Apple TV...anyone try it yet?

So I'm thinking of getting Apple TV. Commiecast is, to put it mildly, berkeleying terrible. If I called them every time I had a problem, they would know me by name. That, and my Comcast bill is $114 a month, and that's for basic everything. Super-slow Internet, basic cable TV, no HD or DVR.

Verizon wants $50 a month for Fios Internet and phone (assuming they don't hide all sorts of costs like Commiecast does). The initial cost of an Apple TV unit is $100. So not counting initial costs, I am saving $64 a month.

However, you rent every TV show you watch with Apple TV. But they're $1. 64 TV shows a month is a lot of TV shows, right?

I am curious about some things. Can I watch football games? Can I watch car races? Can I watch live news coverage of something?

And more importantly, the SWMBO loves to just "watch" mindless TV whilst doing other tasks, and that could get expensive. Then again, the TV will still pick up local stuff if I put an antenna on it, right?

So I would like to know if anyone has any experience with the Apple TV way of doing things, or any experience with Verizon. Or any comments on any of my thoughts.

An ATV won't do what you want out of the box, but it could satisfy your TV needs. OTA will get you network TV but unless you build a DVR box or buy a tivo you can't time shift anymore (assuming you have a DVR now). ATV is great for movies and youtube mindless surfing. It was just (in the last week) "hacked" to allow install of XBMC which really opens up what you can do with the box, especially if you're not adverse to the torrent world. I have an original ATV with XBMC installed and we watch all our movies on it - having XBMC installed saves having to convert everything to apple's format and import into itunes, just grab the movie, drop it into the folder XBMC looks at on the desktop computer and watch. TV shows are available on torrents within hours for anything that's remotely popular among series, etc. Where you run into trouble is finding racing and sports - races can be found usually within a day or two but for live sports good luck. I dropped my cable for DirecTV and saved almost $50 a month, and I don't have to spend time tracking down torrents or worrying about legal consequences.

pigeon is right. It won't do what you're talking about. We have Apple TV and DirecTV with DVR. We also have Netflix. You can do the Netflix through the Apple TV, so you're only paying the flat fee instead of per-show cost from Apple TV. I'm really happy with this set up.

I have a roku box. I like it. more content than apple tv. and I don't have to wear skinny jeans or be a brooklyn hipster..

http://www.roku.com/

The Apple box technically (legally, unhacked) does YouTube, Netflix...and what else? I assume Apple has contracts with networks for content?

And what kind of internet does it need? Any trouble with streaming?

I have been off the Pay TV grid for several years now. Here's how I have things worked out.

Large outdoor TV antenna to pick up the networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS along with their subsidiaries like CW, maybe even some other stuff, theres not telling what you can get until you try. Use antennaweb.org to get an idea. That should mostly cover you for news, sports, live events like the Oscars etc..., comedies and dramas. You need to pair it with a Tivo or homebuilt DVR if you want to record something when you are not home.

Hulu Plus on my PS3 (available on other devices as well) for some other shows I follow. Look at their lineup to see if they carry any shows you might watch. 7.99 a month would be cheaper than just renting a few shows from Apple. Plus you can watch any time and multiple times which you cannot do on apple.

Netflix on a PS3 (available on other devices as well) For another plethora of entertainment. They stream episodes of most shows that have aired in recent years and are now out on DVD. Also they have tons of movies. I barely buy DVD's any more.

I have gotten hooked on several net only podcast type shows that are free and automatically download in Itunes. It's free and %100 legal entertainment.

For the rare occasion that there is something I want to watch that is not available from one of those sources, I find a torrent file.

I do all of this with a 3mb DSL connection, you don't need a super high end connection to get the job done.

The most important part of living off the cable is having a good outdoor TV antenna. You will probably be surprised at just how much you can get with just that. Most of the big shows these days are still on the big networks.

alex wrote: The Apple box technically (legally, unhacked) does YouTube, Netflix...and what else? I assume Apple has contracts with networks for content?

Yup, via iTunes - you can rent or buy a lot of movies and TV shows that way.

alex wrote: And what kind of internet does it need? Any trouble with streaming?

IIRC it does streaming but that probably depends on the quality of your Internet connection. It does have some internal storage for buffering, though not a lot (8GB IIRC).

Hmm. I have a PS3. Didn't realize I could get Hulu and Netflix on it. So unlimited movies from Netflix and unlimited TV from Hulu? How much are the Netflix and Hulu subscriptions?

Hulu plus which you have to have to use it on the PS3 is 7.99/mo, not all shows can be streamed on PS3 and other non PC devices yet so check out if what you want to see is. I can watch the Office and SNL but not Chuck, its totally random on what is and isn't, allowed to stream on set top boxes. Netflix just changed their prices, I think its 8.99 for streaming only and 10.99 if you want to get discs in the mail for the stuff they don't have on streaming.