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Apple TV Set-Top Box Predicted to Sell 4 Million Units, Grab 32% Market Share in 2011

airplay really stole the show with :apple:TV2

to have iOS devices or a computer and stream to the apple tv, the only thing cooler would be to have that functionality that can access remote servers/external hd content w/o having itunes installed on the device(and not requiring a computer to be running)... i forgot what that functionality is called
 
hitekalex said:
PS3 is nothing like an ATV2. It's a giant power-sucking game console, which doesn't integrate into iTunes ecosystem or support AirPlay.. And it costs about 3x times of an Apple TV.
Click to expand...

Of course it doesn't, since Apple insists on making their own "standards", instead of adopting the readily available (e.g. DLNA). As for iTunes, who in their right mind wants their neck tied to that? I'm not saying its bad, all I'm saying is choice is good. Plus, of course people don't integrate with the iTunes ecosystem - (afaik) its not like Apple encourage it.

----------
maroontiger2k9 said:
airplay really stole the show with :apple:TV2

to have iOS devices or a computer and stream to the apple tv, the only thing cooler would be to have that functionality that can access remote servers/external hd content w/o having itunes installed on the device(and not requiring a computer to be running)... i forgot what that functionality is called
Click to expand...

Its called "walking outside of Apples garden", and its punishable by death!
 
dagamer34 said:
What market is this when Microsoft has millions more Xbox 360s already in people's homes? I'm not arguing that the Apple TV won't continue to increase in sales (I have one), but such numbers are complete BS. People are going to buy/rent content either on their 360 or their Apple TV, but not both (in significant numbers)
Click to expand...

My 360 sounds like a hair dryer, so it'll never be the source of anything but loud games.
 
maroontiger2k9 said:
airplay really stole the show with :apple:TV2

to have iOS devices or a computer and stream to the apple tv, the only thing cooler would be to have that functionality that can access remote servers/external hd content w/o having itunes installed on the device(and not requiring a computer to be running)... i forgot what that functionality is called
Click to expand...

In the past, I was thinking about setting up a mondo big network RAID drive that automatically backed it's self up for my iTunes library. Now that you can stream anything you want directly from Apple to your Apple TV, connecting to your big media server is not that big of a deal.
 
Almost every new TV now can do what ATV does and then some which makes ATV a useless gadget. That is unless people prefer to rent their shows from iTunes for higher price. Some iFans do but most people don't.
 
Apple TV works well.

Had some non Techie girls over this weekend. The go "Wait how do you have Youtube on your TV?!". They proceeded to watch 20 videos and have a living room dance party.

Best 100 bucks I've spent this year by far.
 
The #1 feature needed by Apple TV is the ability to AirPlay no matter what input I am on. There are a few ways Apple can accomplish this.....

1) Have TV manufacturers build air-play directly into their televisions (no apple TV required)

2) Have Apple TV have 2 to 5 HDMI inputs and 1 output leading to your TV, thereby making Apple TV the HDMI switcher, but your TV input would almost always be on the Apple TV so Apple TV could override the signal with AirPlay. I don't see Apple doing this especially since most high-end TV's have lots of inputs folks want to use, but I do this being very useful to folks with HDMI TV's that don't have a lot of inputs.

3) Apple builds their own television.

I could not give a darn about Netflix since their content selection is so limited (though considerably better than Amazon's). I use Apple TV as my pay-per-view source and as a better way to find movies I want to watch that I own on iTunes (going through my DVD carousel is painfully slow -- I would love to have iTunes versions of all my DVDs).

What I would LOVE to see in an Apple TV update:

1) Ability to play iTunes Extras

2) Ability to configure iTunes movies to play with N previews of upcoming movies either from:
- the same genre
- the same studio
--> Watching previews is fun sometimes, especially seeing the old ones on your old DVDs and saying "wow, remember that?"

3) A good solution (see above) to being able to jump to airplay no matter the TV input. 99% of the time my TV is on the DishNetwork input which makes AirPlay inaccessible without first switching inputs.

4) Ability to get free content with embedded commercials.
 
lilo777 said:
Almost every new TV now can do what ATV does and then some which makes ATV a useless gadget. That is unless people prefer to rent their shows from iTunes for higher price. Some iFans do but most people don't.
Click to expand...

This thought is based on what functionality of the AppleTV? There is plenty that I use my AppleTV for that smart TVs don't do. Tha biggest is the Airplay type stuff. Most consumers want simple and quick interfaces that don't require techie work-arounds or hacks. They want push-button operation.
 
BC2009 said:
The #1 feature needed by Apple TV is the ability to AirPlay no matter what input I am on. There are a few ways Apple can accomplish this.....

1) Have TV manufacturers build air-play directly into their televisions (no apple TV required)

2) Have Apple TV have 2 to 5 HDMI inputs and 1 output leading to your TV, thereby making Apple TV the HDMI switcher, but your TV input would almost always be on the Apple TV so Apple TV could override the signal with AirPlay. I don't see Apple doing this especially since most high-end TV's have lots of inputs folks want to use, but I do this being very useful to folks with HDMI TV's that don't have a lot of inputs.

3) Apple builds their own television.

I could not give a darn about Netflix since their content selection is so limited (though considerably better than Amazon's). I use Apple TV as my pay-per-view source and as a better way to find movies I want to watch that I own on iTunes (going through my DVD carousel is painfully slow -- I would love to have iTunes versions of all my DVDs).

What I would LOVE to see in an Apple TV update:

1) Ability to play iTunes Extras

2) Ability to configure iTunes movies to play with N previews of upcoming movies either from:
- the same genre
- the same studio
--> Watching previews is fun sometimes, especially seeing the old ones on your old DVDs and saying "wow, remember that?"

3) A good solution (see above) to being able to jump to airplay no matter the TV input. 99% of the time my TV is on the DishNetwork input which makes AirPlay inaccessible without first switching inputs.

4) Ability to get free content with embedded commercials.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%. It's annoying to swith the input on my TV and switch the input on my surround sound each time i want to go between AppleTV and CableTV.
It takes like 1 min to do it but it's not "seamless" and clean.
 
The only thing that I see as better than the iTunes/Apple TV is Blu-ray. My movie/TV viewing falls into Four categories. If it is a show on TV, I just DVR it on my cable box. (Not as good quality as iTunes or Apple TV, however it does have the advantage of being free.) If I miss a TV show and it does not get recorded due to a service problem, I watch it on iTunes. If it is a movie, I will buy the Blu-ray. I like the low compression 1080p HD and I love the (near) lossless 7.1 channel audio.

I do occasionally have friends over. If they don't like any of the movies in my library, I will rent a movie off of iTunes, however, due to the lower audio quality, I prefer to have them watch from disks.
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Today tv, tomorrow the world.
Click to expand...

Three Rings for the Linux-kings under the sky,
Seven for the MSFT-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Android Men doomed to die,
One for the Fruit Lord on his fruity throne
In the Land of Jobs where the Apples lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the fruitiness bind them
In the Land of Cupertino where the Apples lie.
 
Issues with Samsung TV.

Anyone else having 'running' issues of an AppleTV unit on a fairly recent Samsung TV? Or on another branded, recent model TV?

Bought a Samsung Series 7 last year, an AppleTV in October, connect latter to former, works occasionally. More often than not getting 'no signal' message from sTV. Damn frustrating.

I've already:

• updated both the sTV & aTV to their latest software updates
• exchanged the aTV with a new one @ an Apple store
• changed HDMI cable to one of the other 3 ports on the sTV
• spoken to Apple techs on phone. Twice
• reinstalled aTV software through iTunes. 3 times
• had a chat with the aTV unit itself, asking if it's the ongoing legal conflict between the 2 companies that is causing one or the other to ignore the other

Really like the aTV when it's working. Not having any success with troubleshooting so far. 😕
 
BlueParadox said:
Anyone else having 'running' issues of an AppleTV unit on a fairly recent Samsung TV? Or on another branded, recent model TV?

Bought a Samsung Series 7 last year, an AppleTV in October, connect latter to former, works occasionally. More often than not getting 'no signal' message from sTV. Damn frustrating.

I've already:

• updated both the sTV & aTV to their latest software updates
• exchanged the aTV with a new one @ an Apple store
• changed HDMI cable to one of the other 3 ports on the sTV
• spoken to Apple techs on phone. Twice
• reinstalled aTV software through iTunes. 3 times
• had a chat with the aTV unit itself, asking if it's the ongoing legal conflict between the 2 companies that is causing one or the other to ignore the other

Really like the aTV when it's working. Not having any success with troubleshooting so far. 😕
Click to expand...

If my Apple TV goes to sleep, I find I have to press the menu button to wake it up and get the TV to recognize the input. I don't know if that's what you are experiencing.
 
Spoony said:
Agree 100%. It's annoying to swith the input on my TV and switch the input on my surround sound each time i want to go between AppleTV and CableTV.
It takes like 1 min to do it but it's not "seamless" and clean.
Click to expand...

I use a remote control HDMI switch. It works well.
 
Spoony said:
Agree 100%. It's annoying to swith the input on my TV and switch the input on my surround sound each time i want to go between AppleTV and CableTV.
It takes like 1 min to do it but it's not "seamless" and clean.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is one of the only good feature of GoolgeTV, it goes in between the cablebox and the TV so no input switching. I would prefer my ATV2 did this as I use that more.
 
MacRumors said:
Market research firm Strategy Analytics today reported on the release of its new research report covering "connected TV players" such as the current Apple TV and Roku boxes. According to the report, Apple is predicted to reach sales of four million Apple TV units for 2011, leading the way in a rapidly-growing market with a 32% share.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised they have "just" a 32% marketshare but am more surprised at those sales figures... I thought they sold a million in just a month?

And what other devices are part of this market? Roku boxes? Boxee boxes? Google TV?
 
Who is buying this thing, really?

The TV show and movie selection is very poor and extremely overpriced. There is no DVD or Blu Ray playback, and anything you want to stream to it from your computer has to be in a specific format or it won't work. It doesn't stream TV shows from free online services like BBC iPlayer or ITV Player and it doesn't have Spotify integration.

Couple that with no support for 1080p and the purchased videos being extremely compressed and I'm confused. It might be cheap, but as the iFans seem to agree about Kindle Fire, buy cheap and you get less - it's certainly the case with Apple TV.

I can spend £100 on this or £150-200 on a PS3 or Xbox 360 - both of which do live TV as well.
 
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lilo777 said:
Almost every new TV now can do what ATV does and then some which makes ATV a useless gadget. That is unless people prefer to rent their shows from iTunes for higher price. Some iFans do but most people don't.
Click to expand...

Right...Really? Almost every new TV can Airplay straight from my iPhone? Can they also be controlled via the Remote App on my iPhone? What about iCloud iTunes Match? I've got thousands of songs I can play instantly. Same with TV Shows. Can I just instantly start playing TV shows I purchased on iTunes on one of these new TVS? Oh, and photo stream? Instant slideshow from photos taken from my iPhone without even syncing to my computer too. Ah yes, lets not forget I can also play NOVA 2 and Real Racing HD on my TV with my iPad as a controller.

Useless indeed. 🙄
 
lilo777 said:
Almost every new TV now can do what ATV does and then some which makes ATV a useless gadget. That is unless people prefer to rent their shows from iTunes for higher price. Some iFans do but most people don't.
Click to expand...

The UI is so bad/slow on TVs for Netflix, it's worth paying $99 for an Apple TV just to avoid it 😀

(That of course doesn't factor in iTunes sharing, iCloud, Photostream, Airplay, etc...)

Spoony said:
Apple TV works well.

Had some non Techie girls over this weekend. The go "Wait how do you have Youtube on your TV?!". They proceeded to watch 20 videos and have a living room dance party.

Best 100 bucks I've spent this year by far.
Click to expand...

Hahaha, nice.

BlueParadox said:
Anyone else having 'running' issues of an AppleTV unit on a fairly recent Samsung TV? Or on another branded, recent model TV?
Click to expand...

I'm assuming (though you didn't say), that you've swapped out HDMI cables too?

RalfTheDog said:
I use a remote control HDMI switch. It works well.
Click to expand...

Yeah, we've got a nice box from Monoprice that auto switches but also allows remote manual changes. We have 3 HDMI on the Panasonic, but the one on the side we keep open for occasionally hooking up the MBP.
 
neiltc13 said:
Who is buying this thing, really?

The TV show and movie selection is very poor and extremely overpriced. There is no DVD or Blu Ray playback, and anything you want to stream to it from your computer has to be in a specific format or it won't work. It doesn't stream TV shows from free online services like BBC iPlayer or ITV Player and it doesn't have Spotify integration.

Couple that with no support for 720p and the purchased videos being extremely compressed and I'm confused. It might be cheap, but as the iFans seem to agree about Kindle Fire, buy cheap and you get less - it's certainly the case with Apple TV.

I can spend £100 on this or £150-200 on a PS3 or Xbox 360 - both of which do live TV as well.
Click to expand...

The TV show selection is very good and so is the netflix integration.

I watched Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, Walking Dead and currently the Wire. I've never seen these shows before when they first came out. A bunch are "free" through netflix and the ones that aren't I do through itunes.

Movies is a different story. Horrible Selection on both platforms.

Also being able to airplay apps like Bloomberg TV + is awesome. Good on demand shows there too.
 
Icaras said:
Right...Really? Almost every new TV can Airplay straight from my iPhone? Can they also be controlled via the Remote App on my iPhone? What about iCloud iTunes Match? I've got thousands of songs I can play instantly. Same with TV Shows. Can I just instantly start playing TV shows I purchased on iTunes on one of these new TVS? Oh, and photo stream? Instant slideshow from photos taken from my iPhone without even syncing to my computer too. Ah yes, lets not forget I can also play NOVA 2 and Real Racing HD on my TV with my iPad as a controller.

Useless indeed. 🙄
Click to expand...

Yeah, Apple's strategy has always been "if you want to use our software/service, you need to buy our hardware". That was the case for Macs and initially the case for the iPod as well.

The key question is "do you intent to buy or rent movies/shows from the iTunes store?" If the answer is NO, then you've got a wide world of media players available to you: WD TV Live, Boxee, XBMC, Plex, your TV's built-in media software, PS3, Xbox, and a variety of DLNA appliances. If the answer is YES, then your options are much more limited.

AirPlay is another major selling point of the Apple TV. It's a great way to send video from your iPhone, iPad, iPod, or even your Mac to your TV, and very few other devices other than Apple TV support AirPlay to your TV. I would, however, love to buy a TV that has built-in AirPlay capability.
 
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