Who needs HDTV Set and why?

[javyn]

Originally Posted by spencers

+1. I'd be willing to read it also.

I dumped my AppleTV after always having to convert HD content to Apple's format.

I've read such terrible things about AppleTV I truly feel for anyone who bought one, no jape or jest.

 

[turboman808]

Originally Posted by javyn

If you have the time and inclination, I'd love to read a review on your popcorn hours. Which ones you have, what you like, what you don't like about them, etc.

I know alot of others use all the features for it and create there own graphics for it as well. I just plug em in and connect them to my server and they work. I have 3 of the A-110 with wifi. No drives installed in them. I keep all the storage at my computer where I just keep throwing in another terrabyte as needed.

I can only say everything works. Nothing really interesting to say other then the play back looks really good and plays almost every file I have ever thrown at it. The video quality is very good and I don't have to spend hours fiddling with the color settings like I use to when I had a HTPC.


Running hard drives on the unit seems to create alot of heat and noise. Both of which don't seem very good to me. You can do it but I think using the wifi to connect to your file server is the way to go. Also I don't think things stored locally on the popcorn hour can be accessed by your computer or other popcorn hours.

 

[spencers]

Originally Posted by javyn

I've read such terrible things about AppleTV I truly feel for anyone who bought one, no jape or jest.
To be honest, immediately after buying the AppleTV, I ATVflashed it in order to play HD content and use an external hot-swappable USB drive. High-def playback was rubbish, so I had to convert every single piece of media I had. That got old rather quickly. Glad I got rid of it. But don't get me wrong. After converting my media, it played it smooth as butter. I liked having my entire music library available on my home theatre. I liked having Youtube available on my home theatre. Having my iPhone work as a remote was the bees knees. It worked wonderfully. I just hated converting HD content before being able to watch it on the AppleTV.

 

[javyn]

Cool thanks turbo.

What do you think of the interface/menus? Say you load up a flash drive with 2 gigs of mp3s, would it be easy to navigate?

 

[A Y]

I have an AppleTV and love it. No regrets, and I actively recommend it to anyone who will listen to me. I use it to playback ALC-encoded music, as well as HD video from iTunes. The integration with the Remote app for the iPhone and iPod Touch is very nice as well.

Handbrake is a pretty easy way to convert other formats so they're ATV-friendly.

--Andre

 

[turboman808]

Originally Posted by javyn

Cool thanks turbo.

What do you think of the interface/menus? Say you load up a flash drive with 2 gigs of mp3s, would it be easy to navigate?

depends on if you put it in folders or not. Navigates just like on a computer.

You can create cool graphics and have album and dvd covers pop up but I don't bother setting all that stuff up.

This is the basic interface.

Here is an idea of things others have created.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by turboman808

I know alot of others use all the features for it and create there own graphics for it as well. I just plug em in and connect them to my server and they work. I have 3 of the A-110 with wifi. No drives installed in them. I keep all the storage at my computer where I just keep throwing in another terrabyte as needed.

I can only say everything works. Nothing really interesting to say other then the play back looks really good and plays almost every file I have ever thrown at it. The video quality is very good and I don't have to spend hours fiddling with the color settings like I use to when I had a HTPC.


Running hard drives on the unit seems to create alot of heat and noise. Both of which don't seem very good to me. You can do it but I think using the wifi to connect to your file server is the way to go. Also I don't think things stored locally on the popcorn hour can be accessed by your computer or other popcorn hours.

Don't see why you'd have to spend hours fiddling with color settings. Media center makes it pretty easy to do a decent job. If you are super-anal, you can adjust the settings the first time you are setting up your htpc and hdtv and you never really have to touch it again. Anyway, wifi is **** for streaming video, and it could never handle HD. HTPC with a single quiet HD + Storage array somewhere that noise doesn't matter = teh win imo.

 

[Artisan Fan]

Originally Posted by Pezzaturra

dvd is 480p and looks the best on 480p TV set.

Did I say otherwise? No, however upconverted DVD looks so good who cares?

 

[Rambo]

For the upcoming 3D TV/Video game revolution: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/02/v...rting-in-2010/

 

[Pezzaturra]

Does anyone subscribe to INternet TV? I have seen TV packages for $29.99 that have every cable TV channel + 100s of international channels + playboy and adult channels all included.

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by Pezzaturra

Does anyone subscribe to INternet TV? I have seen TV packages for $29.99 that have every cable TV channel + 100s of international channels + playboy and adult channels all included.
Why bother when you can download/stream basically anything you want?

 

[turboman808]

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

Did I say otherwise? No, however upconverted DVD looks so good who cares?

Yep upconverting was all the rage about 10 years ago. Could really make a DVD look a heck of alot like HD. It was a huge learning curve but in the end it paid off.

No such thing as a 480p television anyways. Cathode ray tubes didn't really have a standard when it came to lines. Thats gonna busrt some bubble around here I know LOL

 

[Pezzaturra]

Originally Posted by Rambo

Why bother when you can download/stream basically anything you want?

Where do you source free TV streams of BBC or NBC or other TV channles? What device do you use to stream it to your TV?

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by Pezzaturra

Where do you source free TV streams of BBC or NBC or other TV channles? What device do you use to stream it to your TV?
The BBC has streams on their website and NBC programs are on HULU. Streaming requires some sort of box setup but some of the newer TV's have internet capability such as Netflix on demand and direct HULU access.

 

[Pezzaturra]

Originally Posted by Rambo

The BBC has streams on their website and NBC programs are on HULU. Streaming requires some sort of box setup but some of the newer TV's have internet capability such as Netflix on demand and direct HULU access.

Thanks.
I hope latest Panasonic plasma has those.