Thinking about Apple TV

[BigCol]

Ive been thinking about buying an Apple TV device. Which is the best version to buy? 1st gen or 2nd gen. The 1st gen devices sell quite well, probably because of the built in hdd (which I do find appealing). Are they both as easy to Jailbreak? I want to be able to watch sports and movies, is this easy to set up? Also am I right in thinking that in order to use Apple TV gen 2 you have to have your pc switched on. Anyway to get around this because if I do buy a 2nd gen, I would want to use the Apple TV in another room to that of my pc. Thanks in advance guys, any help with this, will be very much appreciated.

PS sorry if my questions seem stupid or youve had the same questions a million times over but I really dont know the answers

 

[callmemike20]

You may want to wait until Apple's media event on Wednesday. ATV3 is expected.

 

[Lesser Evets]

Also, compare it to the PS3. If you already have a PS3, look it over and figure it out, because it already does much of what ATV2 does and does it better. ATV3 might be a better device for your needs, but you will have to see.

With a PS3, a large interior drive added (simple to do), Playstation Media Server for Mac, and a Mac of course, you can have a superior media server in your living room stacked with movies and music. It also has internet TV and internet and streams internet movies and video feeds and audio feeds from radio stations as well as most other content. And it has a browser as well. All in 1080 if you have 1080 video and a TV to handle it.

The HD internal can hold larger files, transferred wirelessly with the wireless server software, but if you hook up an external it has to be FAT32 and thus is limited to 4GB file sizes; generally any HD movie will be too big for external viewing.

You can also wirelessly convert/stream all data on your computer across wifi, navigating through your drives and files with the PS3. As of March 5th, 2012, the PS3 is still kicking ATV ass in terms of being a media server in the house.

 

[KeithJenner]

If you have an iOS device then you can get round having to have the computer on all the time by using Airplay. Not ideal for everyone, but it is an option.

 

[MonkeySee....]

I have all my media on my iMac. The ATV 2 works great for that. If the ATV 3 is good I may stick the ATV 2 in my boys room and stick the 3 in the living room.

No built in hard drive to worry about as its all in one location, my iMac.

 

[hafr]

Also, compare it to the PS3. If you already have a PS3, look it over and figure it out, because it already does much of what ATV2 does and does it better. ATV3 might be a better device for your needs, but you will have to see.

With a PS3, a large interior drive added (simple to do), Playstation Media Server for Mac, and a Mac of course, you can have a superior media server in your living room stacked with movies and music. It also has internet TV and internet and streams internet movies and video feeds and audio feeds from radio stations as well as most other content. And it has a browser as well. All in 1080 if you have 1080 video and a TV to handle it.

The HD internal can hold larger files, transferred wirelessly with the wireless server software, but if you hook up an external it has to be FAT32 and thus is limited to 4GB file sizes; generally any HD movie will be too big for external viewing.

You can also wirelessly convert/stream all data on your computer across wifi, navigating through your drives and files with the PS3. As of March 5th, 2012, the PS3 is still kicking ATV ass in terms of being a media server in the house.

Yeah, or you get a NAS (USB drive in the router or what not), jailbreak the ATV2 and get all of that and more (except 1080p output) in a much smaller package only consuming less than 2 W instead of 75-150 W (depending on which PS3 you have).

The only way PS3 is "kicking ass" in this comparison is if you're playing video games and/or watching a lot of Blu Ray...

 

[Sirolway]

Also, compare it to the PS3. If you already have a PS3, look it over and figure it out, because it already does much of what ATV2 does and does it better. ATV3 might be a better device for your needs, but you will have to see.

With a PS3, a large interior drive added (simple to do), Playstation Media Server for Mac, and a Mac of course, you can have a superior media server in your living room stacked with movies and music. It also has internet TV and internet and streams internet movies and video feeds and audio feeds from radio stations as well as most other content. And it has a browser as well. All in 1080 if you have 1080 video and a TV to handle it.

The HD internal can hold larger files, transferred wirelessly with the wireless server software, but if you hook up an external it has to be FAT32 and thus is limited to 4GB file sizes; generally any HD movie will be too big for external viewing.

You can also wirelessly convert/stream all data on your computer across wifi, navigating through your drives and files with the PS3. As of March 5th, 2012, the PS3 is still kicking ATV ass in terms of being a media server in the house.

I have both ATV2 & PS3.
The ATV gets used a lot, the PS3 never - the usability is just so poor.

Mind you, we also have a Mac mini plugged into the TV, so anything the ATV2 can't do, we use the mini for. The PS3 just doesn't gte a look in ...

 

[burne]

instead of 75-150 W (depending on which PS3 you have).

First generation PS3 used considerable more than 150W, even when idle. Just sitting idle in the main menu burned 175W, and during gameplay it would peak at 220W. Current models use 60W when idle, and 80W peak during gameplay.

(ATV2 uses 2.5W when booting, 1.5W idle and 1.9W when streaming 720p h.264 from a wired NAS.)

 

[maturola]

If you want to Jailbreak, go get one right now 2nd gen, if you want stock functionality, wait til tomorrow and see what the ATV3 will offer.

 

[Gjwilly]

Your PC never needs to be on unless you're streaming from it.
Watching via the iTunes Store, watching via Netflix, watching via YouTube.... none of those require a PC connection.

 

[redfirebird08]

Also, compare it to the PS3. If you already have a PS3, look it over and figure it out, because it already does much of what ATV2 does and does it better. ATV3 might be a better device for your needs, but you will have to see.

With a PS3, a large interior drive added (simple to do), Playstation Media Server for Mac, and a Mac of course, you can have a superior media server in your living room stacked with movies and music. It also has internet TV and internet and streams internet movies and video feeds and audio feeds from radio stations as well as most other content. And it has a browser as well. All in 1080 if you have 1080 video and a TV to handle it.

The HD internal can hold larger files, transferred wirelessly with the wireless server software, but if you hook up an external it has to be FAT32 and thus is limited to 4GB file sizes; generally any HD movie will be too big for external viewing.

You can also wirelessly convert/stream all data on your computer across wifi, navigating through your drives and files with the PS3. As of March 5th, 2012, the PS3 is still kicking ATV ass in terms of being a media server in the house.

I have a PS3 but I'm thoroughly unimpressed by its wireless ability. Slow as hell. Downloads updates way slower than it should and streams extremely slow as well. I have a 24 Mbps download speed, 3 Mbps upload speed and I've tried iTunes Home Sharing between my computers. Videos stream a lot better through Home Sharing (and presumably through the Apple TV) than they do through the PS3. The other problem I have with the PS3 is its lack of Quicktime and chapter support. I typically use pass-thru on Quicktime Pro to create a PS3 compatible MPEG4 file without losing any quality, but this wipes out the chapters. I would like to have chapters for the files that have them. Apple TV supports it and the PS3 doesn't. I don't own an Apple TV right now, but I'm probably going to get the new one when they release it. 1080p functionality is something I was waiting on.

 

[OemFty]

Why not try Anriod TV?

Why not try Anriod TV?

There's so many 1080P Anriod TV in the market!

Its good.