I am using the term sync incorrectly. When I say sync I mean that the Apple tv sees all the content in my library and allows me to stream.
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I hate the new Apple TV
- Thread starter TheCheapGeek
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I am using the term sync incorrectly. When I say sync I mean that the Apple tv sees all the content in my library and allows me to stream.
Something else I also wanted to add. I played with airplay last night and the ability to shoot Pandora, safari, or any third party app is pretty amazing and when video shows up it will be even better.
So now if I think of the new Apple tv as a 99$ iOS to TV adapter I feel much better about keeping it.
So now if I think of the new Apple tv as a 99$ iOS to TV adapter I feel much better about keeping it.
Isn't this how the Apple TV is being positioned by Apple? "If it's on your iOS device it's on your TV."
Yeah I guess that is how they are marketing it, but I went in thinking the first iteration of the iOS Apple TV would be just as good as the third iteration of the tiger based Apple TV.
So its just an iOS to HDMI adapter for 99$
It's primarily for streaming content from external services. It seems the people who are most disappointed in it are people with large personal media collections and people with inadequate networks. It might not be the right device for those people.
I have a large personal media collection "600 +" (IMHO) and it works great for me.
I have the files in an EXT 4TB drive and so far it has worked great.
I think if you buy the ATV2 for what it is and forget about the first version it is a great device for $99.00
I'm not saying it won't work for people with a lot of personal media, it does. I have a few files (nothing near what you have) on an external, too, and watch them with no issues. It just seems like the people who complain the most on these forums are people deep into collecting media and perhaps have fine-tuned the Handbrake settings to the point where they may not be compatible with the new ATV iOS (that's just a wild guess on my part). Maybe it would be better to say "the people who were used to how the old ATV worked and don't want to adapt to the new version". I'm not trying to insult anyone. Just trying to make sense of why some people are unhappy and some people, like myself, think it's great and haven't had one second of issues.
No insult taken.
I did not have the first Gen ATV, i am starting from scratch on my encoding.
I was looking for a HTPC soultion and so far the ATV2 is great for us. The UI is so easy that the wife and kids picked it up and actually use it all the time now. I bought a second 1 for the family room and we have now dropped cable.
I have about 200 of my DVD's encoded for the ATV and work on a few more each night.
I did not have the first Gen ATV, i am starting from scratch on my encoding.
I was looking for a HTPC soultion and so far the ATV2 is great for us. The UI is so easy that the wife and kids picked it up and actually use it all the time now. I bought a second 1 for the family room and we have now dropped cable.
I have about 200 of my DVD's encoded for the ATV and work on a few more each night.
I have the old Apple TV and like this new setup with the new Apple TV. I hope my feedback that everything is great works for Apple too.
I just dont see logical reaseons why features were removed but as it is the old apple tv is suited much more toward people like me with TB of media hanging off a computer on the network.
Rubbish... If more than one computer is streaming then the 'Computers' menu should be used to select which computer to browse for content, or even better which computer's content to display at that particular time.
The new appleTV sounds like a step back wards in terms of interface to me, which is why i am holding off on buying one myself... and keeping my Dad's 1st gen at my house until i do finally get one.
I caved and purchased a new v2 instead of the refurb old model I have on the way. I haven't had time to plug in the new one yet. What shifted my opinion was finding that it did have the "floating" screen saver that we use every time we have company. The second was that you don't need to navigate media through "my computers", rather I can use the remote.app on my iPhone or iPad, pick something on my iMac and play it directly to the Apple TV. I still think from a stand alone device perspective that having all your personal media under "my computers" instead of under music, movies, tv and photos as the old model does is clumsy. But I seldom use the menus, so using the remote.app in this way will solve my problems I think. And Airplay / future options make the new model the smarter buy I have concluded.
FWIW, when I was a web designer, I took courses in interface design. One of the things we learned was you always avoid making people go backwards in a process to get to where they want to go. IMO, seems like the new ATV's management of multiple streaming sources does this better than the old one.
From what I understand, with the old ATV you had to go into Sources, choose the computer you want to read content from, BACK UP to the main menu, go to Movies (or TV or Music, etc.) and choose My whatever to get to the content on that computer. Do I have that process right?
On the new ATV, to view content you own you simply go to Computers, choose the desired computer and choose what content you want to play. All forward clicking within one pathway.
Sounds much simpler to me. Yes, the old interface might be a little better for people with only one source but the new interface works better for a typical family where each member has their own stuff they want to access. BTW- I'm single and still think it makes sense to have local content categorized differently than online content.
From what I understand, with the old ATV you had to go into Sources, choose the computer you want to read content from, BACK UP to the main menu, go to Movies (or TV or Music, etc.) and choose My whatever to get to the content on that computer. Do I have that process right?
On the new ATV, to view content you own you simply go to Computers, choose the desired computer and choose what content you want to play. All forward clicking within one pathway.
Sounds much simpler to me. Yes, the old interface might be a little better for people with only one source but the new interface works better for a typical family where each member has their own stuff they want to access. BTW- I'm single and still think it makes sense to have local content categorized differently than online content.
I am one of the users with only one library. And from what I have seen in my testing, and others seem to have verified through posts on the matter, playing through the "my computers" menu does not get recorded in your play history. Shows and movies do not get marked as watched. If I play a song it will not index the "last played" or play counter. I use those items in my smart playlists to help keep the content on my iPhone fresh. I could be wrong on this functionality, but what I have tested with "home sharing" to my Mac Mini, it is true. So for me, the old interface was far superior. I do see your point if each member of the family has their own library. My wife and I have only 1 library and our children are too young.
I do feel that the Airtunes and Airplay options as I mentioned above will give me the functionality I am after. Plus the opportunity for future changes with the new model means they may bring back these interface options for someone with 1 library along with other more powerful functionality. But I thought on the old unit you could still go under "my computer" and browse in the same way. I don't think you needed to change your library. Again, I could be wrong because I never tried it.
I do feel that the Airtunes and Airplay options as I mentioned above will give me the functionality I am after. Plus the opportunity for future changes with the new model means they may bring back these interface options for someone with 1 library along with other more powerful functionality. But I thought on the old unit you could still go under "my computer" and browse in the same way. I don't think you needed to change your library. Again, I could be wrong because I never tried it.
I have heard of some disconnects between "watched/unwatched" and play counts between the ATV and iTunes. The tv shows and movies on my hard drive do successfully change to "watched" in the ATV menu because I have figured out how long I have to watch into the credits to get it to work. I don't really use any other tallies but from what other people have said, there definitely is some communication that isn't happening from the ATV to the device that's doing the streaming. Seems to be more of a one-way communication stream and the challenge is to send information back upstream so that everything knows what has happened. I can see this would be annoying to people who rely on "watched/unwatched" or play counts for things. Be sure to let Apple know you want a fix.
I've just recently purchased (as of last weekend) an Apple TV 2.
I never had a 'first-generation' Apple TV, the price for some reason always put me off.
I got it home, plugged it in (a few minutes) fired it up, it saw both iTunes libraries we have in the house (on two separate machines) allows us - logically, I think - to select a library then browse its contents, and select something to play.
As I say, I never had an "original" Apple TV, but the organisation and the operation of this Mk2 version "just works" for me, and at £99, it's an absolute snip.
It's worth that so I don't have to drag my Mac downstairs and plug it in to the TV every time I want to watch something!
I never had a 'first-generation' Apple TV, the price for some reason always put me off.
I got it home, plugged it in (a few minutes) fired it up, it saw both iTunes libraries we have in the house (on two separate machines) allows us - logically, I think - to select a library then browse its contents, and select something to play.
As I say, I never had an "original" Apple TV, but the organisation and the operation of this Mk2 version "just works" for me, and at £99, it's an absolute snip.
It's worth that so I don't have to drag my Mac downstairs and plug it in to the TV every time I want to watch something!
No, on the old ATV you had a category called "movies" (for example), and one of the subcategories was your movies, while other subcategories represented the apple store and so forth. All movies, whether they were your own or possible rentals or purchases, were in one column, all tv shows in another, all music in a third, and so forth. At some point, Apple mercifully made the default under movies my movies rather than the apple store.
On the new ATV, movies to rent are in one category, as are TV shows to rent, and so forth. If you want to buy, you have to go to your computer. The default is movies to rent. If you want to get to your own stuff, you have to navigate to computers, choose the computer you want to link to, then choose music, movies, tv, or podcasts, and then choose what you want. The new system involves a lot more clicking to get to your own stuff.
The only way around this is to use the remote app, which also happens to be the best choice if you have a large collection, as I do.
No, you missed my point. What you describe for the old ATV is when you only have one computer source. I was talking about when you have more than one computer streaming, like when a family is using it. In that case, you have to go under Sources first to tell it what computer's content to use and back out again. Like I said, if there is only one computer, the old ATV organization may work better for that person. For the modern family or people with roommates, it's less convenient.
![sources2.jpg]()
No, you missed my point. What you describe for the old ATV is when you only have one computer source. I was talking about when you have more than one computer streaming, like when a family is using it. In that case, you have to go under Sources first to tell it what computer's content to use and back out again. Like I said, if there is only one computer, the old ATV organization may work better for that person. For the modern family or people with roommates, it's less convenient.
I stand corrected. Still, there ought to be fewer clicks in it in either system, such as a way to choose the default category. There also ought to be a way to link all home-sharing computers into one list so that you don't have to remember which computer has which file.
Well I set up the new box tonight. Works as I had it figured in my head. I use remote app to go to my iTunes library, play to the Apple TV as remote speakers. That gives me most of the functionality I want. I still can't play music videos and tally play count, but that's minor. I like the screen saver options, though I'm still using the floating. I think once AirPlay is fully working, I'll just be streaming from my iPhone or my iPad. Though I'm concerned about being able to do that and still do other things on those devices while they are streaming.
So while I'm not as comfortable with it as I would be if they left the library setup like it was on the old box, I think I'll get used to the new one. Now I've got all the functions of it and possible future expansion options. And I'm not burning 18 watts and frying eggs, in standby. I hear 23 watts when you are using it...
When you design a product, it's really hard to make everyone happy so choices need to be made to make the most people happy. If users really wanted all their content together, they could just sync with each other or put all their content on one external drive and call it the media center. Honestly, if I had a kid who was heavily into Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and every known Barney and Disney video, I really wouldn't want to wade through all their stuff to get to what I want. Most people know what's on their iTunes so I don't think figuring out who has what is that big of an issue. But that's just me. Or how about when mom and dad have R-rated movies they don't want the kids to watch? Just easier to keep things separate.
Atv2 streaming.
Hi guys, I haven't really been lucky in finding an answer to my question on any forum so far (perhaps because it's a silly one) but I need to have this cleared up in my mind: When you say "streaming TV shows to the Atv2", does this mean that I have to have my MacBook switched on with iTunes launched ???
If the answer is yes then I might as well use a $19 DVI cable to connect my MacBook directly to the TV to watch anything without the stutter... ?
And I'd really appreciate your take on this:
I've got around 750 GB of iTunes movies (most of which are on an external HD) and it has become too frustrating for me to keep switching the movies between my MacBook and the external HD, and then sync my "150GB-max" mix to the Atv. I always prefer to use the Atv as a stand-alone device. I also have a Solid State drive in my MacBook (which limits my HD space). I have concluded that staying with the Atv1 is a better solution than switching to Atv2. Is my reasoning justified ?
(I'm thinking the only better solution would be to have an Atv3 that can connect to an Apple TV server (like the MobileMe concept) where all movie/music/shows purchases are stored and accessible "over-the-air" !)
Thanks all !
Hi guys, I haven't really been lucky in finding an answer to my question on any forum so far (perhaps because it's a silly one) but I need to have this cleared up in my mind: When you say "streaming TV shows to the Atv2", does this mean that I have to have my MacBook switched on with iTunes launched ???
If the answer is yes then I might as well use a $19 DVI cable to connect my MacBook directly to the TV to watch anything without the stutter... ?
And I'd really appreciate your take on this:
I've got around 750 GB of iTunes movies (most of which are on an external HD) and it has become too frustrating for me to keep switching the movies between my MacBook and the external HD, and then sync my "150GB-max" mix to the Atv. I always prefer to use the Atv as a stand-alone device. I also have a Solid State drive in my MacBook (which limits my HD space). I have concluded that staying with the Atv1 is a better solution than switching to Atv2. Is my reasoning justified ?
(I'm thinking the only better solution would be to have an Atv3 that can connect to an Apple TV server (like the MobileMe concept) where all movie/music/shows purchases are stored and accessible "over-the-air" !)
Thanks all !
Yes, this may be the best solution for you.
If you are looking at the Apple TV just to stream your own media (Netflix isn't an issue for example), and it is an option to just plug in your MacBook then you will likely find that the Apple TV doesn't give you any benefits over doing that.
As I see it, for streaming your own content, the Apple TV is best for situations where your computer with the iTunes library is not near the TV you want to watch it on, or if you want to stream that content to multiple TV's.
From reading various boards it seems that lots of people in your position have bought an Apple TV and are now wondering exactly what it is for. If plugging your MacBook into the TV is easy enough then you probably don't need an Apple TV.