I know there has been speculation for months about a refresh, but has anything concrete come down the pipe?
Sorry if this has been asked a million times.
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Is it worth getting an Apple TV now?
- Thread starter OrlandoTragic
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It's a nice little device for $99 but if you don't have a dedicated machine running itunes it can get annoying.
My brain can't compute dedicating a device just for renting movies online so I don't even look at that as a feature. But if you have digitized your movie libraries and are using airplay to send to apple TV it's great. Just a pain in the ass if itunes is closed or you're in the habit of turning your mac's off when not in use or disabling wake-on-lan.
I use it alot but also purchased a mac mini that stays on 24/7 to feed it.
The main purpose of the device (for me), would be AirPlay Mirroring, both from my Macbook Air, and from my family's iDevices.
Thanks everyone!
Thanks everyone!
Yeah, not a bad investment then. I honestly can't complain about this device even if I wanted to, assuming you understand what it does then everything it claims is as advertised and flawless.
Wy wouldn't someone just leave a computer with WOL active though? My wife's iMac does double duty as the household media server. An AppleTV and a number of Expresses can wake it up when they need it, and stream media seamlessly.
The overhead of leaving iTunes running is pretty low on OSX (Windows not so much), especially if the host is generously equipped for RAM. Even when streaming a movie to the ATV, and audio to one or more of the Expresses, the desktop experience on the iMac is barely impaired.
My guess:
Now that iphone 4s and itunes can both handle 1080p, it makes sense that the ATV follows for the sake of being able to display local media.
They'll continue to support 720p for TV rentals.
I hope they don't sync the update with iPAD 3 (with real 1080p output) and put a disk back inside.
Even if its $99, I never invested in ATV2 as my ATV1 delivers more functionality !
Now that iphone 4s and itunes can both handle 1080p, it makes sense that the ATV follows for the sake of being able to display local media.
They'll continue to support 720p for TV rentals.
I hope they don't sync the update with iPAD 3 (with real 1080p output) and put a disk back inside.
Even if its $99, I never invested in ATV2 as my ATV1 delivers more functionality !
Possibly. Though it could be a sign that more of them are being returned than Apple know what to do with. Alternatively, the $10 difference may not be worth it for most people, so they're buying new, leaving Apple with a growing pile of refurbs.
Thinking on it, $10 wouldn't temp me if I were looking for an ATV2. $20, and I'd jump on it. $15 then is splitting the difference, but might tempt me, if for no other reason than the feeling that fiscal prudence beat out apathy.
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But Apple seem to be strangely resistant to marketing the ATV as an iPhone extender, even if for many people that's the biggest selling point.
Maybe if the market for ATV enabled games grows, Apple will start marketing that aspect of it, but so far they haven't really done much in that regard.
I would imagine that less than five percent of the iPad2 market know about AirPlay video, and I suspect the iPad market is probably on average more savvy than the iPhone market. I'm comfortable in predicting that I'll be able to amaze my iPhone 4s owning friends and family members when they visit my house, even six months from now. Honestly most people I know who already own the iPhone 4, or have just bought the 4s have no real clue as to what iCloud is.
The ATV has an awareness problem that Apple needs to fix long before it starts spending more money on the hardware.
it usually takes 15-20 % off for me to go used. Even then $85-100 is not enough for me to not but new. That is why I never liked game stop, they charged you 5 bucks less than new for a used scratched game.
One thing I've noticed since updating to iTunes 10.5 and iOS5 is that when we start the XP machine, iTunes launches automagically. Sometimes it's cool to have it do so, sometimes not (since on XP it's such a resource hog).
I've been pondering the idea of purchasing an Apple TV. But after hearing good things about the Roku 2 XS, I'm conflicted. I guess one big con of Roku is you can't stream files from your computer. On the other hand, Apple TV doesn't support 1080p or have Amazon, Pandora, HBO Go.
it usually takes 15-20 % off for me to go used. Even then $85-100 is not enough for me to not but new. That is why I never liked game stop, they charged you 5 bucks less than new for a used scratched game.
agreed usually - but I've had good experience with apply refurb.
I'm not sure on apple TV, but ipods (I've gotten two refurbs) come with New buds, New battery, & New case. And you still get the full warrentee.
And for a product with no moving parts - i.e. likely to be reliable - it's hard not to say the 15% off isn't a fair discount.
To some degree it matters whether you have an iDevice or not.
I can use my phone to stream Pandora to the AppleTV. I can also stream Internet radio in a far more elegant way than messing around with iTunes playlists on the ATV's mother ship. Having an iDevice ups the value of the ATV (especially the ATV 2 with the newest iPhone/iPads). In an otherwise Apple free world, the ATV is a little feature poor compared to some of the competition.
The Roku 2 is a very nice device. Even among certain Apple fans, the Roku 2 is the top choice.
I do own an iPhone 4 and plan on purchasing an iPad when the next one is released. So that is good to know.
I did too...may have actually been $84, but close enough.
And it's not 'used'. If anything, a refurb is a better investment, in that the unit had been double and triple checked and anything that might have been wrong with it gets fixed, and then it's tested again.
It's not like someone used it for months and then decided to sell it back to Apple. These are actual returned units that are shipped back out as good or better than they were when they were new.
Whenever I am buying 'older' Apple technology I ALWAYS go with the refurb. Makes no sense not too in my mind, unless you just have a burning desire to pay full price.
I've been considering a Roku for my second TV (already have 1 AppleTV), but I think it's bunk that Roku is more feature rich than Apple TV 2. It does output 1080p, but the problem is that the sources for 1080p content are extremely limited. Roku doesn't have an efficient way to stream content, like a BlueRay rip, over your local network. And unless you have a really fast internet connection you're not going to get 1080p content from a web source - and even if you have a fast internet connection, you're probably not getting full 1080p content from a web source.
AppleTV 2 may not output 1080p but it has a spectacular system for streaming content from your local network. Even if you have no other iOS based devises, all you have to do is set up home sharing and you can play any video in your iTunes library on your TV. You do have to transcode your .mkv files into a more efficient formats in order to load them into iTunes - but to get the best quality output you would have to do that with the Roku too. Neither the AppleTV nor the Roku have enough processing power to stream BluRay rips consistently. Roku won't work for me because all it ends up being is a Netflix streaming devise. With AppleTV I can play all my music, all my ripped (and transcoded) DVDs/BluRays, and it can stream Netflix. Plus, if you have an iOS based devise - you also have AirPlay.
What is feature rich about the Roku?
AppleTV 2 may not output 1080p but it has a spectacular system for streaming content from your local network. Even if you have no other iOS based devises, all you have to do is set up home sharing and you can play any video in your iTunes library on your TV. You do have to transcode your .mkv files into a more efficient formats in order to load them into iTunes - but to get the best quality output you would have to do that with the Roku too. Neither the AppleTV nor the Roku have enough processing power to stream BluRay rips consistently. Roku won't work for me because all it ends up being is a Netflix streaming devise. With AppleTV I can play all my music, all my ripped (and transcoded) DVDs/BluRays, and it can stream Netflix. Plus, if you have an iOS based devise - you also have AirPlay.
What is feature rich about the Roku?
I have two ATV's and just (in the last month) bought a Roku 2. I do not feel like this needs to be either/or.
The Ui on the ATV is way better than the Roku (IMHO) so we use it most often, but i use the Roku for Hulu, Crackle, Pandora and GBTV.
There are times when my ATV just is not playing nice with Netflix so i switch over to the Roku and it seems to be working there.
There are also several apps that you can add to the roku, both public and priviate that just gives you a few more options. Plus there is a Plex app on the Roku that does allow you to play your local content, however i prefer to play my local content from our ATV.
As far as 1080P and streaming I could not agree more, just not a big deal.
I held off getting the ATV2 until it was clear that there was no ATV3 coming out at the same time as the iPhone4S. I bought a refurb'd model, and use iTunes, an iPad2, and an iPhone 4S to stream content or mirror. It's a neat device for $85, and when ATV3 comes out, I'll add it to the other flatscreen in the house.
I would recommend buying one.
I would recommend buying one.