Possible New Apple TVs

[xArtx]

Pretty much, all it is could be replaced with an adapter that doesn't need to be connected to a router.
It doesn't do anything you couldn't already have done with your iPad/iPhone plugged into your TV.
It sure offers convenience being plugged into your TV all the time, but that doesn't make it great.

 

[Donka]

So would anyone get an Apple TV now? Bearing in mind I already can stream my photos, music and movies etc. from my iMac, iPhone and iPad, is it really worth waiting for a new one considering I can get a refurbished model on the Online Store for £75?

All depends on whether Apple open it up it third party apps. If not then the current model is all you currently need with Bluetooth support and 1080p output.

 

[priitv8]

Yes, most of it is in MKVs with multiple audio streams and subtitles. Great to have stuff ripped along with commentaries etc.

Indeed, luckily AppleTV/iTunes can handle this as well. Natively.

I have tried Beamer but to be honest it is a clumsy option. It involves having to be in OSX to use.

True. But I use it only occasionally. I don't mind having all my media library in a single format. The QC i7 converts FullHD in real time (1h of video in 1h or at about 24fps), so no biggie. And nowadays, you can pretty much get anything already prepped in AppleTV format.

Both Plex and XBMC are fantastic ways to manage a large media collection. Using either of them will show just how poor the Apple TV is in comparison.

Using either you just point them at your media library and they will organise it for you. They will play anything you have without having to do anything. They will download cover art and fan art making everything look fantastic. You can browse everything from the sofa.

I tried XBMC (And NitoTV) on my jailbroken AppleTV 1st gen, but it is nowhere a lean solution. The windows-like UI and networking bothered me even more. So I gave up.
Never tried Plex yet, will be checking it out.

 

[Crazy Badger]

I've been toying with the an upgrade to my aTV2 (now that PlexConnect can be used instead of a jailbreak) as 1080p would be nice along with keeping the device updated, and not running older version to keep the jailbreak.

If they added 801.2ac I'd be on one in a shot and might be able to do away with the powerline adapters

 

[Donka]

I've been toying with the an upgrade to my aTV2 (now that PlexConnect can be used instead of a jailbreak) as 1080p would be nice along with keeping the device updated, and not running older version to keep the jailbreak.

If they added 801.2ac I'd be on one in a shot and might be able to do away with the powerline adapters

Never had any problems streaming 1080p over wifi with my ATV3. 801.11n should be more than quick enough.

 

[7709876]

Indeed, luckily AppleTV/iTunes can handle this as well. Natively.
True. But I use it only occasionally. I don't mind having all my media library in a single format. The QC i7 converts FullHD in real time (1h of video in 1h or at about 24fps), so no biggie. And nowadays, you can pretty much get anything already prepped in AppleTV format.
I tried XBMC (And NitoTV) on my jailbroken AppleTV 1st gen, but it is nowhere a lean solution. The windows-like UI and networking bothered me even more. So I gave up.
Never tried Plex yet, will be checking it out.

I have media that I have already ripped at high bitrates. Beamer struggles to transcode some of it (on a 3.4ghz i7) which means having to re-encode. For a large media collection that is just too much of an ordeal.

The Apple TV would be usable IF it could play directly from a NAS or other network share AND the codec support was better.

 

[mic j]

I have media that I have already ripped at high bitrates. Beamer struggles to transcode some of it (on a 3.4ghz i7) which means having to re-encode. For a large media collection that is just too much of an ordeal.

The Apple TV would be usable IF it could play directly from a NAS or other network share AND the codec support was better.

Sounds like you should be either using PlexConnect on aTV3 or Roku3 or WDTV or maybe Popcorn Hour. There are scads of them that play multiple file types over NAS.

 

[7709876]

Sounds like you should be either using PlexConnect on aTV3 or Roku3 or WDTV or maybe Popcorn Hour. There are scads of them that play multiple file types over NAS.

Since Apple forced a firmware change that made the trailers app connect over https I couldn't get it to work.

I am back to using XBMC. I am running via OpenELEC on an Acer Revo RL80. It cost me £129 for that. It plays back every single file I chuck at it. It even streams HD audio to my receiver.

It also has AirPlay.

It just kicks the AppleTV so far into touch it isn't funny.

 

[OpTic Jayex]

I hope there are new Apple TV's. I'd LOVE a new Apple gadget to play with!

 

[Crazy Badger]

Never had any problems streaming 1080p over wifi with my ATV3. 801.11n should be more than quick enough.

I was struggling with 720p over wifi!

 

[Donka]

I was struggling with 720p over wifi!

What kind of router do you have?

 

[paulrbeers]

Pretty much, all it is could be replaced with an adapter that doesn't need to be connected to a router.
It doesn't do anything you couldn't already have done with your iPad/iPhone plugged into your TV.
It sure offers convenience being plugged into your TV all the time, but that doesn't make it great.

Awesome I'll point my wife to your post when I drag a 20' cable from behind the tv to the couch so she can watch a video from her iPhone (not to mention the fact that it will completely make her phone useless for any other task but playing said video). And when my 2 year old daughter trips over that 20' cord and brings my tv with it, I'll be sure to remember your advice!

No xArtx, we don't all live in a small studio apartment that makes a "dongle" in anyway convenient.

----------

I have media that I have already ripped at high bitrates. Beamer struggles to transcode some of it (on a 3.4ghz i7) which means having to re-encode. For a large media collection that is just too much of an ordeal.

The Apple TV would be usable IF it could play directly from a NAS or other network share AND the codec support was better.

I thought there was already another work around for 5.2 or later....
https://github.com/plexinc/PlexConnect/tree/new-movie-sections

 

[xArtx]

And when my 2 year old daughter trips over that 20' cord and brings my tv with it, I'll be sure to remember your advice!

I didn't offer any advice.

.. also...
If you want to use a 20 foot cable for your daughter to trip over, and smash your TV,
that's entirely up to you, but the cables are actually pretty small:

If you want to 'invent' a problem to make ATV useful, well,
I have both, the cable was cheaper, ATV doesn't offer anything additional.

 

[powerman]

I would love to see an update to the Apple TV. Something that uses bluetooth 4.0 and better sound connections. I think with the A7 chip and bluetooth 4.0 the slight delay in airplay may be fixed to allow for gaming to be a possibility. The sound aspect is a no brainer.

I do not see an app store until the apple tv stops being a hobby and starts to be a focus for Apple. Steve Jobs had an idea for the living room so maybe it is close at hand.

 

[Crazy Badger]

What kind of router do you have?

I did have a 5th gen AirPort Extreme, but I've now got a 6th gen 😀

To be fair, I haven't even tried the aTV over wi-fi since upgrading as the powerline adapters work fine and given the aTV2 is still only 801.2n didn't expect any improvement.

 

[Sym0]

I was struggling with 720p over wifi!

Wireless-N here and no prob streaming 1080p, and running timemachine to the same capsule, downloading torrents at 1MB/s all at the same time.

I can transfer at about 50MB/s to the time capsule over wifi and that is only a fraction of the N bandwidth.

 

[Donka]

I would love to see an update to the Apple TV. Something that uses bluetooth 4.0 and better sound connections. I think with the A7 chip and bluetooth 4.0 the slight delay in airplay may be fixed to allow for gaming to be a possibility. The sound aspect is a no brainer.

I do not see an app store until the apple tv stops being a hobby and starts to be a focus for Apple. Steve Jobs had an idea for the living room so maybe it is close at hand.

Something I would love to see but the issue with the delay in on the source end i.e. iPhone or iPad. It has to compress the video and audio signal for sending over Wifi and this is where the lag comes from. Not an issue with movies but an issue with anything needing realtime input such as games. real racing 3 would be superb over Airplay if they could lose the lag. It also affects the new lightning HDMI connector as the signal needs to be compressed to be sent over the lightning port from what I have read.

----------

I did have a 5th gen AirPort Extreme, but I've now got a 6th gen 😀

To be fair, I haven't even tried the aTV over wi-fi since upgrading as the powerline adapters work fine and given the aTV2 is still only 801.2n didn't expect any improvement.

I don't use an AirPort Extreme so can't comment on that specifically but I don't see any physical reason why you can't get 720p never mind 1080p over Wifi. May be worth trying a different channel number to avoid interference.

 

[paulrbeers]

I didn't offer any advice.

.. also...
If you want to use a 20 foot cable for your daughter to trip over, and smash your TV,
that's entirely up to you, but the cables are actually pretty small:
Image

If you want to 'invent' a problem to make ATV useful, well,
I have both, the cable was cheaper, ATV doesn't offer anything additional.

Alright, let's talk about your "cheaper" alternative...

The Lightning to HDMI adapter is $50! You can get an AppleTV refurb for $75!.....

Let's talk about what that $25 difference nets you:

Watching Netflix/Hulu/Youtube:
1. AppleTV plays them back directly from Apps with your iOS device free to do whatever you want with it (make calls, text, surf the net).
2. Your iOS device is directly connected to your TV and if a call comes in or what not, everyone has to stop and wait for the phone call to be over to continue to watch the movie.

Win: AppleTV

Showing pictures and videos from a recent event you attended to family and friends:
1. You simply Airplay them wirelessly from your chair 20 feet from the TV from the AppleTV
2. You either get up constantly from the chair to start the next video or you have to stand next to your tv the entire time to constantly flip thru videos and pictures.
3. You still use the dongle but get a 20' cable so you can share from your chair except now that 20' HDMI cable costs you a lot more and you might as well have bought an AppleTV

Win: AppleTV

Amazon Prime
1. You airplay from your iOS device to your AppleTV
2. You playback the video directly connected TV using the dongle

Push since both mean the iOS device is unusable for anything else


So in three "Real life" scenarios the AppleTV wins in 2 and push's on the other. Is that really NOT WORTH $25 more?!?!

How much do you think these things are? Who on god's green earth can't see a $25 advantage with going with an AppleTV? Even if that is all you want to do?

 

[xArtx]

So in three "Real life" scenarios the AppleTV wins in 2 and push's on the other. Is that really NOT WORTH $25 more?!?!

How much do you think these things are? Who on god's green earth can't see a $25 advantage with going with an AppleTV? Even if that is all you want to do?

It sounds like a happy ending, but then your Daughter takes the same photo
presentation to show her bosses at work, along with some other great ideas
she has for the company, they set aside the standard hour for her presentation,
but she arrives with an iPhone and ATV, and finds that the ATV connects to the
monitor ok, but your Daughter doesn't have the key for the company router,
and wastes time sorting that out,
and later when the company bandwidth leaks, your Daughter is fired,
and you're left paying for her car.

There are as many hypothetical situations as you want to make up.
Still, you have a device you need to plug in, connect to a router,
to do what a cable can do. All I said is it's not great
(and acknowledged convenience of wireless connection).
For me it is the most underwhelming Apple product, at least that I've used.

 

[Fried_Gold]

It sounds like a happy ending, but then your Daughter takes the same photo
presentation to show her bosses at work, along with some other great ideas
she has for the company, they set aside the standard hour for her presentation,
but she arrives with an iPhone and ATV, and finds that the ATV connects to the
monitor ok, but your Daughter doesn't have the key for the company router,
and wastes time sorting that out,
and later when the company bandwidth leaks, your Daughter is fired,
and you're left paying for her car.

There are as many hypothetical situations as you want to make up.
Still, you have a device you need to plug in, connect to a router,
to do what a cable can do. All I said is it's not great
(and acknowledged convenience of wireless connection).
For me it is the most underwhelming Apple product, at least that I've used.

Think you have gone off the track there mate LOL.

 

[paulrbeers]

It sounds like a happy ending, but then your Daughter takes the same photo
presentation to show her bosses at work, along with some other great ideas
she has for the company, they set aside the standard hour for her presentation,
but she arrives with an iPhone and ATV, and finds that the ATV connects to the
monitor ok, but your Daughter doesn't have the key for the company router,
and wastes time sorting that out,
and later when the company bandwidth leaks, your Daughter is fired,
and you're left paying for her car.

There are as many hypothetical situations as you want to make up.
Still, you have a device you need to plug in, connect to a router,
to do what a cable can do. All I said is it's not great
(and acknowledged convenience of wireless connection).
For me it is the most underwhelming Apple product, at least that I've used.

Umm, you said not to use hypothetical, so I gave you REAL world and you respond with some crazy hypothetical situation my 2 year old daughter might be in in 20+ years? I hate to point out to you, but by then TV's, iPhones, etc. could very well be irrelevant and most likely cables to and from devices will definitely be irrelevant. Heck we are on our way to wireless charging at a distance....

From a work standpoint, absolutely the cable makes more sense in fact I have one for presenting (VGA though because in the busines world more is done from VGA via projectors than HDMI) from my iPad, because only one person controls the content and one person controls the "experience". In a home environment, multiple people sit in front of a television at a give time and multiple people control the content/experience. That is why in a home environment where multiple people live (and we aren't talking about a Bachelor/studio apartment) that the AppleTV rules over the (almost) as expensive Apple HDMI dongle.

 

[xArtx]

My original post was a reply to another post in here, perhaps should have quoted.

The Lightning to HDMI adapter is $50! You can get an AppleTV refurb for $75!.....

Let's talk about what that $25 difference nets you:

You mad it one or the other there, not both.
I'm saying it's not great, nothing special about it,
additionally, it could be much more with no extra hardware.

It's not a hypothetical situation, I was just relating a possible story.
I did a presentation at work with iPad via HDMI.
If it was one or the other (adapter or ATV)
it just happens I think the adapter is better value,
but that's not the point I was initially trying to make.

"buy the adapter instead of the ATV"

It's more like:

"The ATV is, in my opinion, uninspiring","it offers nothing a cable can't do".

Umm, you said not to use hypothetical, so I gave you REAL world and you respond with some crazy hypothetical situation my 2 year old daughter might be in in 20+ years? I hate to point out to you, but by then TV's, iPhones, etc. could very well be irrelevant and most likely cables to and from devices will definitely be irrelevant. Heck we are on our way to wireless charging at a distance....

From a work standpoint, absolutely the cable makes more sense in fact I have one for presenting (VGA though because in the busines world more is done from VGA via projectors than HDMI) from my iPad, because only one person controls the content and one person controls the "experience". In a home environment, multiple people sit in front of a television at a give time and multiple people control the content/experience. That is why in a home environment where multiple people live (and we aren't talking about a Bachelor/studio apartment) that the AppleTV rules over the (almost) as expensive Apple HDMI dongle.

 

[paulrbeers]

My original post was a reply to another post in here, perhaps should have quoted.


You mad it one or the other there, not both.
I'm saying it's not great, nothing special about it,
additionally, it could be much more with no extra hardware.

It's not a hypothetical situation, I was just relating a possible story.
I did a presentation at work with iPad via HDMI.
If it was one or the other (adapter or ATV)
it just happens I think the adapter is better value,
but that's not the point I was initially trying to make.

"buy the adapter instead of the ATV"

It's more like:

"The ATV is, in my opinion, uninspiring","it offers nothing a cable can't do".

I'm also going to point out, you are the in the AppleTV / Home Theater section.... bring up usefulness in a business setting is contratry to this sub-forum. That's more in line with the Peripheral section below.

Next time you want to argue about usefulness, it helps to keep your audience in mind. 🙂

 

[Ghostbusters]

My original post was a reply to another post in here, perhaps should have quoted.


You mad it one or the other there, not both.
I'm saying it's not great, nothing special about it,
additionally, it could be much more with no extra hardware.

It's not a hypothetical situation, I was just relating a possible story.
I did a presentation at work with iPad via HDMI.
If it was one or the other (adapter or ATV)
it just happens I think the adapter is better value,
but that's not the point I was initially trying to make.

"buy the adapter instead of the ATV"

It's more like:

"The ATV is, in my opinion, uninspiring","it offers nothing a cable can't do".

At the end of the day this argument is pointless. Everyone knows that the Lightning to HDMI adapter is dead on arrival and useless for home use. The reason for this is all the reports of the poor quality of the adapter. People claim that not only is there a max limitation of 720p resolution but also there are artifacts (distortions) in the picture quality. Google it if you don't believe me. That and certain apps are known to have issues or incompatibility with these adapters whereas Airplay over Wifi is becoming a standard for the majority of app devs. IMO you are ultimately best off paying even $25 or even $50 more for an AppleTV.

I understand for the workplace however you do need a wired connection so as to avoid technical difficulties. But perhaps there is a way to adhoc your mobile device to the AppleTV using Wifi or Wifi Hotspot? Either way, a data plan would be needed to ensure and guarantee web and cloud service capability.

 

[xArtx]

That and certain apps are known to have issues or incompatibility with these adapters whereas Airplay over Wifi is becoming a standard for the majority of app devs.

Apps don't have access to ATV, only through media player framework.
The only way an App works, is it plays media through it.
The reason for any App issues through the HDMI adapter is likely
because they haven't handled an external display, or it's rotation properly, or at all.

That's a whole seperate issue.
I felt ripped off that third party devs aren't allowed in,
because third party Apps could make it a lot more than it is.