Is the Apple TV worth getting?

[Krizzle1]

As per the title...

Im considering on buying an Apple TV, but not sure if it's worth it for me. I normally watch my iTunes movies on my iPad, but im thinking maybe it'd be cool to get an Apple TV?

What exactly can you do with an Apple TV? Stream my purchased movies/shows? Airplay YouTube via iDevices in the house? Mirror my iPad screen whatever im doing? (Safari, playing games, videos via third party apps?)

What do you guys use your Apple TV for?
I dont know if Apple TV is 'big' in the UK, im getting the impression not many people use it :/

Any input would be great

[KarmaNL]

Yes I use it for Netflix and Youtube mostly. I also stream stuff with Air Video HD directly from my mac to my appletv through my ipad.

[scotty2hotty]

I would say it's worth getting. I ended up getting 2 (one for our bedroom, and one for the living room). We use it almost every day. I have just over 300 iTunes titles and somewhere close to 20 TV Shows - almost all of those are in HD. It looks great on our 55 and 42 inch 1080p TVs.

To answer your questions, I'll just do that all at once - Yes. It does everything you mentioned.

While I've read many peoples' opinions here about it and the quality of the movies on iTunes in general, my wife and I find it's very close to blu-ray quality. Granted, we have a 100+ mb/s connection and live in the US, so maybe that helps. If you have a receiver connected, you'll also get DD 5.1 surround in most movies and apps.

[Krizzle1]

Originally Posted by scotty2hotty

I would say it's worth getting. I ended up getting 2 (one for our bedroom, and one for the living room). We use it almost every day. I have just over 300 iTunes titles and somewhere close to 20 TV Shows - almost all of those are in HD. It looks great on our 55 and 42 inch 1080p TVs.

To answer your questions, I'll just do that all at once - Yes. It does everything you mentioned.

While I've read many peoples' opinions here about it and the quality of the movies on iTunes in general, my wife and I find it's very close to blu-ray quality. Granted, we have a 100+ mb/s connection and live in the US, so maybe that helps. If you have a receiver connected, you'll also get DD 5.1 surround in most movies and apps.

Whats the difference between the 2nd Gen and 3rd Gen (apart from 2nd is jailbreakable)?

How easy/difficult is it to quickly stream/mirror say a photo or video (you just shot on the iPad) to the TV?

Is it difficult to set up?

If you have more than 1 iDevice in the house what are some cool stuff you can do with it?

[scotty2hotty]

Originally Posted by Krizzle1

Whats the difference between the 2nd Gen and 3rd Gen (apart from 2nd is jailbreakable)?

How easy/difficult is it to quickly stream/mirror say a photo or video (you just shot on the iPad) to the TV?

Is it difficult to set up?

If you have more than 1 iDevice in the house what are some cool stuff you can do with it?

2nd Gen is 720p only, 3rd Gen is 1080p.

Once your apple tv is connected to your network, and as long as your iOS device is connected to the same network, it's as easy as swiping up from the bottom of your screen on your iOS device and choosing which apple tv to airplay your content to (if you have more than one apple tv). Then, open a photo / video, and it should display on your tv screen.

Very easy to set up - if you can work an iPhone, you can work an Apple TV.

I'm not sure of any "cool" stuff you can do with more than one - but I have 2 because my wife and I don't always like to watch the same things together, but we both want to watch at the same time.

[TBDave]

Originally Posted by Krizzle1

Whats the difference between the 2nd Gen and 3rd Gen (apart from 2nd is jailbreakable)?

How easy/difficult is it to quickly stream/mirror say a photo or video (you just shot on the iPad) to the TV?

Is it difficult to set up?

1 - The 2nd Gen boxes are only 720p. The 3rd Gen boxes are 1080p.

2 - Very simple. Just push a button on the iPad and it's on the TV screen.

3 - Very easy. It only takes a few minutes. Connect the wires and plug it in. Enter your Wifi password and Apple account user/pass. That's about it.

Personally, I'd recommend a Roku instead of an AppleTV. They both do a great job, but Roku gives you more options for streaming. However, if you've got a lot of Apple devices and iTunes content, then maybe the AppleTV is best for you.

[Krizzle1]

Thanks for your input guys

....i'll keep my eye on eBay and see if i can grab a cheap AppleTV 3

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Krizzle1

As per the title...

Im considering on buying an Apple TV, but not sure if it's worth it for me. I normally watch my iTunes movies on my iPad, but im thinking maybe it'd be cool to get an Apple TV?

What exactly can you do with an Apple TV? Stream my purchased movies/shows? Airplay YouTube via iDevices in the house? Mirror my iPad screen whatever im doing? (Safari, playing games, videos via third party apps?)

What do you guys use your Apple TV for?
I dont know if Apple TV is 'big' in the UK, im getting the impression not many people use it :/

Any input would be great

I am from the UK and I have the 3rd gen one. Your experience will depend on your broadband really. I used to struggle with a 2.6mbps connection. Films would take 30 minutes to buffer before playing. Now that I have fibre, it takes around two minutes to buffer a film. If you are serious about home cinema (imo, you don't sound like you are) itunes is not the answer. If you are a casual movie fan who just wants to see a film and you are not that bothered about top quality, itunes should suffice. I have a projector and a 50 inch plasma. I keep Bluray for the projector as itunes HD, imo, can look a little blurry with fast action scenes etc.. You can also make out some pixelation in large areas of the same colour (flames, walls, Sky etc..). Digital noise is sometimes visible even in bright, daytime scenes and can look a little shimmery. it looks fine on my plasma but I still prefer the Bluray if films are available on both platforms.
I haven't used AirPlay since I upgraded to fibre but I'm guessing it will work fine now.
Choice wise, iTunes Store has a very impressive selection of movies and TV shows as you will already know. So to summarise, if you aren't too particular about top notch quality itunes and the Apple TV will offer 'good enough' quality for the screen size you mentioned.

[AZBrowncoat]

Originally Posted by TBDave

However, if you've got a lot of Apple devices and iTunes content, then maybe the AppleTV is best for you.

It really depends on your needs, if you are heavily vested in the iTunes ecosystem and rarely stream (I rely on previously downloaded material as I can't stream reliably) it is definitely worth it (IMHO) - if you want a wider choice in potential streaming partners than Roku - personally I wish I had purchased another Apple TV instead of a Roku 3. In my house the Roku almost never gets turned on as I add any iTunes compatible (MP4) content to my iTunes as well to stream locally.

[Mobe1969]

I download the videos to my PC and play from that via home sharing. I use it as a last resort for stuff I can't get on blu-ray but they have it in HD.

It is a step or two down though. The interface for say selecting audio or sub's is horrific, unintuitive, and rubbish. The remote control is rubbish. I get sick of people praising apple for their usability and design. Itunes app is the biggest pile of rubbish too.

But hey I can at least see Castle and Revenge and Modern Family in HD without adds and station logos. Just a poor mentally challenged cousin to blu-ray.

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by Mobe1969

I download the videos to my PC and play from that via home sharing. I use it as a last resort for stuff I can't get on blu-ray but they have it in HD.

It is a step or two down though. The interface for say selecting audio or sub's is horrific, unintuitive, and rubbish. The remote control is rubbish. I get sick of people praising apple for their usability and design. Itunes app is the biggest pile of rubbish too.

But hey I can at least see Castle and Revenge and Modern Family in HD without adds and station logos. Just a poor mentally challenged cousin to blu-ray.

One good thing about the Apple TV, is you can program any universal remote to work with it. My AVR remote has 4 universal buttons, so I attached the Apple TV to one of them, that way I can control the device plus the volume from a single remote.

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by Krizzle1

As per the title...

Im considering on buying an Apple TV, but not sure if it's worth it for me. I normally watch my iTunes movies on my iPad, but im thinking maybe it'd be cool to get an Apple TV?

What exactly can you do with an Apple TV? Stream my purchased movies/shows? Airplay YouTube via iDevices in the house? Mirror my iPad screen whatever im doing? (Safari, playing games, videos via third party apps?)

What do you guys use your Apple TV for?
I dont know if Apple TV is 'big' in the UK, im getting the impression not many people use it :/

Any input would be great

There will most likely be an upgrade to the device either this year or next year, if you can wait. The last upgrade to the AppleTV was in 2013, so it's due for a refresh.

It's a pretty good device. I have both the AppleTV 2 and AppleTV 3 in my house. The not-yet-released AppleTV 4 is rumored to have a TV tuner inside, but I don't put much stock in rumors. I'll wait until it's actually released to see what features it has.

[Mobe1969]

Originally Posted by Scarface32

One good thing about the Apple TV, is you can program any universal remote to work with it. My AVR remote has 4 universal buttons, so I attached the Apple TV to one of them, that way I can control the device plus the volume from a single remote.

Hmm, you mean you can program it to do useful thinks like get directly to audio/subs without their half baked, UNINTUITIVE, menu system?

This highlights how stupid apple are:
http://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201856

"Repeat step 6 to program all six button functions."

Ummm. There are seven buttons. You seem to have missed a button on your remote in the options. The play/pause button

[kdubby]

We have 2 Apple TVs in our home and love them! We only use cable for the internet. We purchase seasons of our favorite shows that are not available via Hulu through iTunes and watch those, iTunes movies, Youtube, Netflix, Smithsonian channel and HBO Go. I am a big hockey fan and use the NHL app to keep up with my Blackhawks! If you have a cable provider and plan to keep it, then having an Apple TV will just make using your iTunes collection easier.

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by Mobe1969

Hmm, you mean you can program it to do useful thinks like get directly to audio/subs without their half baked, UNINTUITIVE, menu system?

This highlights how stupid apple are:
http://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201856

"Repeat step 6 to program all six button functions."

Ummm. There are seven buttons. You seem to have missed a button on your remote in the options. The play/pause button

Play/pause is n the advance set-up. That link is for the basic set-up. The advanced set-up adds six extra buttons. (the play and pause are two separate buttons on learned remotes)

[Mobe1969]

Advanced setup? I didn't see a menu option for that. Where is it?

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by Mobe1969

Advanced setup? I didn't see a menu option for that. Where is it?

After you created a learned remote and name it, select the remove you created and select "set up playback buttons"









This also lets you add extra buttons that goes beyond what's offered on the main remote.

[Mobe1969]

Brilliant. Thanks for that. Shame it still doesn't appear to have anything to get to the tracks or their menu. I stioll struggle to get to that.

[Scarface32]

Originally Posted by Mobe1969

Brilliant. Thanks for that. Shame it still doesn't appear to have anything to get to the tracks or their menu. I stioll struggle to get to that.

As you are watching something hold down the select button for a couple seconds and the option will pop up to select a different audio or subtitles or chapters. (If available). Then hit the menu button to go back to what you're watching.

[Mobe1969]

Originally Posted by Scarface32

As you are watching something hold down the select button for a couple seconds and the option will pop up to select a different audio or subtitles or chapters. (If available). Then hit the menu button to go back to what you're watching.

Yes, it just is not very intuitive. I end up having to frigging look it up every time. They try to simplify the controls and interface, and IMHO just make a piece of rubbish.