The New Apple TV Mini review.

mantis

Hello all,
I just picked up the new Apple Tv. I also have the older model in the 160g internal drive. The new model now has 1080p which I believe the Apple TV should have had.
It's exactly the same size as the TV2 and looks identical. Same connections HDMI , Ethernet and Optical , no Analog anything just like the 2. It's the same in every way except 1080p and the new A5 processor.
After Installing , and configuring , I gave it a test drive. The new on screen menu is different with bigger movie covers and app looking choices for navigation. Doesn't seem to be any new app's or abilities over the 2. The iPhone/ Itouch / iPad mirroring is a cool feature so you can play video games on your TV VIA Airplay with Mirroring turned on.
You get your entire IOS device onscreen just like what you see on the IOS screen. Pretty cool and can be useful for many different things.
Photo streaming is cool if you use it , take a pic and it's their in seconds , thats pretty darn cool.

Video quality with Netflix and iTunes seems to be pretty good.
It does however seem a bit snappier over the last 2 offerings. Overall it's worth 100 bucks if your a iTunes user and have a netflix streaming account.

Reason I picked it up is 1 to give it a test drive and 2 to Mirror my computer onto my TV after Mountian Lion gets released. Airplay is awesome as people can come over and play their music around my house. I'm gonna use a Gefen DAC for Optical out to get analog for house music. It's a nice addition to the system.

thsmith

very kewl, thanks for sharing.

tonyb

Nice review, short and sweet.
If you had to pigeon hole it Dan, what would you say is the downside to it.

packetjones

Curious if you can stream local content to it. I have a 4 TB NAS at the house and I am currently looking to get a new media box for the living room. Currently using a PS3 but am unhappy with the directory structure for content.

mantis

tonyb wrote: »

Nice review, short and sweet.
If you had to pigeon hole it Dan, what would you say is the downside to it.

I like when it had a internal hard drive so your computer doesn't have to be on to stream your content. They kinda solved that issue with Cloud support but thats only 256k not Lossless which is what I have all my music ripped in. I also enjoy analog outs so you can use it for a house system or zone 2 on a receiver. All house systems and zone 2 receivers(except Lexicon) need analog. You need a external Dac with this unit to send your music to other rooms.
Other then that it's a fine unit. I know I'm picking but thats my stand.

mantis

packetjones wrote: »

Curious if you can stream local content to it. I have a 4 TB NAS at the house and I am currently looking to get a new media box for the living room. Currently using a PS3 but am unhappy with the directory structure for content.

You can stream anything from iTunes or IOS devices thats it.

gdpeck

mantis wrote: »

I like when it had a internal hard drive so your computer doesn't have to be on to stream your content. They kinda solved that issue with Cloud support but thats only 256k not Lossless which is what I have all my music ripped in. I also enjoy analog outs so you can use it for a house system or zone 2 on a receiver. All house systems and zone 2 receivers(except Lexicon) need analog. You need a external Dac with this unit to send your music to other rooms.
Other then that it's a fine unit. I know I'm picking but thats my stand.

My NAD T775 sends digital to Zone 2.

Thanks for the review. I got a Roku, for Christmas, and am thinking about adding an Apple TV too, for local content, which the Roku doesn't do.

MillerLiteScott

I got one Friday but still have not opened it yet. Been a little busy.

mantis

gdpeck wrote: »

My NAD T775 sends digital to Zone 2.

Thanks for the review. I got a Roku, for Christmas, and am thinking about adding an Apple TV too, for local content, which the Roku doesn't do.

Really? I have Installed quite a few NAD receivers but never used the zone 2 outs or tried digital to go that route. Interesting , none of the japanese models do that. So can you send HDMI in and get 2 channel audio out of zone 2? that would be badass , I'm assuming only optical and Digital coax will work in zone 2. If it can do HDMI as well , process DTS MA and Dolby Digital Ture HD and send the Audio to zone 2 at the same time , well that would be super badass. I'll have to start spec'ing NAD's more often in just a zone 2 like on a deck , garage or basement work out room , home gym if you will. Some people only have 1 other room with music , rare but it does happen , this would be a cool way to have a extremely clean rack , no analog IC's which would rule.
Please tell me more about your zone 2 ability.

mantis

I'm gonna do another serious musical shootout between CD , Apple TV 160g with music stored on it and the Apple TV 3 or New Apple TV streaming the same music. I currently have the original Apple TV in HDMI but I can switch that for the test to make the inputs switch faster. HDMI takes to long for shootouts , I hate using it for listening test. No loss in quality I have all Audio quest Digital cables in the basement , optical and Coax to test so the DAC's will be the exact same. I could even bring home a Cambridge Audio DAC Magic to really dial in the test.

Sounds like some fun coming my way one rainy weekend.

gdpeck

mantis wrote: »

Really? I have Installed quite a few NAD receivers but never used the zone 2 outs or tried digital to go that route. Interesting , none of the japanese models do that. So can you send HDMI in and get 2 channel audio out of zone 2? that would be badass , I'm assuming only optical and Digital coax will work in zone 2. If it can do HDMI as well , process DTS MA and Dolby Digital Ture HD and send the Audio to zone 2 at the same time , well that would be super badass. I'll have to start spec'ing NAD's more often in just a zone 2 like on a deck , garage or basement work out room , home gym if you will. Some people only have 1 other room with music , rare but it does happen , this would be a cool way to have a extremely clean rack , no analog IC's which would rule.
Please tell me more about your zone 2 ability.

My setup is pretty simple. Zone 1 is 5.1 in my family room. Zone 2 is a pair of speakers on my patio just behind the family room. Just did a quick test to verify digital functionality. I was able to get sound, which I assume was stereo downmixed from a Dolby Digital recording from a TiVo Series 3 connected via HDMI. This device is only connected via HDMI to the NAD. I was also able to get Zone 2 sound from both dts-ma and Dolby truehd blu-rays played on my oppo bdp-83. The Oppo is connected with both HDMI and 7.1 analog, however, my particular NAD defaults to digital inputs, whenever they are present. Just do be more sure, I disabled the analog connection in the setup menu, but I did not disconnect the analog connection. I am also able to get stereo sound from my squeezebox touch, which is connected via toslink. I don't have any coax digital connections, but I think they would work as well. I hope that helps, but please feel free to ask me any specific questions you might have.

Thanks!
George

Stilly74

A little off topic here but was looking at getting apple tv as I have a iPhone4 and ipad2. What are the advantages of "jail breaking " the apple tv?

decal

^^^^ post #13 reported ^^^^

Stilly74

decal wrote: »

^^^^ post #13 reported ^^^^

.?????

maximillian

^ I think "reported" has to do with the mention of "Jail Breaking" since many people do it for copyright infringement. Personally, my iPod Touch 4 Gen is Jail broken to open up lots of abilities. No, I don't do it for copyright infringement.

I don't know all the benefits to Jail Breaking the Apple TV since I don't own one. I know you can put XBMC on it if you really wanted to which opens up the ability to play lots of different file formats and the rest of the goodies XBMC offers. Of course, you loose many features (Netflix, iTunes, etc.) doing this too.

There are a bunch of videos on Youtube that explains the adv/disadv of doing this. Just search for "Jail Breaking Apple TV".

For me the abilities lacking in the Apple TV that I require (streaming from SMB shares, Xvid support) I get by using the WD TV Live Streaming. So I have no need for an Apple TV let alone Jail Breaking one.

Stilly74

Copyright? All I was wondering is what it does. Wasn't trying to say anything bad about Apple. I personally think apple is great. Enjoy there products

gdpeck

decal wrote: »

^^^^ post #13 reported ^^^^

Stilly74 wrote: »

.?????

Probably wasn't even your post. Spam gets posted; and users here report it. They then post that they reported the spam post, so everyone else knows not to report it again. Moderators usually delete the offending post very quickly. It looks like that is what happened here, since decal's post is now #13. Only decal can say for sure, but I think there was an actual spam post that was reported and removed.