I've been thinking about replacing the PlayStation 3/MacBook Pro combo in my TV setup with a PlayStation 3/the new Apple TV combo...Especially since Amazon have the new Apple TV for £90 at the moment, down on the £99 retail...Only thing preventing me from pulling the trigger is the dearth of content in the UK. It would really only be Movie Rentals and my iTunes Library on the box, plus YouTube. I do have access to TV services, including over-the-air and PVR on the PS3, but I'd still really like the Apple TV to have things like the TV Rentals available in he States...But more than that...
I'd definitely pull the trigger if there was an App Store allowing third-party services to put their content on the Apple TV. Places like blip.tv, Channel 5 and so on. So what I'm hoping is that the healthy installed base Apple has got here encourages them to go ahead and open up an Apple TV App Store.
My advice as your in the UK would be wait till you view (http://www.youview.com/) comes out next year. It's backed by BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, BT and a couple of others. So its basically going to have all the content you want for free (or with ads), the number of box's around will be the same as Freeview and Freesat box's and will be around the same price if not less.
Got a new ATV for xmas. Great little toy. Agree that adding Apps, games and internet will make it an even greater product. Re: internet - add text input and link-clicking capabilities to the remote app (for iphone/ipad). Now ur talking.
I will add to the chorus that the ATV needs an app store. The PS3 is ok with hulu and netflix, but those are really the only "apps" that you can get for content. That and vudu, but vudu is way too expensive.
I would gladly take an ATV with appstore and only 720p output over the other boxes currently on the market. Plus, doing that would basically force the competition to step up their app selection to match.
As a long time owner of a dust covered ATV 1, I think Apple really needs to put far more work into the product to make it worth looking at. I also own a PS3 and a 360, and use those daily, and yet my ATV hasn't been on in months. Why is that?
I'm in the UK, so no Netflix for me (sadly). However on my PS3 I get - blu-ray, DVD, LoveFilm (poor Netflix clone), MUBI (arthouse films), BBC iPlayer, Channel 4 On Demand, ITV Net Player, PSN Movie Store, and DNLA streaming from my PC. Streaming quality on all but the PSN store stuff, and of course, DNLA, is utterly miserable, but at least there is a good range of content. The various interfaces on offer are decent, but could be improved, and all the TV streaming stuff runs (badly) in flash.
On my Xbox I get DVD, DNLA, Last FM, and the Zune movie store. Seems kind of pathetic except the Zune store is instant on 1080p, making it my default choice when I want to stream a movie. Interface wise it's beautiful, slick, and can even be voice or motion controlled with my shiny new Kinect.
On my ATV I get iTunes store streams and iTunes PC streaming. The ATV interface looks like something from the 1980s.
Easy to see why my PS3 and Xbox get used so much, while my ATV does nothing. Apple could make ATV into a great little product just by giving it an app store and a decent UI, but they still seem almost totally disinterested in this market.
Comments
I've been thinking about replacing the PlayStation 3/MacBook Pro combo in my TV setup with a PlayStation 3/the new Apple TV combo...Especially since Amazon have the new Apple TV for £90 at the moment, down on the £99 retail...Only thing preventing me from pulling the trigger is the dearth of content in the UK. It would really only be Movie Rentals and my iTunes Library on the box, plus YouTube. I do have access to TV services, including over-the-air and PVR on the PS3, but I'd still really like the Apple TV to have things like the TV Rentals available in he States...But more than that...
I'd definitely pull the trigger if there was an App Store allowing third-party services to put their content on the Apple TV. Places like blip.tv, Channel 5 and so on. So what I'm hoping is that the healthy installed base Apple has got here encourages them to go ahead and open up an Apple TV App Store.
My advice as your in the UK would be wait till you view (http://www.youview.com/) comes out next year. It's backed by BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, BT and a couple of others. So its basically going to have all the content you want for free (or with ads), the number of box's around will be the same as Freeview and Freesat box's and will be around the same price if not less.
I would gladly take an ATV with appstore and only 720p output over the other boxes currently on the market. Plus, doing that would basically force the competition to step up their app selection to match.
I'm in the UK, so no Netflix for me (sadly). However on my PS3 I get - blu-ray, DVD, LoveFilm (poor Netflix clone), MUBI (arthouse films), BBC iPlayer, Channel 4 On Demand, ITV Net Player, PSN Movie Store, and DNLA streaming from my PC. Streaming quality on all but the PSN store stuff, and of course, DNLA, is utterly miserable, but at least there is a good range of content. The various interfaces on offer are decent, but could be improved, and all the TV streaming stuff runs (badly) in flash.
On my Xbox I get DVD, DNLA, Last FM, and the Zune movie store. Seems kind of pathetic except the Zune store is instant on 1080p, making it my default choice when I want to stream a movie. Interface wise it's beautiful, slick, and can even be voice or motion controlled with my shiny new Kinect.
On my ATV I get iTunes store streams and iTunes PC streaming. The ATV interface looks like something from the 1980s.
Easy to see why my PS3 and Xbox get used so much, while my ATV does nothing. Apple could make ATV into a great little product just by giving it an app store and a decent UI, but they still seem almost totally disinterested in this market.