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Apple TV, $229
It can't be denied that the Apple TV is a wonderfully designed and performing device, and its users generally love it for what it can do. It's the high price and list of can't-dos that take the shine off its luster for us: stream video from online sources other than iTunes and YouTube; display movies and TV shows in DivX, Xvid, AVI, WMV, and MPEG formats; and play Internet radio. Our crossed fingers are exhausted from waiting for an update with these additions that likely will never come.
DO WANT:
WD TV Live HD, from $90 to $150
OR
Roku HD, $100
Despite the unfortunate firmware update issue of late, Western Digital's streaming media player works well and hooks up to your network to stream virtually every standard video file format under the sun, Pandora, Flickr, YouTube, and Live365 -- all for half the price (and we have our fingers optimistically crossed for the addition of services like Amazon VoD and Netflix). If your personal video collection isn't your main interest and streaming is key, the Roku HD is as simple and reliable a way there is to get to Netflix, Pandora, Amazon VoD, MLB.com and a host of other sites. In short, either option will cost you a fraction of the Apple TV yet offers far more options -- it's a win-win for both of us.
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Comments
1
Subscribe to commentsMcDaveDec 28th 2009 4:53AM
You're right. It's highly unlikely Apple will ever endorse video standards that are invariably from illegitimate sources (& spare me the 'I converted my DVDs to DivX' because who would use a non-standard MPEG4/ASP variant when MPEG/AVC has been around for years?)
Of course, to play those formats on your ATV you just need to double-click to open in QuicktimeX and use the share with iTunes function. This also has the added bonus of re-profiling the video to ensure glitch-free playback on the device (just as the commercial media sources do with their devices)
McD