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What do you think of "your" Apple TV

T

tronic72

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 10, 2007
106
0
I see lots of people whining about the Apple TV with comments like;

"I won't get the Apple TV unless it has a cappuccino machine built into it that E-mails my iChats" (Well not quite but you get the idea).

Although it annoys me that it lacks 5.1 surround, I use it ALL the time and I love it. I have my whole DVD library in my iTunes, all my music and all our photos. It's easy to use and a sinch to set up.

I'd love to hear from members that actually have an Apple TV and what they think of it.
:D
 
Mine's not so good...

Just got it hooked up yesterday. After a day and a half, still can't get it to sync all my photos over. And, I haven't even had the chance to figure out how to get my music to sync.

I bought mine refurbed from the Apple store. Perhaps there's a hardware problem. The sync is very, very slow and never seems to complete. It only gets to the point where there's about 2 GB on the :apple:TV drive.
 
I enjoy mine a lot. It does exactly what I expected it to do, and it does it well. Some people will never be happy no matter how many features a device has.
 
Suggestion....

brian0526 said:
Just got it hooked up yesterday. After a day and a half, still can't get it to sync all my photos over. And, I haven't even had the chance to figure out how to get my music to sync.

I bought mine refurbed from the Apple store. Perhaps there's a hardware problem. The sync is very, very slow and never seems to complete. It only gets to the point where there's about 2 GB on the :apple:TV drive.
Click to expand...

I've got over 300 GB of Media in my iTunes and mine took ages to Sync. Can I suggest that you manually select some items from each section, rather than trying to sync all data. Another suggestion is to connect via ethernet to do your initial sync as that's much faster.
 
There are quite a few other threads like this, but since I am here I will say that the Apple TV is rubbish. I had mine running for a week before I just bought a Mac Mini.
 
I think they're awesome.

They do need to update it so it actually turns off instead of a constant on.

I tried hooking up the mini to my little LCD screen, but it seems to have some Frontrow problems in Leopard. The :apple:TV is just plug and play...
 
I love mine. it is perfect for watching the TV shows I download. A simply conversion in iSquint and Im good to go. A little dissapointed in the lack of HD content but it is definately not a turn off. My mother in law can operate hers and that is a bonus. She can catch up on all her shows without me having to burn discs, etc. Its just plug and go. I have a few photos sync'd and dont have a problem there and I stream the rest. My iTunes directory is reaching the 700gb mark spread over 2 drives and I dont have any problems there either. All in all, it is exaclty what I wanted.

For those complaining about lack of codecs, think about if for a second. Divx and Xvid which are the 2 that I hear the most gripe about. What are those codecs used for? Mostly pirated content and its not a very good codec at that. Apple is never going to support something that is used mainly for pirated content.

I love my aTV and would not trade it for any other media streamer out there. Every other one that I have used is horrible and using a Mini is so beyond overkill. Do people really think that that experience is better than a stand alone device? I dont think so.
 
I love mine. I added some features by 'hacking' it.. otherwise I'm not sure I'd see the value in it.
 
peeaanuut said:
For those complaining about lack of codecs, think about if for a second. Divx and Xvid which are the 2 that I hear the most gripe about. What are those codecs used for? Mostly pirated content and its not a very good codec at that. Apple is never going to support something that is used mainly for pirated content.
Click to expand...

Plenty of folks use these codecs for DVD's they encode for themselves (myself included). One might say it's superior to H.264 in many ways. Depends on the person and the needs of that person.

The big thing is there are other media machines out there that cost as much or less than the AppleTV that do all this without modification. That's what these folks are getting at.
 
I probably would have bought it if it only did music. I enjoy having my entire music library available through my main amp/speakers.

I also have many favorite movies and TV series.

I thought it a bargain at $299.

(I've since upgraded the HD to a 160GB.)
 
I love my Apple TV and have several in the family now...although it needs a software update badly...the menus get a little laggy at times, we need new picture screen savers, iTunes Store, Chapter Marker Selection Menu, Better TV Show Organization, iPhone/Touch Wireless Access for Content and Remote...etc...

Also, iTunes needs HD content with better surround sound and possibly rentals (which do appear to be coming...but who knows when...my guess is that the Apple TV will be updated at Macworld in January)

The potential of this device is amazing, but Apple has been sidetracked lately with the iPhone and revamping literally every piece of software they make (plus all the computer upgrades, minus the Mac Pro)...so I think next year the Apple TV will finally get the attention it deserves.
 
Hmmm intelligent post... NOT

synth3tik said:
There are quite a few other threads like this, but since I am here I will say that the Apple TV is rubbish. I had mine running for a week before I just bought a Mac Mini.
Click to expand...

If you are going to bag it then tell us why. You sound like a little kid who's missed is nap and wants his pacifier. :rolleyes:
 
I picked one up soon after they came out and I was really pleased with it for what I wanted from it which was to be able to stream all my DVD content to the TV in the bedroom.

I do agree with zedsdead though in that it could do with a software update. I'd like iTunes Store access and better TV show organisation.

All in all though, it does exactly what they said it would and I was so pleased I bought another one for the lounge!
 
Digital Hub

In reading these threads, it looks like a lot of people want to watch Hi Def Video through their AppleTV. Maybe that's not its intended market. For me, it's about freeing up tunes from my iTunes library to be played on my stereo in the family room and getting pictures off my iMac so my family can see them.

Unfortunately, I can't get my :apple:TV to even do that right now. Hopefully, I'll get that fixed. But, playing video through it is something I really hadn't thought about when I bought it. For just over $200 (bought my refurbed), my expectations are just what I mentioned above. Pictures and music.
 
It does exactly what its advertised to do and nothing more.

For some folks its too restrictive, but it really depends on your expectations.

I use it for my kids DVD's and for various playlists. I can build playlists for a party, sync it to the ATV and not have to stream from my iMac. I have a 50 inch plasma and the screen saver shows my photo library flying by. People really love watching it.

It it the perfect device? In short, no. I'm a little dissapointed by Apples support of the device. It could be so much more...

I would like to see more codecs supported (even Microsoft is going to support DIVX)

Get rid of that stupid Verification Code so I can stream media stored on my NAS iTunes server.

I would also like to see streaming radio supported. It's silly to think that iTunes on my iMac can do it, but not the ATV.

It has saved me in scratched childrens DVD's which was my main reason for having it. It looks pretty good on a big screen HDTV, not exactly blu-ray, but its certainly watchable.
 
Yeah, the ATV definitely needs a s/w refresh but I keep telling myself be patient as Apple has been busy (iPhone, Leopard, etc.). I have to believe Apple won't let this cool little device wither on the vine. It has too much potential and the coolness factor is unbelievable.

That being said, I love my current ATV as I bought it mainly for the music side although hackng it has opened up a brave new world for me. One plugin in particular is looking very promising while several others are pretty cool in their own right. And to the poster who said it can't do surround sound that isn't true....check out the wiki..

Sapphire:
http://appletv.nanopi.net/category/sapphire-browser-previews/

Good source of AppleTV info:
http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Index.html
 
peeaanuut said:
Apple is never going to support something that is used mainly for pirated content.
Click to expand...

Uhh iPod.

I don't have an aTV but I would like it, just for the potential. I have bad eyes so whats the point of crystal clear images when it is blurry anyways(actually I would love HD, makes my bad eyes think I am watching something clear). My main use for this would be friends, they can bring over their notebooks and then we can have a moment...aaaaa memories...;) And most the videos I share aren't awesome quality. Mostly "HEY! check out this Video for 10 seconds"

So I would eventually want to get one, but definitely the fact that I want to shove cable companies down the toilet. I wanna pick what I watch.
 
The Apple TV is one of my favorite Apple devices, after Mac line. I don't even have cable anymore.
 
desenso said:
Great logic. Convincing post!
Click to expand...

I actually have both and I can give you the pro's and con's on both but like they said, there's already a ton of posts out there. I have my mini in the bedroom hooked up to an old CRT (thus no ATV) and use it as my media server to my ATV in the living room hooked up to my Sammy LCD. Tiger Front Row blows compared to the ATV interface, plain and simple (I may be changing my tune after I install Leopard this weekend :) ). To all their own and what you need it for...
 
I really have only good things to say about my AppleTV unit. It has been simple to use, reliable and does what it was advertised to do. Frees up all that stuff on the iMac, video, music, podcasts, etc. THe addition of YouTube is a terrific time waster. For the price (I got the 40gb machine and have never regretted it) what else is there that works so well with a mac, my TV, my media, and is simple (dead simple) for the family to use? Also, I recently added an EYETV 250 hybrid to the mix, and now... no more VCR! (Remember those?) It works seemlessly with the appleTV. THe only thing about the eyetv is that it takes about three hours to convert/encode the program to the AppleTV format... sometimes I have to cool my heals a while before it is ready.

I do hope that Apple keeps developing this little gem...;)
 
We're quite happy with ours. We use it for movies, but even more for photos. When we have a gathering of visitors, it's so much nicer to gather in the front of the TV (a device meant from group viewing) than a computer (meant for one person at a time). Since our photos are all in iPhoto anyway, and it's auto-synced, our photos are ready to show anytime we turn on the TV.

When we have a birthday party or anniversary party, we can put on a slideshow of the featured person or couple and just let it repeat for anyone who wanders by. It's always a hit.

The immediate family has even been known to sit there and watch the photo screensaver. It's a shuffled display of our entire library, like flipping to random pages in a printed photo album.
 
TuckBodi said:
I actually have both and I can give you the pro's and con's on both but like they said, there's already a ton of posts out there. I have my mini in the bedroom hooked up to an old CRT (thus no ATV) and use it as my media server to my ATV in the living room hooked up to my Sammy LCD. Tiger Front Row blows compared to the ATV interface, plain and simple (I may be changing my tune after I install Leopard this weekend :) ). To all their own and what you need it for...
Click to expand...

Not sure why you quoted me on this.. I was being sarcastic because the person who I was quoting made a conclusory statement with absolutely no accompanying reasoning.

I also use a Mac Mini as a media extender in my bedroom, and to serve my Apple TVs in the rest of the house. I love them both!
 
desenso said:
Not sure why you quoted me on this.. I was being sarcastic because the person who I was quoting made a conclusory statement with absolutely no accompanying reasoning.

I also use a Mac Mini as a media extender in my bedroom, and to serve my Apple TVs in the rest of the house. I love them both!
Click to expand...

Oops, my bad...thought you were on agreement when actually it sounds like you're in the same boat as I am and love them both!
 
brian0526 said:
Just got it hooked up yesterday. After a day and a half, still can't get it to sync all my photos over. And, I haven't even had the chance to figure out how to get my music to sync.

I bought mine refurbed from the Apple store. Perhaps there's a hardware problem. The sync is very, very slow and never seems to complete. It only gets to the point where there's about 2 GB on the :apple:TV drive.
Click to expand...

You cant sync and watch via streaming at the same time because it will cancel the sync. You can watch previously synced content (from ATV HD) though. Its a bit poo in that respect.

Basically sync everything then watch it. And if you are on wireless g it takes ages.
 
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