Does anyone have an Apple TV?

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Eric D
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Does anyone have an Apple TV?

Post by Eric D »

I have some questions about how they operate and could use some help.
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Post by fuzzysnuggleduck »

My neighbour has one and I'm somewhat familiar with it... are your questions highly specialized?
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Eric D
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Post by Eric D »

If I have an Apple TV connected to my HDTV, does the Apple TV stay on all the time? If not, does it have a "boot up" time?

I have an iMac with my music in iTunes. I assume the iMac needs to be on to stream (seems obvious), but does iTunes need to be open, or will the Apple TV stream from it with no applications open?
Got "schooled" by member shawn k on May 10th, 2011...
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dontlookatme
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Post by dontlookatme »

eric i have an apple tv and i know how to hack it too. just incase u want to hook up a external hd to it amongs other things
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eulogious
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Post by eulogious »

Eric D wrote:If I have an Apple TV connected to my HDTV, does the Apple TV stay on all the time? If not, does it have a "boot up" time?

I have an iMac with my music in iTunes. I assume the iMac needs to be on to stream (seems obvious), but does iTunes need to be open, or will the Apple TV stream from it with no applications open?
I don't know about the apple tv, but most apple products go into a "standby" mode when not being operated to avoid the "boot" time. So no it shouldn't have to be "on" all the time because it goes into standby mode when you press the off button. If you were to unplug the unit for the wall and plug it back in, the it will take a while to boot most likley. My comcast box is the same way. Comes right on normally, but when I loose power, unplug it etc, it takes like 10min for the damn thing to function normally. That's with a comcast box go figure :roll:

In order for the iTunes streaming to work, iTunes needs to be open/running I believe. Apple uses their own special protocol to stream stuff, and I am pretty sure it's not active until iTunes is open/running. There might be an option in iTunes to make it available when the program isn't open for streaming? Might want to check that out. Dig through the preferences in iTunes and there might be something useful in there.

I love streaming stuff from my server to my big screen tv with surround sound :) I have a modded original xbox that I use for my streaming. That way I can just use a linux box as my file server and streaming everything from it using samba to the xbox. It's fantastic. XBMC (Xbox media Center) kicks ass for this. Movies, music, and pics are streamed from my linux box to my xbox. I use iTunes at home, and how I have it setup is I have a remote share for my music that iTunes manages, so when I add music to iTunes it copies the new music to the share. Since the share is on my linux box, I can then stream the new music that I just added into iTunes no problem. The great thing about iTunes organizing the music on a remote share is that is names the folders and songs using the ID3 info out of the mp3, so therefore iTunes keeps song names and everything super easy to read outside of iTunes. It works great for me!

Hope that helps you out some!
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Eric D
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Post by Eric D »

Thanks for the info guys. I will really need to nail down "iTunes on or not" issue prior to getting one of these Apple TVs. If I want to listen to music for example, I don't want to have to go kick my wife off the computer so I can log in as me, then go back to iTunes, then back to her account, then I go back to where the Apple TV is and start it playing. Seems somewhat self defeating if you ask me.
Got "schooled" by member shawn k on May 10th, 2011...
No longer really "in tune" with the audio industry, and probably have not been for some time.
Hands down the forum's most ignorant member...
Don't even know what Ohm's law is...
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eulogious
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Post by eulogious »

I don't know exactly what you want to accomplish, but for $50 and some "special" software I can buy a used original xbox, softmod it, and have the same thing for $50 and not have to worry about using iTunes. It's the best media PC that I have ever seen, and I recommend it to anyone thinking about a media PC. XBMC is open source and can play just about any file, as long as it's shared with samba (windows files sharing).

Apple TV's are cool, but a waste if you ask me. If you mod it to play Hulu and stuff, that's ok, but I can download any show on hulu and watch it on my xbox without any hassle, so ya. Apple TV would be cool if they offered a DVR service to go with it. I would buy one in a heart beat of that was the case, but it's not. It's a cool concept, but it needs some much needed TLC from apple to make it a worthy product, and they seem to have no interest in that so far. They are too busy loosing iPhones prototypes and making iPads to care about the poor little Apple TV.

If you are interested in the xbox thing, let me know. I know LOTS about modding the original xbox. In fact it was modding the original xbox that got me into electronics in the first place :)
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Post by dontlookatme »

once u hack it u can set it up as a dvr i have mine with a tb hd and i just watch n e show i want when i want. i also have tons of movies saved right on to it. my friend has his to record whatever is on the tv in hd so he borrows my blurays all the time and they look good on his tv
3x ti600.2, 1x ti1000.2 (hidding in the closet),1x 6.5 ti elite comp (front), 1x 5.25 ti elite comp (back), 2x XO crossovers, 2x tantrumX dual 4 ohm, zero point full power+ ground wiring
6x pc-ccc zero point rca
storage for the rest of my stuff
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Post by fuzzysnuggleduck »

You'll need the iTunes library you want to stream from to be running on your PC or Mac. iTunes basically acts as a DLNA server for the Apple TV.

If you want to avoid the annoyance of bugging your wife, you can set up fast user switching or whatever *always* be logged into your PC/Mac and have her use a different account.

Or you could sync the Apple TV to your iTunes library periodically, convenience depending on how fast your iTunes library grows.
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Eric D
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Post by Eric D »

fuzzysnuggleduck wrote:You'll need the iTunes library you want to stream from to be running on your PC or Mac. iTunes basically acts as a DLNA server for the Apple TV.

If you want to avoid the annoyance of bugging your wife, you can set up fast user switching or whatever *always* be logged into your PC/Mac and have her use a different account.

Or you could sync the Apple TV to your iTunes library periodically, convenience depending on how fast your iTunes library grows.
We do fast user switching currently, so that would work. I guess I am just a bit bummed I have to leave iTunes on all the time.

For you other guys, I know things can be hacked, and modded, and bla bla bla. I actually have an original X-box which has been modded, and it works fine other than using a game controller is pretty lame for listening to music or viewing family photos, and the hard drive in the X-box is about as loud as a fighter jet.

The Apple TV is simple. It is wireless, it has HDMI. All I would need to do is plug a power wire into it and one HDMI cable into my TV and I am finished. No mess.
Got "schooled" by member shawn k on May 10th, 2011...
No longer really "in tune" with the audio industry, and probably have not been for some time.
Hands down the forum's most ignorant member...
Don't even know what Ohm's law is...
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eulogious
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Post by eulogious »

Eric D wrote:For you other guys, I know things can be hacked, and modded, and bla bla bla. I actually have an original X-box which has been modded, and it works fine other than using a game controller is pretty lame for listening to music or viewing family photos, and the hard drive in the X-box is about as loud as a fighter jet.
Ahh, gotcha. My modded xbox has a 120 gig 5200RPM HD in it, so it's nice and quite, and I turn my fans down on the unit itself. As for the remote, I have one of the logic harmony remotes, and I programmed in the xbox on the remote and got the $20 dvd dongle for the xbox, and now no more controller :) Granted I needed the logictech remote to replace all my other remotes, so I didn't buy it just for that, but it works great. I also have been using a home server for about 7 years now along with OS X, so all my pics are backed up on my server which gives me easy access to them from the xbox. Same with movies and music. I don't rent DVD's anymore, I download them. Much easier and always good quality, but I have been doing this for years, so I have everything setup to do this. I find using a DVD player to be more of pain than using XBMC. In fact I got rid of my DVD player and just use the xbox. Converting now would be a pain, that's for sure. But I am weird and I like old stuff that just works and I don't have to worry about. The xbox fits that perfectly. That I can basically get a used xbox for free whenever I want one, so there's that too :)

How do you listen to music and look at pictures on your TV now?

The one down side to the xbox is that it will only do 1080i HD. So if you want 1080p, then obviously you would have to look at something else. It also doesn't have HDMI. But honestly, for how quickly the HDMI standard changes, I won't be buying them cables for a while :roll: That and my receiver doesn't take HDMI either, but I digress...
The Apple TV is simple. It is wireless, it has HDMI. All I would need to do is plug a power wire into it and one HDMI cable into my TV and I am finished. No mess.
I also have a modded linksys router, will 2 actually, and I use them to create a wireless link from one router to the other. I put on in my living room, and the other router in my spare bedroom with the server, so my xbox is connected to the router in the living, but has wireless access to the spare bedroom. Again, I am weird and had routers kicking around so I modded them to fit my needs, so this isn't the easiest way, but it is the cheapest!

I am just being the devil's advocate here :) I am just a hacker and love projects that involve electronics :D especially for on the cheap!

The apple tv is great for what it is. Buy it, plug it in, connect to your wireless network, and just start using it. Easy as 1-2-3. Literally. But it sounds like you know what's up anyways, so now I am just rambling :)

Let us know if you get one and what your experience is like. Like I said I have been eying one, I just can't justify buying one if it's not a DVR. I would also be interested in knowing someone elses opinion on it that has used XBMC and compare it to the apple tv. I haven't read anything about that...
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Post by str3atwarrior »

eulogious wrote:
Eric D wrote:For you other guys, I know things can be hacked, and modded, and bla bla bla. I actually have an original X-box which has been modded, and it works fine other than using a game controller is pretty lame for listening to music or viewing family photos, and the hard drive in the X-box is about as loud as a fighter jet.
Ahh, gotcha. My modded xbox has a 120 gig 5200RPM HD in it, so it's nice and quite, and I turn my fans down on the unit itself. As for the remote, I have one of the logic harmony remotes, and I programmed in the xbox on the remote and got the $20 dvd dongle for the xbox, and now no more controller :) Granted I needed the logictech remote to replace all my other remotes, so I didn't buy it just for that, but it works great. I also have been using a home server for about 7 years now along with OS X, so all my pics are backed up on my server which gives me easy access to them from the xbox. Same with movies and music. I don't rent DVD's anymore, I download them. Much easier and always good quality, but I have been doing this for years, so I have everything setup to do this. I find using a DVD player to be more of pain than using XBMC. In fact I got rid of my DVD player and just use the xbox. Converting now would be a pain, that's for sure. But I am weird and I like old stuff that just works and I don't have to worry about. The xbox fits that perfectly. That I can basically get a used xbox for free whenever I want one, so there's that too :)

How do you listen to music and look at pictures on your TV now?

The one down side to the xbox is that it will only do 1080i HD. So if you want 1080p, then obviously you would have to look at something else. It also doesn't have HDMI. But honestly, for how quickly the HDMI standard changes, I won't be buying them cables for a while :roll: That and my receiver doesn't take HDMI either, but I digress...
The Apple TV is simple. It is wireless, it has HDMI. All I would need to do is plug a power wire into it and one HDMI cable into my TV and I am finished. No mess.
I also have a modded linksys router, will 2 actually, and I use them to create a wireless link from one router to the other. I put on in my living room, and the other router in my spare bedroom with the server, so my xbox is connected to the router in the living, but has wireless access to the spare bedroom. Again, I am weird and had routers kicking around so I modded them to fit my needs, so this isn't the easiest way, but it is the cheapest!

I am just being the devil's advocate here :) I am just a hacker and love projects that involve electronics :D especially for on the cheap!

The apple tv is great for what it is. Buy it, plug it in, connect to your wireless network, and just start using it. Easy as 1-2-3. Literally. But it sounds like you know what's up anyways, so now I am just rambling :)

Let us know if you get one and what your experience is like. Like I said I have been eying one, I just can't justify buying one if it's not a DVR. I would also be interested in knowing someone elses opinion on it that has used XBMC and compare it to the apple tv. I haven't read anything about that...
That is exactly how i'm set up here! 2 WRT54G2 in bridge mode with DD-WRT, an xbox on my samsung tv and another one in the kid's room. A Debian server headless running samba, with a 1tb external hdd with enough space to put everything i would ever want to listen, so i'm able to stream it across my home without any problems. By far the cheapest solution i found, and one of my favorite project of all time!
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eulogious
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Post by eulogious »

str3atwarrior wrote:That is exactly how i'm set up here! 2 WRT54G2 in bridge mode with DD-WRT, an xbox on my samsung tv and another one in the kid's room. A Debian server headless running samba, with a 1tb external hdd with enough space to put everything i would ever want to listen, so i'm able to stream it across my home without any problems. By far the cheapest solution i found, and one of my favorite project of all time!
Nice! I run all gentoo. I was running ubuntu, but it was too easy and I wanted more of a challenge and to teach myself linux more, so I installed gentoo. I have gentoo running as my router as well, so I have VPN, SSH, HTTP access to my network, and I also have setup QOS (Quality of Service) on that box as well, so all my traffic flows nicely. I also have both my system drives on a RAID 0 (mirrored) so that if one drive fails, I am still good to go! I have exchange setup as well, running on a athlon 1.33 with 512mb of RAM!! That's the only computer that's was "worthy" enough to install windows on :lol: I have about 3TB of storage space, and only about 200mb free :? I will have to buy yet another 1tb external. I have WAY to much stuff :) I use DD-WRT as well, but I only have one xbox right now. I sold the other one to a friend when I needed wee..., er, I mean money... ;)

I started this back in about 1998 having a central server, I was still living at my parents house and going to high school! A couple of buddies and I started ripping our DVD collections (including our parents), and then shared them with each other. I got like 250 avi files out of that deal, and that's how it all started. I know have almost 750 movies, at least 20 full seasons/series of random TV shows, and 120gb of music (just shy of 30,000 songs), all with album art embedded and organized nicely with no dups, and all in DRM free mp3 format. I have really worked at my collection. Oh, and most of it's backed up as well. :D
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Eric D
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Post by Eric D »

This is what I use currently...

Image

Image

Image
Got "schooled" by member shawn k on May 10th, 2011...
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Hands down the forum's most ignorant member...
Don't even know what Ohm's law is...
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eulogious
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Post by eulogious »

Then it makes sense why you would consider an apple tv, if you already have a full pc for a media pc. You got water cooling in that bad boy, is that what all the blue tubing is?
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Post by Eric D »

On second thought, those photos are not all that current. The CPU is now a C2D based Celeron, and the video card is an ATI 4?70 with HDMI for video and audio. The keyboard is nice, but it is just too large and cumbersome.

In the case of the old xbox, it has a 120GB hard drive in it as well, but is 7,200 RPM, and due to age is loud (old drive technology). I do use it for playing old console games, that is what it is modded for.
Got "schooled" by member shawn k on May 10th, 2011...
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Hands down the forum's most ignorant member...
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Eric D
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Post by Eric D »

eulogious wrote:Then it makes sense why you would consider an apple tv, if you already have a full pc for a media pc. You got water cooling in that bad boy, is that what all the blue tubing is?
Yes, it is water cooled and is "virtually" silent.

http://www.soundbuggy.com/ericdrust/hom ... index.html

The reason I want the Apple TV is to dump this media PC. It is so big and bulky, plus using a keyboard to listen to a song is just a joke. I use the PC for movies (blueray drive), photos, and music. Not really any web surfing or other stuff. If I got the Apple TV I would like to rip all my movies on my Mac for it, then get rid of the media PC totally.
Got "schooled" by member shawn k on May 10th, 2011...
No longer really "in tune" with the audio industry, and probably have not been for some time.
Hands down the forum's most ignorant member...
Don't even know what Ohm's law is...
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Post by str3atwarrior »

For my server, i use an old Dell Latitude PC. P4 1.5ghz, small tower that is hidden behind my tv. Can't hear the fan noise, so that's fine for me. Same for the Xbox, i installed custom fans long time ago. I have an UFO remote that controls everything in my house, including A/C, and i wired the DVD Dongle in my Xbox with a small relay, on port 4, so if i want to play with 4 remote on it the dongle desactivate and switch to the remote. Was pretty useful when i used to play, but now it's mostly just there for look. The IR eye has been relocalised in the front.

Basic, but working great as hell!
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