AppleTV is a lousy product

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
I love Apple products in general, but the AppleTV is kind of crap.



- A lot of the time when I try to rent a movie, it can't connect to the iTunes store, I just get the spinning thing. I can play previews, and look at all the movies, so I can connect, it just bugs out when I try to rent something.



- so I go to iTunes on my computer, rent the movie and transfer it to the AppleTV. My computer is set up to sync, and there is not "stop syncing" button - so I have to go through several cycles of rebooting the AppleTV, changing options and quitting/restarting iTunes in order to stop it from syncing 600 other things before my rented move, to get the "transfer movie" to not be grayed out and the "transfer purchases" button to not give an error message.



- I start transferring the movie, and then to pass the time I play a video on the AppleTV box - this interrupts the transfer of the rented movie for some reason, and now I have to start over.



Using this damn thing is a lot more work than just driving to Blockbuster.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 31
    archipellagoarchipellago Posts: 333member
    agree
  • Reply 2 of 31
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by e1618978 View Post


    I love Apple products in general, but the AppleTV is kind of crap.



    - A lot of the time when I try to rent a movie, it can't connect to the iTunes store, I just get the spinning thing. I can play previews, and look at all the movies, so I can connect, it just bugs out when I try to rent something.



    - so I go to iTunes on my computer, rent the movie and transfer it to the AppleTV. My computer is set up to sync, and there is not "stop syncing" button - so I have to go through several cycles of rebooting the AppleTV, changing options and quitting/restarting iTunes in order to stop it from syncing 600 other things before my rented move, to get the "transfer movie" to not be grayed out and the "transfer purchases" button to not give an error message.



    - I start transferring the movie, and then to pass the time I play a video on the AppleTV box - this interrupts the transfer of the rented movie for some reason, and now I have to start over.



    Using this damn thing is a lot more work than just driving to Blockbuster.



    dude 2 things

    bring your apple tv to a mac store they will show you proper syncing and proper ATV uses



    2 your better off getting a mac mini and running your media from there direct into your tv . and you can also play hames on your tv . ..



    peace lostplay

    9
  • Reply 3 of 31
    aizmovaizmov Posts: 989member
    The AppleTV is a missed opportunity. Just imagine if they released an SDK and opened it up for 3rd party games.



    Apple is not, and prolly never were, serious avout the TV.
  • Reply 4 of 31
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by brucep View Post


    bring your apple tv to a mac store they will show you proper syncing and proper ATV uses



    Ive been a computer programmer for 20 years now, if I need some apple store guy to explain how to work it properly, that just proves my point. You shouldn't need somebody to teach you how to use apple products.
  • Reply 5 of 31
    k squaredk squared Posts: 608member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by e1618978 View Post


    Ive been a computer programmer for 20 years now, if I need some apple store guy to explain how to work it properly, that just proves my point. You shouldn't need somebody to teach you how to use apple products.



    Have you tried restoring it back to factory specs? I've never had a problem renting movies before, although it's usually just the weekly .99 cents specials. Something might have gotten messed up along the way. Also, how do you connect it online? I've switched from wireless to ethernet and have gotten much better results.



    I agree with the frustration of the appleTV's inability to watch content and sync at the same time. Never had a problem syncing, though. I just have to remember to go do something else in the meantime.
  • Reply 6 of 31
    taurontauron Posts: 911member
    I don't have any problems using my ATV and we use it a LOT. We buy lots of movies from itunes store but we also add axxo and other free movies. We also use it for movies, podcasts, picture, music, you name it. Sometimes it needs a reboot and sometimes itunes fails to discover it, but that is about it.



    Questions:

    1. Are you running itunes on a mac? If you are running on a windows machine throw the PC out of the windows and buy a mac, any mac.

    2. What wireless router do you have? If you have some substandard PC router like Belkin, etc to step no. 1 and buy a time capsule.

    3. If you follow these simple procedures (and while you are at it get iworks and uninstall office) your life will become much much better.
  • Reply 7 of 31
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tauron View Post


    Questions



    My iTunes is running on last year's Mac Pro, and they are wirelessly connected via the new time capsule, so it is all Apple products, and all up to date software on all three boxes. I will try a factory reset...
  • Reply 8 of 31
    taurontauron Posts: 911member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by e1618978 View Post


    My iTunes is running on last year's Mac Pro, and they are wirelessly connected via the new time capsule, so it is all Apple products, and all up to date software on all three boxes. I will try a factory reset...



    Good idea.



    If that doesn't work try uninstalling all microsoft software from the mac pro.
  • Reply 9 of 31
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tauron View Post


    Good idea.



    If that doesn't work try uninstalling all microsoft software from the mac pro.



    I thought I was anti-microsoft to the extreme, but I would never think that Microsoft Office could trigger AppleTV sync problems. You have me severely beaten in the "Hate Microsoft" cult.
  • Reply 10 of 31
    taurontauron Posts: 911member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by e1618978 View Post


    I thought I was anti-microsoft to the extreme, but I would never think that Microsoft Office could trigger AppleTV sync problems. You have me severely beaten in the "Hate Microsoft" cult.



    It may not cause ATV problems. But it will cause temporary insanity problems for those who use it. And an insane person cannot fix any problems, including ATV issues.
  • Reply 11 of 31
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tauron View Post


    It may not cause ATV problems. But it will cause temporary insanity problems for those who use it. And an insane person cannot fix any problems, including ATV issues.



    Ha ha! But I don't have any Microsoft products on my mac - the only thing driving me crazy is my AppleTV.
  • Reply 12 of 31
    edwin2213edwin2213 Posts: 15member
    [QUOTE=e1618978;1411572

    - so I go to iTunes on my computer, rent the movie and transfer it to the AppleTV. My computer is set up to sync, and there is not "stop syncing" button - [/QUOTE]





    When the apple tv starts syncing you can click on the little x in the area that displays the sync progress bar in iTunes (sorry, not a very good description) and it stops syncing.
  • Reply 13 of 31
    kotatsukotatsu Posts: 1,010member
    I just wish they'd open up MacOS to the HD movie rentals from iTunes. Then we could all use Mac Minis instead of Apple TVs! Oh and stick a blu-ray drive in those puppies too.
  • Reply 14 of 31
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by edwin2213 View Post


    When the apple tv starts syncing you can click on the little x in the area that displays the sync progress bar in iTunes (sorry, not a very good description) and it stops syncing.



    Ah - Thanks! I didn't notice that little x. But I fixed the problem another way - I set my computer as the sync source, but turned syncing off on all the individual types. With 802.11n, syncing is really indistinguishable from streaming, so I stream everything, that way there isn't a huge backlog that gets in the way of my rental transfer,



    The only problem I have now is the progress bar fills all the way when playing movie previews, and then gets confused and jumps back. My AppleTV re-gained it ability to rent movies, it was broken for a few weeks then magically repaired itself, no idea why.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kotatsu View Post


    I just wish they'd open up MacOS to the HD movie rentals from iTunes. Then we could all use Mac Minis instead of Apple TVs! Oh and stick a blu-ray drive in those puppies too.



    Can you stream from other computers to a Mac Mini? It seems like it is a lot more money for something that doesn't work as well. The size of the hard drive does not matter if you stream, and I stream everything. What advantage does the Mac Mini have? I already have a PS3 for blu-ray and DVD, so for me a mac mini wouldn't make sense.
  • Reply 15 of 31
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by e1618978 View Post


    I love Apple products in general, but the AppleTV is kind of crap.



    - A lot of the time when I try to rent a movie, it can't connect to the iTunes store, I just get the spinning thing. I can play previews, and look at all the movies, so I can connect, it just bugs out when I try to rent something.



    - so I go to iTunes on my computer, rent the movie and transfer it to the AppleTV. My computer is set up to sync, and there is not "stop syncing" button - so I have to go through several cycles of rebooting the AppleTV, changing options and quitting/restarting iTunes in order to stop it from syncing 600 other things before my rented move, to get the "transfer movie" to not be grayed out and the "transfer purchases" button to not give an error message.



    - I start transferring the movie, and then to pass the time I play a video on the AppleTV box - this interrupts the transfer of the rented movie for some reason, and now I have to start over.



    Using this damn thing is a lot more work than just driving to Blockbuster.



    Not to mention all the stuff it CANT do



    no Amazon unbox content

    No Hulu content

    no NETFLIX content

    no deals with their content partners (read the major broadcast nets) to give the people what they want, free ad supported streaming with the option to buy.



    The only use for these things is video podcasts and overpriced itunes moveis, hence why my $300 tv-connected-gadget budget went to MS for a 360
  • Reply 16 of 31
    kotatsukotatsu Posts: 1,010member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by a_greer View Post


    The only use for these things is video podcasts and overpriced itunes moveis, hence why my $300 tv-connected-gadget budget went to MS for a 360



    I live in the UK and here the 360 is pretty useless as a movie rental device due to the lack of content. Apple TV on the other hand has much more to offer in terms of rentals. It's just too bad it's gimped in every other way.
  • Reply 17 of 31
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    I think that there is some problem with the latest firmware - I rented a movie one day from the AppleTV, and when I tried to play it the next day it went into a "Authorizing..." loop. I had to power cycle it to get the movie to play.



    Or maybe I just have a bad unit, does anyone else have these problems? I have an Apple only network...
  • Reply 18 of 31
    taurontauron Posts: 911member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by e1618978 View Post


    I think that there is some problem with the latest firmware - I rented a movie one day from the AppleTV, and when I tried to play it the next day it went into a "Authorizing..." loop. I had to power cycle it to get the movie to play.



    Or maybe I just have a bad unit, does anyone else have these problems? I have an Apple only network...



    Nope. I have had ATV for 1 year and almost no problems. The ONLY problem is that itunes in my mac sometimes drop the connection to ATV if left open for long periods (a week). If that happens just quit itunes and relaunch.



    ATV is the best thing since toast.
  • Reply 19 of 31
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    I've seen good deals on used ATV and frankly I don't care about Hulu, Netflix or Amazon streaming because eventually all of that stuff will be coming through my future HDTV or Blu-ray player or some other device.



    I'm just going to wait for the nextgen hardware no matter how long it takes and then an ATV will be on every TV in the home (which is only one right now lol)



    I'm actually more excited about viewing or listening to my own creations rather than the garbage that is currently being broadcast. Sure there are gems here and there but it's a needle in a haystack search.
  • Reply 20 of 31
    carniphagecarniphage Posts: 1,984member
    I *love* my AppleTV - I use it all the time.



    But to be truthful, I love it partly in spite of Apple - rather than because of Apple.

    Once a week I might buy something on iTunes to watch - and use it as it was intended.



    But mainly, I use it to play 720p TV & Movie content - that is stored on a server - and it play it wirelessly to my big TV with Dolby audio. It plays video files directly without having iTunes involved. I just love being able to do that. It's smaller and quieter than any other media player I know. The software I have even grabs metadata and cover art from the internet.



    But the out-of-the-box AppleTV is much less useful.



    The reason the device meets my needs is that I have modified the software. Although nowadays, it's pretty easy to mod without complex Unix hackery.



    C.
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