On another blog at the end of 2007 I wrote a piece on how the PS3 was being maligned as a failure but really with the additions that were coming it would be seen as ultimately a successful bit of tech kit. Well soon afterwards the next gen DVD battle was won by Blu-Ray and whilst the PS3 has not set the world alight it is now seen as a success.
Today I have the Apple TV in my sights, that much maligned and misunderstood bit of Apple kit. Now not everything that comes out of Cupertino can be a success, their earbuds for the iPod have been less than brilliant in all their guises but somethings take time to mature and prove their worth. I believe this is true of the Apple TV.
First I should probably try and describe what it does as this is not really understood. Essentially, it is a way of watching and listening to content on your computer through your TV and home cinema system without you have to worry about trying to link your computer into those items. Second, it also has internet capabilities, which means you can rent films through iTunes and watch them on your TV. This seems to be where Apple thinks the future of the device lies but actually the internet function is most useful when you move away from iTunes.
I have resisted its charms until now because I have already connected my MacPro to both my plasma TV and my home cinema system. The Mac sees the TV as a second screen and the home cinema system loves the digital inputs (and putputs) from the Mac. So why bother with the Apple TV? Well watching BBC iPlayer programmes on the TV through the Mac causes a band of controls to appear on my computer screen and using some other internet streaming sites causes the computer screen to black out entirely. Also some programmes seem to think when I watch something full screen I am not going to use another programme so they shrink as soon as I go to Safari or check my e-mails. All of which spoils my viewing pleasure.
Enter Boxee. What is Boxee, well it is a media portal, essentially it brings together the music, film and TV media on your computer with that available on the internet in the same way as Front Row does, which is the software for the Apple TV. The difference is that you are not restricted to iTunes content so they have the BBC iPlayer as one of their feeds. On my Mac Boxee was a pain, it started full screen by default and did not play nicely with me when I wanted to have Boxee running and do other things on the Mac.
However, if only I could get Boxee onto the Apple TV then things would be different. Oh there is a way and it is easy! Basically you can use a memory stick to install Boxee onto the Apple TV and then through Front Row launch Boxee. Now suddenly I can watch BBC programmes on my plasma with sound through the home cinema system and still use my Mac as nature (and Cupertino) intended. I can also link Boxee to the hard drives where I store my music files, my photos, my films and TV programmes and it can then stream them from my Mac to the plasma without interfering with the Macs operations.
There is more though! US TV companies streaming their programmes surely Boxee can and then stream their content? yes it can and despite a kerfuffle Hulu is still available on Boxee. However, for anyone living outside the US you are unable to watch this media. Fear not brave citizen of the wired world simply sign up for a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that will spoof the site to believe you are in the States. This also works the other way so that you can spoof it to believe you are in the UK when you are abroad. Hey presto you can now watch US TV programmes without having to illegally download them!
One final bonus, or not depending on your views on this, are that you can link your Boxee account to your Twitter account and your blogs so that it can post what you are watching or listening to or just update when you use Boxee's recommendation feature for a programme or album. One final point to note if you use the Apple TV for this purpose then buy the 40gb model as the size of the hard drive is irrelevant, you are streaming media either from your computer or from the net, either way it is not stored on your Apple TV unit so size is not an issue.
Today I have the Apple TV in my sights, that much maligned and misunderstood bit of Apple kit. Now not everything that comes out of Cupertino can be a success, their earbuds for the iPod have been less than brilliant in all their guises but somethings take time to mature and prove their worth. I believe this is true of the Apple TV.
First I should probably try and describe what it does as this is not really understood. Essentially, it is a way of watching and listening to content on your computer through your TV and home cinema system without you have to worry about trying to link your computer into those items. Second, it also has internet capabilities, which means you can rent films through iTunes and watch them on your TV. This seems to be where Apple thinks the future of the device lies but actually the internet function is most useful when you move away from iTunes.
I have resisted its charms until now because I have already connected my MacPro to both my plasma TV and my home cinema system. The Mac sees the TV as a second screen and the home cinema system loves the digital inputs (and putputs) from the Mac. So why bother with the Apple TV? Well watching BBC iPlayer programmes on the TV through the Mac causes a band of controls to appear on my computer screen and using some other internet streaming sites causes the computer screen to black out entirely. Also some programmes seem to think when I watch something full screen I am not going to use another programme so they shrink as soon as I go to Safari or check my e-mails. All of which spoils my viewing pleasure.
Enter Boxee. What is Boxee, well it is a media portal, essentially it brings together the music, film and TV media on your computer with that available on the internet in the same way as Front Row does, which is the software for the Apple TV. The difference is that you are not restricted to iTunes content so they have the BBC iPlayer as one of their feeds. On my Mac Boxee was a pain, it started full screen by default and did not play nicely with me when I wanted to have Boxee running and do other things on the Mac.
However, if only I could get Boxee onto the Apple TV then things would be different. Oh there is a way and it is easy! Basically you can use a memory stick to install Boxee onto the Apple TV and then through Front Row launch Boxee. Now suddenly I can watch BBC programmes on my plasma with sound through the home cinema system and still use my Mac as nature (and Cupertino) intended. I can also link Boxee to the hard drives where I store my music files, my photos, my films and TV programmes and it can then stream them from my Mac to the plasma without interfering with the Macs operations.
There is more though! US TV companies streaming their programmes surely Boxee can and then stream their content? yes it can and despite a kerfuffle Hulu is still available on Boxee. However, for anyone living outside the US you are unable to watch this media. Fear not brave citizen of the wired world simply sign up for a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that will spoof the site to believe you are in the States. This also works the other way so that you can spoof it to believe you are in the UK when you are abroad. Hey presto you can now watch US TV programmes without having to illegally download them!
One final bonus, or not depending on your views on this, are that you can link your Boxee account to your Twitter account and your blogs so that it can post what you are watching or listening to or just update when you use Boxee's recommendation feature for a programme or album. One final point to note if you use the Apple TV for this purpose then buy the 40gb model as the size of the hard drive is irrelevant, you are streaming media either from your computer or from the net, either way it is not stored on your Apple TV unit so size is not an issue.
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