[Closed] Apple TV. Worth buying?

It works very well for that. I use the redbull ap and that's about all .

Can you use a Chromecast ?

Cost 20 quid and does it all for android/ pc

Good for mirroring iPad/iPhone. Proved very useful to use my TV as a monitor streaming off my mac book a few times. Other than streaming apple devices it's been useful for Netflix but don't really use it for much else.

The rumor mill suggests a 4 soon

dunno, maybe chromecast as an alternative, its cheaper and works great for youtube and redbulltv, bbciplayer. even my missues sends stuff to it now to make sure i pay attention!!!! currently bombarding me with holiday reviews on youtube 🙂

Raspberry pi btw?

We rent films on and it has been good for that. Also Netflix has been popular

But the rise of the buy it but no rental option is starting to annoy me

The cost of the hardware is much less than paying for content

+1 for chrome cast. Amazing little bit of kit works perfect with an iPad.

They are great. They do more than just streaming from iPad, you can use them stand alone. I tend to do things like click watch later for mid week mini movies Vimeo/YouTube from my phone or work computer then watch on the Apple TV later as it links to your accounts. As above RedBull TV inc uci downhill. iTunes movie rental, Netflicks etc. You can link up to your photo stream too and use it for music as well as video

As posted above there is a rumour of an updated model but I suspect that's a few months away at least probably longer.

Unless you are firmly in the Apple camp and buy videos from itunes then I would go for a Chromecast or Roku Streaming Stick - the latter is the best device I have found so far for my needs

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Roku-3500EU-Streaming-Stick-Black/dp/B00K71I68K

I want one for streaming my Macbook pro onto a tv. Excuse my ignorance but can I do this cheaper with something else cheaper?
I already have a smart TV so don't need any fancy stuff, I just want to mirror the screen when working on word and excel documents.

@iolo the Chromecast will mirror webpages via Chrome browser but I am not sure it will mirror Excel and Word. The Apple TV will as it acts like a second screen (this exact functionality does depend on the date of your MacBook Pro)

OP plenty to read here about Apple TV, excellent site and forums btw

[url= http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/apple-tv/ ]MacRumours: App,e TV[/url]

It does appear that if you're on Virgin Media with a TiVo box, that the TiVo will do the same as an Apple TV for you....
I say 'appear' because I've not actually tried it yet, but since I connected min up and downloaded the app, I've got a new icon on You Tube which looks like I can send stuff straight to the TV....

I have one and it's good for Netflix, now tv etc

You can't stream films off a MacBook though. It will mirror your screen but i assume for copyright reasons you can't say play a dvd on a MacBook and then mirror it to the tv. You can mirror (ahem) home made films though if that's your bag 🙂

Netflix is better quality through ATV than the smart features on my TV, but movies from iTunes is even better, but pricy. Handy for viewing your photo library off your Mac and iPads.

I've got a new icon on You Tube which looks like I can send stuff straight to the TV....

That's not the same that's just Youtube linking up to smart boxes and TVs.

You can often get them a bit cheaper in the apple refurb store. Looks like they are there for £59 at the moment 🙂

I've got one that we use with a macbook pro. Synced with iTunes it plays everything on your iTunes library through your TV perfectly so is great for downloading movies to the mac and playing through the TV. Great product in itself viewing Netflix, YouTube etc.
Mirroring is also great unless you're streaming to the mac and then trying to mirror the stream. I find it overloads the wifi and lags.
It's great with the ipad too. If you already have apple products and want to use it solely for that it's perfect.
Where it fails is with apple's restrictions on third party apps. I run Kodi to stream media and with the 3rd generation apple TV, I can't use it so have to connect my mac to the TV with an hdmi cable.
If this doesn't concern you, then I'd recommend one.

We aren't the cleverest but we can't always get a device to link with it.

We only seem to use it for Netflix, and sometimes streaming from iTunes on the PC. A smart TV would render it obsolete for me.

(yes, I know a smart TV would be an order of magnitude more expensive, but this is man maths)

Got one but can't get it recognise hub!
Numpty when it comes to stuff like this. Awaiting Jnr to try and set it up 🙄

Now TV plus Chromecast seems to be a good combo, I got chromecast for one tv, my wife now tv for the other, but we can now chromecast now tv..

iPad here with a chromecast Netflix red bull tv now tv
video and tv cast app And Freeloading casting of free content to tv 😀