Apple Tv

[nikster]

I was underwhelmed by Apple's new (Apple-Logo)-TV, and it was kind of drowned out by the iPhone introduction.

I thought, oh well, I don't watch any TV so anything that attaches to the TV is boring.

But I just saw the value of it and that is that Apple just turned into a giant, world-wide, pay-per-view TV station.

I was using iTunes and accidentally popped into the store. Saw "24" season 6 for sale, $1.99 per episode. I already have an account, so it would be extremely tempting to just buy those. Except that there is a snatch - how do I watch this with my wife? On an LCD screen with tinny speakers? LCD with external speakers? No. If I already paid for this show, I am going to watch it on my TV only. Now how to do that? My computer even has an S-Video out but I tried this before, and there's lots of fiddling with cables and experimentation involved - my wife will have fallen asleep before it even gets started and I am not such a big fan of these things either.

Enter Apple-TV. It's _exactly_ what the missing link is. If I had one, I could immediately start downloading the first episode - and at $1.99 I really don't mind - and in the evening turn on the TV, plop down on the couch or in the bed, use the remote and watch the show. No laptops need to be carried around or fiddled with, and its all in HiFi

Brilliant move by Apple, methinks. Can't accuse them of thinking small either. The idea of video distribution online has been around for so long, and its obvious. But I know only one company which has all the software and hardware and content in place to do it. Apple.

What do you guys think?

[baabaabobo]

Yup Apple rock

[monty]

Even though I'm generally an Apple fan, especially gadget wise, I've had a device like Apple TV for a long time already!

Actually, I have a device like that in every single room of my resort! At half the price of what the Apple TV box costs.

A simple little box, controlled by a simple remote control with a clear simple user interface on your TV screen.

The device allows every guest to play any of the multimedia content stored on my centrally located PC. Downloaded movie clips, episodes of TV series, self produced video's, the whole music collection, in short pretty much any media which windows media player is able to play.

If my internet connection would be up to European standard, my guests in my rooms would be able to watch any streaming internet tv channel, listen to any streaming internet radio channel, all from the luxury of their room using their single remote control!

The thing is called a MediaMVP, produced by Hauppauge. Several other companies make comparable devices, which all do away with fiddling with cables trying to get PC based multimedia to play on your TV. Most of them work even wireless, although in my case I opted to go for a wired system (regular LAN) since the current 54mbps would not allow more then a few guests to watch video simultaniously...

[JackFrost]

How about these as alternatives ...

I have been tossing up about getting one of the mediagate products

http://www.pccasegear.com/category172_1.htm

[cdnvic]

A reviewer from Cnet described it as:

"A $300 device that allows you to watch TV in your livingroom!"

[paulsworld]

Don't forget one can also watch 720P content on their tv...hopefully the itunes store willl start carrying HD content to reflect this...regardless this will be nice if you'd like to show HD slideshows to clients on your nice HD TV...not that I need it, been using my Xbox 360 nicely for that for a while now.

Paul

[nikster]

Even though I'm generally an Apple fan, especially gadget wise, I've had a device like Apple TV for a long time already!

Actually, I have a device like that in every single room of my resort! At half the price of what the Apple TV box costs.

A simple little box, controlled by a simple remote control with a clear simple user interface on your TV screen.

The device allows every guest to play any of the multimedia content stored on my centrally located PC. Downloaded movie clips, episodes of TV series, self produced video's, the whole music collection, in short pretty much any media which windows media player is able to play.

If my internet connection would be up to European standard, my guests in my rooms would be able to watch any streaming internet tv channel, listen to any streaming internet radio channel, all from the luxury of their room using their single remote control!

The thing is called a MediaMVP, produced by Hauppauge. Several other companies make comparable devices, which all do away with fiddling with cables trying to get PC based multimedia to play on your TV. Most of them work even wireless, although in my case I opted to go for a wired system (regular LAN) since the current 54mbps would not allow more then a few guests to watch video simultaniously...

That thing is pretty cool. Just about the only thing it doesn't do is HDTV. They also have a wireless version. I wonder why all hotels don't have this, I hope you don't mind if I pass on the tip. Costs $99 / 149 wired/wireless. Another question is how the setup works - what do I need to do on the PC side so this device sees the movies? Just drop them in a folder? Have them in Media Player?

HDTV will pose a bandwidth problem and I believe that's why the appleTV has a hard disk built in.

[monty]

Indeed no HDTV support!

HDTV is great for home use, especially when decent content will appear. I've also seen HDTV camcorders so pretty soon people will be able to create their own high quality content.

The HDTV would be not practical in a bigger scale deployment. The bandwidth requirements even through wired 10/100 lan would not be sufficient for multiple simultaneous viewings.

what do I need to do on the PC side so this device sees the movies? Just drop them in a folder? Have them in Media Player?

There is a small application included to install on your PC. With this application you can "share" the folders you like to show up on the device.

[silvester2]

You can get Apple TV 2G in Thailand now.

www.apple-tv-thailand.com

[nikster]

You can get Apple TV 2G in Thailand now.

www.apple-tv-thailand.com

Funny so much has changed since this very old thread was started

Apple TV 2G is streaming only, no hard disk, 16GB for cache. Not for collectors then, and better have a fast connection - see another thread I am about to start about that though, I believe iTunes has a direct line to the USA.

My Samsung LCD TV has a USB connector and can play HD movies - that kind of removes the need for an external box completely. Plug in any USB HDD and you're good to go. Great quality, too.

I check iTunes now and then but most of the time they don't have the series I want even though I have a US account. I believe AppleTV has netflix now though which would be cool. Possible that Netflix has a better selection.

[snoother]

You can also buy a WD HDTV box for THB3500 and play all kinds of media files up to 1080p on your tv. Subtitles (quite important for my thai partner) are easily integrated. The only boring task is to download the media file, find the according subtilte file and rename it to match the media file name, upload them to a usb drive and plug the drive to the box.

As usual with apple products you can find technically more advanced product for a fraction of the price, but slightly inferior in terms of ergonomy.

[sfokevin]

The above referenced website is selling the Apple TV for TWICE the US cost!!!

It says no customs or duty fee - So I assume this is a suitcase job

The official Apple Thailand does not sell the Apple TV?...

I assume there is limitations outside of USA for streaming and such - How do you get around that?

Edited June 19, 2011 by sfokevin

[OxfordWill]

/old

Edited June 19, 2011 by OxfordWill

[nikster]

Yeah I am kind of sorry this thread has popped up again - can we shut it down? Information on this matter has moved along so much that the first X posts here (all 4 years old) are irrelevant / misleading.

[metisdead]

Yeah I am kind of sorry this thread has popped up again - can we shut it down? Information on this matter has moved along so much that the first X posts here (all 4 years old) are irrelevant / misleading.

Agree with that, .