Going digital.

[Tech198]

Hi all..

Just wondering i've got a bunch of movies i'd like to play on my HDTV.. (or take it over to mates place and connect it up). I'm after, mostly, and all in one "hard drive" i guess would be best, so we could just flip through for stuff to watch, while i also looking for potability so i can view them "in flights" (eg. on holidays)

I currently have an 16Gig Iphone, and thinking of maybe getting an Apple TV (1st generation), for the TV stuff... Thing is.. i would want to carry all movies round with me, not just the few "best" if possible, so i'm not sure weather 16Gig would be enough.

In any case, would these two be good or anyone have any other options?

As for connectivity, I have HDMI cable and AV component kit for IPhone.

What do you guys use?

 

[r0k]

Our cable box died and I picked up a Roku to see if it might allow us to ditch cable. I took it back the next day. I also considered Apple TV (current gen) but I don't have any movies in iTunes right now. We have a Mac Mini within 12 feet of the main TV in the family room. For now, I'm considering simply running a vga cable over to the Mini. It's an older Mini with mini DVI and not display port. One of our TV HDMI inputs will accept DVI over an HDMI cable so I might give that a try as well.

With a "real computer" for watching TV, we can get netflix, hulu, and so on. I also considered a $250 Linux box that's about the size of a Mac Mini as a HTPC but decided to simply use the Mini. I just need a vga splitter and a 1080p monitor for the mini so both vga's are the same resolution.

In your situation, I'm not sure what to suggest. I'm surprised you want a 1st gen Apple TV. Is it for the internal drive space? A typical movie, ripped with handbrake for iPad takes up about a gig of space. You mention a 16 gig device. I have a 16 gig iPad and I don't think I'd put movies on it. If I had a 64 gig iPad, I could bring myself to dump movies on it but for now I'll just live with streaming.

 

[Tech198]

space

Yep... Mainly, its for drive space, but also for convenience, as i use a MBP.

While it may not always be on, which is why i thought of the 1st generation apple tv, you do have more space on current HD, I have 500 Gig Sata in my mbp.

Since the current Apple TV is small anyway, that might be good enough to take over to mates place as i take my mac over anyway...

As for iphone streaming, that sounds good, but i still have the possibly to space.. but i'll might try anyway.

Either way, i'll go for the apple tv current generation...