Yes I have kicked the satellite dish out of my home. I figured when more than half of the stations are either infomercial stations like QVC or digital music stations with really bad music. And then since we are on the west coast, many stations go off the air early and show infomercials. I'm done.
I am setting up an over the air DVR on my PC which will add the shows to iTunes to stream to the main TV with AppleTV. You got to love the interface with ATV. I like watching previews of movies by streaming them directly to ATV. But the prices are still too high, $3.99 for a non HD version. I still just use Netflix for DVD's. A better value, even if you have to wait a couple of days. For me, there is a lot of HD science content on the Podcasts. Sure beats the Science channel which actually have a show where a cowboy hunts down people in the woods. What this has to do with Science I have no idea. Its like Shark week on Discovery channel. At least that is less of a stretch.
I like the favorites for ATV. When you find a podcast you like you can add it to favorites. But these don't get backed up as far as I know. So if you reboot the ATV, then you might loose your favorites. I had a little trouble with iTunes not finding the ATV. It would work for a bit then disappear. I ended up having to wipe my ATV clean and start over. Now it seems to be working fine. Too PC like for me though, with the restart deal.
It is cool to have all your pictures streamed to ATV with Ken Burns effects and songs from you iTunes library. There are actually podcast HD shows which are 20 min long. The full program. I like the station Current. I think it is an up and coming network. They are also on cable and dish. I will update this review after I have ATV a while more.
I don't know why there isn't more advertising in Podcasts even from the big networks. I don't mind short ads if it generates revenue and better content. There are a couple that do and you can see that the quality of the broadcast is better than most. Hey they need a revenue source. I have not downloaded any TV shows yet. $1.99 an episode seems a bit much for something I would only watch once. Hey 50 cents a show, or add some short ads. Oh well. ATV has potential, the on demand stuff of the latest version is good. Blurry youtube videos are also available, but why?
1 comment:
Congrats, Stitch!! You have actually beaten us to the punch. We have been thinking about Apple TV for a while now, for many of the same reasons you mention. We don't even have cable or satellite, and you aren't the first person to mention how crappy the programming is these days.
A big reason for us to get ATV is the ability to stream content like photos and music from the computer to the TV and stereo. And naturally, it would be great to just be sitting there and order some content on the spot. With most of the networks and movie companies on board, the selection is really so much better than it has ever been.
True, it is a little expensive, but some people are willing to pay for the convenience. I know that for us, we would not use that convenience much, but there are occasions when it sure would be nice!
One area where it does not make as much sense is a popular TV series we like such as The Office. It is true that we could buy content online (I've bought one episode on the iPod Touch), but it would be more cost effective for us to simply buy the entire seasons on DVD when it becomes available. We haven't done that yet, but we may in the near future.
I hope Apple is really working on the next generation Apple TV to knock this thing out of the park!
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