Apple TV: Thoughts?

[HeartsOfFire]

Here, let me be absolutely clear. Too much confusion going on.

Right out of the box,

YOU CANNOT:

Attach an external hard drive to ATV: It is what it is. Unless you pry it open, the internal HDD is all you get.

YOU CAN:

Move and stream music and videos from an external hard drive/NAS to ATV provided you use a PC w/iTunes to do it.

[FanIn80]

Yeah the USB port on the ATV is actually a "service port."

[Rathji]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I guess Apple is actually pretty far behind in terms of the abilities of Apple TV when compared for far less expensive devices. That is very strange for Apple since normally they offer more. When is the next refresh of Apple TV's expected?

[silentsim]

Cracking an appletv is very easy' and is the only reason mine sees daily use. I love the ability to stream any format as well as attach an external Hd to it.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I guess Apple is actually pretty far behind in terms of the abilities of Apple TV when compared for far less expensive devices. That is very strange for Apple since normally they offer more. When is the next refresh of Apple TV's expected?

AppleTV is considered a "hobby" project at Apple. They sell it, support it, release regular software feature updates for it, and semi-regular hardware updates for it... but they're still just feeling things out.

My hope is that GoogleTV kicks them in the pants a little bit.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I guess Apple is actually pretty far behind in terms of the abilities of Apple TV when compared for far less expensive devices. That is very strange for Apple since normally they offer more. When is the next refresh of Apple TV's expected?

Apple is in tough with this device in the States. They obviously want to limit the formats that can play on it, but the problem is that unlike their other devices they don't have the install base to call the shots. In the world of set-top boxes for TV, Apple is the mean 6th grader that has graduated to Junior High and suddenly realizes that they don't run the show anymore. I realize that paints Apple in a stereotypical light, but it's the best analogy I can come up with. They could get a foot hold if they'd open up to other video formats, but that's so far beyond the realm of possibility I think the chance is greater that they just demolish the product.

Apple's take (if I recall) was that they don't think the time is right but that "there is something there". I'm with Fanin80 ... I hope their anger towards Google drives them to aggressively tackle the TV market. I would love for them to go to the TV studios and say "look, Google is going to offer a device that will let people not only stream your shows with ease, but they'll be able to pirate your show and watch it immediately ... how does our subscription model look now jerk-asses?" At this point you can surely pirate media for the apple tv, but in 95% of the cases you need to convert the video, and that keeps a LOT of people from doing it. With a google box I could probably teach my mom to pirate tv shows in less than 10 minutes.

edit: I tried the PS3 Media Server last night. Incredibly easy to set up and the computer and PS3 recognized each other right away. Super laggy at the time though, but I had some frantic torrent activity going on at the time. I wasn't able to test without the torrent going, so I'll try tonight.

[Burninator]

A question for you Apple TV and iTunes experts out there. Currently I have all of my music on my iTunes account which is synced with the Apple TV. Everything is working dandy, but my girlfriend wants her music on the Apple TV as well. Is there a way to do this without combining my library of music in iTunes with her music?

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Burninator

A question for you Apple TV and iTunes experts out there. Currently I have all of my music on my iTunes account which is synced with the Apple TV. Everything is working dandy, but my girlfriend wants her music on the Apple TV as well. Is there a way to do this without combining my library of music in iTunes with her music?

I believe you can only sync with one computer, but you can stream from multiple.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I guess Apple is actually pretty far behind in terms of the abilities of Apple TV when compared for far less expensive devices. That is very strange for Apple since normally they offer more. When is the next refresh of Apple TV's expected?

The fact that the Apple TV is linked with iTunes puts it ahead of other devices in that respect. I don't know if other devices can rent movies, buy movies, TV Shows and music. But it doesn't have a browser, it can't steam from internet videos sites like Hulu and it can't do a lot of other things. Honestly there isn't a set top box out there that does everything (perhaps the Google TV box will) and it depends on your needs. I know the Apple TV is far from perfect but it suited my needs better than anything else out there.

I don't think there is a refresh expected. It has fallen out of the regular update cycle that other Apple products are in.

Originally Posted by FanIn80

AppleTV is considered a "hobby" project at Apple. They sell it, support it, release regular software feature updates for it, and semi-regular hardware updates for it... but they're still just feeling things out.

My hope is that GoogleTV kicks them in the pants a little bit.

I think it's funny that Apple calls it a "hobby". That's just another way to say "it's not selling as much as we hoped". But I agree, I hope it kicks them in the butt as well. They had a huge head start with the Apple TV and they could have done a lot more with it.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Russic

I believe you can only sync with one computer, but you can stream from multiple.

Actually I misspoke. I should have said my computer is linked with my iTunes. The only thing I sync is photos and the rest I stream. I wonder if I can stream from different accounts on the same computer....? I'll have to run a test to see if that works.

[HeartsOfFire]

Originally Posted by Burninator

A question for you Apple TV and iTunes experts out there. Currently I have all of my music on my iTunes account which is synced with the Apple TV. Everything is working dandy, but my girlfriend wants her music on the Apple TV as well. Is there a way to do this without combining my library of music in iTunes with her music?

*cracks his knuckles*

You have multiple options:

Option 1. By far the easiest option, forget about synchronizing your music to ATV at all. Just use ATV as an AirTunes hub. Set up your iTunes profiles to look for remote speakers. They'll detect your ATV. If ATV is idle, you will be able to choose the speakers that play the music in the lower right corner of iTunes: your PC, ATV, both, or whatever other combination of multiple speaker-sets you have that iTunes can see.

Option 2. ATV can only synchronize with one PC at a time. If you desync ATV with your iTunes and sync it to her pc, all YOUR media will be deleted and replaced by her stuff. HOWEVER! ATV can detect other iTunes libraries in your network and can stream media from library's not synchronized provided they're set up for sharing.

Option 3. Dump your girlfriend.

Originally Posted by Burninator

Actually I misspoke. I should have said my computer is linked with my iTunes. The only thing I sync is photos and the rest I stream. I wonder if I can stream from different accounts on the same computer....? I'll have to run a test to see if that works.

Already tried. You can't. You can have multiple iTunes libraries on a PC, but you can only run one at a time. And ATV sync's up only with what is running at that particular time.

On a slightly related note, I'm surprised a mod hasn't changed my roster position to 'AppleTV guru' yet.

[Burninator]

Not so much an Apple TV question as a ripping question. I have using DVD Shrink and Handbrake to copy my DVD's onto my computer to watch on Apple TV. I am having some trouble with subtitles. I managed to get it to work on a movie that was entirely subtitles, but I have trouble with a movie like Kill Bill where there is only some subtitles. Anyone have any suggestions? I've tried a couple different ways and they don't seem to show up. Thanks.