Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

How Does Apple TV work?

J

johua

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 1, 2011
6
0
Hi i am looking into buying an apple t.v for myself for my birthday and was wondering about two question that i have been unable to find an answer, please help me.

1. I know apple tv streams photos and music from your computer but what about purchased movies and tv shows are they streamed from your computer or from the internet on your itunes account?

2. If i have to use my computer to stream everything then does it have to be on and itunes open or can i have it closed?

Thank you very much for any info.
 
B

benh911f

macrumors 6502
Mar 11, 2009
427
447
1) Up until yesterday, all purchases movies and TV Shows were streamed from your computer. Apple today made it available for you to stream purchased TV Shows directly from the Apple TV. So theoretically, you could delete that TV show from your library, but still access it directly through the ATV. However, some people have reported problems with accessing all shows purchased, so it seems there are still some kinks to work out.
Movies are still required to be on your computer to be able to stream.

2) Yes, at this time, your computer must be on for the ATV to view your iTunes library, with the exception of what I mentioned above.
 
N

newagemac

macrumors 68020
Mar 31, 2010
2,091
23
Also, if you have an iPhone, iPod, or iPad any purchases or rentals can be streamed directly from them using Airplay without the need for a computer.
 
W

waw74

macrumors 601
May 27, 2008
4,683
949
3bs said:
Why not just use AirPlay?
Click to expand...
what are you going to airplay it to? if you want video, you need an appleTV.
you can airplay to a computer, but ...

3bs said:
Or Connect a cable to your tv
Click to expand...

some people probably don't want to be moving their laptop to the tv, and connecting it whenever they want to watch something. or tie up their computer every time they want to watch something. or have the ugly mess of cables sticking out and a laptop propped up by the TV.
some people don't have the budget to have a dedicated computer for every TV in the house.

you can get the HDMI cable for the ipad/iphone, but that also brings into play many of the arguments above.

3bs said:
I really don't get the point of apple tv
Click to expand...

i personally live by myself, and have a mini connected to the main TV, so currently the appleTV really isn't needed, but if i were to add a tv in the bedroom, i would probably just add an Apple TV for it.
 
oklaonion

oklaonion

macrumors member
Mar 24, 2011
90
0
As Ben already pointed out, you had to have iTunes open on your computer and from there you could access your whole library (both videos and music) on your Apple TV. I haven't upgraded my software yet so I can't speak to the new ability to stream purchased content from the cloud.

Most of my videos are actually ripped from the DVDs or are home movies of my kids so I will likely still mostly be using the old way of keeping iTunes open. I love my Apple TV - it's the most surprisingly good product I've purchased. We don't find cable to be worth it, so we dropped it and got one. Haven't missed cable yet.
 
DustinT

DustinT

macrumors 68000
Feb 26, 2011
1,556
0
oklaonion said:
I love my Apple TV - it's the most surprisingly good product I've purchased. We don't find cable to be worth it, so we dropped it and got one. Haven't missed cable yet.
Click to expand...
I agree although I haven't dropped my satellite service... yet. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom