Rhonda in TX Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I'm considering getting this for DH for Christmas, but I have a couple of questions. Can we copy our current DVDs onto the Apple TV? If so, how do you do this? Can it be used without the internet connection? DH does not think it can do either of these things, but a friend has one and says it can. (her DH handles all that, though, so I'm not positive she's right) I cannot find any info online about these two things. It just talks about downloading movies for purchase or rental from iTunes and that's not what we would want it for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegGuheert Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 This thread touched on this topic. In the linked article, there was some discussion of various options and they had abandoned Apple TV for a Mac Mini. But it's not clear this solution works for your needs, either. Have you considered purchasing a jukebox to hold DVDs? You can put 400 discs in one box That's the solution we use and it's a little more straightforward than copying all your movies onto a hard drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted December 16, 2009 Author Share Posted December 16, 2009 He's been trying to set it up himself (he's very computer and technology savvy), with some success, but he keeps running into problems using the old, old PC he's trying to do it on. I thought something already done for him would be a nice gift. Once he gets it up and running it will be really neat. All our DVDs and music on it, with a menu to control it all. We've talked about the jukebox option in the past, but he really wants to go with the hard drive option. I keep seeing lots of negatives about the Apple TV, so I don't think it will work for us. My friend loves hers, but I think its limitations would drive DH crazy. I did find something that discusses how to copy current DVDs to the Apple TV, so it is obviously not a built-in feature. You have to do it by first copying it to iTunes, and I know we've run into permission problems trying to do this in the past. Some movies now come with a digital copy for that purpose, but we have lots of DVDs that don't have that. Interesting article. I'm going to forward it to DH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jojomojo Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 We almost bought it, but went with a PS3 instead. The PS3 will play various file formats from a folder or harddrive of your choice (also has an internal harddrive). Which is good because I'm not a fan of iTunes. I'd hate to have to run everything through it. Right now I have our PS3 set up to use our iMac as the "media server". We have a TB harddrive to store all of our media on (supposedly this can also be plugged directly into the PS3, but we haven't done that yet). It also works with Netflix instant play. Plus, the PS3 has this neat feature that lets you play games :tongue_smilie: There is software out there that will rip a DVD if it doesn't come with the digital copy, but I don't know what the legalities of that are. I always assumed that if you own the title, its okay to make a copy......but, you know what they say about assuming lol That article is great.....I'll have to show that to dh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lulubelle Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 We have apple tv! But, I don't think I can answer your questions - I have no idea! My husband is the computer geek. You can definitely copy your dvd's for it from your computer. You need a computer to do that and then the apple tv is connected to the computer. You probably already know that. I don't know if you need internet connection? I know you can buy movies on it - and I'm assuming that it is connected to the internet for movie selection choices. I would call my husband at work right now, but he's in a meeting. I will try and find out your questions and answer them later today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted December 16, 2009 Author Share Posted December 16, 2009 We almost bought it, but went with a PS3 instead. The PS3 will play various file formats from a folder or harddrive of your choice (also has an internal harddrive). Which is good because I'm not a fan of iTunes. I'd hate to have to run everything through it. Right now I have our PS3 set up to use our iMac as the "media server". We have a TB harddrive to store all of our media on (supposedly this can also be plugged directly into the PS3, but we haven't done that yet). It also works with Netflix instant play. Plus, the PS3 has this neat feature that lets you play games :tongue_smilie: There is software out there that will rip a DVD if it doesn't come with the digital copy, but I don't know what the legalities of that are. I always assumed that if you own the title, its okay to make a copy......but, you know what they say about assuming lol That article is great.....I'll have to show that to dh. We are aware of the legalities of copying movies to your computer and think they are absolutely ridiculous. We would never keep a computer copy of a movie we didn't physically own, so we actually have no hesitation about circumventing that particular law. (actually, I'm not sure if it's illegal, or just that their encryption doesn't allow it) I've been thinking about getting a PS 3, so I'm very interested in that option. I'm not sure what you mean by TB hard drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted December 16, 2009 Author Share Posted December 16, 2009 Is it physically connected with a cable, or done wirelessly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lulubelle Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Hi, My husband says that apple can be wireless or connected directly to the computer. It does not need to be connected to the internet, but does need it for product updates. Ours in wired. The apple will sync the movies from your computer. There is a hard drive on the apple. I hope I answered your questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jojomojo Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I've been thinking about getting a PS 3, so I'm very interested in that option. I'm not sure what you mean by TB hard drive. TB = terabyte. It's going to take us a while to fill it up. It's about 6 times bigger than the Apple TVs internal harddrive (which is 160gb I believe). I don't think you can plug an external harddrive directly into the Apple TV, it will only use an external harddrive if iTunes does (while plugged into the computer). I didn't want yet another thing plugged into our computer though. With the Apple TV (or any device like it....PS3 included) it will require internet access for things like system updates. But, if you can wirelessly network your computer with it, internet shouldn't be a problem. One thing I read in reviews when deciding though, was that if used wirelessly it lags a bit as the data is streamed. I was worried about the same thing happening with the PS3, but I haven't noticed it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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