[utw-Mephisto]

Alright, in the moment I am using an HDMI cable to connect my Mac directly to my Sony Bravia and use Frontrow to watch movies on it ...

I am trying to find out if I can use Apple TV instead .. My problem : I am living in a region where I cannot download any movies from the iTunes store ( ) .. I am currently convert all movies to the itunes format and put them onto a NAS and map the drive in Mac OS x

How does Apple TV works now ? Do I need to have an iTunes account which is able to download from itunes or can I put my own converted files via wireless or ftp on the Apple TV ?

Can the Apple TV conect to a network share ? How do you administrate that thing ?

I don't quite understand the concept yet ....

My guess is its add itself to the itnes lbrary like an ipod .. so you sync, disconnect, hook up to TV and done ... but I want to be sure before I spend this kind of money ...

[Cadaver]

You don't have to strictly play video purchased from the iTunes store. Any video that you can play on your iPod, you can play on the AppleTV. So you can take all your own video, convert them to H.264 or MPEG4 via Quicktime Pro or some other utility, copy them to iTunes, and play them on your AppleTV.

And while you can sync your AppleTV and play content on its hard drive like an iPod, the AppleTV can directly stream any content in your iTunes library, even if its not on the AppleTV's hard drive.

The AppleTV doesn't connect to network shares per-se, but if its in your iTunes library, it'll be accessible via AppleTV.

[utw-Mephisto]

Originally Posted by Cadaver 

You don't have to strictly play video purchased from the iTunes store. Any video that you can play on your iPod, you can play on the AppleTV. So you can take all your own video, convert them to H.264 or MPEG4 via Quicktime Pro or some other utility, copy them to iTunes, and play them on your AppleTV.

And while you can sync your AppleTV and play content on its hard drive like an iPod, the AppleTV can directly stream any content in your iTunes library, even if its not on the AppleTV's hard drive.

The AppleTV doesn't connect to network shares per-se, but if its in your iTunes library, it'll be accessible via AppleTV.

Cool, thanks .. So itunes library is on my NAS so it connect to a network share anyway. However, I think it is not really what I am looking for .. it seems I would have to leave my PC switched on for the time of streaming anyway ... unless of course I sync up to 40 GB, delete and so on ... Mmm.... since I want to avoid leaving my laptop on I think I can continue using the HDMI cable anyway ...

I don't understand why a device such as the Apple TV has only 40 GB .. considering the size of movies in HD ... And considering my ipod has already 80 GB and supports TV output I don't get it

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by utw-Mephisto 

Cool, thanks .. So itunes library is on my NAS so it connect to a network share anyway. However, I think it is not really what I am looking for .. it seems I would have to leave my PC switched on for the time of streaming anyway ... unless of course I sync up to 40 GB, delete and so on ... Mmm.... since I want to avoid leaving my laptop on I think I can continue using the HDMI cable anyway ...

I don't understand why a device such as the Apple TV has only 40 GB .. considering the size of movies in HD ... And considering my ipod has already 80 GB and supports TV output I don't get it

I think Apple pretty much expects you to leave your computer on to allow streaming.

[utw-Mephisto]

But what is the point then ? Considering that you can easily connect an ipod or Mac to a TV *confused*

[mindwaves]

Originally Posted by utw-Mephisto 

Cool, thanks .. So itunes library is on my NAS so it connect to a network share anyway. However, I think it is not really what I am looking for .. it seems I would have to leave my PC switched on for the time of streaming anyway ... unless of course I sync up to 40 GB, delete and so on ... Mmm.... since I want to avoid leaving my laptop on I think I can continue using the HDMI cable anyway ...

I don't understand why a device such as the Apple TV has only 40 GB .. considering the size of movies in HD ... And considering my ipod has already 80 GB and supports TV output I don't get it

The Apple TV does not really store the movies on your HD. It STREAMS them and uses the HD as a buffer of sorts. 40GB is plenty for that purpose.

[icruise]

Originally Posted by utw-Mephisto 

But what is the point then ? Considering that you can easily connect an ipod or Mac to a TV *confused*

Most people don't have a Mac in a place where they can easily connect it to a TV, and the iPod isn't very convenient, since you don't have any kind of remote control (without buying one) and you can't see what you're controlling on the TV screen. It also doesn't really support HD.

[Parky]

Originally Posted by mindwaves 

The Apple TV does not really store the movies on your HD. It STREAMS them and uses the HD as a buffer of sorts. 40GB is plenty for that purpose.

Actually the Apple TV does store content on it's 40GB drive if you have asked for the content to be synced. In fact the ONLY way to view photos on the Apple TV is to store them on the 40GB drive. It is true that music and movies can be streamed, BUT they can also be synced so that the source computer does not need to be on to play them back on the Apple TV.

Ian

[utw-Mephisto]

Originally Posted by icruise 

Most people don't have a Mac in a place where they can easily connect it to a TV, and the iPod isn't very convenient, since you don't have any kind of remote control (without buying one) and you can't see what you're controlling on the TV screen. It also doesn't really support HD.

I understand .. and ok, you don't see what you are controlling on the screen, but you do see it on your ipod ... if you want to watch, lets say a couple of simpsons episodes, you create a playlist and there you go .. ok, remote wise it is more convenient to use the Apple TV and ok, true, not everybody has Windows Mediacenter or Mac OS x

Originally Posted by Parky 

Actually the Apple TV does store content on it's 40GB drive if you have asked for the content to be synced. In fact the ONLY way to view photos on the Apple TV is to store them on the 40GB drive. It is true that music and movies can be streamed, BUT they can also be synced so that the source computer does not need to be on to play them back on the Apple TV.

Ian

But thats the point .. 40 GB for HD movies ? Absurd if you ask me ...

But thats for all your input .. As far as I can see this is what I need, but not want ... or the other way around .. What I mean : If an upgrade would be possible, lets say 120 or 160 GB HDD or would be able to read from network shares, this would be my choice .. as long this won't happen, I consider using

THIS in conjunction with my PC I am using for Skype as mediacenter (small box hidden in living room) or simply my MacBook > HDMI > TV solution ...

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by utw-Mephisto 

I understand .. and ok, you don't see what you are controlling on the screen, but you do see it on your ipod ... if you want to watch, lets say a couple of simpsons episodes, you create a playlist and there you go .. ok, remote wise it is more convenient to use the Apple TV and ok, true, not everybody has Windows Mediacenter or Mac OS x



But thats the point .. 40 GB for HD movies ? Absurd if you ask me ...

But thats for all your input .. As far as I can see this is what I need, but not want ... or the other way around .. What I mean : If an upgrade would be possible, lets say 120 or 160 GB HDD or would be able to read from network shares, this would be my choice .. as long this won't happen, I consider using

THIS in conjunction with my PC I am using for Skype as mediacenter (small box hidden in living room) or simply my MacBook > HDMI > TV solution ...

How is that any better, really?

You've still got to leave your computer on to act as the source for the video content - that device has no hard drive at all.

And if you're considering a mediacenter PC in your living room, then you're not the market that Apple is going after. Apple is going after the media extender market, not the full-blown-PC-next-to-the-TV crowd.

And if you think about the XBox 360 as a media extender as well, that also doesn't have the ability to directly connect to network shares, and it only has a 20GB HD. Again, its made for the streaming paradigm, not the store-everything-locally paradigm.

I'm not trying to be an Apple fanboy and say the AppleTV is perfect, but I can understand exactly what market they're going after. Personally, I think the lack of any 5.1 surround is a big negative. The AppleTV Extreme (going with Apple's current naming scheme) should be awesome.

[utw-Mephisto]

Err ... the xbox360 Extender DOES have the ability .. in a way .. this is what I am using in the moment ... I have a NAS and my xbox360 connected to my skype server which has media center installed .. Since you need a PC running Mediacenter anyway, you create the shares on the PC and connect then from the xbox to it ... However, the mediacenter also searches the workgroup for a shares you can use .. I have streamed movies on my flatmates PC, on my NAS or a shared USB drive on my mediacetner .... If you don't believe it, get one and see for yourself But because the xbox360 is very loud I am connecting my laptop sometimes when I am just watching one movie or so ..

Therefore I asked how it works, because I am simply looking for a box, which uses a network share as storage OR has a decent HDD so I can copy certain stuff on it ..

But what you are saying is, it is for streaming and not saving locally - then its a big minus it cannot connect to network shares ... But I do understand the concept now ...therefore nothing for me in the moment ...

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by utw-Mephisto 

Err ... the xbox360 Extender DOES have the ability .. in a way .. this is what I am using in the moment ... I have a NAS and my xbox360 connected to my skype server which has media center installed .. Since you need a PC running Mediacenter anyway, you create the shares on the PC and connect then from the xbox to it ... However, the mediacenter also searches the workgroup for a shares you can use .. I have streamed movies on my flatmates PC, on my NAS or a shared USB drive on my mediacetner .... If you don't believe it, get one and see for yourself

If you're going to take things that far, then AppleTV can do the same thing - you can save audio or video on a different drive and still point iTunes to it. If you can make it show up on your iTunes library, it'll show up on AppleTV.

[danviento]

The basic purpose of the Apple TV is to allow you to stream music and video to your connected TV. iTunes is simply the software interface that it utilizes to get it there. You aren't limited to only content from iTMS. Of course you can rip CD's, but don't forget your DVD's as well. Google "Hand Brake" or "Media Fork" to get a free utility. You can just drop these files into iTunes and have them stream on over. I personally store all the video files on an external HD and simply reference them in iTunes so that they still show up in coverflow when the drive is disconnected without taking up space on my internal HD. All you have to do is uncheck the "Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" button under advanced iTunes preferences and it does the trick.

On that note, if you had the new Airport extreme, you could put your entire video library on an external drive, hook it up to the basestation via USB and everyone can reference the movies in the iTunes library. There are always simple and free ways out there to make you media work for you. All you have to do is look.

[zerologic]

Originally Posted by utw-Mephisto 

I don't understand why a device such as the Apple TV has only 40 GB .. considering the size of movies in HD ... And considering my ipod has already 80 GB and supports TV output I don't get it

Clearly you don't need an AppleTV (Digital 1280 X 720) since the iPod's video output is adequate for your needs (Analog 320 X 240)

[icruise]

The iPod's screen is 320 x 240, but its output is considerably higher resolution, I believe.

[axonal]

I would say only time will tell if someone can hack the AppleTV to read network volumes. Seeing as it's a stripped down version of OS X, I wouldn't imagine it to be too hard to accomplish. As well as being able to use the USB port to read external HDs.