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US shows in UK- plus a couple more questions.

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david.dakota

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 23, 2008
14
0
Hi
I've been thinking of getting Apple Tv for a while, mainly for US shows on iTunes- i believe all i need is a US i Tunes voucher, is that correct?

Is there a function to automatically download shows- a sort of series link i suppose.

What are the prices for US shows? We currently pay Sky an extortionate amount of money per month, and i simply watch Lost and a handful of other US shows (i'm sure the others in the house can live without their shows with Freesat).

Also, how much support do UK broadcasters give iTunes/apple TV?

Also, can i use AppleTV without a computer, just take it through the wireless router- genuinely think the computer is too far away from the tv.
 
You need to go to the iTunes store US to find the prices.

UK networks don't give a fig about iTunes.

And you can use the ATV without a computer.

No problem there at all.
 
david.dakota said:
so its just a case of having a normal uk itunes store, with US vouchers?
Click to expand...

No, US $ vouchers can only be added to a US store account same as UK £ vouchers can only be add to a UK account. What some people do is signup for a US account when they live in the UK to get access to the US content. This requires giving Apple false account information and is against the TOS, but people do it anyway.
 
Just set one up on itunes, changing the country to the USA, but don't put in any credit card details. You would then fund the account by buying US$ itunes gift cards from ebay or various other sites.

Cost-wise, there isn't much between the US & UK itunes stores now with the exchange rates being the way they are. A US$50 gift card will cost you around £35-ish, and a US$9.99 movie on the US store will cost you £6.99 on the UK one (for example).

The main advantage is a greater choice of items appearing more quickly on the US store, with TV shows generally appearing on the US store as soon as they are broadcast in the US (which is nearly always before they are broadcast in the UK).

Certain shows (is 90210, Scrubs season 8 etc) are only on the US store as well, giving that another advantage.

That's exactly what I do for the above reasons.
 
is it possible to run both a US and UK account on the apple tv? Should anything of interest appear in the uk section.

What about the Dolby Digital issue?

And is there that series link option?
 
david.dakota said:
is it possible to run both a US and UK account on the apple tv? Should anything of interest appear in the uk section.

What about the Dolby Digital issue?

And is there that series link option?
Click to expand...

Only one account can be registered on the ATV. You can however play conetnt from a number of stores if you need to do so.

What dolby digital issue?
 
Bye Bye Baby said:
Only one account can be registered on the ATV. You can however play conetnt from a number of stores if you need to do so.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what this means. Can you access different stores using the same account? Do i just register a US voucher and stick with UK vouchers for UK stuff.

I'm probably being quite annoying- but i must be the only living person never to have been on iTunes so i'm in the dark a bit...
 
you would need to create a second itunes store account that is registered as being a US account.

you can't have 1 itunes store account being linked to more than 1 country.
 
a couple of other thoughts-

- can i set new episodes to automatically download when available?

- assuming the above, can i limit periods of any automatic downloads (to avoid the 'limit' of our 'unlimited' broadband)- say download between 11pm and 6am?
 
also, say i'm wanting to watch a 1 hour tv show in HD, how long should this take on a 1meg connection? How long til i can start watching - and is it possible to catch up with whats buffered?
Can i set multiple things to download to atv?

Sorry to have to keep coming back, but there seems very little info online about it.
 
iTunes TV shows are nowhere close to HD. They run at 1280x720 resolution yes, but the quality is very poor as they are extremely low bitrate.

If you have ever watched a show on Sky HD, Freesat HD or seen a Blu Ray Disc or HD-DVD then you will be completely disappointed.
 
neiltc13 said:
iTunes TV shows are nowhere close to HD. They run at 1280x720 resolution yes, but the quality is very poor as they are extremely low bitrate.

If you have ever watched a show on Sky HD, Freesat HD or seen a Blu Ray Disc or HD-DVD then you will be completely disappointed.
Click to expand...

I think that's a bit extreme. I downloaded an episode of Heroes in HD on my AppleTV, and it looked very good. I'll admit blu-ray looks better, but the HD iTunes content is very vibrant & sharp. I was definately not 'completely disappointed' - I was pleased that it's possible to get a great quality picture formatted for an HD-ready TV, conveniently downloaded directly to my home.
 
orbital~debris said:
I think that's a bit extreme. I downloaded an episode of Heroes in HD on my AppleTV, and it looked very good. I'll admit blu-ray looks better, but the HD iTunes content is very vibrant & sharp. I was definately not 'completely disappointed' - I was pleased that it's possible to get a great quality picture formatted for an HD-ready TV, conveniently downloaded directly to my home.
Click to expand...

But there is a difference between broadcast quality and iTunes quality? I'm not a slave to image, but i'd be disappointed if it were a noticable difference- especially since (wrongly) my expectation of Apple TV was download video file (however large) to HDD and watch at your convenience.

As daft as this sounds, is there anywhere in the UK where you can try it out?
 
david.dakota said:
But there is a difference between broadcast quality and iTunes quality? I'm not a slave to image, but i'd be disappointed if it were a noticable difference- especially since (wrongly) my expectation of Apple TV was download video file (however large) to HDD and watch at your convenience.

As daft as this sounds, is there anywhere in the UK where you can try it out?
Click to expand...

iTunes HD TV shows and movies are around 4Mbit/sec, which is slightly better than the 3.2Mbit/sec the BBC uses for iPlayer HD shows.
 
Just a quick note - you first of all need to sync your Apple TV up with your computer.

Secondly - your Apple TV doesn't care about the two accounts. I have 3 - US, UK and Germany. It does activate itself when you set it up, but this doesn't mean you have one less device to authorize.

pac
 
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