Would you buy an AppleTV now?

[AppleMan101]

Since the TV's release, so much more about the device has come to light. A lot of the issues that people have had with the device at least seem to have been solved already (divx, surround sound, video capture...) or will soon become easy to solve with simple GUI methods (which will feel a little less haxxie).

...so now you know about what it's really capable of, would you buy one?

[princealfie]

Of course, my stepdad loved it last night.

[mduser63]

I've got one and other than a (presumably minor and unique) audio problem I love it. Had a friend over yesterday, and we used it for hours, listening to music and watching music videos and TV shows. It does exactly what I need.

[dan-o-mac]

I voted no, but for different reasons. Should have been options for-

No, but might buy next rev. with better features.

No, waiting to see what kind of hacks are available in the near future.

[ghall]

If I had the money right now, then I'd say "hell yeah!"

[siurpeeman]

i didn't vote, but would have voted the "doesn't suit my desires/needs at the moment. try again later!"

[HelixOmnimedia]

I voted: No, I hate the idea of this overpriced piece of junk

Although I have one ordered, it's still being shipped. I should get it next week, but I'm read that much about it I'm considering returning it.

I love the idea of it, but a 40g Hard drive is too small for the amount of stuff I have... if i was more clued up on modifications and the technical side I'd follow that guide to upgrade the hard drive - but i don't know what i'm doing so I'll leave it.

[juanster]

i d have to buy an hd tv first.. so i ll say no for now...

[Bubbasteve]

I don't understand why so many people are complaining about the ATVs small HD -- I plan on streaming my content...over the air

To those who have an ATV -- how is the streaming with a non N connection?

[siurpeeman]

Originally Posted by Bubbasteve

I don't understand why so many people are complaining about the ATVs small HD -- I plan on streaming my content...over the air

To those who have an ATV -- how is the streaming with a non N connection?

the problem with streaming, i imagine, is that it requires a separate computer to be turned on with itunes open. i don't like the idea of that, because i put my computer to sleep when i'm not using my computer. so if i were to get an apple tv, a bigger hard drive would most certainly be better.

[OllyW]

Originally Posted by dan-o-mac

I voted no, but for different reasons. Should have been options for-

No, but might buy next rev. with better features.

Same for me.

If it gets 5.1 audio and more codecs I'll seriously consider getting one.

[GoCubsGo]

I am considering it. I ordered it when it was announced and noticed the delay and canceled my order. I guess I started reading into the posts here too much and I should not have. either way, I think I may buy it.

[Jimmdean]

It would be nice if there were more content available that showed it at its best, like 720P iTunes video. Right now I'd say the best you can do as far as quality is the movie trailers.

[Airforce]

No, for the sole reason my xbox 360 does what the tv has to be hacked to do. $300 for a game machine/media extender/center vs just a media extender ......The apple tv offers nothing for me.

[wordmunger]

Until I can rent movies with it, I'm not interested. The movie library is too limited, and $10-20 is too much to pay for a movie I'm only going to watch once.

Ultimately, I'll probably have one or something similar, once true video on demand is a reality.

[jhershauer]

The streaming works great so far in my Wireless G network. The source computer in our family room is on 24/7 anyway, so keeping everything there (50+GB of music) is no big deal. I'm loving the music browsing experience on our main stereo/theater system, which is the main reason I bought this. I like having the cover art, and other song info, including any embedded comments, on the TV.

My wife has been catching up on the Heroes TV episodes, downloaded off of iTunes, and she likes the AppleTV as well (much more than other computer-related hook-ups I've done in the past). I will say that the FF/RW experience for video is a little nicer if it's synced to the AppleTV, so I currently have the Heroes shows set up to sync the unwatched episodes. It's still perfectly usable in streaming mode, though.

My only beef with the small HD is the fact that you have to sync photos, as opposed to being able to stream. If I wanted all of our photos to be accessible on the AppleTV, I'd have to use up 22GB of the 33GB available on the drive...not leaving much room for caching of movies and TV.

Jeff

Originally Posted by Bubbasteve

I don't understand why so many people are complaining about the ATVs small HD -- I plan on streaming my content...over the air

To those who have an ATV -- how is the streaming with a non N connection?

[roland.g]

I bought one last night, local Apple Store, but have yet to open it.
Am considering returning it. I don't think I could hold out till the next revision which will most likely not arrive till after the 2007 holiday season, nor do I think it will offer anything more than a HD size bump next Jan or so.

My issues are mostly related to things that would most likely be solved via a software update. I ask myself what will I really use it for?

I have an airport extreme (old g) and express (which can be moved to the bedroom tv/stereo, but wouldn't be used much there) so I really have no need on the music side, especially since it's not that big a deal to change music on the computer.

That leaves movies, tv shows, home movies, video podcasts, and of course photos.

Photos: I saw the tv demo at the Apple Store and you cannot at this time go through the photo library. It is available in slideshow just as last roll and synced albums are, however, you can only pause, the forward and back buttons don't advance, nor do you have thumbnail views like on an iPod to scroll through. I hope this is addressed with a software update because if I want to show some guests photos, I need to have the slideshow setup beforehand since there is no ability to skip or browse.

TV Shows: Sorry but I don't really buy them. I have a Dish DVR with HD and that works great for all our weekly favorites. I have 2 episodes off iTS, both free downloads.

Home Movies: I want to make more and tv is a great way to view them, rather than putting them on DVD, so I would truly use this, especially once I get FCE and start doing more with my snowboarding footage.

Video Podcasts: I am just now getting into podcasts more, and would really like to subscribe to video podcasts and view them with tv, however, I find it very hard to use the iTS to browse for podcasts. There is no audio/video filter, nor is there are real good way to search for video podcasts. They really need to improve this. In iTunes when I browse, I get my whole library and each filter, genre, artist, album or what I type reduces my results. In iTS, I really have to have an idea what I'm looking for. Even TV shows or movies. I can't see the entire catalog in a list and sort by name, artists, etc. or use the browse buttons to then reduce it. No instead I have to look at each network or show or season to see what is available. Maybe I'm nitpicking, but with the release of tv, they seriously need to improve the search/catalog functionality of the store.

That leaves Movies: This is probably the single greatest reason for getting an tv. Aside from the near DVD-quality downloads, the HD but not HD, and the lack of 5.1 arguments/complaints which are all somewhat valid but irrelavant to me (except for that I would like to see 5.1 at some point soon), the issue I have with tv is the organizing of movies. From the demo and what I have seen so far, tv is great when it comes to syncing a few movies, especially if they are off of iTS. But realistically many people want to use stream mode for movies and have libraries available to them and whether HB'd/Mediaforked or from iTS (or if you have a lot of home movies too), when that library begins to grow past the 10 or 20 movies mark, having a single list is not managable.

I use Front Row now on my Mini (in my office, not connected to a TV) and have 10-15 DVD's HB'd. I have a movies folder on my external with subfolders for Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Suspense, Personal Videos. I don't have them loaded into my iTunes library. When I use Front Row, I go into Videos, then Movies, then I have each genre to select from to narrow down my list of movies. From what I understand tv, even through streaming mode doesn't operate this way, it only reads from iTunes, and then only in a list. I also understand that video playlists don't exactly work, so you can't just make smart playlists by Genre. My question then is how do you get tv to work with larger libraries of movies through streaming. This is my major issue before opening the box and hooking it up, otherwise I'm not sure I want to spend the $300 + cables on something that I can't have the right kind of control over.

My iPhoto library is 6.1GB and growing and my iTunes library is 36GB of music + another 3GB of podcasts, video podcasts, and other non-feature length movies. I can easily sync my entire photo library, all audio and video podcasts, home movies, and a large portion of my music playlists. For access to my entire music library I can use streaming as well as for movies.

[TheAnswer]

Well...I never thought I'd consider it, since I watch almost no TV. But with the possibility of a larger drive, it's at least on my radar now. I still probably won't actually pick one up for a revision or two, because it will take until then to HB my DVD collection.

[jhershauer]

Just to clarify one thing, you CAN skip forward and back when viewing photos. If you want to do it quickly, though, it's best to turn off transitions. It's true, though, that you can't browse the photos in a thumbnail mode. That really limits how useful the photo viewing feature is. It's nice to be able to have a slide show up on the TV to spark conversations, but this is not a tool for browsing. I really hope they add that in a software update.

Jeff

Originally Posted by roland.g

Photos: I saw the tv demo at the Apple Store and you cannot at this time go through the photo library. It is available in slideshow just as last roll and synced albums are, however, you can only pause, the forward and back buttons don't advance, nor do you have thumbnail views like on an iPod to scroll through. I hope this is addressed with a software update because if I want to show some guests photos, I need to have the slideshow setup beforehand since there is no ability to skip or browse.

[Ladybug]

I have one on order as we speak. I spent a few days reading threads and just couldn't contain my excitement any longer. I have a huge collection of music and about 175 DVD's to start my collection off with. The ease and simplicity of this device will bring many hours of enjoyment to the whole family.

[iSaint]

No because I really don't know what it's used for and haven't the interest to find out. I'm sure it's not something we need.

[ksz]

AppleTV did not strike me as a gotta-have-it product, but because there was nothing else to buy from Apple (had cash lined up during MacWorld Expo, but nothing came out of it), I decided to give this a try.

And I really like it. Apple has done a wonderful job with the user-interface.

Since I don't watch much TV, I buy whatever I do watch from iTunes. I lot of my media is managed by iTunes, which makes AppleTV perfect for streaming the whole shebang to my 120-inch home theater.

There is Tivo and there are PVRs built into cable and satellite receivers, so maybe one day we'll be able to tap into those hard drives (i.e. copy or sync their content into iTunes).

Additionally, I may rip some DVDs into iTunes, so lack of a DVD player doesn't sound like a bad thing. Just need a gigantic hard drive.

Finally I'm surprised that AppleTV, unlike iTunes, does not support internet radio. Eager to see what Version 2 of the software brings...

[synth3tik]

I am still going to center my new media center around a Mac Mini. I just like more flexibility. I would not have to convert movie formats to iTunes. I would be able to get eyeTV to include real TV within the unit. I could play games on it, and even boot to windows to play even more games. 1 unit+TV vs. A TV Apple TV, DVD player, CD player, Xbox or some other thing and Tvio.

[iBookG4user]

I would love to have an AppleTV, but alas I am not allowed to own a TV while living with my parents, so owning one would be rather pointless . But I have well over enough TV shows on my MacBook Pro to justify buying it if I did have a TV.