Apple TV 3.0 is a total yawner. (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

http://www.macworld.com/article/143580/2009/10/appletv_3_first_look.html

Anyone figured out how to get it running on an iMac yet tho? Pretty sure the older versions were hacked onto full macs at one point...

 

[JohnRice]

Kind of important issue that you need to update iTunes on a remote computer to 9.0.2 for AppleTV 3.0 to work with it. Tried updating my ATV first, only to find it simply won't play music anymore. Hopefully it will be working in a couple minutes once iTunes is updated.

 

[Todd H]

I like my AppleTV but since buying my PS3 I'm finding that a lot of its features are a bit redundant. And with Netflix coming to the PS3 there seems to be less reasons to hold on to it. I may just eBay the thing or sell it to someone here. I wish Apple had shown the AppleTV a bit more love.

 

[Sam Posten]

I still watch craigslist hoping someone is going to sell one locally for ridiculously cheap, if you decide to sell let me know what you want for it, I still want to play with one of these guys

 

[Todd H]

Sam YGM.

 

[Sam Posten]

Hooray, I'm now unofficially an Apple TV owner and onto my 5th non new Mac =p

 

[Sam Posten]

Wow, USPS delivered it today and it took me minutes to hook it up via wireless, I'm LOVING the internet radio!

The video quality seems a little lower than the PS3 HD videos but not bad. I need to calibrate this TV to really get a good look at it quality wise.

 

[JohnRice]

I'm not happy with v3. It's slooooow on shared music and has had some glitches. The other day, when I hadn't used it for maybe a week, I had to restart it to access my shared music library. I'm also baffled why there has never been a true ability to shutdown or restart. You have to unplug it.

 

[Todd H]

I just got an e-mail that there's an update available so you may want to update.

 

[JohnRice]

Yeah, when I fired it up today I was notified there was an update, which had already been downloaded and was ready to install if I chose. I guess that was another change from v.2.

Anyway, after updating, getting an error and having to restart (which it actually did just by hitting play/pause) it is working more smoothly. Clearly there was something wrong with the original v.3 to have another update so fast.

 

[Sam Posten]

DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! I agree with EVERY word from DED, worlds collide! Panic! Hysteria, cats and dogs sleeping together, locusts!!!!!

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2010/06/03/reality-check-apple-tv-isnt-turning-into-a-tv/

 

[mattCR]

The article makes some good points, but it also misses some of the key concepts.

For apple, becoming a real media device (like Media Center, etc.) is a loser.. it's a loser because in order to really be effective, you have to integrate with a lot of 3rd party periphials. This is the only way you can be more then a single-station solution.. so things like Universal Cable Card, Universal ATSC, Universal DVB, etc. That kind of ecosystem defies everything apple is about; and Apple simply isn't big enough (no offense to apple fans) to generate up enough hardware based around every potential option to satisfy the user base..


Microsoft, because of a more open ecosystem (ie, anyone can throw together a PCI or PCI-E card and ship out their own driver base) find it easier to develop. More then that, MS has one other reason to be interested: it owns stakes in media management companies.


So Microsoft is busy rolling out DVRs under 4 companies now:


With Surewest, they are rolling out the Whole House DVR, under MediaRoom:

http://www.surewest.com/change/


With Charter, they are also rolling out MediaRoom.


With ATT, they have a WinCE5 device for Uverse, though mediaroom is likely there later also.. in a different format.


This is a market that is predominantly Scientific Atlanta and Cisco right now, but MS would like a big piece of it.

So, why does MS take a stab at it and not apple? Despite the claims in the article you link, Sam, the market is very profitable. MS will do very well under these deals. But the support network for these will also be huge, and that's also something Apple doesn't really have room for, a way to devote huge resources and time to dealing with the training and management of say, Comcast or ATT or Charter or etc. for a product they aren't selling at all to the consumer.... and that's something that Apple would have a hard time working around.

I think AppleTV is basically a dead product. I could see Front Row making a comeback, but the problem is the key functions that people want in an HTPC are so variable based on providers and formats that Apple would never be able to come up with a steady platform for it.. and Apple doesn't change nearly often enough to make it feasible to do.


So, there you go.

 

[Sam Posten]

Mac Mini refreshed this AM. Unibody and new chipsets, no Blu. No sale.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Actually the new MacMini is pretty much the ultimate HTPC now:

http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/15/apple-updates-mac-mini-with-new-design/


It has up to 8GB memory (easily accessible via now removable bottom), HDMI out with audio, plus all the old digital audio in/out ports, plus DIsplay Port (which presumably also carries digital audio) -- with a long cable run this thing can power Home Theaters in two rooms.


BTO -- swap the internal optical drive for a second HDD and attach an external USB Blu-ray. Use MakeMKV/Plex for Blu-ray playback.


Oh, and the Apple Store is still (or back) down -- more goodies coming?

 

[Sam Posten]

Sorry Ted, ripping and replaying digital files is not a substitute for native bluray playback. It might work for Alpha geeks but not for normals.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Originally Posted by Sam Posten

Sorry Ted, ripping and replaying digital files is not a substitute for native bluray playback. It might work for Alpha geeks but not for normals.

Totally agree. El Jobso needs to live with a little pain and support BD already. Couldn't possibly be more painful than the mortal combat with Adobe and Google/Android Apple is engaged in right now.

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Ted Todorov

Actually the new MacMini is pretty much the ultimate HTPC now:

http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html

In all sincerity: what is the point of an HTPC now that Blu-Ray is the media of choice? Apple doesn't support Blu Ray. Blu-Ray is seemingly unrippable, so I can't make a BR "jukebox". But I'm not going to buy DVDs to rip when I can watch Blu Ray on a 50" HDTV on a $100 Blu-ray player. And when I've looked, it seemed all the good HTPC software is for Windows, making Mac still a lesser choice for HTPC I keep looking for a reason to build one, but it's always very expensive for little or no benefit. It seems that HTPC is dead.


I'd love to hear how one does it easily, affordably, and with HD media.

 

[mattCR]

Originally Posted by DaveF

In all sincerity: what is the point of an HTPC now that Blu-Ray is the media of choice? Apple doesn't support Blu Ray. Blu-Ray is seemingly unrippable, so I can't make a BR "jukebox". But I'm not going to buy DVDs to rip when I can watch Blu Ray on a 50" HDTV on a $100 Blu-ray player. And when I've looked, it seemed all the good HTPC software is for Windows, making Mac still a lesser choice for HTPC I keep looking for a reason to build one, but it's always very expensive for little or no benefit. It seems that HTPC is dead.


I'd love to hear how one does it easily, affordably, and with HD media.

Can't explain how wrong the first section is here. But it is very wrong. But, the Mac Mini is not a good HTPC choice. Not just because of BD, but also because it is a poor to non-existant time-shifting DVR, it offers no across the net combining of archives, no extenders, no bitstreaming HD content, no 8 channel LPCM@24, incorrect video drivers for the wrong color space for HDTV... it's a kludge, not a solution, and Apple isn't at all convinced to change it.

 

[DaveF]

You can't say I'm wrong, without explaining why Worse is to say it's unexplainable! Worser is to then confirm my thoughts by saying the Mac Mini is a terrible HTPC!!!


I've looked at HTPCs a few times the past few years and I can't find the purpose, especially with Blu-ray as the dominant disc media.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Originally Posted by DaveF

You can't say I'm wrong, without explaining why Worse is to say it's unexplainable! Worser is to then confirm my thoughts by saying the Mac Mini is a terrible HTPC!!!


I've looked at HTPCs a few times the past few years and I can't find the purpose, especially with Blu-ray as the dominant disc media.

He's saying you're wrong because Blu-ray ripping on the Mac works just fine.


I'm saying that both of you are wrong because I have an HTPC-Mac and couldn't be happier.
I use EyeTV as my DVR, with 4(!!!) tuners, meaning that I can record four HDTV programs simultaneously while watching a fifth. Try that with your TiVo. I am not limited by a dedicated DVR's disk space on what I can store -- I am recording every single World Cup game "en vivo, en directo", in glorious 1080i HD -- if only I wasn't getting the constant trumpet blare in 5.1 sound...) I can edit my recordings (very quick and user friendly -- I collect bands playing on the late night talk shows, SNL, etc. -- I've got 500+ such recordings at this point (and I even have backups...) I can export recordings to DVD, to iTunes (iPad/iPhone/AppleTV and the transcoding rocks). I can stream native EyeTV recordings to my iPad via Air Video. When watching a unedited recording I have a 60 second skip on my iPhone based remote -- no commercials ever -- not even a little snippet -- the technique is


I have my entire 1000+ CD collection in lossless format in iTunes, and my Mac is connected to the AVR via optical digital so I'm getting to use the high quality DtoA converters on my AVR -- My HTMac would be worth it just for that. And lastly I have a substantial portion of my DVD collection as VIDEO_TS files, catalogued/linked via DVDPedia with high quality cover art. DVDPedia seamlessly integrates with Front Row and I do most of my DVD watching that way. I make sure I have anything with high re-watch potential like music DVDs or stuff that gets watched over a number of days like TV seasons imported on the Mac. The (Snow) Leopard DVD Player does an excellent job of upscaling/incrementally zooming non-anamorphic DVDs.


Lastly, for anything that I have missed on EyeTV and is not yet out on DVD there is the iTunes store as a backup. For Blu-rays I use my Oppo BD player. I'm more than happy with my Mac HTPC -- I'm freaking ecstatic.

And yes -- if you hate the Mac HT software on the Mini so much, you are welcome to run Windows on it...