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NewNiceMrMe
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Has anyone got it and, if so, what do you think to it?

£99 and the ability to stream a move from the iPhone or iPad to it at the touch of a button appeals to me in a gimicky type of way - as do the YouTube features etc, but I'd like a little input from someone who has got it before I decide whether to bother or not.

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Yes it uses WiFi.

HD movies and TV programmes stream to the television set. It hooks up with a single HDMI cable to the TV, that's it.

You can stream photos and music directly to the TV through it, watch Netflix, YouTube, check MobileMe (not that I use that), browse Flickr, watch rentals etc. You can also control it from in iPhone and iPad by using the Remote app (or the remote control that comes with it).

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I think I probably am....but I'm reluctant to buy it without even one personal recommendation for it, so I'll see if anyone posts. At £99 it's not going to be the end of the world if it turns out to be crap, but if it does what it says on the tin then it sounds like a very neat little device for very little money.

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I think that's the thing that's not quite right about it though. You can't play music via it without your computer being on that's got your music library on it and iTunes. As I understand it, you can't just point it at a NAS device with your music on it, which is what I do with the Sonos stuff I've got. But even that is clunky.

What I really want is a box that can store the music, output the picture via the TV and the sound via the cinema system. Can't be too much to ask, surely?

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Yeah BT were proud to tell me my line could get 512kb, as if that was meant to be good. Still it beats dialup. But it does make a mockery of all this "high speed internet age" reports I keep hearing. I think if you are near an exchange in a large town you have a good chance of getting decent speeds, if you aren't then broadband is just a faster version of dialup.

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I have three AppleTV units - main room, bedroom and my daughter's.

They're great bits of kit. I'm not sure how useful the 'storage' element is - they're 160Gb. I guess it means you don't have to have your PC on however I have a home server that's on all the time anyway.

Underrated bit of kit in my opinion.

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I get max 300Kbps at home in the middle of the night when none of the other farmers are on t'interweb.

That's what you get for living in a house constructed from materials that can be blown down by a big bad wolf.

Re the music thing, I have the simplest system that 'just works'.

A fecking loud stereo in the lounge, turned right up, and I can hear it in every room in the house, simples.

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That's what you get for living in a house constructed from materials that can be blown down by a big bad wolf.

I think he blew down the straw one and the wood one. Our house is made of chalk, straw, horse sh*t, bits of old wood and some flint. Does that count...? :P

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What I really want is a box that can store the music, output the picture via the TV and the sound via the cinema system. Can't be too much to ask, surely?

A PS3 does that easy peasy. I use put films, photos and music on my homesever and serve it all to the PS3. It creates fancy photo galleries, streams films without a hiccup, lets me play BBC iPlayer and all in full digital surround over HDMI and in 1080p. +++

It can all be stored locally but this way I can stream, backup and have a central copy of it all for each device in the home to use. Wack on an airport and I can get music to any room in the house from it all as well.

Personally I think the Apple TV has missed the mark, I dont' want to pay £3.50 to hire a film that I have to watch within 48hrs of starting the film, I'd rather have a lovefilm streaming service or even the Bluray disks themselves. Only reason I might get one is at £99 its only slightly more than an airport.

However in staying all of that Google TV is looking like it will offer much more than the apple TV and for some it will be integrated into the TV. +++

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Hmm I dont understand the new appletv at all. Its basically a piece of streaming software/hardware with a hdmi port. It wont do 1080p/i and without a few gbs of storage attempting a hd download/playback is a bit iffy in many parts of the country.

Why didnt they just come out with a hdmi converter for iphone/ipad??

Whereas like you say a PS3 does it all a doddle.

I didnt have any new lovefilm movies last week so rented a couple of hd films using PS3. That works a treat, but with broadband speed here need to wait an hour then start playback so the streaming doesnt stutter.

PS3 really is the all-in-one box. sony fecked up by making it look a bit complicated really and not marketing correctly.

They could easy redesign the ui so it was more general purposey looking and focused on the main things -> play game, play movie, play music or buy stuff. I hate their silly interface.

appletv is a one-trick wonder. noone ones them anymore surely. whats the point of it being a small box, if its one of about 5 small boxes you need to do all your activities? doh!

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Is this just a shared device that the PS3 sees, so a NAS would work just as well? I've got a 1TB RAID NAS that I've been meaning to set up for ages.

Yep as long as it has a DLNA server in or similar the PS3 will pick it up no problem, if the NAS has the power it will also stream full HD films as well.

I get films from erm sources and convert them from MKV's to MPG etc. and the PS3 plays them a treat. Photos, music etc. is a walk in the park for it. +++

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