40GB or 160GB which did you choose and why?

[Dingo Dave 69]

I have been looking into appleTV and I am currently converting my DVD's into itunes but I haven't actually bought an appleTV yet. Most of the time my PC that it will be running from will be on and connecting wireless. Because of this fact I am thinking about going for the 40GB tv. Is this what most people do? I just wondered what size of AppleTV everyone else has bought and why did they decide on that specific model?

Also, I have a quick question, is there really any difference between connecting it via component over HDMI? Are they going to give me the same PQ? Similarly, do all AppleTV boxes have the same connections and spec ignoring the hard drive?

[HotRodGuy]

I have the 160GB. In all honesty, if it wasn't a gift from my wife, the 40GB most likely would have been fine since you can stream easily.

To touch on this honesty. If my wife hadn't bought me the appleTV, I wouldn't own one. I have other machines that could do the same thing....but nothing nearly as seamless. I'm enjoying this little gadget a lot more then I expected.

[samh004]

I have been looking into appleTV and I am currently converting my DVD's into itunes but I haven't actually bought an appleTV yet. Most of the time my PC that it will be running from will be on and connecting wireless. Because of this fact I am thinking about going for the 40GB tv. Is this what most people do? I just wondered what size of AppleTV everyone else has bought and why did they decide on that specific model?

Also, I have a quick question, is there really any difference between connecting it via component over HDMI? Are they going to give me the same PQ? Similarly, do all AppleTV boxes have the same connections and spec ignoring the hard drive?

You have to remember, even if you copy over the movies to the device, they still have to be stored locally on your machine too, so I don't see why a 160GB drive is needed, especially when you can stream most things.

As for component versus HDMI, of course HDMI is going to be better, it's purely digital, but if you don't have HDMI on your set I wouldn't worry. One of the best things about it is it's just less wires.

As for components, I'm not sure, but would assume, other the the drives, they'd be the same.

[Markleshark]

160Gig all the way, 40 gig is nothing really and considering how little the difference is in price why not go the whole hog?

[HotRodGuy]

160Gig all the way, 40 gig is nothing really and considering how little the difference is in price why not go the whole hog?

exactly, for an extra $100 you get 4x's the capacity. It's almost a no brainer (that's the logic my wife used)

[Dingo Dave 69]

I just wasn't sure if it was worth the extra cash when I will be streaming. Looks like I will be buying an HDMI switcher too, only got one HDMI socket and its already being used. I will try it with component first, I always thought they were meant to be as good as one another.

Is now a good time to buy one? I live in the UK and want to get the best possible deal on this as I can, I don't need it in a hurry :)

[Mac In School]

I went with the 160 GB, and I'm glad I did.

With over 14,000 songs (78 GB), it takes a while to load the library file when I set it up to stream.

Long term, I'm going to keep my music synced, and start streaming my movies from another computer. 78 GB of movies is a much smaller library file to load than 78 GB of music, so the library file load time shouldn't be too bad.

[Dingo Dave 69]

Ah so if I plan on syncing it takes a bit of time from first turning appletv on? I didnt know that

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to rip HD-DVD's to my PC to play through AppleTV? So far I have just been working my way through my standard dvds.

[mindcrash]

I bought the 40GB because it was $100 cheaper and I'll be streaming most everything. 160GB is basically as worthless as 40GB when my library is approaching 1TB. Just stream baby :)

[ibglowin]

Have a 1T Movie library so can't really sync anyway so why spend extra $$$ on something that will only hold the software to run the :apple:TV

[Duffinator]

I bought the 40GB because it was $100 cheaper and I'll be streaming most everything. 160GB is basically as worthless as 40GB when my library is approaching 1TB. Just stream baby :)Same here.

[Dingo Dave 69]

To all the people who stream, from turning on your AppleTV and going into movies how long does it take for your library to be up and running?

[dmyers7]

Just purchased my Apple TV because of the Movie Rentals. I was using my MAC Mini G4 prior to this, but the interface of the Apple TV is smooth and prevents my wife from jumping out of front row (on the Mini) and getting confused. The Apple TV has also become another channel of entertainment for us with YouTube and VideoPodCasts.

I purchased the 40Gb Apple TV because I am streaming about 400GB of content (50Gb Music & the rest movies and TV Shows) to the Apple TV. At first connection to the Mini, it is not more then about a Minute or so) for them to Sync the content list. Because my Mini is a media server, I leave it on and as long as the Apple TV is logged into the Mini for content, it is instantaneous.

In the future with the Software update (any day now), I'll have the Apple TV fetch all my Video PodCast content directly (storing it locallly using part of that 40Gb drive). That and Movie rentals, I see no reason to buy the 160Gb. If I want to keep any of the VideoPodCasts, I sync them back.

Save the $100 if you plan to stream.

[FreeState]

I have the 40 gig - why? Because that was all that was offered when I purchased it.

I would get the 40 gig again though - I stream everything and have nothing synced to it at all. I have 2 500 gig drives hooked up to a Mac Mini in the other room and it does the job just fine:)

To all the people who stream, from turning on your AppleTV and going into movies how long does it take for your library to be up and running?

It takes about 2 to 3 minutes to load my main library to stream - 700 gigs of music and video - if you only stream from one library and never change your settings its instant each time after (i.e. the synced library file doe not need to be loaded again - it just updates itself when new content is added).

[gkarris]

40 Gig - stream everything from my PC server running iTunes...

[BoulderBum]

I have the 40 GB. It was much cheaper, I figured I could just stream my permanent content, and the primary reason I bought the Apple TV was to rent HD movies. I don't need the bigger hard drive for rentals since the they get erased in 24 hours.

[stuff4me]

I got the 40gb appletv for a few reasons.

1.) Cheap
2.) No need for the 160gb drive
3.) A/V Device to connect computer to entertainment center

I could have connected my computer to my entertainment center, but my computer is nowhere near my entertainment center. Wireless connectivity for streaming. I do not even sync anything to my AppleTV currently.

I have a 500gb harddrive, planning on going to two 1tb drives for backup. I am a photographer when I am not at work and need a means of backing up, so the 2, 1tb solution will be in a raid (mirror) setup, for all my photos, mp3s, movies...etc.

Also a means of getting HD rentals from Apple Store (if/when this happens). Instead of buying HD or BlueRay right now (waiting for this to pan out).

If local storage is not needed and you are fine with streaming your content, Id say go for the 40gig, save a few bucks for the movie rentals/buys.

Josh

[yotoad]

do you use a G network or N?

I'm thinking about the ATV once the update hits for the rental option -- i currently stream music from iTunes with my airport express -- does the ATV replace the airport express in your opinion?

[FreeState]

do you use a G network or N?

I have used both - I currently use N (I have a G and N network setup at home separate from each other so I can have a pure N network for speed and a G network for a couple iPhones and a Powerbook that do not support N). I also have an Airport Express in the front of my house for Audio and extending my wireless G network - 3 wireless routers in a 1400sqr foot home may be a little over kill but eh Im happy:)

I'm thinking about the ATV once the update hits for the rental option -- i currently stream music from iTunes with my airport express -- does the ATV replace the airport express in your opinion?

Airport Express is a router - AppleTV is not and will not work as one - its a client only. With the new software update you will be able to use the AppleTV as a speaker destination from iTunes on your computer similar to Airport Express - but the similarities end there.

[JW008]

I have used both - I currently use N (I have a G and N network setup at home separate from each other so I can have a pure N network for speed and a G network for a couple iPhones and a Powerbook that do not support N). I also have an Airport Express in the front of my house for Audio and extending my wireless G network - 3 wireless routers in a 1400sqr foot home may be a little over kill but eh Im happy:)

I have a question along these lines. I have several 'G' items (Wii, iPhone, PowerBook) in my house and a couple of 'N' items (iMac, soon-to-be-delivered Apple TV--I'm assuming). How do you set up your two different networks? I'd like to run the 'G' items off my current Airport Express and my 'N' items off my soon-to-be-delivered Time Capsule.

Can I do this with one internet connection?

Another quick question--does anyone know if you can plug an external hard drive into an Airport Express? I'd try it, but I'm not at home...

[yotoad]

I currently only use Airport express as a desination for my speakers -- i guess i will wait until the update rolls out so people can give me the scoop -- i will probably use the airport express as a network extender (if you can do that in a non-apple router environment - don't think you can) after i get the appletv

if i stream over G is that going to suck with video? -- audio i know is fine

another question -- if i hook up my appleTV through HDMI and send my tv audio to my receiver through my optical out, will it play dolby digital? i have an issue with my dvd player that doesn't want to play dolby digital signals from the DVD (HDMI)-> TV (optical)-> receiver. just curious


I have used both - I currently use N (I have a G and N network setup at home separate from each other so I can have a pure N network for speed and a G network for a couple iPhones and a Powerbook that do not support N). I also have an Airport Express in the front of my house for Audio and extending my wireless G network - 3 wireless routers in a 1400sqr foot home may be a little over kill but eh Im happy:)



Airport Express is a router - AppleTV is not and will not work as one - its a client only. With the new software update you will be able to use the AppleTV as a speaker destination from iTunes on your computer similar to Airport Express - but the similarities end there.

[FreeState]

I have several 'G' items (Wii, iPhone, PowerBook) in my house and a couple of 'N' items (iMac, soon-to-be-delivered Apple TV--I'm assuming). How do you set up your two different networks? I'd like to run the 'G' items off my current Airport Express and my 'N' items off my soon-to-be-delivered Time Capsule.

I have the Airport N hooked up to the cable modem. I then have my older Airport running G connected via an ethernet cable to the back of the N. I have each set up as its own wireless router. That way the internet is available via the routed ethernet from the N to the G so both have it.

Another quick question--does anyone know if you can plug an external hard drive into an Airport Express? I'd try it, but I'm not at home...

You can not - its printer only. I would not recommend trying to stream from a USB drive connected to a wireless router - it does not work well. Keep it connected to a computer - that way you dont get network congestion when streaming (if you connect a USB drive to a wireless router the wireless network sends the stream from the usb drive to the computer and then back to your router to the AppleTV which causes stutter because there is not enough bandwith).

[JW008]

Is there anything else that I need to do network wise---or will I be able to use the Airport Utility to set up each as separate networks?

Thanks for the response!

[FreeState]

i will probably use the airport express as a network extender (if you can do that in a non-apple router environment - don't think you can) after i get the appletv

This should work - as long as you set up the non apple wireless to be extended the Airport Express does not care that its coming from a non apple branded device - it will still extend it.

if i stream over G is that going to suck with video? -- audio i know is fine

I have streamed with G and had no problem with 720p or SD. The key is to stream from files hosted on your computer or an external hard drive that is connected to your computer - drives hooked up to the USB port on Airport do not work well for this currently.

question -- if i hook up my appleTV through HDMI and send my tv audio to my receiver through my optical out, will it play dolby digital? i have an issue with my dvd player that doesn't want to play dolby digital signals from the DVD (HDMI)-> TV (optical)-> receiver. just curious

Your HDMI should be able to carry the original source audio to your receiver without an optical out - you might have a pre HDMI 1.1 cord or device that does not work like the newer ones (HDMI support for DVDs was added in 2004 to the standard, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI). But the optical out should do the trick as well.

[FreeState]

Is there anything else that I need to do network wise---or will I be able to use the Airport Utility to set up each as separate networks?

Thanks for the response!

The Airport utility will do it for you. If you have questions during set up just post a question and someone here will more than likely know the answer:)

[cenetti]

Have a 1T Movie library so can't really sync anyway so why spend extra $$$ on something that will only hold the software to run the :apple:TV

exactly....

my :apple:tv HDD is empty....:cool:

[JW008]

The Airport utility will do it for you. If you have questions during set up just post a question and someone here will more than likely know the answer:)

Awesome! I really appreciate it!

[MikieMikie]

Well, I have a 160 and it's nowhere near full.

I stream movies & TV.

But...
I have a ton of photos, music and podcasts that live on it. I wanted room for expansion.

[mechamac]

I bought the 160 gig model. Streaming is great, but I prefer to use/think of :apple:TV as a box that doesn't need to talk to computers to do its thing, so the extra storage made sense to me.

[Cave Man]

Well, I'm waiting for 320 or 500 gig drives to become available, then I'll go from 160 to that.

[ansalmo]

Both of mine are 40GB, since I'm streaming from a 1.5TB library. If there was such a thing as a 4Gb flash-based version then I'd have probably opted for that instead, for minimal heat production.

[dmyers7]

Lots of questions have popped up about just about everything. I try and answer a few here.

The AppleTV can be used for music only, but buy an Express if that's all you need.

The Express can be used to extend a network from an Airport Extreme and some third party routers, the AppleTV can not.

The Airport Extreme and Time Capsule support dual mode wireless, N & G or N & B or just N. I run my Extreme as N & G for the Apple TV, Macbook, Wii, iPhone, iBook. Mixed mode devices. Works great.

I have not streamed to the AppleTV with anything but N; sorry. But N works fabulous. Think about it for a second, G is 54Mb per second, faster then most internet connections I know of, by which you stream most/allot of content without interruption. Without doing calculations on video data rates, I think G will be fast enough.

Yes AppleTV supports dolby digital on the optical out. Sweet. The analog out does encode 5.1 Surround. All active all the time.

Personal Opinion: As a Movie Rental device, this is going to be sweet (any day now).

As a media hub, it is sweet.

I serve my currently 400Gb of music and video from a hardwired G4 Mac Mini, although when I had is wireless, it still worked just fine.

Enjoy

I currently only use Airport express as a desination for my speakers -- i guess i will wait until the update rolls out so people can give me the scoop -- i will probably use the airport express as a network extender (if you can do that in a non-apple router environment - don't think you can) after i get the appletv

if i stream over G is that going to suck with video? -- audio i know is fine

another question -- if i hook up my appleTV through HDMI and send my tv audio to my receiver through my optical out, will it play dolby digital? i have an issue with my dvd player that doesn't want to play dolby digital signals from the DVD (HDMI)-> TV (optical)-> receiver. just curious

[John.B]

I got the 160GB :apple:tv because I didn't want to leave a computer turned on at all times just to be able to watch movies.

I keep a fair number of movies synced -- including all of the kids movies -- its more convenient that way. And its especially handy if you want to take movies over to someone else's house.

BTW, its really not an either/or proposition, you can always stream movies from other computers if you want. And it'll be nice to have the space for storing up unwatched movie rentals when the Take2 software gets released (still waiting, Steve!).

[Curtis72]

I got the 40gb because I ordered an Apple TV within 1.5 week it was annouced! :(

I would've prefered to get an 160gb for today's current prices. I would have gladly paid $700 for AppleTV/Blu-ray 1080p Combo System with 120gb!

[JW008]

The Airport Extreme and Time Capsule support dual mode wireless, N & G or N & B or just N. I run my Extreme as N & G for the Apple TV, Macbook, Wii, iPhone, iBook. Mixed mode devices. Works great.

Wait--so Airport Extreme/Time Capsule has the ability to produce two signals--one for N and another for G? Does this mean I could connect one set of wireless items to a "G" signal and connect another set to an "N" signal and still get the speeds of an 'N' network for the 'N' items?

[FreeState]

Wait--so Airport Extreme/Time Capsule has the ability to produce two signals--one for N and another for G? Does this mean I could connect one set of wireless items to a "G" signal and connect another set to an "N" signal and still get the speeds of an 'N' network for the 'N' items?

No, it will put out N and G on the same wireless signal making the N signal slower than it is intended but its still faster than G but not as fast as a N only network.

This PDF from Apple has a ton of info on set ups, its easy to read and I highly recommend it when figuring out what you want:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Designing_AirPort_Networks_Using_AirPort_Utility.pdf

[leekohler]

40 gig. I just stream everything from my computer. It makes sense not to clutter it up with a bunch of stuff already on another device.

[Flyer0815]

I purchased mine primarily for the movie rental function, as as a simple stream from my home iMac, so the 40 gig sufficed for me perfectly.

[Cave Man]

40 gig. I just stream everything from my computer. It makes sense not to clutter it up with a bunch of stuff already on another device.

Perhaps for you, but for others of us it makes perfect sense to sync some content, while not others.

[newappleboy]

I'm really mad at myself for bypassing the AppleTV. About 6-9 months ago I bought another kind (http://www.looptek.com/page_loopMVP.php)of device to connect to the TV, and I did so for multiple reasons that I thought were justified at the time:

1) Able to play more than just iTunes compatibles files (ie, AVI files, etc.)
2) Active USB port on the back
3) Slightly cheaper at the time than the 1st gen AppleTV

However, now that I've switched to Mac I wish I'd just paid for the AppleTV and taken the time to convert all my videos to mp4. I have hundreds of gigabytes of videos, so it's taking quite a while to convert and tag them all, but it'll be worth it when I someday get the money to replace my ugly non-working box.

The whole point of this was that mine has never successfully streamed and I worry about trying to stream over G with the AppleTV. I usually get about two minutes into the movie and then the connection times out and it drops. It's infuriating. If it weren't for the USB port on the back where I can hook up a drive directly with the videos, I'd toss the thing.

I should've trusted Apple. :(

[northy124]

To everyone thinking about getting :apple:TV DON'T it's a waste of money.

I to was thinking of getting one but i have to sync to my Mac Pro and i can't store the Movies on The :apple:TV only which is what i wanted to do (Not have them on my Mac Pro as well) but (If your into just streaming then this is right for you).

I have instead opted for a slightly more expensive option the Mac Mini (Waiting for Update) and a 5TB NAS System as i have alot of 720p/1080p HD Rips and TV Shows at 1.2GB in MKV and a Few 1080p Divx HD (750MB). All of the formats i have wouldn't play on :apple:TV anyways.

I have Transcoded some and streamed on my uncles :apple:TV seems great but if you have a large library and don't have 'N' Wireless it going to lag alot which is a bummer for lots of people i know.

Do your self's a favor and go for the HTPC option with NAS System much better in my opinion.

Just My 2¢

Northy124

[rjfiske]

To everyone thinking about getting :apple:TV DON'T it's a waste of money.

I to was thinking of getting one but i have to sync to my Mac Pro and i can't store the Movies on The :apple:TV which is what i wanted to do (If your into just streaming then this is right for you)....

Northy124

Just to clarify (and forgive me because I'm asking myself the same question as the thread starter)... you're saying you CAN'T sync movies on the Apple TV? Or you choose NOT to? I ask because I'm looking at the manual and it seems to me that you can. In fact it's the first on the priority list. Just want to be sure, before I make this purchase.

rjf

[northy124]

You can sync i just want it to have all the videos on the :apple:TV and not my Mac pro

[dmyers7]

No, it will put out N and G on the same wireless signal making the N signal slower than it is intended but its still faster than G but not as fast as a N only network.

This PDF from Apple has a ton of info on set ups, its easy to read and I highly recommend it when figuring out what you want:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Designing_AirPort_Networks_Using_AirPort_Utility.pdf

Well there you go, I've been streaming over N at about G speed with no problems at all (This includes HD VideoCast content).

Also keep in mind that the :apple:TV has an Ehternet port on it for a hardwired connection if you sync (not stream) a lot of content between a media server and it.

Have fun, it's been great thus far.