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Will Apple TV Meet our needs?

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Rookie1986

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 1, 2007
415
0
Hey :)

My OH is looking for something to use for TV while she is living away for Uni, we had noticed Apple TV in the past but after reading the small amount of information about it in the Apple Store we couldn't get our heads around if it would meet her needs. Basically she is after something that will give her a selection of freeview channels but also offer the option to use things like 4OD, BBC iPlayer and possibly even NetFlix, does Apple TV give her this or is it purely just a playback box for her iTunes purchases?

If anyone has any other ideas on how or what she would need to get what she is looking for your ideas are more then welcome :)

Thanks,
Rookie
 
W

waw74

macrumors 601
May 27, 2008
4,677
944
netflix is built in

4OD and BBC iplayer you may be able to use if there is an app for iPod/pad/phone. you can use airplay to send the video to the TV, but the app has to be open and running on the other device, so if it's a phone and she gets a text or a phone call, it will stop the TV.
Also it depends on the people who publish the app as to what your experience will be. some apps will allow airplay, meaning it will send the video file straight to the TV, and you'll get fullscreen video. some apps only allow airplay mirroring, which means everything on the screen of the device will be on the TV, but due to aspect ratio differences between the device and television, you could possibly wind up with black bars possibly all the way around the image.

you can get airserver and run it on a mac or PC to simulate the airplay experience that you would get on an :apple:TV.

and if she has a newer mac (released in the past couple years) and mountion lion, she can send the screen of the mac to the :apple:TV, the quality will not be as good as if she plugged the computer directly into the television though.
 
W

warvanov

macrumors 6502a
Oct 13, 2011
504
12
It sounds like you may be better off with a Roku. You won't be able to install other channels like the ones you mentioned on the ATV. At least, not until Apple opens up the platform a little bit.
 
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