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[perkiset]

I've been thinking about getting one, some comments from Nutballs sealed the deal. It's a vastly different way of thinking, since EVERYTHING is streamed - no local storage at all.

The thing is incredibly small, impossibly capable for such a cute little box, as is Apple's MO these days. Plug in and config was head shakingly easy. Simply put in my AppleID, tell it about my home network and Voila, my pad, phone, everything that talked to my old one could instantly talk to it. Instant access to e shared libraries about the house. But I'd really purchased it because therr are serial movies at NetFlix I want to watch and they are not even available to get by DVD anymore.

So using my pad, I tell the ATV my NetFlix info, search for No Way Out (1987, Costner) and about 18 seconds later PinkHat and I are watching it in wonderful clarity. All normal video contols work great, it looks better than my Handbrake scrapes. 

Philosophically, this works in very nicely with our current path - everything, everything in the cloud. I think that, although the purchase was for very pedestrian motives, it is symbolic and important in PinkHat and I cresting the hill. So id like to open the thread to discussions about your path towards the cloud, what your doing, what you like and dislike, what you're excited about and what you are afraid of. 

[daviator]

Been thinking about getting AppleTV too.  Your review has probably pushed me over the edge.

[vsloathe]

I haven't had cable TV for a long time now because everything is streamable through my XBox 360, and it was quite easy to configure. Netflix, Hulu, etc...App called PlayOn lets me stream channels like Comedy Central along with Hulu, so we really want for nothing entertainment selection-wise.

[perkiset]

It's pretty hot where it's all going. One of the things I like about the new ATV is that it's so cheap ($99) that it can be mediocre and you wouldn't care (It's not, however).

Haven't heard of PlayOn - I'll have to go look at that as well.

I am also looking forward to the forthcoming notion that the ATV will support apps - that will put it into the realm of the XBox and other, more powerful connectivity mechanisms.

Update on last night: 5 times the movie froze - I had to pause, the push play from my iPad. It didn't really affect much, left me right where I was and there was no real downside except that it was jolting. I am not sure it if was our local network or NetFlix - tonight I'm going to watch something huge and heavy (probably blueray star trek or something) because I'm wagering that it was NetFlix. I'll bet that it suffers from the fact that lots of people were watching movies about around 9pm last night. That's one serious disadvantage of clouded access, clearly. And it didn't look as though NetFlix was pre-caching anything, so I think any hitch in my stream would have generated that.

[vsloathe]

Oftentimes it helps us to start a movie, pause it for ten minutes while we make some snacks or do what have you in order to let it buffer, then commence the playage.

Not necessary often, but it helps when I'm doing some bandwidth-intensive things as well and we're trying to watch a movie.

[nutballs]

Netflix is now 20% of peak Internet traffic.

Appletv is idiot simple.

Is it for everyone? No. Is it for my parents to have Indy films and documentaries and kids crap for my kids when she is over there, yes.

Not for me until it can do 1080mkv, but maybe as an "also"? It's only 99 bucks. I spend more on a junk and beer run at the grocery.

Hulu is what's missing ATM. Flickr implementation sucks.
Netflix implementation is quite good I think. Better than plex.

[vsloathe]

Amazingly XBox 360 can play MKV bluray rips. I'm assuming it's in some update or codec pack I forgot about long ago.

[nutballs]

yea it was a while ago. Some mkv wont play. i forget what the thing is that breaks it.

my macmini plays anything via plex.

Also apparently there is a way on the Atv to get it to play mkv, but... only 720p.
all my stuff is 1080.

[rcjordan]

This one is getting a good preliminary review from Wired.  Looks like they're moving in on Popcorn Hour's and Boxee's turf.

"The Live Hub is a fully-fledged media server. Once it’s on your network, you can stream its content to pretty much any device with a screen on your network: net-connected TVs, Blu-ray players, Xbox 360, PS3 — even iOS or Android devices using third-party applications. It can also share and sync media folders with PCs or Macs.

And the network isn’t just local: you can also stream content from Netflix, Pandora, Flickr and YouTube and upload content to Facebook."


http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/10/western-digitals-tv-live-hub-is-the-anti-apple-tv/

>Netflix implementation is quite good I think. Better than plex.

Roku is very good, almost as good as Xbox *AND* it has search.  Xbox supposedly gets search with update release Nov 4. With search, there is no need to actually visit netflix.com anymore, all the viewing control is done through the slave device.

Xbox gets streaming ESPN3 on Nov 4, too. I think it's just Gold accounts, though.

[daviator]

I was all set to order an AppleTV when I had the foresight to check the inputs on the TV I'd connect it to.  Unfortunately, I "early adopted" a plasma TV a few years back, and it's only got one HDMI input, which is already in use for my HD DVR, which would continue to be my most frequently-used input device.  The TV is fine and I'm not interested in spending $1000 or more for a new TV just so I can use AppleTV.  Wish Apple's device had component video outputs.  Oh well. 

[perkiset]

Hmmmm... Yep, noticed that but it didn't affect me (3 HDMI on the TV) ... Old one had composite, but the new software won't migrate bummer meng.

[vsloathe]

I was all set to order an AppleTV when I had the foresight to check the inputs on the TV I'd connect it to.  Unfortunately, I "early adopted" a plasma TV a few years back, and it's only got one HDMI input, which is already in use for my HD DVR, which would continue to be my most frequently-used input device.  The TV is fine and I'm not interested in spending $1000 or more for a new TV just so I can use AppleTV.  Wish Apple's device had component video outputs.  Oh well. 

Get a receiver that multiplexes HDMI. My dolby digital 7.1 receiver is stone aged so it only switches component.

[daviator]

Get a receiver that multiplexes HDMI. My dolby digital 7.1 receiver is stone aged so it only switches component.

Yeah, I thought about that.  My receiver also switches component but not HDMI.  I guess a new receiver would be a cheaper solution than a new TV, but I still need to decide if it's worth the cost and hassle just to get Apple TV.  I actually don't think I'd use it that much, but for $99, I figured why not... but I'm less excited about spending an additional $300 (guessing) for a new receiver.

Thanks for the idea, though.  I will mull it over.

[nutballs]

hdmi 2 component converter
http://4sp.in/5mW

[perkiset]

THATS HOT. HDMI copy protection is not sent via component. Heh. I need a way to scrape some, ah, content on my Tivo and this could do it.

Although now that I think of it, I think my Tivo has component outputs ... have to go check that out.

Cheers Nuts, nice catch.