Batutta
Major Contributor
Must. Have. Trying to see a negative but can't. The price is right. The size is amazing. The services offered are solid. Want it.
http://www.apple.com/appletv/
http://www.apple.com/appletv/
New Apple TV!
- Thread starter Batutta
- Start date
Mark Harris
Pain in the ass
720p. Also not a fan of moving to the cloud. It's fine for the rentals and for netflix, but when I buy something I want to own it. Same reason I am off the e-books cold turkey.
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Okay. Went back and read it again. That's assuring... and now very much worth considering...
Batutta
Major Contributor
My projector is only 720p anyway. Actually a dirty secret of cable companies is that most of their boxes output 1280x720 upscaled to 1920x1080. This is perfect for what I need. I can get rid of most of my cable channels and just download the shows I want. It will pay for itself in about 3 months. The only flaw for some people is that you can't store movies on it. It only streams. That may also be a problem for people with a slow internet connection. But if you have a Mac OR PC with itunes you can stream stored stuff from there to it...But generally, if I'm going to buy something, it's going to be a blu-ray, and that's only for movies I really like. For general movie or tv content I'm only going to watch once, this is ideal for me...and again. It's so cheap...My XBOX 360 can do some of this already but that thing is so damn loud it impacts my viewing experience significantly.
Mark Harris
Pain in the ass
I haven't had cable in a decade. I only watch DVD, Blu Ray, iTunes, Netflix. So for me, this is a reduction in quality... 
Batutta
Major Contributor
I haven't had cable in a decade. I only watch DVD, Blu Ray, iTunes, Netflix. So for me, this is a reduction in quality...
I need my local channels and news, and my wife needs all those lifestyle shows. Plus, over the air SUCKS where I'm at, only like three decent channels, the rest are French, also the reception is horrid.
I think for people who like to watch only a handful of premium cable TV programs on a regular basis, it's easy to do the math and realize this is a much better deal instead of paying 20, 30 extra bucks a month for a channel you only watch for an hour or two a week. That is dependent though on those shows being available on Apple TV. I think so far only Fox and ABC have signed on for streaming straight to the device.
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Hawk Teflon
Veteran
So if I'm reading this right, this isn't supposed to replace your cable TV, huh? I mean, you're paying 99 cents per episode of TV you watch.
Batutta, why is your 360 so loud? Mine runs pretty quietly. My complaint is that stupid "So-and-so is online" that pops up halfway through movies when people sign in.
Also, I already have a program that connects my 360 to my MAC, so I have full access to all the movies and iTunes stuff on there.
Batutta, why is your 360 so loud? Mine runs pretty quietly. My complaint is that stupid "So-and-so is online" that pops up halfway through movies when people sign in.
Also, I already have a program that connects my 360 to my MAC, so I have full access to all the movies and iTunes stuff on there.
Zak Forsman
Major Contributor
it's getting there, but not quite a buy for me. I've got netflix on the PS3 and iphone (which is awesome being able to pull up scenes from movies for reference anywhere i go). That, plus DirecTV satisfies our viewing needs here. I'm still excited for Google TV opening up all web video to my living room though. Which, yes, I could do on my own with a HTPC to some extent, but not so cleanly. being able to watch a web series the same way i'd watch episodes of The Office, is promising.
Never cared for buying digital downloads of any movies, given the choice. I don't like to wait for the download. I'm all about the cloud. The less media I have to deal with here, the better. Funny that I bought this 67" 1080p Samsung and most of what I play is SD streaming from netflix. More and more, I'm not even interested in waiting to have the blu-ray option mailed to me. might be in the minority. call me lazy, or call me a convenience enthusiast, that's what i like.
Never cared for buying digital downloads of any movies, given the choice. I don't like to wait for the download. I'm all about the cloud. The less media I have to deal with here, the better. Funny that I bought this 67" 1080p Samsung and most of what I play is SD streaming from netflix. More and more, I'm not even interested in waiting to have the blu-ray option mailed to me. might be in the minority. call me lazy, or call me a convenience enthusiast, that's what i like.
Batutta
Major Contributor
Which XBOX do you have? I have an older one that sounds like a vacuum cleaner. The newest one is supposedly silent. I'm a stickler for silence as I have a perfectly calibrated home theater room so I can't really stand it....Yeah, I've used Connect360 to stream from my mac, but I really like the convenience AppleTV seems to offer. If it were 200 bucks I'd pass, but at 99, I'm buying one.
Same boat here. I love the convenience of Netflix watch it now. And there's a ton of really good old films that stream in HD. It can only get better and I really won't care about owning DVD's from now on. I'm happy to pay my monthly fee for access to a library of films.
Batutta
Major Contributor
Just want to make clear this thing streams Netflix too, as well as YouTube. I think they're working on Hulu.
Hawk Teflon
Veteran
I have one of the oldest ones made. I bought it on the day it was released. I've been through 3 RRoDs (RRsoD?) and sent it back each time. Maybe when they fixed it, they took out whatever was loud. Then again, I sit about 10 to 12 feet from it.
Batutta
Major Contributor
No, but say they offer HBO shows the day after they're aired. Most people only get HBO for shows like True Blood or The Sopranos that only air once a week. That's 25-30 bucks a month for a bunch of crap you don't watch, vs paying 4 bucks a month for only the shows you want. For some people that's enough incentive to get rid of cable altogether.
Batutta
Major Contributor
They generally give you a different refurbished unit, not the same one, but yeah, they did do some tweaks over the years that made that older unit quieter. Mine RROD'd once, and it was a bit quieter after I got the replacement, but still loud...I suppose I could sell my older one for 99 bucks, and spend 99 bucks more for the new black unit which is whisper quiet...Hmm, decisions.
We are exactly in that demographic of folks who have HBO for True Blood. If we watch HBO movies, they're usually OnDemand... free with the HBO package. My wife is pushing me to ditch Comcast for AT&T's U-Verse.
This has been clarified.
However, we preordered one for the Netflix capability.
Don't get the renting of ABC or FOX if you can get them HD OTA right now.
But we have a collection of ripped DVDs that we can access, and the price is right.
Might consider some first release DVDs in HD for $4.99, but the price is right.
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The downside is they limit what you can watch. THey've added youtube and netflix, but can I watch Hulu? Can I watch Fringe on the Fox Website? 30 Rock in NBC website?
Better of with mac mini or any computer and boxee:
http://www.boxee.tv/
An interface that finds any show you want on the internet (if available from legal sources) and presents it in its own menu like interface.
You can download apps to turn your iphone or ipad OR android phone into a boxee remote control.
We have netflix and blockbuster in our blu-ray player.
For everything else, we hook the laptop up via HDMI in clamshell mode, sit on the couch with the ipod remote and watch everything else via boxee.
Batutta
Major Contributor
I don't think it's in Apple's interest to limit content. It's all about wether or not the networks want to license their material to apple tv, as well as the lobbying and deals made by the cable companies who don't want to undercut or abandon their subscription models. That's the friction point. But if enough people buy these things and there's a lot of money to be made I'm sure they'll fall into line eventually.