really best used for only standard definition content), he still says that “This is pretty neat…but I do think the Raspberry Pi is a better option for this kind of thing.”
There are also other comments suggesting other media boxes, like the Amazon Fire TV and the like, or all kinds of other random suggestions, if you dig hard enough.
Here’s the thing – no one cares. That simply isn’t the point of the video. The video was focused solely on what you could do if you had one – as in, you own for whatever reason an original model Apple TV, what can you do with it beyond what Apple lets you do with it? That’s all. Nothing more, not suggesting you should go out and buy an Apple TV and do this right now, or any kind of acting like this is somehow the best thing in such media boxes. It was just a demonstration of what you can do if you own one.
This is a common thing on many videos on YouTube where people discuss what you can do with an object – someone comes around and talks about something that would, either subjectively or objectively do the job “better.” The same thing happened when the NES and SNES Classic Edition consoles were released – everyone constantly went over the fact that you could set up various devices on your own to emulate any console you want and get the same, or better, results – ignoring the many other reasons people might well want those devices in and of themselves.
My NES Classic Edition Console.
There’s a way to suggest alternatives that isn’t as direct, one that goes fine – just make it as a suggestion without any qualifiers. Still, even that doesn’t really need to be said – you’re probably best just keeping the suggestions at bay, since again, videos and discussions like this are about what you can do with that particular item, not how to best solve the need that the device that is the subject of the video fills.
I know this seems like a rather basic thing to discuss, almost petty to bring up, but if you pay attention, you will notice just about any video that talks about “what you can do with X” or “how to hack Y” will be filled with these alternate suggestions, like the person making the comment is trying to one-up the video creator. It’s just one of those things that rubs me the wrong way, and with the way I am about social commentary, it just had to be said. Videos like this just aren’t the place for you to make suggestions – perhaps make your own video suggesting what you feel is the best way period to view streaming media and the like – don’t put it on a video that’s intended to simply suggest what to do with a device someone already may have.
I should also note the people obsessing over putting Windows XP on the device just make me laugh. I get the idea, certainly, but, no… just no… let XP die unless it’s a vintage XP era computer you use for something special (like I do with my media netbook)
As for the video in question, I’ll leave it here.