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Just loving my appleTV

N

needthephone

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 4, 2006
813
0
sydney
Second night with it and now fixed everything up with optical output to hifi.

With remote app this is brilliant. Fun messing about with YouTube and podcasts. Think well rent lost in translation tommorrow night.

Music is now so easy to play and sounds fantastic.

All our 1000,s of photos, hanbraked DVD,s too, for us this is just what we've been waiting for.

Once again apple have exceeded expectations. Truth be told I wasn't expecting much but this will only get better!!!
 
W

wodeh

macrumors regular
Nov 18, 2007
223
0
Norwich
Been ripping DVDs every evening this week, and queuing things up for conversion overnight.

The remote UI on the iPad is great once all the DVD box art is in place, very 3-year-old friendly. It's not so much that she abuses the DVDs, but that we can't be bothered to put 'em away.

Now there are reams of films just a tap away!

I wholly agree with the storage-less methodology of the Apple TV, it's way, way ahead of its time and, for the moment, we have to use our home computers to fill that gap until buy-and-store-in-the-cloud becomes a reality.

Having never turned our iMac off a day since we bought it, and it's connected to a UPS to make sure if that, the Apple TV fits right in beautifully. All I need now is a price reduction, because even £99 gets expensive when you want 4 more of them!

I dream of the day when we just subscribe to unlimited, on-demand audio and video entertainment, the day when artists finally tell recording studios to go F themselves and are content with gigging and merchandise revenues, and movie studios are finally content with cinema revenues. They can't keep this monopoly on culture. Every human has a right to veg-out on the sofa, munching popcorn, drooling and defecating themselves until they grow obese and die a sad and lonely death.

Okay... I got carried away.

Suffice to say, I love the Apple TV for what it is, and love it more for what it'll become when the jailbreakers release something that'll let Joe Public unlock its potential.
 
dXTC

dXTC

macrumors 68020
Oct 30, 2006
2,033
50
Up, up in my studio, studio
I'm going to pause my wringing of hands for just a second to post this...

I finally got one of these on my lunch break today! (!!!!1!!one, LOL :D) It took me a smattering of phone calls and trips in vain to my Apple Store over the past week, but I have a feeling it'll be more than worth it. Virtually my entire DVD collection has already been Handbraked, as well as those of my daughter-- no more scratching up those Disney DVDs!

Since I watch more YouTube than actual TV, this is a BIG bonus for me. I dig Ray William Johnson, Shane Dawson and others for a quick laugh, and YouTube is a treasure trove for music videos (no more lamenting the demise of MTV).

I think I may eventually have to get faster Internet, though-- I only have 3 Mbps, and I fear that won't be enough for smooth HD rentals.
 
N

needthephone

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 4, 2006
813
0
sydney
Sorry for my gushing praise. If anyone can be bothered they will see that I have at times been extremely critical of apple at times and am not a complete fan boy- yes I love their stuff I admit as is just leaps and bounds above everyone else.

Look at the appleTV remote???
Just how the hell did they make that??
Most companies would be content with a 30c plastic box . No apple appeared to have somehow extruded aluminium then machined it or somehow joined two halves seamlessly together. Or is this the result of their purchase of that metal injection company?

Seriously look at it and tell me how they made it and didn't loose a fortune on it??

Still love my apple TV though. Its this almost anal attention to detail I love about apple. More power to you Steve Jobs, you raise the standard in a sea of mediocrity.
 
dXTC

dXTC

macrumors 68020
Oct 30, 2006
2,033
50
Up, up in my studio, studio
needthephone said:
Sorry for my gushing praise. If anyone can be bothered they will see that I have at times been extremely critical of apple at times and am not a complete fan boy- yes I love their stuff I admit as is just leaps and bounds above everyone else.
Click to expand...

No need for apology. It's OK to be really happy with a product.

in fact, I'm probably as giddy as you are. My new :apple:tv is installed and works like a freakin' charm. My wife was impressed by its smooth operation and is now off to download the Remote app for her iPod touch so she can control it better, and we may be activating a NetFlix account in the coming days.
 
B

bbtrinet

macrumors member
Jun 27, 2008
98
0
I absolutely LOVE my Apple TV as well. It's changed everything in our home for the better.

We were used to watching TV on our Tivo, and using Netflix on the Tivo interface. My daughter watched her own Disney DVDs in the DVD player. She was annoyed at how she put a DVD in, and it took sometimes almost 3-4 MINUTES to get the movie to start - because you HAVE TO watch the previews, FBI warnings, etc. And a lot of the DVDs are scratched, and they freeze in parts.

Now, I've ripped her Disney DVDs using HandBrake to my iMac, and my daughter can watch a movie within 5 seconds of clicking on it. She loves to go back and forth through her DVDs now.

The interface is so great, that we are also using Netflix on the Apple TV over the Tivo Netflix. The implementation is so much better on the Apple TV.
 
dXTC

dXTC

macrumors 68020
Oct 30, 2006
2,033
50
Up, up in my studio, studio
bbtrinet said:
I absolutely LOVE my Apple TV as well. It's changed everything in our home for the better.

We were used to watching TV on our Tivo, and using Netflix on the Tivo interface. My daughter watched her own Disney DVDs in the DVD player. She was annoyed at how she put a DVD in, and it took sometimes almost 3-4 MINUTES to get the movie to start - because you HAVE TO watch the previews, FBI warnings, etc. And a lot of the DVDs are scratched, and they freeze in parts.

Now, I've ripped her Disney DVDs using HandBrake to my iMac, and my daughter can watch a movie within 5 seconds of clicking on it. She loves to go back and forth through her DVDs now.

The interface is so great, that we are also using Netflix on the Apple TV over the Tivo Netflix. The implementation is so much better on the Apple TV.
Click to expand...

The power of :apple:tv cannot be underestimated when children's movie collections are involved. The discs in my daughter's DVD collection (Disney, Dreamworks, Fox etc.) were starting to get some serious wear and tear, too. I've Handbraked them all over the past couple of years, and the same files play fine on the :apple:tv and my nano (great for placating a fidgety kid while waiting at an office or restaurant).

If I were handier with automotive electronics, I'd get a previous-gen :apple:tv and install it in the car after syncing most of my daughter's favorite movies to it. (Has anyone heard of a "Pimp My Kia?" LOL)
 
C

ChargerSteve

macrumors member
Jan 15, 2008
33
0
EDH, California
dXTC said:
If I were handier with automotive electronics, I'd get a previous-gen :apple:tv and install it in the car after syncing most of my daughter's favorite movies to it. (Has anyone heard of a "Pimp My Kia?" LOL)
Click to expand...

I went to some expense and time a couple years ago to install a flip-down screen and new stereo/DVD/Nav in our family van. The stereo has an iPod interface and we have it permanently connected to an iPod classic with a bunch of music and movies. The movies on the iPod will play through the stereo and the flip-down screen.

It's all pretty slick, but I regret doing it. If I had it to do over again, I would have axed the flip-down screen and DVD stereo and just bought two iPads for the kids to use on long trips. They'd have better quality video, they could watch independently, take it anywhere, play games, etc. I don't think you'll see too many permanently installed DVD/video systems in cars in a few years.
 
D

DJinTX

macrumors 6502a
Sep 15, 2010
524
30
So for the handbreak enthusiasts, how long does a standard movie on DVD take to complete the process from start to finish?
 
dXTC

dXTC

macrumors 68020
Oct 30, 2006
2,033
50
Up, up in my studio, studio
DJinTX said:
So for the handbreak enthusiasts, how long does a standard movie on DVD take to complete the process from start to finish?
Click to expand...

techguy40 said:
About 1 hour.
Click to expand...

That's a fair estimate. My iMac (see my sig) is 3 years old. I'm running a rather recent nightly build of HandBrake, and my encode time for a ~90-minute film straight from the DVD is 45-50 minutes, provided I'm not doing anything else on the iMac. HandBrake is very CPU-intensive; the beefier the processor you can throw at it, the better. Ripping the DVD to a folder on the hard drive helps the encoding process, reducing encode time by about 5-10 minutes, but then you have to take the time to rip the DVD beforehand.

Avatar took about 1 hr 20 minutes (*from a ripped folder), but then again it's nearly three hours long.
 
Mike Oxard

Mike Oxard

macrumors 6502a
Oct 22, 2009
804
458
dXTC said:
The power of :apple:tv cannot be underestimated when children's movie collections are involved.
Click to expand...

I think the best thing is that you have real control over what they are watching, and they don't see as many adverts.

I also bought ours a G4 iMac for Christmas, all music, video and Audiobooks are on it. I keep surreptitiously adding natural history tv shows ;) They get watched as much as/ more than anything else.
 
UTclassof89

UTclassof89

macrumors 6502
Jun 10, 2008
421
0
I HATE my appleTV:

Nothing works. It won't recognize my netflix password (had to call Netflix to get them to reset it), my appleID, or my computer (discovered after opening the box that it required iTunes 10, which in turn required OS 10.5 ... and I have 10.4.11).

Apple suggested I pay $129 to upgrade (on a powerPC that has perhaps another year of serviceable life).

Gonna return appleTV instead.
 
M

MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Jan 28, 2009
3,874
368
UK
wodeh said:
Been ripping DVDs every evening this week, and queuing things up for conversion overnight.
Click to expand...

dXTC said:
Virtually my entire DVD collection has already been Handbraked, as well as those of my daughter-- no more scratching up those Disney DVDs!
Click to expand...

Can I ask what settings/app/preset your using please? I'm busy doing this, and also converting some avi's I have to Apple flavour to. I'm using either Handbrake with AppleTV preset on my iMac or on a Windows PC DVD Catalyst, with AppleTV preset.

I have a Apple TV 1Gen, but maybe in future get a Apple TV 2G for my daughter for her room.

any hints?
 
wrkngclasshero

wrkngclasshero

macrumors regular
Jul 3, 2008
151
24
Columbia, MD
Use the Apple TV preset in Handbrake. I also add the detelecine and decomb filters as well. Should leave you with a great movie that is very close to the DVD in terms of PQ.

I personally waited to try my hand at HD encodes until I had the ATV2. The ATV1 just seems a bit limited in that respect.

That's my $0.02!!
 
S

sandyjmacdonald

macrumors 6502
Jun 12, 2009
302
0
UTclassof89 said:
I HATE my appleTV:

Nothing works. It won't recognize my netflix password (had to call Netflix to get them to reset it), my appleID, or my computer (discovered after opening the box that it required iTunes 10, which in turn required OS 10.5 ... and I have 10.4.11).

Apple suggested I pay $129 to upgrade (on a powerPC that has perhaps another year of serviceable life).

Gonna return appleTV instead.
Click to expand...

Impulse buy, was it?

Maybe you should have researched it better before you bought it.
 
dXTC

dXTC

macrumors 68020
Oct 30, 2006
2,033
50
Up, up in my studio, studio
UTclassof89 said:
I HATE my appleTV:

Nothing works. It won't recognize my netflix password (had to call Netflix to get them to reset it), my appleID, or my computer (discovered after opening the box that it required iTunes 10, which in turn required OS 10.5 ... and I have 10.4.11).

Apple suggested I pay $129 to upgrade (on a powerPC that has perhaps another year of serviceable life).

Gonna return appleTV instead.
Click to expand...

I know how you feel, in a way. I had (still have) a Turtle Beach Maui soundcard. Loved it-- easy to use, cheap, yet powerful sampler card. Unfortunately, it's ISA. I no longer have any running machine to install it. We've both been "outmoded".

That said, the iTunes 10 requirement was mentioned on the website. Still, throwing $129 after $99 may not be a good idea in some situations. After you return your :apple:tv, you may want to look into another Netflix-enabled box.

MrMister111 said:
Can I ask what settings/app/preset your using please? I'm busy doing this, and also converting some avi's I have to Apple flavour to. I'm using either Handbrake with AppleTV preset on my iMac or on a Windows PC DVD Catalyst, with AppleTV preset.

I have a Apple TV 1Gen, but maybe in future get a Apple TV 2G for my daughter for her room.

any hints?
Click to expand...

I'm using iPod Hi-Res, so that it'll fit on my nano (average 90-minute film takes ~700-750MB of space) and play acceptably on the :apple:tv. However, this does reduce vertical resolution in the final file. If you want to preserve 480p, you'll need to look at the "AppleTV" preset and be prepared for somewhat larger file sizes.
 
UTclassof89

UTclassof89

macrumors 6502
Jun 10, 2008
421
0
sandyjmacdonald said:
Impulse buy, was it?

Maybe you should have researched it better before you bought it.
Click to expand...

No; it wasn't an impulse buy.
But I guess I should have known checking systems requirements on Apple's site was not research enough (AppleTV lists none, so I chatted with Apple Store help--who said 10.4.8 was required).

I had iTunes 9, and didn't expect they'd drop support for my OS in the very next version (stupid me)
 
chrono1081

chrono1081

macrumors G3
Jan 26, 2008
8,455
4,154
Isla Nublar
I cant WAIT to try out Apple TV! I had no interest in the old one but I LOVE the new one (from what I've read).

Its actually here sitting on my desk, but its a Christmas gift for my Dad and he is home right now so I can't set it up until he leaves...(I probably could and he'd have no idea I was even doing anything).

He isn't good with electronics so I will set it up to my parents wifi so its ready to go straight out of the box when he opens it. My Mom and I have also been feverishly ripping his insane DVD collection to my Moms iMac. (My computer can rip 6 - 8 movies in the time it takes her to rip one! Lol).

Its a LOT heavier and more solid than I thought it would be which I like.
 
N

needthephone

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 4, 2006
813
0
sydney
Yes I too find hanbrake takes about an hour per film.

What put me off the old apple tv was that it was obviously a cut down computer with it's own hard drive. Why did thus put me off?? I've never been a fan of synicing and having my music and films in different locations.

I loath syncing. I don't even know what it's going to do. Will it make everything the same as my Mac or my hypothetical apple tv1 or will it make it so the same files are on each??

Same when I plug in my iPhone. I dread what's it's going to do. Do you want to sync contacts notes, music. I click what I feel is best and wait in anticipation, usually my iPhone is screwed up and I have to manually rebuild it!


Some features I'd like to see.
Like to be able to BUY iTunes content from atv is like you can from iTunes on a pc/Mac. When you click buy it downloads to your pc/Mac but you do this from your couch .


To be able to make playlists from atv. Maybe this can be dine already.

To be able to play my raw unedited iPhone video which has been download to iPhoto.

Create slideshows from atv.

Surf Internet on my tv...

Use skype on my atv

Use apps..

So what I'm trying to say, thanks apple for making it simple. Glad you dropped the hard drive and for making this discrete little box so discrete. I don't want to have to stare at a cut down computer as I watch the Telly, that's just me.

One final thing can you explain what syncing means when I plug my iPhone into iTunes. I'm a simpleton engineer who needs these things spelling out..
 
M

MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Jan 28, 2009
3,874
368
UK
wrkngclasshero said:
Use the Apple TV preset in Handbrake. I also add the detelecine and decomb filters as well. Should leave you with a great movie that is very close to the DVD in terms of PQ.

I personally waited to try my hand at HD encodes until I had the ATV2. The ATV1 just seems a bit limited in that respect.

That's my $0.02!!
Click to expand...

Can I ask what the detelecine and decomb things, whatever they are will do, and why you feel the need to add them? I dont know much about this technically, but know how to encode, and thats why HB is so good. I just use stock aTV preset though, as thought the makers of HB must know best?

cheers
 
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