Apple TV MB189LL/A with 160GB Hard Drive [OLD VERSION]
by Apple Computer
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple TV MB189LL/A with 160GB Hard Drive [OLD VERSION]
Customer Review: Get the right software, and this is a masterpiece.
Summary: 4 Stars
Note; I didn't say it's a perfect device. Only that it's a masterpiece when paired with the proper software. I'll get to that momentarily. For the record, I am not an Apple fanboy; in fact I happen to be an MCSA and an MCTS. But I appreciate Apple technology for what it's good for: rich media.
For my purposes I needed to have a disconnected media unit that was capable of handling my already fairly large digital library. I essentially digitized every single-disc DVD I own and...disposed...of the hard copy. I did this mainly for storage reasons, but the problem with DVD is that everyone wants them still, they're not going anywhere, but nobody wants to pay more than $3 for a used DVD, even one in pristine condition. I tried to sell them at a price that was more than fair ($5/each) and got no takers, so I decided if they weren't going to pay my price, nobody would have them.
I've used the Western Digital WD TV Live Network-ready HD Media Player WDBAAN0000NBK-NESN and found it to be a capable device, missing one critical aspect: DVD menus. If not for that, the WDTV Live would be perfect. Unfortunately, half of the stuff on my drive is a native VOB DVD format and menus are critical for proper navigation, which eliminated that device. I could have tried other devices, but then I saw that the Apple TV came with what amounted to the largest video library of them all, what with iTunes, YouTube and some limited Hulu being supported. I don't really care for those options, but they're nice to have.
One key thing I feel the need to point out that others have not: Out of the box, the Apple TV sucks. It does. It's for the families who don't mind spending money for entertainment. It's not for people like me who already own video media and just want to share it out to a big screen with no conversion or other manipulating. Apple included VERY limited video codec support, and as a result it can only play essentially Apple-created videos. Since my library was created in Windows, it stood to reason that I needed something more, and I almost passed up the Apple TV.
One day I stumbled across a great piece of software, aTV Flash. This lets you turn a USB flash drive into the Power of Grayskull, unlocking all sorts of nifty tools for your Apple TV. One stands out above the rest: XBMC support. If you don't know what XBMC is, it's basically a Media Center application. The Apple TV is really a lite PC with a customized version of Leopard, and as a result it can run applications of all sorts with the aTV Flash. XBMC happens to support just about anything you throw at it, which gives you the best of both worlds: a self contained unit that isn't that expensive, and the ultimate in media support. It will allow you to play VOB DVDs, WMV files, DivX/XviD files, MKV high resolution files, etc. You name it, the XBMC can probably play it. It also supports DVD metadata and folder thumbnails, so you can enable a coverflow interface to really make the Apple TV stand out. aTV Flash does have some bugs; there were lockups, reboots, etc, and it's not for every user. But if you're game, you will definitely get your money's worth out of the Apple TV by loading this software package. It does not void the warranty, because it's just a bunch of software that is easily removed and requires no opening of the Apple TV, so if you do have to get it serviced, you can remove the software entirely before doing so.
Other things the aTV Flash lets you do that Apple TV doesn't support: Using an external USB drive as a secondary storage location (no, the Apple TV doesn't support this out of the box. Unbelievable, isn't it?); using an external USB drive as a PRIMARY storage location instead of the internal space (which would allow you to expand essentially as large as the drive you buy), mapping to existing video/music/photo files from a network share; play just about any codec for video and music files; and browse the web from the comfort of your couch. This is all in addition to the Apple TV's basic functionality, which consists of podcasts, TV shows, video rentals, and iTunes music. You can see why I say that aTV Flash makes the device what it was always meant to be, because it really does.
Of course, if you're the type of person who just wants to rent all the time, the Apple TV can help there too, but its real prowess is the ability to handle anything you throw at it like the other devices can.
One caveat to the Apple TV: It does have wireless, but I'm of the opinion it's Wireless B, because streaming media from a networked server that I have was painfully slow. So slow in fact that it wouldn't even play a small AVI file that I created. I had to give it an Ethernet cable connection to make it happy. And no, it's not my wireless, because streaming from the server to my MacBook Pro is seamless. Then again, both are Wireless N. If you want the most out of this thing and you plan on streaming media from a local network device, I suggest you go with Ethernet, not wireless.
Also, the device does get rather warm. Warmer than MacBook Pro. I don't see any vents on it and I hear no fan, so I wouldn't be surprised if it just failed one day due to overheating. Not that I'm wishing such a death on the device, but it doesn't affect me; I don't plan on storing anything on it anyway. It does come with the older version of the infrared remote (the white MacBook-ish one), so if you have an iMac or a MacBook in the same room you'll want to make sure you disable IR on the MBP so as not to get interference.
Some might ask why I do not just use the server and load XBMC onto that and run the videos from there. The problem there is control. Doing it from the computer means I have to remote into the computer or otherwise gain remote control in order to navigate and do things, plus I can't control XBMC through Remote Desktop; doesn't work well. using a settop box allows me to comfortably control what's going on using a regular remote. I only have the server manage the files and the shares, which is really what a server is designed to do.
So, to repeat myself: the Apple TV is HORRIBLE out of the box. Get aTV Flash, and like magic, the device becomes what it should have been all along: A one-stop media center that won't quit. There are some issues, even with the new software. But overall I am satisfied.
Customer Review: A great box for your old home-made movies.
Summary: 5 Stars
What a joy it is to have all my home made movies, originally shot in Super 8 (remember that format?), on my Apple TV.
I had tons of old Super 8 movies, some of them filmed by my dad some 60 years ago. Watching them now required setting up the old family projector, and pulling up the portable white screen. Some movies became dry, and tore in the projector, so watching one of the old movies became a process of stop, remove film, glue it back together, and continue watching.
My brother eventually gave all the movies to a specialized company that converted them all into mpeg format. Once in mpeg, they were transferred to iTunes, and then to the Apple TV via the home network.
What a pleasure it is now to watch my family's old home made movies on my TV screen. It is now a snap to switch between my movies, and by being so accessible, I can now show them to other family members and friends.
The Apple TV is really like an iPod. It is controlled by a very simple remote control with one menu button, a play/pause button, surrounded in a circle by the forward and rewind buttons, and the volume control (`+ and -` buttons also used for navigation). You are going to wish all remote controls were that simple.
Navigating the Apple TV is like navigating an iPod. You can store video, music, and photos. There is a slideshow feature for your pictures that will display your pictures on your TV with background music of your choice. The background music can be chosen at random from your music library.
Though as simple as an iPod to operate, the Apple TV is itself a stripped-down Mac mini, running a version of Mac OS X. When you plug in the Apple TV to your TV, you will not need to do any configuration. It's basically plug-and-play. Audio and video cables (not included) connect it to your TV. There is an HDMI output.
The Apple TV comes with a wireless feature allowing you to wirelessly connect to your home network. However, in order to sync your Apple TV with your iTunes, I would recommend you use an Ethernet cable to connect to your home network. The video, music, and photo transfer will be faster through an Ethernet cable. Once you sync your Apple TV for the first time, you may then disconnect the network cable and use the wireless feature in the Apple TV to update its content.
I also recommend you first start syncing at night. In this way, the syncing process will go on while you are sleeping. My Apple TV is 160 Gigabyte strong, and to put that much information on it might take the better part of a day! In most cases, depending on your hardware, connecting through the network Ethernet cable will make the transfer much faster than connecting wirelessly, particularly over 802.ub, 802.ug, and 802.un networks.
You can sync content from only one computer at a time, and you can't add content manually--for example, by dragging it from iTunes library to the Apple TV icon on iTunes' Source list, as you might do with an iPod. If you choose to sync with a different computer, all the data on the Apple TV will be replaced.
Another nice feature of the Apple TV is its ability to connect to the iTunes store, through your computer (either a Mac or PC), where you can download music and videos. Like the iPod, the Apple TV will neatly categorize your media for you, and automatically download the covers of the music albums and films.
One negative comment I have about the Apple TV is that you cannot transfer the media files on your Apple TV to your computer. It is only a one way process, with files moving from your iTunes to your Apple TV, and not vice versa. So if you want to send an Apple TV to a friend, loaded with your music and video library, your friend cannot connect it to his computer. If he does so, all the media on the Apple TV will be erased when it tries to sync with your friend's iTunes, replacing it with the media files on your friend's computer. This also applies to the iPod. There are software on the internet that claim to address this problem, but I have not tried any of them.
Be careful about earlier versions of Apple TV. Earlier versions don't support streaming videos. Newer versions shipped give you the option of navigating YouTube, and streaming their videos. I think that older versions can be updated to support streaming videos.
Apple TV also has limited support for video formats. This means that you will have to rely on tools like Techspanion's Visual-Hub to convert videos to Apple TV-ready formats. You can also use Apple QuickTime. You cannot directly burn a DVD into iTunes. DVDs also need to be converted in order to have them transferred to your Apple TV.
You can stream movies, however, you can't stream photos. Instead, on the computer synced with the Apple TV, iTunes formats the pictures you select and copies them to the Apple TV's hard drive. Once they're on the Apple TV, you can view a selected album or your entire photo library as a slide show. You can choose from a variety of transitions, as well as determine the display time for each picture.
Apple has chosen to say that generally, 5.1 audio is not supported.
The Apple TV does not offer true HD quality.
Apple Computer Inc. has changed its name to Apple Inc. With the name change, Apple is now promising us gadgetry other than computers. The iPhone is one example. There's more to come.
Customer Review: An amazing product -- the WiFi streaming capability sets it apart
Summary: 5 Stars
I very respectfully submit that some of the otherwise excellent reviews here on Amazon have not emphasized what I believe to be the main point about the Apple TV accessory. That is the fact that the Apple TV can access movies, TV shows or other videos that are on the user's main computer hard disk without transferring the actual data file (e.g. an MP4 file of a movie) to the hard disk drive on the Apple TV unit. This is a very significant capability. It means that so long as the user has a desktop PC with lots of hard disk space together with a home WiFi network, the Apple TV unit has complete access to the user's video library regardless of the hard disk capacity of the Apple TV unit. To me, this is a very big deal, because I have a very large video library stored on my main desktop computer, which my Apple TV accesses via WiFi. (This capability takes advantage of the fact that hard disk space on one's desktop is very inexpensive these days.) The Apple TV effortlessly accesses and streams a movie video directly over WiFi without the need to download it to the Apple TV Hard Disk. Thus, you are limited only by the disk capacity of your desktop, not by that of the Apple TV. The Apple TV hard disk is vital, of course, if you use the Apple TV in a portable setting away from your main iTunes desktop and WiFi setup. Then you are playing the Apple TV as a direct source of video content from its Hard Disk to your TV. I do this in my boat.
To me, the ability to stream content directly from the desktop to one's widescreen TV via the Apple TV is what sets the Apple TV apart from other source devices such as DVD players. Further, being able to purchase content directly from the iTunes store, even in HD format, adds to the capability of this unit. I have "bought in" to the whole Apple music and video concept, and those of us who have done so will quickly see that the Apple TV is made for us. The Apple TV interface is a great way to browse the iTunes store for movies or whatnot; I personally prefer doing it that way as opposed to accessing the store on my desktop computer.
But even for those who eschew the iTunes store, the Apple TV is terrific if you have other videos such as legally ripped archival MP4 files of movies purchased on DVD, for example. I also enjoy watching History and Military Channel video podcasts, which can be downloaded for free from the iTunes store onto iTunes and then enjoyed on the big screen via the Apple TV unit.
It appears that I am more impressed with the Apple TV unit than many of the other reviewers. The unit is small, elegant, and attractive. Smaller than a DVD player, it does far more and it does it in a much more elegant manner, i.e. all of your content is accessible via the Apple TV menus without hassling with individual DVD disks. The cost is similar to a high-end DVD player. I frankly think that DVDs are rapidly becoming obsolete and that direct digital electronic downloads are the future, but I digress. The unit has wonderful screensaver capability, in sharp contrast to my two DVD players, and various other nice touches. It is great for a full-screen display of photographs. (I am an avid digital photographer, so I in particular appreciate this.) It is very pleasant (great ambiance for parties) to put on a slide show of one's digital photographs, and stream a music playlist to accompany the slide show. Very cool.
Installation was essentially effortless. The unit immediately recognized my wireless network, and accepted the WEP code. My main desktop computer immediately recognized the Apple TV and offered to synch. The Apple TV immediately offered to upgrade its internal operating software over the internet and did so. Even before synching, my entire video content was available on my widescreen TV through the Apple TV via WiFi streaming. I was watching a movie from my iTunes library within minutes. Incredible.
Like all Apple products, the Apple TV is beautifully made, and nicely packaged. I wish that more American companies focused on quality the way Apple does.
I agree with other reviewers that the remote for the Apple TV is kind of small and minimalist for what is destined to become the centerpiece of my video library. Strangely, the remote does not even include a volume control. (You can program many third-party remotes to control the Apple TV and I will probably end up going that route although I have not yet done so.) Hilariously, there is an iPhone app that allows one's iPhone to act as a substitute remote ("Remote") and it is not at all bad. And it is odd how the Apple TV does not even have an "off" switch. These issues are minor, keep the cost down, and perhaps even add to the simple elegance of the unit.
The wireless streaming is what really sets this unit apart, but there is much else to like about it as well. Apple seems to have a clear vision of the future of digital content, and the Apple TV seems to be ideally situated to capitalize on this vision.
Customer Review: Works Great for My Needs
Summary: 4 Stars
I recently purchased the 160GB Apple TV after Apple discontinued the 40GB model and lowered the 160GB to $229.99. I got a great deal on Amazon with a one day special; it was going for $199.99. The main reason I purchased an Apple TV over a full HTPC is because I only want to stream the media from my iTunes library to my 40" Samsung LN-40A550 1080p HDTV.
* Compatibility: I have a black MacBook and early 2008 iMac both running Snow Leopard and iTunes 9.0.1. There have been no compatibility issues between ATV v2.4 and the new OS/software updates. In terms of video format compatibility, I don't really have any complaints except it won't play .avi/divx files out of the box unless the user converts the video formats or installs software hacks to the Apple TV. I knew this when I purchased the unit, but it would be nice to have included support for other video formats than just MPEG4 and H.264 (which is a very popular standard). Music compatibility is perfect as I had my entire library encoded as AAC/MP3 before purchasing ATV.
* Ease of installation: Installation was simple; open the box and plugged in via HDMI. And of course the power cord needs no explanation.
* Ease of setup: I ran into a few issues with my AirPort Extreme network when setting up the ATV. I have my network hidden and it took several tries before the Apple TV discovered and connected properly to the network. After connection it works great. As noted above, I am primarily using ATV for media streaming and not media sync. I plan on using the internal HDD for TV shows that I have converted and will store all ripped/purchased movies in my iTunes library.
* Ease of use: The remote that comes with the ATV is simple and true to Apple design. For more tech saavy users, however, the Remote app available for iPhone and iPod touch is a more featured remote with full keyboard/search functionality. I was able to configure the ATV to work with my iPhone quickly and easily. Navigating the menus is simple, however there is at times a noticeable lag. Setting the sync settings through iTunes is easy and controlling what to sync is as simple as syncing an iPod/iPhone. I will say my only concern is the sync takes FOREVER, even over my AirPort Extreme 802.11n network. My iMac is set for 802.11n as well as the AirPort Extreme, but the wireless sync was so painful I only transferred one episode of a TV show to the internal HDD. Apple recommends users first time sync be done over Ethernet rather than Wi-Fi.
* Features: The Apple TV performs perfectly for my needs. Streaming has a short delay based on the size of the video file, however audio streaming is instant, and YouTube video streams take a few seconds to buffer. Apple TV supports output up to 1080p, however, videos are not scaled to 1080p because the unit cannot properly decode 1080p content. The 1080p output is for the menus and for photos and video will play at a max resolution of 720p. It would be nice if the ATV supported 1080p but I suspect that will require a hardware/software revision as the ATVs processor and memory is limited by today's standards. Integration with the iTunes Store is seamless for browsing new content (music, movies, podcasts, TV shows, HD content). It should be noted that HD movies purchased from iTunes are 720p which fits perfectly for the video output resolution of ATV. 1080p video files are killers on HDD storage any way.
* As of the time of this review, iTunes LP and iTunes Extras WILL NOT work on Apple TV 2.4. There is much speculation and hope that a future software update from Apple will enable these features to work on ATV.
* Video Quality: Overall, I am very satisifed with the video output quality of the Apple TV over HDMI. I have gone back and re-encoded several movies because they looked poor due to lower bit-rates and resolution. After setting Handbrake to encode using the Apple TV preset the files looked much cleaner and more pristine on a HDTV. YouTube video quality is poor and needs a major update from Apple/YouTube for support for the HQ/HD formats now available. YouTube videos are watchable, but in most cases unbearable for everyday use.
I have been looking at purchasing either an Apple TV or Blu Ray player for quite some time, and after reading all the user reviews on Blu Ray players I was put off by technical issues and noisy/innefficient equipment. I will wait a while longer before jumping on the Blu Ray wagon. In the meantime, Apple TV will hold me over for all my digital/HD content needs. With the debut of iTunes LP and iTunes Extras (again iTunes 9 only), Apple TV will be a more viable option compared to DVD/Blu Ray. I give Apple TV 160GB with ATV 2.4 **** stars. Not perfect, but does exactly what I need.
Thanks for reading my review.
Also, I'll share with you my Handbrake video encoding settings: Apple TV preset, H.264, constant quality 62%, loose anamorphic, decomb filter (default). Enjoy your encoded movies!
Customer Review: A $300 iTunes Shopping Cart
Summary: 2 Stars
In telecommunications, there's a lot of talk about the "last mile" in terms of getting voice, data, video, etc. to the final point where it is needed. When it comes to digital entertainment content, it might be better to think in terms of the last few meters. It's not uncommon these days for households to have a computer in a den somewhere loaded with ripped CDs, downloaded music and video, and thousands of archived photos. A few meters away, a home theater setup in the living room remains tethered to cable, satellite, DVDs, and other more conventional channels of content delivery.
Apple TV is Apple's most advanced attempt to bridge those last few meters. Basically, it's a hard drive linked via 802.11n wireless networking to one or more computers on which digital content resides in an iTunes library. The Apple TV unit syncs with one library and can stream from several others. It then plays back that content and sends it to a widescreen TV and/or AV receiver via an HDMI cable (not supplied). In theory, that's a great setup. In practice, the delivery falls short.
The first problem is that the menus and interface on Apple TV seem overwhelmingly skewed in favor of the iTunes store. Boot up the Apple TV and you'll see a menu of categories such as music and movies. So far, so good, but select any of those categories, and the top menu option always leads to the iTunes store, where the user can presumably make an impulse purchase of digital content. In a moment of role reversal, that content purchased and downloaded from iTunes directly via Apple TV later syncs back to the paired computer. That's great, but iTunes is an expensive way to acquire digital content. $1.99 here and $9.99 there eventually adds up to real money.
For a user like me, who just wanted to use Apple TV as a digital jukebox holding a music library ripped from nearly a 1000 CDs collected since college, Apple TV is needlessly cumbersome. Since the iTunes option is always at the top of each category menu, I always have to click down to the "my music" option, which is, not surprisingly, at the bottom of the menu since it generates no additional revenue for Apple. It's too many mouseclicks just to listen to or watch content that I've already purchased and have owned for years (or maybe even decades).
To this major flaw, add a variety of minor, but annoying issues:
-- The device is unpredictable. Occasionally, after a period or dormancy, this device will come right back to whatever it was playing previously. Most times, though, it will lead me through a flashy introductory movie. It's a neat little movie, but once is enough.
-- The device never really shuts down and therefore is a vampire draining power. Apparently, Apple's new wave of environmental consciousness has not yet swept over Apple TV.
-- The included Apple remote is better suited to a small portable device than a home entertainment system. Moreover, Apple TV works only partially with universal remotes from Harmony and others.
I'm going to miss the album art on my TV screen, but ultimately this device is just too much of an iTunes shopping cart to serve my needs. I'm going to sell mine and, as much as I hate to give more money to Apple, have replaced it with an Airport Express -- a much simpler audio-only streaming device. There's no album art, but there's also no iTunes store --- just the reassuring sound of CDs already paid for and ripped over the years.