Apple iTV

PHeller wrote: Thing is, I want good television. Seems like the only producer of good television programming is either BBC or Public Broadcasting. I don't want movies, I don't want reality tv. I dont want my tv to play music, nor do I need it to surf the web. I like the TV for cramming my brain full of good information. News and Nature. I want Nature and Nova and Neil Degrass Tyson, oh and three English Blokes rambling about cars. That's it. Charge me 10 bucks a month for everything produced by those two channels, and you'd have a customer in me. Won't happen.

You can get the PBS app for your iDevice and get a lot of their programming for free.99, which can then be streamed to an Apple TV.

And Netflix has an absolutely absurd amount of documentaries, and is only $8/mo.

There's also a ton of full documentary's on YouTube, not too mention PBS has quite a lot of content available on their website. Both of which are available via a simple browser on a computer attached to a TV screen.

JThw8 wrote: Yeah, I still dont get it. I mean, I get it I just don't find a fit for it in my life. Got an Apple TV from my employer for christmas. Still sitting in the box. As far as I can tell my "smart" TV from samsung does the same stuff, streaming Netflix, Hulu, etc and I dont use those features with it either.

Look at it this way - what sounds better, having to sit and watch only what show is being broadcast right now, or being able to pick what you want to watch when you want to watch it? Humping your way down to the local Blockbuster (if there is one around) to pick up a DVD or streaming it through Netflix?

If you want to go back to the days when everyone gathered around the TV to watch the same thing on one of the three big networks, awesome. You can still do that.

Keith Tanner wrote:

JThw8 wrote: Yeah, I still dont get it. I mean, I get it I just don't find a fit for it in my life. Got an Apple TV from my employer for christmas. Still sitting in the box. As far as I can tell my "smart" TV from samsung does the same stuff, streaming Netflix, Hulu, etc and I dont use those features with it either.

Look at it this way - what sounds better, having to sit and watch only what show is being broadcast right now, or being able to pick what you want to watch when you want to watch it? Humping your way down to the local Blockbuster (if there is one around) to pick up a DVD or streaming it through Netflix? If you want to go back to the days when everyone gathered around the TV to watch the same thing on one of the three big networks, awesome. You can still do that.

But I get all that through the On Demand service from my cable company. I can watch network shows when I want, rent movies, etc. I get that purpose but the Apple TV itself (the little box not a full fledged television) offers me very little since if I did want to stream from any of the other services its built into my TV, and my blue ray player. The only moderately interesting option the Apple device offers is that you can stream from your apple computer so the next time my wife wants to show me something on her laptop during a commercial she could just pop it up on the screen. And even that is limited to Apple only so if I wanted to share a Youtube video with the wife or something I could just use the built in web browser on the TV.

Of course all of those are "could" do's I hardly ever do any of them. TV is mostly background noise to whatever else Im doing so I'm not too concerned with what's on it.

I also get that such a device could get me away from the cable company and just stream everything but since the only good options for high speed internet around here are the cable companies and its cheaper to have the high speed bundled with cable service than alone its not much of a change.

I support the concept, dont get me wrong. I've been in IT for over 20 years now and people used to laugh at me when I'd say someday you won't tune in at 8 on tuesday for your favorite show but just surf to www.nbc.com and watch it (wish I had known how to capitalize on the idea back then). I just cant see what the Apple TV thing is bringing to the table over all the other options I already have.

I'm really trying to find out 'cause I have the silly little thing sitting here for free, but haven't bothered to hook it up because I don't know what I'd do with it.

Ah, so you do understand the purpose of the Apple TV. You already do all the same things. You just use a different tool, although you pretend it doesn't exist until you're forced to. My TV is just a display, not a Smart TV. I don't have a Blu-Ray player with an internet connection. I don't pay for an OnDemand service from my cable provider because I don't have cable. So for me, the Apple TV does all this in a little tiny box without a monthly cost.

If TV is "just background noise" to you, why bother to post at all? I don't care about the discussions of metal bands on this forum, but I don't wander into those threads and tell people they're wasting their time.

EDIT: looks like you went back and expanded on your post a bit :)

The Apple TV is not the only option for doing this sort of thing. If you already have a smart TV, a connected Blu-Ray and are paying for a streaming service from your cable company, then you've got that sorted. The one thing that the Apple brings is integration. As with so many of their other products, the actual user interface ends up being the differentiator.

I've been through the collections of unrelated boxes method. You used to need an EE degree just to figure out how to switch from cable to the DVD player on my system. Now it's all simple and integrated, no messing around. There's value in that. But if you're happy with what you've got going on, then leave that little Apple in the box.

JThw8 wrote: Of course all of those are "could" do's I hardly ever do any of them. TV is mostly background noise to whatever else Im doing so I'm not too concerned with what's on it.

This.

While at home, I spend all of 3-5 hours per week on the phone/internet/TV combined. I don't see the point. If I want to visit a web page, I'll use a computer. If I want to watch TV, I use the Roku for Netflix. I don't ask my Miata to blow dry my hair, although in theory it would work (If I had a Miata... or hair.... ).

Keith Tanner wrote: If TV is "just background noise" to you, why bother to post at all? I don't care about the discussions of metal bands on this forum, but I don't wander into those threads and tell people they're wasting their time.

I said the same thing and I'm the OP so there!

tuna55 wrote:

JThw8 wrote: Of course all of those are "could" do's I hardly ever do any of them. TV is mostly background noise to whatever else Im doing so I'm not too concerned with what's on it.

This. While at home, I spend all of 3-5 hours per week on the phone/internet/TV combined. I don't see the point. If I want to visit a web page, I'll use a computer. If I want to watch TV, I use the Roku for Netflix. I don't ask my Miata to blow dry my hair, although in theory it would work (If I had a Miata... or hair.... ).

If you've got a Roku, you've basically got the equivalent of an Apple TV. So you understand why they exist.

Keith Tanner wrote:

tuna55 wrote:

JThw8 wrote: Of course all of those are "could" do's I hardly ever do any of them. TV is mostly background noise to whatever else Im doing so I'm not too concerned with what's on it.

This. While at home, I spend all of 3-5 hours per week on the phone/internet/TV combined. I don't see the point. If I want to visit a web page, I'll use a computer. If I want to watch TV, I use the Roku for Netflix. I don't ask my Miata to blow dry my hair, although in theory it would work (If I had a Miata... or hair.... ).

If you've got a Roku, you've basically got the equivalent of an Apple TV. So you understand why they exist.

If a Roku representative (granted this was a reporter in the case of the Apple TV) told me it existed to enhance the user experience of life I would throw it in the garbage. It exists so I can have something on the TV and not pay gigantic amounts of money for it. Yes, I admit it's handy to have Pandora and Netflix in the same box, but we don't use it for anything else.

I'm giving the hola unblocker a shot.

I cut cable out of the picture almost 2 years ago, between Hulu and Netflix I don't miss it one bit.

neon4891 wrote: I'm giving the hola unblocker a shot.

And 4 hours later, I'm caught up on the new season of TG.

Keith Tanner wrote: If TV is "just background noise" to you, why bother to post at all? I don't care about the discussions of metal bands on this forum, but I don't wander into those threads and tell people they're wasting their time.

Don't get me wrong I'm not one of those anti-tv people. I just don't really care what's on. Or maybe I should just say, I'm married so something I'd want to watch is rarely on ;) And if the wife's not around then I'm usually out in the garage. My cable provider doesn't charge for streaming, if they did the other services might be more appealing. I tried netflix on demand for awhile but the movie selection was fairly terrible at that time (maybe a year ago) so I couldn't see the purpose.