Apple TV and how to make use of it?

[allBthere]

So I have apple TV, got it as a gift, hooked it up 2 weeks ago and haven't used it since.

I honestly think it's just branding and people bought it because they are apple fans. I hope I'm wrong but I currently see absolutely no use for it. The one good thing I can think of is that if I had a newer apple computer I would wirelessly use my huge TV as a second screen.

So I'm hoping there are OS people that have it and actually use it and share how they take advantage of it. So far it seems like a $100 brick.

edit; I'll provide an example of my confusion - I can use apple TV to wirelessly play music from my tv and my tv speakers. ... but I can already do that to my tv speakers via bluetooth from my phone, computer etc... so doing it with apple tv is actually creating an extra step and hence 'useless'

[cjonesfan921]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

It's worth it when jail broken.

[23]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

It depends if you have other apple products, an ipod, iphone, ipad.

Things you've bought from the app store can be brought up/shared on the Apple tv.

Other than the apple store stuff you can access on your tv, its not too much different than a Roku or other streaming devices where you put other apps to watch on there like netflix (one reason I use it in my bedroom) or youtube, etc...

[cdawg44]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

The streaming quality is much, much better to me than on the 360 and PS4 with Hulu, Netflix, Vudu and many other apps. I also wirelessly stream my games, movies and music from my iPad and iPhone to it all the time. Those of you who have Time Warner Cable, it can also be a secondary box as well and stream all of your channels except the local channels. So instead of paying for 3 cable boxes, I only have to pay for one and I use a Roku and Apple TV as secondary boxes. I can access and set my DVR through it and have access to all my on demand content I want. Plus I watch a TON of the WatchESPN app. There is some utility and has been a good investment for me, but it may not be for everyone.

I bought one in anticipation of channels possibly going a la carte through an Apple Service. For example, there are rumors that ESPN may offer a 10 buck a month package of all their channels without a cable subscription in the next couple of years and if they do, cable is history for me. All I basically watch is news, ESPN and Hulu at this point in my life.

[aholbert32]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

So I have apple TV, got it as a gift, hooked it up 2 weeks ago and haven't used it since.

I honestly think it's just branding and people bought it because they are apple fans. I hope I'm wrong but I currently see absolutely no use for it. The one good thing I can think of is that if I had a newer apple computer I would wirelessly use my huge TV as a second screen.

So I'm hoping there are OS people that have it and actually use it and share how they take advantage of it. So far it seems like a $100 brick.

edit; I'll provide an example of my confusion - I can use apple TV to wirelessly play music from my tv and my tv speakers. ... but I can already do that to my tv speakers via bluetooth from my phone, computer etc... so doing it with apple tv is actually creating an extra step and hence 'useless'

I bought my Apple TV and next to my Slingbox, its the best tech purchase I've made in the last few years. Here is what I use it for:

- I used to own 600+ bluray/DVDs but decided to go all digital in October to create some more space in my apartment. I converted all of my DVDs, placed them and Itunes and now I can watch my entire movie collection through my Apple TV.

- For the people who dont have Netflix/Hulu through their TV or game console can use it through Apple TV. My wife uses Apple TV for that.

- Streaming my music and movies over wifi seems to work a lot better than streaming through Bluetooth. Less of a hesitation when switching up and loading songs.

- The remote app on the iphone/ipod makes it easy to navigate and control ur music and movies.

- I like the Apple TV interface with my cover art.

Its not a necessary piece of tech for most people but I love it.

[allBthere]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

That's interesting... my dvd's etc, I didn't know I could "add" them to my itunes library. I wonder if I can add digital files to itunes as well...I've never tried that.

I was never a mac guy until 2009 when I bought my imac primarily to edit film/tv on final cut pro.

Maybe I will move it to the bedroom since that TV doesn't have a digital box and only gets a certain number of channels, but since I have a netflix subscription (through xbox360) it should work there too and break up the redundancy of having the 360 and the apple tv in the same tv in that sense.

receiving it as a gift though, without looking into it previously was a bit weird, even looking at apple videos online I was still like 'i don't get it' and 'i can do that already'

[cdawg44]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

That's interesting... my dvd's etc, I didn't know I could "add" them to my itunes library. I wonder if I can add digital files to itunes as well...I've never tried that.

I was never a mac guy until 2009 when I bought my imac primarily to edit film/tv on final cut pro.

Maybe I will move it to the bedroom since that TV doesn't have a digital box and only gets a certain number of channels, but since I have a netflix subscription (through xbox360) it should work there too and break up the redundancy of having the 360 and the apple tv in the same tv in that sense.

receiving it as a gift though, without looking into it previously was a bit weird, even looking at apple videos online I was still like 'i don't get it' and 'i can do that already'

Yea man, spend some time with it over the holidays. There is a lot in that little box that may be of great value to you. When I first got mine about 9 months ago I thought I wasted 100 bucks but that device has become an essential part of my entertainment system. My console's apps never get any play anymore because of how much I love my Apple TV.

[aholbert32]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

That's interesting... my dvd's etc, I didn't know I could "add" them to my itunes library. I wonder if I can add digital files to itunes as well...I've never tried that.

I was never a mac guy until 2009 when I bought my imac primarily to edit film/tv on final cut pro.

Maybe I will move it to the bedroom since that TV doesn't have a digital box and only gets a certain number of channels, but since I have a netflix subscription (through xbox360) it should work there too and break up the redundancy of having the 360 and the apple tv in the same tv in that sense.

receiving it as a gift though, without looking into it previously was a bit weird, even looking at apple videos online I was still like 'i don't get it' and 'i can do that already'

The only hiccup about digital files on Apple TV/Itunes is they have to be in either .mov, .mp4 or .m4v format. If you have your files in .avi, .mkv or other formats, you will need to convert them using a converter like Handbrake or MP4 tools.

Going completely digital was a hassle but SOOOOOO worth it. It took me a little over 2 months of converting DVDs/Blurays almost non stop to convert my entire collection. Still I love that I no longer have to get up to switch DVDs and that I can access my entire collection with a click of a button.

[allBthere]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

It's worth it when jail broken.

I believe mine is, my gf said some dude 'put a bunch of stuff on it' ... but in a nutshell what extra things does that add?

[aholbert32]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

I believe mine is, my gf said some dude 'put a bunch of stuff on it' ... but in a nutshell what extra things does that add?

Its not jailbroken if its a 3rd generation Apple TV. Only the 2nd gen and before Apple TVs can bee jailbroken. Jailbreaking it adds a ton of apps (most of them piracy based like Project Free TV).

[allBthere]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

The only hiccup about digital files on Apple TV/Itunes is they have to be in either .mov, .mp4 or .m4v format. If you have your files in .avi, .mkv or other formats, you will need to convert them using a converter like Handbrake or MP4 tools.

Going completely digital was a hassle but SOOOOOO worth it. It took me a little over 2 months of converting DVDs/Blurays almost non stop to convert my entire collection. Still I love that I no longer have to get up to switch DVDs and that I can access my entire collection with a click of a button.

That is good. I think all my digital stuff is mov and mp4 - I've been putting on usb and plugging into my tv, so that is something I will actually use quite a bit, BUT in that case I'd leave it with the main tv... I guess a big thing is just figuring out my own behaviour and try to consolidate and play around with locations etc.

I guess a direct competitor would be the xbone in a sense as well as those other media hubs.

I guess in the future eveyrone will have their own server and a central hub for media that can be accessed anywhere including videogames eliminating the need for direct connections to a particular space.

The movie thing makes sense for me, but in the end it feels like a device that's meant to be like a wireless second screen - but initially to me it looks like a clunky version of the 360 dash.

There are so many youtube videos of people explaining how great apple tv is, but in reality many of those videos are just redundand and I'm confused why the people in the video think some of the features are revolutionary when they are kind of old?

When I first heard of apple TV my inital hope was that it would let me rely only on internet and get rid of cable - the only thing holding me to cable is live sports as well as a few channels like the food network. But when I realized it didn't do that at all I didn't see the point.

[aholbert32]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

That is good. I think all my digital stuff is mov and mp4 - I've been putting on usb and plugging into my tv, so that is something I will actually use quite a bit, BUT in that case I'd leave it with the main tv... I guess a big thing is just figuring out my own behaviour and try to consolidate and play around with locations etc.

I guess a direct competitor would be the xbone in a sense as well as those other media hubs.

I guess in the future eveyrone will have their own server and a central hub for media that can be accessed anywhere including videogames eliminating the need for direct connections to a particular space.

The movie thing makes sense for me, but in the end it feels like a device that's meant to be like a wireless second screen - but initially to me it looks like a clunky version of the 360 dash.

There are so many youtube videos of people explaining how great apple tv is, but in reality many of those videos are just redundand and I'm confused why the people in the video think some of the features are revolutionary when they are kind of old?

When I first heard of apple TV my inital hope was that it would let me rely only on internet and get rid of cable - the only thing holding me to cable is live sports as well as a few channels like the food network. But when I realized it didn't do that at all I didn't see the point.

X1 will be a competitor but not now. There is no streaming in the current version of the X1 so you cant stream music or videos from your computer. I could plug my movies directly to my TV but I prefer the ATV interface.

I also like being able to delete files through Itunes and changing the meta tags (movie names, posters etc.) through Itunes.

ATV isnt meant to be a second screen. Its a streaming device. It was streaming content right around the time the 360 started streaming and before most TVs had standard USB interfaces or streaming features. It also predates most smart TVs.

If you didnt have a smart tv and/or a 360, the Apple TV would allow you to get rid of cable based on what you watch. It has alot of the apps you find on most Smart TVs and Game Consoles

[allBthere]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

X1 will be a competitor but not now. There is no streaming in the current version of the X1 so you cant stream music or videos from your computer. I could plug my movies directly to my TV but I prefer the ATV interface.

I also like being able to delete files through Itunes and changing the meta tags (movie names, posters etc.) through Itunes.

ATV isnt meant to be a second screen. Its a streaming device. It was streaming content right around the time the 360 started streaming and before most TVs had standard USB interfaces or streaming features. It also predates most smart TVs.

If you didnt have a smart tv and/or a 360, the Apple TV would allow you to get rid of cable based on what you watch. It has alot of the apps you find on most Smart TVs and Game Consoles

exactly, so a big part of my confusion is that I'm so late to the party that the 360 and my speakers and tv all have functions that are similar to ATV.

But second screen in the sense that I could have a good computer pump HD live sports to my TV via ATV - even better would be to have shortcuts from ATV to get my computer to start live sports streams - that for me at least is the death of cable.

And as a live sports TV producer I wish I could get in meetings with netfix or apple, Microsoft or whatever to work for them and produce live sports directly to them. But to me that is the only reason left to have cable and the only thing that still is a way better and easier experience than using the internet/streaming.

I think that is the future - people DVR, stream, download everything else, if high quality sports was availalbe as simple as an ATV app or Netflix I'd be all good. I realize ATV has the same apps as 360 like NBA Pass, MLB, etc, but buying those individually adds up to be a good chunk of money.

In anycase I'll setup my movies the way you did and go from there - there are some weird apps on it already, some are hard to navigate with that little remote, so I don't know what got put on there and for what reason - regarding the jailbreak it might be - I got it for a present almost a year ago, told her to take it back and she never did and I saw it 2 weeks ago and was like WTF! lol so there may be a chance it's not the 3rd generation, but I have no idea.

[allBthere]

Re: Apple TV and how to make use of it?

lil update;

mine is jailbroken v2 ATV. I figured out how to use it, but it keeps rebooting and screwing up so now I'm going to become an expert and figure it all out - this happens to me sometimes I go from newb to expert but this is annoying because it will be out of relentlessness to get it to work. If it keeps failing after I've updated it and done all the known fixes it will end up being a brick.

I see now how it could potentially get me to unplug cable! I saw a really cool live sports channel on there - BUT, not if it's unreliable like it is now.

So far I've been streaming movies from my computer and music and using some of it's radio features before I dabbled in all the TV streaming and started to update it until it starting to glitch-out.

So it's up in the air right now if it's going to work out for me. XMBC is what makes the whole thing go from being potentially just OK, to super cool...we'll see...