Does anyone have Apple TV?
- Thread starter drakethib
- Start date
I have an Apple TV, and enjoy it greatly.
I *think* your question is: "If I buy a Movie on iTunes on my Apple TV, can I burn it to DVD?"
The answer is no:
1) There is no DVD burner on the Apple TV.
2) According to the iTunes store license, you can't burn any of the movies you rent or purchase to DVD, even if you had a DVD burner.
That being said, the Apple TV is a great way to stream your iTunes library (Movies and Music), a fun way to see YouTube on your TV, and a great way to see any current trailers. We've had ours since the Apple TV came out, and use it a couple of times a week.
I *think* your question is: "If I buy a Movie on iTunes on my Apple TV, can I burn it to DVD?"
The answer is no:
1) There is no DVD burner on the Apple TV.
2) According to the iTunes store license, you can't burn any of the movies you rent or purchase to DVD, even if you had a DVD burner.
That being said, the Apple TV is a great way to stream your iTunes library (Movies and Music), a fun way to see YouTube on your TV, and a great way to see any current trailers. We've had ours since the Apple TV came out, and use it a couple of times a week.
drakethib
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2004
- Messages
- 3,867
How big (gb) is your hard drive on the Apple TV?
Seems like you would have to archive after a while.
I have the original one - it had the smallest drive available (40G?).
Actually, I stream most of my videos and audio from my iTunes library; not much is stored on the physical AppleTV. If you have a high-speed network (802.11n or wired) it works great.
Actually, I stream most of my videos and audio from my iTunes library; not much is stored on the physical AppleTV. If you have a high-speed network (802.11n or wired) it works great.
rotlex
Is it summer yet?
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2007
- Messages
- 2,764
I own an ATV and absolutely love it! I use it for everything from renting movies, to watching, and listening to all the digital content stored on my Mac.
It's GREAT for get togethers as my entire iTunes library is available, playists and all. I also use it HEAVILY for home movies, no more burning to DVD, photo viewing, no more breaking out the albums, and a host of other things, including movie rentals\purchases etc.
As far as the size goes, I own the 160GB unit, but to be honest, the only thing I store on it is my iTunes library, which I sync. I simply stream 99% of my content, and it works GREAT!
In a nutshell, I highly recommend the thing to just about anyone that asks, or has an interest in it!
It's GREAT for get togethers as my entire iTunes library is available, playists and all. I also use it HEAVILY for home movies, no more burning to DVD, photo viewing, no more breaking out the albums, and a host of other things, including movie rentals\purchases etc.
As far as the size goes, I own the 160GB unit, but to be honest, the only thing I store on it is my iTunes library, which I sync. I simply stream 99% of my content, and it works GREAT!
In a nutshell, I highly recommend the thing to just about anyone that asks, or has an interest in it!
I love my Apple TV. I have the 40Gb model. As others have stated, it is great for getting iTunes videos, music, and family pictures from your computer to your TV. I have found that streaming works great, thus a bigger hard drive isn't really necessary. I only have a G router in my house, and I stream movies to the Apple TV with no problems whatsoever.
I have used a free program called Handbrake (only for Mac, although similar programs are available for PC) to save copies of my home DVDs to my computer. I am then able to stream them to my Apple TV. For example, I have probably 25 to 30 of my daughter's Disney movies on the computer. I no longer need to fumble with the DVD when we sit down to watch the Little Mermaid for the 112th time. I just fire up the Apple TV and start watching the movie. It's one of the few electronics items in our house that my wife actually likes. Everyone that comes over to see it in action is blown away by the technology.
I should note that the legality of burning DVDs you own onto your computer is somewhat murky, though never actually prosecuted, according to my brother-in-law--an intellectual property attorney. It is perfectly legal to make a backup copy of a DVD you personally own. However, it is technically not legal to subvert the anti-copying technology on the disc in order to do so, which is what Handbrake and other such programs do.
I highly recommend the Apple TV. It is a very elegant way to watch movies, view pictures, and listen to music.
I have used a free program called Handbrake (only for Mac, although similar programs are available for PC) to save copies of my home DVDs to my computer. I am then able to stream them to my Apple TV. For example, I have probably 25 to 30 of my daughter's Disney movies on the computer. I no longer need to fumble with the DVD when we sit down to watch the Little Mermaid for the 112th time. I just fire up the Apple TV and start watching the movie. It's one of the few electronics items in our house that my wife actually likes. Everyone that comes over to see it in action is blown away by the technology.
I should note that the legality of burning DVDs you own onto your computer is somewhat murky, though never actually prosecuted, according to my brother-in-law--an intellectual property attorney. It is perfectly legal to make a backup copy of a DVD you personally own. However, it is technically not legal to subvert the anti-copying technology on the disc in order to do so, which is what Handbrake and other such programs do.
I highly recommend the Apple TV. It is a very elegant way to watch movies, view pictures, and listen to music.
- Joined
- May 1, 2000
- Messages
- 2,598
I use 160 GB Apple TVs in my media room, bedroom and keeping room. We have burned (using handbrake) over 600 movies that we own. I have 6 TB of storage on my Mac Pro that we stream from. I used to use a wireless N router, but had to switch to a wireless G when I moved into my new home (pre-wired with an On-Q wireless G router, and the WAP are all rated to G only). Before I bought the Mac Pro, I only had a 17" iMac with 120 GB of storage. I quickly filled that up, so I bought an external hard drive (1 TB) to store movies on, and connected that to my wireless router. This worked great, but the hard drive (a Western Digital) was unstable, so I would sometimes have to reset the drive (turn it off and back on). That was a pain in the neck, especially when you were showing off the cool Apple TV to your friends. I prefer the set up I have now. I actually only use 4.5 TB of storage, and have a raid card on the Mac Pro to protect against loss of one of my drives. The time it takes to burn a movie (about 40 minutes for a 2 hour movie using handbrake) made protecting it very important to me. I own a Network Attached Storage Device that I hook up periodically for a Time Machine back up, and then I store that off site (at my office) in the event of a problem.
I bought the Apple TV because I was moving into a new home, and had looked into a home theater system. As you can tell, I own a lot of movies; one essential component was a system to make finding and watching those movies easier. Discs get lost and damaged, especially with a 4-year old at home. I didn't like the 400 disc DVD changer for a few reasons: 1.) it wasn't big enough to begin with, and I would have to daisy-chain two changers together at a cost of about $350 per (and that was for the cheap ones) 2.) even with the DVD changer (I own 1 already), you had to have a list of where the movies are in the changer, or go through the laborious process of manually entering each DVD name into the machine 3.) at the time, my son couldn't read; he would pick movies he wanted to watch by what the DVD case looked like; with a DVD changer, you could save the disc image, but you could only view it once selected, which was way too slow for my son, so we kept all of the cases on a shelf so he could browse (an annoying problem to have empty cases on our shelves). The Apple TV lets you add the movie poster (I download them from Amazon.com into iPhoto, then add them as images to the individual file through iTunes). You can also list actors, movie synopsis, reviews, whatever for the file you want, all of which is viewable as you are browsing the movies. You can quickly scroll through your movies by a couple of options. You can simply scroll by name; even with 600 movies, the Apple tv gets from 13 Going on 30 (the first movie in my list) to Zoolander (the last movie in my list) in about 20 seconds. Like your iPod, the scroll feature speeds up or slows down dependent on the length of time you press the up or down button. You can also sort your movies my genre, and then scroll through your movies by name (that way if you want a comedy, you just scroll through comedies). There is another system that will do what the Apple TV does, and frankly laid the legal groundwork for Apple TV. Kaleidoscape developed technology to burn the discs to a hard drive several years ago. They were sued by Sony Pictures, and lost their case. The courts ruled that people could legally make digital copies of movies they had purchased. Kaleidoscape makes a great product, but their 500 GB system costs $10K, without set up. A typical 6 TB system (complete with installation) run to three televisions would cost upwards of $50k too rich for my blood.
Apart from loading your own DVDs, you can also purchase movies on iTunes. You can rent movies too, available in HD and standard definition. The rentals cost $2.99 for a SD movie, and $3.99 for an HD movie (there are occasional $.99 specials as well). You cannot at this time purchase HD movies. There is a beta version of Handbrake that will let you burn Blu-ray discs, if you have a Blu-ray drive on your computer. Movies in blu-ray take up about 20 GB each, and they also transfer slower. If I am watching 2 HD movies on 2 separate apple TVs at the same time, there can sometimes be pauses in the playback. I would recommend transferring HD movies directly to your Apple TV to avoid that. One note about rentals, you have to watch them within 30 days, and you have 24 hours to finish watching them from the time you start them. In addition to owned and rented movies, you can transfer home videos to watch as well, or just stream them from your computer. You just have to add them to your iTunes library (I do this through iMovie).
In addition to movies, you can watch TV shows on your Apple TV. Like movies, you can load your own (I have loaded all of Arrested Development, Seinfeld, Northern Exposure, among others) through Handbrake. Each TV show is sorted by either show title or original airdate. We sort ours by title. When you select Seinfeld, the seasons are broken out inside the category. Each separate season has a separate picture to help you differentiate season to season, but it is also listed alpha-numerically. One pain in the neck when burning TV shows is that you have to name each episode, or they all show up as "Seinfeld" or whatever the show name is. You can find episode names by googling your shows and finding fan sites. You can also purchase TV episodes and shows. Many are available for purchase in HD. You cannot rent TV shows.
In addition to movies and TV shows, you can also transfer your music library and playlists from iTunes to listen to (and watch in the case of videos). You really don't need to waste space with music on your Apple TV, music streams flawlessly, even when streaming movies on other Apple TVs and watching or listening to something on your computer. Like movies and TV, you can purchase music and music videos through the Apple TV. All purchases made on your Apple TV are transferred to your computer as well, and show up in a playlist called "Purchased Music on Apple TV (or whatever you have named your Apple TV).
My wife's favorite feature of the Apple TV is the photo feature. In fact, she never turns the TV off in the living room, because she likes it featuring our latest photos in a screen saver it runs if paused for more than two minutes. You can transfer any or all of your photos in iPhoto (I'm sure it transfers from a Windows equivalent as well) to your Apple TV. It will only display those pictures you have transferred. It will run a slide show if you would like, and you can even set what music you want it to use for the slideshow. There is even a feature that you can pick the song, and the photo album, and it will display the photos in time to the music. It actually makes slideshows worth watching.
As someone else mentioned, you can also look up YouTube posts with your Apple TV. It is nice to be able to watch some of those on a bigger screen.
Hooking up an Apple TV is easy, but it does require an HD ready television. You can run it with component cables directly into your television (there is an optical digital out as well if you have a digital surround sound system). The preferred method is simply to use a single HDMI cable. Any standard universal remote can control the unit, or you can use the included Apple remote. As an interesting side note, the Bose V20 and V30 is incompatible with the Apple TV (neither Bose nor Apple can figure out why), though I use my television as the video switch in the room where we have our V30, so this is not a real problem for me.
As you can tell, I cannot say enough good things about the Apple TV. For $1,200 in Apple TVs (remember I have 3), and about a $4,000 Mac Pro (most of the cost is in the hard drives), I have created a home theater system that does more for much less than any other comparable system. We have found that we actually watch the movies we own in our collection now, as opposed to owning them and never seeing them, so forgetting about them. I think it is a great system. Even f you just want it for one room, and only have a few movies (you can load about 40 movies directly onto the 140 GB hard drive model), I definitely recommend it.
I bought the Apple TV because I was moving into a new home, and had looked into a home theater system. As you can tell, I own a lot of movies; one essential component was a system to make finding and watching those movies easier. Discs get lost and damaged, especially with a 4-year old at home. I didn't like the 400 disc DVD changer for a few reasons: 1.) it wasn't big enough to begin with, and I would have to daisy-chain two changers together at a cost of about $350 per (and that was for the cheap ones) 2.) even with the DVD changer (I own 1 already), you had to have a list of where the movies are in the changer, or go through the laborious process of manually entering each DVD name into the machine 3.) at the time, my son couldn't read; he would pick movies he wanted to watch by what the DVD case looked like; with a DVD changer, you could save the disc image, but you could only view it once selected, which was way too slow for my son, so we kept all of the cases on a shelf so he could browse (an annoying problem to have empty cases on our shelves). The Apple TV lets you add the movie poster (I download them from Amazon.com into iPhoto, then add them as images to the individual file through iTunes). You can also list actors, movie synopsis, reviews, whatever for the file you want, all of which is viewable as you are browsing the movies. You can quickly scroll through your movies by a couple of options. You can simply scroll by name; even with 600 movies, the Apple tv gets from 13 Going on 30 (the first movie in my list) to Zoolander (the last movie in my list) in about 20 seconds. Like your iPod, the scroll feature speeds up or slows down dependent on the length of time you press the up or down button. You can also sort your movies my genre, and then scroll through your movies by name (that way if you want a comedy, you just scroll through comedies). There is another system that will do what the Apple TV does, and frankly laid the legal groundwork for Apple TV. Kaleidoscape developed technology to burn the discs to a hard drive several years ago. They were sued by Sony Pictures, and lost their case. The courts ruled that people could legally make digital copies of movies they had purchased. Kaleidoscape makes a great product, but their 500 GB system costs $10K, without set up. A typical 6 TB system (complete with installation) run to three televisions would cost upwards of $50k too rich for my blood.
Apart from loading your own DVDs, you can also purchase movies on iTunes. You can rent movies too, available in HD and standard definition. The rentals cost $2.99 for a SD movie, and $3.99 for an HD movie (there are occasional $.99 specials as well). You cannot at this time purchase HD movies. There is a beta version of Handbrake that will let you burn Blu-ray discs, if you have a Blu-ray drive on your computer. Movies in blu-ray take up about 20 GB each, and they also transfer slower. If I am watching 2 HD movies on 2 separate apple TVs at the same time, there can sometimes be pauses in the playback. I would recommend transferring HD movies directly to your Apple TV to avoid that. One note about rentals, you have to watch them within 30 days, and you have 24 hours to finish watching them from the time you start them. In addition to owned and rented movies, you can transfer home videos to watch as well, or just stream them from your computer. You just have to add them to your iTunes library (I do this through iMovie).
In addition to movies, you can watch TV shows on your Apple TV. Like movies, you can load your own (I have loaded all of Arrested Development, Seinfeld, Northern Exposure, among others) through Handbrake. Each TV show is sorted by either show title or original airdate. We sort ours by title. When you select Seinfeld, the seasons are broken out inside the category. Each separate season has a separate picture to help you differentiate season to season, but it is also listed alpha-numerically. One pain in the neck when burning TV shows is that you have to name each episode, or they all show up as "Seinfeld" or whatever the show name is. You can find episode names by googling your shows and finding fan sites. You can also purchase TV episodes and shows. Many are available for purchase in HD. You cannot rent TV shows.
In addition to movies and TV shows, you can also transfer your music library and playlists from iTunes to listen to (and watch in the case of videos). You really don't need to waste space with music on your Apple TV, music streams flawlessly, even when streaming movies on other Apple TVs and watching or listening to something on your computer. Like movies and TV, you can purchase music and music videos through the Apple TV. All purchases made on your Apple TV are transferred to your computer as well, and show up in a playlist called "Purchased Music on Apple TV (or whatever you have named your Apple TV).
My wife's favorite feature of the Apple TV is the photo feature. In fact, she never turns the TV off in the living room, because she likes it featuring our latest photos in a screen saver it runs if paused for more than two minutes. You can transfer any or all of your photos in iPhoto (I'm sure it transfers from a Windows equivalent as well) to your Apple TV. It will only display those pictures you have transferred. It will run a slide show if you would like, and you can even set what music you want it to use for the slideshow. There is even a feature that you can pick the song, and the photo album, and it will display the photos in time to the music. It actually makes slideshows worth watching.
As someone else mentioned, you can also look up YouTube posts with your Apple TV. It is nice to be able to watch some of those on a bigger screen.
Hooking up an Apple TV is easy, but it does require an HD ready television. You can run it with component cables directly into your television (there is an optical digital out as well if you have a digital surround sound system). The preferred method is simply to use a single HDMI cable. Any standard universal remote can control the unit, or you can use the included Apple remote. As an interesting side note, the Bose V20 and V30 is incompatible with the Apple TV (neither Bose nor Apple can figure out why), though I use my television as the video switch in the room where we have our V30, so this is not a real problem for me.
As you can tell, I cannot say enough good things about the Apple TV. For $1,200 in Apple TVs (remember I have 3), and about a $4,000 Mac Pro (most of the cost is in the hard drives), I have created a home theater system that does more for much less than any other comparable system. We have found that we actually watch the movies we own in our collection now, as opposed to owning them and never seeing them, so forgetting about them. I think it is a great system. Even f you just want it for one room, and only have a few movies (you can load about 40 movies directly onto the 140 GB hard drive model), I definitely recommend it.
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2004
- Messages
- 38,245
I've seen some great offers on the Mac laptop's lately. I've got three in the house - all bought from the Apple Store refurb page.
I've gotten rid of all my TV's. Instead I have a projector hooked up to a Mac Mini and some speakers.
Now I can watch and listen to everything in my iTunes, play DVD's, surf the web, and watch NetFlix movies via their new Mac player.
I have an external HD hooked up for extra storage, and a USB cable adapter so I can watch my cable shows as well. I get a much bigger screen for the money this way - love it!
Now I can watch and listen to everything in my iTunes, play DVD's, surf the web, and watch NetFlix movies via their new Mac player.
I have an external HD hooked up for extra storage, and a USB cable adapter so I can watch my cable shows as well. I get a much bigger screen for the money this way - love it!
- Joined
- May 1, 2000
- Messages
- 2,598
Update.
I am the proud owner of a new 160 GB Apple TV.
My mean wife will not let me have it until Christmas though.
Your wife is just mean
. Congratulations on the Apple TV. I really think you'll like it.
DSNY4ever
I am going to keep hunting
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2008
- Messages
- 3,365
Update.
I am the proud owner of a new 160 GB Apple TV.
My mean wife will not let me have it until Christmas though.
Haha, that is too funny- you sound like me and my husband (I do that to him too). My husband got one last year and it is great. I like being able to watch all of our movies in our bedroom (he burned all of our DVD's using a program called handbrake). I can also listen to the podcast in there now while I am folding laundry or getting ready in the morning. It is fun. I hope you enjoy it! My husband loves showing it off when people come over.
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