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eclipse01

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 16, 2011
2,813
392
Eau Claire, WI
All I essentially want it for/use it for is to mirror games to my tv and occasional videos.

does it do this well and how would they look on a 42+ HDTV?
 

Dweez

macrumors 65816
Jun 13, 2011
1,248
10
Down by the river
I'd suggest that if it's worth it to you, then it's worth it. Others have said that Netflix streaming at 1080p looks great on large format HD devices.
 

mbell1975

macrumors 6502a
Mar 17, 2012
737
0
Watched my first 1080p movie off iTunes the other night and the quality was incredible. Looked better than my Blu Ray in fact which isn't the best quality player around though.
 

j3yq

macrumors 6502
Dec 16, 2007
483
4
Iowa
Mines jailbroken and I love it! I recently cut cable so even if it were stock and just played netflixs it would work for me. I have noticed that AirPlay games tend to be a bit laggy. That may just be my setup though, it's also nice that when Im playing a video that want to share with everyone in the room i can just send it to the Atv.
 

toasty hoodie

macrumors 6502
Sep 16, 2011
259
0
I have a Gen2 AppleTV and I use it daily. I mirror youtube videos, and use Netflix all the time on it.

I wish I had an AirPlay Mirroring device, but I have an iPad1, and an iPhone4. But, When I upgrade those devices, I'll mirror too with it.
 

eclipse01

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 16, 2011
2,813
392
Eau Claire, WI
I have a Gen2 AppleTV and I use it daily. I mirror youtube videos, and use Netflix all the time on it.

I wish I had an AirPlay Mirroring device, but I have an iPad1, and an iPhone4. But, When I upgrade those devices, I'll mirror too with it.

what do you mean an AirPlay mirroring device, cant you mirror all apple portables to it?
 

chugg

macrumors regular
Oct 14, 2008
244
182
Terrible product unless you're either heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem or have the device jailbroken. The UI looks awful... I'm shocked Apple okayed it.

Obviously if your requirement is to mirror games though, it's your only option. But for videos, I would definitely take a look at other products that support far more codecs and online services.
 

eclipse01

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 16, 2011
2,813
392
Eau Claire, WI
Terrible product unless you're either heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem or have the device jailbroken. The UI looks awful... I'm shocked Apple okayed it.

Obviously if your requirement is to mirror games though, it's your only option. But for videos, I would definitely take a look at other products that support far more codecs and online services.

by having the device jailbroken do you mean the tweak that allows you to mirror anything rather then supported games/apps?
 

WordMasterRice

macrumors 6502a
Aug 3, 2010
734
100
Upstate NY
For $99 it's hard to say that it isn't worth it. I can say that if it weren't for jailbreaking I wouldn't own one. To me it isn't worth it as it comes from Apple. XBMC on it however really changes the equation.
 

Interstella5555

macrumors 603
Jun 30, 2008
5,219
13
All I essentially want it for/use it for is to mirror games to my tv and occasional videos.

does it do this well and how would they look on a 42+ HDTV?

Not for me, I have a PS3 that will handle more formats than the ATV can think up and can also play games on it. It looks great on a 42" HDTV.
 

PNutts

macrumors 601
Jul 24, 2008
4,874
357
Pacific Northwest, US
It's a fantastic device and the price is a steal. I don't rent or purchase movies. I stream Netflix and watch my ripped movies / listen to music from iTunes (AirPlay / HomeSharing). It still amazes me to stream or mirror to it from an iOS device or iTunes. The screen saver is PhotoStream. It replaced a POS Iomega media player and a Blu-Ray player with the most gawd awful Netflix interface I've ever seen. Optical out to the stereo and life is good and loud. Besides everything else it can do that I'm not interested in, folks JB it and do much more. Whether you have 720 or 1080 TV it will look great larger than 42". The main complaint I see in the ATV forum are from folks going wireless and their network can't keep up.
 

Matthew9559

macrumors 6502a
Apr 7, 2007
941
55
Cleveland, OH
If you have other Apple devices or use iTunes as your main media hub it is worth much more than $100 for the features it offers.

It's easy to jailbreak and throw on XBMC as well which is well worth the $100.

I have a 1st and 2nd gen ATV. 1st gen does not allow for air play which is disappointing but otherwise is very similar to the 2nd gen. I have Netflix on my 360, PS3, Wii, iOS, and Android and I find the UI for Netflix on the ATV looks the best.

I use my ATV to stream podcasts (TWiT), watch Netflix, play music, and occasionally air play content from one of my iOS devices. I do not buy/rent much from iTunes store but if you do that often that's a plus. It's very easy to setup which is nice as well. Oh yeah, you can stream from iCloud too. Basically, the more involved in the Apple ecosystem you are the better the experience is.
 

aneftp

macrumors 601
Jul 28, 2007
4,362
546
Having brought original 160gb apple tv for $329. $99 is a steal. I never used any of the hard drive anyways on the 160gb.

Everything is streamed these days.

I also have a top of the line 8000 series Samsung led 3D 2011 TV. Samsung calls it a "smart TV". With Netflix browser etc. the Sansung interface is so slow compared to the new apple tv.

Apple tv interface is very slick and everything flows smoothly.

You need to know how to use it for your needs.

With me I mainly rip DVD movies and stream them from iTunes along with Netflix for the young one.
 

blue43fan

macrumors regular
Aug 5, 2008
113
23
Terrible product unless you're either heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem or have the device jailbroken. The UI looks awful... I'm shocked Apple okayed it.

Obviously if your requirement is to mirror games though, it's your only option. But for videos, I would definitely take a look at other products that support far more codecs and online services.

This is absolute nonsense. The AppleTV is not meant to be a standalone product. It makes a great companion to the iPhone or iPad through AirPlay and mirroring.
 

TonyC28

macrumors 68030
Aug 15, 2009
2,758
6,938
USA
Is it possible to Airplay any video that would play on an iPhone 4S to the Apple TV? For example, I want to play On Demand videos from the Comcast Xfinity app on my TV. Can this be done using an iPhone 4S and Apple TV?
 

Sylon

macrumors 68020
Feb 26, 2012
2,032
80
Michigan/Ohio, USA
I use it often, I love the thing. The only annoying thing with it is typing usernames and passwords into the thing. That little remote is a pain for that, a minor issue that doesn't outweigh the joy of the thing. I was actually shocked it only cost $100.

Oh, it also double charged me for a movie once. Movies look great on my 46" HDTV. I also stream video clips I download from the net to it from iTunes on my MBP.
 

chugg

macrumors regular
Oct 14, 2008
244
182
This is absolute nonsense. The AppleTV is not meant to be a standalone product. It makes a great companion to the iPhone or iPad through AirPlay and mirroring.

So I guess you didn't read the first sentence of my post at all.
 

rjohnstone

macrumors 68040
Dec 28, 2007
3,896
4,493
PHX, AZ.
It's not for everyone... I shipped mine back after a few weeks.
The interface looks great but navigation simply sucks.
The minimalist remote may look pretty, but it takes too many clicks to get anything done.
My wife gave up and chucked the remote across the room while trying to look for a movie.
Her exact words... "Get rid of this POS".
 
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