For home theater junkies who've been having a difficult time taking the
Apple TV seriously, you should definitely have a look at what the latest software update brings to the dinner table. First off, we should warn you that any non-Apple TV software (like, you know,
Boxee) will be banished should you choose to update, but if you're kosher on that front, we'll continue on. Apple's changelog notes that AirTunes streaming is now enabled, meaning that tunes can be streamed from the STB to AirPort Express speakers or other ATV units nearby. Additionally, the box can now learn other remotes, meaning that you can probably get your
universal remote to handle this bugger, too. The last big addition is that Playlists in iTunes can now be seen on Apple TV, and there's also support for volume control in Music. Grab the download from within your box now if you dare, and feel free to chime in with any other noteworthy changes you happen upon.
[Via
TUAW]
posted Nov 19th 2008 11:20PM
I want AppleTV :(
With the HD Netflix in the new xbox update, this is too little too late.
Netflix HD on Tivo in December too!
Netflix on Xbox360, Tivo, and new batch of Bluray players w/ BD Live 2.0 profiles + developing option for "watch instantly" on mac platform sounds like the plans for movie rental domination.
now all they have to do is really focus on building that digital library of movies.
the apple tv does movies in very good quality....
keep in mind that netflix is not FREE of charge
it's a part of their subscription program.
not alot of "good" films to watch and HD choices
are limited also, but I agree that it's an advantage for 360 owners
but the 360 is noisy and prone to Red Ring of Death :(
The AppleTV does video podcasts very VERY well
and that is something that I really like about it.
a nice advantage for AppleTV owners.
I love watching the Totally Rad Show
in HD.... there is a good selection of HD content now.
PS3 owners have something that neither
of the AppleTV or 360 offer, Hulu.
Use the web browser and you can view
Hulu content in pretty good resolution, it's not great
I'm not gonna shine you on about that.
there's talk that netflix is working on bringing
it's service to the PS3.... not sure that will happen
and I don't expect to see it on the AppleTV.
I'm gonna download the new software right now.
Boxee, or XBMC itself. I don't know why anyone with an AppleTV would NOT install XBMC. It's free and infinitely better than the AppleTV software. If you prefer Cupertino's look and feel, install the xTV skin.
Be free of DRM! Unleash your AppleTV! Install XBMC on it!
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=XBMC_for_Mac_on_Apple_TV
Thanks for the links. I was waitingfor boxee, but I might try this out while waiting for them to get me started.
Thanks for the links. I was waiting for boxee, but I might try this out while waiting. Not sure the differences between these two, but I will check it out.
Came here to tell people about this. I feel sorry for anyone running an AppleTV without it.
*Cues iEye to appletv pwnz xboxlive+netflix.
Why provoke him?
Meh. Fanboys make me lol so its entertaining.
Well My new Xbox 360 does all that the Apple TV does plus plays some awesome games.
I've heard it's big and loud. Can anyone confirm this? Paul Thurrott?
;)
mike,
No, it's quiet when not spinning a DVD. I am watching the Office on netflix streaming and can barely even hear the fans on the XBox. No DVD drive access means it's just a very low hum.
I haven't owned a 360 in about a year so I'm honestly asking:
1) Can it be used as a remote speaker? I find that aspect of AppleTV incredibly useful. Probably the single most used feature of my ATV.
2) Can it download podcasts?
3) Does it support some type of bookmarkable audiobook format?
4) Can I hack it to run third party software?
5) Do you have to pay for Xbox Live to download movies/TV shows/etc or can you pay per view?
@Ted
1) Remote speaker? WTH is that? The Xbox can stream videos and audio that are located on your PC, so if you mean use your home ent. center as a remote output for those, then yes.
2) Why would I d/l podcasts to something that uses my TV as a main output? If you are using your stereo system to listen to podcasts, you should get outside more.
3) Again, *audio* format on something that uses a *TV* as it's main output. It's overkill x 100.
4) Anyone can hack anything, the Xbox is no exception. Would I really want to void any kind of warranty though? Not me. More than enough features and I could Tversity or Playon if I really wanted to.
5) Xbox Marketplace has pay-per-view for movies or you can buy TV shows. But, with a Live Gold subscription (@$40/year) and a Netflix acct (@$9/mth) you can stream over 12,000 movies/shows.
Big Wizz,
The goal of advice is to provide help to someone based on the situation they are in, not expect them to live their life like yours.
Why use the TV for audio.. possibly because of us do not own mega sound systems and as such rely on the TV as the only sound source in the living room. I often listen to music while hosting parties or just relaxing on the couch. I also listen to music for 8 hours a day through headphones, if I am listening to podcasts or audio books at home, I would prefer not to do this through headphones.
I know a dedicated sound system is best, but not everyone feels it is worth it for the audio that we often listen to (compressed podcasts, compressed streaming music, the occasional movie). As such the TV serves multiple purposes and can be used as such. The questions was does the 360 augment this as well as the Apple TV or no?
I would like to know the answers to these questions as well as right now I think the apple tv would be a nice cheap solution for access to the itunes store (which has a lot of content) while the xbox would be great for whatever content I already have. If the 360 can do all the things the apple tv can (I know it won't access itunes, but the other questions listed), it would be great to not have to price two different systems.
I did the update but don't see any of the new features. I looked pretty thouroughly, but I don't think they're enabled. And it does say 2.3 as the software version. I'll probably wait to see if anyone has a resolution before reseting factory defaults.
Before Boxee on the aTV I would have been all over this ... now it's just 'meh'
Video playlists! This is such a simple addition, but makes a world of difference. If you have a large number of movies, it can be a huge pain in the ass selecting a specific one, especially if you're watching with a group and people have to stop and scrutinize each individual movie. I've been hoping for a way to make genre-based playlists, so that if someone says: "I want to watch a comedy," they don't have to scroll through tons of dramas to figure out what they want to watch.
Matt,
If you organize your movies the way you do music (by genre), then the 2.1 update allows browsing by genre. Just select movies, and then at the top (before you start scrolling through all of your movies) there should be a Genre heading. I have been using it since they released the 2.1 update. That was a HUGE update as it also enabled Airtunes which I have been using a lot as well so I am puzzled why it is listed as a new feature again.
Check it out.
Ron
I've never used an Apple TV, but...
... Really? iTunes playlists? My XBox 360 has supported that for ages.
Video Playlists
Ah. TFS does not specify. TFA does though.
I've been looking into an Apple TV for all my media streaming needs, since I'm trying to get all of my DVDs and CDs stored digitally, and I'm beginning to buy media through downloading exclusively. No more room for physical media! Haha, among other reasons.
This update seems cool, but seriously why would I use this when software like Boxee or XBMC exists? I love Apple's look and feel but I don't like using iTunes because of DRM, this is why I buy from Amazon (although their video service isn't great).
Boxee/XBMC = More formats, no DRM, same features + some.
Apple's update = Meh.
what's next? keyboard and a mouse for this "TV"
Won't be updating my AppleTV; Boxee's great, and I don't know what this guff about "universal remotes" in the new update is about--I've been using my Harmony 880 with mine ever since I bought it.
That's good to know, I also use a Harmony remote to control my TV, DVD player, etc. I wish the Wii supported it though :( with the Xbox 360 it works like a charm.
Well if the 360 supported MP4 natively we would not be having this conversation now would we.
Tell me about it. I encode to h.264 and my top gear episodes are DivX, so I tend not to notice. But I was blown away when I tried to play a standard mpeg yesterday thru the 360 and couldn't.
I will be updating in a few minutes.....
Here is a feature that I found on the last update. If you are watching a MOVIE/TV SHOW/VIDEO PODCAST and you hit the "+" key the time bar comes up. Most people know about that. But if you hit it a second time, it brings up a banner bar, showing the marquee image and the description remarks. This is nice.
Happy watching everybody.
Alex
Yay, this is exactly what I was after. Now to plunk some cash down on an Airport Express. This and an iPod Touch make for a far superior, yet significantly cheaper, Sonos alternative.
Now, if only Apple would allow the ATV to pull video files stored to an Aiport Disk, I'd be very very happy. As it is, I'll have to leave my MBP switched on to stream via its iTunes -- at least until NitoTV work on 2.3. For me, the AirTunes streamed from the ATV is the killer feature.
To all those raving about Boxee and XBMC -- what's the big appeal? I tried both on my ATV, and wasn't that impressed. Having said that, I don't really have much media that isn't H.264 (and Perian takes care of that), and I mostly use my ATV for music, too. Maybe I was missing something, but I'd be happy to give it another go...
Thank God! That apple remote never screamed to me "Man of the house".
Not sure about this update but I love my Apple TV. I have 400 movies that I can access using it. I have 2 of them, one in my living room one in my bed room.
Using Handbrake and Mactheripper I have "backed up" all my DVD's to my PC and stream them to my ATV.
I have it set to sync all my new movies to the ATV hard drive on each so if my PC is off I can still see my newest movies.
And now with Boxee it's great.
Just wish I could get access to Netflix on my ATV.
My original Xbox running XBMC cost me about 40UKP and does all the above and has for a year or two.
And the unannounced feature is it kills your monitor if you try and watch a movie on it...
There are only two updates I care about, and I'm still waiting for 'em, apparently.
1) LET ME TURN THE DAMNED POWER OFF, PLEASE. I'm tired of unplugging this thing every night.
2) Give me cover flow, or give me death.
---
A side note... my universal remote had no trouble at all working with the AppleTV over a year ago with version 1.0. So to call this an update is the height (or depth, rather) of "FEH."
I've been using my harmony 880 with my apple TV for months, how is that a new feature?
Now I would consider myself a fanboy, but I just do not like the AppleTV.
May I suggest the new WD TV for about $90. It has two ports for external drives. Just take any drive with your media on it (photos, movies, music, ect) and plug it into the WD TV. You now have instant access to it. It scans the attached drive and organized your media, you you can organize it manually as well.
It has a pretty nice UI, true 1080 support, HDMI and optical audio out, and plays just about any format you can throw at it. That is a lot of media center for only $90 (and especially attractive if you already have a hard drive sitting around with your media on it).
They need to support either RCA output and/or coax. I wouldn't mind a new TV but I'm not buying one just for this. Besides, would the iPod have been as popular if it had required a new style of headphones?
New feature: If you have HD "movies" on your AppleTV the HD logo now appears next to them. This same feature was added in 2.2 but for purchased TV shows. Why add the HD logos in the My Movies section if Apple doesn't sell HD movies? A sign of things to come?
I just got XBMC running again on AppleTV 2.3
No real good idea about how I did it, but it was something like this:
I used my old patchstick I used to patch 2.2. In the menu the XBMC and Boxee buttons reappeared, but updating didn't work. I ssh'd in (using frontrow:frontrow)
Then I saw this on the boxee forums: http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?p=13316
From that, I made something like this (I wrote this from memory, so use common sense when trying this, make sure to remove the spaces after "http:", I can only post 3 links here):
wget http: //atv-xbmc-launcher.googlecode.com/files/XBMCLauncher-0.6-debug.run
wget http: //atv-xbmc-launcher.googlecode.com/svn/tags/xbmc-info/scripts/launcher-update-0.6.sh
sh launcher-update-0.6.sh XBMCLauncher-0.6-debug.run
wget http: //ovh.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/xbmc/XBMC_for_Mac-8.10.dmg
wget http: //atv-xbmc-launcher.googlecode.com/svn/tags/xbmc-info/scripts/xbmc-8.10_update.sh
sh xbmc-8.10_update.sh XBMC_for_Mac-8.10.dmg
sudo reboot
It's now working, so I think I'm in the right direction
DO NOT UPDATE YOUR APPLE TV - if you have ripped movies on it. They will no longer play correctly - and the Apple tech that we spoke with, basically said there is no workaround - that technically there shouldn't be any other movie/video content on your box unless its come from the iTunes store. If Apple keeps closing the door on people who (already have a DVD library that they've purchased) want it on their Apple TV's, will lose those customers. DVD's should be as easy to integrate into iTunes as purchased music CD's - Steve Job's doesn't get it.
I had problems with "snow" after upgrading to 2.3. The dots appeared most visibly on black areas. The green background on a Preview screen was dot-free. I changed the video output option from 720p to 1080i and the problem went away. My projector auto-syncs on either, so for me this was an acceptable workaround.
This should definitely give Sonos pause. Why would anyone pick Sonos now? http://www.controlmyhouse.com/2008/12/apple-tv-23-vs-sonos.html