Comments on: TV or Not TV?

By: Yohannes Wijaya (macnatic)

Yohannes Wijaya (macnatic) — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 01:30:23 +0000

@Derek: you can add your own hdd. Just get those 500gb internal one. you will be all set (for a while). add a touch of perian as well just to complete the experience. Since the buzz about hacking in into appletv has been running rampant lately, it’s a matter of time b4 someone enabled the use of external hdd on the usb port. A usb diagnostic port? that’s crap. apple must have planned for something. Wish i have one to test the hell out of it. You want to send me yours once you’re done playing w/ it? i pay shipping

By: Derek Punsalan

Derek Punsalan — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 19:17:34 +0000

The USB port is supposedly provided for servicing the unit.

By: Brent

Brent — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 14:50:07 +0000

I did notice that the Apple TV has a USB port, could that possibly be used to connect to an external drive?

By: Brent

Brent — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 14:41:01 +0000

That was what I was thinking it could do, but that brings up a good point. It doesn’t actually run iTunes, does it? So without running iTunes, it has to have a “host” powering it. Thus the external HD could be connected to the base station, but the library from the streaming computer would need to be moved to the HD as well. I’m guessing it always has to have a host computer to authenticate media ownership through (running iTunes). So add in the requirement of a host computer in the mix. Hmmmm… Still not convinced it’s a good addition to the media center. A mini looks like it would be less expensive for sure and you would have it all in one package, wouldn’t you? Keep us posted. It’s nice to have a live tester here.

Thanks Derek!

P.S. However, if I was given one I wouldn’t argue, just don’t know if I want to pay for it.

By: Derek Punsalan

Derek Punsalan — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 07:14:21 +0000

It’s tough to decide whether the purchase was truly worth it without comparing it to a competing product. Without having anything else to compare to, and pretending that nothing else does exist, yes.. I think the purchase was great. The other route that I considered was an additional Mini to hookup as a media center. I’m a little disappointed in that the included hardrive is already full with about 60% of my library still residing on my computer. What this essentially means is that in order to watch content on any one of the computers, I’ll need to manually browse different sources and stream content. It would have been nice if Apple included a way to add an external drive to the unit. I’m wondering if it is possible to run off an iTunes library connected to the Airport Base Station. Hook a 500GB HD to the router and have the Apple TV stream that.

By: Brent

Brent — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 06:53:21 +0000

Derek,

Setup ease and simplicity aside… was it worth the purchase? I put mine back on the shelf. What’s your take?

By: Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 06:00:37 +0000

MythTV is cool, but the setup will kill anyone who isnt a linux guru. I hear Ubuntu help make setup possible for the avg joe, and you can even get preconfigured systems from https://monolithmc.com/~monolith/ but they are expensive.

All someone (cough.. cough) has to do is create an itv or frontrow-esque theme for MythTV and then the AppleTV is completely irrelevant. You can build a MythTV box for ~400bucks Less if you look around… and you will have..

Tivo/DVR, Music, Movies, Photos, Internet, NES/Sega/SNES emulators, DVD Player, 5.1 or 7,1 receiver, and MythTV supports 5.1 and HDTV (AppleTV doesn’t).

Also there are a ton of modules I dont know much about but they look cool like an IPPhone, but here they are:

MythTV’s add-on modules (plugins) include:
MythVideo: plays various video file formats.
MythMusic: A music player, jukebox, collection manager, and CD ripper.
MythDVD: DVD manager and ripper.
MythGallery: Online photo gallery manager.
MythNews: RSS feed news reader.
MythWeather: fetches weather forecasts from the net.
MythBrowser: small web browser.
MythGame: Frontend for game console emulators.
MythWeb: Controls MythTV from a remote web browser
MythPhone: Internet telephony from your TV via SIP.
MythFlix: Netflix queue viewer.
MythArchive: DVD burner
MythStreamTV: Allows for placeshifting, similar to a Slingbox.
UPnP AV MediaServer v1.0 compliant server: Share media files with UPnP-clients

By: Derek Punsalan

Derek Punsalan — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 05:39:48 +0000

I just picked one up today. I didn’t plan on it. Complete impulse purchase as I watched 8 customers in line at the local Apple Store waiting to purchase one.

I am completely amazed at the ease and simplicity of setting one of these devices up.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 01:29:40 +0000

If you’re a roll-your-own kinda guy, I’ve heard MythTV is really cool. Personally, I’m very tempted to get an Elgato EyeTV (the price is just right for my tastes). Then I can upstage my roommate and her fancy schmancy (and very crappy) HP laptop with a PVR box.

By: Brent

Brent — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:50:29 +0000

I'm right there with you... I was given this link today, anyone else have thoughts on Myth TV?