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ortuno2k

macrumors 6502a
Nov 4, 2005
645
0
Hollywood, FL
Yea I also don't see what the big hype is.
I have no use for one. I still have a standard, non-hd, non-flat "CRT-type" Sony TV which works great.
 

bagleyb

macrumors member
Dec 14, 2005
41
0
I have an HD camcorder that I'd like to be able to edit content on my iMac, and then play back on my HDTV. :apple: TV makes that possible for a relatively small amount of money.

It sure beats editing, sending it back to tape and hooking the camera up to the TV.
 

izzle22

macrumors 65816
Jul 13, 2004
1,252
811
Kansas City, MO
Yea I also don't see what the big hype is.
I have no use for one. I still have a standard, non-hd, non-flat "CRT-type" Sony TV which works great.


Well. Must be enough hype for all you people who think it's useless to keep reading all these posts and talking about how useless it is. If you think it's useless then move on to a rumor that interests you more and stop complaining. Alot of people still think iPods are useless but they still continue to sell.
 

Avatar74

macrumors 68000
Feb 5, 2007
1,605
401
Yea I also don't see what the big hype is.
I have no use for one. I still have a standard, non-hd, non-flat "CRT-type" Sony TV which works great.

There's no point to the above statement other than to parade your personal indifference toward/dislike of the concept as a material flaw in the product design. The two are not the same.

There is a difference between one's personal preferences/needs and the overall usability of a product.

The "hype" is over a product that happens to be extremely useful to certain types of customers. Maybe you're not one of them. Simple as that.
 

qrayg

macrumors member
Feb 19, 2007
50
7
Earth
Well. Must be enough hype for all you people who think it's useless to keep reading all these posts and talking about how useless it is. If you think it's useless then move on to a rumor that interests you more and stop complaining. Alot of people still think iPods are useless but they still continue to sell.

The AppleTV concept is awesome. The only thing that is useless is that it probably won't have the ability to add your own codecs like you can with a mini. I have a ton of Movies and TV shows that are in AVI or Divx. If AppleTV only plays iTunes content, then it is pretty useless. For a few hundred more $ you can buy a mini and play virtually anything on your TV.

We'll all know for sure in a couple of days whether it's useless or not.
 

izzle22

macrumors 65816
Jul 13, 2004
1,252
811
Kansas City, MO
The AppleTV concept is awesome. The only thing that is useless is that it probably won't have the ability to add your own codecs like you can with a mini. I have a ton of Movies and TV shows that are in AVI or Divx. If AppleTV only plays iTunes content, then it is pretty useless. For a few hundred more $ you can buy a mini and play virtually anything on your TV.

We'll all know for sure in a couple of days whether it's useless or not.


In a couple of days????? I already KNOW it's not useless. It streams music and photos from my computer without me having to run up and down stairs all night long. It's worth $400 just for that IMO. Oh it also streams movies and podcasts. Oh it's wireless too. Oh shoot a 40gb hard drive thrown in also. And I almost forgot it's made by Apple.
 

Avatar74

macrumors 68000
Feb 5, 2007
1,605
401
For me, appletv will be the flop of the year. I hope I am wrong anyway.
I was hoping that it would work like the airtunes (wireless router + itunes stream)... NO
I was hoping that it would work the same way as "Front Row"... NO

Why not? WHY WHY WHY!!!???

I don't know if you've noticed but AirPort Express DOES NOT act as an AirTunes access point AND a router simultaneously, either. It's either-or... You can switch configurations but it can only do one or the other at any given time.

As for Front Row... how does it not work like Front Row? You can access photos, music, videos and movies with it.

Also, there are detriments to burdening the AppleTV's bandwidth with other wireless traffic that has nothing to do with serving content to the one home entertainment system to which it's physically connected... ESPECIALLY given the high-bandwidth applications such as 720p streaming.
 

Avatar74

macrumors 68000
Feb 5, 2007
1,605
401
For a few hundred more $ you can buy a mini and play virtually anything on your TV.

For nothing more you can re-rip your content to H.264 and mount it to the well-organized iTunes library instead of relying on the plethora of hacky, crap-ass codecs that exist out there.

What you gain for taking the time to do so is the usability of the AppleTV user interface, the fidelity of H.264, and the ability to access and experience your network's content from your living room.

That's a big net gain, whereas your Mac Mini solution incurs a net loss just to allow superior hardware to access inferior media.
 

operaman

macrumors newbie
Feb 19, 2007
3
0
Originally Posted by Avatar74
Why?

Because I want to connect this...



To this...


Without this...
Ok Avatar, I did laugh my head off with your pictures....however, to those of us with laptops we can easily carry our laptop into the room of our tv and plug one or two wires into my tv and voila....I have itv. Certainly not the additional storage, but I also have a back-up drive for that stuff with wireless access. Your pictures, however, are classic, funny, and certainly apply to your situation. Thanks for responding!:rolleyes:
 

Peace

Cancelled
Apr 1, 2005
19,546
4,556
Space The Only Frontier
Ok Avatar, I did laugh my head off with your pictures....however, to those of us with laptops we can easily carry our laptop into the room of our tv and plug ONE wire into my tv and voila....I have itv. Certainly not the additional storage, but I also have a back-up drive for that stuff with wireless access. Your pictures, however, are classic, funny, and certainly apply to your situation. Thanks for responding!:rolleyes:

Unless you have a laptop that has HDMI out you're gonna need more than one wire.
 

operaman

macrumors newbie
Feb 19, 2007
3
0
Unless you have a laptop that has HDMI out you're gonna need more than one wire.

ok two. I would plug in quite a few to not pay $299.....but I suppose for those with desktop computers, it would be better...I have been watching tv shows and movies via my laptop for a year now plugged right into my video projector with one wire and yes, my second wire plugs into my sound port. The picture is clearer than my tivo. and it take two seconds to plug it in. No mess no fuss. Suddenly Apple wants me to pay to avoid plugging in my laptop. I still love apple (I have five operational macs at home already)...
 

DaveTheGrey

macrumors 6502a
Dec 28, 2003
616
2
Why?

Because I want to connect this...

To this...

Without this...

I had the same idea, but what about AC3 aka Dolby Digital? I didn't spent thousands of Euros for a Home Theatre Sound System to watch DVD rips with streamed stereo sound...
 

DMann

macrumors 601
Jan 13, 2002
4,001
0
10023
Mini = True HDTV

As long as I can't stream DVDs to the Apple TV it is not more than a paperweight for me... and for that purpose it is a little bit too expensive... ;)

groovebuster

:apple: TV or mini or both? AppleTV is cool, but it's not very feature rich and it's only 720p :(
A mini could be used instead and is only a few hundred more. The mini can browse the internet, act as a PVR, play true HD content, ect.

And what about FrontRow? It seemed surprising to me that Apple created a different interface for the AppleTV. It makes me wonder if they are still going to use the mini or create a branded miniTV that has more advanced features like I mentioned above? Or will they just leave it up to users to figure that out.

I want an AppleTV that can stream my desktop not just iTunes stuff.

The Mini would be the way to go in terms of HDTivo equivalent, Miglia HDTV, and\or
playing DVDs, DivX, Quicktime, VCD, Avi, Disc Images of all kinds, TV downloads, Web
broadcast scheduling, etc. Pop in a 160Gig HD, and you're set with a true HD media center,
gaming center, web-browser, not to mention, a great personal computer. Forget streaming;
download what you want directly from the Web or watch HD DVDs, DivX, etc. directly. Surely,
:apple:TV will eventually evolve with the advent of Leopard, Blu-Ray, availability of HD content,
and new codecs.
We're watchin'...:cool:
 

izzle22

macrumors 65816
Jul 13, 2004
1,252
811
Kansas City, MO
Ok Avatar, I did laugh my head off with your pictures....however, to those of us with laptops we can easily carry our laptop into the room of our tv and plug one or two wires into my tv and voila....I have itv. Certainly not the additional storage, but I also have a back-up drive for that stuff with wireless access. Your pictures, however, are classic, funny, and certainly apply to your situation. Thanks for responding!:rolleyes:

OK for those of you with laptops you're gonna have to plug it in to your tv every time you want to do this and put it where? On the floor? Or next to the TV? Whatever. I don't want a laptop plugged into my tv all the time or the inconvenience of unplugging and plugging in all the time. tv is a nice inexpensive alternative and its small enough to sit right on top of my dvd player out of sight(allmost) By the way my wife wouldn't be too happy if I take her Macbook Pro away from her everytime I want to watch a movie or look at photos on the tv.
 

twelve8dotnet

macrumors newbie
Feb 18, 2007
2
0
Gotta love it

good stuff. about time. big ol' <a href="http://www.thumbwarz.com/index.phtml?snum=4&sterm=Apple%20TV&sims=-&apost=">thumbs up to Apple TV</a>
 

bretm

macrumors 68000
Apr 12, 2002
1,951
27
I had the same idea, but what about AC3 aka Dolby Digital? I didn't spent thousands of Euros for a Home Theatre Sound System to watch DVD rips with streamed stereo sound...

I think the appleTV is cool and I see a perfectly good point for it. It's price, as always with Apple, is controversial. But Apple provides the best products at a premium. Not just function, but ease of use, interface, form, etc.

All that said, I can't see why anyone would rip their DVDs with handbrake to put them into the system. The only reason I buy DVDs is for the menus, interface, extra content, extra audio content, and all that. Doesn't ripping them destroy the whole DVD experience? For the same reason I don't buy movies on the internet. They're lacking in extras.
 

Perus01

macrumors newbie
Feb 19, 2007
1
0
What he said.My video library is quit large and ive been converting them for about a month now.

Folks might also want to know that if you have an Elgato product it will work with the :apple: TV and iTunes.

It seems that you've been working in vain. There's already a hack to play almost any format on Apple TV without re-encoding all your library. Get a load of this:

http://filmnut.vox.com/
 
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