[Closed] Apple TV

I asked about this the other day but noone offered anything. Do you know if you can use it on a TV that is connected to a house aerial or is it a freesat type connection?

I'll head to the apple shop and get more info

http://www.apple.com/uk/appletv/what-is/

Setting up Apple TV takes almost no time at all. Just plug the power lead into the wall and connect Apple TV to your widescreen TV using an HDMI cable (sold separately). Since everything streams wirelessly to Apple TV using your Wi-Fi network, that’s all you need. Except for the popcorn

It's just another HDMI input for your TV. You use it alongside your Sky/Freesat/DVD/whatever. Whether it just works depends on what you are hoping it will do.

That's a good link but I couldn't see anything about how it works as a TV? Is it a tuner itself? Looks really good though

everything streams wirelessly to Apple TV using your Wi-Fi network

It's NOT a TV, its for streaming content to your TV. It has NO tuners in it whatsoever.

Calling it a media streamer would be more accurate than calling it a TV in my opinion.

You plug it into a tv to show what is on your iphone/ipad/Mac/anything else with software that will do it. It has no screen if that's what you mean?

Id suggest if you dont know what it does you probably dont need one !

My apple tv's primary function is streaming the grand tours from the ipad eurosport app ( 2.99 a month instead of sky)

I use mine more than normal telly. Netflix is brilliant, and we are working our way through all the boxsets we missed - loads of music/kids programs as well.

I stream films/music from the computer and phone as well, have never needed to rent any itunes content - but that's an option.

use ours quite a bit, no just for films. Now using a 13" laptop & if I need a bigger screen for anything just use airplay onto the 42", great for big spreadsheets.
You do need good download speeds if you want to use it for renting/buying films though.

I think it's great, especially with iCloud.

Photos via photo stream
Home movies via AirPlay from iPad & iPhone.
Renting / buying movies from iTunes Store
Vimeo
Netflix
TV Catchup app on iPad to TV / Apple TV via AirPlay.

When Netflix incareases the volume of content I'll be waving bye bye to Sky TV.

A friend of mine who works long hours, and doesn't want/need a satellite contract bought an Apple TV, which she controls with her iPad, and she just loves it to bits. She uses Netflicks, and streams other stuff, and wouldn't be without it.

so, if one has a large number of films on some sort of off-line backup system, would one be able to watch said films using an Apple TV with minimal/no hassle, or would one have to go out and buy more gadgetry to make it happen? (e.g. a NAS connected to the router)

Saw one last week and was tempted, but have been told that jailbreak + Plex is the way forward.

^ I just play mine from itunes. They have to be in a recognised format, so I use Handbrake to rip them from whatever they are into MP4.

It's generally seamless

Without jail braking it will only play films from itunes, I think

I'm still none the wiser as there are some conflicting comments here. I think this question will clear it up for me. Can I use the apple controller to change the TV channel? Ie; is it like a freeview box with its own tv menu or is it just for streaming what's on my iPad. It's called a "HD TV" box so surely it operates like a freeview box, surely!!

No.

You select the Apple TV as a source (like you would a PS3 or Freeview box)

Using the Apple TV, you can access online content (rent Itunes films, Netflix etc) and also stream content from your phone/ipad or computer.

No, think of it as a box that connects to the Internet and your computer, it cannot receive a tv signal

From what i understand, in standard form, it's like using itunes on a mac to watch films, but on a tv. Not a generic freeview box.

MP4 - no problem. Only from itunes... mebbe problems.

Dammit, just wanted to dump a NAS on the network and let it play.

Cheers, totally clear. What a shame though, think they missed a trick there.

Dammit, just wanted to dump a NAS on the network and let it play.

I connect my tv to the network and play most my films etc thru there. Only use the Apple TV to play music now.

Of course you can get most of the freeview channels via apps like TV Catchup on your iPhone/iPad which you [i]should[/i] (I think) be able mirror on the tv, via the Apple TV box.

But, to clarify, absolutely not a tv tuner. If you want one of those you need something else.

i use my ubuntu server/nas running serviio to stream all my media via dlna to the tv, tv or blueray player needs to be dlna enabled though, i imagine the apple tv acts as a dlna server using its own protocols

If you jail break yout ATV you can dump all your content on a NAS and then stream it. Doesn't work out the box though.

I'm still tempted to get one for a TV which I'm going to stick on my bedroom wall. Admittedly Id buy most things with an Apple logo on.

OP have a look at boxee, as an alternative [url= http://www.boxee.tv/#/home ]Boxee TV[/url]

Did you search on here ? I've posted on Apple TV a number of times

I have it, really like it, great for driving content like Youtube, Vimeo, BBC iPlayer, movies etc onto the TV - I don't tend to use the device interface but my iPhone, so for example I have a movie downloaded on iTunes or a mtb video link and I use the iPhone as the "remote/player" and view the content on the TV

@Graham - yes as you can see that's exactly what I use mine for, get midweek mini movies links on iPhone and then play them on the TV - 8)

Cheers, totally clear. What a shame though, think they missed a trick there.

Fair point!

You can play non-itunes purchases on it if they are in mp4 format.

I've seen other peoples....
Limited playback formats
May have been an old version but using the remote thing was like watching someone enter a high score at the arcade.

AppleTV is a global technology, freeview is just UK so why try and build that into the Apple TV.

We have TV in the rest of the world working on a very similar idea....My UK TV and TV cards all work fine.

My preference is a PC system to record and Stream. Our TV is a silent PC so able to access anything. Cost about £300.

Just reading some of the latest news on this. Seemingly an actual Apple TV is in the pipeline which will do it all.

Works especially well if you have an iPad or iPhone. As well as Netflix I watch/listen to lots of stuff streamed off my computer upstairs. No need to convert or import to iTunes for video/TV - I use Stream To Me, but Boxee works fine too on the iPad and is free. Also no need to use the remote to input text if you have an iPad or iPhone as you can use them as a remote.

AirPlay is great - you can for example browse a thread on STW with loads of music videos on your iPad sat on the sofa, but when you press play the video automatically plays on your big telly/decent speakers.

It would be good if it had a built in iplayer app though.

Absolutely love my Apple TV. Stream movies from Netflix and iTunes Store as well as stream all the photos, movies and music from my Mac. There are a few internet apps such as You Tube but most of my internet content I get off the iPad/iPhone and stream it wirelessly via Apple TV to TV/stereo. Sat here listening to Spotify (app on iPhone) playing wirelessly through Apple TV and big stereo.

It is a great little streaming device that works a treat BUT as I've said on STW before, it's probably not the best value solution if you don't have other Apple kit for it to work with.

By the way, you can train your TV remote to control the Apple TV; I can control both my Apple TV and Panasonic TV (and most functions of my Sony Blu Ray player for that matter) using the main TV remote. [EDIT] This training process is a doddle using Apple TV's "training" function.

My preference is a PC system to record and Stream. Our TV is a silent PC so able to access anything. Cost about £300.

Limited playback formats

AcePlayer app will play pretty much any format out there without converting, streamed from web, ftp, or a DLNA nas drive and mirrored to an Apple TV.

My point was for 300 I had a steaming media box with tv recording live pause buffer etc that also doubles as a pc with playback for anything. I also don't need an iPad or iPhone to control it (not included in the 99 version I assume the remote looked primitive)

For formats I was going by some friends who couldn't play half the stuff I took round as it wouldn't go into iTunes. I guess works out the box with some extra apps and tweaking.

Guess if your already in the apple to your neck then it's ok. But wouldn't go as standalone.

@mike - you can control the Apple tv from the remote but doing stuff like searching YouTube or Vimeo is a hassle as typing the search name takes ages with the remote, hence use of phone or iPad or indeed mac computer

The setup @mike has is much more flexible, I used to do the same with my mac mini, you do get a lot more functionality that way in return for your money

I'd be tempted to say unless you have an iPhone or an iPad I wouldn't get an apple tv

A decent TV connected to a PC running XMBC software is so much better than anything else on the market.

There is a bit of a learning curve with XMBC and it does work better with a MS compatible remote but imho it´s really worthwhile.

http://xbmc.org/download/

Get the Aeon interface, it looks great once set up.
http://xbmc.org/skins/aeon/

mbr30 - Member
Just reading some of the latest news on this. Seemingly an actual Apple TV is in the pipeline which will do it all.

Whatever the new product is, i guarantee it won't 'do it all'. No Apple products do, if they did people wouldn't buy more of the ecosystem and Apple would be the size it is.

I'd be tempted to say unless you have an iPhone or an iPad I wouldn't get an apple tv

But by this you infer that others are happy faffing with solutions that are far from intuitive. I hear this all the time and it paints a very misleading picture. What Apple have achieved with iTunes and Apple TV is a closed loop delivery solution that even the most technically challenged can use. Yes it has its limitations but if you've not ripped, downloaded or otherwise sourced digital video content it is by far and away the best solution to bring streaming media to the living room.

Another favourite of mine is Western Digital WDTV, it has a really nice user interface but of course lacks the ability to access content for purchase. Brilliant though if you have a library of movies all illegally ripped or downloaded 😉

I can't understand people who recommend these PC/XBMC/ETC custom solutions on open forums, OK they're not that difficult to figure out if you're familiar with computing and are quite cheep, but for most people they would be unfeasibly difficult to set up and a bloody pain to use and maintain.

It's typical STW style... a bit like recommending to someone who's stumbled on the forum and asked about a nice bike that they man up and build their own... Cos it's cheaper 😐

It's typical STW style... a bit like recommending to someone who's stumbled on the forum and asked about a nice bike that they man up and build their own... Cos it's cheaper

Actually not suggesting the potentially cheaper solution, just the more complete one. Anyway with the number of [s]cheapskates[/s] cost aware people on here I would expect a thread looking for the cheapest e-bay knockoff import or German site selling Apple TV.......

🙂

Coughs mike smith
Just say what you mean doent hold back 😀

Don't think of iPhone/iPad as a remote for Apple TV since that misses the point. Think of them as considerable additional content to the native Apple TV apps

I have one, jailbroken running xbmc. Plays pretty much anything I need - mainly use it for DVD rips though. Content is streamed from a hard drive on my network. I use a logitech remote to control it (and everything else). Works brilliantly. Even my 5 year old can use it.