New Apple TV Discussion

15474 Views 64 Replies 23 Participants Last post by kcrw, Dec 4, 2010

Larry

Discussion Starter · Oct 1, 2010

Got my Apple TV 2.0 from FedEx this morning. Here are my first impressions:

1. Its small. I mean really small.
2. It comes with a power cord and remote. You'll need you own HDMI and optical audio cable (if you want to hook it up to your receiver).
3. Interface/controls familiar if you have any apple product.
4. Loaded the apple remote app on my iPad. Makes navigation easy - but more importantly, makes data entry (like accounts/passwords) super easy as it you can use the keyboard that pops up on the iPad.
5. Netflix - looks good but I don't like the interface as much as on the iPad. I don't think it remembers where I left off watching a recording - not sure about this yet.
6. Turned on home sharing and was able to stream anything from my iTunes library (music, video, podcasts) to the TV.
7. You can watch youtube and podcasts (not from your iTunes library).
8. Tried listening to some internet radio - as I expected it to be.
9. Only movie rentals (looks like they are around $6) - you can preview and select SD or HD. No TV shows - but you could stream them from your iTunes library if you purchased TV shows there.

All in all I am quite impressed. Fast, easy to use. I just wish it allowed streaming from outside of iTunes.

Save

61 - 65 of 65 Posts

North_of_Calgary

· #61 · Dec 4, 2010

Huh? I only ever had to enter the Netflix credentials once. And I've had it unplugged many times.

As for the 8GB and buffering I think the answer is "yes" and the discussions on this thread seem to support that. It's been discussed in other outlets that there's only 512MB (to the best of my memory) for application cache similar to the iPhone. And the iPhone can accommodate thousands of installed apps in that space. So what else are they going to do with that 8GB. I don't know but they certainly don't need it all for iOS apps. And they of course could change how they use it in future updates that they push down.

It doesn't seem to be a simple "record full content" technique like the first ATV or a PVR but it does seem to be used for a more complex "read ahead" buffering type of algorithm. There also seems to some meta-data caching of movie lists, box art, things like that (obvious to observe when accessing Netflix). So I think they're using that 8GB for something and not just reserving it for iOS apps.

See less See more

Save

kcrw

· #62 · Dec 4, 2010

maybe i'm missing something, but everytime I select netflic from atv I have to enter credentials. We are 1st time atv users and maybe i've missed a step. Any help is appreciated

Save

North_of_Calgary

· #63 · Dec 4, 2010

Maybe reset to factory defaults and try again... that doesn't sound right. I've setup two ATV2s and in both cases I remember putting in the Netflix username and password just once. I don't recall any options around saving it or not but that may just be my memory.

Save

North_of_Calgary

· #64 · Dec 4, 2010

This is far from my "first impressions". Maybe the thread title should be changed or this should be forked off into an "owners thread" but what I really love about the ATV2 is how easily it can learn any remotes you have.

I'm using the AUX button on the PVR remote and now I can do skip forwards, skip backs, etc - way more than what you can do with that basic little Apple remote that ships with it. I don't know why every device doesn't work this way. It's a brilliant solution.

If you haven't heard of that feature, it's an option under settings. You can have it learn any number of remotes and still work with the original remote as well (it's not simply changing IR frequencies).

Save

kcrw

· #65 · Dec 4, 2010

thx. will try it.

Save

61 - 65 of 65 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month