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Thinking of selling AppleTV...

B

brobins

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 27, 2008
77
0
Hey there, I have had my Apple TV for a few months now and although I think its great now I am rather worried about some of the limitations it has.

The greatest draw backs I find with it are lack of 1080p support, inability to play high profile MP4, MKV, DIVX, MPEG2 etc etc, No DTS passthrough
.
I am actually considering selling mine and replacing with something that could offer me a bit more punch - The ability to play back high profile 1080p MKVs would be a big big draw. I would also love to be able to pass DTS through to the amp as well as Dolby Digital AC3.

Currently what other products are there that can do all this? I have heard of the WDTV and it looks like it could be a viable option?

Many Thanks
 
As far as know there isn't such a device.

The WD TV is just a fancy hard drive with a media player & TV out

:apple:tv has all the connectivity and streaming capabilities, so they are very different solutions.
 
The Western Digital TV HD - $99 at BestBuy.

I have both and the WD is very flexible and the only downside is no streaming, just plays off a local connected USB drive. 2 Ports :)

-chris
 
tiguk said:
As far as know there isn't such a device.

The WD TV is just a fancy hard drive with a media player & TV out

:apple:tv has all the connectivity and streaming capabilities, so they are very different solutions.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that the WD TV isn't a hard drive at all - Just a media player that you connect a hard drive with content to?

I am pretty un-excited with the streaming myself, I prefer to sync and that is leaving me with another limitation, 160gb filling up fast :)

That being said, the WD TV does look like it has more what I am after in terms of grunt - Support for all kinds of formats and 1080p. This connected to a 1Tb external HDD could be a good solution?

Only down side is the interface which I dont really like the look of :( is it possible to run Plex on the WD TV?
 
brobins said:
The greatest draw backs I find with it are lack of 1080p support, inability to play high profile MP4, MKV, DIVX, MPEG2 etc etc, No DTS passthrough
.
Click to expand...

Hack your ATV and you will be able to play virtually any format.
 
ccantrell said:
The Western Digital TV HD - $99 at BestBuy.

I have both and the WD is very flexible and the only downside is no streaming, just plays off a local connected USB drive. 2 Ports :)

-chris
Click to expand...
I would have one today except that it only has HDMI (which I can't use) and composite outputs. Why no S-Video or component?
 
danny_w said:
I would have one today except that it only has HDMI (which I can't use) and composite outputs. Why no S-Video or component?
Click to expand...

Well for one... you can't output high def over S-Video. Component you need another box to do the upconversion IE a receiver/dvd upconverter that has built in upconverter that also outputs to a HD signal (even then you will be limited on the quality). So that is probably why none of the above.
 
rhett7660 said:
Well for one... you can't output high def over S-Video. Component you need another box to do the upconversion IE a receiver/dvd upconverter that has built in upconverter that also outputs to a HD signal (even then you will be limited on the quality). So that is probably why none of the above.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I didn't clarify that I am not interested in HD. I currently have an :apple:TV hacked to do 4:3 via component and that works well except for the streaming problems (when using bandwidth for other things) and having to convert everything. I would much rather use direct .iso images or video_ts folders for everything. I might give Popcorn Hour (or some other NMT) a try.

EDIT: My A/V receiver does S-Video (and composite) to component upconversion.
 
danny_w said:
Sorry, I didn't clarify that I am not interested in HD. I currently have an :apple:TV hacked to do 4:3 via component and that works well except for the streaming problems (when using bandwidth for other things) and having to convert everything. I would much rather use direct .iso images or video_ts folders for everything. I might give Popcorn Hour (or some other NMT) a try.

EDIT: My A/V receiver does S-Video (and composite) to component upconversion.
Click to expand...


To what output thou? 1080i I would think, not the full 1080p?

Gotcha re: iso image or vidwo_ts folder. Well then maybe appletv isn't for you. Nothing wrong with that.
 
Are there no Blue Ray players on the market that have the ability to connect to an External HDD and play stored content as well as Blue Ray / DVD / CD discs etc?

I feel that this would be an ideal solution for me if one exists as then I have the ability to play pretty much anything without the need of more than one device.
 
brobins said:
I was under the impression that the WD TV isn't a hard drive at all - Just a media player that you connect a hard drive with content to?
Click to expand...
Correct

brobins said:
I am pretty un-excited with the streaming myself, I prefer to sync and that is leaving me with another limitation, 160gb filling up fast :)

That being said, the WD TV does look like it has more what I am after in terms of grunt - Support for all kinds of formats and 1080p. This connected to a 1Tb external HDD could be a good solution?
Click to expand...
That was it for me. I guess it isn't for everyone but for $99, it can't be beat. I hooked mine to the 1.5TB Seagate with Firewire, USB and eSata support. Syncing to my main system is no problem ... and allows me to have a backup :)

-chris
 
tom1971 said:
They won't work, but is is no big deal to re-encode a few files rather that almost all of your files.
I am very happy with my ATV.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree im afraid, it is kinda a big deal for me, especially on my G4 Dual 1.25 MDD. Were talking 12+ hours for a DVD encode to good quality Apple Tv compatible x264!

Also it isn't just "a few files" if you take Blue Ray into consideration too - Every new Blue Ray movie you buy and want to add to your Media Center you have to rip and also encode. So thats DVDs, Downloaded MKV in High Profile 720p+ x264 and Blue Ray. Pretty much all the stuff I want to use :(

This whole re-encoding thing is what is really putting a downer on the whole Apple Tv thing for me :( I think I could live with the 720p for at least another year but having to re-encode everything I want to add to it (unless I purchase all from iTunes) is starting to become a bit annoying. My computer has hardly been off for the last month due to Handbrake :)

I am actually thinking about doing all my encoding at work on my Core 2 Duo Dell which should be significantly faster (and cheaper) than using my good old G4 :)

Thanks for all your suggestions and replies.
 
brobins said:
Are there no Blue Ray players on the market that have the ability to connect to an External HDD and play stored content as well as Blue Ray / DVD / CD discs etc?

I feel that this would be an ideal solution for me if one exists as then I have the ability to play pretty much anything without the need of more than one device.
Click to expand...

PS3? I'm being serious...
 
The Playback of vid files on the ps3 looks real nice if thats what's important to you, it's the interface that is a bit lacking if you can live with that the PS3 would work fine.
 
brobins said:
Are there no Blue Ray players on the market that have the ability to connect to an External HDD and play stored content as well as Blue Ray / DVD / CD discs etc?

I feel that this would be an ideal solution for me if one exists as then I have the ability to play pretty much anything without the need of more than one device.
Click to expand...

No, there aren't any *Blu-ray* players like that. A couple of models will stream movies from Netflix, but BD players and stuff like Apple TV kinda compete with each other. If Apple were to design some box that played BDs, streamed from Netflix, and did all the Apple TV stuff, it's a gold mine.
 
Hmm PS3 hey - Why didnt I think of that!! :)

Does it have any limitations of video formats it can play back? (i'm thinking MKV)

Can it passthrough all digital audio to an external receiver? DTS, Dolby etc?

Thanks
 
I have a Popcorn Hour A-110 and it works very well for me. I had an Apple TV as well but was frustrated with it's limitations and horrible remote. The PCH A-110 works great with MKV, ISO, MP4, as well as many others however it has its' quirks too. I currently use YAMJ as my interface from my Synology to display my movie library:

http://networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=9862&pid=73102#pid73102

Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll try to answer them for you.
 
Thanks for your input - I will look into the Popcorn Hour A-110.

Does anyone have any experiance with Xbox 360s? I could get one of these pretty cheap from a friend who is selling it. Can these play back 1080p MKVs etc?

Many Thanks
 
brobins said:
Thanks for your input - I will look into the Popcorn Hour A-110.

Does anyone have any experiance with Xbox 360s? I could get one of these pretty cheap from a friend who is selling it. Can these play back 1080p MKVs etc?

Many Thanks
Click to expand...
Also can they play video_ts folders (with menus)?
 
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