Apple Tv - the crippled device you'll force to take

Discussion in 'Apple TV and Home Theater' started by iDisk, Sep 3, 2010.

  1. macrumors 6502a


    Jan 2, 2010
    Menlo Park, CA
    In my opinion, Apple has crippled the device and rendered it less usful then it previous model.... Apple is telling you what you can do with a device you purchase, (which basically means) you never own the Apple TV cause it doesn't do what you may want it to do (ie: Like buying Movies and storing them on a harddisk) surely users would be glad to pay the same price for a Apple Tv with updated internals (Like the A4 and adding 720p capability, etc...) , I'm not sure about you but I wouldn't entertain "renting" everything. What happens if I want to buy a season of a episode after I've "rented" it? With this current iteration of Apple Tv you can't. Apple is telling it's users " You buy our device or in this case Hobby, and we tell you what you can't do on it" which is buy movies and tv shows. Buying a season of certain Tv shows cost between $20-30 average. Let's say I rent multiple episodes say 3/4 from a season and watch them 4/5 each. So if you take 4 episodes watched 5x each that's 20times or $20 of rented shows when I could have bought directly onto the device.

    Someone may say just go to your computer and buy the seasons and stream it to your Apple Tv. That is an Option (even now), but Apple Should have listened to customers and said, let's do a Apple Tv that has a 500Gb HD in it, with an HDMI port capable of 720p. Why not keep it simply? Why doesn't Apple Allow users to CHOOSE what they do when they buy their product?

    Here's why I think Apple is slowly starting to run a, we do what we want and since we now have TONS of cash, we can get away with it mentality.

    And it's because there current Consumers aren't making a stand saying NO we want a Apple Tv with this and that and this. Not an Apple tv Steve Wants for us. Another example of Apple not caring about users is the iPhone 4 and the beta software of Snow Leopard when it was launched, and Aperature 3.

    Oh yeah and the "new icon" change is gonna be a indication as to a slow migration of Mac OS becoming iOS dominate.

    I enjoy Apple and there products (I'm typing this on my iPhone 3Gs), but there sneaky Big Brother "control" over what we do after we paid for something is disturbing IMO.
  2. macrumors 6502a

    Jun 21, 2010
    N. Kentucky
    If Ford put out a car that didn't have backseat cup holders, are they telling me I can't drink something in the backseat now? Just because Apple has taken certain functions/features out of a product doesn't mean they are telling the consumer in a "we do what we want" fashion that they are no longer allowed to do it. They are just eliminating features and functions that they deem inferior or unnecessary. Of course there are always naysayers, but there are also plenty of people lining up at the doors to get their hands on the product, so they must be doing something right.

    It's rather ridiculous for critics to say Apple is trying to control the consumers' abilities when all they are doing is modifying a product to what they deem appropriate. If you don't like it, don't buy it.
  3. macrumors 6502

    Jun 2, 2007
    Frisco, TX
    I am probably the minority but I think Apple finally got it RIGHT with the AppleTV. I could care less how big the internal drive is, it will not support my library which is over 2TB now. So having a HD on the AppleTV is pretty much useless since I can only have a fraction of my library on it, and even so then its duplicated across multiple devices which is something I do not want. Streaming everything from my Mac Pro is fine as its on 24/7 as I work from home, so streaming for me personally is a win/win. I get ALL my library at once, streamed over 100bt. Yes you could stream with last AppleTV, but shows were too expensive and I was never interested in buying TV Shows as I only watch them once. However with this model I can rent EVERYTHING for $1, watch it be done and move on. To each their own, but I really think Apple did a great job on this product...I can finally cancel Cable and have my Tivo HD for OTA shows and AppleTV for the rest...and I will save a ton of money by saving $80 a month that I would have spent on cable.
  4. macrumors member

    Sep 2, 2010
    My wife and I watch 0-2 movies per week, usually on a Sunday night. Apple TV is $99 and will stream my Netflix to my TV/surround system. And it has some other extras.

    I have no desire to hoard movies or TV shows on a hard drive somewhere. I watch a film and then go on to do something else. Not everyone is a collector or dedicated to saving every downloaded bit to disk. I watch films for enjoyment, not an obsessive lifestyle choice.

    Not every person is like you. I think Apple TV is doing the right thing here.
  5. macrumors 6502

    Jun 2, 2007
    Frisco, TX
    Well said.
  6. macrumors 65816


    Jul 2, 2003
    New York
    I am the type who does like to own content, and be able to watch it an unlimited number of times, but given that the apple tv has always been so good at streaming, it has never seemed to me like it needed a massive hard drive of its own. I think I am more likely to buy one now than I was before, even if I never rent anything.
  7. macrumors member

    Sep 2, 2010
    There's thread after thread about this and I don't get it. You can still stream content from a computer with it. It just doesn't have its own hard drive.

    It's a $99 trinket used for entertainment. Don't buy it if you don't like it.
  8. macrumors 6502

    Jul 1, 2010
    It would have been nice if you can add an external harddrive to the apple tv, but I don't think it will be much of a problem streaming it.
  9. macrumors 6502

    Jul 11, 2009
    New York
    Correct, and this apparently purchased content. So if the streaming works well, then the OP should have no problem.
  10. macrumors 68000

    May 3, 2005
    Chicago, IL
    You know that no one is forcing you to buy one - right?
  11. macrumors 6502

    Jan 26, 2007
    I couldn't agree more. I would have liked some sort of app store functionality but I have a feeling something like that may come later.

    I remember years ago being mystified by a few of my friends that had amassed huge libraries of DVDs and liked to brag about them. However, I almost never recall them watching their DVDs more than once.

    These days there's so much more to watch (and so much more to do in general) that there is even less practicality in hoarding huge video libraries, even if they take up less physical space because of using hard drives. I like to tinker so I've learned how to use Plex and ripped the small collection of DVDs I've mostly received as gifts. I've watched them all once and only once. This wasn't a real big surprise to me and I think a lot of people are the same way. Granted, I realize that some people do want to own and store most everything they watch and to each their own. But I think there's definitely a bigger market for the new Apple TV than some people think because of what I said above. There is definitely an appeal for some people to have a simple and relatively inexpensive way to rent TV shows and then be done with them.

    If you still have cable (I do because of sports) or satellite then there's little point in getting an Apple TV right now but if you don't, and want a simple and inexpensive solution, I think the Apple TV is perfect for you.

  12. macrumors 601


    Aug 19, 2003
    Apple removed purchases from the new Apple TV because there is no dedicated storage for them.

    Downloading purchased content on the Apple TV was never a great experience anyway.

    In fact, the last HD movie I purchased directly on my Apple TV took forever to download — much longer than it would have in iTunes (probably due to the processor overhead and slow hard drive).

    Then you would have to wait for it to sync back (which was again very slow). If you tried to do anything while it was syncing, it would stop because it couldn’t handle syncing and playing content at the same time (other than audio).

    Again, not the best experience. Very complicated for an Apple device. Purchases aren’t gone. You can still purchase movies, music and TV shows on iTunes on your Mac/PC and practically every iDevice that has enough storage to complete the transaction.
  13. macrumors 68040


    Jul 30, 2007
    You're only one opinion and certainly the minority. I have 73 movies in my Netflix 'Watch Instantly' cue and love the $99 price point, the size and the rental price reduction.
  14. macrumors 68000


    Jan 28, 2009
    Tulsa, OK
    The only thing I miss about internal storage is the ability to travel. If I'm going somewhere for an extended period, I could take my AppleTV with me and plug it into a new TV to have my favorite movies or TV shows on it. Looking back, it would have been perfect in Iraq. We had a TV I could have hooked it up to. I will keep my old ATV specifically for this reason.

    *bold edit*
  15. macrumors 68040


    Jul 30, 2007
    Valid point. I'll keep my 40GB for those instances.
  16. macrumors member

    Aug 10, 2006

    Problem is 'iDisk' probably wants the device to still cost 99 bucks. Otherwise he should have just purchased an apple tv and be done with it.

    I think that the new apple tv hits the price point that will make it more of a success.

    Disclaimer: I have two of the current apple tv's and they get used quite a bit.
  17. macrumors 6502

    Apr 9, 2010
    In my opinion, the new apple tv is win. The old one did not sell well, so they had to change it up and make it more affordable. I never considered buying the old apple tv and now I have 3 on preorder. This new one fits my needs perfectly. I dont have to load media onto 3 seperate devices and now can stream it all from one source. They may lose customer that enjoyed the old apple tv, but I believe all the new customer that will buy the new one will outnumber.
  18. macrumors member

    Jul 15, 2008
    San Jose, CA
    I'm finally going to buy an Apple TV device, now that they've simplified it and integrated Netflix. I'm getting tired of trying to watch Zardoz in its entirety on my iPhone.

    My PS3 is my netflix link in the main room, so the new Apple TV is for the master bedroom for both access to rentals/library and Netflix.

  19. macrumors member

    Aug 2, 2010
    i dont get why they dont allow buying. so you can buy it and then stream it every time you want...i also dont have to own something but giving this option to some people is very important IMO
  20. macrumors regular

    Sep 9, 2009
    It's a stream only device with no hard drive, so where would they store it if they bought it?
  21. macrumors 68040


    Jul 30, 2007
  22. macrumors 68020


    Nov 30, 2004
    Toronto, ON
    You can still buy. Go to iTunes and buy TV shows and movies. You'll do this at your computer where you would inevitably have to organize your content because of hardware restrictions.

    Apple could have added a 1TB HDD to tv but the price would be at least $299, not $99 and no amount of space would be enough because it'll get full and regular users don't want to have to manage hard drive space.

    Rentals were the right way to go.
  23. macrumors member

    Sep 2, 2010
    Exactly. The kind of person who wants to save everything (or even some things) they download will fill any size drive that comes with the unit. And people like me who don't save stuff will jump at a low price point.

    I can't even think of a good reason to argue having it any other way. You can STILL save whatever you want and stream it using this device, yet people are complaining about it.

    I just hope it actually works as advertised.
  24. macrumors 68000


    Dec 20, 2009
    Yes they are "doing something right".

    Apple is doing what it does best, even better than products.

    They are world class marketing professionals. An art they have fine tuned better than anyone else in recent times.

    They sell stuff, tons of stuff, no matter what the price, performance or usefulness.

    They are the masters of persuasion.

    They convince people they need certain things with the Apple logo... and it sells.
  25. macrumors member


    Sep 16, 2005
    I agree you can do that - but what I just realized the other day were the codec limitations. What about things in .mkv format, or some flavors of .avi, etc.

    You can only stream stuff that is in Apple's limited arena of codecs.

    This AppleTV is like an Airport Express with HDMI and an interface - only it's crippled by being unable to use many codecs that exist now.

    If someone hacks it so that I can play anything through it then I might be interested. I have to look and see if the someone has extended (hacked) the itunes app to play (pass through) the mkv codec - then I may buy it!

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