Apple TV MB189LL/A with 160GB Hard Drive [OLD VERSION] by Apple Computer
![Apple TV MB189LL/A with 160GB Hard Drive [OLD VERSION]](/images/Apple-TV-MB189LL-A-with-160GB-Hard-Drive-OLD-VERSION-B000RQHAUA-L.jpg)
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Our Price: $399.95 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $105.99 (click here) Category: Home Theater See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Apple TV MB189LL/A with 160GB Hard Drive [OLD VERSION]
Digital camera Review: Amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
No words... great product!! Maybe the only flaw is that you cant create video playlist you have to play one by one. Highly recommended!!Digital camera Review: Amazing little box.
Summary: 4 Stars
First off go get yourself a flickr account for $25 a year and pump it full of every photo you have ever taken. No need to synch photos from your home computer when they can stream effortlessly from the web. .Mac is a bit more of a hassle i think. More $$$ too. Flickr is the best and cheapest site for packing thousands of high rez photos. You can even use flickr for the screensaver. I swear without Flickr this machine would be half as cool. So thats the skinny on the photo aspect of this.
Once Apple partners with Netflix this will be the ultimate. It is nice to get the latest slop off this box for a few bucks but once I can get any film then i will be happy. I'm sure it's in the works. if I am conceptualizing it in my basement i am sure there are businessmen riding the idea like a donkey. Even though I can not rip my own DVDs to this i do not care. Wild workarounds are not for me either. Once we can rip a DVD like a CD in a few minutes then perhaps I will want that feature. Still if i can access anything in the future for a few bucks or a monthly fee then i will never buy a DVD again. only the short sighted will think of the loss of the DVD market. They have 2 choices the way I see it. Either allow us to rip our own store bought films, or make it all available to us online. Anything less will just create a bottleneck and keep many folk from coming to the market at all.
So anyway... back to Apple TV. It should have a terabyte hard drive. 160 gigs today is peanuts. It will do me fine for a while. Hopefully they will allow a stackable USB drive to attach in the future. Hopefully.
Films download nice and fast. Fast enough to begin watching right away anyway. Youtube is amazing. Fast & funny. The podcast was never my thing but I took a look and it's almost all free and very fast too. If you are into it you will be happy. the TV shows are more plentiful than the movies which is a bit backwards. Anyway, very nice. Could be a bit cheaper. TV shows should be no more than 99cents, especially old garbage.
Short films are amazing and now have a new home on Apple TV. I can not wait to delve deep into that section.
Music sync is nice and fast just like an ipod or iphone. I don't sync everything anyway. i'd fill it up in right away if I did. Hence the small hard drive. If I could get all my music on there I would, but until then i'll just put some of it on.
A few more settings would be nice. Music playlists for specific photo albums would be cool.
A pointer mouse like the Wii would be nice, or a wireless bluetooth keyboard?
A DVD drive for ripping my own store bought films. If Apple thinks I'm going to shell out more money for films that I own they are smoking something.
All in all, a great little product that can only get better.
Once you all start commenting then I'll add more...
Digital camera Review: Amazing product
Summary: 5 Stars
So far a great experience with my new Apple TV. Setup was a flash. I was able to connect it, connect to the internet, and connect to my Itunes in less than 10 minutes. I decided to sync all my music/movies/etc so that took all night but you really should only have to do that once. Image quality on HD rentals is amazing and watching shows on a big screen as opposed to my little IPOD is great.
The only thing I would mention is that at no point did I realize no HDMI cable would be included. Fortunately I had bought an extra one but make sure you but an HDMI cable with the Apple TV.
Digital camera Review: An amazing product -- the WiFi streaming capability sets it apart
Summary: 5 Stars
I very respectfully submit that some of the otherwise excellent reviews here on Amazon have not emphasized what I believe to be the main point about the Apple TV accessory. That is the fact that the Apple TV can access movies, TV shows or other videos that are on the user's main computer hard disk without transferring the actual data file (e.g. an MP4 file of a movie) to the hard disk drive on the Apple TV unit. This is a very significant capability. It means that so long as the user has a desktop PC with lots of hard disk space together with a home WiFi network, the Apple TV unit has complete access to the user's video library regardless of the hard disk capacity of the Apple TV unit. To me, this is a very big deal, because I have a very large video library stored on my main desktop computer, which my Apple TV accesses via WiFi. (This capability takes advantage of the fact that hard disk space on one's desktop is very inexpensive these days.) The Apple TV effortlessly accesses and streams a movie video directly over WiFi without the need to download it to the Apple TV Hard Disk. Thus, you are limited only by the disk capacity of your desktop, not by that of the Apple TV. The Apple TV hard disk is vital, of course, if you use the Apple TV in a portable setting away from your main iTunes desktop and WiFi setup. Then you are playing the Apple TV as a direct source of video content from its Hard Disk to your TV. I do this in my boat.
To me, the ability to stream content directly from the desktop to one's widescreen TV via the Apple TV is what sets the Apple TV apart from other source devices such as DVD players. Further, being able to purchase content directly from the iTunes store, even in HD format, adds to the capability of this unit. I have "bought in" to the whole Apple music and video concept, and those of us who have done so will quickly see that the Apple TV is made for us. The Apple TV interface is a great way to browse the iTunes store for movies or whatnot; I personally prefer doing it that way as opposed to accessing the store on my desktop computer.
But even for those who eschew the iTunes store, the Apple TV is terrific if you have other videos such as legally ripped archival MP4 files of movies purchased on DVD, for example. I also enjoy watching History and Military Channel video podcasts, which can be downloaded for free from the iTunes store onto iTunes and then enjoyed on the big screen via the Apple TV unit.
It appears that I am more impressed with the Apple TV unit than many of the other reviewers. The unit is small, elegant, and attractive. Smaller than a DVD player, it does far more and it does it in a much more elegant manner, i.e. all of your content is accessible via the Apple TV menus without hassling with individual DVD disks. The cost is similar to a high-end DVD player. I frankly think that DVDs are rapidly becoming obsolete and that direct digital electronic downloads are the future, but I digress. The unit has wonderful screensaver capability, in sharp contrast to my two DVD players, and various other nice touches. It is great for a full-screen display of photographs. (I am an avid digital photographer, so I in particular appreciate this.) It is very pleasant (great ambiance for parties) to put on a slide show of one's digital photographs, and stream a music playlist to accompany the slide show. Very cool.
Installation was essentially effortless. The unit immediately recognized my wireless network, and accepted the WEP code. My main desktop computer immediately recognized the Apple TV and offered to synch. The Apple TV immediately offered to upgrade its internal operating software over the internet and did so. Even before synching, my entire video content was available on my widescreen TV through the Apple TV via WiFi streaming. I was watching a movie from my iTunes library within minutes. Incredible.
Like all Apple products, the Apple TV is beautifully made, and nicely packaged. I wish that more American companies focused on quality the way Apple does.
I agree with other reviewers that the remote for the Apple TV is kind of small and minimalist for what is destined to become the centerpiece of my video library. Strangely, the remote does not even include a volume control. (You can program many third-party remotes to control the Apple TV and I will probably end up going that route although I have not yet done so.) Hilariously, there is an iPhone app that allows one's iPhone to act as a substitute remote ("Remote") and it is not at all bad. And it is odd how the Apple TV does not even have an "off" switch. These issues are minor, keep the cost down, and perhaps even add to the simple elegance of the unit.
The wireless streaming is what really sets this unit apart, but there is much else to like about it as well. Apple seems to have a clear vision of the future of digital content, and the Apple TV seems to be ideally situated to capitalize on this vision.
Digital camera Review: An fancy looking hotplate for mom's casserole
Summary: 2 Stars
Geez steve, wtf?! No looping function?! Choppy playback for large files?! Pain in the rear to update the playlist from Itunes. Might be great for people sitting at home that are boycotting cable pay per view or someone that wants to watch youtube all day. For any serious professional or corporate use, this thing is worthless. Like anything apple, wait for the third generation, maybe they'll get it all figured out by then.
I still can't believe there is no looping function, my walkman back in the eighties had a looping function. Big dissapointment.