Apple TV: 40GB Phased Out, 160GB Price Drop

[FanIn80]

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/14/...-model-to-229/

I just finally got around to buying one again (House is just around the corner!), and I bought the 40GB one at Best Buy.

Luckily it was only a couple days ago, so I can still return it. Whew.


Edit: Oh, there's also a bit about a possible software update for the ATV, to make better use of iTunes LPs.

[Bob]

The AppleTV needs new hardware *badly*. I love the interface, but it's just too damn slow, hot, and crash prone (when modded, going by my friends AppleTV). Still, it's a great way to watch movie trailers and rent film. Sooo much potential there going to waste.

[HotHotHeat]

Good thing you bought it at Bestbuy. Apple store charges a fee for 'open box returns'.

This should mean a new apple tv unit for the holiday season. If it ever gets 1080p I'm going to pick one up. It's so damn tempting every time I go into a store that sells them...

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Bob

The AppleTV needs new hardware *badly*. I love the interface, but it's just too damn slow, hot, and crash prone (when modded, going by my friends AppleTV). Still, it's a great way to watch movie trailers and rent film. Sooo much potential there going to waste.

I agree with you there. It's such an awesome little box but sometimes you just stare at it and wonder what the hell is going on. Actually, I suppose it isn't too hard to figure out ... it's treated as more of a pet project than a true member of the apple family. It's like any apple product in it's infancy, terribly cool but lacking in certain ways. The difference is most products get regular updates and emerge as powerhouses. The apple tv seems to be stuck in development. I just get the feeling with a little push this could be a big product.

[FanIn80]

There's been some talk lately that the Apple TV might actually turn into an Apple TV... as in a high def TV with some form of the current Apple TV software built into it's firmware.

All I know is the thought of a 50" TV built with the same quality that Apple uses to build their current HD LED screens... It'll probably cost 20 grand, but it'll be sure be hella nice.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Bob

The AppleTV needs new hardware *badly*. I love the interface, but it's just too damn slow, hot, and crash prone (when modded, going by my friends AppleTV). Still, it's a great way to watch movie trailers and rent film. Sooo much potential there going to waste.

I think the very limited RAM really hurts the unit. Mine would get wonky every two weeks or so, sometimes more, depending on use. So now, I have it on a programmable timer that turns it off for 2 minutes every night at 3am...voila, unattended reboots, and it seldom if ever crashes.

So I wouldn't be surprised at all if a modded ATV is even less stable in general, but would probably benefit as much, or more, from a regular reboot schedule.


I also gotta put a plug in for the AppleTV in general - it is the one consensus entertainment device in the house, besides the TV itself, that everyone in the family agrees will get replaced if it ever breaks. DVD player - could live without it, haven't used it in months. Second TV - don't need it that much. Stereo? Could get by with TV speakers. Apple TV? Essential. When its backed by a computer with a decent video and audio collection, its amazing...

[FanIn80]

How did you manage to do the timer? Is it setting or a script... or just something plugged into the wall that kills the power on that socket for 2 mins?

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

How did you manage to do the timer? Is it setting or a script... or just something plugged into the wall that kills the power on that socket for 2 mins?

Just one of those ones that plugs into the wall. It's got an electronic timer on it, not those funny little switches.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Just one of those ones that plugs into the wall. It's got an electronic timer on it, not those funny little switches.

That's actually a pretty solid idea.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Russic

That's actually a pretty solid idea.

No doubt. I'm going to check out Home Hardware on the weekend and see if they have any.

[HeartsOfFire]

Ahh, 160 GB AppleTV. I have one of those.

In all honesty though, I should've gone with the 40 GB. With the amount of video I was buying from the Canadian and American stores, I had to purchase an external hard drive to store much of my media. I split my media into two iTunes Libraries, Music and Video.

However, my music library also contains all my video podcasts, so if I want to watch them on my TV, I have to sever AppleTV from the video library, which de-sync's everything stored on it and leaves only rented movies stored.

Pain in the ass...

But likewise, if AppleTV ever goes to a 1080p standard, I too will upgrade. Although I doubt they will. The file size for 1080p movies would be astronomical. Imagine 10GB TV shows or 20GB movie rentals.... It's just not THAT practical unless you have NAS.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

But likewise, if AppleTV ever goes to a 1080p standard, I too will upgrade. Although I doubt they will. The file size for 1080p movies would be astronomical. Imagine 10GB TV shows or 20GB movie rentals.... It's just not THAT practical unless you have NAS.

There are lots of rumblings that Apple is prepping the ability to keep purchased content up in the cloud, and stream it on demand. I think you can probably do 1080p at decent quality for around 5-7 megabits per second, which is well within the reach of almost all residential broadband plans now, so who knows...

I've also heard rumors that another direction they may go is to replace your monthly cable bill with an iTunes subscription - stream whatever television shows you want directly to the AppleTV, probably a selection of movies, etc.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

Ahh, 160 GB AppleTV. I have one of those.

In all honesty though, I should've gone with the 40 GB. With the amount of video I was buying from the Canadian and American stores, I had to purchase an external hard drive to store much of my media. I split my media into two iTunes Libraries, Music and Video.

However, my music library also contains all my video podcasts, so if I want to watch them on my TV, I have to sever AppleTV from the video library, which de-sync's everything stored on it and leaves only rented movies stored.

Pain in the ass...

But likewise, if AppleTV ever goes to a 1080p standard, I too will upgrade. Although I doubt they will. The file size for 1080p movies would be astronomical. Imagine 10GB TV shows or 20GB movie rentals.... It's just not THAT practical unless you have NAS.

Why don't you use one library?

I have one library on my MacBook Pro. I have all my music on the local hard drive, and all my TV shows/movies, etc, on an external drive. You can add things to your iTunes library without having to copy them locally.


A better question might be how do I get my Apple TV to manage it's own internal library? What I mean by that, is how do I get it to access my movies/TV shows on my Time Capsule without requiring me to fire up my MacBook and open up iTunes?

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

A better question might be how do I get my Apple TV to manage it's own internal library? What I mean by that, is how do I get it to access my movies/TV shows on my Time Capsule without requiring me to fire up my MacBook and open up iTunes?

Not possible at the present time, at least not in an unhacked state (which is how I prefer mine).

With iTunes Home Sharing in iTunes 9, though, you can see Apple inching towards a centralized media server model though, and I'm sure ATV will gain some of those features at some point in the future (maybe not this generation, but hopefully next). How nice would it be to have a larger capacity ATV act as the media server for your house, where you copy media on and off of it to other devices like iPods and laptops...