Nooby to apple tv, should i get one?

[iMackPro]

How many people out there have the 2nd Gen Apple tv? Thoughts and opinions about it? how often do you use it?

is there a way for me to connect and external HD to a apple tv so i can use my mac to select which movie i want to play but not actually have to hook up my mac to my tv to play the movie? or have to hook up my computer to the external drive to play the movie?


Simply put id like to be able to:
Turn on my mac, sit it on my lap
select a wireless external HD,
click on a movie
watch it on my tv! while still being able to surf on my mac.


Also, do i even need an apple tv to JUST play movies? if my tv has a usb input can i hook up my tv to a external HD and use my tv remote to navigate through my hard drive?

Lastly, if i do have an apple TV, can it played movies that are NOT in iTunes? for example downloaded stuff from internet and ripped files?

Lastly, where is the bottleneck in connecting a HD to an apple tv? What will make it choppy where like the movie still has to stop and buffer then keep playing? Is it the HDD rpm rate or the speed of a cable or the speed of the Apple tv? Is there a certain cable or is the internet the determinant factor if ill be able to watch movies without buffering if my apple TV is connected via usb or whatever cable it uses?

I really want to buy one tomorrow so any quick useful responses would be greatly appreciated!! thank you to everyone that helps this uninformed apple lover out!

 

[waw74]

is there a way for me to connect and external HD to a apple tv

if i do have an apple TV, can it played movies that are NOT in iTunes?

No. (unless you jailbreak*.)

can i hook up my tv to a external HD and use my tv remote to navigate through my hard drive

possibly, i have an LG TV and Blu-ray player, both will play back files off a USB port (or the blu-ray over the netwok) they are very picky about supported file types, and drive formats though. Check your manual, there will be a list of what's supported.

Lastly, where is the bottleneck in connecting a HD to an apple tv? What will make it choppy where like the movie still has to stop and buffer then keep playing? Is it the HDD rpm rate or the speed of a cable or the speed of the Apple tv? Is there a certain cable or is the internet the determinant factor if ill be able to watch movies without buffering if my apple TV is connected via usb or whatever cable it uses?

straight blu-ray rips (35 GB for a ~2 hour movie) transfer at about 5 MB/s.
USB2 is ~30 MB/s (and most drives should be able to go faster).
wired ethernet is faster. (although 10Mb is not, pretty much everything is 100 or 1000 today)
you might run into problems with wireless unless you are running N, but no 2 wireless installations are the same, so it's hard to say if even N will work (and also only with uncompressed blu-ray rips, smaller files should be fine)

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*look at post #4 for more info on jailbreaking

 

[ctakim]

Hmmm, you can do this if you have an Apple TV2 and the movie is playable in iTunes. Via Air Play you can stream from your computer to the Apple TV2, but I'm not sure what performance you will get on your computer while it is streaming realtime video.

With ZumoCast or Air Video (my favorite) you can do this with almost any movie type the Mac can play with Live Conversion during streaming. You won't have the iTunes limitation. But this is even more processor intensive.

THis might be irreleveant for you, but you can also do this with an iPhone and iPad, but those won't multitask while streaming to Air Play.

 

[iMackPro]

No. (unless you jailbreak*.)



possibly, i have an LG TV and Blu-ray player, both will play back files off a USB port (or the blu-ray over the netwok) they are very picky about supported file types, and drive formats though. Check your manual, there will be a list of what's supported.



straight blu-ray rips (35 GB for a ~2 hour movie) transfer at about 5 MB/s.
USB2 is ~30 MB/s (and most drives should be able to go faster).
wired ethernet is faster. (although 10Mb is not, pretty much everything is 100 or 1000 today)
you might run into problems with wireless unless you are running N, but no 2 wireless installations are the same, so it's hard to say if even N will work (and also only with uncompressed blu-ray rips, smaller files should be fine)

--------------

*look at post #4 for more info on jailbreaking

thank you for all of your help! Yes i would plan on Jailbreaking it! i have an iPhone 4 and i have had every iPhone since the original so im pretty good with jailbreaking and cydia and whatnot! though im sure the ATV will be a little different, im sure the Pwnagetool or redsnow app will be able to do it right?

I have a samsung model number PN58C550. it has a USB port in the back, what do you think i could pull off?

lastly, is an apple tv right for me, for what im wanting to do? or should i use my PS3 to do the same thing, can it read HDs and play movies?

 

[mrfrosty]

Save time later by buying two or three right now, they don't fail they are just brilliant !.....I'm on my 5th