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devo
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Joined: 23 Jan 2005
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Location: Dunwoody, GA
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 Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks guys. I thought they might be going out earlier in the month. I feel better now. |
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picaman
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Joined: 16 Aug 2005
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Location: NYC
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| Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:42 pm Post subject: |
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Well I just finished watching the keynote, and I have to say that I'm a bit more inclined to buy an Apple TV than I was.
What holds me back is the pricing. $299 for an Apple TV plus $179 for an updated Airport Express with 802.11n gets you pretty close to a standalone Mac mini. That makes me think I might be better waiting for an updated Mac mini, which might have the 802.11n built in already.
Jamie
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Yvan256
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Joined: 18 Aug 2005
Posts: 541
Location: Quebec, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:49 pm Post subject: |
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| picaman wrote: | | [...] What holds me back is the pricing. $299 for an Apple TV plus $179 for an updated Airport Express with 802.11n gets you pretty close to a standalone Mac mini. That makes me think I might be better waiting for an updated Mac mini, which might have the 802.11n built in already. |
You don't need wireless though. The Apple TV has an ethernet port, to keep things low-cost. Also, they seem to say in the specs that only 802.11g is required for video. I'm guessing 802.11n will only increase the range allowed between your source and the Apple TV.
I, for one, hope it supports 4:3 televisions, despite the "widescreen required" notes. What seems weird is the specs, "640x480 content", which is 4:3... |
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devo
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Location: Dunwoody, GA
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| Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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| picaman wrote: | Well I just finished watching the keynote, and I have to say that I'm a bit more inclined to buy an Apple TV than I was.
What holds me back is the pricing. $299 for an Apple TV plus $179 for an updated Airport Express with 802.11n gets you pretty close to a standalone Mac mini. That makes me think I might be better waiting for an updated Mac mini, which might have the 802.11n built in already.
Jamie |
I hear you loud and clear. I've been going back and forth between the Mac mini and Apple TV (iTV at the time) in my head for the last few weeks. I mostly ended up going with the Apple TV because of its price. Now I can keep using this 1.66GHz model as my primary desktop. I basically wanted something to control iTunes and watch TV shows on my plasma TV. Another thing is, I just purchased a PS3 and don't have any more HDMI or DVI ports open. That leaves me with component video, which was something the Mac mini couldn't offer. |
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scooper
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Joined: 05 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Yvan256 wrote: | | What seems weird is the specs, "640x480 content", which is 4:3... |
I wonder if it does 640x480 with pillar boxes or stretches it out? |
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Pleiades
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Joined: 14 Oct 2006
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Location: California
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| Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Yvan256 wrote: | | I, for one, hope it supports 4:3 televisions, despite the "widescreen required" notes. What seems weird is the specs, "640x480 content", which is 4:3... |
TV pixels are not square, so 640x480 is possible on a 16:9 display.
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SOCOMRAIDER
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Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 2869
Location: Minneapolis
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| Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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I wonder if it will run on a monitor that is using V-compression, making it to 16:9. If not I'll have to wait until I get a new TV. Though I'm going to wait a while, which is probably going to delay any chance of getting an Apple TV until sometime in April or May. But that is fine with me.
The widescreen thing got me at first, but I guess we will see.
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Bachiano
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Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Posts: 35
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| Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:02 pm Post subject: |
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1080i 
Are you Kidding ME
Maybe I'm Missing something here.
But if I have a BIG 1080P Hi Def TV -
Why in the world would I want to buy an Apple TV.
I want 1080p content for my 1080p TV. 
My Mac Mini does 1080p like butter,
I can buy another one and stream content to it.  |
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SOCOMRAIDER
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Joined: 26 Oct 2005
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Location: Minneapolis
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| Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:04 am Post subject: |
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...... then do that and get a Mac Mini.
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curt
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Location: Oregon
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| Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:42 am Post subject: |
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I'm going to keep on keepin' on with my Mac mini with Front Row and Media Central. I'll take a closer look at the AppleTV once the reviews start coming out. I would be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued.
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Jowl
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Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 110
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| Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:14 am Post subject: |
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In a Way, the AppleTV is too early - certainly in the UK.
We don't have iTunes TV store yet and it would take an age to download, and probably breaking all the damn bandwidth usage limits. So while IPTV is clearly on it's way, it's not ready yet.
Having a TV tuner would have been much sweeter - I could record current OTA TV content and stream from other computers.
So it's not really AppleTV for me but Yet Another Streaming Device (YASD)
Also, At least I can bodge/hack/install 3rd party software to make my Mini play format I want, rather than formats Apple wants me to use. |
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picaman
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Joined: 16 Aug 2005
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Location: NYC
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| Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:05 am Post subject: |
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| Yvan256 wrote: | | Also, they seem to say in the specs that only 802.11g is required for video. I'm guessing 802.11n will only increase the range allowed between your source and the Apple TV. |
It's less about range and more about bandwidth, I think.
You could watch content over 802.11g from one computer, but it's pushing the capacity of the bandwidth. And with 802.11g you can forget about syncing with multiple computers.
When I make an investment of this size, I'm doing it for the long term, to get as much cutting-edge technology for the buck as I can. That's why, for me, doing this over 802.11g is a non-starter.
Devo, good point about the open ports. I do have an open DVI port and a VGA port on my TV, so I do have some options. But that could definitely limit a lot of people's options.
Finally, there's the issue of preordering. For my situation, it doesn't make sense to preorder an Apple TV that wouldn't come until at least March. That's two months in which the mini could get a significant update, possibly to 802.11n wireless. For me, it makes sense to wait, and get an Apple TV in March if it makes more sense then.
Jamie
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SOCOMRAIDER
Veteran Member
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 2869
Location: Minneapolis
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| Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:30 am Post subject: |
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| picaman wrote: | | Finally, there's the issue of preordering. For my situation, it doesn't make sense to preorder an Apple TV that wouldn't come until at least March. That's two months in which the mini could get a significant update, possibly to 802.11n wireless. For me, it makes sense to wait, and get an Apple TV in March if it makes more sense then. |
True. They might make the Mini even more home theater friendly than it is now by then.
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idek
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Joined: 18 Aug 2005
Posts: 65
Location: Durham, NC
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| Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Having a TV tuner would have been much sweeter - I could record current OTA TV content and stream from other computers. |
I agree; this seems to be lacking quite a bit. No ability to hang a HD off of it (firewire vault of ripped DVDs would be sweet), no tuner to record shows or time shift, and it just runs front row, which has no search capabilities, so it's dependant on your foldering.
I dunno, it just seems like a glorified file browser with MP3 player and a few video codecs. I'm underwhelmed.
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Doug Eldred
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Joined: 28 Aug 2006
Posts: 833
Location: Colorado, USA
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| Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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I think a lot of the criiticism of the Apple TV features/capabilities is missing the point. Apple is trying to create a $299 easy-to-use home appliance for consumers who simply want to access video etc. residing on one computer on their TV/audio setup in some other location.
To expect it to equal or exceed HTPC setups isn't realistic. For the target audience, this is cheaper and easier to use than a Mac Mini (or whatever); for "power users" a Mini will definitely better.
What -I- am hoping for is that the wide-screen aspects of Apple TV will make their way into Front Row for MiniHTPC folks like myself.
Doug
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