[DocNo]

chimerical77, on 14 March 2012 - 05:37 PM, said:

Still a hobby. If I replace my ATV2 I'll look at Roku first.

I picked up a Roku off of Woot mainly for the free streaming I get with Amazon Prime.

I have a Roku, I use a Roku - it's no Apple TV. The interface is slow and ugly, and the easiest way I have found so far to add channels is through their iOS app - the web site is god awful too!

Nope, still hoping Apple provides a way to directly add channels to the Apple TV similar to Roku - or more apps support AirPlay. Heck, that's another good use for my old iPhone - streaming to the ATV...

[DocNo]

mattwie, on 14 March 2012 - 07:05 PM, said:

The massive white elephant in the room of course, is that it can't play content via USB.

Because for most people it's easier to stream it from the cloud or their computer.

Quote

For that reason alone, many millions of people won't purchase it.

Millions? Hardly! Don't flatter yourself...

[DocNo]

Rogeruo7x, on 14 March 2012 - 08:49 PM, said:

Why would you want to do that? You appear to have a Mac or PC, put your content there and ATV will play it. That's enormously easier than messing with a USB drive.

The real elephant in his room is that content has been torrented. USB is one of the preferred methods for "those people"...

[Fixx]

DocNo, on 15 March 2012 - 01:15 AM, said:

mattwie, on 14 March 2012 - 07:05 PM, said:

The massive white elephant in the room of course, is that it can't play content via USB.

Because for most people it's easier to stream it from the cloud or their computer.

Quote

For that reason alone, many millions of people won't purchase it.

Millions? Hardly! Don't flatter yourself...

Yes, millions. Cloud services are still so clunky that many of us keep media in USB-hdd. As keeping it in MBP or iMac, they do not fit there, so storage at external hdd is the way to go.
Also, MBP/iMac may be tied to work processes and not available for playback.

At some point cloud storage is the way to go but we are not there yet.

[Grapho]

mattwie, on 14 March 2012 - 07:05 PM, said:

The massive white elephant in the room of course, is that it can't play content via USB. For that reason alone, many millions of people won't purchase it.

USB? The thing has Air Play, why would you need USB? Or do you mean hooking up an external HD? That would be cool.

[Vafudhr]

AppleTV 3 and XBMC. A combo made in heaven.

Cheers

[redgeminipa]

Vafudhr, on 15 March 2012 - 05:22 AM, said:

AppleTV 3 and XBMC. A combo made in heaven.

Cheers

Provided there's a timely jailbreak release that allows you to do it....

[jsutcliffe]

My Apple TV has arrived! One day early.

[classicmacs01]

Fixx, on 15 March 2012 - 02:07 AM, said:

DocNo, on 15 March 2012 - 01:15 AM, said:

mattwie, on 14 March 2012 - 07:05 PM, said:

The massive white elephant in the room of course, is that it can't play content via USB.

Because for most people it's easier to stream it from the cloud or their computer.

Quote

For that reason alone, many millions of people won't purchase it.

Millions? Hardly! Don't flatter yourself...

Yes, millions. Cloud services are still so clunky that many of us keep media in USB-hdd. As keeping it in MBP or iMac, they do not fit there, so storage at external hdd is the way to go.
Also, MBP/iMac may be tied to work processes and not available for playback.

At some point cloud storage is the way to go but we are not there yet.

Apparently you don't own an AppleTV and you have never used Apple's iCloud (or Netflix or Hulu or Amazon), which is now updated to support movies. How can you claim media files don't fit on your MBP or iMac, but they somehow fit on your USB thumb drive? You make no sense. Movies and TV shows play flawlessly from the Cloud through AppleTV. They also play flawlessly from a Mac, even if the Mac is doing something else. The Mac isn't playing the content for the AppleTV, it is only sending the data so the AppleTV can play it. The AppleTV has 8GB of flash storage so the content is downloaded from the Mac and stored on the flash memory, so the Mac isn't streaming the data for the entire length of the movie. The others in this forum saw right through you. Sounds like you prefer USB drives because of the methods you used to obtain your media files.

This post has been edited by classicmacs01: 15 March 2012 - 11:27 AM

[Flavum]

Rogeruo7x, on 14 March 2012 - 08:49 PM, said:

mattwie, on 14 March 2012 - 07:05 PM, said:

The massive white elephant in the room of course, is that it can't play content via USB. For that reason alone, many millions of people won't purchase it.

Why would you want to do that? You appear to have a Mac or PC, put your content there and ATV will play it. That's enormously easier than messing with a USB drive.

If you don't like iTunes you can use the iOS app Air Video to stream virtually any video file from your computer to your ATV under control of an iOS device.

I archive my DVDs onto external hard drives (at original full-resolution), as do many, many people. MacWorld has even published tutorials on this very procedure. It's simple, convenient and cost-efficient. I would love to have an Apple-branded playback solution, but sadly the AppleTV falls short in this area. Western Digital and other vendors have filled this void with a wide array of playback boxes that are versatile, stable and inexpensive. I don't need or want the complexity of external iOS control - the 3rd party solutions include remote controls. I'd be happy to give Apple my money if only...

Edit: Please don't accuse me of "torrenting" copyrighted material. My movie collection is legit and paid for.

This post has been edited by Flavum: 15 March 2012 - 04:34 PM

[michaelwells40505]

Roku!! Cheaper and many more channels.

[chrissnv]

DocNo, on 15 March 2012 - 01:10 AM, said:

chimerical77, on 14 March 2012 - 05:37 PM, said:

Still a hobby. If I replace my ATV2 I'll look at Roku first.

I picked up a Roku off of Woot mainly for the free streaming I get with Amazon Prime.

I have a Roku, I use a Roku - it's no Apple TV. The interface is slow and ugly, and the easiest way I have found so far to add channels is through their iOS app - the web site is god awful too!

Nope, still hoping Apple provides a way to directly add channels to the Apple TV similar to Roku - or more apps support AirPlay. Heck, that's another good use for my old iPhone - streaming to the ATV...

I love my ATV it is a great device and all it needs is hulu and Amazon Prime and it would be the ultimate replacement for Cable TV. I understand that Apple wants to sell it's content to us, maybe they should really get us streaming TV programming for the price of a Flat Rate then hulu, and all the others are redundant for ATV users. Just a thought.

Oh and yes the Roku interface compared to ATV is stone age, I have a Roku here for hulu and amazon only.

[chrissnv]

michaelwells40505, on 15 March 2012 - 05:21 PM, said:

Roku!! Cheaper and many more channels.

Roku with HD and and Ethernet Port (to actually be able to compare it from the Hardware specs): Same price, clunkier User Interface, more channels.

[chum]

I have a first gen apple tv and have purchased HD movies. If I purchase the latest gen of apple tv, would this already-purchased (720) HD movies be upgraded to 1080p?