ATV is awesome

[AeroStud1026]

Hey guys,

I got my tv working tonight and let me tell you, its great. I also bought a AEBS, and have my 1TB External HD hooked up to it as well. I have my content streaming from my External HD on the AEBS to my MacBook iTunes, then to the apple TV all wirelessly and its amazing. No lag what so ever, startup time is only a few seconds and after that few seconds is up the whole movie is fully streamed. Whats nice is I have a pretty extensive movie collection (Currently just over 200GB's) and its great that I'm not wasting HD space on my MB with all these movies, and I still get the same response time and quality I would get if Im watching these movies directly on my MB HD. I bought the 40GB tv and frankly its running so smooth I really don't even need the space. Real glad I didn't bother with the 160GB

I'm a believer, and I also made a few people in my house believers that were skeptical before hand.

 

[danny_w]

Now if they would only add 4:3 tv support I would really love it. I have one myself but use it for music. I really want a good way to view my DVD's, but don't really want to put an XBOX in my living room. And don't ask me why I don't want an HDTV; I'm tired of explaining. Suffice it to say that I have a great setup that is perfect for me (with this one exception).

 

[dukebound85]

as cool as the atv is, i still cant justify it over a ps3 or 360 imo as either one can replicate the atv

 

[AeroStud1026]

as cool as the atv is, i still cant justify it over a ps3 or 360 imo as either one can replicate the atv

I have a PS3 and it doesn't quite replicate it, I tried doing the same thing with my PS3 and it couldn't be done, some movies played others didn't all are in the exact same format....The only conclusion I chalked up was that I read on a few sites while I was frantically trying to fix my problem was, the PS3 sometimes will not play files over 1GB, and the average movie I have is roughly 1.05-1.30GB's, so naturally they wouldn't play but all the files that were right at 1GB or alittle under played perfectly....Maybe they will release a software update to fix that, Other than that, I use my PS3 for Bluray's and of course games which I might add still justifies it, because Its still one of the cheaper BD players that offer BD Live.

 

[jaw04005]

as cool as the atv is, i still cant justify it over a ps3 or 360 imo as either one can replicate the atv

On paper their features are similar, but I own both devices and the PS3 doesn't even compare.

 

[danny_w]

On paper their features are similar, but I own both devices and the PS3 doesn't even compare.

Yes, but the PS3 (and XBOX) at least support 4:3 mode. It seems like Apple can always add neat bells and whistles to anything they do, but they can't do the simple things that everybody else can do. Just like Cut/Copy/Paste and MMS on the iPhone.

 

[clos.gonzalez]

Apple TV Does Rock

Aerostud, I totally agree... The Ps3 is great for gaming and Blu Ray, but if you want to stream ripped DVD's to your TV, Apple TV is definitely the way to go. I actually bought an Apple TV to put in my bedroom to access my movies on my server, but it worked so flawlessly that I moved the ps3 to my bedroom and put the Apple TV in my living room. I know have all my family photo albums, all my music, and of course all of my dvd collection accessible almost instantaneously. I also have a 1TB drive that I stream all my movies from and I have not had 1 problem thus far. The movie art looks absolutely beautiful, and best of all (For ME) is that my encodes play back in surround. I cannot say enough about this thing. At some point I will have one in every single room in my house.

 

[rotlex]

On paper their features are similar, but I own both devices and the PS3 doesn't even compare.

Agreed, as an owner of both as well. The ONLY thing I prefer with the PS3 is the Aperture\photo browsing. I say this all the time, but why or why can't Apple design the ATV to browse albums, projects etc. in a better fashion than a big, flat list of them? At least the PS3, with Media Link, browses the folder structure in a tree like manner, making it much easier to view.

 

[ipedro]

Agreed, as an owner of both as well. The ONLY thing I prefer with the PS3 is the Aperture\photo browsing. I say this all the time, but why or why can't Apple design the ATV to browse albums, projects etc. in a better fashion than a big, flat list of them? At least the PS3, with Media Link, browses the folder structure in a tree like manner, making it much easier to view.

Good point about the photo browsing. As a photographer, I'd love to be able to use that function more often, but it is quite tedious to find an event in that very long list. There should be browsing by year and by keywords.
Also, we should be able to add our Aperture library to tv...

To Danny who's asking for a 4:3 aspect ratio.... I can see how you'd want Apple to cater to your needs, but the truth is, the whole experience is designed for widescreen. The menus and the content is dependent on the 16:9 aspect ratio that somehow the effort in creating a dual mode is lost in the fact that CRTs are being abandoned at an incredibly rapid pace.

As an Apple fan, I jumped at the opportunity of getting an tv and sped up my decision to pick up an HD tv. I had a Sony WEGA flatscreen that I was happy with. Owning a 48" Sharp Aquos with an tv connected has improved my home entertainment experience by leaps and bounds.

 

[martinmartin]

I tried to use a Mac Mini a few months ago as a HTPC. I had an external drive hooked up to the an AEBS and then the Mac Mini hooked up to my TV.

Unfortunately there were serious lag issues. Maybe it was the Mini, though, because last night I did the same thing with my MBP and it didn't lag.

I'd be curious to try the Apple TV on my network and see if I could get it to work without any lag by hooking up the Hard Drive to the AEBS like you are...

 

[AeroStud1026]

..

To Danny who's asking for a 4:3 aspect ratio.... I can see how you'd want Apple to cater to your needs, but the truth is, the whole experience is designed for widescreen. The menus and the content is dependent on the 16:9 aspect ratio that somehow the effort in creating a dual mode is lost in the fact that CRTs are being abandoned at an incredibly rapid pace.

I couldn't agree any more.........I understand that his needs require a 4:3 aspect however with todays advancing technology putting in a 4:3 would actually be taking a step back rather than a step forward......I'm not sure if you can even buy CRT's anymore.......im sure at some discount shops.....but everytime I walk into Circuit City, Best buy, ect.....I see wall to wall HD

 

[danny_w]

To Danny who's asking for a 4:3 aspect ratio.... I can see how you'd want Apple to cater to your needs, but the truth is, the whole experience is designed for widescreen. The menus and the content is dependent on the 16:9 aspect ratio that somehow the effort in creating a dual mode is lost in the fact that CRTs are being abandoned at an incredibly rapid pace.

Yes I realize all of that and that is going to put me into a real bind when my tv (50" Hitachi) finally dies. I love widescreen for my desktop, but it will always be a huge waste for my movie watching, since at least 95% of the movies that I am interested in are all in 4:3 format. Yes I realize I am in the minority here, but if the iPod, Xbox, PS3, and many others can all do 4:3 then why can't the TV? It just seems a shame. I could use my old Xbox running XBMC, but there is no remote control possible for it (no IR), and it is LOUD. I would much rather stick with an Apple product (I have 3 iMacs, a Macbook, an iPod, an iPhone, and an TV). All I'm asking is for the same 4:3 support that is already in the iPod; if the iPod could stream movies I might very well use that with a DLO dock.

P.S. It looks like Boxee/XBMC on the TV may be able to do what I want, eventually. It looks like XBMC is already there, except that it has huge overscan issues, and I cannot get Boxee to play VIDEO_TS folders from an smb share (I think this may be a known bug).

 

[AeroStud1026]

Yes I realize all of that and that is going to put me into a real bind when my tv (50" Hitachi) finally dies. I love widescreen for my desktop, but it will always be a huge waste for my movie watching, since at least 95% of the movies that I am interested in are all in 4:3 format. Yes I realize I am in the minority here, but if the iPod, Xbox, PS3, and many others can all do 4:3 then why can't the TV? It just seems a shame. I could use my old Xbox running XBMC, but there is no remote control possible for it (no IR), and it is LOUD. I would much rather stick with an Apple product (I have 3 iMacs, a Macbook, an iPod, an iPhone, and an TV). All I'm asking is for the same 4:3 support that is already in the iPod; if the iPod could stream movies I might very well use that with a DLO dock..

To pretty much answer this question. I think Apple for the most part is concerned with offering the best technology possible. If they made a dual mode with 4:3....how many people would really take advantage of this use knowing that CRT's are pretty much out.....Apple figures the amount of people that would need/use it certainly outweighs by a long run the people that wouldn't...Also another thing to think about was, the PS3 and Xbox all came out 2+ years ago....which CRT's were more common than they are today just like when we reach the year 2010 CRT's will be even less common than they are today, and Yes i know I can go out today and buy a PS3 with 4:3 support but why bother re doing the ps3 just to take away 4:3 support? It's not that the AppleTV can't do 4:3 apple just decided not to incorporate it into their system

These decisions haunt business owners, designers, researchers, marketers every day......pretty soon CRT's will be a thing of the past and they decided not to try and tailor it for technology thats soon to be outdated (if not already). I'm not bashing CRT owners......heck I have a 50 inch CRT as well....I just bought my first HDTV 2 months ago, but regardless...this is the truth...

 

[marklight]

interface interface interface.... there are so many better video playing devices out there, but apple tv slaps them all with its presentation of album art and other meta data. And I'll just say that while downconverting 1080p footage does suck, a 720p file encoded at 6600kbits/sec looks pretty good.

 

[Superman07]

To pretty much answer this question. I think Apple for the most part is concerned with offering the best technology possible. If they made a dual mode with 4:3....how many people would really take advantage of this use knowing that CRT's are pretty much out.....Apple figures the amount of people that would need/use it certainly outweighs by a long run the people that wouldn't...Also another thing to think about was, the PS3 and Xbox all came out 2+ years ago....which CRT's were more common than they are today just like when we reach the year 2010 CRT's will be even less common than they are today, and Yes i know I can go out today and buy a PS3 with 4:3 support but why bother re doing the ps3 just to take away 4:3 support? It's not that the AppleTV can't do 4:3 apple just decided not to incorporate it into their system

These decisions haunt business owners, designers, researchers, marketers every day......pretty soon CRT's will be a thing of the past and they decided not to try and tailor it for technology thats soon to be outdated (if not already). I'm not bashing CRT owners......heck I have a 50 inch CRT as well....I just bought my first HDTV 2 months ago, but regardless...this is the truth...

Just because the displays are on their way out does not mean the material is. Personally, I associate myself with the OAR crowd, and don't like the fact that a device forces you to distort your media.

 

[AeroStud1026]

Just because the displays are on their way out does not mean the material is. Personally, I associate myself with the OAR crowd, and don't like the fact that a device forces you to distort your media.

I think it does mean the material is on the way out, HDTV's can do so much more than standard CRT's, I think AppleTV is proof that the material is going out....

 

[danny_w]

I think it does mean the material is on the way out, HDTV's can do so much more than standard CRT's, I think AppleTV is proof that the material is going out....

I think he was talking about the movies themselves. Nothing will ever replace Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca" or Bogey/Bacall in "To Have and Have Not" or Dick Powell in "Murder My Sweet". These (and many, many others) were filmed in glorious black & white 4:3 and are not going away. No matter how hard you try you will never replicate great film noir in color and widescreen. Yes we are in the minority but classic film lovers we are, and classic film lovers we will remain.

 

[danny_w]

To pretty much answer this question. I think Apple for the most part is concerned with offering the best technology possible. If they made a dual mode with 4:3....how many people would really take advantage of this use knowing that CRT's are pretty much out.....Apple figures the amount of people that would need/use it certainly outweighs by a long run the people that wouldn't...Also another thing to think about was, the PS3 and Xbox all came out 2+ years ago....which CRT's were more common than they are today just like when we reach the year 2010 CRT's will be even less common than they are today, and Yes i know I can go out today and buy a PS3 with 4:3 support but why bother re doing the ps3 just to take away 4:3 support? It's not that the AppleTV can't do 4:3 apple just decided not to incorporate it into their system

These decisions haunt business owners, designers, researchers, marketers every day......pretty soon CRT's will be a thing of the past and they decided not to try and tailor it for technology thats soon to be outdated (if not already). I'm not bashing CRT owners......heck I have a 50 inch CRT as well....I just bought my first HDTV 2 months ago, but regardless...this is the truth...

I would buy all of that argument except that the latest iPods that just came out last month support 4:3, so why can't TV that came out well before that? And give me a break about the horrid v2.x menu system of the TV; the original did not make full use of widescreen at all and was far superior to the v2.x menu system. Just because they now make more use of widescreen in their menu system does not make it better.

 

[dynaflash]

Thank god we have another ps3 vs. atv thread. I was afraid that we might not see this again

 

[martinmartin]

For streaming high quality video, what does everyone use to rip their DVDs?

Handbrake with Apple TV defaults or something else?

I did a straight rip the other day with Mac The Ripper and hooked my MBP up to my TV via DVI and played the video folder (which was stored on my Hard Drive connected to an AEBS) using OSXs DVD Player and the quality was quite good.

Cheers

 

[AeroStud1026]

I think he was talking about the movies themselves. Nothing will ever replace Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca" or Bogey/Bacall in "To Have and Have Not" or Dick Powell in "Murder My Sweet". These (and many, many others) were filmed in glorious black & white 4:3 and are not going away. No matter how hard you try you will never replicate great film noir in color and widescreen. Yes we are in the minority but classic film lovers we are, and classic film lovers we will remain.

Ahh I see, some misinterpretation on my part.

I would buy all of that argument except that the latest iPods that just came out last month support 4:3, so why can't TV that came out well before that? And give me a break about the horrid v2.x menu system of the TV; the original did not make full use of widescreen at all and was far superior to the v2.x menu system. Just because they now make more use of widescreen in their menu system does not make it better.[/QUOTE

Hmm, good argument, I guess the only thing left I have to say is that Apple just wanted to make this a true HD experience. Like I stated above I'm not bashing CRT owners, I own several CRT units and only 1 HDTV.

Thank god we have another ps3 vs. atv thread. I was afraid that we might not see this again

Actually we did talk briefly about the ps3 but more so on why appletv is for HD only tv's

For streaming high quality video, what does everyone use to rip their DVDs?

Handbrake with Apple TV defaults or something else?

I did a straight rip the other day with Mac The Ripper and hooked my MBP up to my TV via DVI and played the video folder (which was stored on my Hard Drive connected to an AEBS) using OSXs DVD Player and the quality was quite good.

Cheers

Since I bought AppleTV ive been using Handbreaks AppleTV setting.......I used to use normal but after comparing I think ATV is alittle more crisp and clear.

 

[danny_w]

Since I bought AppleTV ive been using Handbreaks AppleTV setting.......I used to use normal but after comparing I think ATV is alittle more crisp and clear.

I heard somewhere that Handbrake had a setting for the TV to allow use on a 4:3 tv (it puts black all aound the video instead of only on the sides, resulting in a smaller image but approximately 4:3). I tried using Handbrake's default TV setting for 4:3 content, but the resulting movie wouldn't sync to the TV. Actually, I looked at the TV setting and the TV setting (which is 4:3) and noticed only one difference besides the file type, then selected the TV setting and made this one change (DVD image size of 720 by 480). When I tried to sync iTunes said that it wouldn't play on the TV so it wouldn't sync; it played fine however on the Macbook, and prepared to be formatted right (black all around). I realize that this is only a temporary workaround, but it would at least let me view things in approximately the correct aspect ratio.

 

[jaw04005]

The Apple TV doesn't support 4:3 because Apple would have to either redesign all the menus with 4:3 in mind or distribute another set of menus just for 4:3.

Not to mention the fact that you couldn't download rentals because you're not connected via HDMI.

Again, seems like a lot of extra work for something that's on its way out.

Additionally, the Apple TV doesn't have composite or coaxial output. So chances are if your analog TV supports component input, it has a 16:9 mode. So, although not ideal, you could use the Apple TV in that mode.

The iPod/iPhone supports 4:3 because it has no on-screen menu interface, and it's output is much simpler.

This topic was supposed to be about how awesome the Apple TV. So I say we get back on topic.

 

[ipedro]

Not to mention the fact that you couldn't download rentals because you're not connected via HDMI.

I didnt know that. You mean, if I hook up tv via composite, I won't be able to watch rentals?

 

[coogee]

I didnt know that. You mean, if I hook up tv via composite, I won't be able to watch rentals?

TV doesn't have composite connections, only Component/HDMI.


ATV is awesome, as soon as it's hacked to overcome the crippled media playing capabilities