Apple TV sales up 300% over year-ago quarter

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  • Reply 61 of 78
    amoryaamorya Posts: 1,103member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    So no Apple's not going to make a device that is the hardware equivalent of VLC that plays what in God knows codec you've downloaded from the internet. Boo hoo. Build a HTPC and put whatever software you want but Apple is right in being somewhat conservative here.



    Why are they right? Tons of non-techie people download video. Which is going to be a better device for such a consumer: one that just happens to play everything they have (it just works!) or one that can only play what seems to be a proprietary format? (I know H264 is standard, but your non-techie consumer doesn't. They just see it as "Apple hardware only works with Apple format video".)



    Amorya
  • Reply 62 of 78
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Amorya View Post


    Why are they right? Tons of non-techie people download video. Which is going to be a better device for such a consumer: one that just happens to play everything they have (it just works!) or one that can only play what seems to be a proprietary format? (I know H264 is standard, but your non-techie consumer doesn't. They just see it as "Apple hardware only works with Apple format video".)



    Amorya



    Because CE device generally got to people that want ease of setup. It's easier to say



    "Everything you get from iTunes will play on this device" Apple owns the pipeline.
  • Reply 63 of 78
    amoryaamorya Posts: 1,103member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    Because CE device generally got to people that want ease of setup. It's easier to say



    "Everything you get from iTunes will play on this device" Apple owns the pipeline.



    You don't need to add any stages to the setup process to add codecs! Apple could still make the same guarantee, and to someone who never tries to play any other format, they would never know the difference.



    But when someone drags a DivX AVI into iTunes, they'll notice... when it just plays on the AppleTV with no fuss.



    I completely get the ease of setup thing. I'm not proposing any new options on the AppleTV menu, for example. I just don't believe that this particular feature request would make setup any more difficult.



    Amorya
  • Reply 64 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by djames42 View Post


    (snip) What I thought was funny was reading all the things he said couldn't be done with an Apple TV -- and with very few exceptions, I do all of them (surfing, playing DVDs, searching my media [okay, so it's an add-on of sorts to use my iPhone], etc).





    Having just hooked up my Apple TV yesterday, and looking through some of the posts to this thread, I have to ask: Where is the manual for those of us who DON'T want to go to night school to learn how this thing works? Apple's website offers zilch. Surfing -- how does that work? If you have your Apple TV hooked in to your home theater (HDMI to TV, audio out to receiver), why would using Apple TV be better for watching a DVD than the DVD player already a part of the stereo setup?



    My entire music library is AIFF, and syncing it to Apple TV uses up almost ALL of the disk space. I haven't yet been able to see how I can stream (rather than sync) the music and/or photo libraries.



    It's frustrating that there isn't even a PDF user manual available from Apple.
  • Reply 65 of 78
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by thisisdon View Post


    My entire music library is AIFF, and syncing it to Apple TV uses up almost ALL of the disk space. I haven't yet been able to see how I can stream (rather than sync) the music and/or photo libraries.



    It's frustrating that there isn't even a PDF user manual available from Apple.



    Take those AIFF and convert them to Apple Lossless and you'll gain nearly half your space back yet the fidelity will be the same.
  • Reply 66 of 78
    jowie74jowie74 Posts: 540member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    Take those AIFF and convert them to Apple Lossless and you'll gain nearly half your space back yet the fidelity will be the same.



    Dare I say it, but surely they knew the capacity of the Apple TV when they bought it?
  • Reply 67 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    Take those AIFF and convert them to Apple Lossless and you'll gain nearly half your space back yet the fidelity will be the same.



    I appreciate how much smaller Apple Lossless is. And, yes, I was well aware of the Apple TV's drive size. That's why I'd tried to phrase my original question as: how do you set up the device to stream instead of sync? Up until now, my library has been all-AIFF because I burn a lot of CDs and when I rip old vinyl, it all goes AIFF. Until now, I've never needed smaller formats, and I'd like to be able to stream audio until I have a chance to convert AIFF to Apple Lossless, or more likely AAC.



    I'm assuming that because nobody pointed me towards documentation for Apple TV, there isn't any.
  • Reply 68 of 78
    jowie74jowie74 Posts: 540member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by thisisdon View Post


    Until now, I've never needed smaller formats, and I'd like to be able to stream audio until I have a chance to convert AIFF to Apple Lossless, or more likely AAC.



    If your music is already in iTunes, it's a no-brainer. You can convert the whole lot in one go. Just set it going, it'll be done in a few hours.



    Quote:

    I'm assuming that because nobody pointed me towards documentation for Apple TV, there isn't any.



    It's pretty usual for Apple to not really bother with any or much documentation. I guess they think their equipment just speaks for itself. Mostly it does. What is it you want to know? Apple TV cannot stream audio at present as far as I know. For that you need an Airport Express or a Mac Mini. Another reason I'm not going for an Apple TV (yet).
  • Reply 69 of 78
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  • Reply 70 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jowie74 View Post


    Apple TV cannot stream audio at present as far as I know..



    Yes it can. It works as an airtunes device, since 2.3 update . This even works when your atv is on standby...
  • Reply 71 of 78
    jowie74jowie74 Posts: 540member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nevermind50 View Post


    Yes it can. It works as an airtunes device, since 2.3 update . This even works when your atv is on standby...



    Oooh that's pretty cool.
  • Reply 72 of 78
    areseearesee Posts: 776member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jowie74 View Post


    Apple TV cannot stream audio at present as far as I know. For that you need an Airport Express or a Mac Mini. Another reason I'm not going for an Apple TV (yet).



    The AppleTV can currently receive audio AirTune streams like an Airport Express and send audio AirTune streams to AirPort Expresses.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by thisisdon View Post


    If you have your Apple TV hooked in to your home theater (HDMI to TV, audio out to receiver), why would using Apple TV be better for watching a DVD than the DVD player already a part of the stereo setup?



    It's not. That's been a long standing complaint with the AppleTV.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by thisisdon View Post


    I haven't yet been able to see how I can stream (rather than sync) the music and/or photo libraries.



    You do nothing, as long as the iTunes library it is synced to is up and running. The AppleTV will display all the songs and stuff in the library even if they are not stored locally on the AppleTV HD. It will automatically go to the iTunes app and stream any file that it needs.
  • Reply 73 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aresee View Post


    It's not. That's been a long standing complaint with the AppleTV.



    I'm not so sure about that. I've been ripping some DVDs with Handbrake using the default AppleTV setting, and I swear the picture quality compares with the upscaling my HD-DVD player does to standard DVDs. Somebody else in this thread mentioned something similar, so I'm glad to know I'm not the only one seeing it.



    It's also incredibly convenient to be able to stream a library of movies and store the DVDs somewhere out-of-sight!
  • Reply 74 of 78
    areseearesee Posts: 776member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by djames42 View Post


    I'm not so sure about that. I've been ripping some DVDs with Handbrake using the default AppleTV setting, and I swear the picture quality compares with the upscaling my HD-DVD player does to standard DVDs. Somebody else in this thread mentioned something similar, so I'm glad to know I'm not the only one seeing it.



    It's also incredibly convenient to be able to stream a library of movies and store the DVDs somewhere out-of-sight!



    I do the same thing, but it's not the same experience as using the DVD. No menus, no sub-titles, no extra features and no slipping the disk in and quickly playing the DVD. Sure you can do all that with Handbrake. After you carefully planned what you wanted and created separate files for each feature you wanted to send to the AppleTV. A better solution would be the AppleTV playing the Video_TS files directly.
  • Reply 75 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aresee View Post


    I do the same thing, but it's not the same experience as using the DVD. No menus, no sub-titles, no extra features and no slipping the disk in and quickly playing the DVD. Sure you can do all that with Handbrake. After you carefully planned what you wanted and created separate files for each feature you wanted to send to the AppleTV. A better solution would be the AppleTV playing the Video_TS files directly.



    You can play the VIDEO_TS folders with the AppleTV using one of the various hacks. I've not tried it myself. Frankly, while I'm glad to have the special features on DVDs, I don't watch them more than once (generally) and so I'm happy to pull out a DVD for those, keeping just the movie on the AppleTV with the audio track of choice, and the subtitles hard coded if needed for foreign language films.



    I'd rather just watch the film without having to use a menu.
  • Reply 76 of 78
    areseearesee Posts: 776member
    To each their own.



    While watch Boxee, I have resisted hacking my AppleTV so far.
  • Reply 77 of 78
    alfiejralfiejr Posts: 1,524member
    i think everyone in the world, except maybe Steve Jobs, agrees AppleTV needs to do more functionally than it does now. then we all have various ... suggestions.



    but stepping back, i think the big problem with all the "boxes" - all brands, types, and models - meant to bring computer/web content and applications to your TV screen is the old fashioned move-the-cursor UI that began - when? with DVD's in the -80's? i forget. and if you need to enter text, it's murder.



    Apple could revolutionize this by linking the iPhone/Touch to AppleTV (or a Mini HTPC) as a touch screen remote control. not the way the current Remote App does, which uses the old approach, but instead by replicating the same image on the iPhone display and TV screen at the same time. so you can use multitouch controls instead, and the virtual keyboard when needed.



    Back to functionality, the other huge step Apple could then take with this kind of remote control linkage is to "clone" the iPhone's capabilities to run apps on the AppleTV. in other words, you could run the 15,000+ iPhone apps on ATV too. that would be a sensation ...



    other folks have suggested this too. but Jobs ... unfortunately i don't think he'll ever allow it.
  • Reply 78 of 78
    I think the whole AppleTV name is a misnomer as it gives the impression of a device that can watch and/or record TV on, neither of which it can do. AppleMediaBox or AppleMedia would be much better names until they integrate a TV tuner into this thing.
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