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dgalvan123

macrumors 6502a
Feb 16, 2008
684
22
I think you misunderstood what I meant in the last point. I want to only see one icon for each TV Series and then have to click on the series to see individual seasons or that series. It really clutters things up when every season of every series is listed separately. As of now the ATV shows every season and won't automatically group them into the one series like iTunes now does.

Agreed that would be better.
 

PaulKemp

macrumors 6502a
Jun 2, 2009
568
124
Norway
Looks like a fine app, but I don't really need it since I converted all my content and imported it into iTunes already. The Apple TV 3 will play all of it already.

I fully agree. Great work on the converting job though! :) I was a little bit quick on visualising your need so my post was a tiny bit OT. :p

In general I don't really like Airplay or any app that requires me to start the process of watching video on my Apple TV from another device other than my remote. Plus, my wife is not at all interested in tech, and things need to be as simple as possible.

I know, thats why we need jailbreak OR just apps for the ATV! So we can get Plex!
 

DAMAC3

macrumors regular
Feb 6, 2009
152
14
Noblesville, IN
I know, thats why we need jailbreak OR just apps for the ATV! So we can get Plex!

I loved my jailbroken ATV2. I thought I needed 1080p and could live within the iTunes world with my videos, but I really miss having the ability to use both the Apple TV native system and Plex to watch my content. I would have ZERO interest in jailbreaking if they would open up apps. I would think they would profit from it.
 

krravi

macrumors 65816
Nov 30, 2010
1,173
0
Mac Mini + Plex or XBMC looks great.

But I just got the Roku and love it. Have the Apple TV3 too but its boring for lack of content. Just use it for Airplay.
 

desertman

macrumors 6502a
Jul 14, 2008
694
37
Arizona, USA
This is a very interesting thread since my DirecTV contract can be cancelled at the end of this month and I would really like to get rid of it (not so sure about my wife, though). Our tv habbits are rather simple: shows and movies, very rarely sports. At the moment we also have HBO and Showtime but I probably could do without it. Occasionally we rent a DVD from Redbox. Sometimes I download things and burn it on DVD.

We have a 61" Samsung DLP TV (1080p), a DVD player, an i5 iMac, an i5 MacBook Pro, an iPad 3, and two iPhone 4's (not 4s). I also have a spare 2006 Mac mini with an Intel 1.5 GHz Core Solo CPU (= 32 bit machine). We live in a small town surrounded by mountains and have no OTA reception.

My wireless internet connection (Motorola Canopy) delivers reliably 1536kbps or more download speed. I guess that should be good enough for streaming, right? If necessary the speed could also be doubled for $10 per month more.

I wonder what would be best for me (and my wife). Apple TV or Roku box and Netflix and Hulu Plus? Can I use my old Mac mini for anything good here, too? Would be great if you could give me some suggestions.

Thanks - desertman
 

Uofmtiger

macrumors 68020
Dec 11, 2010
2,299
1,026
Memphis
I haven't cut cable (Directv), but I have and AppleTV & 2010 (mid year) Mini. I could easily get by with the AppleTV if I had to pick just one. I don't have any issues reading websites on my TV. If yours is smearing, it sounds like an issue with your TV's refresh rate or a setting on the mini. Mine doesn't smear at all and is easy to read from the couch. I still prefer the iPad or Latptop for internet, but the Mac Mini works fine. I should mention that I have Safari setup to use the largest font available and I have also gone into settings and increased the size of the mouse pointer.

I also use a browser called Kylo that helps jump easily to many of the music and video sources I use. I also prefer XBMC to Plex.

I keep the mini in a separate room, so I also use Rowmote Pro on the iPad as the keyboard in my living room. I never use the mini for Netflix, so I am not sure how well it streams to the TV (if you want me to try it, let me know). I have an AppleTV and Roku (Amazon/MOG/Pandora) mainly because it is more user friendly and convenient because I (and everyone else) can easily control it with a Harmony remote.

I do have some weird issues running Plex on my Roku (it tells me it can't play Apple lossless and can't find my videos), but I have't gotten around to troubleshooting it...I have read that it will require a hard reboot of my Roku and I don't want to spend a lot of time re-entering my usernames and passwords (Roku requires you to use a computer to go to each site and enter a code..not something I want to do).
 

pagansoul

macrumors 65816
Aug 10, 2006
1,040
42
Earth
I haven't had cable in ages but miss Si-Fi channel the most. Been told they have gotten crappy over the last 5 years. This is what I have set up. I have no reception so standard TV is a bust. I have high speed internet for $50 monthly.
1. Media room
40" Samsung HDTV, ATV2, Mac-mini 2011, Samsung Blu-ray player. I use this TV mostly for my Blu-ray collection.
2. Living-room
32" Sony (this is my oldest HDTV at about 6 years), Google TV, ATV2, Pany DVD blu-ray player. I use ATV most often here because I like to stream my photos and play my iTunes library from here. Not much viewing activity done here it's more of something I use as I clean house or talk with friends.
3. Master-bedroom
This is where I have my iMac 27" late 2011. I tend to watch Hulu, Netflix and my ripped movies from here at my desk at the end of the day. I'm close to my bed when I want to go to sleep.
4. Guest bedroom
This is where I keep my old MacPro 2007. It has a 27" monitor but doesn't get used since I got the iMac. Is a back-up for all my ripped movies and music.

I've been thinking of selling my second ATV as I don't use it much. I use the mini more if I want to pull content from my other machines. The Google TV is for me to see Google apps and I got it at half off ($50) and it works OK but is a bit clunky. Since many of my shows are on Hulu and I buy season Blu-ray boxes of stuff I really like (True Blood, Fringe, Battlestar G and the like) I'm fine with not paying a additional $50 for cable.
 

dgalvan123

macrumors 6502a
Feb 16, 2008
684
22
I'll just add:

Originally I had thought that a mac mini was the way to go as well since it had a lot more flexibility than an ATV.

But when I tried out my system using EyeTV to record OTA shows and then export them to iTunes, making the shows available to any Apple TV in the house, I realized I didn't need the extra mini. My computer is a 2009 MBP 17" (2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 8 GB RAM). It is able to handle both the EyeTV recording/exporting while still serving it's function as our family computer (we use it for iPhoto and iMovie, web browsing and e-mail.)

So I'd advise the original poster: Even if you think you'll eventually need a mac mini anyway, try out just getting an Apple TV first and see if it meets your needs. You can get a refurbished one from Apple for just $85, and worst case scenario you could airplay/mirror anything from your mac's web browser. Hold off on plunking down the $700 on the mac mini until you are sure you need it.
 

brentsg

macrumors 68040
Oct 15, 2008
3,578
936
I'll just add:

Originally I had thought that a mac mini was the way to go as well since it had a lot more flexibility than an ATV.

But when I tried out my system using EyeTV to record OTA shows and then export them to iTunes, making the shows available to any Apple TV in the house, I realized I didn't need the extra mini. My computer is a 2009 MBP 17" (2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 8 GB RAM). It is able to handle both the EyeTV recording/exporting while still serving it's function as our family computer (we use it for iPhoto and iMovie, web browsing and e-mail.)

So I'd advise the original poster: Even if you think you'll eventually need a mac mini anyway, try out just getting an Apple TV first and see if it meets your needs. You can get a refurbished one from Apple for just $85, and worst case scenario you could airplay/mirror anything from your mac's web browser. Hold off on plunking down the $700 on the mac mini until you are sure you need it.

He did try the Apple TV first and didn't like that either.

Of course all of his problems could be explained away simply based on subjectivity. What "looks great" to one person "sucks" to another, especially when it comes to text on an HDTV via HTPC. There are so many variables there, including potential overscan and other processing done by the TV to the incoming content. Add to that display size, viewing distance, network performance, visual acuity, etc..
 

Patamon

macrumors newbie
Jul 27, 2010
5
0
Mac Mini + Plex or XBMC looks great.

But I just got the Roku and love it. Have the Apple TV3 too but its boring for lack of content. Just use it for Airplay.



++ I've been using a (now) older Mac Mini along with Plex for about 4 years now. Highly recommend. I stream to iOS devices not only around the house but you can enable internet streaming as well. Came in handy over Christmas. :)
 

blanka

macrumors 68000
Jul 30, 2012
1,551
4
Go for the Mini.
You can attach a 20$ USB BR player
You can attach an 30$ USB DVB-tuner
It is also a frigging good computer
It plays MAME and MESS very nice
*It is the cheapest!

*If you buy a second hand Mini 2009 it will cost you 300-350$. A new one $595. The 2009 one in 2015 will still do 200-250$. That is 50$/year. If you buy any other solution, it will turn into a useless brick in 2-3 years. And the AppleTV does not work without storage, so you're not just set with its base price.
iOS devices die on average in 3-4 years (not that they stop working hardware wise, but Apple will stop the software from working). Macs keep having market value for 7-10 years and work up to 20 years.
 

adriang68

macrumors newbie
Nov 22, 2012
6
0
Lots of interesting content here, thought I'd share my experiences:

I wanted to watch the EPL football (soccer) on my TV, my source would be online steaming sites. I'm very sure they are legal :D

In addition, I wanted to access the BBC iplayer though a VPN and watch locally stored movies.

I've experimented with a jail broken AT2, and the embedded browser isn't great, either for the iPlayer, and streaming sports because generally they are still using flash.

Jail broken ATV as a movie player is OK, but it's clunky, and not wife friendly.

Streaming from an iPad is OK when VPN'd to a provider, but it's not brilliant for the fast action sports. Maybe better with the processing power of AT3? And again, no flash so limited.

Bough a Mac mini the other week, and it's awesome, really pleased just with the browser, plus flash reliability. Wife can use OSX, so it's a solution.

Currently using a logitech wireless keyboard, with a track pad as part of the keyboard.

I'm not thinking the next steps are to get plex into the mix for the movie playing and looking into the various plug ins and so on.

And get a smart(er) TV (or blueray) with plex client capabilities.
 

phrehdd

macrumors 601
Oct 25, 2008
4,289
1,292
If your goal was to mostly get iTunes movies and tv shows then perhaps the ATV would be the way to go. However, as you suggested you were more into other services such as Netflix, skip the ATV. It is inferior in output for Netflix to many other devices including the Mac Mini (set up properly).

Given that the Mac Mini is rather expensive (I have one along with XBMC and PLEX), there are alternatives that you should investigate such as Western Digital's media player and a few others. I am sure there are contrast and comparisons all over the Internet as to which one serves up items such as Vudu and Netflix the best.

My situation has been rather the other way around - my TV delivers Netflix, TiVo 3 delivers Netflix and my blu ray player also delivers Netflix. For HD content, it appears that the blu ray player did the best job. For SD content they all did amazingly well. The Mac Mini set up properly did an excellent job and my stored local movies enjoy a great front end via XBMC and PLEX (I happen to prefer XBMC).

In my system order of best Netflix HD quality experience is as follows -
Oppo Bdp 103 Blu Ray player
Mac Mini w/XBMC and VT50 Plasma TV (both do very well)
TiVo 3 (must create queue on computers and only lists items in queue)
ATV3 and ATV2 (tested before giving as gifts to friends who have lesser needs)

Things to look for -
Ability to play HD content with best video output
Ability to play surround (assuming you use it)
Ability to easily be controlled via some sort of input device (remote etc.)

The ATV has a very nice front end look to it but for me, it gives an inferior image (especially if your source is from iTunes) and though cheap, you really are wasting the great video output from your large screen TV. Btw, ALWAYS best if you can go cabled to whatever you get rather than wireless.

Just my two cents.

- - -
Panasonic VT50 65" Plasma, Mac Mini quad 2.0/SSDx2, TiVo 3, Oppo Bdp103 Blu Ray, Dune 3 Base, Marantz NR1602, QNAP NAS 559P, QNAP NAS 469L
 

blanka

macrumors 68000
Jul 30, 2012
1,551
4
Again, the Mini is NOT expensive. It might have a fairly high NEW-IN-BOX price, but that does not matter.
Any Mini from 2009 is more capable than any other box you can hook to your TV. These are comparable in price to modern Popcorn hour systems.
On year-to-year basis, the Mini is the cheapest as the resale value is very high. Most other boxes are worthless after 2-3 years.
 
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