Apple TV MB189LL/A with 160GB Hard Drive [OLD VERSION]
by Apple Computer
![Apple TV MB189LL/A with 160GB Hard Drive [OLD VERSION]](/images/Apple-TV-MB189LL-A-with-160GB-Hard-Drive-OLD-VERSION-B000RQHAUA-L.jpg)
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Our Price: $399.95 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $105.99 (click here) Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple TV MB189LL/A with 160GB Hard Drive [OLD VERSION]
Customer Review: Much better than cable tv!
Summary: 5 Stars
First I need to mention that I got a 2010 Apple TV with the latest software update. The photos above show the older version, and some of the reviews here will be describing the older version. There have been significant improvements to the interface and capability.
You've got to know what the Apple TV can and cannot do before you commit to one, because it's not for everyone. It is not a receiver for TV stations, or a DVR, or a box that will stream anything from the web (although it can be legally hacked for more internet streaming functionality). What it does do is play all of your iTunes movies, tv shows, podcasts, music videos, and music as well as give you access to YouTube and many radio stations on your television screen. You can also display your photos on your big screen. It also gives you access to the iTunes Store from your television where you can buy and rent movies, view previews, and download free content right from the comfort of your couch. If you have music in the form of iTunes LP it looks fantastic on the big screen of your TV - definitely superior than just listening to an ordinary album. And I can think of NO other box for your TV that will allow you to watch your music videos. The video quality is very high. Much of the content on iTunes is available in HD, and the things that are not still are DVD quality and look good. YouTube doesn't look so great since the videos were not intended for the big screen, but that isn't Apple's fault, and I still enjoy the feature. You can access your own YouTube account and favorites through the Apple TV.
The unit is small and will fit easily on most people's entertainment center. The unit does get hot, and there is no off button - only standby - but this has not posed any problems for me and I could always unplug it. The unit connects to your television through your wireless connection or ethernet cable. You do not hook the Apple TV up to your computer with a USB cable as you do your iPod. You can choose to synch whatever content from your iTunes library you wish, or stream the content if your computer is on. You will need to buy an HDMI cable to hook up your Apple TV - it is not included (or your composite cables, also not included). Installation is so easy "a cave man could do it".
I crunched the numbers and found it would be CHEAPER to buy an Apple TV and ALL of my favorite shows on iTunes to watch commercial free and at my own convenience than it is to pay my cable TV bill (year of cable service vs. Apple TV and all my shows in a year purchased). I no longer have a reason to pay to watch commercials on 200+ channels I don't even want and be tied down to the network's schedule, and at the end of the month I have something to show for my hard earned money (iTunes shows I own and can watch again and again) instead of just a new cable bill.
I very, very highly recommend Apple TV for people who are looking for an alternative to cable and satellite TV as long as you are willing to pay for some content. You watch what you want, when you want, with no commercials. It is an excellent value and a great entertainment center.
Customer Review: The Best Way to View YouTube, Video Podcasts, Flickr and New Release Movie Rentals on Your TV
Summary: 5 Stars
I've tinkered with many internet to TV gadgets including the ZvBox, Xbox 360, and D-Link DPG-1200. Apple TV trumps them all!
It features the ease of use and slick interface you expect from Apple, you get the ability to rent new release movies without a trip to the video store or a wait for the mailman, there's tons of good free on-demand content through YouTube and Video Podcasts, and you can play slide shows/a cool screen saver direct from Flickr photos.
My baby daughter in particular loves the YouTube and Flickr, because she gets to see herself on TV in our family pictures and home videos!
There's also great integration with the rest of Apple products! For example, an App Store application called "Remote" lets you wirelessly queue up your music and video from your iPhone or iPod Touch and if you have an Airport Express, you can use the "Remote" application to play the music stored on your Apple TV on speakers in another room!
Of course, there's also the ability to play iTunes content on both the Apple TV and your iPod, which is a compelling advantage over competing solutions, which tend to focus on a TV or a portable device, but not both.
The biggest disadvantage to the system is the restrictions imposed by movie studios, which limit selection of older films, delay the availability of new releases for rental, and make it so you only have 24 hours to finish a rental once you start watching.
There also isn't a quick way to get your old DVD's onto your Apple TV, so enter into an Apple TV knowing you are either going to have to repurchase your old movies, or spend days or weeks ripping your old DVD collection into a format compatible with the Apple TV (via applications like Handbrake) to view your movie collection on the device.
Overall, I find the Apple TV indispensable, despite the limitations, and think its ease of use, on-demand capability and integration with the rest of the Apple product line make it a cut above any of the competition.
The only device I might consider over the 160 GB Apple TV is the 40 GB model, because the ability to stream movies from the iTunes library on your computer's potentially larger hard drive diminishes the need for a large drive on the Apple TV itself. I personally have a 1 TB disk in my PC, so I just store my movies there and stream them to Apple TV.
Customer Review: It's Two Devices In One
Summary: 5 Stars
Apple really needs to advertise and explain this thing better. It's an awesome device that does many things, but it's easier to understand it if you think of it really having only two distinct functions:
1) It's for renting HD movies. Give that new HD TV something to make it shine. Sure Blu-ray has won the format war, but what format war is next? Skip the wars and just stream the video. No clutter of DVDs and players to buy. Yes the selection is small now (it just started a month ago) but it will soon build up to include newer movies as they are released. Beware of old movies being released as HD. Renting "Blazing Saddles" in HD is not going to impress you. So, the only REAL new HD movies are the ones in theaters now and will soon be released for rental. We actually kept our Netflix account for renting the bulk of the older movies and TV shows we still like. Renting an HD movie for $5 is a cheap night of entertainment. I have a 6.0 Mbps internet connection and the HD movies are ready to play in about 1-2 minutes. You watch the movie as the rest of it downloads. I never had it stutter during playback.
2) It's an iPod for your TV. If you use iTunes and have photos, music, and home movies, this makes it easy to view them on your TV. I made my last vacation video in HD by using Final Cut Express and exporting it in the Apple TV format. Just drop that movie into iTunes and it will sync with the Apple TV. Viewing the still shots in HD is really amazing. Being like an iPod, Apple TV only shows content that you already have in iTunes. Don't think of it as some kind of backup drive for your music or movies.
Sure it does some other stuff like watching You Tube, but if the top two features are what you need, then this is for you. The simple "spouse friendly" remote is great too. My wife can now easily play our music collection without my computer being on.
ps: I bought the "take one" version of Apple TV. All I had to do was run the firmware updater and mine is now the same as the Take Two version (5.1 sound and all). The old and new Apple TV's have the same hardware.
One last thing - rentals are paid through the iTunes store so you can use iTunes gift cards to pay for movies!
Enjoy!
PS - one more reason - the $0.99 movie of the week. Apple has started offering a $0.99 movie rental each week. We've had Escape from Alcatraz, The ghost and the darkness, The Dead Zone and others. Not blockbusters, but certainly worth $0.99 and gets you used to the renting experience in an easy way.
Customer Review: Electronic library refresh
Summary: 5 Stars
The ATV is a huge IPod interfaced with your TV and audio system. The ATV has a lot of untapped potential in the area of internet connectivity. Hopefully Apple can make this available to the user in future upgrades or updates. The ATV provides a great platform for taking your movies, photos and music otherwise appreciated by a single user on a computer to the entertainment environment of your home. Great entertainment is had as memories flash back watching the photo album screen saver. Also, for those large collectors of CD music the ATV un-taps the depth and breadth of your collection in a single location. Saving you the hassle of physically searching your CD racks for a particular piece of music. Don't worry about space on the ATV, you will be challenged to fill the 160Gb with music alone. Movie buffs will quickly fill the 160Gb and will be faced with choosing what to keep on the ATV.
If you are new to the digital media world or haven't taken great care in the past to build you media library carefully, you will experience several long hours building or fixing your media library for the ATV. If un-hacked, the ATV conditionally requires the use of iTunes. For those Apple natives this is not a great deal when embracing the ATV. However, PC natives like myself will curse that they didn't record all their music in the universal MP3 format and will be required to convert all WMA files to the apple format (not MP3). Furthermore to make your library make any sense on the ATV, you will need to spend time fixing the structure of your library, like correcting genres, album names, artists names and the painful album artwork which doesn't exist for many of the non mainstream media (particularly classical) etc. From my experience it is best practice for the purposes of quality and consistency to rerip all of your CDs to the universal MP3 format using iTunes and let iTunes manage your media library applying the correct titles and album artwork automatically. Once up and running the ATV will show you the real potential of the digital media world in your home. Keep up the good work Apple!
If you need any detailed info on the ATV, visit: http://wiki.awkwardtv.org you will find many interesting articles although aimed at Apple natives not PC.
Customer Review: Now supports 1080p and 5.1 surround
Summary: 5 Stars
The content on the Apple iTunes store does not offer 1080p for purchase, but you can rent 1080p content or add it (if you can get it) from your computer. There are also 1080p video podcasts. 5.1 digital surround is now supported and you can rip your DVDs using 5.1 with Handbrake software (free download on the web). Handbrake works with Mac OS 10.5 or > and Windows (if you are unfortunate enough to not have a Mac).
Caveats: It does run hot. The video used to lag, but this seems much better with the latest releases of the OS. The GUI can stick and then jump - so you click 3 times with no effect and then it jumps the 3 positions, etc. The remote control is a pain when typing passwords or searching youtube, etc.
If you have an iPhone (I think iPod Touch also) you can use the Remote Application to control your Apple TV (or iTunes) from your iPhone. It's great and much better than the remote that comes with the Apple TV.
I highly recommend a direct 100 Mb ethernet connection or 802.11n. Do not use this product with 802.11g or slower.
Don't bother with the 40GB version. It's just too small. You'll wish you had the 160GB. The 40GB is only good if you don't buy content - only rent movies. But watch out - if you keep you music on it, you'll want more space.
The Apple TV is great even just as a music jukebox! Even if you don't use it for video. We use it all the time for music. It's easier than hooking up an iPod and having to pick up the iPod to change songs, etc. The GUI on the HDTV screen is so much better. I looked at similar MP3 components for audio only - this was cheaper and had a far superior GUI. It is so easy to use that my wife can do it (she is not technology savvy).
The other great thing is that software updates are free and come automatically over the internet. New features and fixes!
Bottom line: There is no other product like it on the market in terms of cost, intuitive interface, quality, and features.