Apple TV

[pmac]

Hi.
I was just wondering if Apple TV allowed you to play your iTunes digital Movie collection on your home theatre or TV?

[bsweetness]

Originally Posted by pmac

Hi.
I was just wondering if Apple TV allowed you to play your iTunes digital Movie collection on your home theatre or TV?

Yes. That's pretty much its main selling point from Apple's perspective. You can stream all of your video purchases that are in iCloud, and you can use Air Play to play files that you have stored locally on a compatible device.

[pmac]

Thank you bsweetness, I really appreciate that!

I have a follow up question for you or someone that knows...

I am familiar with Roku, just bought one here in Florida while on vacation and will be bringing it home to Canada with many US channels activated, I suspect they will not work at all when I get home but I had to try.

Anyways, to the point, in Roku, there is an app or channel that streams the video files from a directory on my Windows 7 laptop, I was able to watch a few TV shows I missed out on without needing to plug them into the Roku, just direct stream like a media center. When you said it streams (the Apple TV) locally from a compatible device, we download all our movies to the PC in iTunes program, would my Win7 PC be a compatible device? Or would I need a Mac laptop/desktop?

Thanks in advance for your time and sorry for making it so long..I tend to ramble sometimes.

[pmac]

I have another question while I'm at it...

My wife is the "i" user in the family along with her son.
I picked up a digital copy for iTunes of Despicable Me 2 an we redeemed it and it will not go on her iPod 4?!
First off, does anyone know why it won't let iPod 4 accept this movie. I believe it is an HD movie if that matters.
Next question, because after looking at the internet Apple TV it looks like it will only stream off of other "i" devices and doesn't look like PC is an option.

What device do I need other than a full out Mac laptop (too much money for what we want it for) do we need to ensure to be able to upload all iTunes digital copy movies to, i.e. will iPod 5 accept all movies HD and whatnot, or for HD movies do we need an iPad Mini, or is a full iPad the only way to go with HD content (if HD is the reason we can't upload DM2 to her iPod 4.

Hope I have been clear enough. Apple website doesn't get specific enough for me, so I come here to the experts who probably already have one (Apple TV) and know all this stuff.

[unsung122212]

Originally Posted by pmac

Thank you bsweetness, I really appreciate that!

I have a follow up question for you or someone that knows...

I am familiar with Roku, just bought one here in Florida while on vacation and will be bringing it home to Canada with many US channels activated, I suspect they will not work at all when I get home but I had to try.

Anyways, to the point, in Roku, there is an app or channel that streams the video files from a directory on my Windows 7 laptop, I was able to watch a few TV shows I missed out on without needing to plug them into the Roku, just direct stream like a media center. When you said it streams (the Apple TV) locally from a compatible device, we download all our movies to the PC in iTunes program, would my Win7 PC be a compatible device? Or would I need a Mac laptop/desktop?

Thanks in advance for your time and sorry for making it so long..I tend to ramble sometimes.

For the Apple TV, you have three options for viewing your itunes files, 1) is from the iCloud that are compatible with this method, 2) the AirPlay options will only allow you to stream from one apple device to another apple device. I don't think it will do this with non-apple products, and finally, 3) iTunes has a homegroup feature in its program that allows you view content in your Apple iTunes library on that specific computer to other Apple products as long as it is on the same wifi network. You should be able to connect your itunes library to your Apple TV by providing you iTunes account info from that PC. This actually allows me to streaming the Star Trek into Darkness enhanced commentary from my computer to my brother's Apple TV.


As far as Despicable Me 2 not transferring over to your iPod Touch 4th gen, might be because the 4th generation ipod can only show video up to 720p resolution. The file that is downloaded to you computer is most likely a 1080p file and not the 720p file. Try downloading the file onto the ipod from the cloud or re-download the file on itunes, but change your prefer download resolution to 720p and then try to transfer to your ipod.

[pmac]

I have been reading from the Apple support website and they seem to think it is capable of streaming from a PC somehow, I think I will buy one here in FLA and try it out for the day see if I can get it going, I have all day and I leave tomorrow to go home. So we shall see.

[DeadDog]

Originally Posted by pmac

I have been reading from the Apple support website and they seem to think it is capable of streaming from a PC somehow, I think I will buy one here in FLA and try it out for the day see if I can get it going, I have all day and I leave tomorrow to go home. So we shall see.

Yeah, as long as you can add the video to your itunes library on your pc you will be able to stream it to the Apple TV with no problems. You just need to setup Home Sharing on each device (atv and pc) but that's pretty simple and the Apple TV will walk you through it.

[pmac]

Took the plunge, now I am setting up the ATV little by little. Will see how it goes in about an hour.

[Andysol]

Originally Posted by pmac

Took the plunge, now I am setting up the ATV little by little. Will see how it goes in about an hour.

Hollar if you have any questions. It's easy as pie to setup. Any channels you don't want, you can go to security under settings and "hide" them. Cumbersome, but an App Store should hopefully be there (finally) within a year.

If you have a close friend or relative who has hulu, HBO, or Netflix...

I love Apple TV. Kiddo is watching disney junior on it right now.

[pmac]

Watching Pain and Gain in HD now to test the streaming capabilities. I was reading on the support site, and streaming hiccups seem to be the most common complaint. I imagine most are happy, but I figure best to check out the main reason for buying first. Got 2 laptops hooked up to home sharing now. I think I will have to add a new account based in USA.

EDIT: Man it's a pain in the rear creating a USA based iTunes account.

[mike568]

Originally Posted by Andysol

Hollar if you have any questions. It's easy as pie to setup. Any channels you don't want, you can go to security under settings and "hide" them. Cumbersome, but an App Store should hopefully be there (finally) within a year.

If you have a close friend or relative who has hulu, HBO, or Netflix...

I love Apple TV. Kiddo is watching disney junior on it right now.

Thanks for showing me how to hide the apps that I don't use on my Apple TV 2nd generation.

My brother created a sub account to his TV provider so I can stream ESPN and Disney Channels on my Apple TV and Roku 3. I only have 30 Mbs internet and use an antenna for TV. I added his PS3, Roku 3, and my niece's tablet to my Vudu account and gave my login info to my iTunes to him in exchange.
I don't use an iPhone so my personal contacts aren't stored in iCloud anymore.

[Andysol]

Originally Posted by pmac

Watching Pain and Gain in HD now to test the streaming capabilities. I was reading on the support site, and streaming hiccups seem to be the most common complaint. I imagine most are happy, but I figure best to check out the main reason for buying first. Got 2 laptops hooked up to home sharing now. I think I will have to add a new account based in USA.

EDIT: Man it's a pain in the rear creating a USA based iTunes account.

I never really do the home sharing/computer thing. I just stream from iTunes (app on top left). That is, of course, if they are purchased or downloaded iTunes movies. If you rip your own DVDs/Blus and put them into iTunes- you have to do the home sharing.

Originally Posted by mike568

Thanks for showing me how to hide the apps that I don't use on my Apple TV 2nd generation.

My brother created a sub account to his TV provider so I can stream ESPN and Disney Channels on my Apple TV and Roku 3. I only have 30 Mbs internet and use an antenna for TV. I added his PS3, Roku 3, and my niece's tablet to my Vudu account and gave my login info to my iTunes to him in exchange.
I don't use an iPhone so my personal contacts aren't stored in iCloud anymore.

Thats smart. I partner up with my parents too. I use their HBO as they never use HBO Go, and they use my iTunes log-in (even though they have their own- mine has 140ish movies on there).

Another small note you might not know- if you hold down your "select" button, you can move and rearrange apps. Not sure why they make hiding apps so hard- but I'll never use Crunchy roll or whatever that japanese station is.

[pmac]

Originally Posted by Andysol

I never really do the home sharing/computer thing. I just stream from iTunes (app on top left). That is, of course, if they are purchased or downloaded iTunes movies. If you rip your own DVDs/Blus and put them into iTunes- you have to do the home sharing.


Another small note you might not know- if you hold down your "select" button, you can move and rearrange apps. Not sure why they make hiding apps so hard- but I'll never use Crunchy roll or whatever that japanese station is.

My main purpose of getting Apple TV is so I can start to buy iTunes digital codes and redeem them. Because in Canada I have limited access to my collection through the CinemaNow application on the PS3, VUDU and others don't work in Canada for the most part (I think you can trick it but I am not sure I will be able to pull that off).

So I will shift my digital collection to the iTunes rather than UV side.

[bsweetness]

Originally Posted by pmac

My main purpose of getting Apple TV is so I can start to buy iTunes digital codes and redeem them. Because in Canada I have limited access to my collection through the CinemaNow application on the PS3, VUDU and others don't work in Canada for the most part (I think you can trick it but I am not sure I will be able to pull that off).

So I will shift my digital collection to the iTunes rather than UV side.

There are fewer iTunes digital copy codes being included with Blu-rays, so be careful putting all of your eggs in that basket. If you're looking to buy directly through iTunes, you should be fine, but that will cost you more.

[bhampton]

Yeah, the fact the apple TV does not do Vudu or amazon instant steaming is fully crazy. I bought the latest one but returned it after discovering that. I bought the latest Roku instead. My wife loves that. She does a lot of Amazon streaming (prime member.)


Eventually I bought a first Gen ATV but I use that in a fully different way... I put linux on it and use it as a HTPC with XBMC and that's totally different.... and a bit off topic.

-Brian

[Blu Jedi Master]

Does the Apple TV stream Disney Movies in 1080p?

[Andysol]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Yeah, the fact the apple TV does not do Vudu or amazon instant steaming is fully crazy.

You can airplay amazon instant streaming from an iDevice. Unfortunately, no App.
Also, if you have a Macbook or iMac, you can Airplay Vudu on your computer to the Apple TV for 1080p vudu.

Not the most elegant solutions, but doable. I long for the day of an Apple TV app-store. Hoping 2014 is the year.

Originally Posted by Blu Jedi Master

Does the Apple TV stream Disney Movies in 1080p?

Yup- if they're HD in iTunes.