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usarcher
Senior Member
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 446
Location: Maine, USA
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 Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:37 am Post subject: Just got the Apple TV |
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As I wait for Apple to update the mini, I decided to go ahead buy the Apple TV. I only got the 40 GB version because I knew with all of the movies I had they would never fit on the 160 GB either, so I saved the hundred bucks for the mini with an external drive.
Very impressed with the setup and rental experience, picture quality is amazing, even on the non-HD content. My wife loves being able to flip through all of our music and photos right from the couch with the little remote.
One strange thing I noticed and was wondering if anyone else had experienced, we rented Superbad in HD and I had some issues with the 5.1 sound. When the Dolby Digital out setting is set to on, the Dolby Digital light on my receiver lights up but the sound coming out of the speakers is just stereo, nothing at all coming from the center channel. So I went into the settings for the Apple TV and set the DD to off and start the movie back up. Now my receiver doesn't light up the DD but the center channel is working and the surround speakers are sending out the background noise, birds chirping, cars driving by, people yelling from the side...
I had just watched a dvd, so I know it isn't the receiver. Any thoughts on this?
The other question I have is, how loud is your Apple TV? When listening to music or watching a show I can't hear mine, but when I am just scrolling through the menus, I can hear the fan. I know that it gets hot and stays on all the time but I didn't think I would be able to here the fan. |
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Ben Tex
Veteran Member
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 1418
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:49 pm Post subject: Re: Just got the Apple TV |
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| usarcher wrote: | | The other question I have is, how loud is your Apple TV? When listening to music or watching a show I can't hear mine, but when I am just scrolling through the menus, I can hear the fan. I know that it gets hot and stays on all the time but I didn't think I would be able to here the fan. |
Mine's inaudible. I've never really heard the fan run. I do hear the slightest amount of drive noise though. But to hear it, I need to put my ear up to the Apple TV. You could never hear it from across a room.
As for the audio, how do you have it connected to your receiver? |
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usarcher
Senior Member
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 446
Location: Maine, USA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:52 am Post subject: |
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I have it setup with the optical digital out to my receiver and HDMI to my tv. I just downloaded the Dolbycity.mov but have not been able to try it out yet. Since I am at work.
Should I be concerned about the fan noise? Because if the room is quiet I can definitely hear the thing spinning. |
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g5g5
Veteran Member
Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 2716
Location: Virginia
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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| usarcher wrote: | | Should I be concerned about the fan noise? Because if the room is quiet I can definitely hear the thing spinning. |
I would be a little concerned. Mine is totally quiet like Ben reported. I would call Apple and run it past them. I guess it's possible that you have a bad or noisy fan. There could also be an issue with how the fan is attached to the motherboard. I think they use little rubber pegs to fasten it down. Maybe one came loose (or wasn't attached properly) during manufacturing or shipping. This might be causing some vibration noise.
I'm not sure if that explains why you only hear it when scrolling through menus, though. You might just be hearing the hard drive. I'm sure that it's doing a lot of reading during that time. So, maybe the problem is with a bad or noisy hard drive.
Either way, I would call Apple. I don't think what you are explaining is normal.
_________________
1.25GHz Mac Mini / 1.8GHz iMac G5 / 2.0GHz C2D Mac mini (2009)
4GB iPod mini / 2G iPod shuffle / 16GB iPhone 3G
Apple TV 2
iLife's a Bitch! |
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usarcher
Senior Member
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 446
Location: Maine, USA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:28 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the info, I thought it was supposed to be silent.
| Quote: | | I'm not sure if that explains why you only hear it when scrolling through menus, though. You might just be hearing the hard drive. I'm sure that it's doing a lot of reading during that time. So, maybe the problem is with a bad or noisy hard drive. |
I should have explained it better. I can hear the AppleTV/fan whenever there is no other noise in the room, or if it is in a quiet part of music/show. I tested the hard drive theory by holding the play/pause button until it went to sleep mode. I had my ear right next to the AppleTV to hear when the hard drive spun down and the fan noise was still there.
Since I just got it two days ago I might just take it back to BestBuy, but I will probably give Apple a call first. I don't really want to sync all my photos and music again with a new one, but I also don't really want to have to send it into Apple and be without it for however long it takes them to fix it. I love it but can't live with the noise pollution in an entertainment setup.
The dolbycity.mov test worked just fine with the surround sound, so I am assuming that apple has a bad track with the Superbad sound track. I sent the a problem report from my online receipt, so will see what they have to say. |
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usarcher
Senior Member
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 446
Location: Maine, USA
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| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 3:34 pm Post subject: Update |
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Well I picked up another unit from BestBuy today, much quieter than the first one. I also contacted Apple about the bad DD soundtrack in the film and was issued a refund. So everything worked out great.
I highly recommend buying the Apple TV if you are thinking of getting one, also there is a 10% off coupon online for BestBuy that works towards the Apple TV 
https://moversguide.usps.com/img/coupon/bestbuy/200803_clientarea.gif |
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Ben Tex
Veteran Member
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 1418
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 2:40 am Post subject: Re: Update |
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I'm glad to hear that it worked out for you. Maybe there was an issue with the fan in the first one like g5g5 suggested. Nice find on the coupon too!  |
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Bandit Bill
Veteran Member
Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 5793
Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 11:35 am Post subject: |
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Interesting thread.
So in the end. Superbad had a bad soundtrack. That's odd. |
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