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+--- Thread: Apple TV clearly a complete failure (/showthread.php?tid=71725)
Re: Apple TV clearly a complete failure - mattkime - 02-04-2009
what does XBox media center do? why would i want to connect my appletv to my xbox?
Re: Apple TV clearly a complete failure - davester - 02-04-2009
I don't think Tivo users have that luxury, but ReplayTV users do. It is an amazingly great system. I can instantly see and request a show download from any of the many thousands of ReplayTV users who are connected to the free ReplayTV sharing service (don't ask me about the name). This means that any show I need to download I can get simply by going to the website and requesting a download onto my ReplayTV. The only downside is that it is a bit slow since most people's ISPs have relatively slow upload speeds. I don't think there is any issue with legal issues for such a service since all of the shows are freely broadcast from the networks in the first place and all commercials remain intact (though my particular model of ReplayTV can automatically skip over them).
It would be fantastic if an appleTV sharing service could be set up. Nobody has yet come out with a system that comes close to all the cool features of the ReplayTV (Tivo has come close, but no cigar). It's a crying shame that the technology seems to have dead-ended. On that subject, I've been meaning to ask whether the Apple TV has the ability, or can be hacked, to skip over commercials (either manually or automatically a la ReplayTV).
Re: Apple TV clearly a complete failure - Article Accelerator - 02-04-2009
guitarist wrote:
To make it more visually navigable, using Google picture search, I added the movie posters for each of these movies, in the Artwork preference in iTunes, a drag-and-drop process that's effortless.
Dayum! Thanks for that tip, guitarist. I'm embarrassed to say I never thought of that...
Puzzling that there's such a toxic level of hostility and discontent about Apple TV. People have strong feelings about it, differing views of its role, and endless advice about its problems and potential. Mostly from people who don't own one. If Apple were to add every feature that holdouts complain it doesn't have, it would look like a Microsoft product. It would be a gaming platform, have a radio receiver, a subscription service, play Windows Media files, have a Vista interface, a "Battlestar Galactica" screen saver, and a plugin for a miniature 7-11 Slurpee machine. Those of us who actually own an Apple TV are almost universally content, consider it one of Apple's underrated products, and dismiss most of the passenger-seat complaints as trivial.
Well said.
Re: Apple TV clearly a complete failure - RAMd®d - 02-04-2009
The only reason I don't have an AppleTV yet is because my 25" and 32" XBRs are all composite and RF, not HDMI or component.
I think adoption is certainly well enough that Apple will at some point, continue its development and evolution.
Re: Apple TV clearly a complete failure - Article Accelerator - 02-04-2009
Will Collier wrote:
[quote=davester]
I think it's horribly unfortunate that the apple TV has to be hacked using boxee etc to make it useful. Apple is really blowing it with this product. With the hacks it has been proven to be a really useful device, but they continue to sell the totally neutered version.
That's why I use a Mini instead.
Fine, but compared to the Mac mini, Apple TV:
- syncs accurately to your HDTV on a pure plug-and-play basis
- provides a custom interface dedicated to media selection and display. There is no general purpose computer interface to navigate--just power up the Apple TV and you're ready to go.
- allows rental of HD movies
- provides media functions in a compact, silent, unobtrusive, and self-contained package--no fan, no power brick, no keyboard or mouse, and half the size by volume
- provides a custom, ad-free interface to access to podcasts, YouTube, flickr, and movie rentals and purchases
- natively and transparently accepts streaming video, photos, and music from other computers on the local network
- provides an HDMI connection--this allows the simplest possible (i.e. single-cable) connection to your home theater system and at the same time provides the highest possible quality plus compatibility with industry DRM systems, e.g. HDCP for HD sources
- provides automatic sync'ing to a host computer
- can act as a convenient media 'carrier'--once sync'd, it can be easily transported to another site (e.g. a vacation home) and serve as a dedicated high capacity media server with the connection of just two cables: power and HDMI.
Re: Apple TV clearly a complete failure - beerman - 02-04-2009
I think the mini would have given me alot more features over the ATV but it is also twice the cost and I'm not sure it would have the same ease of use that the ATV has for my wife and children.
Re: Apple TV clearly a complete failure - Article Accelerator - 02-04-2009
Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
[quote=Article Accelerator]
I'm being serious.
I do not believe it, but here goes.
Thanks for your reply.
Not needing another computer to stream files from
Apple TV can sync or stream from computers on the LAN. In addition, Apple TV can stream from Internet-based sources, e.g. HD podcasts.
More standard video formats support in the default configuration
According to...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_codecs#Video_codecs
...there are 62 current video codecs. My favorite is H.264, Which ones are yours? It's a dog's breakfast world out there...
1080 24p input/output support
Yes, it's a shame that Apple TV--and our Internet infrastructure--doesn't support Blu-ray level resolution and bandwidth.
1080i input/output support (not upscaling 720p)
Apple TV supports 1080i output.
It supports 720p24 sources at 5Mbps average bit rates with burst support to 12 Mbps. Apple TV's upscaling is excellent.
ATSC/QAM/NTSC tuner/recorder
See guitarist's comments above re: "passenger-seat complaints" but, FWIW, I too would like built-in ATSC recording capability. In the meantime, EyeTV to the rescue...
Open browser from Apple
I don't understand. Could you elaborate?
Space for a 3.5" hard drive
Again, I'm confused. Could you elaborate?
It seems to me that Apple only wants it to be a hard wired portal to iTunes or something that will give them their pizzo.
You're obviously mistaken. Take out the word "only" and your comment becomes true but irrelevant because, like other enterprises, Apple wants to earn a profit.
Re: Apple TV clearly a complete failure - kj4btkljv - 02-04-2009
guitarist wrote:
What a generous offer!
Since you offered, heck yeah! You paid for that Filemaker app, why not make it do something useful and entertaining? How many?
There's gotta be at least 100 zip codes, maybe more!
At least 100 - yeah right!
If I do a quick search, for only the records I've got marked as USA, I get 68008 records. Now, I have many duplicates, I just haven't had the time to weed through the list. I've got 893811 records, since Canada is in there too.
If I run the data out to Excel, and summarize the export to de-dup, I get 42190 unique zip codes in the USA. How's about that. I didn't even get into Zip+4 either.
Jeff
Re: Apple TV clearly a complete failure - Filliam H. Muffman - 02-04-2009
Article Accelerator wrote:
[quote=Filliam H. Muffman]
Not needing another computer to stream files from
Apple TV can sync or stream from computers on the LAN. In addition, Apple TV can stream from Internet-based sources, e.g. HD podcasts.
1) I said NOT needing another computer to stream files from. *You have dodged answering the point, why is why I made the comment about you not being serious.*
Article Accelerator wrote:
More standard video formats support in the default configuration
According to...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_codecs#Video_codecs
...there are 62 current video codecs. My favorite is H.264, Which ones are yours? It's a dog's breakfast world out there...
2) See *. And how many does the ATV support out of the box, 2 or 3?
Article Accelerator wrote:
1080 24p input/output support
Yes, it's a shame that Apple TV--and our Internet infrastructure--doesn't support Blu-ray level resolution and bandwidth.
3) See *. My $40 gigabit switch enabled my home network to support it. I think many people would find it acceptable to start a 1080/24p movie downloading early in the AM or while they are at work, so they could watch it that night. I have downloaded several HD trailers and game content on my PS3 this way.
Article Accelerator wrote:
1080i input/output support (not upscaling 720p)
Apple TV supports 1080i output.
It supports 720p24 sources at 5Mbps average bit rates with burst support to 12 Mbps. Apple TV's upscaling is excellent.
4) See *. It is UPSCALING 720p, not native 1080i format support. I would have to rip a Blu-Ray movie and encode it at 720p, then play it through a computer for the ATV to display it. Too much work.
Article Accelerator wrote:
ATSC/QAM/NTSC tuner/recorder
See guitarist's comments above re: "passenger-seat complaints" but, FWIW, I too would like built-in ATSC recording capability. In the meantime, EyeTV to the rescue...
5) See *. So what is your personal experience with having an EyeTV hooked to the ATV to watch TV shows?
Article Accelerator wrote:
Open browser from Apple
I don't understand. Could you elaborate?
6) See *. Something like a full version of Safari.
Article Accelerator wrote:
Space for a 3.5" hard drive
Again, I'm confused. Could you elaborate?
7) See *. More internal storage, eg. not needing another computer to stream from. It that really such a hard concept to understand? It has been mentioned in other ATV threads several times before.
Article Accelerator wrote:
It seems to me that Apple only wants it to be a hard wired portal to iTunes or something that will give them their pizzo.
You're obviously mistaken. Take out the word "only" and your comment becomes true but irrelevant because, like other enterprises, Apple wants to earn a profit.
8) I do not think I am mistaken, otherwise the ATV would do more out of the box.
Re: Apple TV clearly a complete failure - sekker - 02-04-2009
As someone who is still puzzling over the AppleTV, I wanted to add a few basic thoughts. I am using an older G4 mac mini as my media center attached to my Panasonic 50" plasma TV. I have digital cable box connecting to my main HDMI input, have the mac mini on the VGA 'PC' port. Looks great,
The mac mini media center was simple to add 1 TB of external hard drive storage directly, holding my entire family music, (photos if I wanted to), and DVD collection (converted via handbrake) plus has room to grow via either firewire or USB2 ports. I use Front Row as my software, adding a keyspan RF remote which works better IMHO than the Apple remote - has a simple sleep button to power down.
It has a built-in DVD player, serving us well for our netflix rentals or when someone brings over a DVD to watch. So, the footprint of the mini is less than an AppleTV plus even a small DVD player.
If it were a mactel mini, it would run the direct streaming software from netflix.
As a genuine Mac, it runs the full version of Safari or Firefox, what have you. Have not played with youtube too much - am still behind watching a series of DVDs I rediscovered when I converted my video collection - but would work well, I would think.
All of these capabilities are going to be in the next generation netbook (sans optical drive), if not already available in current machines. And for the basic price as an Apple TV.
I am ready to add an eyetv to my media center to add DVR capabilities, if Apple stays the course and does not offer such an option on either its updated AppleTV or mac mini lineup.
I'm not trying to bash the AppleTV, I am still genuinely puzzled how it fits in when a real mac does so much more. Maybe my household network is just not sophisticated enough; or maybe I'm the wrong demographic, as someone who purchased my videos as DVDs.