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Some ATV Questions

D

Dr Strangelove

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 24, 2008
205
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I've been trying to search this but cannot seem to find answers regarding my possible Apple TV purchase. Any input would be appreciated:

#1 Is the HD upgradeable? 40GB seems way to small and 160GB also seems like it would fill up pretty fast. My music library alone is over 100Gigs not to mention movies and podcasts.

#2 If I had a windows machine running iTunes does it work the same as if the machine was a Mac as far as streaming to the ATV?

#3 Should I wait to get this, seems like the ATV is due for some update soon?

#4 I already have an Xbox360 but the media connect function with MCE just sucks. It is so slow and doesn't have a way to read my itunes playlists or ratings. Is the ATV a better multimedia unit versus the 360?


I guess I cannot decide, I really want one, but it seems like the reviews are a mixed bag at the moment.
 
I believe the biggest HDD you can do right now is 250GB. There's a thread round these parts where Cave Man hooked up a 750 GB drive to the ATV by having it live outside the case.

I was very close to pulling the trigger on an ATV this week, but I can't shake the feeling that some sort of update is coming.
 
Dr Strangelove said:
I've been trying to search this but cannot seem to find answers regarding my possible Apple TV purchase. Any input would be appreciated:

#1 Is the HD upgradeable? 40GB seems way to small and 160GB also seems like it would fill up pretty fast. My music library alone is over 100Gigs not to mention movies and podcasts.

Not easily. I was torn with this a few months ago...it was either upgrade the HDD on the ATV, or go the itunes server route with an old PC. I went with the server route. I'm not happy about leaving a PC running all the time, but the streaming/server functionality works extremely well. Plus, i like having everything I buy on Itunes on the ATV, automatically synch back to the PC external HDD for safe keeping.


#2 If I had a windows machine running iTunes does it work the same as if the machine was a Mac as far as streaming to the ATV?

Yes. PC/Mac doesn't matter...however, the rev of Itunes does. Make sure you have the latest version. (I use a PC running itunes, with all my media in an external 1TB HDD...it works fantastic)

#3 Should I wait to get this, seems like the ATV is due for some update soon?

No one can answer this question. Apple has been dead quiet about the ATV. My own personal view, is by next year, we'll either have brand new hardware, or Apple will abandon the ATV all together.

#4 I already have an Xbox360 but the media connect function with MCE just sucks. It is so slow and doesn't have a way to read my itunes playlists or ratings. Is the ATV a better multimedia unit versus the 360?

Sorry, don't own a 360 so I can't compare. Wish I had the netflix capability though...

All I can say is I was on the fence for over a year. I finally saved enough and bought one after boxee came, primarily as a toy to play with and experiment with the possibility of going cable-less. I can tell you now, that I love the thing to death. I use it every day. I barely ever use my DTV anymore (I still have it for the time being). And with Boxee and other easy hacks...its even more useful.

If you have the money set aside, go for a refurb 40g to play around with. They aren't that pricey. And they are lot of fun.
Click to expand...
 
Dr Strangelove said:
#1 Is the HD upgradeable? 40GB seems way to small and 160GB also seems like it would fill up pretty fast. My music library alone is over 100Gigs not to mention movies and podcasts.
Click to expand...

Yep, check this thread - https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/589208/
I've done it personally, and it works out really well. Just so long as you get a PATA drive. (WD2500BEVE) 250gb is the max, as SkyBlue pointed out.

Dr Strangelove said:
#2 If I had a windows machine running iTunes does it work the same as if the machine was a Mac as far as streaming to the ATV?
Click to expand...

Same... Shouldn't matter one bit.

Dr Strangelove said:
#3 Should I wait to get this, seems like the ATV is due for some update soon?
Click to expand...

If it does what you want it to do now, I'd say get it. There will always be software updates (I'd guess). If not, will it be updated soon? Well... I'd hope so, but... We wont know til that day, and that's really the joy of buying technology :D

Dr Strangelove said:
#4 I already have an Xbox360 but the media connect function with MCE just sucks. It is so slow and doesn't have a way to read my itunes playlists or ratings. Is the ATV a better multimedia unit versus the 360?
Click to expand...

Can't help you with the comparison, but I'm really happy with my AppleTV. I used to have my Mini connected directly to the TV, and that was all fine and good, but it had it's share of issues. And, being that I got the MBP, I wanted all my music on BOTH machines which would have been a headache. AppleTV sync's automagically, and there's no need to do ANYTHING. It's really quite nice. Especially with a 250GB drive :)

Good luck with the decision!
 
dmm219 said:
If you have the money set aside, go for a refurb 40g to play around with. They aren't that pricey. And they are lot of fun.
Click to expand...

dmm219 - you beat me to the punch. This is a great idea, and precisely what I did. That plus the $85 on Amazon for the 250 gb drive, and I have a 250GB AppleTV for $290ish. Not too shabby.
 
Shoot, I am techy but I dunno that I really wanna mess with it. Maybe I will just get the 160GB version and be done with it. If they release a new one soon, I can always move this one into the bedroom later.
 
Tallest Skil said:
I'm personally waiting for hardware support for 1080p, and then iTunes will start offering 1080p movies for purchase and rental.
Click to expand...

I'd be very surprised (and very happy) if 1080p came to the ATV. Basically to get reasonable download speeds on typical US broadband connections (3M) they'd have to really, really compress the 1080p .. defeating the purpose. Either that or fit it with a BluRay drive so that physical media could be used.

I just don't see 1080p coming to ATV for at least 18+ months. Pure speculation of course.
 
Dr Strangelove said:
Shoot, I am techy but I dunno that I really wanna mess with it. Maybe I will just get the 160GB version and be done with it. If they release a new one soon, I can always move this one into the bedroom later.
Click to expand...

I have the 160gb version and regret getting that size. I should've just gotten the 40 because I stream all of my media...
 
Is there any benefit to not streaming the media? I would assume the interface and response of the unit should be quicker if the data was local...no?
 
Dr Strangelove said:
Is there any benefit to not streaming the media? I would assume the interface and response of the unit should be quicker if the data was local...no?
Click to expand...

in my case, synced media responds much faster. if you're running a pure n network or if you're hardwired, i doubt it matters much.

the other benefit of synced media is that you don't have to be connected to itunes. this makes the unit portable so you can move it from room to room or take it with you when you travel.
 
Dr Strangelove said:
Shoot, I am techy but I dunno that I really wanna mess with it. Maybe I will just get the 160GB version and be done with it. If they release a new one soon, I can always move this one into the bedroom later.
Click to expand...

You can do it! (from Waterboy)

... anyway, seriously, you can. I didn't want to open it up either, went through a few headaches with patchsticks and an external USB drive, only to sweat profusely whenever it hung up and I had to reset it. Carefully peeling off the rubber bottom, unscrewing 8 screws, slapping it into a USB sled, and dusting off your terminal skills is way worth it :)
 
Mr Kram said:
in my case, synced media responds much faster. if you're running a pure n network or if you're hardwired, i doubt it matters much.

the other benefit of synced media is that you don't have to be connected to itunes. this makes the unit portable so you can move it from room to room or take it with you when you travel.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I just changed my 802.11n network to 5Ghz and manually set the channel. Now, my Apple TV streams movies almost instantly (not that it was even that slow with 802.11g).

For example, my 360 is much slower at streaming content than my Apple TV using either 802.11n or 802.11g.

Apple has really done a good job with the buffering.
 
Hmm, that is one major thing that just annoys me about the 360, the streaming so sooooo slow!

One of the big reasons I wanted to get the 160GB drive is because of the fear that streaming will not be sufficient. I am running a pure N 5Ghz network.
 
Dr Strangelove said:
Hmm, that is one major thing that just annoys me about the 360, the streaming so sooooo slow!

One of the big reasons I wanted to get the 160GB drive is because of the fear that streaming will not be sufficient. I am running a pure N 5Ghz network.
Click to expand...

I have three ATVs now, one on each floor of the house... all three are on a dedicated 5Ghz N network and they are served via a very old XP P4 box with 512MB of RAM that acts as the iTunes server...

I can stream 720p video to all three without any delay or hiccup and they all play perfect...

I have all three 40GB models and I still have 38+ GB free on the boxes... because I can stream the other 4TB of media I have from the iTunes server with no issues...

You can go with the cheap ATV model and be very happy... I haven't even felt the need to hack mine - I'm converting all my Blu-Ray with Handbrake and tsMuxer and they look fantastic...
 
Interesting...I want to get the 40gb but for some reason something is telling me I should get teh 160gb.....

I have a similar set up to you ugacdawg in that I have a multi-terabyte Windows box as my itunes server. I should just save myself the $100....hmmm.
 
Ok one last question: When streaming podcasts from an itunes server..... When you view a Podcast on the ATV does it register on the server as a podcast being watched so that it will remove itself from the itunes server if you have it set up to delete all watched podcasts?

Currently I watch a lot of podcasts on my macbook but I always need to remember to go up to the server and select the ones I have watched as "mark as not new" since the library sharing does not register them as watched.
 
Sorry one more... does streaming update playcounts and also allow you to manipulate playlists etc?
 
I dithered on getting an ATV but finally pulled the trigger last week. Just bought the 40GB because I couldn't run to the 160 and figured I could always update the drive if needed.

In the event though, I am streaming everything from my Mac mini with 400GB of disc hanging off it for media. I have set the ATV to not sync music or watched stuff, just new things and this works well. When the mini is running, everything is available and you can't tell which is synced and which isn't. I'm on a G network but the ATV is close to the access point and my mini is upstairs running via ethernet over mains adaptors which work really well too.

I've rented a couple of HD movies and have been pretty impressed. I have HD DVD which looks fantastic through my Xbox 360 addon drive but it is dead now as a format and the Xbox is pretty noisy. Debated getting Blu-ray but media costs are too high and I don't get much chance to rewatch stuff so decided to go the rental route through ATV. Very pleased with the quality. On my 100" DLP projector, the HD output looks really nice and definitely crisper than DVD. HD DVD (and likely Blu ray) have a bit more punch but overall I can't really complain given the price and the decent catalogue which I can only hope will get better.

Would I buy the 160? Nope. Do I care about 1080p? Maybe, but the added bandwidth requirement would be a problem for me. 720p streams well enough and starts after 5-10 mins so that is OK. Pick a movie, get the kettle on and make some tea, sit down and enjoy.

My current challenge is encoding my large DVD collection at higher quality than previously as I had ripped them for my iPod. Tried HandBrake with ATV settings and the encodes are pretty slow on my MBP (getting about 11fps). I have a Turbo264 and it encodes at 24fps but the picture quality isn't as good as HandBrake and files are twice the size. Think I'll stick with MP4 2.5Mbps rips as they encode fast and the picture is pretty good.
 
Can anyone tell me if streaming will mark podcasts as watched and also update playcounts on the itunes server when streaming to ATV?
 
Yes i believe that it does update the play count. The apple tv is treated like an ipod i think, so every time it syncs even though everything is streamed it will update all the information.
 
Oh wow is all I can say. This thing is awesome, not sure why I did not get one before.

I do have a few more questions if possible:

#1) The Apple TV seems to be missing some music and playlists even though I have set syncing to custom in the settings and unselected everything. I am streaming only. Any ideas?

#2) Will HDMI hook up only attached to a receiver allow me to listen to 5.1 audio if the source has it?

#3) Is there any way to prevent the remote control from also controlling my laptop in the same room. This is highly annoying! :(
 
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