Considering Apple TV, worth it?

Depends on your needs and what you have. If you have Mac computers, iPhones, iPads and everything Apple YES!!!!

HBO Go works perfect!

Apple Tv is the only Apple product I have ever purchased. I stream HBO Go & Netflix and it does both great.

I use it all the time for playing my music. There are many solutions for streaming from PC/Mac to TV, but if you're using something like a DLNA client to play it, it's not a pleasant experience scrolling through thousands of entries via a joypad. Using the Remote app on an iPad to select music to play on the AppleTV is far nicer experience.

Add to that Netflix and Airplay, and it's an easy decision, IMO.

pbateman said:

Thanks! I am looking to use it mostly for HBO Go since I don't have netflix. Hope they eventually add Amazon Prime Video but HBO go is the main one for now, and youtube of course. I have an Iphone and my GF an Iphone and Ipad so even though that's not much (no mac laptops), hopefully its wroth getting it.
Hoping to also use it to stream music/radio apps from my iphone...

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Apple TV makes it nice to stream music from my iPad Mini. I use the HBO to GO and Netflix, the video and audio quality is great..it is a great buy

Im also thinking of getting 1 or 2 ATV. Any rumours of a hardware updated version soon ?

pbateman said:

I found out Roku does not stream HBO GO if you have Comcast.

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Say what?

I thought they let you stream HBO, IF you already have a paid HBO TV subscription.

Mrbobb said:

Say what?

I thought they let you stream HBO, IF you already have a paid HBO TV subscription.

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you have to have an HBO sub with a provider who lets you sign into HBO Go

pbateman said:

Just a follow up on this, got my ATV yesterday afternoon, have not played around much with it but so far looks good.
I will try to stream something in HBO Go today, yesterday I just watched a couple of movie trailers and streamed music form my desktop itunes, so far so good.
One thing though when you use airplay to display something from your iphone/ipad, it does not take up the entire TV screen, I did not try this with say HBO GO app or Youtube yet, but its that the default? Do only certain apps stream to the entire TV screen? or is this just not possible?
The way I see things is basically centered in my TV but does not even take up half of the TV screen. I guess I am trying to see if there's a way to 'maximize' the image displayed on the TV so it takes up all of the TV screen instead of just a small centered area.

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there is a difference between airplay and airplay-mirroring. airplay has to be built into an app, like youtube for example, which will optimize the output for a tv, airplay mirroring is when you select it on your device and it simply shadows whats on your device.

Apple TV is worth it to me just for Aiplay itself. Great feature to be able to through my desktop onto the TV screen.

pbateman said:

Just ordered it thanks all, can't wait!

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Grats! You won't be disappointed.

boomhower said:

Apple TV is worth it to me just for Aiplay itself. Great feature to be able to through my desktop onto the TV screen.

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Does this mean I'd be able to watch YouTube on the TV screen wirelessly? If so, is it complicated to do? I was thinking of getting Roku because of YouTube, but just as much because it looks simple to use with their remote. I'm technically challenged, but less so than my husband who i really want to enjoy using it too.

YouTube is built in

susa said:

Does this mean I'd be able to watch YouTube on the TV screen wirelessly? If so, is it complicated to do? I was thinking of getting Roku because of YouTube, but just as much because it looks simple to use with their remote. I'm technically challenged, but less so than my husband who i really want to enjoy using it too.

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You could stream it from another iOS device wirelessly, but you wouldn't want to do that necessarily, since YouTube is one of the apps built into the Apple TV.

And don't underestimate WatchESPN. I usually spend $110/yr on ESPN Full Court to watch out of market college basketball. Now that I can stream ESPN3 in glorious 1080p, I can save the $110 which automatically funded my ATV.

i Love the Apple TV, i have a gen 1, modded so it can decode 1080p (at the cost of its wifi capabilities) which is ideal to load up with 140gb of movies or tv shows and travel with (or do a movie night at friends house with)

i have two apple TV gen 3s, one in the lounge and one in the bedroom, but i do have a 16TB raid thats currently 57% full of TV shows and Movies, and mostly stream that content and netflix via them.

I haven't watched live TV in years, i use Elgatos eyetv to record shows, tag and convert them using iVI pro and drop them into iTunes for later consumption once the adverts are stripped out.

For a time shifted lifestyle i cant recommend the Apple TV enough .

Sony going to come out with a $100 buck apple tv competitor that is going to allow you to stream PS4 to any tv as long as you have a PS4. IT will also let you play PS VIta games on your TV even if you don't have a Vita !!!

PS TV is going to have all the channels Apple TV has for the same price + games minus the Apple store. As does every single gaming device out there. Hell buy the PS3 used for $150 or less and have the same thing + a blu ray player!! It has sunday ticket if your a football fan + basically all the sports special packages.

Then there is the google chromecast for $35 bucks + a few months free of netflicks making it basically free !!!!

Apple needs to lower the price of the Appletv big time(basically every smart tv, blu ray and gaming system does the same function).

Apple TV for me to buy it needs to be $30-50 bucks to compete with Chromecast or start letting us play video games on our TVs for $100 bucks.

Question is why do you want a Appletv and then search for a cheaper better option. Unless it is you really want another apple product I think you have way better and cheaper options. If you just want your itunes to work with your tv. Then buy a 3 dollar connector on ebay.

You have a ton of movies on itunes you want to watch. I ahve a 50 inch screen and most digital copies I got with blu rays came as DVD quality(WHY !!!!). You want to rent a movie? So much cheaper on Amazon or Netflix. Apple charges the same comcast does !!!Don't be lazy go to a redbox and get a blu ray for $1.50.

Sony Bluray

For about $80 you can buy a Sony Bluray player that has built in wifi-receiver and play movies and get most of the streaming sites on Apple Tv including youtube, Netflix and others.

joel6653 said:

You could stream it from another iOS device wirelessly, but you wouldn't want to do that necessarily, since YouTube is one of the apps built into the Apple TV.

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Is the quality better playing YouTube movies with the Apple TV app instead of my ipad? It's so difficult to navigate around without the ipad keyboard.

palmharbor said:

For about $80 you can buy a Sony Bluray player that has built in wifi-receiver and play movies and get most of the streaming sites on Apple Tv including youtube, Netflix and others.

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Except no iTunes Store, no AirPlay, etc.