We bought an Apple TV several weeks ago. I wrote about using it after 2 weeks in this post.
But today we had the chance to use it in a different way. And this one makes it even more valuable.
I confess, we have a TiVo (or 2). And we use the TiVo to do what you think we do…watch TV.
You may remember, I bought an Apple TV several weeks ago, and wrote about it here.
But just the other day we discovered how very valuable the Apple TV is, and how very flexible it is when you have another Mac or an iOS device.
The reason I say it is flexible is because of Airplay, and let me explain why I have fallen in love with the Apple TV.
Today we used the Apple TV in a different way. You see, we missed recording a TV show we like on the TiVo. Not a big problem, especially if you have any device (like a Roku or similar streaming device) connected to your family TV.
Roku 2 XS 1080p Streaming PlayerWe do, of course, because TiVo Premiere includes access to Hulu Plus and Netflix (among others). But the show we wanted to watch wasn’t on Hulu Plus (which has current season episodes for many shows) nor on Netflix (which tends to have prior seasons’ shows).
The show in question was on CBS, and current season shows (at least NCIS), don’t play on Hulu or Hulu Plus…they only play on the web site for CBS.
Which of course means you would have to watch that show on a computer, or a tablet, and the only way you would be able to watch it on your HDTV would be if your computer outputs HDMI to a TV (which many people do have, but which is less than optimal).
Enter the Apple TV.
Using our Mac Mini, we were able to view the NCIS show on a computer, but via Airplay, which is built in to Mac OS X Mountain Lion, we were able to output the show in full screen mode to our HDTV using Apple TV. Apple has designed Airplay to make it dead simple to move what you might be viewing on your iOS device or Macs over to your television.
Whats more, the video was excellent quality. It may not have been 1080p, but it was certainly 720p, which is generally considered HD quality.
So, as you can see, my love affair with most things Apple continues to grow.
The Apple TV is priced somewhere in the vicinity of $96, and is well worth it.
Read about how I deployed an Apple TV in the small company I work for.
What about you? Do you currently watch online video on your HDTV? Tell me about it!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I really wonder if Apple will be coming out with a true TV soon. I’ve read that Intel is trying to beat them to the punch. We’ll connect my PC laptop to our TV from time to time if we watch something off of Amazon and it works out pretty sweet.
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I actually do think Apple will be bringing a true Apple HDTV to market, probably within a year. The pieces are virtually all in place. Hint: the one piece that is still being developed is related to Siri and specifically to natural voice commands to get to the TV you want to watch. I think Siri is still in beta because while they have proven natural voice commands are the secret to turning TV in to an amazing and easy experience, they need to “train” the system for all manner of voices and dialects. That’s what Siri is busy doing for Apple (I’ll be writing on that soon).
I’m not really all that big of an apple fan, but I can see some of the benefits to having so many things all hooked in together.
I’m used to missing most of the TV shows I want to watch. Here in Australia we either get shows years late or never at all. We don’t have any legitimate download sites either, so piracy is rife over here.
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Understand that. We lived in Asia for a long time. Piracy was indeed everywhere!