Buy now? Questions.

[rpeters83]

I haven't been following the buzz really on the AppleTV, but am interested in buying one. Is NOW a good time to buy? Anyone know of if they will be dropping prices or adding updates in the near future?

Also, does the AppleTV have to connect to an iTunes library? I have all my movies stored in a movies folder on my airdisk - they are not stored in airtunes (I have compressed versions of them for my ipod only).

Can I tell the appletv to read movies from my movies folder outside of itunes? Thanks!

 

[EvanLugh]

I would say so, especially after it's not too long from the update. Look in the wiki for the guide.

 

[BaldiMac]

Apple TV does not have to connect to an iTunes library to have access to the iTunes store, youtube, flickr, podcasts, etc. It does need to connect through iTunes to access any of your current content. It cannot find media on your network that is not in iTunes.

 

[rpeters83]

Apple TV does not have to connect to an iTunes library to have access to the iTunes store, youtube, flickr, podcasts, etc. It does need to connect through iTunes to access any of your current content. It cannot find media on your network that is not in iTunes.

Well that is screwy. What if you have two sets of movies, one for your low-res ipod and the other for higher-res movies? Doesn't make sense to have them both in the itunes library.

Damnit, guess that's a deal breaker for me then. Kinda stupid. Grrrr....

 

[leekohler]

Well that is screwy. What if you have two sets of movies, one for your low-res ipod and the other for higher-res movies? Doesn't make sense to have them both in the itunes library.

Damnit, guess that's a deal breaker for me then. Kinda stupid. Grrrr....

I still say do it. You'll become addicted to it faster than you think. I know I have. It's great.

 

[rpeters83]

I still say do it. You'll become addicted to it faster than you think. I know I have. It's great.

I was going to buy it in order to get my TV shows and Movies from my airdisk onto my TV. I already have the same media in itunes, but it's low-res for my ipod. Kinda dumb to have two of each movie in there.

UNLESS, is there a way to tell AppleTV which itunes library to choose from? If I set up a separate itunes library with only my movies/shows in there, that would work as well. Possible? Thanks.

 

[leekohler]

I was going to buy it in order to get my TV shows and Movies from my airdisk onto my TV. I already have the same media in itunes, but it's low-res for my ipod. Kinda dumb to have two of each movie in there.

UNLESS, is there a way to tell AppleTV which itunes library to choose from? If I set up a separate itunes library with only my movies/shows in there, that would work as well. Possible? Thanks.

Yes, it is possible. You'll see how that works when you set it up. You can also set it up to stream from other computers. A list of available libraries come up when you look for them. It's super easy.

 

[gwsat]

I broke down and bought a 160GB Apple TV about 6 weeks ago because, with version 2.0 of the software, it’s possible to rent and watch HD movies directly from the Apple TV. But it does more, much more.

With the Handbrake application, which is freeware, it’s possible to un-encrypt and rip audio and video files from a DVD, and convert them to .mp4 files in a single operation, which Apple TV can then download and play. I have been loving this because Apple TV’s user interface is friendlier and more informative that my aging Momitsu DVD player’s, and the quality of both the picture and 5.1 sound are equal to that produced by my DVD player, which is to say very good, indeed.

A 2 hour movie converted to the .mp4 format has a size of only 2.5GB, which means that the 160GB hard drive on my Apple TV will hold a lot of movies.