Which apple tv do you suggest for...

**galosat** · 11-07-2010 10:53 PM

Hi guys, first let me thank all of you for all the great info and help here.

I download movies on my laptop and then I use the ps3 to play the movies on my tv. My problem is the ps3 does not support a lot of formats so my idea was to buy apple tv.

I want to use it for the following:

*stream movies from my laptop hd to apple tv
*Netflix
*XBMC
*Boxee
*Hulu & joost.

Which version of apple tv should I buy?

Please help!!!
Thank you!

**Olethros** · 11-07-2010 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by galosat

Hi guys, first let me thank all of you for all the great info and help here.

I download movies on my laptop and then I use the ps3 to play the movies on my tv. My problem is the ps3 does not support a lot of formats so my idea was to buy apple tv.

I want to use it for the following:

*stream movies from my laptop hd to apple tv
*Netflix
*XBMC
*Boxee
*Hulu & joost.

Which version of apple tv should I buy?

Macmini

Seriously, do a search, this same question has been asked not a week ago.

If you want something that will play more formats than the playstation 3 - neither Apple TV is going to really suit you. Yes the CrystalHD card and XBMC can play most formats, but that doesn't work with boxee or any other playback engine on the ATV.

**vma** · 11-08-2010 07:59 PM

I would say that:

1) You get a server software for PS3 that will encode your movies in real time. After you set it up, PS3 will recognize your PC as a uPNP Server and you will see all movies in the shared folder. No matter what format the movie is, the server software will re-encode it in a format suitable for the PS3. Look here: http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/

2) ATV2: you won't be able to do what you want, at least for the time being. Period.

3) ATV1: you will need to mod your ATV1, i.e. install XBMC. Considering that you will: a) get poor performance for HDTV, b) spend 189 Euro for a new ATV1 (less for a used one); you might as well look for a second hand XBOX (costs around 30 euro) and install XBMC. You probably will get a better result, plus you can play XBOX games and experience the best that emulation has to offer.

Despite this, I am still avid of getting myself an ATV1: it has lots of hacking and messing potential. But from what i read over the last two weeks, it just is not the best solutions for someone who has a huge movie collection on a Samba share...

Cheers,
vma