Any of you have experience with the Apple TV?
I’ve been thinking about ditching cable, and the Apple TV seems rather compelling (Apple lifer that I am). For $99 I reckon there’s no harm in just buying one and trying it (first world problem, I know). Still, it’d be nice to get some input from folks that may have one.
Your input requested. 🙂
Stuff From Hsoi 
We use ours mostly to watch netflix, don’t lose that remote.
I can use my iPhone to control my apple tv.
I knew about this, but I’ll probably program our Logitech Harmony remote to control the Apple TV as well.
We thought about going the Netflix route. We can actually do netflix via our TV as it is now, but it seems AppleTV will give me more options.
I have one of the older ones with the hard drie built in and I would say at $300+ or whatever they use to cost that it’s not worth it. I agree that at $100 it’s a fun toy but prob not a full replacement of a cable service.
I’ve been sitting on this idea for a few months and I have wondered if it will suffice. It may or may not, but part of me thinks to just buy the thing and see. We don’t watch much TV any more; it’s usually movies. But what TV do we watch, could we replace it? We’ll see.
Hey John,
I own the latest generation Apple TV and I like it a lot. I have DirecTV w/DVR for my main TV watching, so mostly I use the it for the following:
– I buy and rent some movies from iTunes, the Apple TV is great for watching those. Very high quality
– I subscribe to some iTunes video content (NFL Follow Your Team). Same experience as with movies.
– I have a Netflix subscription which I access from the Apple TV. Kids and wife use it a lot to watch movies, TV shows, etc. (I have up to 15MB download speed on my internet and have not had any issues with streaming yet). I have a friend who ditched cable and uses his Apple TV for this quite a bit more than we do and he loves it.
– I use the Airplay features to use it to play music through my TV and family room stereo. As with most things Apple this feature usually works flawlessly (occasional hiccups easily corrected). This is nice when I am reading or working in there, and also really nice feature when I entertain. I can let my guests choose their own songs or playlists using my iPad. I also run photo slideshows from my iPhoto library on the TV with the screensaver to keep those guests entertained during lulls in conversation (also nice during holidays to do themed slideshows for family).
Bottom line, I recommend the Apple TV. As you say, for the price it is very much worth it if you can benefit in any of the ways above.
– Dusty
Very good. I did wonder about any streaming hiccups… I too have the 15MB roadrunner so that’s good to know. Thanx!
Also will echo Jerry – don’t lose that remote! It easily slips between couch cushions. Also easily slips from children’s memories when you ask where it is…
Yes the first thing you should do on your Apple TV is initiate sharing, when you lose your remote you can use the “remote” app on most recent Apple devices to control your Apple TV. If you do not initiate sharing on your Apple TV you are hosed, you need to find or replace the remote.
You inspired me to try something different and I was listening to my Desktop music library on my sons TV, pretty cool.
I am going to order another Apple TV for my bedroom, I would love to stop sending $150 bucks a month to TW cable.
I have also heard it used for presentations, you can hook it up to a TV and use it bluetooth? to mirror your ipad or iphone.
See, that’s the big motivator: the sheer cost of cable. Even if I do buy some content from iTunes, it’s well likely to be less than the monthly cost of cable. Plus, I’ve been seeing how we like to watch what we want to watch, and when we want to watch it. Or that we missed the show, or sometimes use the “Start Over” feature of TWC. I never did the DVR thing, but this would essentially give that to us.
I think y’all are convincing me to go ahead and give it a shot. Just gotta be sure to not go crazy and buy lots of videos. 🙂
I just cut the cord last week actually. No experience with the Apple TV although we do have 3 different model of the Roku boxes. I use the Roku for Netflix, Hulu, Tunein (radio streaming) and Pandora mostly, and the odd time Crackle. I have the Plex server installed on an imac and Windows 7 box and am streaming up avi’s and ripped DVDs from those hosts. I have Plex channels installed on the Rokus and it seems to work well. I don’t have any particular need to stream from iTunes or any of my Macs. I have a Mac running OSX and Windows plugged into the main TV and can use that if I needed that functionality (although haven’t yet). I believe Apple is coming out with some literal TV’s soon– I believe there was a Foxconn confirmation the other day. FWIW I’d recommend the Roku platform as well.
I’ve looked at the Roku and it has some compelling features, but it seems that the media companies are out to screw those avenues. I’m not sure if this is sound reasoning or not, but Apple’s the 800# gorilla and has all the muscle and leverage… I kinda feel if I stick with Apple I’ll end up having better options, as odd as that sounds. I could be wrong, but that notion is in my head.
Also, the one thing that I like with the Apple TV is how Apple-centric the household already is… it all helps to expand the ecosystem and keep things going. I mean, smart on Apple’s part to have things that work together to enhance the overall experience.
I did read about the Apple Television (iTV?) coming. I wonder what advantage it will offer to the market. But I think that won’t be coming for a little while yet.