Apple TV

db

#chaplife
inspired by timeflies' post here, does anyone have an apple tv? specifically, one of the new ones?

Apple TV

i'd love to hear people's experiences.. they sound amazing, considering they are less than a ton! yes, i know there are cheaper media centres out there, which support more formats, but none of them (that i have seen) are as small or look as good.. plus, i already have an imac and an ipad, so i do everything with itunes anyway[sup]*[/sup], so slotting an apple tv into the infrastructure really sounds appealing..

can it really stream 1080p video over wireless? i didn't think 802.11n had the bandwidth.. am i wrong, or does the apple tv get round this by transcoding down to a lower bitrate at source (i.e. resulting in lower quality video on your telly)?



[sup]*[/sup] yes, i know itunes is shit on PC, but on mac it's brilliant & easily the best media organiser/centre, so all you hippies who use linux and foobar or whatever can do one :P
 

Timeflies

The Weatherman
As you can probably tell I am a bit of an Apple fan which is kinda ironic as I like to tinker with this but I find that as the advertising blurb says "It just works"... You dont have to maintain or tweak consistently which suits me just fine and is a fair trade off for customised shenanigans!

My set-up is an ATV2, iPhone 4 + 4s, iPad 1 and a windows PC running iTunes. I believe the only difference between ATV2 and 3 is that 3 supports 1080p.

As you already use itunes as your media management for everyting an ATV is a no brainer in my opinion. If its in itunes then its on your HDTV as simple as that. The only setup is turning on home sharing on itunes and linking the 2 together by your apple ID.

To alley your 1080p fears look at it from a mathermatical point of view.....

Maxiumim transfer speed of 802.11n is 300mb (I believe) however you are never going to achieve this so lets say you get 100mb which should equate to a true transfer speed of around 12MB/sec. The average 1080p MP4 format film with 5.1 sound et all is around 7-10GB (10GB being a very large one in my experience). 1024 MB in a GB so 10240MB (10GB*1024MB) as an absolute maximum number of MBs. Now your transfer rate is 12MB/sec so 10240MB will take 853secs (10240/12)... 853 seconds is ~14mins for a complete transfer. Most films are 90mins+.... Take into account the ATV has 8GB to buffer data if you network drops out or looses speed for any reason and it all leads to a very smooth experience!

If anyne else who reads this can prove me wrong I would be glad to see it for my own education!

Controlling the ATV can be through the included remote but that is fiddly. The best option is to use the Remote app for iPad and iPhone that lets you control the whole system direct from within the app. It basically turns your iPad into a gesture control device and also replicates you Itunes library on your ipad so your can search quickly and easily using the iPad keyboard.

Other things I use ATV are:-

Youtube - There is a built in youtube app on the ATV but i tend to search Youtube on the ipad and then just airplay it to the TV instantly.

Flickr - I store all my photos on flickr so ATV lets you look through these using the included app and they can be used as a screensaver. Great when you are entertaining as you can leave the music playing from ATV while giving people an informal slideshow.. Actually now I think of it maybe that's why people have stopped visiting me... ;)

Mirroring - As long as you have a iPhone 4s or ipad2+ you can mirror whatever is on the screen to you HDTV wirelessly. This is great for looking at holidays on the internet, ording dominos or anything else when you may want to "project your screen for all to see".

Games - Some games such as Real racing 2 let you use your iPad as a steering wheel while you race on the big screen via ATV.... (http://firemint.com/2011/real-racing-2-hd-1080p-update-out-now/)

The only downside is that you have to use apples "allowed" formats so unless you jailbreak (that's a whole different discussion..) you are restricted in that way. Again though if you already use apples infrastructure this does mean that everything just works on all your devices....

Obviously these are the stand out features but It can do loads more....

Sorry for rambling but at £99 quid (cheaper on Ebay) its an absolute steal and almost required if you have a iPad in my opionion!!

Any questions just ask...

T

PS. Just to show I'm not completely biased this was typed from my PC... This amount of text on an iPad touch keyboard would be a nightmare!
 

db

#chaplife
As you can probably tell I am a bit of an Apple fan which is kinda ironic as I like to tinker with this but I find that as the advertising blurb says "It just works"... You dont have to maintain or tweak consistently which suits me just fine and is a fair trade off for customised shenanigans!

ditto.. i am a tinkerer, always have been, which is what frustrates me when people try to claim that apple products are overpriced/style over substance/etc.. when you ask these people to give specific examples of stuff that looks just as nice, and will do everything an apple product will in as elegant and easy a fashion, they can't - it's inevitably e-hippies (i.e. the sort of people who use linux and opera) who just automatically dismiss all apple products without actually understanding them or what they can do..

Controlling the ATV can be through the included remote but that is fiddly. The best option is to use the Remote app for iPad and iPhone that lets you control the whole system direct from within the app. It basically turns your iPad into a gesture control device and also replicates you Itunes library on your ipad so your can search quickly and easily using the iPad keyboard.

tbh all i would want is play & pause, but yeah seeing as i have an ipad i'd probably end up using it anyway - like you say, be nice to peruse the whole library and stuff from the sofa :)

Mirroring - As long as you have a iPhone 4s or ipad2+ you can mirror whatever is on the screen to you HDTV wirelessly. This is great for looking at holidays on the internet, ording dominos or anything else when you may want to "project your screen for all to see".

you had me at "domino's" :love:

The only downside is that you have to use apples "allowed" formats so unless you jailbreak (that's a whole different discussion..) you are restricted in that way. Again though if you already use apples infrastructure this does mean that everything just works on all your devices....

yeah, that's no problem - as i say, i use itunes to organise all my media.. getting HD MKV/AVI/whatev's into itunes is a piece of proverbial and takes moments using the following:

1) Install http://perian.org/
2) Install http://www.sublerapp.com/
3) Use Subler to convert your HD films & import them to iTunes with a few clicks.
4) Watch said HD films on your iPad, or on your TV via Apple's AV Adapter.
5) Commence WINNING :keke:

so i guess buying an apple tv would just cut the ipad out of the above equation. :)

PS. Just to show I'm not completely biased this was typed from my PC... This amount of text on an iPad touch keyboard would be a nightmare!

again, ditto.. my primary desktop is my imac, but i also have a 17" quad-core dell laptop for PC shenanigans, and i love windows 7 and use it far more than OS X in my day to day life..
 

My Name is URL

Well-Known Forumite
What does jailbreaking allow you to do in addition?

To be honest, BBW's post made me jealous that it could do what it could without jailbreaking...

Wonder how long before Google copies it ;) ... until then I will remain slightly jealous.
 

db

#chaplife
What does jailbreaking allow you to do in addition?

everything ;) :

aTV Flash

To be honest, BBW's post made me jealous that it could do what it could without jailbreaking...

yeah, i have to admit, seeing as i already use apple's infrastructure i doubt i'd jailbreak it anyway - it would do everything i want out of the box!

Wonder how long before Google copies it ;) ... until then I will remain slightly jealous.

they've been trying for a while now!

Googlol TV

it'll be alright, but you just can't beat apple for easy of use/integration..
 
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