I'm a confirmed apple fan (just don't talk to me about Macbook Air logic board failures) and want a way of streaming movies and sounds from iTunes on an iMac to the TV.
I also want iPlay 4OD and other catchup services. I understand that you can do this with Airplay and screen mirroring on the Apple TV, but it strikes me as a bit of a fudge rather than having a native app.
So, what else do I need to consider?
Ta
If you have a lot of iTunes Store content, you probably want Apple TV.
IF you have lots of erm... 'other' content, you might like to check out a Roku LT (about £50) and run Plex Media Server on the Mac .. there is iTunes content available in the Plex plugin (but not DRM protected stuff) but it isn't very slick.
I went with the Roku as essentially I use the BBC iPlayer applet and Plex to stream films.
Purely for iTunes content, the Apple TV is a great solution. [i]When[/i] the ATV3 jailbreak arrives, it will be perfect for watching streaming services as well.
The "best" solution IMO is a Mac Mini running plex, but this is obviously quite expensive even if (like me) you get a 2nd hand Mini.
A cheap Linux box running Plex/XBMC (which is what I assume brassneck is talking about) is also a decent solution.
Nope, I run Plex Media Server on a Hackintosh box to serve media, and a Roku LT running the Plex plugin connected to the big telly. Another deciding factor was the iPhone / iPad app - you can watch a film on the big TV, pause it, then resume where you left off on the iPad in bed.
A good friend of mine bought one because she didn't want satellite, and she loves it to bits! She has an iPad, and streams Netflix and iPlayer from it to tha Atv, and wouldn't be without it now.
I watch downloaded content through apple TV regularly. Just make sure its MP4 and it goes straight into iTunes and is picked up by the ATV.
If you want to, JB it and put XBMC on it too.
Or how about an XBMC based RaspberryPi? £25 is crazy money and looks… different...
I have a WDTV live and an Apple TV2 - Jailbroken and running XBMC the ATV is much better than the WDTV. I have a hard drive attached to an Airport Extreme and the ATV streams from that. New content is ripped on my iMac and copied over. Works really well.
The WDTV is a lot more stable though - the ATV falls over now and again (less so recently, come to think of it) but it's quick to reboot. And it can be a bit of a ball ache to jailbreak.
Nope, I run Plex Media Server on a Hackintosh box to serve media, and a Roku LT running the Plex plugin connected to the big telly. Another deciding factor was the iPhone / iPad app - you can watch a film on the big TV, pause it, then resume where you left off on the iPad in bed.
That sounds like a great setup. Plex is definitely the way to go IMO. As you say, the iPad/iPhone app works really well.
Or how about an XBMC based RaspberryPi? £25 is crazy money and looks… different...
I believe it has it's own fork now called RPMC although I've not tried it. I'll have to give it a go at the weekend. The hardware is perfectly capable of decoding 1080p video so it should be a good option!
I just start a movie in vlc player on mu macbook and mirror it on my atv 3, works a treat and I don't have to convert anything
I bought a £70 PC from eBay and bunged a £20 graphics card in it. Running XBMC it handles any video I throw at it.
Recently bought an Apple TV and love it.
You can convert your "other" content to the correct format using handbrake which has a specific setting for Apple TV 2.
If you have photos on iPhoto you can set your Apple TV to scroll through them whilst your are listening to music through your TV / Surround sound system connect to it.
If you are an Apple fan you will love Apple TV.
I'd get an Apple TV if it did love film, as I get cheesed off with how poorly my PS3 does Youtube!
