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Getting ready to buy; 40 or 160gb????
- Thread starter Bickity
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I never found a reason to get a bigger hard drive. The only thing I use the HD for is like an ipod, when I go to someone's house I load it up with some movies and hook it up to their tv. Other than that, i just stream it, and it works fine on my 'g' network. I do not know what take two has in store, but that is how i use it now.
Just got my 40gig this past sunday. I love it! While 160gig would be nice, the 40gig is just fine because you can stream all your movies anyway. I put all my music on the apple tv hd and stream my movies. Another $100 for the 160gig was out of my price range. Apple snagged me with the $229 price drop.
The principal advantage of larger hard drive is that you can sync more content to it, thus reducing the bandwidth load for others using computers on your network. You also don't need to have your Macs on if the content is sync'd to the ATV. Also provides less stuttering on ff/rew.
My wife and I picked up a 160 gig model, and we're glad we did. Sure, you can stream video from a computer (and it works really, really well) but often we just want to turn on the TV and watch something without getting up, going to a computer, and setting things up to stream. Having 160 gigs (145 actual gigs) of video helps.
Plus, here's a tip: load up your computer's iTunes with as much video as it can hold, sync it to the Apple TV, then delete the videos in the Finder (NOT iTunes, that will remove the files from Apple TV as well). This will keep the videos on Apple TV and free up your computer's drive for more videos. Rinse & repeat until you've loaded up Apple TV.
Long story short, I'd go with 160 gigs if you can.
Plus, here's a tip: load up your computer's iTunes with as much video as it can hold, sync it to the Apple TV, then delete the videos in the Finder (NOT iTunes, that will remove the files from Apple TV as well). This will keep the videos on Apple TV and free up your computer's drive for more videos. Rinse & repeat until you've loaded up Apple TV.
Long story short, I'd go with 160 gigs if you can.
Does this not freak out iTunes later when you open it and suddenly it can't find files?
Only gotchas I've found are: you get a little "!" next to the file in iTunes, and if you Get Info on the file or try to play it, iTunes tells you it can't find the file and asks if you'd like to go find it now. Also, you lose whatever pretty preview icon the file may have originally had, so a bunch of these files in coverflow looks ugly.
Second, if you're using your Apple TV and you switch from the Apple TV to the content on your computer, and you try to play these "missing" movies that both your computer and aTV think are in iTunes, Apple TV restarts or asks you to restart. So, don't try and play files you've deleted in iTunes from your Apple TV.
Long story short, if you do this "trick" just leave the files alone from then on, no problems. I don't know if the upcoming Apple TV update will change anything, but I doubt it. iTunes updates haven't caused any hiccups or caused the Apple TV to delete anything. Also, after you do the trick you can delete the "missing" files in iTunes and free up more space on the Apple TV with no trouble.
It doesn't matter if the files are iTunes purchases, your own rips, whatever. Just be sure your stuff is backed up before you go deleting it after a sync, 'cause you can't get it back from the Apple TV once it's on there.
But that's it! It works very nicely, no sweat.
Second, if you're using your Apple TV and you switch from the Apple TV to the content on your computer, and you try to play these "missing" movies that both your computer and aTV think are in iTunes, Apple TV restarts or asks you to restart. So, don't try and play files you've deleted in iTunes from your Apple TV.
Long story short, if you do this "trick" just leave the files alone from then on, no problems. I don't know if the upcoming Apple TV update will change anything, but I doubt it. iTunes updates haven't caused any hiccups or caused the Apple TV to delete anything. Also, after you do the trick you can delete the "missing" files in iTunes and free up more space on the Apple TV with no trouble.
It doesn't matter if the files are iTunes purchases, your own rips, whatever. Just be sure your stuff is backed up before you go deleting it after a sync, 'cause you can't get it back from the Apple TV once it's on there.
But that's it! It works very nicely, no sweat.
So... this is basically a solution for someone with very limited computer hard drive space, who can't afford to keep all of the content on their computer and simply stream the data to a 40GB
TV. Correct?For anyone asking the question, I would go for the 40GB and stream. There will be a time when 160GB will not even be enough as your content collection grows.
In my case, I passed that once I started converting my DVD collection, subscribed to a few TV shows, and a load of HD podcasts.
The only thing the device will not stream is photos, but i doubt anyone would exceed 40GB worth.
Streaming works just fine. I do it over WiFi. It will take 2 seconds to start vs. starting instantly. If there is content you insist on loading fast, you could selectively sync content...
The only case i would suggest a 160GB unit if you insist on downloading content directly to the device through the on board ITMS -- OR -- you do not have a desktop running 24/7 to serve the content and you intend on syncing more than 40GB.
In my case, I passed that once I started converting my DVD collection, subscribed to a few TV shows, and a load of HD podcasts.
The only thing the device will not stream is photos, but i doubt anyone would exceed 40GB worth.
Streaming works just fine. I do it over WiFi. It will take 2 seconds to start vs. starting instantly. If there is content you insist on loading fast, you could selectively sync content...
The only case i would suggest a 160GB unit if you insist on downloading content directly to the device through the on board ITMS -- OR -- you do not have a desktop running 24/7 to serve the content and you intend on syncing more than 40GB.
So... this is basically a solution for someone with very limited computer hard drive space, who can't afford to keep all of the content on their computer and simply stream the data to a 40GB
Yep, pretty much. I have way more video than I can fit on my main computer, and I like (with the odd exception) to just turn on Apple TV and find everything I want to watch there. That my computer's hard drive isn't loaded up with video is a plus, too.
I used to be on the 40GB-I-can-just-stream-to-it bandwagon but since owning the Apple TV I wish I would have gotten the bigger drive. I now want to put as big as a drive as it can take in it. The way I look at it is that if I have everything copied to it, I can easily take it to a friends house. I looked at it as, "That little Apple TV device IS my video library".. I'll outgrow a 160GB hard drive, but I can probably get a good portion of my favorite movies and TV shows on it.
Why would you need to get up and go anywhere? You should be able to just change sources with your remote and stream away like I do. It is basically flawless with N, I had some problems when I was still on G.
I bought my ATV on day one so 160 was not an option. But If I were buying today, I would not recomend 160gb. This is Jobs we're talking about, you can bet your server that 250gb, 500gb etc. are on there way probably @ the time of the 3g iphone announcement or shortly thereafter.
my $ .02
I also encourage you to get the largest HDD if your iTunes computer is not always on. TV streams pretty fast but that's no use if you're computer is off and you have to go into the other room to turn it on and load iTunes.
If you want yourTV to be a standalone, self reliant device, go with the bigger drive. I suspect we'll see Apple offering a 250GB drive if the new strategy takes off and more people adhere to the TV idea.
TV streams pretty fast but that's no use if you're computer is off and you have to go into the other room to turn it on and load iTunes. If you want your
TV to be a standalone, self reliant device, go with the bigger drive. I suspect we'll see Apple offering a 250GB drive if the new strategy takes off and more people adhere to the TV idea.
Ahh yes. I forget that not everyone has a dedicated media rig that is always on - with itunes ready to serve-up all over the house/network like I do. Funny, it hadn't even occured to me. Durr.
I am getting the 160.
I figure 160 will be large enough until the warranty runs out than I can put something else in there!
I thought it over and used the same logic I use when buying a welder.
" It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it "
Besides that, my ...
iPhoto Library alone is 54.37 GB
iTunes Library alone is 19.2 GB ( and I have removed all but 3 movies! - when all the movies I have so far are on it goes over 89 GB )
Now mind you, I do not intend to 'sync' every movie, because there are some the kids should not see! But 'those' movies are relatively few.
I figure 160 will be large enough until the warranty runs out than I can put something else in there!
I thought it over and used the same logic I use when buying a welder.
" It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it "
Besides that, my ...
iPhoto Library alone is 54.37 GB
iTunes Library alone is 19.2 GB ( and I have removed all but 3 movies! - when all the movies I have so far are on it goes over 89 GB )
Now mind you, I do not intend to 'sync' every movie, because there are some the kids should not see!
But 'those' movies are relatively few.
I'm a university student and at the end of June/early July, I am moving into a new student house with my best mate. I was planning on buying a 32" LCD TV and a 160GB Apple TV, but then I found that in the UK, we don't get movie rentals, and we don't get many TV shows either, so is it worth me buying one?
I'm in the same situation as you. I'm from Canada and i'm not expecting any movies or shows anytime soon. As i read through this thread (and others), many with 40Gb models stream and don't have a problem. Those with 160Gb models, download the content on it and don't have any problems. So in the end, it depends how you'll set up.
Now, if it's worth getting one? Ya, why not. Do you have a bunch of DVDs lying around? Do you rent movies often? Do you have other ways to get movies?...So then you're set! All you gotta do is ___ , ___ , and watch!
Oh and...
When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE!!!
