Apple TV, Anyone use it?

1337z0r

1337z0r

1337z0r

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Hey,

I have already made a post about the macbook and it seems you all know about apple and macs so I am very happy to come here for advice as I am a apple noob I, have only every owned 2 ipods lol.I have been looking at getting something to play video files for when I get a HDTV in my room. And if I do get a mac book I will most likly sell my pc, and I will not want to connect my macbook up to my tv every night to watch tv.

I thought about getting a Mac mini but then apple TV looks like the thing I need. Will the price on the 160GB model be coming down any time soon as it looks really good for the price. Does this play any file type, or some type of apples own format. I will mostly be playing AVI's and sometimes MKV files.

Do you use Itunes, and make playlists like for the ipod if so how well does this work. And one last thing, what is the actual Apple TV like is it fast when being used when going through the menus. Is it quiet?

Thanks.
 
It won't play AVI or MKV files at all (not without some hacks.. which reset themselves periodically)

All files have to be encoded in H.264 MP4 format (basically the iTunes format for video).

I doubt the price will come down anytime soon as they only recently bumped it to 160GB.

It is responsive when using the menus (think of Front Row on your Mac), but you need a good wireless network (802.11n for video, possibly a 802.11g if you've got a good modem), I believe they run pretty hot.. but they're designed this way.
 
Something else to remember is that if you have too man films (so they don't all fit on the AppleTV) you need to leave a computer turned on all the time to let it stream content from it.

When you plug an AppleTV into your network, iTunes on your computer will pick it up and you can then decide what gets sync over to it.
 
I would rather get a Mac Mini and keep it connected to the TV all the time. Probably better value for money, tbh the Apple TV isn't really all that.
 
I have a 160GB Apple TV linked up to the LCD TV and speakers in main bedroom.

The Good Points
It is responsive and plays back locally stored media fine and streams music from iTunes on other machines well, I haven't tried streaming video to it. It will play back media in formats supported by iTunes which means whatever you want to play needs to be in those formats, (so may have to be converted using a tool such as Handbrake). Its menus are well designed, (think Front Row?), and are easy to navigate.

The Bad Points

It runs hot, very hot .... its even quite warm when its in its standby mode. Supposedly if you disable the screen saver then it runs a bit cooler.

Transferring things on to it. This is slightly different from an iPod and hopefully this will be addressed in later software revisions. iTunes picks up the Apple TV on the network and places it like a iPod in the left hand pane. But you cannot drag individual files onto it, unlike the iPod. You can only transfer playlists and the files must be selected in the playlist otherwise they will not transfer and at the next sync they will be removed from the Apple TV. You can sync with one system and stream from several (5?) others.

YouTube. In theory you can play back stuff off of YouTube on it. In practice not everything on there has been re-encoded to be compatible. Also a lot of people have been having issues with YouTube logins not authenticating so you cannot get to your favourites etc ... it works for a bit and then stops completely, (even though the same username/password works through the website directly).

Sound over HDMI can be an issue with some LCD TVs (in particular Samsung R8x). I have to have left/right audio connected to the TV as well.
 
Well I have the money to buy the Apple TV, but I have decided not too. I will buy a Mac mini and hook it up to my 32" TV. Seems a lot better value for money. Plus I watched to many AVI files and I don't want keep converting files all the time. Plus the low end Mac mini should do the job, I dont need a large hard drive as I will be using a 1.5TB NAS drive for the mac mini and my laptop which will hopefully be a macbook.
 
1337z0r said:
Well I have the money to buy the Apple TV, but I have decided not too. I will buy a Mac mini and hook it up to my 32" TV. Seems a lot better value for money. Plus I watched to many AVI files and I don't want keep converting files all the time. Plus the low end Mac mini should do the job, I dont need a large hard drive as I will be using a 1.5TB NAS drive for the mac mini and my laptop which will hopefully be a macbook.
Click to expand...

Good choice. You can add more codecs to the mac mini easier than the AppleTV and the front row software on normal macs is pretty much the same as the backrow software that the AppleTV uses.
 
One last things, are they ok for running 24/7 as I normally have my pc on 24/7 downloading so would the mac mini be ok with this? or will it over heat?

Thanks for all the replys.
 
1337z0r said:
One last things, are they ok for running 24/7 as I normally have my pc on 24/7 downloading so would the mac mini be ok with this? or will it over heat?

Thanks for all the replys.
Click to expand...

They are fine for running all day long. The only things a Mac Mini is not that good for is anything that requires a good graphics chip. In every other respect it's a very capable computer.
 
It will only be used to playing Videos mainly AVI's and HD stuff. Nothing that will need a good graphics card at all. Plus I doubt I will be needing 2GB of ram for it.
 
Had a look at a mac mini in town today. Had my ear fairly close to it and couldn't hear a thing. Seeing as I was the only one in the shop at the time thought that was quite impressive.
 
not sure if i could post this if not can a mod remove it

toysrus have a clearence on ex displays mac and people have been picking up the mac mini for around £100 with the most being £200 i think. they all come with warranty so you might be better off looking there. youll have to ask a member of staff though as they arent normally on display
 
I'm interested in one of these purely as in effect a CD player. ie: I can put all my music (mp3) onto it and play it...

How good is the playback? Quality OK? Can you create play lists etc?
 
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