Apple TV app (tvOS)

[damcck]

Strange
I know i once had a post called Apple TV app (tvOS) but i cant seem to find it.

i got the SD email Kickstarter Stretch Goal - AppleTV Support
We need 2376 backers to make this happen!

Does that mean if you dont get enough backers the appletv app will not happen. is 2376 a hard number? as of this post 2282 signed up.
It is stated in the email "Apple TV is one of the most requested platforms for the HDHomeRun app".
If so, then why are we held hostage to buy a pre-production OTA unit in order to make this happen. What are the prime users to do who want the app but dont need OTA.

thanks

[nickk]

BTW - if you would like to support the Kickstarter but can't use an antenna there is a supporter commemorative coin level of support.

Nick

[GhostPeter]

I find it fascinating that for years we were told there were technical limitations to support tvOS, but in reality, they just didn't want to support two code bases.

Now they're asking for more money.

SMH.

[NedS]

I find it fascinating that for years we were told there were technical limitations to support tvOS, but in reality, they just didn't want to support two code bases.

Now they're asking for more money.

SMH.

We've never said there were technical limitations for the lack of tvOS support. We have always been clear that the reason we don't have an Apple TV app is due to Apple having different requirements for tvOS apps (no web-based UI), which would basically require two different apps (or, ideally, we would like to find some way to migrate existing Reactjs UI work to a React native app, which would minimize the special work needed just for tvOS).

We're asking for money because we're a business, and to create something new, new work must be done, which costs money. We tried to pay the developers with beans, but they kept getting mad at us.

[damcck]

beans... good response

but after two SD reply's i didnt get an answer to
Does that mean if you dont get enough backers the appletv app will not happen. is 2376 a hard number?

[PVR4Me]

...We have always been clear that the reason we don't have an Apple TV app is due to Apple having different requirements for tvOS apps (no web-based UI), which would basically require two different apps (or, ideally, we would like to find some way to migrate existing Reactjs UI work to a React native app, which would minimize the special work needed just for tvOS). ...

Yes, but...the AppleTV was a thing well before you started the new UI work. Why did SD choose something that would not work on AppleTV? Was there _nothing_ that gave a workable path forward on all platforms?

Craig

[ImNotSerious]

BTW - if you would like to support the Kickstarter but can't use an antenna there is a supporter commemorative coin level of support.

Nick

Sounds like they would be happy with just 2376 $29 backers to make this happen. Course if we just had an option to pay $29to get a TVOS app years ago, I would have done it.

Don’t know if I would switch back from purple to green at this point.

[NedS]

...We have always been clear that the reason we don't have an Apple TV app is due to Apple having different requirements for tvOS apps (no web-based UI), which would basically require two different apps (or, ideally, we would like to find some way to migrate existing Reactjs UI work to a React native app, which would minimize the special work needed just for tvOS). ...

Yes, but...the AppleTV was a thing well before you started the new UI work. Why did SD choose something that would not work on AppleTV? Was there _nothing_ that gave a workable path forward on all platforms?

Craig

Apple TV was still struggling to get marketshare back in 2015 when most of these decisions were being made. Don't get me wrong, I'm an Apple guy myself, and I've had nearly every generation of Apple TV ever made, but it wasn't even possible to make an app for Apple TV until late 2015.

We're a small company, so we focused on options that would work really well cross platform. We have one UI that now works on every major platform, and we hope to bring it to even more platforms. Using web-based technologies like Reactjs is a very smart idea that is used by many major apps out there, that greatly reduces support burden, decreases development time, and so on. Considering web-based interfaces is something allowed on iOS, it's very odd that Apple decided to not allow it on tvOS. They seem to have doubled down on that stance, which we hoped they would soften up on because interactive ATSC 3.0 features would require web-based interfaces (it's actually part of the ATSC 3.0 spec). There is no practical reason for this, not for the user experience, not for security, or any of that.

That being said, Apple has built a great platform with tvOS. The user-base for Apple TV has increased to the point that we felt we needed to do something. With how successful the ATSC 3.0 kickstarter is going, we evaluated the situation and figured we could justify ATV development using some of the additional profit being made, if we hit the right numbers. And we have. We've blown past the stretch goal, and we will be making an official HDHomeRun Apple TV client.

[zosobao]

Glad that you are going to now support apple tv. Perhaps I may dust off my equipment and put into service again once implemented! Any timeframes?