Apple TV - what a brilliant stereo!

[spiritlevel]

Well I know I'm late to the party but I recently bought a 160GB Apple TV off ebay for just over £100.

What a revelation it has been! Never mind the TV stuff - as a stereo it's awesome!. I synced a load of music from my laptop and am now controlling it from anywhere in the house using Remote on my iPhone (without the laptop or the TV having to be on).

And it streams wherever I want it using Airport Express and Air Tunes...

Possibly the best £100 I have spent in a while..

Oh yeah - it plays videos too apparently.

Having been a bit frustrated by some of Apple's recent releases, it's great to feel the love again.

 

[fivepoint]

Well I know I'm late to the party but I recently bought a 160GB Apple TV off ebay for just over £100.

What a revelation it has been! Never mind the TV stuff - as a stereo it's awesome!. I synced a load of music from my laptop and am now controlling it from anywhere in the house using Remote on my iPhone (without the laptop or the TV having to be on).

And it streams wherever I want it using Airport Express and Air Tunes...

Possibly the best £100 I have spent in a while..

Oh yeah - it plays videos too apparently.

Having been a bit frustrated by some of Apple's recent releases, it's great to feel the love again.

Congrats on the Apple TV, glad you love yours, I know I love mine. I should point out though... I think all of the 'stereo features' you mentioned are just as easy on a mac. You wouldn't need the Apple TV to do what you mentioned.

http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/features/airtunes.html

 

[spiritlevel]

Oh I know that dude...

But my laptop is a work machine and is often out on patrol...

I love the fact that the ATV can just sit there in the same place, always on, just like the dying NAD CD player it replaced.

I don't need to worry about starting up the mac just to play a few tunes - just get my phone out of my pocket and choose a track - brilliant.

 

[bucksaddle]

Great to see a post like this once in a while describing what the Apple TV does best - simplicity at playing back your compatible media.
Gets a bit boring on here sometimes with people trying to hack it a thousand ways and then complaining it's a rubbish media player when it doesn't play the 1080p MKV downloaded from some site or other. There are plenty of other players for that.
Enjoy your Apple TV, I know I have for the last 3 or so years

 

[fivepoint]

Oh I know that dude...

But my laptop is a work machine and is often out on patrol...

I love the fact that the ATV can just sit there in the same place, always on, just like the dying NAD CD player it replaced.

I don't need to worry about starting up the mac just to play a few tunes - just get my phone out of my pocket and choose a track - brilliant.

Agreed. Great application for the AppleTV, made 'brilliant' by the iPhone/iPod Touch remote.

 

[dynaflash]

Hmm, no doubt ... now to go a step further ... how about this ... http://www.apple.com/magictrackpad/ with a potentially new ios atv .. hmmm ?

Okay even more relavent the current atv has a blue tooth chip in it. A software update and the magic trackpad could make the same functionality you get out of your iPhone remote available to those without an iPhone.

Just sayin'.

 

[fivepoint]

Hmm, no doubt ... now to go a step further ... how about this ... http://www.apple.com/magictrackpad/ with a potentially new ios atv .. hmmm ?

Okay even more relavent the current atv has a blue tooth chip in it. A software update and the magic trackpad could make the same functionality you get out of your iPhone remote available to those without an iPhone.

Just sayin'.

Completely agree. Some sort of touch remote is going to come to AppleTV with the next revision (has to be just around the corner, doesn't it?)

I'm excited. I'll put one in every major room in the house.

 

[spiritlevel]

Hmm, no doubt ... now to go a step further ... how about this ... http://www.apple.com/magictrackpad/ with a potentially new ios atv .. hmmm ?

Okay even more relavent the current atv has a blue tooth chip in it. A software update and the magic trackpad could make the same functionality you get out of your iPhone remote available to those without an iPhone.

Just sayin'.

Yeah...almost - but then the telly has to be on, and you have to be sitting/standing in front of it. Remote on the iPhone lets you control things from anywhere in range of your wifi - sitting in the garden for example.

Didn't know the ATV had bluetooth...the remote is IR isn't it? why does the ATV have bluetooth? What bluetooth devices currently work with it?

Picked up a magic trackpad for my office MP today...it's OK... not sure it will replace my Performance MX mouse though. I'll give it a try for a couple of weeks - I can always take it back if it doesn't work out.

Interested to see what this new rumoured ATV ends up like - If its good I might actually connect it to my telly.