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I bit the bullet and bought an Apple TV

safetyobc

safetyobc

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 6, 2007
480
27
Arkansas
Well I did it. I was going to wait and see what Apple had planned for us but decided to go ahead and buy one. I got a refurb and saved a few bucks from Apple's online store. I have bought refurb's from Apple's online store before with good luck (fingers crossed, knocking on wood.)

I flip flopped between the Apple TV, Vudu, Roku, and a connected Blu-Ray player. I have spent a couple weeks researching, reading reviews, etc. Ultimately I wanted easy iTunes integration (since my media is already there). Easy podcast support (gotta have that Diggnation in HD!) and ease of use. So I went with the Apple TV.

I figured even if they come out with a bigger better ATV in the near future, I can move this ATV to another TV in the house. Plus, I just love Apple products so I know I'll love this. I even paid for overnight shipping, lol.

The other products seem great (Vudu or Blu-Ray) but in the end, if I got a Blu-Ray, then I would have to buy or rent the higher priced discs. If I got Vudu, then it would have isolated my iTunes (unless I re encoded everything which I didn't want to do). And with Boxee, ATV seemed perfect.

I just think that ATV will provide more content for me NOW. I don't rent or buy many movies from Apple. I think I have bought 1 movie from Apple in the 2 or 3 years I have been using iTunes (and it was on sale for $5.) I don't like buying a movie that is tied down to just iTunes. At least when I buy a DVD and rip it, I still have the physical copy. I have netflix for most of my renting. I already have an XBox with Netflix streaming. Some of the competition are offering Netflix streaming, but honestly Netflix through my XBox looks like trash so I was worried it would look the same way through these other boxes or Blu-Ray players.

My advice to anyone who is thinking about Apple TV. Come on in....the water is fine!

Just excited and thought I would share! Thanks to all who gave me advice!
 
Thanks for the post, I'm in the same predicament. Trying to decide between Roku and Apple TV.
 
I just bought a third ATV, albeit for my in-laws. The ability to watch foreign-broadcast podcasts with ease was the deciding factor here.
 
Atv

Great iTunes integration and ease of use says a lot and is the reason I purchased one also. I love mine and it's been great.
 
I also recommend the purchase of ATVFlash which allows you to play .AVI and DiVx files without the need to transcode.
 
safetyobc said:
Well I did it. I was going to wait and see what Apple had planned for us but decided to go ahead and buy one. I got a refurb and saved a few bucks from Apple's online store. I have bought refurb's from Apple's online store before with good luck (fingers crossed, knocking on wood.)

I flip flopped between the Apple TV, Vudu, Roku, and a connected Blu-Ray player. I have spent a couple weeks researching, reading reviews, etc. Ultimately I wanted easy iTunes integration (since my media is already there). Easy podcast support (gotta have that Diggnation in HD!) and ease of use. So I went with the Apple TV.

I figured even if they come out with a bigger better ATV in the near future, I can move this ATV to another TV in the house. Plus, I just love Apple products so I know I'll love this. I even paid for overnight shipping, lol.

The other products seem great (Vudu or Blu-Ray) but in the end, if I got a Blu-Ray, then I would have to buy or rent the higher priced discs. If I got Vudu, then it would have isolated my iTunes (unless I re encoded everything which I didn't want to do). And with Boxee, ATV seemed perfect.

I just think that ATV will provide more content for me NOW. I don't rent or buy many movies from Apple. I think I have bought 1 movie from Apple in the 2 or 3 years I have been using iTunes (and it was on sale for $5.) I don't like buying a movie that is tied down to just iTunes. At least when I buy a DVD and rip it, I still have the physical copy. I have netflix for most of my renting. I already have an XBox with Netflix streaming. Some of the competition are offering Netflix streaming, but honestly Netflix through my XBox looks like trash so I was worried it would look the same way through these other boxes or Blu-Ray players.

My advice to anyone who is thinking about Apple TV. Come on in....the water is fine!

Just excited and thought I would share! Thanks to all who gave me advice!
Click to expand...

I have both a vudu and an ATV, they live realy well together because really they are different products, I use ATV to stream my own DVD rips, vudu I use just to rent movies mainly in the HDX format that is pretty close to Blu Ray. ATV's 720p rentals look ok but no where near HDX quality.
 
I just bought on Saturday after waiting to see what happened at MacWorld.

An interesting experience - I went to the Apple Store in Tysons Corner, Va. and they weren't even sure where the ATV was located in the store. It was relegated to a side wall about halfway down the store and wasn't even turned on! I had decided I was going to buy before going, but it made me realize even more that Apple doesn't really care about it right now.

I too was trying to decide between Roku and ATV. In the end, the ease of use and added functionality with iTunes did the trick for me, along with the ability to hack to Boxee. That plus even though they are largely indifferent towards it right now, the fact that it has the Apple backing. I've seen too many of these stand-alone boxes from start-ups go by the wayside that I figured whatever happens it will be supported in some form. It's not like iTunes is going away.

Plus Roku is a one-trick pony. Movies & TV - that's it. I can view my photos and podcasts, listen to my music on my HT along with view YouTube on ATV out of the box. And with Boxee I can get Hulu as well.

Very pleased with the choice thus far after two days of use.
 
Personally I love my ATV, but now that I am in a place with a HD DVR (as opposed to me not having much cable at all before) I would say that I am unsure if I need it. I have physical DVDs and refuse to rip them all. I still do really enjoy it and will probably hang onto it to see where Apple goes with this little project.
 
jessica. said:
Personally I love my ATV, but now that I am in a place with a HD DVR (as opposed to me not having much cable at all before) I would say that I am unsure if I need it. I have physical DVDs and refuse to rip them all. I still do really enjoy it and will probably hang onto it to see where Apple goes with this little project.
Click to expand...

It's still a Nice little Box for Music, I rip mostly TV Series DVD's mainly to Use with my Iphone, but I view them quite alot on the ATV as well.
 
Yes,

I enjoy mine quite a bit. Its not a perfect device, but if you can combine it with a blu-ray and a nice HDTV your all set.
 
I don't see the point of a apple tv if you already have a apple mac mini with a external full of movies.


can someone please explain to me why......
 
Well I ordered mine with overnight shipping. It came yesterday. I used the pre-sign that they offer if you aren't going to be home. Well, Fed-Ex didn't leave my package even with the pre-sign. They left a note and said they needed a signature. I called the number on the paper they left, they said they couldn't accept the pre-sign form. Sooo why even offer it?

Anyway, he agreed to meet me today when he gets to town. Soo maybe I'll have :apple:TV before noon.
 
I purchased my Apple TV specifically to have my large library of movies and TV shows available to view as I wish. I was worried about the quality of rip from DVD to Handbrake to Apple TV but it's just fantastic.

I recently downloaded a few movies from Itunes just because I'm so happy with the product and I wanted to support the format. Color me thrilled.

EDIT: I would add as an FYI that the ripped movies look great on my 52" Samsung LCD.
 
uraniumwilly said:
I purchased my Apple TV specifically to have my large library of movies and TV shows available to view as I wish. I was worried about the quality of rip from DVD to Handbrake to Apple TV but it's just fantastic.
Click to expand...

How are you encoding them? I've ripped a bunch of movies from DVD in Handbrake using the Apple TV Preset with constant quality up to 65% and they don't look that great.
 
Ordered my first ATV also!!

I ordered my first ATV last Friday. Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. If something better comes out in the not too distant future, I can always sell the ATV on Ebay and get most of my money back :)

Cheers.
:):apple:
 
Got my ATV today. Had difficulty getting it to sync properly with my iMac. After I repaired the disk permissions on the iMac, everything was fine. The ATV isca great device! Me and my wife are extremely happy with this purchase!

Cheers.
 
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