Quote:
Originally Posted by Medusa
Ok Aj! Talk to me about Apple Tv! I have been eyeballing it for a while and almost got it for myself for Christmas but I hadnt done the research and didnt know exactly what it can do.
Can you play iTunes through your tv with it? How about photos on your laptop? Can you see those on the big screen?
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Okay, I LOVE the Apple TV! So here's what it can do:
1) One machine can sync with it so that it mirrors your iTunes library (for me, because my iTunes library is so huge, I only mirror part of it (videos and TV shows). Anything I buy from the iTunes store on the Apple TV (uses your existing wireless network) will automagically sync back to my MBP. You can also sync music and photos. It's the *same* (in iTunes) as you would use for your iPod so you can select what you want to sync and what you don't.
2) Anything you don't want to sync or don't have space for, the Apple TV will play from the machine you use to sync provided iTunes is currently running on that machine.
3) Any OTHER machine can share its music library on the network and you can play anything on any machine with a shared iTunes library.
4) Anything that *won't* sync to the Apple TV (like Audible files) you can *stream* to the Apple TV and use it as a remote speaker.
5) Any iPod or iPhone that joins the wireless network can be set up as a remote control. When we had our wedding at the house, I posted the wireless password on the front door so any guest who came in could use their iPhone or iPod to request songs in the library.
6) You can stream YouTube.
7) You can stream Internet Radio
8) You can rent movies at about what you would pay for a rental at your video store (sometimes less than video store rentals).
9) It's HD so you can view your movies in high def.
10) If you have a MobileMe (used to be .Mac) account you can view your photo gallery as a slideshow or stream movies that are posted there.
Now the cons:
A) You can't stream Netflix.
B) You can't sync Audible audiobooks you buy direct from Audible but you *can* sync Audible audiobooks that you buy from the iTunes store.
C) There were some early stability issues but the latest firmware upgrade (free) fixed those.
Honestly I think it's well worth the price. One other nice thing about it is that, for me, it acts as a *second* back-up of my media files. So on my home network there are three copies of all of the movies I've bought from the iTunes store. One on my laptop, one in the backup for the laptop, and one on the Apple TV.
Cheers
Aj