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Anyone own one? have impressions on it?

Went over to a friends house this past weekend and he had a hacked one, showed me he could download any movie he wanted.

I was impressed.

Is this thing any good?

1st or 2nd gen? There's a huge difference.

--Patrick

2nd gen?

Size of a thick CD case and grey = 1st gen
Size of a hockey puck and black = 2nd gen

--Patrick

I've heard good things, and I want one, but it's not in the budget anytime soon. I'd probably be better off with one of the alternatives that include storage - pop all the dvds and blurays onto it and the kids will never break a disc again...

The hacked ones are super sweet. If I didn't stream from my Mac to my PS3 I'd get one.

I have one. Hacked it to run XBMC, and while that worked fine on it there were some major features missing. Mostly lack of softsub support with hardware accelerated video, and the ATV2 is not powerful enough to run HD video in software.

That said like other Apple products it's great when used as designed and in conjunction with iOS devices. Netflix runs great on it, as does MLB.tv, but what really seals the deal for me is using AirPlay to just send video on my iPad (and now my new iPhone) to the TV. This is an excellent way to show video to friends. Also since I like to listen to podcasts in the car and at work I get the video feed using Downcast and then if I'm at home catching up I use my iPad and ATV2 to watch the video.

It's not perfect, but I've yet to see something that is. So I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for a single box solution that does everything. HTPC is still your best bet, but you'll certainly not get one for $99.

Does it play okay with Windows machines? I use a Macbook as my work/messing-around machine, but my Windows desktop (which I am planning to replace with another Windows desktop) is my hardcore gaming/media machine.

I can stream stuff to my consoles, but being able to access my iTunes library would be pretty awesome if it would consistently work properly.

SpecialKO said:

Does it play okay with Windows machines? I use a Macbook as my work/messing-around machine, but my Windows desktop (which I am planning to replace with another Windows desktop) is my hardcore gaming/media machine.

I can stream stuff to my consoles, but being able to access my iTunes library would be pretty awesome if it would consistently work properly.

Click to expand...

Yes, other than the fact that you're using the Windows version of iTunes. Once you set up the Home sharing it's an iTunes library is an iTunes library.

*BUMP*

XBMC 11.0 beta 3 on iOS provides some much needed improvements including better subtitle support. There was quite a bit of buffering with an HD video and subtitles, but that could have been the wi-fi. I'll have to hardwire it and check.