AppleTV2 as a streamer

Thanks John - no offence intended David but if you have used Itunes/Apple app either streamed or digital in - the UPnP arrangement is quite archaic in the way that it functions. It may well be brilliant in its technical side.

Even Sonos / Logitech have spent more time on the control side of the software.

The Serve may and I hope improve matters.

The n-stream is frankly a bit embarrassing for £22

Tog

Apart from the fact it doesn't do FLAC, yawn, how does it actually sound compared to say the original ATV or any other streamers?

nap-ster - from comparison in my system (Uniti, Leema Xeros), the ATV2 sounds better than ATV1, which was in turn better than Airport Express.

Through the Uniti's DAC over a Chord Optichord Toslink cable it sounds the same as the Uniti's built-in streaming (ie. great) for non hires files.

John

Thanks John,

I'm over in the States at present but nowhere seems to have them in stock! The last Apple store I went into I asked to buy one and the guy just shook his head and said they were selling faster then they could get them.

quote:

Originally posted by John Bleasdale:
nap-ster - from comparison in my system (Uniti, Leema Xeros), the ATV2 sounds better than ATV1, which was in turn better than Airport Express.

Through the Uniti's DAC over a Chord Optichord Toslink cable it sounds the same as the Uniti's built-in streaming (ie. great) for non hires files.

John

Tubes vs. Solid State....yawn....

Analog vs. Digital....yawn....

Vinyl vs. CD....yawn....

FLAC vs. ALAC....yawn....

"....let's call the whole thing off...."

I acquired a new Apple TV last week, I am really pleased with this tiny little box. The video streaming is much better than I expected, not bluray quality but excellent, rock solid operation so far, the radio stations sound quite good.

Streaming music coded as apple lossless is a drop off from my Cambridge bluray player as a transport (both into supernait dac).

Overall I am having a great time with it.

So, things haven´t changed (yet)... A very good CD-transport beat´s the cheap boxes. My Project CD Box SE (spdif to Supernait) blows away my Airport Express, was still better then the Sonos ZP 90 (spdif) I´ve tried and plays almost on the level of the Linn Magic DS, I´ve even tried.
Honestly, the Magic DS was very impressive, sounds more natural, spacial, and relaxed but the Project (as a transport) is more dynamic an has a "rock solid" bass performance.

The AppleTV is a great additional box and it is so small (smaller than the airport express) that you dont need another fraim shalf or (in practice) increase box-count.

Internet radio is its weak-spot. Yes, there is this big generic list you can use but it is way to big and most of the stations I listen to are missing anyway. It's like the internet-radio interface you get on a Uniti. And home-sharing doesnt work with internet-radio so forget making a playlist on some mac and then sharing it to the AppleTV.

And while it works just fins to run radio apps on the ipad and using airplay to play through the AppleTV it would be nice to have a basic set of stations available in the system.

So I still run the MacMini/Evo in addition to the HDX. Which has the advantage of being able to rip movies from DVD:s and Blurays.

quote:

Originally posted by jlarsson:

Internet radio is its weak-spot. Yes, there is this big generic list you can use but it is way to big and most of the stations I listen to are missing anyway. It's like the internet-radio interface you get on a Uniti. And home-sharing doesnt work with internet-radio so forget making a playlist on some mac and then sharing it to the AppleTV.

And while it works just fins to run radio apps on the ipad and using airplay to play through the AppleTV it would be nice to have a basic set of stations available in the system.

Can you clarify what control (if any) is available via the Apple Remote App for selecting Internet Radio stations, and ideally stations that have been saved as "favourites"? - I have an ATV1 and there is no iRadio control via the Remote App - which is a pain if all you want to do is stream iRadio and therefore have to switch TV on and off just to select radio stations....cheers

Sorry adm95, no change to this in ATV2.
Remote app can't control Internet Radio.

Thanks for the clarification John.
I was in Apple's Regent Street store on Friday and nobody could even answer this question for me :-)

Solution at present = MbP + uniti + remote / vnc or screen sharing....

An update to n-stream for iPad and a Naim UPnP server in software would also be a solution ...hell the Mac community would pay good money for a solid UPnP server that worked properly.

Tog

Agree radio via ATV would be good. Mine on order but A run around the Web reveals various ways of getting BBC (and other) stations onto iTunes...

The internet radio that is a function on the AppleTV2 itself cannot be personalized as far as I have found. You cannot add channels and you cant pick a favrorite/play-list.

When I look through Remote via the AppleTV at a home-shared iTunes computer I can see playlists with radio stations (even ones I added myself). But when clicking nothing happens - you cannot listen to them through the AppleTV. Podcasts, yes. Streaming radio no. This is the same as if you are using PureMusic with iTunes - streaming radio doesnt work.

Maybe they are fixing this, I dont know.

What I can do is set the iTunes on that computer so it streams to the AppleTV via Airplay. This works just fine. Even the Linn 320kbps channels. And I can control everything via Remote (direct, not via AppleTV) and my playlists of selected stations work fine.

And (as soon as iOS 4.2 is released) you can use radio-apps (any app with audio I think) on an ipod/ipad and stream from them on to the appletv. This works (being a developer I have the beta so I actually use that function right now).

And those apps are not only personalizeable but many also also great for discovery - i.e. finding interesting radio (if you are using radio for more than background music). The NPR-app is a great example of this. Podcast lists are also often becoming so large you cant find anything so apps that help you find interesting content in podcasts are also great. Some radio stations like WFMU also have built in chat channels which can add surprising dimension to that kind of station with a specialized audience. And you can of course use Spotify and other audio apps.

Then you also of course have the video-dimension on top of this. I am slowly beginning to like this now, running the audio/radio apps on the ipad/ipod, and I think I will settle with just the tiny AppleTV2 in addition to the HDX in my system (into a Naim DAC) and it will add much fun services (and does not require a fraim shelf :-)). I am trying a lot of radio apps to find the best sounding ones but there is no Amarra or PureMusic (yet). Or even a Naim one :-)

quote:

Originally posted by adm95:

quote:

Originally posted by jlarsson:

Internet radio is its weak-spot. Yes, there is this big generic list you can use but it is way to big and most of the stations I listen to are missing anyway. It's like the internet-radio interface you get on a Uniti. And home-sharing doesnt work with internet-radio so forget making a playlist on some mac and then sharing it to the AppleTV.

And while it works just fins to run radio apps on the ipad and using airplay to play through the AppleTV it would be nice to have a basic set of stations available in the system.

Can you clarify what control (if any) is available via the Apple Remote App for selecting Internet Radio stations, and ideally stations that have been saved as "favourites"? - I have an ATV1 and there is no iRadio control via the Remote App - which is a pain if all you want to do is stream iRadio and therefore have to switch TV on and off just to select radio stations....cheers

If you have iTunes running on another computer you can Remote-control it and send its output to the AppleTV. Not so practical perhaps.

Or with the upcoming iOS 4.2 for iPod/iPad you can run the radio-app on the ipad/ipod itself and stream its output to the AppleTV. Quite nice as it gives you a choice of apps.

quote:

Originally posted by John Bleasdale:
Sorry adm95, no change to this in ATV2.
Remote app can't control Internet Radio.

Is it possible to get an ATV set up to stream audio without having a television plugged into it?

I picked one up in the US on a whim last week without thinking through this possibly fundamental point!

"Is it possible to get an ATV set up to stream audio without having a television plugged into it?"

Yes you can, if you have the Remote App (free from Apple) for your ipod, iphone or ipad. you can browse your entire itunes library in about the same way as if you were in front of your computer. In fact the ipad remote app is awesome.

Thanks jadip - I know I can operate it from the remote app of my ipad but can any set-up/config bits also be done that way? Or is it just plug-and-play?

No, you need a screen for setting up WiFi-password and app-store-id (to enable home-sharing).

Using any of the delivered apps (like internet radio) also requires the screen.

Remote works with homesharing itunes without any screen (if you connect a screen you will see what is playing complete with cover etc., like on the HDX)

BTW, I tried the Roku XDS today but didnt care for the sound quality (toslinked to external DAC). This is also a cheap USD99 box. The picture quality was also lower than AppleTV. But you will be able to connect a USB-disk to this one (for music files to be streamed). In the current version you must have a screen connected - even if you just want to stream music files.

The Roku seems to be running some sort of Linux and it restarted itself alot during setup - very irritating.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Bull:
Thanks jadip - I know I can operate it from the remote app of my ipad but can any set-up/config bits also be done that way? Or is it just plug-and-play?

I managed to get hold of an Apple TV 2G and have been comparing it against the 1G version. Streaming AIFF over wireless the 2G model sounds a bit leaner but more detailed than the 1G which has a fuller sound. For the $99 or £99 it really does sound good though.

I just took a look at Apple's Support Forum and an awful lot of people are reporting problems with the ATV2. I do realize that you'll always hear more about problems than success in a support forum but it's put me off buying one for a while. Lots of complaints of choppy video and inability to stream. Any of you guys having problems?

The odd operational issue between remote and the ATV2. Nothing major.

I suspect most reported issues will be network related.

No problems here. Picture and audio working fine.
I use an Airport Extreme wireless network though, so probably avoiding potential network issues.
It is also worth noting that it is a 1.0 firmware release - any genuine early bugs will be updated very shortly.

For me it sometimes takes a long time for remote (running on ipad) to find ATV2 if ATV2 is running wireless. But if ATV2 is wired this problem goes away.

quote:

Originally posted by Jay:
The odd operational issue between remote and the ATV2. Nothing major.

I suspect most reported issues will be network related.

quote:

Originally posted by jlarsson:
For me it sometimes takes a long time for remote (running on ipad) to find ATV2 if ATV2 is running wireless. But if ATV2 is wired this problem goes away.

That's exactly what I mean. No such problems like that my end. Also using an Apple network so maybe there's something in that?