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Apr 14, 09 - 10:32 am Comment from: ron

"3. You can actually look at your family photos"

Woweee!

Apr 14, 09 - 10:48 am Comment from: gedboy

"3. You can actually look at your family photos"

It is indeed 'wowee'. Showing my mother in law pics is now a breeze. Take pics, upload them via iPhoto and then show them. It's only when you have an AppleTV you realise how cool it is. When the software is loosed from its shackles it will be one cool little box.

You can tell Ron does not have kids (or care about ones he may have). I would have made the same comment 10 years ago when I was young and stupid (and without kids).

You forgot coffee cup holder.

We like to review photos on our Apple TV, but we really would like the ability to tag or mark photos while doing so. Choosing pix to send to friends or get printed would be a lot easier while everybody was watching them on the big screen.

Apr 14, 09 - 11:24 am Comment from: JAYGEE

When are the games coming to the Apple TV?

Aside from the rental capability, none of these represents a clear reason for owning an Apple TV. And as for the rentals, they would be GREATLY enhanced as a reason to but an Apple TV IF you could rent, not only from Apple, but from Netflix as well. Further, Apple could offer a strong advantage over, say, TiVo, if you could browse the Netflix site from your TV as well as watch films from your rental list.

I realize Boxee and/or some ATV add-ons may offer net-surfing capability, but Joe Consumer does not want to hack their box. He wants Apple to work that out and deliver the capability in a nicely polished, stable, and officially supported form. That is, after all, what he is paying for.

Apr 14, 09 - 11:34 am Comment from: ron

"You can tell Ron does not have kids (or care about ones he may have). I would have made the same comment 10 years ago when I was young and stupid (and without kids)."

I have 4 grand-children and they see ALL of my 3400 photos on my 24'' iMac. Which is as large as their TV.
http://homepage.mac.com/sirron1/PhotoAlbum4.html

You've got a bunch of people over and you want to show them some photos and some iMovies you've made of your recent trip. Are you going to drag them all into your den and have them stand all cramped together to watch the screen on your Mac? Or have them squinting to get the right angle on your laptop? What if they could all hang out in your living room on comfortable furniture and watch the photos and iMovies on your big screen tv? Some of your friends may not be thrilled to be viewing your vacation photos, but at least they can be comfortable and enjoy some music along with the photos.
That's just one of the many many reasons to have an Apple TV.

Apr 14, 09 - 11:53 am Comment from: CourtJester

I still dont get it!!!

There's actually only one reason to get an Apple TV : Boxee.

Too bad Boxee would probably invalidate every contract Apple made with the MPAA. Which makes Boxee a second class citizen but a very valuable hack. The MPAA also will probably be the reason why creating Boxee boxes will be a major PITA for any interested manufacturer. Look at Hulu.

24", they need a better TV.

1. You can watch broadcast TV on Apple TV

Umm.... you can watch broadcast TV on VHS, too. But you don't want to. This is a misleading statement from MDN, as the article clearly states:

"Given the Apple TV is designed to sit in the living room the most important issue is watching recorded TV. The current AppleTV doesn’t offer any direct TV service other than buying direct from iTunes."

Apr 14, 09 - 12:30 pm Comment from: ron

@NotRon. Their father lost his job because he was sick. He has no insurance and very little money. Perhaps you have an old 60'' TV you'd like to donate. Think a little, before you spout off. God Bless you. ron.

Apple TV is one of my favorite entertainment devices.
Whenever I have company over, I put my Photo's on my 52" HD LCD TV with iTunes (From the Apple TV) playing on my sound system. They are amazed, especial if I am taking Photo during the event (Christmas) and they suddenly see the days activities on my TV.

Apr 14, 09 - 12:51 pm Comment from: LordRobin

If I want to display pictures, I just stick the memory card in our Wii. Wii lets you draw silly faces on the pictures -- let's see Apple TV do that!

Seriously, though, I've been debating buying an Apple TV for a long, long time, but I've never pulled the trigger. The dealbreaker for me is that there's no simple way to play DivX/XviD movies on the thing. You either have to hack the device, or do a conversion.

Plus, I don't like how reliant the thing is on the Internet. There is literally no way to get content onto the machine other than via WiFi or the Ethernet port. So that means laying cable to my router, or living with the slow speed of my old Airport Express. (And yes, I could upgrade, but that's an added expense, isn't it?)

Right now, I'd be seriously more inclined to get a Sony PS3 than an Apple TV: plays more formats, plus I can play right off a flash drive rather than wait for data to upload.

------RM

"easily scratched DVD's"

This idiot definitely never had to deal with VHS tapes. DVD's are very sturdy and it insults the public to even state that. It's not like people are running around with razor blades taped to their fingers. . How stupid does he think people are?

DVR?!?

If I didn't have a job, I wouldn't need an appleTV either.
I hope you took time from looking at ALL your 3400 photos and gave him access to your 24" iMac to type up a resume.

OK, I have an Apple TV and....Uh....Hmmmm. IT SUCKS! Do not waste your money or time. This has got to be Apple's biggest bomb. Really it sucks, no really.

Apr 14, 09 - 02:26 pm Comment from: ron

notRon, Fu-- you very much.

Man, I feel bad that started all the troubles between ron and notron. I decided to shut my mouth once I figured out that I was wrong. Notrun, you just took it to a whole new level.

Once again...this site is saying "if it has an apple logo on it,you must love it." Many DVR's, Xbox 360's and PS3's offer similar content/rental services. Netflix combined with Xbox 360 is amazing. The streaming quality is far superior to my Apple TV, which takes the back seat most of the time.

Apr 14, 09 - 04:10 pm Comment from: LeftCoastDude

I don't mean to risk the wrath of the Apple fanboys, but AppleTV is not a very good product. First of all, downloading content has become more and more difficult. For example, 42 minute HD TV shows take over 2 hours to download, and I have a massive 20 mbps system. The software is not intuitive, with some weird issues when synching to iTunes on my iMac.

And, the most important thing is that it's not HD like BluRay is HD. AppleTV is 720p and 5.1. BluRay is 1080p with 7.1 sound. AppleTV doesn't give the extra content when you download a movie. BluRay does.

My TiVo has time shifting (in other words a real DVR), records HD content, and can stream from netflix, with a 42 minute TV show downloading in about 2 minutes.

My Playstation 3 plays BluRay discs and can stream content from Sony.

I'm sorry but AppleTV is just third rate.

For what it's worth, I have an AppleTV and I absolutely love it.

Harsh words, I am sure you don't mean to hurt my feelings, you just wanted everyone to know you had a 24" iMac.
Anyway, God Bless YOU. notRon

Apr 14, 09 - 04:40 pm Comment from: gedboy

It's funny how people get worked up if someone really likes something. My partner hates wires, ICT and all other electrical encumbrances.

However when I'm out to the Celtic games she has no trouble picking a film to rent on AppleTV or watching something I have recorded on my EyeTV and transferred to iTunes via Turbo.264 or ripped my DVD collection and done the same thing.

I guess this is what I want the little box to do, so I'm happy and so is she.

Apr 14, 09 - 07:37 pm Comment from: Scott in Japan

The Apple TV is interesting. But what I don't understand is: If I have a full working computer (that has all of my photos, music and movies); the size of the Apple TV, why do I need an Apple TV?

LeftCoastDude, I can't say if an AppleTV is good or bad, as I don't have one. But I can say that you do make some valid points.

I'm not interested in video downloads, buying or renting. Disc media is far more secure and protected than any EM device, be it harddisk or SSD.

Besides, for me the only thing I'm interested in is a Hi-def DVR that doesn't require some sort of idiotic program subscription service. No Tivo, No DirecTV, No cable company DVRs. I want basic Hi-def timeshifting capability and no monthly fees.

It appears I'll have to set up a Mac Mini with an EyeTV unit as a HTPC - which will give me everything I want in a DVR, plus internet video access and a host of other capabilities that an AppleTV can't come close to matching. And I'll still be able to access all the iTunes Store stuff.

Now what reasons do I need to own an AppleTV?

Not a one that makes any sense.

Apr 15, 09 - 02:19 pm Comment from: cogitoergomac

I have two AppleTV units, and I am about to buy a third. Is it the perfect be-all box? Um, no, but I think it is very good at precisely what it aims to be. Yes, I love the photo screensaver, and we often leave it running in the background with music when we have company [and for a lot of guests, the sheer elegance of the photo screensaver is a jawdropper]. We buy and rent HD movies [no, not quite the same as Blu-Ray, but more than good enough for most flicks & TV shows], TV and other content. Yes, I use it as a video front end for listening to music [so good that I replaced my Wadia iTransport & iPod with an AppleTV amd small LCD]. And yes, as LordRobin notes, it does take one more step with Divx/Xvid movies [of which I have, let me see, ONE! out of hundreds], but once that step is done, it's done.

We also own a Wii, but who the heck wants to use the Wii to view photos on a 60-inch plasma? And my wife still has her 360, though since we got the Wii and have the AppleTV, she has never bothered to plug it in.

I would love to have DVR capability, but need more HD space for that. Until that shows up, I guess I am stuck using Tivo or my Comcast DVR. And I like Boxee, though after the last upgrade broke it, I haven't bothered to re-install it; what a pain.

All in all, worth every penny for me. If not for you, that's the great thing about choice.

6. Scratch everything said above.
7. Buy a VUDU instead.

I have Apple everything, but I just couldn't justify buying an Apple TV. Went with VUDU instead and have been happy so far.