Apple tv

[Gary S11]

Does any one have the latest apple tv,is it any good? I have apple everything else so would prefer to stick with it if it's any good ...Gary

[landy]

Hi all,
I am a bit biased as we seemed to have become apple everything as well, but apple TV is brilliant. We play so much though it now it's getting stupid. If we miss a programme that not recorded we go to the station website and play though apple TV and use it for a lot of utube stuff. Can't say enough about it.

Nino

[dswatts]

X2
Fantastic for the price!
Highly recommended :)

[mikehzz]

X3 We play all our stuff through Air Video Server to the apple TV.

[JGARDE]

X4 it's brilliant

[Reads90]

X 5

Love it

[weeds]

i have one but probably dont utilise it as much as i could.........

[Scallops]

i have one but probably dont utilise it as much as i could.........

I can relate to that comment, same here :( .....Oh, you mean you have an Apple TV.....:p

[Gary S11]

If the stuff from the computer ,Ie movies is wifi to the tv ? Then that must mean it doesn't go through the amp, so no surround sound /sub woofer ?..Gary

[weeds]

i have one but probably dont utilise it as much as i could.........


I can relate to that comment, same here :( .....Oh, you mean you have an Apple TV.....:p

wendy has confirmed we use ours to its fullest potential.........:cool:

[Scallops]

wendy has confirmed we use ours to its fullest potential.........:cool:

It's good work if you can get it. Well done. :BigThumb:

[kenleyfred]

Can you AirPlay direct from your iPhone pod pad directly, or does it have to go through a wifi network ?

[jc109]

If the stuff from the computer ,Ie movies is wifi to the tv ? Then that must mean it doesn't go through the amp, so no surround sound /sub woofer ?..Gary
That all depends on how you connect it. Mine goes through my receiver via HDMI and then to the TV, speakers, etc. separately. Full surround sound. Works a treat.

[Gary S11]

Well thanks to those that helped I ordered my apple tv today, did I need to order a hdmi cable too? From what I understand it will work without it but as jc109 said if I want it to go thought the sound system I need it ..Gary

[landy]

I bought a HDMI cable with mine. its just easier to hook it all up i think. Don't buy from Harvey Norman as the mark up on cables is just ridiculous.

Nino

[dmdigital]

Well thanks to those that helped I ordered my apple tv today, did I need to order a hdmi cable too? From what I understand it will work without it but as jc109 said if I want it to go thought the sound system I need it ..Gary
It will only work with an HDMI output for video. You have the ability to plug a TOSlink (SPDIF) cable in for digital audio out but the simplest way is to use the HDMI for both. You don't need the genuine apple cable, though it has the advantage of being very flexible and black so it stays hidden.

If you need to convert video files to mp4 (iTunes format) download Handbrake, its an excellent and free utility.

[clubagreenie]

I'm usually apple pro but recently, and against a trend due to a bad experience with a video camera and the fact the itai bro in law works for them, bought a sony blu ray. Has ethernet and "Sony Entertainment Network". Must say, am impressed so far. Has video on demand, both free and pay for view, at competitive pricing. Was less than $150- and also plays blu rays as well as internet video, ethernet streaming (who else was in withdrawal while TPB was down?)

[loanrangie]

Best thing you can do to an ATV is jailbreak it and load XBMC, then you will use its full potential :cool:.

[Gary S11]

It turned up today, yet to set it up, jailbreaking is out side of my. Field of knowledge ..Gary

[Judo]

Best thing you can do to an ATV is jailbreak it and load XBMC, then you will use its full potential :cool:.
This + Netflix subscription. :angel: It's fantastic.

[Gary S11]

Well got it all set up and decided to hire "we bought a zoo" took 4 hrs to down load to my lap top before we could watch it, so next question, do i need to down load to the computer or can you watch it straight off the apple tv?..Gary

[weeds]

I select the movie from the menu in apple tv itself. It was slow maybe 40min but no I have supa fast Internet and can start watching straight away

Oh and we watch we brought a zoo Friday night

[clubagreenie]

Sounds like a connection issue. Just tried it from here, on holidays and only 3g phone hotspot wireless to laptop connection and took 25min to d/l. Connected to home pc and d/l there in <3min.

Somethings awry.

[Judo]

What is your home internet connection? You should be able to start watching it within a few minutes max...

If you have decent broadband at home, try taking the power cord out for a few seconds or more, then powering it back up again. I have fast internet, but have had an issue where it said ETA was hours away. I just rebooted it and it was all good again.

[Gary S11]

I contacted westnet and they said my speed was average for the plan I'm on, 49.00 per month , it was ,I think 5000 bps, might just have to down load the night before?Gary

[clubagreenie]

Hmmm, I ave 2-3 Mbs but up to 5 at times. You're on ADSL?

[Judo]

I contacted westnet and they said my speed was average for the plan I'm on, 49.00 per month , it was ,I think 5000 bps, might just have to down load the night before?Gary
If you mean 5000Kbps (same as 5Mbps, which is average for ADSL), then it shouldn't take that long before you can watch it.

ALTHOUGH, are you buying, downloading the whole movie before watching?
OR renting and watching as soon as possible?

I only rent, which means you can start watching it (streaming) almost straight away. To be honest, I've never purchased a movie to keep on iTunes/ATV.

[Gary S11]

Hi I just rented the movie, but it think the problem was I down loaded it to the laptop and played it from there instead of straight from the tv, I think the reason for this was that the tv kept saying this. Computer not authorised, but it is, so that's why I went via laptop. Gary
I'll get there aventually

[Judo]

Ahh ok. Sounds like if you get the ATV "authorised", your problems will be fixed... until the next problem. :D

[Gary S11]

Sorry to be a pain, so far the apple tv has played a movie, has all my photos my music, can mirror my iPad watching YouTube etc, my iPad and iPhone are also remotes. BUT I thought that what was playing on my mac could be viewed on the tv, I.e watching a missed episode of missing playing on the mac in the kitchen I was hopping to watch on the lounge tv, but is wont , I have home sharing activated, and air player activated, all are updated with the latest os
I must be pretty dumb cause I cant sus it out, help ....Gary

[First90]

Gary you can use AirPlay from a mac at the moment, only from iOS devices. You can however get apps that can stream media to your iOS device which you can then forward on to your apple tv. Complicated but thats all you can do. I use Air Play.

The new mac operating system, Mountain Lion, will provide AirPlay from your mac straight to the apple tv.

[Gary S11]

Well I took the advice from here and instead of loading the movie to the mac and then watching I ordered the movie direct from apple tv, it did it's thing and said 29 mins, till viewing, we said YAY and 4 hrs latter we weren't saying YAY any more,no matter what I did it would only go to the above message. So I left it all night, in the morning it said 29 min, etc so I went to settings and told it to stop loading, it then said 29 days left to view, so hit play it loaded and said 20 mins till play and counted down, we finally watched our movie. This really Sucks... Gary

[Judo]

That sucks indeed....

If it takes that long to download both via laptop or ATV direct, then there is some other common problem. I would stop looking at ATV/laptop problems.

You said you were on the Westnet $49/month plan. Can you be more specific? Looking at their website that might be an ADSL1 plan, which isn't very fast these days. If you speak to Westnet, a key question to ask is, what speed your "sync speed" is. That is the real speed you are getting, regardless of what speed your plan is capable of. You can also check your "sync speed" by logging into your modem. Can you check and report back?

To put it in perspective:

High Definition movies require 6Mbps or better for near instant streaming
Standard Definition movies require 2.5 Mbps or better for near instant streaming
ADSL1 is maximum of 1.5Mbps
ADSL2 is maximum of 24Mbps

If you have ADSL1, I would expect a wait time of 30 mins before being able to start watching a movie in SD and a very long time to watch a movie in HD.

ADSL2 connection speeds vary greatly. I would estimate average connection speeds between 8-15Mbps.

[kenleyfred]

Just bought apple tv today as birthday pressie to myself. Very easy to set up and start using.
Question. If you rent a movie using your apple id, how long do you have it and how many times can you watch it. Where is it stored while you have it.

Kenley

[Gary S11]

Hi from memory you have 30 days to watch it, but once you start watching it you have it
for 48 and can watch it as often as you want in that time and after this time will self deleat
I'll be interested to know how long it takes to down load, I'm currently talking to westnet, to get a better speed with out costing, took over 4 hrs to download for me. Gary

[Gary S11]

After a bit of talking to westnet, we came up with a "turbo pack" and if I bundled my land line with them, saves $35.00 a month from my old Telstra/ westnet plan I now have the fastest speed adsl 1 can give ( and that's all our lines here can handle) 8000 Kbps I think he said, and my apple tv played straight away no waiting and no hiccups it was in std deff, but I'm happy, and 99% of YouTube videos play without stop starting. So I'm happy Gary

[Judo]

After a bit of talking to westnet, we came up with a "turbo pack" and if I bundled my land line with them, saves $35.00 a month from my old Telstra/ westnet plan I now have the fastest speed adsl 1 can give ( and that's all our lines here can handle) 8000 Kbps I think he said, and my apple tv played straight away no waiting and no hiccups it was in std deff, but I'm happy, and 99% of YouTube videos play without stop starting. So I'm happy Gary
Great news! And you're right, ADSL1 can handle up to 8Mbps. My post above is wrong! Sorry... Glad it's all working now. :)