# New AppleTV - It's Here!



## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

Fedex just delivered my new AppleTV.

Wow it's small!

Unfortunately I'm at work so I won't be able to actually start playing with it till late this afternoon.

Very cute packaging - Apple always seems to put that extra effort into the 'box opening experience.'

Also wondering... how do you take it apart? No screws of course, probably snapped together. Or maybe the bottom peels off like the first gen Apple TV.

Cheers!


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## iheartmac (Jan 5, 2006)

Just got mine in the mail as well and yeah, it's small.

Time to hook u to the TV and think about ordering Netflix!


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

What gets me and its just not Apple, why don't they provide an HDMI cable? Not a big cost you can buy a 6ft cable for $6 and I am sure it would cost alot less for them. Why not provide eveything you need to get started, at least form what I seen from an unboxing picture there is no cable, just a power cord.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Joker Eh said:


> What gets me and its just not Apple, why don't they provide an HDMI cable? Not a big cost you can buy a 6ft cable for $6 and I am sure it would cost alot less for them. Why not provide eveything you need to get started, at least form what I seen from an unboxing picture there is no cable, just a power cord.


Many people will own one already - same with printers that don't come with a USB cable.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Stephanie said:


> Also wondering... how do you take it apart?


You don't, and why would you? It has no hard drive.


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## smellybook (Aug 31, 2006)

Congrats, 

Did yours originate from SHENZHEN CN? How many days did it take from the time you were given a tracking#

Mine is still showing that it's in ANCHORAGE, AK.

It shipped on Sept27.


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## Bighead (May 3, 2005)

Got mine as well! 

You guys are right. Apple's packaging is top notch. Makes you feel special every time you open one of their boxes.


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## titans88 (Oct 3, 2007)

smellybook said:


> Congrats,
> 
> Did yours originate from SHENZHEN CN? How many days did it take from the time you were given a tracking#
> 
> ...


Same here. My girlfriend apparently paid for the expedited shipping as well. It would be nice to have it now. I'm off all week after having some emergency but minor back surgery. I guess i'll have to play with it this weekend!


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## iheartmac (Jan 5, 2006)

smellybook said:


> Congrats,
> 
> Did yours originate from SHENZHEN CN? How many days did it take from the time you were given a tracking#
> 
> ...


Mine did this:

Sep 29, 2010 10:54 AM
Delivered
TORONTO, ON

Sep 29, 2010 9:33 AM
On FedEx vehicle for delivery
TORONTO, ON

Sep 29, 2010 9:23 AM
At local FedEx facility
TORONTO, ON

Sep 28, 2010 7:36 PM
At dest sort facility
MISSISSAUGA, ON

Sep 28, 2010 4:38 PM
Departed FedEx location
MEMPHIS, TN

Sep 28, 2010 3:30 PM
In transit
MEMPHIS, TN

Sep 28, 2010 3:20 AM
In transit
MISSISSAUGA, ON
Paperwork available for non-FedEx broker
Sep 27, 2010 10:57 PM
Arrived at FedEx location
MEMPHIS, TN

Sep 27, 2010 8:54 PM
In transit
LANTAU ISLAND HK

Sep 27, 2010 4:00 PM
Clearance in progress
SHENZHEN CN

Sep 27, 2010 4:00 PM
Clearance in progress
SHENZHEN CN

Sep 27, 2010 1:11 PM
Left FedEx origin facility
SHENZHEN CN

Sep 26, 2010 7:34 PM
Shipment information sent to FedEx


Sep 27, 2010 8:30 AM
Picked up
SHENZHEN CN


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## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

Lars said:


> You don't, and why would you? It has no hard drive.


I like taking things apart... I like to see what's inside. 

I'm sure it won't be long before someone has torn one open and posted photos of its contents.

Idle poking around makes me think the bottom is snapped in place.


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## smellybook (Aug 31, 2006)

The purple bar on the Fedex website just changed to red and in big scary bold red letters underneath it says: "clearance delay" Mississauga, ON


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## smellybook (Aug 31, 2006)

iheartmac said:


> Mine did this:
> 
> Sep 29, 2010 10:54 AM
> Delivered
> ...




Thanks, that helps. My staus just changed a few mins ago, it's now in mississauga
so I'm assuming Ill get it tommorow.


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## Heart (Jan 16, 2001)

Arrived


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## Rps (May 2, 2009)

Okay, so here's the question. Now that you have it, can you watch free internet TV such as CTV.ca - Canada's Home for Primetime and Daytime Television - Watch Full Episodes Online or do you have to purchase it from iTunes?


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## Loafer (Jan 7, 2004)

Rps said:


> Okay, so here's the question. Now that you have it, can you watch free internet TV such as CTV.ca - Canada's Home for Primetime and Daytime Television - Watch Full Episodes Online or do you have to purchase it from iTunes?


The Canadian broadcasters need to do some kind of Hulu thing... and have an app for it for iOS. They would make a killing!


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

Rps said:


> Okay, so here's the question. Now that you have it, can you watch free internet TV such as CTV.ca - Canada's Home for Primetime and Daytime Television - Watch Full Episodes Online or do you have to purchase it from iTunes?


Short Answer: You can't.

Long Answer: Those streams are all flash-based. The iOS software on the AppleTV doesn't decode flash - so we're all SOL for now. 

Unless they build an app - CityTV has one for the iPad now... so who knows. Doubtful though, as even ABC - which has an iPad App for free streams in only renting shows for $0.99 a pop in the US.

Also... Question for the new owners: What content do you get? I'm mostly curious about the TV Shows. Same as the US? ABC, FOX, DIsney?


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## titans88 (Oct 3, 2007)

smellybook said:


> The purple bar on the Fedex website just changed to red and in big scary bold red letters underneath it says: "clearance delay" Mississauga, ON


SAME THING AGAIN FOR ME!

Anyone know what that means?


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

delay in clearing customs , it may take an extra day or 2


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## Zoweeguy (Feb 18, 2003)

Woohoo! Just got mine too. Bummer is... I'm still at work.
I can't wait to get home and get this hooked up!
I agree with everyone about the packaging... and worse, I even keep all mine.
Sad I know, but it is SOOOO hard to throw out!


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## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

I've got mine up and running now. It's rather different than setting up the first-gen Apple-TV. It doesn't show up in iTunes as a device, and in order to stream your iTunes stuff to it you have to set up "Home Sharing" on iTunes and then on the Apple TV.

And if you want to use your iDevice as a remote, you need the Remote app, and you have to set up Home Sharing on the iDevice as well. Coincidentally, having done all of the above, my iPhone 4 now has a hard time staying connected to my wifi. Perhaps it's a complete coincidence, but twice in 10 minutes it lost the wifi connection... first time that's happened in about 5 weeks.

Anyhow - the menu has Movies, Internet, Computers, Settings. (Nothing about TV.) Under the Internet heading is Netflix, Youtube, Podcasts, mobileme, flikr and radio. To get anything to show up under Computers you have to set up home sharing. Once that is set up, you see the name of your iTunes Library, rather than the name of the computer etc. and you can browse whatever is being shared.

The picture quality seems good, I've tried streaming some stuff I ripped from dvds and it works ok. Of course, you need iTunes to be running for that to work. 

I tried searching for tv shows under movies but didn't come up with anything. Looks like no tv rentals for Canada, at least not at the moment.

Cheers!


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## G-Mo (Sep 26, 2007)

Stephanie said:


> I like taking things apart... I like to see what's inside.
> 
> I'm sure it won't be long before someone has torn one open and posted photos of its contents.
> 
> Idle poking around makes me think the bottom is snapped in place.


Apple TV 2nd Generation Teardown - iFixit


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## G-Mo (Sep 26, 2007)

Lars said:


> You don't, and why would you? It has no hard drive.


It has an 8GB Flash Drive...


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

Joker Eh said:


> What gets me and its just not Apple, why don't they provide an HDMI cable? Not a big cost you can buy a 6ft cable for $6 and I am sure it would cost alot less for them. Why not provide eveything you need to get started, at least form what I seen from an unboxing picture there is no cable, just a power cord.





Lars said:


> Many people will own one already - same with printers that don't come with a USB cable.


I take both points. True most people have a plethora of USB cables lying around as USB2 has been around a while. The same is not so true of HDMI. I would venture to guess that about half the buyers of ATV do not have one. I would take it as a really nice touch if a supplier would include a cable. There is always the issue of what length of cable but it would indeed be nice to get enough in the box to actually get going. My favourite 'guy' (who shall remain nameless in case his manager is listening) at my favourite store always throws a USB cable into the box with a printer. Great touch.


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

Stephanie said:


> I've got mine up and running now...the menu has Movies, Internet, Computers, Settings. (Nothing about TV.) Under the Internet heading is Netflix, Youtube, Podcasts, mobileme, flikr and radio. To get anything to show up under Computers you have to set up home sharing. Once that is set up, you see the name of your iTunes Library, rather than the name of the computer etc. and you can browse whatever is being shared...I tried searching for tv shows under movies but didn't come up with anything. Looks like no tv rentals for Canada, at least not at the moment.


Thanks for the update, Stephanie. A shame that there are no TV shows for it currently. There are certainly TV shows for SALE in the iTunes store in Canada. Maybe they haven't gotten the rights for the 99cent rentals in Canada yet. 

At least the rest works.

Are HD movies $4.99 to rent too? Same price as US? And $3.99 for older catalog titles?


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## Izzy (Apr 14, 2008)

Does it work with Netflix? There was some concern that the Netflix interface might only work in the United States.


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## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

Izzy said:


> Does it work with Netflix? There was some concern that the Netflix interface might only work in the United States.


I haven't had a chance to test everything, but I was able to log on to netflix and browse the content there.

One thing that I'm disappointed with, is that it does not appear to be updating my iTunes library with # plays and last played date. I watched a couple programs I had ripped from dvd, and a movie I had bought from ITMS, and none of them show updated play counts / last played date. The 1st gen apple tv always updates that info.

Edited to add: I'm seeing the new/popular titles at $5.99 to rent in HD and the older titles at $3.99 to rent in HD.

Edited again to add: I found a review here: The New Apple TV Reviewed: It’s All About the Video: Apple  which shows the US folks do have a 'TV' menu on their ATVs. I suppose if they get around to providing TV content up here, they might enable that menu for us...


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## Derrick (Dec 22, 2004)

Izzy said:


> Does it work with Netflix? There was some concern that the Netflix interface might only work in the United States.


Yes, just signed into Netflix a few minutes ago.


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

Thanks for the update again, Stephanie. A shame we have to pay a dollar more to rent HD movies up here than in the US. That's putting it pretty much at Rogers on Demand level - and I already have a box for that.


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

fyrefly said:


> Thanks for the update again, Stephanie. A shame we have to pay a dollar more to rent HD movies up here than in the US. That's putting it pretty much at Rogers on Demand level - and I already have a box for that.


I assume that you can logon to a U.S. account and take advantage of the lower priced content and U.S. specific menu. I already do this in iTunes on both iPhone and iPad. I'm not sure there will be much 99 cent content that I will be interested in but the savings on HD movies is a considerable difference. So far Apple has never cared if your ip address is in Canada. Has anyone tried this yet?


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## iheartmac (Jan 5, 2006)

Stephanie said:


> I've got mine up and running now. It's rather different than setting up the first-gen Apple-TV. It doesn't show up in iTunes as a device, and in order to stream your iTunes stuff to it you have to set up "Home Sharing" on iTunes and then on the Apple TV.


I can't get my iTunes content to show up on the Apple TV. I have iTunes running and 'Home Sharing' going on both but it still says I need to turn it "on" in iTunes. I then turned it off in iTunes and then turned it back on but still nothing. Thoughts?


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## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

iheartmac said:


> I can't get my iTunes content to show up on the Apple TV. I have iTunes running and 'Home Sharing' going on both but it still says I need to turn it "on" in iTunes. I then turned it off in iTunes and then turned it back on but still nothing. Thoughts?


I had trouble getting it set up, but between quitting & restarting itunes and some unrelated router problems, the most trouble I had was figuring out what home sharing was and how to enable it. It's not the sharing in the preferences, it's something completely different.

Apologies if you already know about all this, but I didn't. I had to google it to find out it was different than the 'sharing' that's in prefs, and then still couldn't find any way to enable it through the iTunes screen. I finally had to go into iTunes help and search for it, then a screen came up where i could turn it on, and once it was on, the screen went away again and I still don't see any references to it.

Anyhow, aside from that, once it was running I did hve to quit and restart iTunes once or twice to ensure it was recognized.

Hope that helps.


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## thadley (Jul 8, 2008)

Stephanie said:


> I had trouble getting it set up, but between quitting & restarting itunes and some unrelated router problems, the most trouble I had was figuring out what home sharing was and how to enable it. It's not the sharing in the preferences, it's something completely different.
> 
> Apologies if you already know about all this, but I didn't. I had to google it to find out it was different than the 'sharing' that's in prefs, and then still couldn't find any way to enable it through the iTunes screen. I finally had to go into iTunes help and search for it, then a screen came up where i could turn it on, and once it was on, the screen went away again and I still don't see any references to it.
> 
> ...


I also had to update to the newer version of iTunes; my library wouldn't show up til then.


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## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

thadley said:


> I also had to update to the newer version of iTunes; my library wouldn't show up til then.


Oh yeah, good point! You need to be on iTunes 10.x I believe...


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## iheartmac (Jan 5, 2006)

iTues update did it! Thanks.


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## smellybook (Aug 31, 2006)

titans88 said:


> SAME THING AGAIN FOR ME!
> 
> Anyone know what that means?


Just got a delivery notice, wasnt at home though, will pick it up after work



Anyone heard about the jailbreak for it?


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## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

I've heard that the jailbreak for iOS 4.1 should work for the AppleTV, though I haven't heard yet how it's actually supposed to work or when it's expected to be available.


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## roolian (Jul 19, 2010)

I just got mine today. Very nice


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##  Dumpling (May 28, 2010)

Just got it too and I can't believe how tiny it really is in person. I love the material design and colour of it. I'd love to see MacBooks like this! Menu items are much smoother and I can't wait to see what comes next. I just wish that iOS 4.2 was out now so that airplay could be used. That's the feature I am going to love the most. My biggest gripe is the lack of controlling volume with the remote when playing music. Hopefully  puts this feature back in from Gen 1 and then makes it system wide like it should be in the first place.


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

Picked one up at Apple Store in Ottawa. Very quick setup. Paired with iPhone and iPad using remote app. Works very well. Logged onto my U.S. ITunes account and can access all the .99 cent content and HD Movies at $3.99. Not a lot of TV show selection but more than Candian iTunes store. Netflix is superb. Getting 720p stream with no hiccups. Cable and or satellite will never return to my home. I'll add that I get OTA CBC HD in French and English so I'm covered for everything I need plus I hacked my old Apple TV to play avi and mkv rips too. I really like the changes that have been made to the remote apps too. Very satisfied.


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## a7mc (Dec 30, 2002)

jimbotelecom said:


> I'll add that I get OTA CBC HD in French and English so I'm covered for everything I need


Just out of curiosity, how do you get the OTA channels? Personally, I don't care because I don't watch news or sports, but I have a friend considering ditching cable for an AppleTV, and he asked me about that. Do you need some kind of OTA box? A special antenna? Any help would be appreciated.

As for the new AppleTV, I have to say, I'm very disappointed. I find the new "metal" remote completely awkward, the new "home sharing" very unintuitive and clunky, the TV show sorting is all wrong (each season of a show is showing as a separate show, and not even in order), and it won't play my HD handbreak encoded videos. All in all, quite horrible so far. But I'll see how it goes after a few updates and some re-encodes of my HD content.

A7


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## mikemchugh (Feb 21, 2001)

Mine arrived Wednesday, but I haven't had time to set it up yet. One limitation I've read about is a bit annoying - apparently you can only set up AppleTV to "see" one user account on any one computer. There are 2 users in my household ... does anyone know of a workaround? I assumed I'd be able to point the device to any library I choose, but it seems not, at least not according to the documentation ... This seems like such an oversight on Apple's part, IMHO.

Mike McHugh


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

a7mc said:


> Just out of curiosity, how do you get the OTA channels? Personally, I don't care because I don't watch news or sports, but I have a friend considering ditching cable for an AppleTV, and he asked me about that. Do you need some kind of OTA box? A special antenna? Any help would be appreciated.
> 
> As for the new AppleTV, I have to say, I'm very disappointed. I find the new "metal" remote completely awkward, the new "home sharing" very unintuitive and clunky, the TV show sorting is all wrong (each season of a show is showing as a separate show, and not even in order), and it won't play my HD handbreak encoded videos. All in all, quite horrible so far. But I'll see how it goes after a few updates and some re-encodes of my HD content.
> 
> A7


Why waste your time re-encoding. Return the AppleTV and get a box that actually works fo you. Apple likes to make people do everything their way when they could be giving customers what they want. If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you.


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

a7mc said:


> Just out of curiosity, how do you get the OTA channels? Personally, I don't care because I don't watch news or sports, but I have a friend considering ditching cable for an AppleTV, and he asked me about that. Do you need some kind of OTA box? A special antenna? Any help would be appreciated.A7


As long as your TV is relatively new you do not need a digital converter. I simply took a 20 year old rabbit ear antenna and hooked it up to the coax input on the back of my HDTV and voila....uncompressed HD signal that's better looking than cable or sat providers.

Hope this helps.


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## mrhud (Oct 30, 2007)

a7mc said:


> Just out of curiosity, how do you get the OTA channels? Personally, I don't care because I don't watch news or sports, but I have a friend considering ditching cable for an AppleTV, and he asked me about that. Do you need some kind of OTA box? A special antenna? Any help would be appreciated.
> 
> As for the new AppleTV, I have to say, I'm very disappointed. I find the new "metal" remote completely awkward, the new "home sharing" very unintuitive and clunky, the TV show sorting is all wrong (each season of a show is showing as a separate show, and not even in order), and it won't play my HD handbreak encoded videos. All in all, quite horrible so far. But I'll see how it goes after a few updates and some re-encodes of my HD content.
> 
> A7


Over-The-Air (OTA) Digital Television - Digital Forum


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## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

mikemchugh said:


> Mine arrived Wednesday, but I haven't had time to set it up yet. One limitation I've read about is a bit annoying - apparently you can only set up AppleTV to "see" one user account on any one computer. There are 2 users in my household ... does anyone know of a workaround? I assumed I'd be able to point the device to any library I choose, but it seems not, at least not according to the documentation ... This seems like such an oversight on Apple's part, IMHO.
> 
> Mike McHugh


It relies on this 'home sharing' thing, which as near as I can tell, requires itunes to be up and running, and with the same itms account on it. I've never had another user on my computer, but maybe if both users logged on at the same time with the fast-user-switching thing, and both had itunes open and running, then maybe it could see both of them?

Still, it will only access one library at a time, on the ATV menu under computers it would list whatever libraries it could see then you go into one or the other and drill down from there.


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## a7mc (Dec 30, 2002)

Macified said:


> Why waste your time re-encoding. Return the AppleTV and get a box that actually works fo you. Apple likes to make people do everything their way when they could be giving customers what they want. If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you.


The videos are actually encoded in the AppleTV format already... that's the weird thing. After playing with it some more, it magically started working. Which is good, I guess, but this thing is really flaky. Sometimes it sees my shared iTunes, sometimes it doesn't. I have to go restart iTunes to get it to work. Then it randomly drops the connection (which is what I suspect happened when the videos wouldn't play... it probably couldn't connect to the iTunes share but had the "list" in memory).

Other than potentially the Boxee Box, there is no other device on the market with an interface as slick and well organized as the AppleTV. The others may play a lot of formats, but the interface is horrible, and it doesn't sync quite as well. Apple has until the Boxee Box comes out in a month or two to fix the problems in a software update.




jimbotelecom said:


> As long as your TV is relatively new you do not need a digital converter. I simply took a 20 year old rabbit ear antenna and hooked it up to the coax input on the back of my HDTV and voila....uncompressed HD signal that's better looking than cable or sat providers.
> 
> Hope this helps.


I guess that's the problem. We both use projectors, not "regular TVs". 

I'll check the link MrHud provided (though I do hate to sift though endless forum posts to find something).

Thanks!

A7


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## shonline (Nov 9, 2007)

Did anyone else only get a German and French set of instructions??

Mine did not include and English booklet!

Weird...


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

shonline said:


> Did anyone else only get a German and French set of instructions??
> 
> Mine did not include and English booklet!
> 
> Weird...


Weird indeed! If you need it - the Manual is available on Apple's site as a PDF:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Apple_TV_2nd_gen_Setup_Guide.pdf


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Meanwhile someone in Switzerland is complaining that their manual is only in English and French with no German instructions.


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## lnorman (Nov 12, 2007)

dona83 said:


> Meanwhile someone in Switzerland is complaining that their manual is only in English and French with no German instructions.


Nah, the Swiss will speak English and French (and Italian and German) anyway.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

Got mine today, followed the instruction book, was up and running in about five minutes. Excellent little device and easy to configure. :clap:


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## darkscot (Nov 13, 2003)

it's so good maybe the mayor will give it it's own forum now?


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## shonline (Nov 9, 2007)

Thanks - did not need the manual, but appreciate the link very much.

As a veteran ATV user, I do love the new version, but the new menu is a bit to get used to having to navigate to your home sharing library just to play music ()for example)

I do love the future possibilities for gaming and apps though!


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

I watched a 99 cent tv version of a popular BBC program in HD. It was great. No hiccups. I love this device. Sharing works fine too and I've had no problem watching MP4 vids via the sharing off of my main Mac. Using your iPad or iPhone as a remote is the way to go. Goodbye expensive TV bills!!!


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## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

Heh I didn't even look at the manuals - setup was too easy.

I must say, I'm quite pleased with mine - I haven't tried any streaming rentals or netflix stuff yet, but I bought it primarily for streaming from my iTunes to my livingroom tv, and it's doing that job perfectly.

Except... it doesn't update the playcounts or date played. That is annoying me, hopefully it'll get fixed soon.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Leave it to me to think for 30 seconds that Apple forgot to put ports on my AppleTV and putting a weird arrow light indicator on the front.


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## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

dona83 said:


> Leave it to me to think for 30 seconds that Apple forgot to put ports on my AppleTV and putting a weird arrow light indicator on the front.


LOL

I spent a few seconds staring at it thinking, I don't remember seeing a big round button on the front, in any of the pictures...


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## harpoon (Sep 7, 2006)

question: Does anyone with a US iTunes account have any issues connecting to a Canadian Netflix account on this?


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

harpoon said:


> question: Does anyone with a US iTunes account have any issues connecting to a Canadian Netflix account on this?


No problem whatsoever.


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## kloan (Feb 22, 2002)

Does this not have bluetooth connectivity?? I saw it mentioned quite a bit just before the release, but I couldn't find any mention of it on the Apple TV web page.


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

kloan said:


> Does this not have bluetooth connectivity?? I saw it mentioned quite a bit just before the release, but I couldn't find any mention of it on the Apple TV web page.


No bluetooth.


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## kloan (Feb 22, 2002)

jimbotelecom said:


> No bluetooth.


According to the teardown, it's on the chip... Apple just decided not to enable it (seems eerily familiar, doesn't it?).

Not sure about you guys, but it seems like a no-brainer to me. If it's there, why not enable it? Being able to use a BT keyboard for text entry is MUCH better than using the remote.

Guess Engadget jumped the gun when they speculated that it was going to have BT out of the gate.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Use Remote for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, whenever you get to text entry you can use the keyboard on those devices to type.

I forget who mentioned that iTunes HD rentals cost as much as Shaw VOD (Telus TV charges $8.99, not sure about the others) but one advantage with iTunes is that tax is included.


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## EggWhite (Feb 1, 2009)

I just got my AppleTV to replace a first gen one (first gen going to the basement) and my initial thoughts are this is a major step back.

The major issue I have is they have made all my content, which a lot of came from iTunes, second class. I now have to go into Computer, select a library, wait for it to load, select photos, wait for it to load, select an album, wait for it to load, then I can view a photo. Same procedure for my music, movies and podcasts. The old way of syncing to a main library and then having secondary shared libraries was much better. 

If you are getting it primarily to rent content and netflicks then it may be a step up for you, but if you are getting it to watch shows, listen to music, of view photo's that you have in iTunes it is not that great. Come on, it doesn't even have a music menu on the main page, you have to dig through a couple of levels just to get to your own content. I really hope they improve on this quickly.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

Never having owned the first gen, I certainly love my new AppleTV.


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## titans88 (Oct 3, 2007)

dona83 said:


> Never having owned the first gen, I certainly love my new AppleTV.


Well said. I have no issue waiting a couple moments for a tv show or song to load. If 99 cent tv rentals ever make their way to Canada, this will be one of my best purchases ever.


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## a4racer (Jan 24, 2006)

*Shipping confirmation!*

Just got word from Apple that my Apple TV is en route from Shenzen!

Let the FedEx tracking time waster begin!


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

> The major issue I have is they have made all my content, which a lot of came from iTunes, second class. I now have to go into Computer, select a library, wait for it to load, select photos, wait for it to load, select an album, wait for it to load, then I can view a photo. Same procedure for my music, movies and podcasts. The old way of syncing to a main library and then having secondary shared libraries was much better.


So the "My Movies" etc are now hidden under the computers link and not where they belong under the Movies heading?


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## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

Andrew Pratt said:


> So the "My Movies" etc are now hidden under the computers link and not where they belong under the Movies heading?


That is correct. To get to what on the original AppleTV was 'My Movies', you go to:
Computers -> [shared media library name] -> Movies

I don't have any waiting for the library to load, it comes up instantly, but it is a change of behavior (one of many) from the original Apple TV.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

▲ +1 - No idea what kind of antiquated Mac they might have that they have to wait for anything to load. Mine loads instantly.


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## chimo (Jun 9, 2008)

Just ordered an ATV from the Apple Store!


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## a7mc (Dec 30, 2002)

SINC said:


> ▲ +1 - No idea what kind of antiquated Mac they might have that they have to wait for anything to load. Mine loads instantly.


Mine takes about 10 seconds to load. Antiquated Mac? I have a quad code Pro with a 6TB raid serving the content on my wireless N Airport Extreme network. I do however have 300 tv episodes with proper album art and data, 30+ movies, and thousands of albums. You?

A7


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

I have 80 movies, 42 TV episodes and about one thousand songs with art. Only four albums.


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## Stephanie (Jul 21, 2004)

I have about 30 movies, 40 or 50 tv episodes, and about 2,800 songs in my library. Everything has album art (I'm obsessive about that. If it doesn't have its own art, I'll make one for it.)

The only thing that might be 'different' in my case is my new ATV is connected via cat5e rather than wifi - it's about 2 feet from my switch, and another 2 feet to my iMac, so seemed silly to use wireless.


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

Hmm i was all set to swap my original model for a new one but ours is primarily used to view content we have in our iTunes Lib not renting content so now i'm not so sure it would be a step forward. If they add an App store I may change my mind (likely)


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## Bighead (May 3, 2005)

This AppeTV is better than it seems. Spec sheet doesn't do it justice.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

Bighead said:


> This AppeTV is better than it seems. Spec sheet doesn't do it justice.


How so?


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## Bighead (May 3, 2005)

screature said:


> How so?


I am happy and impressed that it can stream my HD content from my iMac (wirelessly) with no hiccups. It was never possible with my PS3.


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## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

Stephanie said:


> That is correct. To get to what on the original AppleTV was 'My Movies', you go to:
> Computers -> [shared media library name] -> Movies
> 
> I don't have any waiting for the library to load, it comes up instantly, but it is a change of behavior (one of many) from the original Apple TV.


that seems like a real step backwards in the interface. why would apple bury a constantly used feature in a sub menu?


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## EggWhite (Feb 1, 2009)

Yes, it is a major step backwords interface wise. Before everything was nicely and clearly mixed together and accessible from the home screen. Now I have to dig to get to it, which is annoying. Also it is confusing for guests. I have already had to tell two people that the Movies menu right on the home screen is not what they want to select, you need to dig to get to what you want. Both people said that was stupid to have to do and why don't I have it like my old AppleTV

And to make things even worse we don't even have a TV Shows menu on the home screen since there are no deals up here yet. Who knows what it is like in other country's, they may just have Internet (without Netflick since it US and Canada only) and Computers. So the home screen would be beyond useless.

As for the comment about my antiquated Mac, I have a MacPro1,1 with 9GB of ram. But have have hundreds TV shows all with artwork, probably over 200 movies with artwork, and 50GB of music all with artwork. Its not a horrible wait, but an unnecessary one considering the power of the Mac the AppleTV and since it is using 100mb wired connection. On my mother-in-laws AppleTV the wait is far worse since they are wireless and the signal isn't great.


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## EggWhite (Feb 1, 2009)

I also just wanted to make it clear that I am not just trashing the new AppleTV. I do like it and I will be keeping it, I just think some bad design choices were made, especially the way it links to our content. Also, I wish local storage could have been at least an option.

Some of the things I do like about it
1. Very quite
2. Much cooler
3. Small, maybe too small. The weight of the 3 cables plugged into it pull it back sometimes
4. Speed, it is much faster and can play much more complex files compared to the original
5. AirPlay, I really think this will be a killer feature in the future once 4.2 is out
6. Apps, either through jailbraking or officially I think that will make it much better.


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## MacDaddy68 (Dec 1, 2009)

My opinion differs here. I actually think the new menu is *faster* than the old one - I don't feel like I'm "digging" at all. For instance, the number of clicks on the remote it takes to get into the Shared Movies section is down to only 4 (from standby) - where before it took 14 previously! How exactly is this harder? 

In my best Craig Ferguson... I know... I _*know*_ 

To be fair, I also compared other menu items (photos, podcasts, etc) and the new Apple TV menu certainly comes out faster (ie. takes fewer clicks) for most categories, but slower for Photos. Old aTV # of clicks vs. New aTV:

Movies 8 - 14 vs. *4*
TV Shows 7 - 13 vs. *5* 
Music 6 - 12 vs. *3*
Podcasts 5 - 11 vs. *6*
Photos 4 - 8 vs. *8*

Looks to me like Apple tweaked the menu for better efficiency. And perhaps it's wishful thinking, but maybe this is just a stop-gap for the introduction, until a full-fledged iOS GUI makes it's appearance later on?


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## EggWhite (Feb 1, 2009)

MacDaddy68 said:


> My opinion differs here. I actually think the new menu is *faster* than the old one - I don't feel like I'm "digging" at all. For instance, the number of clicks on the remote it takes to get into the Shared Movies section is down to only 4 (from standby) - where before it took 14 previously! How exactly is this harder?
> 
> In my best Craig Ferguson... I know... I _*know*_
> 
> ...



I must be misunderstanding you, but I'm not sure how it could have taken 14 clicks to get to your Movies in the old AppleTV. You click left or right to get to the Movies menu, from boot its the first item, then you select My Movies and you are there. So for me its 1-2 clicks depending on your start position.


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## MacDaddy68 (Dec 1, 2009)

Hmm... interesting. On my old aTV (fully updated) I can only click left. Would be great if I could just click right once instead of left a whole bunch of times - but I've never been able to... try as I might.

Anyone else experience this?


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## MacDaddy68 (Dec 1, 2009)

When coming out of standby I have to click left a bunch of times (past Photos, Internet, Podcasts, Music, TV Shows) to get to the Movies subsection. Then I click down a bunch of times to get to the bottom of the list (Shared Movies) - click that and wait for the library to load.

Not that it's ever bothered me to do so, but hey - my new Apple TV is so much faster in this regard - especially since the Shared Movies category is my most frequented.


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## EggWhite (Feb 1, 2009)

MacDaddy68 said:


> When coming out of standby I have to click left a bunch of times (past Photos, Internet, Podcasts, Music, TV Shows) to get to the Movies subsection. Then I click down a bunch of times to get to the bottom of the list (Shared Movies) - click that and wait for the library to load.
> 
> Not that it's ever bothered me to do so, but hey - my new Apple TV is so much faster in this regard - especially since the Shared Movies category is my most frequented.


LOL, ya you should be able to click left and right, that is really odd. Also, what I am talking about is the "My Movies" (first option) which is your primary linked computer and synced content. The Shared Library is only if you have more then one computer you need to pull content from. But even for Shared content I like the old menu better. At least you had everything on the main home page, having to select "Computer" to get to Photo's don't make much sense to me.

PS. for the non-working right button, does it work in other menus? I would try a different Apple remote if you have one. If not get an old remote and go into the settings. There is an option for the AppleTV to learn any remote you give it. Train it for that remote and then see if the right button works. Last resort try a full reset of the AppleTV.


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## MacDaddy68 (Dec 1, 2009)

Let me look again......

Ok. I'm running 3.0.2 on the old hardware - but no matter what I do (and I've previously tried everything you mentioned), no dice. I can still only click left when I'm at the far right side of the menu. I've paired two of the new aluminum remotes and two of the old white ones and it makes no difference. And yeah, I can physically go right in any/all other menus, no problem there. I just can't "wrap" the screen by clicking right. I always thought that it was odd.

And when going into My Movies, it just says that I don't have any Movies stored locally (which I don't, I stream everything). I thought I used to be able to access my iMac library here, but seem to vaguely remember that this feature changed after the latest update?


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## EggWhite (Feb 1, 2009)

MacDaddy68 said:


> Let me look again......
> 
> Ok. I'm running 3.0.2 on the old hardware - but no matter what I do (and I've previously tried everything you mentioned), no dice. I can still only click left when I'm at the far right side of the menu. I've paired two of the new aluminum remotes and two of the old white ones and it makes no difference. And yeah, I can physically go right in any/all other menus, no problem there. I just can't "wrap" the screen by clicking right. I always thought that it was odd.
> 
> And when going into My Movies, it just says that I don't have any Movies stored locally (which I don't, I stream everything). I thought I used to be able to access my iMac library here, but seem to vaguely remember that this feature changed after the latest update?


Sorry no more ideas on the remote other then a restore. 

Yes you should see your iTunes content in the "My Movies" even if you don't store locally. You just setup that main iTunes library as a Shared library. To set it up as the main library I believe you go to iTunes on your actual computer and then select the AppleTV in the devices section from there you can set it up. Its been a while, but I think thats what I did. You can have it sync content if you want or you can just have it so your content shows up properly in the My Stuff and then stream it.


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## mc3251 (Sep 28, 2007)

Apologies if this is covered in this thread...can you rent tv shows from your US iTunes account and then show them on the ATV here in Canada?


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## shonline (Nov 9, 2007)

mc3251 said:


> Apologies if this is covered in this thread...can you rent tv shows from your US iTunes account and then show them on the ATV here in Canada?


Yes!


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## chimo (Jun 9, 2008)

My ATV is on the way! Strange routing!

China -> Anchorage, AK -> Mississauga, ON -> Memphis, TN -> ...???... -> Ottawa, ON


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## sodadood (Mar 16, 2009)

I bought the Apple TV from the Apple Store in Newmarket (Ontario)... it works better with Netflix and streaming iTunes TV shows (downloaded from the US iTunes store) much better than I would have imagined!

One weird glitch with my Apple TV (and maybe others).... if you pause the Netflix movie on the tv screen, then go off and come back more than about 30 minutes later and start playing it again, the sound is gone. I have to turn the tv off and the Apple TV box off, re-start both, and it works fine. Anyone else discovered this glitch?

And finally: I started a blog about Netflix Canada the day I started my 30 day trial. I'm watching 30 Netflix movies on various Apple devices and writing about them on my blog each day. It's at: Watching 30 flix in 30 days on Netflix Canada - hope you'll drop by and check it out.


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## chimo (Jun 9, 2008)

Got my ATV today! Very slick.


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