Comments on: Interesting: Apple TV (The Old Version)

By: MG Siegler

MG Siegler — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:48:33 +0000

Excellent. Appreciate all your help on this Jason.

By: webomatica

webomatica — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:58:50 +0000

Yep. My entire music library is under 40 GB, so I loaded it all on the Apple TV. I think it’s good to leave some space for the movie rentals which would be about a GB apiece. But still, I can’t imagine renting more than two movies at any one time.

The one drawback with the streaming is the host computer has to be on with iTunes open, and there is a bit of a delay as you choose the library to stream from — just like how there’s a delay when you access someone else’s iTunes library. But I’ve just watched an episode of BSG streaming and there were no stutters or anything once the video got going. I’m already getting a fair amount of mileage out of it

By: webomatica

webomatica — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:58:50 +0000

By: MG Siegler

MG Siegler — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 04:02:00 +0000

Yeah that’ll be my plan as well it looks like, but with that being the case I don’t see at all the point of getting a 160 gig Apple TV over a 40 gig one. I guess if you’re having bad streaming performance?…

By: MG Siegler

MG Siegler — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 04:02:00 +0000

By: webomatica

webomatica — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:40:23 +0000

MG with the current software I don’t think that’s possible. If you delete a file from your iTunes library on the sync computer, the Apple TV would delete that same file on the Apple TV the next time you sync. Basically unlike the iPod you can’t manage the files manually.

So the next best thing is the streaming option, where I have an external drive storing all the video files that wouldn’t all fit on the Apple TV attached to my Mac Mini and the Apple TV can access them.

It’s certainly possible the new version of Apple TV software will have different management. For starters since you can rent movies and purchase music directly to the Apple TV I would imagine the file management has to allow you to at least get the music off of the Apple TV.

By: MG Siegler

MG Siegler — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:26:41 +0000

Good to know, so you are able to JUST store movies on your apple tv without them existing on your computer? I think that is the only way I would get the 160 gig one and put all my ripped movies on there.

By: webomatica

webomatica — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:57:53 +0000

It’s definitely something up with my router. I set up Internet Sharing from the Mac Mini, had the Apple TV log onto that network, and the streaming and syncing goes much quicker now.

By: webomatica

webomatica — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:48:49 +0000

It’s the heat that makes me wish I had an on/off button. That’s good to hear you haven’t had any issues being on for so long. Do you have your Apple TV in a cabinet? I’m wondering if I should leave it in a cabinet behind glass doors.

If I set it up out in the open, it’s warm enough that the cats might sit on it.

MG, I got the 40 GB. You can push movies to the Apple TV from your computer. Right now I have all my music and a bunch of photos on the Apple TV since I’m using it for that most.

You can access an iTunes Library from the Apple TV for streaming (similar to share my library over two computers). I have encountered some slowness in the streaming — it’s presently prohibitively slow. It was working great the other day. I think it’s my cheap ass router.

By: MG Siegler

MG Siegler — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:09:48 +0000

I’m definitely leaning towards getting one very soon as well. Did you get the 40 or 160 gig one? Can you just store movies on the Apple TV and not your computer or do they have to sync up — if so what’s the point of the larger hard drive unless you plan on renting a lot of movies at once?

By: JC

JC — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:13:14 +0000

If you think about it, you really don’t want a power button on the Apple TV. Turning it off would mean needing to reboot every time you came back to watch something. People watching TV aren’t accustomed to waiting two minutes or so before they can start watching.

Also, a powered off Apple TV wouldn’t sync as seamlessly. So if your computer is upstairs, say, and you bought something on iTunes to watch later, you would download it to the computer, but it wouldn’t sync until you went downstairs and turned the Apple TV back on. Once again, you’re waiting for something that you’re used to doing instantly.

So sleep mode makes a lot more sense than an on/off switch. I wouldn’t worry about the heat or the power consumption. Mine has been on for almost a year without any issues or noticable power cost increase.