What do you think of Apple TV?

[XiZiT]

Hey guys, I need some help here. I accidentally caught an ad for Apple TV. and am quite impressed with the features. I hate being an early adopter though because there's always issues that arise and I'd be stuck with something not worth the money. I basically have a lot of DVDs, and I don't mind syncing them with iTunes if I have too, but will the quality preserve if I am streaming movies from PC to Living Room, etc. ? Has anyone bought this thing yet?

 

[Safeway]

I wouldn't buy it.

Edit: Poll?

 

[loup garou]

Worthless, unless you're heavily invested in purchased music/tv shows/movies from ITMS, and if you are, I'd have to question your intelligence. If you aren't, there are about a zillion other media streamers that do more for less money.

<--official AppleTV hater

 

[MercenaryForHire]

donotwant.jpg

- M4H

 

[Lonyo]

Might as well build a Linux box and do file sharing.

 

[Ipno]

640x480 vids on my HDTV... yippie skippie ya?

 

[LordMaul]

I don't really watch TV, but I might buy it because Steve Jobs said so.

 

[aphex]

I'm intrigued but i'm waiting to see it in person before i pass judgment...

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: XiZiT
Hey guys, I need some help here. I accidentally caught an ad for Apple TV. and am quite impressed with the features. I hate being an early adopter though because there's always issues that arise and I'd be stuck with something not worth the money. I basically have a lot of DVDs, and I don't mind syncing them with iTunes if I have too, but will the quality preserve if I am streaming movies from PC to Living Room, etc. ? Has anyone bought this thing yet?

Worthless...
there are already better ways to do this exact same thing..
360 or other media center extender 4 teh winz...

and I dont have to pay Itunes to watch a show with MCE and 360..

 

[Kaido]

A modded Xbox is $100 cheaper plus it plays games. Have you looked into Xbox Media Center?

http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/

 

[ForumMaster]

well engadget did say they liked it and that it worked fine. but to me, it seems overpriced. the only things it has going for it is the pretty interface and the 802.11n. and you can do that for less money.

 

[George P Burdell]

Nope, I think it's a waste of money.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: loup garou
Worthless, unless you're heavily invested in purchased music/tv shows/movies from ITMS, and if you are, I'd have to question your intelligence. If you aren't, there are about a zillion other media streamers that do more for less money.

<--official AppleTV hater

I don't see the problem with TV shows. Yes, I know you can download HD versions via bittorrent. But what if I *gasp* actually want to be legal about it, and am far too lazy to record and manually cut out commercials, and tivo isn't worth the price to me?

Then again, that only fits me because there are about 2-3 shows I watch that I'd support and actually pay to watch. Which is a counter-argument for an AppleTV since that's just too few to be worth it...

If someone hacks the AppleTV (it is a pentium M in there...) to cache and stream media (ANY media from a network share), then it's worth it. Assuming no "mod chip" would be needed, I would take it over an xbox 360. And over an xbox because mine is choking on some x264 encodings

So basically, I'm waiting for someone to hack it. heh

 

[mwtgg]

Nope, Connect360 works fine for me.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: loup garou
Worthless, unless you're heavily invested in purchased music/tv shows/movies from ITMS, and if you are, I'd have to question your intelligence. If you aren't, there are about a zillion other media streamers that do more for less money.

<--official AppleTV hater

I don't see the problem with TV shows. Yes, I know you can download HD versions via bittorrent. But what if I *gasp* actually want to be legal about it, and am far too lazy to record and manually cut out commercials, and tivo isn't worth the price to me?

Then again, that only fits me because there are about 2-3 shows I watch that I'd support and actually pay to watch. Which is a counter-argument for an AppleTV since that's just too few to be worth it...

If someone hacks the AppleTV (it is a pentium M in there...) to cache and stream media (ANY media from a network share), then it's worth it. Assuming no "mod chip" would be needed, I would take it over an xbox 360. And over an xbox because mine is choking on some x264 encodings

So basically, I'm waiting for someone to hack it. heh

Reencode it to scrap CQM and B-Frames and the x264 should play fine on the Xbox.

- M4H

 

[Fenixgoon]

HTPC ftw

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Reencode it to scrap CQM and B-Frames and the x264 should play fine on the Xbox.

- M4H

Yeah... I'm too lazy to pull out all the original source. haha. I rarely use it, that's why. I would rather have a computer hooked up, so I can show off web things every so often.

But I switched back to xvid... so the xbox might get some use again. I usually just watch stuff while I'm working on my computer though.

And to add, sling box is suppose to have something for $200 and will stream "anything video."

 

[neomits]

Originally posted by: XiZiT
Hey guys, I need some help here. I accidentally caught an ad for Apple TV. and am quite impressed with the features. I hate being an early adopter though because there's always issues that arise and I'd be stuck with something not worth the money. I basically have a lot of DVDs, and I don't mind syncing them with iTunes if I have too, but will the quality preserve if I am streaming movies from PC to Living Room, etc. ? Has anyone bought this thing yet?

what do you mean synching them with iTunes?

From how I understand it, you can only play your purchased iTunes content from your PC throught the Apple TV. Its nothing more than an extender of what you have bought from apple on your mac or PC.

So in that sense, no, it is not worth it.

 

[MrBond]

XBMC is almost as good, although once you get into h.264 territory the playback can be choppy.

I downloaded a video podcast encoded in h.264 and the audio came through just fine, but the video was a little "laggy". It wouldn't have been an optimal solution to view media encoded that way. I tried copying it to my xbox and playing it that way, but it wasn't any better.

If the xbox 360 ever gets hacked like the xbox did, then XBMC for it will be just about the perfect solution. As it is now, I think you can play most media types on an xbox 360 as long as you convert them first.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: MrBond
XBMC is almost as good, although once you get into h.264 territory the playback can be choppy.

I downloaded a video podcast encoded in h.264 and the audio came through just fine, but the video was a little "laggy". It wouldn't have been an optimal solution to view media encoded that way. I tried copying it to my xbox and playing it that way, but it wasn't any better.

If the xbox 360 ever gets hacked like the xbox did, then XBMC for it will be just about the perfect solution. As it is now, I think you can play most media types on an xbox 360 as long as you convert them first.

Dont even need a 360 to eb hacked.. it already does what you want it to.. it just talks to the PC with the content already on it and streams it..
transcoder360 and 360 = better than old school XBMC

 

[XiZiT]

Well after reading posts here as well as online reviews, it absolutely does not make sense to buy this thing because it's ONLY compatible with iTunes/Apple formats (AAC, etc.). Just not worth it for the $$. I guess without starting another thread, would a Squeezebox (3.0) make more sense? I need something that I can easily stream my DVDS, DIVX, etc. etc. to my living room for under $300.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: CVSiN

Originally posted by: MrBond
XBMC is almost as good, although once you get into h.264 territory the playback can be choppy.

I downloaded a video podcast encoded in h.264 and the audio came through just fine, but the video was a little "laggy". It wouldn't have been an optimal solution to view media encoded that way. I tried copying it to my xbox and playing it that way, but it wasn't any better.

If the xbox 360 ever gets hacked like the xbox did, then XBMC for it will be just about the perfect solution. As it is now, I think you can play most media types on an xbox 360 as long as you convert them first.

Dont even need a 360 to eb hacked.. it already does what you want it to.. it just talks to the PC with the content already on it and streams it..
transcoder360 and 360 = better than old school XBMC

transcoder still has to run though.. XBMC will stream from a network share.. which is a key feature I think... just a simple smb share, and it's virtually cross-platform ready. I'd much rather have a hacked AppleTV for the form factor, but an xbox360 wouldn't be terrible. Actually, if they got folding on it, it'd be great

 

[everman]

Needs a 500gb+ HD, hdtv decoder + PVR. I guess the problem is that they didn't want to make something that does "everything", but that's what I want.

 

[Tegeril]

Originally posted by: neomits

Originally posted by: XiZiT
Hey guys, I need some help here. I accidentally caught an ad for Apple TV. and am quite impressed with the features. I hate being an early adopter though because there's always issues that arise and I'd be stuck with something not worth the money. I basically have a lot of DVDs, and I don't mind syncing them with iTunes if I have too, but will the quality preserve if I am streaming movies from PC to Living Room, etc. ? Has anyone bought this thing yet?

what do you mean synching them with iTunes?

From how I understand it, you can only play your purchased iTunes content from your PC throught the Apple TV. Its nothing more than an extender of what you have bought from apple on your mac or PC.

So in that sense, no, it is not worth it.

Incorrect.

It can stream/sync 5Mbps 1280x720 24fps H264 video that you encode yourself among other options.

 

[chcarnage]

Basically it's a 40 GB drive that mirrors stuff you have to save elsewhere anyway, so you can look at it in a comfortable way in the living room (or listen to it on your living room stereo). Now, I usually like Apple, but what were they thinking? I don't see much use in products of this category. I'd either go for a complete SFF computer solution (Mac Mini or home built) or at least chose a standalone device with a DVD drive.