Apple TV

[Moby]

Does anyone have this?

Can you use your iTunes library (on your PC / Mac / Server etc.) thru it or do you need to use the inbuilt 40gb / 160gb HDD.

Cheers.

 

[sneeks]

You can stream your iTunes library through it from a Mac, never tried from a PC.

 

[Moby]

Cool - hope someone can confirm if you can do it thru a PC.

 

[sneeks]

The easy answer appears to be yes it will stream or sync from your PC iTunes account.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307449

 

[Moby]

^^^ Cool - cheers.

 

[Mike_182]

Yes, works well.

 

[sneeks]

Now that this easy hack is available for Apple TV I may consider buying one.

http://www.applecorellc.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=27

 

[Revels]

Did you ever buy it? Whats it like?

Im tempted..

 

[Moby]

It arrived today - someone bought it off our wedding list.

Will report back once I've tried it!

Cheers.

 

[sargey]

Wedding Lists FTFW!

 

[sneeks]

This looks good, it may tempt me to buy a Apple TV if the installation is fairly straight forward and it actually works.

http://blog.boxee.tv/

 

[Moby]

Mine came without a power cord or remote so I'm waiting on John Lewis replacing it - argh!

 

[Revels]

This looks good, it may tempt me to buy a Apple TV if the installation is fairly straight forward and it actually works.

http://blog.boxee.tv/

I just saw that on MacRumours.

Any chance of a non-geek translation?

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

it sounds like its an application that allows a more diverse range of video formats to be played apple tv, apple tv in its normal state can only play a few file formats which is one of its many limitations lol

A way round this is Visual hub, it turn almost any format of video into pretty much any format you like

 

[sn00p]

I'd skip the apple-tv and go straight to mac mini, but the 1.8ghz mini is 399.

I picked up a 2ghz mini from the refurb store for £394 inc VAT though, you just have to be quick off the mark! (subscribe to apple store newsletters because they contain discount codes)

 

[sneeks]

I'm going to wait till the middle of this month and see if Apple TV or the Mac Mini will be updated to a new version.

 

[sneeks]

Just seen the 160gb ATV on sale for £189 delivered from the Apple refurb store. Worth buying or not?

 

[sneeks]

I installed Boxee on my iMac last night and it works great. Unfortunately the refurbished Apple TV's are now sold out so I will have to wait until they have more available or opt to buy a Mac Mini instead.

 

[sneeks]

Managed to buy a refurbished Apple TV this morning saving £80

 

[sn00p]

Managed to buy a refurbished Apple TV this morning saving £80

I love the refurb store!

 

[sneeks]

I was tempted to buy a Mac Mini for only £330 but I don't really need it as I have a iMac. The Apple TV will be ideal for my needs with some minor mods.

 

[Tonys]

Do you need to have a computer on for Apple TV to work if all your iTunes content is stored on a external HD?

You cant run a external HD off Apple TV can you? So would it be better to use a Apple time capsule or Apple airport base station with a hard drive connected to it?

 

[Mike_182]

You sync your iTunes to the Apple TV, so it stores it locally. Anything it can't sync, it streams - which yes, requires the machine to be on.

 

[Tonys]

Even if there isnt anything on the computer?

So what can Apple TV do that plugging my macbook into my TV wont do?

 

[Tom]

nothing.

 

[Daz]

Even if there isnt anything on the computer?

So what can Apple TV do that plugging my macbook into my TV wont do?

It's not really supposed to compete with a Macbook plugging into the TV.. it's effectively just a media streamer/player...

I know my laptop is always on, on forums, MSN, IRC, Mail etc.. so I wouldn't want it plugged into the TV playing music, movies etc.

If you don't mind your Macbook being plugged in, then go for it.. you also get the benefit of having a DVD drive to play from

 

[Mike_182]

Even if there isnt anything on the computer?

So what can Apple TV do that plugging my macbook into my TV wont do?

Save you £500?

 

[Tonys]

£500? How?

 

[Mike_182]

£500? How?

Because you can't sit on your laptop posting on here while it's plugged into your TV running Frontrow, so you don't need to buy a second crapbook if you use an Apple TV.

 

[Revels]

Dont buy it yet anyway. Macworld starts monday, possibly a new Apple Tv coming..

 

[Tom]

New mac mini with HDMI

 

[Mike_182]

Dont buy it yet anyway. Macworld starts monday, possibly a new Apple Tv coming..

Gotta be at least the third time the rumours sites have played that one. One day they might get it right!

 

[cava83]

I recon a new media center will be released by apple.

They are really lacking in that market at the moment, if they did release something, it would be truly great.

 

[Daz]

They need to forget about stuff like this, until they modify the Time Capsule to be a proper media server.. where you can sync iTunes from, from multiple machines, and still be able to sync the music to the iPhone etc.

Then, once that's done, they can think about modifying the Apple TV... at the moment, media is all over the place, and really only designed to be on one PC at once, in one library. Ugh.

 

[Revels]

New mac mini with HDMI

Display Port TBH. But black.

iPhone Nano, too.

 

[Mike_182]

Then, once that's done, they can think about modifying the Apple TV... at the moment, media is all over the place, and really only designed to be on one PC at once, in one library. Ugh.

Yeah, they need to sort that. I'd love to be able to run an iTunes 'Server' properly, rather than the features that they offer currently, so that an entire family can store their music on it, have access to each others but still retain their own playlists on their computers.

But then, nobody seems to have that nailed yet, so maybe it's more complicated than it sounds!

 

[Revels]

Yup, that'd be awesome.

The ability to run Plex with it or something, too..

http://9to5mac.com/apple-home-server

 

[Daz]

Yeah, they need to sort that. I'd love to be able to run an iTunes 'Server' properly, rather than the features that they offer currently, so that an entire family can store their music on it, have access to each others but still retain their own playlists on their computers.

But then, nobody seems to have that nailed yet, so maybe it's more complicated than it sounds!

It's annoying.. if they had a solution where iTunes connects to it, as a proper library.. from multiple PCs, which can be associated with multiple iPhone/iPod... it would be beyond amazing. Infact, I'd probably buy that device straight away....

I'm in a real mess at the moment with my media..

 

[Tonys]

Media on a Time Capsule can de accessed by more than one computer tho can it not?

 

[Daz]

Yup, that'd be awesome.

The ability to run Plex with it or something, too..

http://9to5mac.com/apple-home-server

Yep.. it's a rumour, but then, the new Mac Mini has been a rumour for about 18 months.. soo... I trust none of them anymore.

Bear in mind, if they did sort a central media server system out, they'd prolly sell more stuff - more Apple TVs, more iPods, more laptops.. as people can use more than one effecitvely.. as it is, people tend to consolidate all their stuff onto one unit only!

Maybe in my ClioSport retirement I should bid for "Great Idea Manager" at Apple Inc. :rasp: