Apple tv

scoot on

Right, i'm crap at the techie lingo so i'm having trouble figuring out the spec on the apple website. My friend is thinking about buying an apple tv and has asked me to suss it out.

I've got a few questions:

1) Can you only use it for videos downloaded through itunes or can you watch any videos that you have on your computer?

2) I presume it's compatible with pc's and all you need is an itunes account?

3) Is it hard to set up?

4) Is it worth buying one from the states seeing as there's a big price difference?

5) Are they any good?

Red Alert

They're OK if you've a HD-capable TV. Any video that's in H264 or MPEG will play on them, but they won't play XviD - which can be annoying. I'd go for the 160 Gig version if you can. They can be hacked too to do more stuff but I've left mine alone.

scoot on

Red Alert wrote: »

They're OK if you've a HD-capable TV. Any video that's in H264 or MPEG will play on them, but they won't play XviD - which can be annoying. I'd go for the 160 Gig version if you can. They can be hacked too to do more stuff but I've left mine alone.

Can you hack it to play Xvid?

jpfahy

The Mac Mini is a better idea, does everything Apple TV does and a lot more:
e.g:
Its a full Computer.
You can attach external drives to cheaply boost the storage.
You can use a keyboard and mouse instead of having to enter text using the remote.
It will play all video formats (you can install plug ins).
Its got a DVD drive in it.

shortys94

Just buy a PS3:)

Red Alert

The mac mini is probably an overall better choice if you got one at a similar price point. The Apple TV can be hacked to play Xvid but it seems to need a lot of patience. It's essentially a non-portable iPod rather than a computer.

Gerard_Smith

The ps3 medialink combo is pretty much unmatched though fairly expensive.

triple h

Apple tv seems good, but i reckon €299 is a crazy price for us irish to pay. Right now it is only worth €100, that is until we get the the full works.

Dman001

It would be a great buy when/if movies are available on iTunes here but a Mac Mini would make a better buy with Front Row and the remote. Is Front Row on Leopard like the interface on Apple TV?

BanzaiBk

I LOVE my Apple TV. I don't even have a normal cable subscription 'cos I don't need it. Then again I can use the store to its full extent. I'd love a mac mini instead though, so I could use Hulu and the rest aswell. Ah well.

fbradyirl

jpfahy wrote: »

The Mac Mini is a better idea, does everything Apple TV does and a lot more:
e.g:
Its a full Computer.
You can attach external drives to cheaply boost the storage.
You can use a keyboard and mouse instead of having to enter text using the remote.
It will play all video formats (you can install plug ins).
Its got a DVD drive in it.

Yes it's very tempting, but the mini is over twice the price of an Apple TV over in the Canadian store (I will be there in a few weeks and was thinking of getting an ATV).

http://store.apple.com/ca

Dman001

It works out at about €450 for a Mini and about €160 for ATV. I suppose it would come down to your budget.

Red Alert

Front Row's interface on Leopard is very like that on the Apple TV, there are a couple of differences such as the appearance of the main menu screen. Apple TV can also output 5.1 Dolby Digital to a home theatre receiver. I'm not sure whether a Mac Mini will do the same or whether it'll actually only send stereo/pro-logic down the digital out.

Sad Professor

Way overpriced and under-featured, I wouldn't touch one personally. You can hack them of course but I still don't think they're worth it.

johnk123

The Apple TV will prove itself when (if ever) ireland are given the privilege of the movie purchases or rentals. Then i think the Apple TV or a mac mini would be a very god buy. The Mac mini would make a better media centre though, as you could use it from across the room with a proper keyboard and mouse, as opposed to the apple remote

Dman001

A Xbox 360 is quite a good Media Center. It is compatible with extenal HDDs, it supports a number of formats, you can rent movies through Xbox Live (HD ones too) and you can stream stuff from your computer. Also, you could pick up a €10 HDDVD drive for it and a few cheap HDDVDs.

Dont be at yourself

For the price difference, I don't see the advantage of owning an AppleTV when you can buy a much more fully featured Mac Mini for just a little extra.

Add a TV tuner, PVR functionality and increased codec support, and it might change my mind.

fbradyirl

I think you might be right judging on this article

http://forums.elgato.com/viewtopic.php?f=88&t=567

uncle_sam_ie

I love my Apple TV. All of my movies and TV shows sent to me from my cousin Torrence gets put on it. I'm using VisualHub to convert them from Divx. Which is very simple. Ya, a Mac mini would be better but they cost a lot more. The Apple TV is fine for what I want. It's simple and easy. And by the way, I'm using iTunes USA to buy show's and movies as well. Goggle it. It isn't hard to figure out how it's done.

johnk123

A friend of mine has been doing the same thing for ages now. Hopefully though, ireland store should get some more proper video content soon enough due to it's arrival inthe UK store