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HelixOmnimedia

macrumors 6502a
Jul 26, 2006
790
34
Traveling The World
I'd like to see more control over the music which can be played when showing a Photo Slideshow... right now it's just no music or Library with shuffle on or off.

Would like to select certain play lists.

As I play around with aTV more the list will grow. I'm sure everyone has got something that can be improved or suggestion for what could be added.
 

indraunt@gmail.

macrumors newbie
Mar 27, 2007
5
0
I don't want any rubbish like an integrated DVD Player - it just defeats the purpose of the devise. All I want is a refinement of the devise in its current form.
-Bigger HDD? Why? I don't see a point - I've not had one problem whatsoever simply streaming media from my mac. It can't really be used as a storage devise because of its syncing, so again - whats the point?
-More tag options in iTunes - Yeah, I know they'l be in iTunes 8, but I want my stars and directors credited dammit.
-An Apple Universal Remote - considering their track record for design, UI and otherwise, I think this'd be great... Although, considering the price of a good universal remote its doubtful I'd buy one.
-iTunes Store purchasing - would be handy to be sitting on the couch and all of a sudden get the desire ot watch a movie you haven't got - simple matter of selecting it, buying it, and watching it as it downloads.
-Music visualisation - perhaps using all your coverart or photos in it?
-Simple DVD ripping - iTunes does it for CDs, its high time it could do it for DVDs too.
-Along the lines of Joost and other emerging online TV options - an AppleTV accessable option. Would be nice if there was a 'Channel' option in the Sources list with wonderful stuff such as BBC broadcasts and whatnot.
 

Yvan256

macrumors 603
Jul 5, 2004
5,081
998
Canada
I only want these:
- letterboxing option for 4:3 televisions (the playback box should do it, not the viewing device)
- movies and TV shows in Canada (with reasonable prices)
- movie categories (I guess we can do it with playlists for now, but that's a workaround for a real problem)
- one-viewing-only of TV shows at a lower price (0.99$ would be nice)
- movies rental at a lower price (say, 4.99$)

Give me the first 3 and I'll be happy.
 

ctakim

macrumors 6502
Oct 12, 2006
310
0
Everything you all have already said and....

Synching with more than one computer! My photos are all over the home network!
 

snowmoon

macrumors 6502a
Oct 6, 2005
900
119
Albany, NY
Basic "fixes" the the AppleTV... things that should never have been allowed to slip by.

1) Enable 5.1 audio
2) Better resolution on downloads and free upgrades for media already purchased.
3) Something more than a 33GB drive ( usable space after formatting and OSX ) <- I'm actually waiting for the first lawsuit over the fact that 1/8 of the drive is consumed by the OS and that is not disclosed on much of the ads.
4) Better organization of video feeds.

What I would like to see

1) RSS/Web/Informational feeds
2) Better h.264 support ( I hope they will turn up more features like the 5.5 iPod ) cabac, 1080p, higher bitrates, ...
3) Games/Time wasters... we're not talking doom here, but simple games would be nice.
4) Enable a new more codecs / splitters for more content

Daydreaming

1) USB support for media already playable by the box ( mpeg-4/AVC )
2) USB support for DVD
3) Backup/Time Machine server
 

Forced Perfect

macrumors 6502
Jul 2, 2004
281
0
Toronto, Canada.
I posted most of these on another thread here the other day. But here are some more...

Audio
-Enabling the surround sound controller chip. Even though Apple doesn't sell content with it yet that doesn't mean it should be left out.
-AirTunes support to stream iTunes music from your Mac to your TV sound system.

Video
-A 4:3 output via composite so people with the right inputs can use it on a perfectly good TV which just doesn't happen to have a simulated 16:9 mode.
-Option to use a few of the normal Mac OS screen savers during audio playback/idle. I'm sure Apple would like promoting the ability to display useless (IMO) RSS feeds. :p

USB
-
Enable the USB 2.0 port for external hard drives.
-Possibly enable it for DVD-ROM drives. Just having the option is good even if it isn't the best way to get a DVD player in the world.

Misc
-Wireless router or at least a WDS repeater function. Routing might not be practical with the limited CPU while handling video but it would be nice to have a little boost to your network as a bonus for having an Apple TV.
-Network storage. Perhaps a simple interface to designate an external drive as shared storage - like an AirPort base. However not having 1000-BaseT kinda sucks.
-Address Book and iCal support. With proper options for privacy.
-iTunes purchasing support. This seems to be one of the most common requests.
-Xgrid? I know I'd use it. Sure it isn't an Xserve cluster node or a Mac Pro... but hey, everything helps a little!

I'd like to mention that pretty much everything I have listed can be enabled though software updates. Are you listening, Apple?

That's all I can come up with for now. Maybe when I finally get one I'll have more requests! As for things I don't want? BluRay, 1080p. Both should be dedicated hardware due to the complexity of the video format and processing power needed. DVR isn't something I much care about either. But I'm sure it'll be hacked on in no time.
 

HelixOmnimedia

macrumors 6502a
Jul 26, 2006
790
34
Traveling The World
I'm hoping Apple guys are reading this.

Uncle Steve's been known to visit, so if he comes here...

I'd like to know what size of harddrive is in Steve's AppleTV. or even the he showed at MacWorld.

I've got:
Movies
Pirates Caribbean 1, Gnome, Knick Knack, For The Birds
TV Show
America NT Model (4 eps)
Aquaman
Desperate Housewives (16 eps)
Veronica Mars (15eps)
Music
3.57gb
Podcast
500mb
Photo
400mb

And AppleTV says I've only got 2.30GB of free space.

Can this be right?
I saw a lot more content (music, movies, tv shows, podcasts) on the one showing at MacWorld.
 

indraunt@gmail.

macrumors newbie
Mar 27, 2007
5
0
I have over 80 movies (out of roughly 700 DVDs still to be converted...) and about 350 episodes of various shows, plus 4gigs of tunes and a few photos.
I don't care about the hdd in the appletv - its not there for storage. For me, it is simply a convenient way of organising my stuff into 'watched' and 'unwatched', which is really what I think the idea behind it is.
Streaming works brilliantly... I never even expected it to have a hdd in the first place. It could be there as a bit of a safety net - giving them bit of allowance for expansion later on.
It doesn't matter how big your library is in comparison to the appletv's hdd - if you have a good network (I don't have this new 'n' or whatever) then why do you want it to have a bigger drive? You can't use it for storage, because the instant you delete it from your computer the appletv will sync and remove it from its own... so... why?
 

Mr.A

macrumors newbie
Mar 28, 2007
10
0
Volume control can't be built in because that's part of the TV... the streaming media file gets a straight playback.

Forgive my ignorance, but why not? Does Sound Check not function in a similar fashion to a user-controlled volume?
------------------

My reasonable wish list:
- 5.1 audio
- Ditch the need to change sources. Show synced & available streaming libraries together (filtering out the duplicates).
- External HD support
- Separate playlists for each photo album.
- On-demand purchasing w/ some sort of "rental" option.
- iPod/First letter sorting for large libraries.
- More screensavers, themes, etc.
 

mommy

macrumors newbie
Sep 12, 2006
2
0
I love our Apple TV. It is just what we've needed for a long time. With that said, here is my wish list after using it for 4 days.

- Parental controls! I have a toddler. Tivo KidZone is a wonderful thing. I would like something analogous on the Apple TV - that is, to use content that hasn't been marked as "kid safe," you have to authenticate somehow. I know, the Apple remote doesn't have number keys to type a PIN. But there has to be something that can be done - even something as simple as being able to put kid-safe stuff under a separate menu.

- Video playlists. I have a big collection of short cartoons on DVD. I would love to rip them and put them on "shuffle" and have my own (good) cartoon network. I am sure the same goes for people who like music videos.

- Better photo browsing, with thumbnails like iPhoto or the iPod.

Thank you for asking/reading.
 

HelixOmnimedia

macrumors 6502a
Jul 26, 2006
790
34
Traveling The World
I love our Apple TV. It is just what we've needed for a long time. With that said, here is my wish list after using it for 4 days.

- Parental controls! I have a toddler. Tivo KidZone is a wonderful thing. I would like something analogous on the Apple TV - that is, to use content that hasn't been marked as "kid safe," you have to authenticate somehow. I know, the Apple remote doesn't have number keys to type a PIN. But there has to be something that can be done - even something as simple as being able to put kid-safe stuff under a separate menu.

- Video playlists. I have a big collection of short cartoons on DVD. I would love to rip them and put them on "shuffle" and have my own (good) cartoon network. I am sure the same goes for people who like music videos.

- Better photo browsing, with thumbnails like iPhoto or the iPod.

Thank you for asking/reading.

After playing with AppleTV for 24 hours now, I have to agree on all of your points.

I really hope the people at Apple are reading these.
 

chowdah

macrumors newbie
Mar 28, 2007
17
0
- video playlists especially useful for those of us with lots of video podcats... on iTunes I have smart playlists that show me the new stuff... those playlists get pushed to the :apple:TV ... but they're empty.

- Some audio podcasts (Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack, Infected, etc..) have enhanced features (embedded pictures)... :apple:TV should recognize this and do something fancy with it... right now I have to disable the album art screen saver to enjoy this content... :apple:TV should either add this embedded content into the screen saver... or have a new screen saver for it... or something...

- access to meta data for podcasts... I want to be able to read full descriptions and see meta data while the podcast is playing...

- option to separate audio and video podcasts into separate areas... with mixed podcasts showing up in both areas.

- when video wont be pushed to :apple:TV because of incompatibility... tell me what the deal is... what is the format of the video... (it looks like frakin' MPEG4 to me!!!!).... this is especially applicable when the freaking video plays in unmodified itunes...

- optionally sort podcasts by last updated...

- podcasts, podcasts, podcasts..... the future is podcasts...


-- oops... forgot to mention the bugs... had some lock ups... podcasts that don't play all the way through.. or lose video part way through... but play fine in iTunes... and there is an extremely annoying bug where it sometimes forgets where I was in a podcast... or refuses to acknowledge that I've completely watched something always showing it as "new" (little blue dot)...
 

Avatar74

macrumors 68000
Feb 5, 2007
1,608
402
- Parental controls! I have a toddler. Tivo KidZone is a wonderful thing. I would like something analogous on the Apple TV - that is, to use content that hasn't been marked as "kid safe," you have to authenticate somehow. I know, the Apple remote doesn't have number keys to type a PIN. But there has to be something that can be done - even something as simple as being able to put kid-safe stuff under a separate menu.

Parental controls are built into iTunes preferences. In iTunes 7, required for AppleTV, you can put a cap on the highest MPAA rating allowed to a user. This can be set differently for different user accounts.
 

FreeState

macrumors 68000
Jun 24, 2004
1,738
115
San Diego, CA
Some things I think we will get with a software update

Some things I think we will get with a software update.. this is all taken from the current iTunes language files...


Manage your ATV files manually:

"4309.061" = "Are you sure you want to manually manage music on your Apple TV? You will need to manually eject your Apple TV before it can be disconnected safely.";
"4309.062" = "Are you sure you want to manually manage music and videos on your Apple TV? You will need to manually eject your Apple TV before it can be disconnected safely.";
"4309.063" = "Are you sure you do not want to manually manage music on your Apple TV? All existing content on the Apple TV “^1” will be replaced with content from your iTunes library.";
"4309.064" = "Are you sure you do not want to manually manage music and videos on your Apple TV? All existing content on the Apple TV “^1” will be replaced with content from your iTunes library.";


Use the hard drive as a hard drive like an iPod can:

"4309.065" = "Enabling the Apple TV for disk use requires manually ejecting the Apple TV before each disconnect, even when automatically syncing music.";
"4309.066" = "The software required for communicating with the Apple TV is not installed correctly. Please reinstall iTunes to install the Apple TV’s software.";

Voice memos from your iPhone:

"4309.071" = "Voice Memos";
"4309.073" = "The Apple TV “^1” contains new voice memos. Would you like to move these voice memos to your iTunes library?";
"4309.074" = "Moving voice memos to your iTunes library…";


Syncing of contacts, calendars, nikeplus data


"4309.127" = "Syncing contacts on “^1”…";
"4309.128" = "Syncing calendars on “^1”…";
"4309.129" = "Sending workout data to nikeplus.com…";
"4309.130" = "Downloading Nike*+*iPod voice kit…";
"4309.131" = "Installing Nike*+*iPod voice kit…";
"4309.132" = "Syncing contacts and calendars on “^1”…";

Games:

"4309.161" = "Are you sure you want to sync games? All existing games on the Apple TV “^1” will be replaced with games from this iTunes library.";
"4309.162" = "Are you sure you do not want to sync games? All existing games on the Apple TV “^1” will be removed.";
"4309.163" = "Syncing games on “^1”…";

Purchasing directly from ATV:

"4309.194" = "The Apple TV “^1” was not erased and synced because some iTunes Store purchases were not transferred to this iTunes library.";
"4309.195" = "Waiting for Apple TV…";
 

brandon6684

Guest
Dec 30, 2002
538
0
Not so much aimed at the AppleTV itself, but more at the iTunes side, I just want good HD content from Apple, maybe even some kind of IPTV streaming.
 

charlie20003

macrumors newbie
Jan 10, 2007
2
0
USB Webcam & iChat support

Everyone here seems to bang on about the same things - essentially small tweaks. Support for external storage - that's just MORE storage, support for connecting an iPod - the video on your iPod is already on your Mac, support for buying from the iTunes store from the Apple TV - nice but hardly ground-breaking. Let's think outside the 'watching tv/listening to music on it' functionality!

The recent changes to iChat to allow qualified USB Webcams to work with it got me thinking (either a sign that there will be a new USB based iSight, or there definitely won't be one). Anyway - I'd like to see iChat (probably AV only) on the Apple TV - think of all those sci-fi movies where you have people chatting with their mom via the living room tv.
 
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