Apple TV buying help

[Fullthrottledesigns]

I am looking to pick up an Apple TV tonight. I have a few questions I would like to get help with before I pull the trigger. I have heard from a few helpful members here that I can share my internet through my G5 iMac because as of right now I do not have wireless internet, I want to make sure this will work for accessing the internet form my Apple TV. my other question is should I get the 40gb or the 160gb model? I plan on buying a few movies a month max. Now, I don't want to screw myself and have to get the 160gb model later down the road but I am not really sure how big each download will be. I plan on buying HD format only so I am sure that will increase the file size somewhat, do you suggest getting the 160gb model or will the 40gb do?:confused:

[Yonzie]

AFAIK, you can't buy HD movies, they are only for rental, so no storage problem on that front.

[Fullthrottledesigns]

Damn I didn't know that. Do you think they will add buying HD movies as an option down the road?

[Yonzie]

At some point, obviously, yes. The question is how many years it will take.
Also, HD movie rentals are locked to the TV, so they can't be synced to your computer. This may (should) change when HD movies become available for buying. Otherwise, it's really just an extended rental (until the TV breaks/dies/is thrown away)

[Fullthrottledesigns]

So I wouldn't need the 160gb model just for rentals, would it be better to just buy a Mac Mini and make it a makeshift Apple TV that way I could backup all my DVDs on the Mac mini and watch them from that?

[SKMDC]

I bought TV when it was just an option of the 40GB and I wished I had the larger. For what it's worth.

This week we should get the new software, can't wait to see if some of my nagging issues are addressed.

[Xaqtly]

Out of curiosity, why? I mean why do you wish you had the larger drive? What are you storing on it? I only ask because I'm curious as to how people use their TVs.

[SKMDC]

Out of curiosity, why? I mean why do you wish you had the larger drive? What are you storing on it? I only ask because I'm curious as to how people use their TVs.

I got it just for photos, and some music. But then I got home movies on it and some TV shows so I have to manage the discquite a bit. My WiFi in the house became dodgy when I got my new iMac and was hard to stream stuff. That's been resolved temporarily.
My big problem now is that if I'm off it for a couple of days I have to re-log onto the network which is a huge pain in the ass. I hope that issue gets addressed.

[Fullthrottledesigns]

How big of a file is a movie? (also I must be stupid, how do you get the apple icon besides copy and paste?)

[Yontsey]

If I'm not mistaken (I'm not at my mac right now), a movie is between 1-2gigs.

[Yonzie]

How big of a file is a movie? (also I must be stupid, how do you get the apple icon besides copy and paste?) Option-$ on my keyboard (Alt + the key just over the Tab key)

[Fullthrottledesigns]

¢ is what I get. ah well.

[zippy]

If I'm not mistaken (I'm not at my mac right now), a movie is between 1-2gigs.

That sounds right for standard definition to me, but I'm not sure how much larger HD would be.

As for the timing on HD movies for purchase, and HD movies directly to the computer, no one knows. But I'd bet money that it will be sooner, rather than later. I wouldn't be surprised to see it by the end of the year.

For my money, I'd get the larger hard drive now. Down the road, it would be nice if you could add external drives.

[torifile]

Alt + K (shift "k") will give the  symbol.

[Fullthrottledesigns]

˚ that is what I get. I tried alt with every key and it doesn't come up.

[Xaqtly]

option-shift-k. Thanks for the info, SKMDC.

[Fullthrottledesigns]

 Hell yea!! thanks!

[nikstar101]

I would go with the 160Gb version. As with all technology buy the best you can afford at the time. Apple may release HD movies to buy later in the year and although you could store them on our Mac and transfer them to your AppleTv when you need to, it would be better to keep them all on the your AppleTV so they are ready and waiting. Plus i have at least 20Gb of music so after adding that there isn't much room for movies.

[beardedmacuser]

 Ooh! 

Can't believe I didn't know this!

Oh, I'd go for the 160 gig version too. There's no harm in having spare capacity to grow into, but having too little space is a real PITA.

[Fullthrottledesigns]

Well my wife got me the TV last night and I have not opened it yet. I was considering returning it and waiting until you can buy HD movies before we buy it. Now I was wondering if it would be possible to watch HD movies downloaded from say Limewire through TV? I would like to be able to have movies to watch and keep rather than dropping $5.00 to rent it whenever I want to watch it.

[torifile]

Well my wife got me the TV last night and I have not opened it yet. I was considering returning it and waiting until you can buy HD movies before we buy it. Now I was wondering if it would be possible to watch HD movies downloaded from say Limewire through TV? I would like to be able to have movies to watch and keep rather than dropping $5.00 to rent it whenever I want to watch it.
You need to convert them to something the tv can play. I use VisualHub to do this and it works great. It's an added step but I usually just have it run overnight and it adds it automatically to iTunes so it's ready to go the next morning.

That said, I love my tv. It was a very wise purchase, IMO. I just wish more stuff that didn't come directly from Apple was encoded in the right format for it.

[Fullthrottledesigns]

Thanks, Do you download HD movies? How do they sound look?

[Mac+]

I have no idea either, but here's a friendly piece of advice. I think you should check out posting guideline 11 (http://forums.applenova.com/guidelines.html) and my signature. (These words were added so the signature shows up.)

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