any guesses as to potential updates to ATV next month?

[dewthedru]

i just picked up an ATV3 and am wondering if i should keep it or not. the only thing that it really does for me is mirroring as i have other devices which show netflix, hulu, etc.

any rumors as to potential additions? should we assume there won't be any forthcoming changes as the just updated the device with hulu+ capabilities?

 

[heisenberg123]

i just picked up an ATV3 and am wondering if i should keep it or not. the only thing that it really does for me is mirroring as i have other devices which show netflix, hulu, etc.

any rumors as to potential additions? should we assume there won't be any forthcoming changes as the just updated the device with hulu+ capabilities?

do you mean software changes?


i really would not be concerned of a device update since the other devices where 2+ years apart in launches and the current one has really not even been a year.

software changes could be discussed next month or things might not change at all

 

[dewthedru]

ability to add apps. pandora. etc.

 

[mic j]

i just picked up an ATV3 and am wondering if i should keep it or not. the only thing that it really does for me is mirroring as i have other devices which show netflix, hulu, etc.

any rumors as to potential additions? should we assume there won't be any forthcoming changes as the just updated the device with hulu+ capabilities?

There's always rumors...usually wrong. You should keep it based on what it does now, not what it might do at some time in the future.

 

[Peace]

ability to add apps. pandora. etc.

There's not enough disk space on the Apple TV 3 for users to put apps on it.

Apple might add a couple of things but I don't see full fledged apps on the Apple TV until they come out with a new Apple TV with more storage.

In any case if Apple does include the ability to add apps it will only be limited to what Apple offers since there's no way for the user to add an app.

 

[dewthedru]

There's not enough disk space on the Apple TV 3 for users to put apps on it.

Apple might add a couple of things but I don't see full fledged apps on the Apple TV until they come out with a new Apple TV with more storage.

In any case if Apple does include the ability to add apps it will only be limited to what Apple offers since there's no way for the user to add an app.

good point. thanks.

 

[ansalmo]

There's not enough disk space on the Apple TV 3 for users to put apps on it.

Well, it supposedly has 8GB and Apple seem to think that's enough to allow apps to be installed on the entry-level iPod touch.

 

[WesCole]

Well, it supposedly has 8GB and Apple seem to think that's enough to allow apps to be installed on the entry-level iPod touch.

But, it uses some of that space to buffer movies...when you combine that with built-in apps and iOS, it is probably about 4GB (maybe less) of usable space. That's just a guess, since I have never actually looked into the actually free space when playing an HD movie.

 

[elpmas]

Don't think so. I think Apple is too focused on the "rumored" released of iPhone 5 and possibly iPad mini. Just enjoy the ATV3...pretty slick gadget.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

There's not enough disk space on the Apple TV 3 for users to put apps on it. Apple might add a couple of things but I don't see full fledged apps on the Apple TV until they come out with a new Apple TV with more storage..

TV is not like iPhones or iPads. It's generally an IMmobile device. As such, it doesn't need to store all of it's apps in onboard storage at the same time.

It's also generally a NON-multitasking device: one app at a time is likely.

Put the two together: tons of TV apps could be stored on the computer to which it links. When you want to use one of the apps, it streams it over just like a song or movie. When you switch to another app, it jettisons the first one and streams over the second.

iPhones & iPads needs bigger storage because they are mobile devices not permanently linked to a home computer. They require the space to hold all of the apps onboard.

 

[mic j]

TV is not like iPhones or iPads. It's generally an IMmobile device. As such, it doesn't need to store all of it's apps in onboard storage at the same time.

It's also generally a NON-multitasking device: one app at a time is likely.

Put the two together: tons of TV apps could be stored on the computer to which it links. When you want to use one of the apps, it streams it over just like a song or movie. When you switch to another app, it jettisons the first one and streams over the second.

iPhones & iPads needs bigger storage because they are mobile devices not permanently linked to a home computer. They require the space to hold all of the apps onboard.

That sounds like a plan. Bring it on!!!!

 

[marc11]

TV is not like iPhones or iPads. It's generally an IMmobile device. As such, it doesn't need to store all of it's apps in onboard storage at the same time.

It's also generally a NON-multitasking device: one app at a time is likely.

Put the two together: tons of TV apps could be stored on the computer to which it links. When you want to use one of the apps, it streams it over just like a song or movie. When you switch to another app, it jettisons the first one and streams over the second.

iPhones & iPads needs bigger storage because they are mobile devices not permanently linked to a home computer. They require the space to hold all of the apps onboard.

But then what's the point of the apple tv really, may as well use AirPlay and mirroring and use the apple tv as only an airplay device. I would hate to always need to have my computer on when a whim hits me to use an app.

Then again people keep asking for apps but what kind of apps? Unless you have a controller you are only talking about media apps which wouldn't take much space. Any games or interactive apps need a controlling device. If you assume an iPod, iPhone or iPad as the controller then again what's the point, just have the app on your device and mirror.

 

[hafr]

The claims of the ATV not having enough space to put apps on it and still be able to use it properly clearly haven't looked into it...

At the moment, I have over 5.5 gigs of buffered video files on my ATV2, stored in /private/var/mobile/Library/Caches/AppleTV/Video/LocalAndRental and /private/var/mobile/Library/Caches/AppleTV/Video/Other

And that's with tons of extras installed in ATV Flash (black) and XBMC and there is no complaining about lack of space for buffering in any of the media players (they don't clear the cache like the stock player does). So yeah, I'm guessing with at the very, very least 6 gigs of available space on the stock ATV2 - there should be no problems installing apps and still be able to use the ATV2/ATV3 as intended...

----

I just cleared the cache files, and this is what my ATV2 tells me:

Apple-TV:~ root# df
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/disk0s1s1          582464    517600     59040  90% /
devfs                       26        26         0 100% /dev
/dev/disk0s1s2         7199936   1246248   5953688  18% /private/var