Apple TV

[edge]

they are a digital satellite decoder, you can stream with it, hook it up to your PC, you can also 'card share' and decrypt digital satellite signal for whatever err... use that may be. You can buy them on amazon or ebay or wherever really, they are not illegal to buy. They are far better than apple TV, though to get the full use they take a bit of getting used to, also the system I have used them on has a motorized satellite system so that opens a few options

@yozzer123

very good bit of kit, but might be a bit to much of a learning curve for some. might be better off getting one of the andriod boxes on the market, that has an addon the does everything for them so no knowledge required.
if its cable or sat they are after there are loads of easy/ cheap ones out there like skybox to play with ,have seen them going really cheap lately.

 

[Kanye]

I think you need a separate audio cable, and picture quality isn't the best.

Depends how old your computer is. Check before you buy. I don't think some of the newer models (post-mid2012??) need a separate audio connection.

 

[Walken]

very good bit of kit, but might be a bit to much of a learning curve for some. might be better off getting one of the andriod boxes on the market, that has an addon the does everything for them so no knowledge required.
if its cable or sat they are after there are loads of easy/ cheap ones out there like skybox to play with ,have seen them going really cheap lately.

the android is good mate, and yeah in all honesty I wouldn't have bothered learning the ins and outs of the dreambox if it wasn't for work

 

[Lee Smith]

Newer apple tv cant be rooted, get a quad core android box running xbmc or if you are a bit teccy an Amazon fire tv and sideload xbmc on it both are miles cheaper and better than apple which is overpriced and not as fast

Pretty much this. I bought an Android Box with XBMC installed a few months ago and it's the best £80 I've ever spent. Brand new HD / 3D movies, kids' channels, video game ROMS / emulators, Sky Sport streams, foreign footy channels, and unlimited porn (for the wife).

I've sacked off Sky Movies and Sports and just kept their basic package and Sky+ subscription.

 

[Bungle]

Pretty much this. I bought an Android Box with XBMC installed a few months ago and it's the best £80 I've ever spent. Brand new HD / 3D movies, kids' channels, video game ROMS / emulators, Sky Sport streams, foreign footy channels, and unlimited porn (for the wife).

I've sacked off Sky Movies and Sports and just kept their basic package and Sky+ subscription.

Which one did you get mate? I've been looking at these and am utterly confused. Is it as easy as plugging it in, connecting it to your wifi and then opening the xbmc app and playing whatever you want?

 

[Lee Smith]

Which one did you get mate? I've been looking at these and am utterly confused. Is it as easy as plugging it in, connecting it to your wifi and then opening the xbmc app and playing whatever you want?

They connect to tv via HDMI and to your router via either Ethernet or Wi-Fi. Piece of piss to connect, they have the exact same interface as a normal Android tablet. The real 'magic' happens though when you use the XBMC application add-on.

I bought mine from here : www.androidboxuk.com. It's a 'mate of a mate' that runs it. Think mine is dual core and had zero issues with it, he is now selling quad core but a mate of mine who bought one did have some problems but I think they've been sorted (the guy who sells them runs his own cable company here in Great Yarmouth and offers support via remote log-in if you get stuck). They are pretty simple to use, lots of 'how to' guides on YouTube etc and he always pre-loads them with the latest add-ons.

One word of warning, you do need a pretty decent internet connection to get the most out of it, especially if you intend to stream. When it comes to movies I personally prefer to download them, either to the internal flash memory or to an external hard-drive which simply plugs into the USB port on the box

 

[Bungle]

They connect to tv via HDMI and to your router via either Ethernet or Wi-Fi. Piece of piss to connect, they have the exact same interface as a normal Android tablet. The real 'magic' happens though when you use the XBMC application add-on.

I bought mine from here : www.androidboxuk.com. It's a 'mate of a mate' that runs it. Think mine is dual core and had zero issues with it, he is now selling quad core but a mate of mine who bought one did have some problems but I think they've been sorted (the guy who sells them runs his own cable company here in Great Yarmouth and offers support via remote log-in if you get stuck). They are pretty simple to use, lots of 'how to' guides on YouTube etc and he always pre-loads them with the latest add-ons.

One word of warning, you do need a pretty decent internet connection to get the most out of it, especially if you intend to stream. When it comes to movies I personally prefer to download them, either to the internal flash memory or to an external hard-drive which simply plugs into the USB port on the box

Well in mate, cheers for that. Looks like there's a quad core for £75 so I'll have a proper look at that in the morning and probably get that ordered. My internet speed is decent but I'll probably just download them onto my external hard drive so doesn't matter if I just set it running and it takes a little while.

Streaming the football to my TV through that will be a sh!t load better than through the laptop as well hopefully.

 

[Lee Smith]

Well in mate, cheers for that. Looks like there's a quad core for £75 so I'll have a proper look at that in the morning and probably get that ordered. My internet speed is decent but I'll probably just download them onto my external hard drive so doesn't matter if I just set it running and it takes a little while.

Streaming the football to my TV through that will be a sh!t load better than through the laptop as well hopefully.

I recommend getting the keyboard controller too if they have any, makes navigation and searching much much faster. The stream for the footy varies in quality, bare in mind that Internet streams are traditionally viewed on smaller screens, so when they are blown up onto large TV sets they may not look amazing, but most of the time I'd say they are 'around' SD quality on a good day. If you're used to viewing streamed footy on your tv via your laptop then I assume that's the similar quality you'd get from the android box. I actually tend to find the streams from the foreign channels a bit better than the Sky Sport streams

 

[Bungle]

I recommend getting the keyboard controller too if they have any, makes navigation and searching much much faster. The stream for the footy varies in quality, bare in mind that Internet streams are traditionally viewed on smaller screens, so when they are blown up onto large TV sets they may not look amazing, but most of the time I'd say they are 'around' SD quality on a good day. If you're used to viewing streamed footy on your tv via your laptop then I assume that's the similar quality you'd get from the android box. I actually tend to find the streams from the foreign channels a bit better than the Sky Sport streams

Yeah I see the keyboard for an extra tenner so may as well get that, seen quite a few places say that the basic remote that comes with these boxes aren't all that great so definitely worth it. Was watching a few things on my brothers phone through XBMC earlier and he was going through what's available, looks pretty straightforward but like you say theres loads of YouTube tutorials if I get stuck.

 

[edge]

Yeah I see the keyboard for an extra tenner so may as well get that, seen quite a few places say that the basic remote that comes with these boxes aren't all that great so definitely worth it. Was watching a few things on my brothers phone through XBMC earlier and he was going through what's available, looks pretty straightforward but like you say theres loads of YouTube tutorials if I get stuck.

if you arnt bad check out the amazon fire tv works really good and takes about 20mins to set up if you use tvmc
( XBMC) download it does most of the stuff for you.
loads on ebay andriodsticks uk ect, to buy boxes but if you want it to be easy make sure they have an addon or wizard that keeps it up to date for you,saves you a load of bother,
i like mine to just run the apps i like you its not clutterd so dont bother but if your new its deffo worth looking out for.

 

[McBain]

Had Apple TV for about 2 years.

They've had problems in the past, but what hasn't with these new fangled devices.

It's a very simple, easy system. None of this PC Complicated Media Banana rubbish these jokers above trying to sell you.

You don't need a Quad Core USB Box digital Satellite Decrypting Decoder Media Spunker you just need an A to B machine.

And if you don't know how to 'get' movies yet balk at paying for them you need to learn how to or just pay for them.

I for ze record run Apple TV from my Itunes and it works every time.

 

[Lee Smith]

Had Apple TV for about 2 years.

They've had problems in the past, but what hasn't with these new fangled devices.

It's a very simple, easy system. None of this PC Complicated Media Banana rubbish these jokers above trying to sell you.

You don't need a Quad Core USB Box digital Satellite Decrypting Decoder Media Spunker you just need an A to B machine.

And if you don't know how to 'get' movies yet balk at paying for them you need to learn how to or just pay for them.

I for ze record run Apple TV from my Itunes and it works every time.

I'm a 'joker' for trying to help out a fellow Blue by answering the question he asked? Ok mate.

 

[Ashtonian]

My thoughts is you buy an apple to be tied down to buy everything and only use them within their products.

You buy android/samsung for freedom to do what you want as long as you factor the risks into that as well. if you want to download stuff for free then great, android lets you. Only problem is that with the torrent sites banned it limits the general user into being able to take advantage of its freedom.

 

[The Cowboy]

I just bought a Panasonic Blu-Ray player which has Netflix/iPlayer/youtube and Miracast if I really want to sling something to the TV (doesn't work particularly well though, I must admit). Fulfills pretty much all my media needs, apart from one massive, glaring error by Panasonic...

It has an SD slot to allow you to view pics and vids from a camera. I have a Panasonic Lumix camera that records .avi videos. The Panasonic Blu-Ray player only accepts .mov format. Great work guys!

 

[McBain]

I'm a 'joker' for trying to help out a fellow Blue by answering the question he asked? Ok mate.

No mate, you're just a Flaming Galah.

Those other Clowns are the Jokers.

Did you see that as full-on insult? Interesting.