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One major problem is the Hard Drive is too small and I don't see a process to upgrade to a larger drive. This product works well. Some synchronization issues, but overall very good.
But this is not why you bought it for. The samsung with this feature was a couple hundred bucks more and the sales guy told me to save the couple hundred bucks and pick up one of these.It is an IPOD for you TV with better video capabilities. The photo feature is cool too. You can get You Tube as well. I tried both and the standard format, I would say is as good as an old school DVD.
The video portion is pretty sweet. I prefer to save the movies on an external hard drive and sync it over as needed rather than leaving it only on the Apple TV. The photo also becomes a screen saver, much like the photo screen saver option on you PC. You can do it from itunes (on the computer) and sync it over as well.
They are compatible. You can sync you favorite photos to the APPLE TV and it will play it like a slide show. I believe you can not transfer the files from APPLE TV to the computer similar to the ipods but for sure there are hacks out there that probably took care of this already. The latest update even has the Genius feature of itune 8 where you select one song and it will build a playlist for you base on the genre of the song. Ran into this by accident when shopping for a new TV.
Save the couple hundred dollars from the 160 gb version and get a 1 external TB drive. It is prety much up to date with trailers that you would see in the movie theatres. You can create playlists on itunes and send it over. You just need to do the one extra step to transfer the files via itunes first. IT does run hot as many reviews had mention and it is a bit tricky to put on stand by.The remote is tiny.
I was looking for one of those TV's with built in Photo and Home Video capabilities like the new DLNA features of the SAMSUNG and Sonys. It wirelessly sync with itunes via a wifi network, and operates just like an IPOD and then some. Not sure it is as good as blu ray but pretty close. Cost an extra dollar. I think the only difference is that you can only get HD format materials from the APPLE TV. Video selection is limited right now, but Itunes was started pretty thin when it first started and look at it now.The movie trailers are pretty sweet.
Glad i got this instead of an Blu Ray. Check out the Harmony remotes. Straight from the box.
I thing it will get lost among the cushions in no time. The music features are identical to any ipods. THe HD is pretty good.
I have the 40 gb version. Works great when you have thousands of sound to choose from. You can buy or rent videos straight from the AppleTV.
And now there are 3rd party apps that can be loaded that give the unit streaming ability outside of iTunes.Only 1 minor grip, no volume control from the unit, so I still have to use the TV remote. For purchases or ripped DVD's it is the way to go. I had been holding off purchasing the Apple TV, wanted it do do more, but ended up diving in. Thinking it would be at least a year before a major update and I really didn't want to wait that long to experience the product.Hooked it up to my TV using a HDMI connection, looks great and sounds great.
That seems like an unnecessary requirement. I was planning on playing the videos on my Mac via AppleTV, however, they would all be need to be imported into ITunes to be played. I am a big fan of apple products. While this device works great for Pictures, Movies, Previews & Music, I think it misses the boat on Videos.
I wish there was a larger catalog of foreign films, however it does seem to be growing since the movies are shared with the iPhone, and iTouch.Very easy to set up, and use, the controller is simple and elegant. Apple TV downloads before playing, the results are spectacular, and the rentals are $2 less than Time Warner, and are available in high def.There are far more movie selections than available on Time Warner. I rent most of my movies from Time Warner Cable. They c often will not download smoothly, and in some cases will not load at all.
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