Apple updates Apple TV software to version 2.3.1 - Page 2

You mean it was worth one peanut and is now worth three?

But if iTunes on the computer is better and easier to navigate- why not just hook that up to your TV and be begone with ATV? i.e. MacMini?

He has a point. You do often fall very heavy on the negative side.


PS: He is an analyst and therapist like Tobias Funke.




* I use often because the other day you were quite fair minded. I have to give credit where it is due.

$243.10... but realize, most devices are never really "off", when you use a remote to power them down they go into standby. You have to pull a plug for them to truly be off. Otherwise, the "power on" button on the remote wouldn't work. I have a TV with a two power buttons, one puts it into standby (20W draw), the other BIG button actually turns it off.

For those concerned about "standby" power consumption, a "Kill-a-Watt" measuring device, or similar product, can be quite helpful.

For you and me, sure it's very little extra work compared to the additional gain. I have done that with a Mac Mini. I even grabbed the start up video from the AppleTV and had Front Row start up automatically.

This, however, does not work for the AppleTV's intended audience. First of all, the price is high for a media extender. more than 2x the price of the AppleTV. Then there is the setup and logging which requires a mouse and keyboard unless you automate some steps. I use my parents as a litmus test. A Mac Mini would just not work for them. I have even decided not to install Boxee on their AppleTV. Eventually, i found that installing Perian on the AppleTV was just a simpler solution for me instead of the Mac Mini as media extender.

You should sell your now before the price drops and/or Apple starts using Ion in the device.

Now that was a good one. I have to check if Arrested is available on iTunes now.

Why do you think Apple omitted a button to put it in standby like every other electronic device to begin with? It surely could have been put on the back of the unit? This holding down on the 'lil white remote thing only is pure nonsense.

My Harmony 880 remote controls my entire home theater system, when I am done listening to music or watching a movie, I am either changing to some other activity or turning off the system. The Harmony 880 is programed to put the Atv into standby.
I use my iPhone Remote App for controlling the Atv selection process.

You don't own an Apple TV, do you teckspud?

Either that, or you've not yet updated your Apple TV to version 2, released almost 14 months ago.

Your comments on the device have no validity.

Well haven't you ever been to Blockbuster...new releases are overnight.

I do agree though that they should last 72 hours.

It's included

Wow, you are one awesome dude. You must not work, commute, sleep, eat, wash dishes, pay bills, and you definitely don't have kids. Can I be you?

Let's see, the most basic life-functions take maybe... work: 8 hrs (much more for *real* jobs ;-) ), commute: 1.5 hrs (both ways), sleep: 8 hrs (for many), lunch: 1hr, dinner - prep and eating: 1.5 hrs. Let's see.... that's 20 hours so far. If kids need help with homework or you just want to spend a couple hours with them, or let's be honest, you're just not going to try to watch Die Hard #12 while your young kids are awake, uh, that leaves 2 hours - just barely leaves enough time to watch a movie. IF YOU DON'T GET ANY INTERRUPTIONS! If you do, by the time the next evening rolls around, pfft, expired. This is why the 30 hour window is MUCH better than 24.

My question to the film industry is: what the hell does it cost you to make it 30 hours instead of 24?!?! Are you afraid that someone might invite friends over the 2nd night?

I'm not saying it wouldn't be better with say, 3 days, to watch a movie. my point is that if you are so flighty or your life style so haphazard that you don't know if you have 2-3 hours free.. how do you manage at a movie house?

in the event of a major (or even minor) family crisis then sod the film!

but surely one is in charge of enough of ones life to sit down and watch for 2-3 hours.

I turn the phones off and lock the door, and assume no-one will call to the house after 9pm, or at least that it is unlikely.

3 days to watch, however would be an added bonus and something I would welcome, even if I personally didn't make use of it.

what I can't understand is someone saying they would click on the RENT button today, and then would leave watching this "instant gratification" movie for 3-4 weeks.. that just sounds to me as something VERY disordered and finding any possible way to pick holes in some simple and (according to the will of the studios) apparently necessary "rules".
Life IS full of rules, weather we agree with them or not, and I don't necessarily
mean the man made ones either!

mm.. are you some sort of forensic psychologist?

I think the point you are trying to make is that you DO have kids? but then, If you "want to be me" should I assume that you don't like the choice YOU made to have kids?

OR, take a step back and look at what I ACTUALLY wrote, rather than dig so far into your perception of what I said, that you arrive at a completely erroneous veiwpoint.


if your time is so mismanaged, or your work life balance so off, then why rent a movie in this specific manner, with the attached rules THAT YOU ARE ALREADY AWARE OF, unless you LIKE banging your head against the wall??

I ask again: How does anyone complaining about there ONLY being a 24hr window, EVER manage to sit for the 2-3 hrs in a movie house?


this I agree with it SHOULD be longer (why not opt for three days, ie a whole weekend) but if we all know it ISN'T why can't we manage our time and work within what DOES currently exist
I may not have it right, but don't you americans pride yourselves on your "free economy" ? so vote with your dollars and use a different service that allows for MORE than 24 hrs.. oh.. BTW what service IS THAT again???

I just hope this update allows me to use my Apple TV. 90% of the time I go to use it, the thing is stuck on a black screen, or the menu with no content inside the boxes.

Of course, my DLP lamp died while trying to update it, so I'll have to wait a few days

Just use the service mode to restore your Apple TV.

(Simultaneously press and hold the Menu and Down buttons until the menu appears.)

Yeah I've done that in the past, both actually, no help.

My harmony remote doesn't send what the Apple TV is expecting when you press Menu and Down, so I suspect that is a unique code sent when both keys are down. I should try recording it and sticking it on a special button.

Doesn't Harmony have code packs that you can install that would probably have the correct signaling or do you have to setup all devices manually?

Do you have the original AppleTV remote to restore with?

The Harmony codes for Apple TV are all a mess.

I have an original remote, yes, and I use it to reset the damned thing every time it locks up

Sounds like you need to take it back - Apple kit's reliable but not infallible.

McD

Where are the browse options that used to be under movies? I know I complained that effectively browsing for rentals was impossible with the current design but to remove it totally? All I have are Trailers, My Movies & Search! (or am I missing something?)

McD

Didn't work for us. TV is the thing we slouch in front of for a few hours to wind down. A computer is the thing we use to manage media & geek around while happily ingesting whatever the internet tells us is right - that day. The former requires two button presses for joy, the latter a 30° field of view or my dim eyes can't read stuff.

We did the Mac to TV & it's not us - domestic disharmony! I'd rather handbrake/QT Pro stuff into iTunes.

McD

It was clearly indicated as such to those paying attention. And to the contrary: now my kids have kids, so they get to deal with those issues and I don't have to.

As someone else pointed out, the ATV does have a pause button, and it does work.

They work OK for me (Harmony 880), although honestly I end up using the Apple remote as often as not, simply because it's tiny and convenient (unlike the many, many other remotes that come with my various electronic devices).

Unlike whoever it was that called for an On/Off switch on the ATV I've never found a need for one. It's never locked up and become unresponsive, so I can always reboot it from the remote if necessary.

Apparently so!


Sarcasm Walter, sarcasm!


You are on track here. Just follow through to the logical conclusion and realize that I do not and NEVER WILL rent a movie in this manner, with these restrictions. That's the problem! Currently it's not a HUGE problem as long as Blockbuster and other "traditional" rental options exist. Blockbuster rentals are for a week for older movies and two days (actually longer without fees, but that's another story) for newer/hot movies. But how long are they going to be around?


For you to repeat the question means my "forensic psychology" must have been at least partly correct - i.e. there's no way you have kids. Again, reach out to the logical conclusion: We don't!! Or more precisely for us, it's a once or twice a year luxury that involves coordinating with other people and sometimes complex logistics. Don't you hear/read about parents with young kids how they long to be able to go out to movies and such? Those stories aren't fiction.

I'm just poking in fun, so don't be mad. Unless or until you're in this boat, we really don't expect you to understand.


See above. Renting nice, shiny, physical media works for now.

I tried that when the Mac-Mini first came out. But at 480p iTunes was unreadable and the AppleTV gave me what I wanted with an interface intended for the TV when it came out. -- Sense then I have upgraded to a 1080p TV and have it connected as a second monitor for my iMac. My earlier problem is now moot but I still find it easier to use my AppleTV than to use my iMac.

I don't. Nor do I rent movies with this limit. I very seldom am able to sit completely through a movie.

At long last, i have just noticed all my James Bonds etc can now be grouped together in movies, yippee

We have two options, we can hook up our TVs to a mac and use a bluetooth keyboard and mouse to view shows online (which I've done and find annoying), or we can get an apple TV and use the tiny remote to get to our favorite shows (which I've considered but can't bring myself to do it). Why doesn't apple just streamline the process into ATV by putting an option in the menu for TV shows that the ATV retrieves from the major networks' websites. We still have to watch the one or two commercials per episode, and then you get the option to purchase the episode when the show is over. No more keyboards, just the sleek menus that Apple has become great at. Example: select tv shows, select a network, select a show, select a season, select the episode. ATV does all the dirty work of retrieving the episode and suddenly it's not so cumbersome to use that little remote to get to watch your favorite shows online.

I just picked up an Apple TV today man, I'm pretty impressed...

I haven't totally used every feature yet, but I did watch the free episode of top gear and the 2nd to last Episode of Battle Star also an episode of Co-op.

Question I thought you could subscribe to podcasts right on the Apple TV? Where do I find this?

Thanks
-john

Not seen a subscription option on ATV though you can subscribe via iTunes itself. You can add them to favourites to build your own podcast channel on ATV.

McD

I'd say Apple thinks internet video streaming is still too unreliable to put their 'badge of excellence' on it & I don't blame them. They pay homage to YouTube and Video Podcasts but they're not real TV so the high expectation isn't there. There seem to have been moves to change their internet media delivery partners recently so maybe a more robust infrastructure would convince them - we'll see.

You sure you couldn't part with a couple of bucks for the odd catch-up? some shows are worth keeping for a while.

McD

Im looking at getting an atv as my media server mainly for itunes - music/videos and movies, one question though, can you simply daisy chain usb drives to the atv as required, I was going to start with a 1TB external and go from there?

hasapi

AppleTV is a media extender for iTunes, not a server. The internal drive is simply a cache for photos and HD movies, everything else can be streamed from the main iTunes library, so size isn't really important(!) Think of it as an iPod for your TV not the media hub.

McD

Thanks for the info McD, um, I think that's a deal breaker for me, my photos, music and video is sitting on a large external HD, I only have a MacBook Pro. So the MBP would have to be up & running to use the appletv for my content?, If thats right then thats BS!.

hasapi.

McD, I just found this over at MacRumors http://guides.macrumors.com/Apple_TV..._Drive_Upgrade The current internal HD can be upgraded to 320GB. I think AppleTV has been deliberately limited to exploit revenues for the itms, anyway, as always it looks like there are workarounds available.

hasapi

It's just an extension of your PC's iTunes. IOW, an iPod for your TV. You can have Terabyters of iTunes media on your PCs that you can stream to your AppleTV.

The reason for such a small HDD is because it uses a 2.5" HDD. The largest one you can install in the case is 500GB because that is the largest 2.5" can hold.

Ok, your first point relies on a PC constantly on to stream the media. This is a problem if you only have laptops in the home and your second point is correct, so why disable the external usb, and allow external HD's to be attached for as much storage of media as you require?.

hasapi

Apple aren't afraid to charge but purchasing music again isn't really the objective. More likely is need to keep the usage & design clean to service their consumer (not technophile) primary market.

In truth you can manage the content very well and a standalone 160GB unit would probably suffice (it doesn't have to have all of your media instantly available). I'm not sure how cost effective the larger storage options in 2.5" format would be and remember it just slaves to the main iTunes library anyway.


It unfair to transpose some other media system architecture onto iTunes/ATV. ATV was never intended to be the primary storage hub, it's just an access device, can you imagine trying to manage 500GB of media with a 6-button mini remote?

Your notebooks can provide the bridge between your main storage with the iTunes library on the external HD and the ATV, presumably if you're indoors you'll have at least one of your notebooks available - just starting iTunes is enough. Although it would make sense for ATV to access a central library directly (wirelessly?) have you considered the operational connotations of multiple libraries scattered across multiple physical drives? Keeping this consumer class is a tough design challenge and unfortunately ATV will need to be elevated from 'hobby' status to achieve this.

Personally I think Apple need to bring their MobileMe media 'cloud' into the home to automatically concatenate disparate iTunes libraries (& create automatic backups) but we'll have to see how the product evolves.

McD

?????????????

Are you saying that the ATV v2 software upgrade also came with an off switch? Damn, mine never came, it must of got stuck in my router.

Cheers for the heads up!