ATV vs WiFi BluRay Player

Content, and mirroring is what you will gain from the ATV unit...at the price they are a very powerful and useful little device

Handbrake is an app that will rip and covert DVDs to a format that allows you to play via ATV and your other iDevices.

Our bluray cannot stream movies from your Mac to your tv, most likely. If it can, then tell me what player you have, please. ATV offers a couple more apps like NHL and MLB but it doesn't offer Amazon Video. Really, I have a BR player with apps like you and I use that in place of an ATV. I have an ATV in my office where there is no BR player with apps. I don't stream any movies from my Mac, I have an HTPC that has a couple externals connected full of movies.

GoCubsGo said:

Our bluray cannot stream movies from your Mac to your tv, most likely. If it can, then tell me what player you have, please.

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My Oppo BDP-103 does this flawlessly, even using straight Blu-ray rips to *.m2ts container.

It's an expensive player for sure, but it has every feature you can imagine and then some. Notably, it's got a half dozen or so of the frequently used apps (Vudu, Netflix, Pandora, etc) and it's got an MHL compatible input for the Roku Stream Stick.

brentsg said:

My Oppo BDP-103 does this flawlessly, even using straight Blu-ray rips to *.m2ts container.

It's an expensive player for sure, but it has every feature you can imagine and then some. Notably, it's got a half dozen or so of the frequently used apps (Vudu, Netflix, Pandora, etc) and it's got an MHL compatible input for the Roku Stream Stick.

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That is actually cool. I was genuinely asking about model #s because I haven't seen one myself (nor have I looked for one). So to me, your BR player replaces the need to ever have an ATV; at least as far as it goes in the room you have your BR player.

GoCubsGo said:

That is actually cool. I was genuinely asking about model #s because I haven't seen one myself (nor have I looked for one). So to me, your BR player replaces the need to ever have an ATV; at least as far as it goes in the room you have your BR player.

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Sorry, don't remember the models, but I had both a Samsung and Sony that would play media from my mac. You just need a DLNA server running on a computer for it to work.

Macman45 said:

Content, and mirroring is what you will gain from the ATV unit...

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That's pretty much what it boils down to. The ATV offers content from the iTunes store and included apps plus whatever's in your iTunes library without the need for a DLNA server.

I find having both to be useful but I use Airplay quite a bit.

GoCubsGo said:

I was genuinely asking about model #s because I haven't seen one myself (nor have I looked for one).

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It's a bit unreasonable to expect a list of every model number out there. Look for players with DLNA support. However, as stated above, you will need a DLNA server as well but if you already have an HTPC then adding DLNA to that would probably work out well for you.

The Oppos are on the pricier end but I'd also recommend them (have a BDP-93).

I was somewhat surprised by the Oppo to be honest. I was expecting to need a DLNA server, but as soon as I powered it up for the first time it found my server. From there I navigated to the folder with my Blu-ray rips and I played one.

Even better, the video processing is outstanding and you can use it to process other HDMI sources.

It depends on how you have your video content. I stopped buying DVDs/blurays awhile ago. It was easier to download video content than to keep running to the store to buy another disk. iTunes and "other" sources work for me.

I have three ATV3s in my house, a Mac Mini running as a media server and my Samsung BR player that is hooked up via Ethernet just sits upstairs. I don't use it really ever. My wife uses it when she puts on a yoga DVD but that is about it.

The interfaces usually suck. I like that I can control the ATV with my iPad or phone, even when I am not in the room. I can pretty much stream anything from my computer, phone, iPad to it via AirPlay. Netflix is on it. Used to use Hulu but never watched it so cancelled it.

scottw324 said:

...The interfaces usually suck. I like that I can control the ATV with my iPad or phone, even when I am not in the room...

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That's the big advantage of Apple TV in my mind. Even so, I use my Sammy BRP (ethernet) to stream (Vudu mostly) rather than spring for the ATV. A single box plays old school discs and online content or movies I've ripped and stored on NAS (DLNA server). I'm willing to deal with the clunky UI for a few minutes as once the film's begun it really doesn't matter.

ATV is pretty neat little inexpensive way to show some movies and play some music. It is reasonable if you like to buy/rent from iTunes, you have limited audio playback ability (TV output or perhaps low end AVR) and mediocre speakers. After all, compressed 720 or 1080 movies are inferior to blu ray and at best streamed movies only do Dolby or DTS 5.1 for the most part. None of the stream services offer up audio in HD such as DTS-Master or TrueHD.

The Oppo offers many of the streaming services and as well can play back DVD and Blu Ray discs with optimal audio respectively and access files via DLNA from your computer and storage devices. The Oppo doesn't offer up Amazon Prime at this time but some smart TVs will and other devices.

I have used Vudu, Netflix streaming, Amazon Prime and find that Vudu usually (HD) provides the best image and most of the time audio experience. Netflix and Amazon seem very similar.

If you like the output of the ATV, the price is great and it integrates well within an Apple home eco-system. I prefer my AVR, Oppo103 and smart TV along with my Mac Mini to cover all my bets. As for WiFi, it really is a bit hit and miss depending on bitrate of the media. I can easily handle 480 and 720 files and a few 1080p but most 1080p suffer a bit with pauses and stuttering. Perhaps the new draft WiFi AC will solve this bottleneck.

Just another peanut from the Gallery

I think one of the great advantages of the AppleTv is the integration.

As an example. Get home from work, pull out iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and stream music or podcast or video to AppleTV and family room stereo. .
Want to listen to something not on your iOS device? Use Apple Remote app to send music/etc to from family room iMac to AppleTV to stereo system. This works with Airport Express too.

In real world usage, at least for audio, I haven't seen anything as user friendly.

designs216 said:

That's the big advantage of Apple TV in my mind. Even so, I use my Sammy BRP (ethernet) to stream (Vudu mostly) rather than spring for the ATV. A single box plays old school discs and online content or movies I've ripped and stored on NAS (DLNA server). I'm willing to deal with the clunky UI for a few minutes as once the film's begun it really doesn't matter.

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True and if it was just me I probably wouldn't care but when I have to go on a trip and my and two kids are at home trying to figure out how to put something on, that is what stops me from going the non ATV route. My wife and figure out how to use it easily. Even my 4.5 yr old daughter can put on her own Dora, Diego, Disney movies with the ATV.