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That's what I call a hobby!

For some people gardening is a hobby.

I need to find a hobby like Apple that makes me over $1 million a day in hardware sales and well over $1 million a day in downloads.

That's what I call a hobby!
 
root access to the device won't allow you to view unsupported codecs. you'll have to wait for a VLC ATV app or something.

I'm aware of that, the rooting would purportedly be for installing plex.

The only reason I ask is because I was under the impression that plex was just like VLC-- it's a media player, only in this case it has a much larger front-end. But that also leads to another question; how do you have Plex on the new ATV? Current plex requires 10.5+, iOS is based on 10.4, and the "mobile" variants aren't media servers, they're moreso just clients. If you're going to JB to put the mobile variant on it, then that kind of defeats the purpose, no?
 
Great news!! Because if it carries on selling this well, they're bound to release an app store for it, and that's when it'll actually be better than the ATV1 ;)
 
Most new homes have networks pre-installed now, which means that every room is wired for every service you may want. The problem with that is it can seriously effect your download speeds as you've diluted so much bandwidth.

You don't understand how ethernet works. Having multiple rooms wired doesn't "dilute" your bandwidth.
 
"I dunno... maybe, say, a dedicated television channel for weather so we don't have to wait on a magical app from the Weather Channel."


I guess, if you want to sit for commercials and wait another 8 minutes for your local forecast.

Me, I' just want a Weather Channel app. Show me my current conditions. or where I'm traveling to. I don't suffer commercials very well.

Since I'm still creating my App Wish List, add MLB for my AppleTV2. Can't wait to ditch the cable.
 
Hobby product?

Did you not notice the "Netflix" part of the Apple TV?

It is already a multi-billion dollar industry that is killing old media. But I'm guessing it's just a passing fad, right?

it's still a drop in the bucket for households to actually purchase this

apple needs to make tvs.
 
You don't understand how ethernet works. Having multiple rooms wired doesn't "dilute" your bandwidth.

Errmmm... I think the point was many people in the house using the internet at the same time slows it down...

Like many cars on the same road slows the traffic...
 
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A web browser is available from Fire Core, but requires breaking ...
Most people (me included) feel this is a mandatory first priority update to the Apple TV. We really enjoy our ATV, but it needs a browser !!

The last thing I'll ever want to do is browse the web on my TV.Especially since I have an iPad
 
You don't understand how ethernet works. Having multiple rooms wired doesn't "dilute" your bandwidth.

You could have been more helpful with your response - and more correct as well.

"Ethernet" encompasses many physical transport technologies, with different characteristics. Ethernet over WiFi does share (or "dilute") bandwidth. Same for thin-wire/thick-wire Ethernet. Even Ethernet over Cat-5/Cat-6 has a dilution issue if one is using hubs or cheap switches rather than wire-speed switches.

So, you're correct in the single (but common) case of a Cat-5e/Cat-6 wired infrastructure with essentially wire-speed switches - but wrong in every other case.

But anyway, that's a tangent since the post you replied to was referring to a "dilution" of the download speeds - which is true for any Ethernet network bridged to the internet through any kind of common gateway - especially for a home or small office where the bandwidth of the bridge is a tiny fraction of the local network bandwidth.
 
Bought an ATV a few weeks ago. My sisters came over and loved it. Perfect gift for them for Christmas.

We did rent one movie so far. The Bishop's Wife. We were in a holiday mood and split the high price of 3 dollars. I'm only being a little facetious. My renting of content via iTunes will be very sparse. But not because of the issues others have mentioned. Our download was immediate. No problems at all. But Why not let me hold onto the rights to view the content for more than 24 hours? I know I get 30 days to start watching it, but when you start it you better be able to finish it. That's terrible. I can rent a dvd from so many sources and hold onto it for as long as I want for little or no extra charge. My cable provider only lets me hold onto content for 24-48 hours but there's not limit on how many times I can watch it.

I do love Netflix on this thing, though. And that I can control it with my phone. So much fun. I feel like I'm now getting my money's worth from Netflix. Seasons 1-9 of the X-files are on there!

Been using handbrake to copy all my dvds to my mac. AirPlay works flawlessly. Once more can be pushed from my phone to ATv I'll be so satisfied. Anything else is just bonus for me. I think it's a great purchase for anyone without a terrible connection. Mine isn't fabulous, but it's not Australian quality.

Someone mentioned above that these sales are good for current owners. True. The more people who own and use one, the faster and possibly better the updates will be in the future.

Haven't really seen anyone mention why we should buy an ATv competitor like Roku.

/end rant
 
A lot of people dislike SJ but the difference he makes at Apple comes to a personal desire of his to head a company that makes the best products in the business.

Without another CEO who will place as much emphasis on making beautifully designed and cutting edge products Apple will become just another tech company.
First off, Kudos for a good post.

You've brought up some points I most certainly agree with... :)

Here's my take. As a long time Apple Enthusiast, Customer, and one who's still using (and enjoying) their latest fully loaded 15" MBP for work & pleasure I have nothing against Apple per se. Yes, I'm very outspoken, as I believe honest user opinions & experiences shared are worthwhile. Next, despite my strong criticism of _some_ of what Steve Jobs does, I still believe he's a brilliant guy. The rub comes when looking back at the honest, ethical, practices of his past as compared to _some_ of the rather unsavory choices he makes currently.

Apple as an entity does not need to be quite so proprietary & locked down to achieve what they have. I believe they would create even greater success if they were to tone down some of the single minded moves in favor of Apple, when it could be win/win for both Apple and the consumer. Further specifics aside, the remaining concern is the direction they seem to be taking. One of complete focus on consumer electronics with a bit of attention to the computer side just to ward off what seems to be an obvious slide towards abandoning the true "Pro" work computers.

Time will tell & I hope I'm wrong. I would be thrilled to see the MBP move towards a serious laptop / workstation for those like myself that require a full blown resource laden laptop for work.

Cheers... :)
 
I like our ATV but being a 2nd gen product some of the features feel more like 1st gen.

They chose Netflix but Netflix is watchable on our 47" LCD in the bedroom but its horrible on our bigger screen in the living room.

I haven't rented anything off of it yet because I can go get a BD disc cheaper, with better video/audio.

However we've had little to no problems with streaming. Watched the first 2 seasons of The Tudor's with no issue. Netflix HD stuff is OK but you can't view HD movies only, you have to go into each movie and select.

If the content offering was better we'd buy my wife's parents one.

I saw The Town was available for rent in HD, we'll give it a shot tonight just so I have some solid comparison.
 
I held out for the ATV until the price dropped to $99. Based on what I've read, this model has great potential with future updates. I cut the cord with cableTV and now watch more Netflix & Hulu.

Apple is a bit behind in this category compared to their other products (ipod, iphone, ipad).
 
EXACT same scenario for me and the Apple Forums are full of complaints regarding the same problem with dog slow downloads. Our original ATV was in use for over two years and about $600 a year in HD rentals with nary a problem. After two months trying to get some consistency out of this new POS we've given up. My old ATV is now back in service and working just fine. Both units were on Airport Extreme at 5ghz, 5 bars, 15Mbps download and EVERYTHING else works fine. Netflix is also fine and HD rentals from Sony on our PS3 are also fine.

They may have sold a million but I'm willing to bet a goodly percentage of those million aren't getting any satisfaction on movie rentals. Check out the ATV forums at Apple to view the complaints and the download issues even made the news at AppleInsider a couple of weeks back. I know Jobs says it's only a hobby but he didn't have to go and prove it... Sigh...

Signed: Ex ATV2 Fanboi


Well...I'm not so sure how to say that to make sure you will hear it but...you must certainly have either a defective unit or an issue with your network. I understand that you have the 1st gen and it works well. I had the 1st gen too and I replaced it by the 2nd gen and this one works extremely well too. All Rental start within a few seconds. I'm very very satisfied with rentals performance of the Apple TV 2.

And finally, I participated to many discussions and helped a few people on that issue and here are the usual suspects :
1. Using Google DNS or Open DNS (Was on the headlines yesterday)
2. Slow Internet speed (obviously not your case)
3. Slow WIfi performance / interference.

Have you tried to wire it just to see if it fixes your speed issue ?
 
Haven't really seen anyone mention why we should buy an ATv competitor like Roku.

Until Apple releases apps for the ATV you get a wider selection on the Roku. Hulu Plus, native Pandora, NHL/MLB, Amazon, Weather Underground, TuneIn Radio which has a greater amount of stations than you get from Apple. I've been putting on a Yule Log app that doesn't time out after 15 min like Comcast's.

Basically it's the closest thing to if the ATV had an App Store.
 
I own an tv.
I also own a 50" Panasonic plasma.
A few weeks after I bought my TV, Panasonic pushed a software update to the set, bringing Netflix directly to my TV.
Son of a...
Turns out, Apple's UI is [shocker] way better than what Panasonic pushed.
And I bring this up to highlight it's not always what content is/isn't available as much as it is how it is available. And that is where Apple shines.

That said, TV is by no means perfect and by no means for everyone. It's actually pretty niche. And like every other user, I anxiously await an App Store.
 
What I like about the Apple TV 2 is the over the air updates...now we know this can also be done of the Ipad and Iphone and Ipod.....

The apps will come next year...probably when IOS 5 is announced. Lets give apple some time to get it done right!
 
My college has live streaming for it's baseball games in HD thru a paid CBS sports website. I dying for Apple TV to get the ability to stream the games directly to my TV. As soon as that happens, I'm buying one.
 
And the "faithful" who bought the original version of Apple TV even 6 months ago cannot "rent" a TV Show period. I mean how hard would it be to offer TV show rentals for the older model when you can already buy them? Apple has completely totally and utterly abandoned the original Apple TV with no overlap updates what-so-ever. I'm not asking for Netflix or Airplay even, just the ability to watch an episode here and there of something like Doctor Who in HD for 99 cents instead of being forced to BUY (and therefore have to store) them for a higher price when I only want to watch them ONCE (my cable company doesn't carry BBC HD and even if they did, the episodes are cut from 60 minutes to 43 to allow advertising and yet maintain a 1-hour time slot. That is akin to ripping a scene out of Casablanca and calling it the same movie. Too bad Hollywood, the BBC and others doesn't give a crap about their own artwork. In any case, all they do is force one to find the episode "elsewhere" on the Internet and cause both them and the maker of the show to lose money as a result.

Yes, one "could" buy a newer Apple TV to replace a perfectly working model with a hard drive, but if you have an older HDTV with component input only, this will not do you a bit of good. I suppose Apple expects people to buy a new multi-thousand dollar HDTV just to use a $99 device to watch a 99 cent RENTAL.... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Screw Apple and their greed. :apple:
 
Your dreams are perfectly aligned with ACE.

Apple Consumer Electronics

As we (tech people, programmers, engineers etc) mourn the passing of Apple Computer, now officially Apple Inc. I'm happy to see that at least Apple is doing what the CEO & Fanatic Followers worship, and that's making money.

We know that's the highest priority in their life. Fulfilling their intrinsic need for bragging rights. Judging the value of life on one narrow goal. Money.

Apple has a tremendous amount of momentum as they're now the darlings of Hollywood, Wall St, and anywhere that money is worshipped above all else. Apples success and the grow of it's worshippers is a fascinating story to follow. Steve Jobs DNA is deeply embedded in the company, thus if he should retire, Apple won't miss a beat. They've got this game down cold.
>> "As we (tech people, programmers, engineers etc)"

I don't get this. Are you supposedly claiming to speak for all tech people, programmers, engineers etc.? Are you having trouble finding Terminal.app or something? [if you want a CAD program, why don't you write one for us?]

What's the big problem exactly? (money?... is Apple supposed to lose money to satisfy you?). So then, what's your big solution to turn Apple around from their "misguided" ways?

Sour grapes sure makes for boring (and seemingly pointless) reading.
 
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