There is one big issue with all the devices you mentioned... no network support which pretty much makes Apple and Roku a non starter for me, and others who record or come up with their own content.
On the other hand, a WD Live does have great network support, Gigabit wired and wireless is available, and it supports just about any file you can come up with, even plays a blu-ray iso file, and the WD Live still has all the major internet streams... ok it doesn't have 350 of them like Roku has but most of those are useless anyway. But then I rarely use my WD Live for internet video as Amazon, Netflicks, and VUDU (which streams movies at 1080p) is all available to me direct from my 2 year old Panasonic Vera Plasma TV.
Maximum PC has a article in February edition that does a very good comparison of all the media playing devices and all the available streaming sites
Everything I have read thus far says Apple TV is OK if you use Apple devices because it works seamlessly with them and it's limitations might be worth the trouble to die hard Apple devotes. But while it has a great interface, it lacks content providers, network support, and only has a single USB port for direct connections. The media companies have been very leery of Apple cutting into their profits, ...they saw what happened to audio media with Itunes.... and this is why Apple has thus far been unsuccessful in locking down any big video content providers which Apple TV needs in order to really take off. I don't see this changing anytime soon.
I think a lot of media gets lost in all the Apple hype. Yes, they have a 100 billion in cash, they have very good, and very successful products but their marketing percentages really don't add up to the clout the media attributes to them. It will be interesting to see what happens in the years ahead, now that Jobs is out of the picture.
. At 08:44 AM 3/23/2012, you wrote:
I guess I'll jump in too.. :) raw hardware alone doesn't yield a better experience. There are different reasons to using the AppleTV but it works like a neat wireless projector from your iPad so if you have a Keynote (Powerpoint) presentation you can easily stream it to a big screen tv. for most users the appleTV seems to provide the best of all worlds, for your casual user, it's an easy setup, for your experienced techy guy, it's just a jailbreak away from awesomeness... other thoughts, while google music is cool, there are not a lot of devices out there other than android phones/tablets that will support it short of plugging them (or laptop, does googleTV support google music?) into your receiver so you can listen to music all throughout your home. with AppleTV it is kinda neat to be able to just plug it in, drop in your credentials and you have all your music accessible to you whether you leave your laptop on or not. But then you also get access to your pictures as well, so it's easy to go through them all on a big screen. this being said you can also jailbreak and drop in things like XMBC or even cooler firecore's ATVflash. What's neat is that you can keep your iOS menus, and it adds functionality like surfing to your local NAS and having access to all your video files, YES even MKV, and while ATV2 is the fully supported format for now, they will be kicking out an ATV3 version once that is fully jailbroken. I've wanted a Roku device because it seems so easy and it streams hulu etc. BUT, to run local streaming it seems to still invovle a lot of work, http://www.anandtech.com/show/4903/roku-2-xs-review-streaming-videos-and-casual-gaming-on-the-big-screen/7 short of going to a full blown HTPC, getting an ATV is an inexpensive buy into this realm. I happen to have both a popcornhour (A110 and ATV2) and while I use the popcorn hour as my main movie box, I still use my ATV. the Popcorn hour has a drive and sits in the living room (mostly quite) but the ATV which is fanless as well and no drive lives in the bedroom. I think that there is a healthy competition of HTPC-like products in the space at the moment, because I really want a merged experiance, my A110 with ATV. while the A110 has a iOS remote function, it is nowhere near the seamless usability of the remote app for the ATV. plus I get better youtube and netflix on my ATV than the older A110, (i may just need to buy the latest 300 popcorn hour though ;-) ) -Francisco http://bit.ly/sqlthis | Tsql and More... <http://db.tt/JeXURAx> On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 10:59, Joshua MacCraw <[email protected]> wrote: > And why jailbreak a device nerfed by design with artificial limits when so > many other choices exist. > > Outside of convincing people they are superior through marketing hype, > apples only contribution is a well designed OS. When in comes to hardware > they've less than special. > On Mar 18, 2012 2:51 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Its a neat device. But like things like Roku, I don't see a lot of point > > to it. I mean, great, watch apple media on tv or netflix. Great. Every > > bluray player out there seems to do netflix. > > > > No mkv. Won't do bitstream audio, low bitrate 1080p isn't crazy > > impressive, so.. > > > > For those that hack it with xbmc, interesting. I guess I'm waiting on a > > Ceton Echo instead. :) > > Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Steve Tomporowski <[email protected]> > > Sender: [email protected]: Sun, 18 Mar 2012 > > 16:57:05 > > To: <[email protected]> > > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [H] Another Point of View of Apple TV > > > > I didn't post this to make any judgement on the Apple TV. What caught > > my eye was the incomprehension of what the devices does. So many things > > we think are pretty cool, the vast majority look at and shrug not even > > interested enough to find out what it is supposed to do.... > > > > Steve > > > > On 3/18/2012 4:45 PM, Joshua MacCraw wrote: > > > Yes, if you have made other apple bad choices it's the way to go for > > sure! > > > LOL > > > On Mar 18, 2012 9:18 AM, "Anthony Q. Martin"<[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > >> Now that they have added 1080p from itunes it's a lot harder to say it > > is > > >> worthless...might not be the absolute best way to go...but if you have > > >> apple devices it has some pluses...wireless projection is something > ONLY > > >> apple offers AFAIK in this type of device. > > >> > > >> On 3/18/2012 12:07 PM, Brian Weeden wrote: > > >> > > >>> I think it's a pretty perfect HTPC head-end. For $99 you get a tiny > > >>> device that consumes minimal power and can do 1080p. If you > jailbreak > > it > > >>> you can install XBMC on it: > > >>> > > >>> http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.**php?title=XBMC_for_iOS_**specific_FAQ< > > http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBMC_for_iOS_specific_FAQ> > > >>> > > >>> But aside from that, I'd never use it for just the iTunes stuff :) > > >>> > > >>> > > >>> --------- > > >>> Brian > > >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > >>> On Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 11:00 AM, Anthony Q. Martin< > > [email protected]>* > > >>> *wrote: > > >>> > > >>> Not really a fair pov. > > >>>> Sent from my iPad 2 > > >>>> > > >>>> On Mar 18, 2012, at 10:50 AM, Steve Tomporowski<[email protected] > **> > > >>>> wrote: > > >>>> > > >>>> http://www.sheldoncomics.com/**archive/120308.html< > > http://www.sheldoncomics.com/archive/120308.html> > > > > >
