Would you consider new Apple TV?

sven256 said:
What point are we missing?

"It's a fit and forget bit of hardware that allow Apple to rent/sell more content through the iTunes store."

Why is it massively overpriced then? surly it should be subsidised if the main purpose is to make more money off you ie sky box, virgin box etc

But instead of subsidising it, they are inflating to price by at least 200%, of what other items you can get off the market, that have the same capabilities.

For £100 i would expect a lot more hardware and functionality. As it is, it's just another apple rip off.
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It's not massively overpriced. Last time I checked a WDTV Live was around £90. That's price difference of less than a round of beer in my local.

As with Apple, WD are making the device to support other products - WD's aim being to sell more USB HDDs and NAS boxes, Apple aim is to rent/sell more content over iTunes.

So the WDTV decodes a ton of formats. That's not going to affect WD's core business which is selling storage. Apple unlocking the TV to play MKVs etc would be shooting themselves in the foot.

Feel free to **** me off as an Apple fanboi. The WDTV sat under my TV says otherwise.

As for SimonR - stop spouting tripe.
 
Seems fine for the average Joe who doesn't give a damn about MKV or Plex etc. buy it plug it in start watching, Apple make good software/hardware for the average Joe users. For the more discerning and technically minded consumer there are other options out there.

I know for instance my dad might be interested in it, but I do agree we need UK content and we need BBC iplayer / 4OD on it to make it feasible this side of the pond.
 
iamtheoneneo said:
Me thinks your missing the point its an overpriced pos aimed at gullable apple fans that dont know there arse from their elbow.
There are at least 5 other products on the market that are there same price or cheaper and do more!
But I guess my point stands from above that its got an apple logo on it so its amazing...
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It's a iTunes media streamer designed to access local iTunes libraries over a network and Apple's on-demand streaming content from the internet. Can you name another device that fulfils that specification?

A lot of people are very happy using iTunes. OK, so it's not the favourite application on OcUK, but we're not exactly target market. My Mum could use an Apple TV out of the box. The same wouldn't be the case with a WDTV/Popcorn Hour etc.
 
MagicBoy said:
It's not massively overpriced. Last time I checked a WDTV Live was around £90. That's price difference of less than a round of beer in my local.

As with Apple, WD are making the device to support other products - WD's aim being to sell more USB HDDs and NAS boxes, Apple aim is to rent/sell more content over iTunes.

So the WDTV decodes a ton of formats. That's not going to affect WD's core business which is selling storage. Apple unlocking the TV to play MKVs etc would be shooting themselves in the foot.

Feel free to **** me off as an Apple fanboi. The WDTV sat under my TV says otherwise.

As for SimonR - stop spouting tripe.
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The thing is the western digital is not even the same kettle of fish, it's vastly superior.

See my above post it's more akin to a £30 -£40 media player. I will give it the fact it has built in wireless though, where as these will not. But the rest of the hardware will be the same.

And you can hardly compare the apple tv, as a blatant device to sell thing through itunes. Yes you have no other choice, as far as i can see. To western digital where you can use any other brand of products, on their devices. They are not forcing you to use their products, and don't charge you extra if you don't. So the choice is entirely yours.
 
MagicBoy said:
It's a iTunes media streamer designed to access local iTunes libraries over a network and Apple's on-demand streaming content from the internet. Can you name another device that fulfils that specification?

A lot of people are very happy using iTunes. OK, so it's not the favourite application on OcUK, but we're not exactly target market. My Mum could use an Apple TV out of the box. The same wouldn't be the case with a WDTV/Popcorn Hour etc.
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I have a netgear streamer which does this, it cost me £23. It will not do apple on demand streaming though, but it does do plenty of other streaming.
 
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They cater for different markets though, the WDTV Live is a good product, but I can't imagine my dad or sister being able to set it up and use it without me having to go over and help, and even then they'd have difficulty.

The Apple TV would be fine for them, they don't have a 1080p TV, they use itunes a lot and wouldn't even know what MKV etc is :) it's not just about taking hardware at face value, you can make things to powerful and complicated, the thing Apple are good at are making simple to use, integrated products that share a fairly similar ui across their products. Which is why my mum/dad/sister/auntie all love their Apple stuff :) For people on forums like this, which are probably a fairly small cross section of consumer market, Apple products can sometimes seem overpriced, underpowered etc. but looking through the eyes of a non tech savvy consumer, Apple seem to have a knack for making accessible products.
 
sven256 said:
I have a netgear streamer which does this, it cost me £23. It will not do apple on demand streaming though, but it does do plenty of other streaming.
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It plays HD movies from iTunes?

As to the hardware, I doubt it's a Sigma powered device. Apple are more likely to have stuck an A4 in it. I await the traditional iFixit teardown...

Time will tell if the new Apple TV is more of a success than the original. If the UK gets Netflix, or they add iPlayer or similar in a future version then perhaps it will be.
 
I love Apple stuff but this just doesn't excite me in the least. I'll stick to my PS3 with PlayTV for recording and watching stuff and streaming stuff from my computer.
 
krisboats said:
Why is that important? Why do you NEED to use itunes to do it?
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You can buy/rent TV shows and movies from iTunes. I've got a couple of iTunes HD movies via codes included with the Blu-Ray. It appears to be the preferred way for some studios to provide a LEGAL digital copy.

krisboats said:
The WDTV live is cheaper, does more and has much more compatibility.
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I know that. I've owned one since launch. Try reading the entire thread next time.
 
MagicBoy said:
You can buy/rent TV shows and movies from iTunes. I've got a couple of iTunes HD movies via codes included with the Blu-Ray. It appears to be the preferred way for some studios to provide a LEGAL digital copy.



I know that. I've owned one since launch. Try reading the entire thread next time.
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Ah cheers, i didn't know that people actually rented them via itunes. Probably because it's such a niche market. Online rental needs to be done via web browsing really as it kinda limits your options buying this overpriced apple paperweight when there are so many more online rental services available via HTPC for not much more cost.

I did read the entire thread, thanks. There was supposed to be a multi quote from someone talking about the price of a round of beer. I was saying it's a rubbish comparison in favour of the apple product.
 
krisboats said:
Ah cheers, i didn't know that people actually rented them via itunes. Probably because it's such a niche market. Online rental needs to be done via web browsing really as it kinda limits your options buying this overpriced apple paperweight when there are so many more online rental services available via HTPC for not much more cost.

I did read the entire thread, thanks. There was supposed to be a multi quote from someone talking about the price of a round of beer. I was saying it's a rubbish comparison in favour of the apple product.
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I wouldn't call digital copies free with Blu-Ray purchases that much of a niche market. Now renting from the old Apple TV, yeah that was a niche...

What's wrong with my beer analogy? It's a perfectly decent way of expressing that £10 is a relatively insignicant amount of money in the grand scheme of life. It's nowhere near what some on here would term the usual Apple premium/tax.


whitecrook said:
Can you use this device without paying money to use it?
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Yes. It'll stream content from an iTunes library on a computer.
 
MagicBoy said:
What's wrong with my beer analogy? It's a perfectly decent way of expressing that £10 is a relatively insignicant amount of money in the grand scheme of life. It's nowhere near what some on here would term the usual Apple premium/tax.
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It is considering it is an inferior product, at a more expensive price with severe hardware limitations.
 
Inferior to what? It's not aimed at the WDTV or Popcorn hour buyer.

Now that Google TV thing looks interesting. I shall investigate further...
 
How many downloads has the iTunes store hit? Speaks for itself that people do buy from iTunes, and they will/do buy movie content :)

Perfect product for the major % of apple product buyers.
 
coughs said:
Hello

I was wondering if you would consider the new Apple TV for your HTPC as its just £99

whats your opinion on this?

It seems it doesn't benefit UK customers as much as US, I would love to see sky player, iplayer etc..
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pointless in the UK while we are still being charged £1.89 per episode of TV. It has netflix integration which allows you to watch stuff from their library if you subscribe - they need something similar to allow 4oD / iplayer / itvplayer / skyplayer to be used on it. Then it might have some relevance.

But i dont even think we have TV series rentals at the minute. The only option is buy. Take for example series 4 of the IT crowd. £9.99 to buy on itunes, but £12.99 on DVD - so its reasonably priced to buy. But i want a way of watching stuff for free (eg iplayer) or cheap TV show rentals. Dont think any of the UK tv series are available to rent atm.

Again, heavily american biased.
 
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