Is AppleTv worth...

[Ramesh]

I'm getting one for $120 - brand new, 40GB. Worth it?

[jjvaldez]

im not the expert, but i can tell you that i want one too, the thing is we browsing for me, if you get a mac mini you can do all of this, mac mini will have front row that can make it look like apple tv when you want to do the media thing and at the same time you can surff the web and do other things.

its a hard call....

oh and apple tv = 720p and mac mini = 1080p

[Ramesh]

im not the expert, but i can tell you that i want one too, the thing is we browsing for me, if you get a mac mini you can do all of this, mac mini will have front row that can make it look like apple tv when you want to do the media thing and at the same time you can surff the web and do other things.

its a hard call....

oh and apple tv = 720p and mac mini = 1080p

lmao on the 1080p thing. i don't really care about the web browsing. I keep all my media on my iMac. Plus for $120 is a LOT cheaper than a Mini.... I think the $120 is worth it to test it out...

[chris]

I'd jump on it for $120. At a bare minimum, it's a great Airport Express. I use it to channel my iTunes and Sirius to my main stereo. I thought I would rip more DVDs, but not so much. Still, that feature is there with Handbrake. Select the AppleTV setting, RIP and then stream it.

I wouldn't worry about the size either. I stream my movies and music. The only thing on my AppleTV are photos.

Plus, YouTube is convenient (but looks crappy).

Hmm...that's about it. Plenty worth it.

-Chris

[Ramesh]

I'd jump on it for $120. At a bare minimum, it's a great Airport Express. I use it to channel my iTunes and Sirius to my main stereo. I thought I would rip more DVDs, but not so much. Still, that feature is there with Handbrake. Select the AppleTV setting, RIP and then stream it.

I wouldn't worry about the size either. I stream my movies and music. The only thing on my AppleTV are photos.

Plus, YouTube is convenient (but looks crappy).

Hmm...that's about it. Plenty worth it.

-Chris

That's the main reason I'm getting it. I'm also getting an airport express (on order) but that's for networking my 360, blu ray, and dtv box to my wifi.

[chris]

That's the main reason I'm getting it. I'm also getting an airport express (on order) but that's for networking my 360, blu ray, and dtv box to my wifi.

I use a switch that's wired to my router. I'm sending the 360, PS3, Vudu, AppleTV and TiVo to the switch. Allows me to be hard wired to the router.

Reminds me, I need a bigger switch if I stick with the Vudu. Think I pulled the ATV out temporarily for the Vudu.

[acosmichippo]

i just got one, and it is a much better experience for me than using a Mac w/ Frontrow. I'm streaming media from my time capsule, and frontrow just does NOT handle this well for some reason. The interface is slow and choppy even on my MacBook Pro... a mac mini would be even worse. On the AppleTV, it's very smooth. And appleTV does output in 1080p. Movies from the iTunes store won't be, but if you rip other videos that are equivalent to 1080p, it will do it.

the thing i'm excited about with the appleTV is that it'll hook up to a slingbox. Assuming sling releases a player soon, it will stream my whole itunes library to my iphone. Of course, there are other ways to accomplish the same thing.

The main problem with appleTV is that it is VERY picky with video formats. So if you have a lot of video ripped as anything besides .m4v, then you'll have to convert it for appleTV. A Mac with Frontrow will not have this issue.

So the +/-'s appear to be the following

AppleTV
+ ~$300 less than Mac mini
+ Streams very well from another source
+ Will hook up easily to a Slingbox for streaming.
- Picky about video formats

Mac w/ Frontrow
+ Will play any video with codecs installed.
+ Can do other stuff like web surfing (to stream pandora or netflix, for example)
+ DVD/CD drive
+ Expandable storage via USB
- If streaming from another source, the Frontrow UI is pretty sluggish.

[jjvaldez]

lmao on the 1080p thing. i don't really care about the web browsing. I keep all my media on my iMac. Plus for $120 is a LOT cheaper than a Mini.... I think the $120 is worth it to test it out...


why is 1080p funny?

im all hook on the web browsing thing cus i think that should be included on the apple tv that is all, [the only thing that i can think of right now with the web browsing that i would use is for hulu.com so that i can watch my tv shows online... really other then that i rather surf the web on my laptop...

but yea 120 is a good deal for apple tv...

[420greg]

I have one but did not use it that much until I installed Boxee on it.

The stock Apple just has YouTube for Internet video. But Boxee gives you:

Hulu
CBS
CNN
Joost
MtvMusic
LastFM
Plus a dozen others. You can also add the feed to any video podcast vis rss.

I would go for it at that price. Then visit Boxee, their Alpha just went public.

[Ramesh]

I have one but did not use it that much until I installed Boxee on it.

The stock Apple just has YouTube for Internet video. But Boxee gives you:

Hulu
CBS
CNN
Joost
MtvMusic
LastFM
Plus a dozen others. You can also add the feed to any video podcast vis rss.

I would go for it at that price. Then visit Boxee, their Alpha just went public.
That's kinda where I am. I've been reading about Boxee, time to research some more. Thanks.

[Ramesh]

I have one but did not use it that much until I installed Boxee on it.

The stock Apple just has YouTube for Internet video. But Boxee gives you:

Hulu
CBS
CNN
Joost
MtvMusic
LastFM
Plus a dozen others. You can also add the feed to any video podcast vis rss.

I would go for it at that price. Then visit Boxee, their Alpha just went public.

So I don't need an invite? If I do.... I don't suppose I could bother you for one? :2cool:

[acosmichippo]

i just signed up without an invite.

[acosmichippo]

http://code.google.com/p/atvusb-creator/

[acosmichippo]

so i set mine up with boxee last night, and it is really cool. With it installed, i can stream media directly from my time capsule instead of needing my macbook to act as a middleman. It will also play ANY video format... even windows media.

[coasts]

i was so close to buying Apple TV the other day until i learned one critical requirement: you have to keep your computer on while streaming from Time Capsule.

Basically, i have all my media on Time Capsule, which i thought i could hook up directly to Apple TV. Apparently, you still need a computer to interface between the two, which isn't convenient for me. the whole idea of getting Apple TV was to avoid tying up my macbook while watching movies.

also, i take my MB traveling quite a bit, which would leave honey at home with no movie option.

looks like i'm back to Mac Mini as my best option.

[acosmichippo]

There is a way to do that if you install boxee. It is in alpha, so it doesn't work quite as well, but it is possible.

[jjvaldez]

how do the boxee users like it?

[drumthrasher109]

My answer: not really...until you can plug in your cable or satellite service into it and use it as an HD-DVR or something like that, I'm not getting one. Until that happens, I'm just gonna use my computer since I usually have it plugged in to my TV as an extended-display.

[jjvaldez]

did u try boxee on a Apple Tv and dont like it or do you not like that Apple Tv is not a DVR??

[Ramesh]

Hey Hippo. I'm lazy and headed to bed. I Boxee'd tonight, but couldn't find Hulu. What am I missing? I ran all the updates. Any pointers?

[acosmichippo]

I actually restored my atv shortly after installing boxee. I ran into a couple of bugs, and the interface was not smooth enough to be useful to me.

Incidentally, I may give it another shot soon because I'm having my MBP serviced, so if I want to steel media from my TC without it, I'll need boxee again.

[jjvaldez]

ok, im boxee'd looks like all went well, no updates available, i go to the boxee tab and click on it and i get a black screen, any suggestions?

[acosmichippo]

yeah, boxee is great in theory, but it was a little too laggy/buggy to be of any real use to me.

but i never experienced anything like what you are seeing, jj.

[Ramesh]

ok, im boxee'd looks like all went well, no updates available, i go to the boxee tab and click on it and i get a black screen, any suggestions?

You have to go to downloads and download xmbc and boxee and launcher.

[jjvaldez]

You have to go to downloads and download xmbc and boxee and launcher.
from within apple tv?

also i just restored and it is so messed up, it makes this buzzing sound now when playing anyvideos.. ****..