[DVDwizard]

mosley said:

When both are off the Apple TV is warm, when the Apple TV is on (and the receiver off) it gets really hot so I am pretty sure it's got nothing to do with heat from the receiver.

The AppleTV cannot be turned off. It has a sleep mode, but the power consumption and heat generated barely changes. If you really want it off, you have to unplug it.

[tallscot]

[quote name='Chris Breen']
>

whyibother said:

> Your kidding me right?
> You give it 4 out of 5. (Pretty good score in anyones book). Then say it sucks. Then justify all this with saying we should basically make our own mind up.
> Sorry Chris but obviously you thought it was good but after living with it for a while are getting frustrated by it. If you are wrong simply say your wrong and don't make excuses.

At the risk of sounding like I'm making excuses, sometimes my iPhone sucks. Sometimes my MacBook Pro sucks. Sometimes my Mac Pro sucks. Sometimes a vodka martini sucks.

Suckage is part of life, which is why you try to step back from those sucky moments and take the long view. On the one-to-five suckage meter, my Apple TV sucks to the tune of about one because it works nearly all the time and I'm impressed by what it does. When it misbehaves ? as my iPhone occasionally does ? I get frustrated with it and wish that its quirks were cured. Sometimes I find such frustration rich fodder for comment.

I guess I won't be getting an iPhone! ;)

My DirecTV DVR never sucks. It works all the time. I have enough trouble-shooting with my computers. I don't want to bring that trouble-shooting experience to my TV, or my phone for that matter.

[Chris Breen]

Damn, well I guess I'd better switch to DirectTV because ? and I'm sorry I failed to mention it ? my TiVo sucks sometimes too.

Some people have all the luck.

[yelocab]

One correction: Holding the Play/Pause button for 6 seconds puts it into Standby mode. Press Menu and Menu down/scroll (-) for about 6 seconds to reset.
I actually use a Harmony remote and when I switch devices, it puts the AppleTV into standy mode. Odd thing is that when I switch back to AppleTV, the screen is black, flashes the last screen that was up, then switches back to black (not sure if this is something with the HDMI connection--maybe the last screen is cahched--but according to Apple, during standby "Video will display black even though video output remains active."). I press "menu" to wake up the AppleTV.
Yes, the movie rental screens are annoying. I just want a list of movies, perhaps by categories. But what I get are images of the movie posters. I have to scroll thru them to see the titles.
And again, we need support for more video formats (without hacking!). Would like to copy a unencrypted DVD to AppleTV and have all the language/subtitle options, etc., just as if the DVD were playing.

[tallscot]

Chris Breen said:

Damn, well I guess I'd better switch to DirectTV because ? and I'm sorry I failed to mention it ? my TiVo sucks sometimes too.

Some people have all the luck.

My TiVo did suck sometimes too. It gets bogged down and unresponsive and slow, sometimes. The DirecTV HD DVR works really well, though.

Personally, I don't think any IP service is going to be that great, ever. It's been over 100 years since the telephone was invented and when I try to vote for my favorite American Idol contestant, I get a busy signal.

[Chris Breen]

whyibother said:

Maybe you should write "it sucks" in every review. Or maybe have a "suckage meter" so we can say, "oh look even though every gadgetvsucks this one only got one suck".

Clearly that's the implication of the grayed-out mice in our ratings. "Where did that mouse's rich black hue go? It was sucked away."

[buffalobob]

As I mentioned in a previous post my Directv HD DVR sucks at least as much as my AppleTV, and when it does, it's much harder to figure out. The web is full of complaints about the product!

[NW_Mike]

Wow, you are lucky. My DirecTV DVR sucked so bad, and judging by their forums I was not alone, I paid an early termination fee to ditch them. I would have to reboot the thing IN THE MIDDLE of programs sometimes. Now THAT is suckage.

[tallscot]

NW_Mike said:

Wow, you are lucky. My DirecTV DVR sucked so bad, and judging by their forums I was not alone, I paid an early termination fee to ditch them. I would have to reboot the thing IN THE MIDDLE of programs sometimes. Now THAT is suckage.

Which model? I have the black HR21.

[NW_Mike]

My DirecTV DVR was the DirecTV Plus DVR, not sure what the model number was. It was awful and I wasn't about to pay a couple of hundred bucks to 'upgrade' just to get a functioning one. I have FiOS TV now with a Tivo HD DVR and it has been flawless. I couldn't be happier.

[tallscot]

buffalobob said:

As I mentioned in a previous post my Directv HD DVR sucks at least as much as my AppleTV, and when it does, it's much harder to figure out. The web is full of complaints about the product!

I have the HR21, which I think is the latest. I have it connected with HDMI to my Samsung LCD and it works great. It doesn't get bogged down like my TiVo Series 1 did (old, I know). I've never had to restart the thing or unplug it, etc. I really haven't had any problems with it. It just works, for me anyway.

[tallscot]

NW_Mike said:

My DirecTV DVR was the DirecTV Plus DVR, not sure what the model number was. It was awful and I wasn't about to pay a couple of hundred bucks to 'upgrade' just to get a functioning one. I have FiOS TV now with a Tivo HD DVR and it has been flawless. I couldn't be happier.

I think the HR21 is more reliable than their previous DVR Plus.

Anyway, it's great you have a solution you like. I think FIOS is coming to my neighborhood because I saw them digging on the main street near me. I'll check it out.

Does it do dual stream HD? (record two HD programs at the same time?)

[NW_Mike]

Yes it uses 2 cable cards in the 2 slots up front to record, and I can't see why it wouldn't record 2 HD channels at a time. I record most of my content in HD but honestly have never looked to see if the HD shows overlap. This is with my Tivo, not the Verizon DVR, which I have never tried.

[buffalobob]

My Directv DVR is also the HR21. Like the AppleTV, it works well MOST of the time. At least this one does, the first one failed after two weeks. The first ones ability to record two programs at once went away completely and required frequent resets and unpluging.

This one as well as the first one, sometimes skips on playback, and the voice and picture sometimes gets out of sync. Usually a reset fixes things.