It seems to me that Apple has had the 40/160 choices for quite some time. Is there anything out there suggesting that they'll up those sizes in the *near* future? Given that they're pushing more and more movies, and HD content, even 160 gb seems a little bit small to me... if I buy this I'd like it to last 4-5 years.
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Wait to buy Apple TV?
- Thread starter monsoco
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I've got a 1TB external RAID 1 serving up all my content via streaming to a 4oGB AppleTV. No need for anything bigger. You can't watch 40GB worth of movies or shows in one sitting.
For best results, just sync a couple movies you plan to watch if you experience an occasional pause when streaming. Usually I can get by just fine with my 802.11g, but I'll sync movies if I've got company coming over to watch some shows.
For best results, just sync a couple movies you plan to watch if you experience an occasional pause when streaming. Usually I can get by just fine with my 802.11g, but I'll sync movies if I've got company coming over to watch some shows.
Hmm can someone explain how this streaming feature works and when you do syncing, etc? I went to the Apple store the other day and asked a "genius" if I could just have all of my movies, etc. on a NAS and then stream it via the Apple TV to watch on my TV... he said no.
You can actually get a NAS with an iTunes server built in which actually does work with the Apple TV. ICY BOX do an enclosure called a NAS4220 which has this feature.
I sync all of my music so my computer, running iTunes, does not have to be on for me to play music.
I have all of my movies on an external HDD hooked up to my computer. As long as iTunes is running on my computer, the Apple TV can see all of the movies. I can then stream them (and TV shows, etc.) to the Apple TV via wireless.
Technically, you cannot have the movies on a NAS and stream from there UNLESS you tell iTunes that that's where your movies live. There are many simple ways to do this, but the Genius steered you wrong.
Some genius.
I think you still need to have that iTunes server running through a computer's iTunes (thus need a computer on) for it to work. I haven't read anything to the contrary.
Thanks! That makes sense, so I really don't need anything more than the cheaper apple tv as long as I'm willing to have a computer w/ iTunes on that can see the content... does anyone have any experience streaming an HD movie over g? If so, does it work well enough?
There's no frickin' way HD could work well over G. I mean regular stuff can at times (very infrequently) have a little snag over N. HD stuff would probably kill your system (OK, not really). If you want to do HD stuff, best to hook up a gigabit wired network.
Well, I guess in that case I should wait (who wants to run cables over the house), and small drives aren't a good long term option for HD storage...I've never understood why they opted for such small drives in something that's suppose to manage your media.
Personally, I think they would be better off releasing a model that had a couple GB of flash for buffering/purchases, and relied on streaming all content to the device.
But that's just my opinion...
If the NAS has a built-in iTunes server (some do), then the NAS appears as an iTunes-running computer to the
tv. It doesn't know the difference.Of course you can hack it so it can stream files from attached network drives without having to run Itunes on a computer. That's how I have mine set up, it fetches my movies off my attached Time Capsule with no Itunes server running anywhere.
It was pretty easy to do as well...
It was pretty easy to do as well...
If the NAS has a built-in iTunes server (some do), then the NAS appears as an iTunes-running computer to the
Do you know for sure that this works? Like I said above, I don't think the AppleTV can connect directly to an iTunes server-based NAS. I think you need iTunes open on a computer to connect to the iTunes server and then you can stream the content to the AppleTV.
Please let us know if you can confirm this or if it's just what you've read.
I probably just could have edited my last message but I hit reply by accident... I think the reason that iTunes server doesn't work has to do with the passcode. When you connect an iTunes library to the AppleTV you need to enter in a passcode in iTunes. How can you enter in that passcode if your iTunes library is running on the NAS?
As far as I know, there isn't a NAS on the market today that has this functionality... you have to have iTunes running on a computer and associate the library with the AppleTV from there.
I streamed HD over a g network. It worked fine. Actually, I should qualify it a bit. I told iTunes to copy the movie over, but I started watching before the movie finished transfering. However, if the link is intermittent because of your neighbor's base station or your microwave oven, the movie will stutter even if it is standard def.
I got my 160 ATV a couple weeks ago. I wondered too about soon-to-increase capacity. But remember that your Apple TV volume can't effectively exceed your iTunes plus iPhoto libraries. The only exception would be if you NEVER sync and just buy/rent directly on the Apple TV. I don't know how realistic that path is.
If you do have hundreds of gigs of iTunes library, you'd just have to do a little selective syncing. And really the next size update likely won't solve a capacity issue for very long anyway.
For what it's worth, my experience has been great. Synced with 100 gigs worth from my MBP and effortlessly streaming from a MB. (no HD content) I'm very happy, given the current limitations.
If you do have hundreds of gigs of iTunes library, you'd just have to do a little selective syncing. And really the next size update likely won't solve a capacity issue for very long anyway.
For what it's worth, my experience has been great. Synced with 100 gigs worth from my MBP and effortlessly streaming from a MB. (no HD content) I'm very happy, given the current limitations.
Ah, you're right. My bad...
haha not a problem. I just really want to be able to hook up a NAS directly to my AppleTV and skip the computer (if I had a desktop I might be less concerned) so whenever I see someone saying it's possible I get excited about it finally working.