Apple tv for a parent

Substance · 6 Dec 2010 at 01:40

I had my PS3 hooked up to my parents tv a while back to play a blu-ray and in the video menu my mum noticed her pc and asked how it was showing up.

When I mentioned how she could stream video from her laptop/desktop she was impressed and even mentioned buying a PS3 at the time to do this.

It got me thinking about a HTPC for xmas for her but they seem to be pretty expensive, so I thought about apple tv (new gen) and was wondering just what they can do,

Is it true that you can't play avi files on them over the network? And if not normally then are there any workarounds to this?

Thanks

Fozzie55 · 6 Dec 2010 at 07:55

Hi
I have a PS3 in the living room, but I thought I would try the Apple TV for the bedroom. The main difference is that the Apple TV relies on iTunes. Your PC/Mac has to be on with iTunes running for it to stream. If you can convert your files to work within iTunes they will work on the Apple TV.
The main thing is that the Apple TV seems to be a rental hub. You are expected to rent movies rather than store them.
Light at the end of the tunnel is that you can jailbreak it. I have done it. Early days yet, all the software is beta. I have plex running and can view a few more file formats. It has an A4 processor inside and 8GB of storage, like an iPhone. I hope it opens up the idea of an App store etc etc for the likes of iPlayer 4OD and other Apps.

TriedandTested · 6 Dec 2010 at 13:03

Can someone clarify: any working video in your iTunes (itunes downloads, DVD imports et) library can be streamed wirelessly to the TV?

Turbo-G · 6 Dec 2010 at 13:30

Yes, you enable home sharing on both the mac and the aTV. The machine running iTunes acts as the media server and therefore needs to be on with iTunes running. One way round this is with airplay, therefore you can stream any of you music/video contained within an iOS device directly to the aTV.

Pug · 7 Dec 2010 at 08:58

Would a WDTV not be a simpler, more efficient bet?

Substance · 12 Dec 2010 at 18:55

Pug said:
Would a WDTV not be a simpler, more efficient bet?

I don't think you can stream from PC over wifi using a WDTV can you?

"andy" · 12 Dec 2010 at 19:09

Does she have much video stored on her pc? And if so then what formats?

jellybeard999 · 12 Dec 2010 at 20:23

SuBsTaNcE said:
I don't think you can stream from PC over wifi using a WDTV can you?

The earlier were ethernet only, but I think the newer models can do this. If not the WDTV, there are similar devices which definitely can.

Substance · 13 Dec 2010 at 12:46

"andy" said:
Does she have much video stored on her pc? And if so then what formats?

Mostly avi's but apparently with a jailbreak the apple tv can stream these,

If there is anything else on the market that can do it well for <£100 then I will gladly take a look at that but I can't find anything that cheap apart from apple tv