Customer Reviews

Apple TV Pocket Guide, The (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was a worthwhile purchase. I downloaded it onto my kindle, love that instant gratification. I was having trouble with my Apple TV and the book was able to shed some light on it for me. The book has a lot of description about how to hook it up, then the simple stuff like setting up a screen saver, and using the iTunes store.

One of the things I was struggling with was syncing and streaming which he helped clarify. Syncing is when you copy information such as music, movies and photos from your computer to the Apple TV box. Streaming is when you set your Apple TV to look at your computer for content. Syncing can take a long time the first time, but then the files are there whether the computer is turned on or not. But because the Apple TV probably has less storage than the average computer, your whole library may not fit on the Apple TV. If that is the case, you can set it to stream. A computer can only stream or sync, it cannot do both.

I ended up setting my desktop to stream because I can leave it on all the time. Warning, in Apple's settings, make sure under energy saving you have it set to never go to sleep. If it goes to sleep, you won't be able to stream. I then set my laptop up to sync, and I just synced my favorite things like photos, some tunes, and a few of my children's favorite shows.

He explains where to get software (handbrake) to rip your DVD's to your iTunes account so you can watch it on Apple TV. He also provides guidance on how to rip your home movies so they can go into iTunes. This requires you spend a little bit of money on software ($23-$30 at the time of writing).

He has a trouble shooting section that I found helpful. He explains how to restart the unit by holding down the Menu and Menu down/scroll (-) buttons for several seconds to put the Apple TV into recovery mode. After a minute you choose your language, then TV resolution and the Apple TV recovery screen comes on where you can restart, run diagnostics, or factory restore. Restart is safe, it just reboots the machine, if you choose diagnostics, and get an error message, you need to contact your Mac dealer. Restore factory settings wipes everything and put the machine back to the state it was in when you took it out of the box.

The only thing I didn't like about the book was that the screen shots were of a previous version of Apple TV. But other than that I found this book to be a good investment of my time (I blew through it in about 2 hours) and money.

Got this as a Kindle download to my iPhone. Nothing in here that isn't available on line at Apple help, but it's more organized and easier to read. A good reference and once you read through this book, you'll be an Apple TV expert.

Since there are very little instructions with the Apple TV this Pocket guide was very informational. It not only helped explain set-up possibilities, but also explained the difference between streaming and syncing. This guide gives one the ability to use their Apple TV to the fullest.

Everything you want to know about AppleTV and then some! I downloaded the book to my Kindle for PC and am finding very helpful, informative, and entertaining and easy to read on my Netbook. A nice feature of the Kindle for PC version is the embedded web links actually work and take the reader to external sites where more info is available. Save the trees, fellow Nerds, DOWNLOAD the book!

This book is little more than useless. Refers to an outdated version of the Apple TV software with little information about how to manage the device using itunes. Expecting a whole lot more - got burned buying a kindle version.

I found this small book to be of great help in learning the ins and outs of the first generation Apple TV.
The explanations regarding how to use the Apple TV to its maximum potential are very clearly laid out.
For a novice like myself, this book showed me how the ATV works and how I could set-up various programs ( music, photos, videos )
for maximum enjoyment.
If you're new to the Apple TV, by all means get this book. But remember, this book is for the 1st generation ATV ----not the new black one.
MsK

This book covers the first generation Apple TV (over $200, white/gray, with a hard disk to store video). It does not cover the new $99 2nd generation Apple TV ($99, black, no hard drive storage).

There are a lot of things that one can do with AppleTV that are not at all apparent from the vestigial booklet that comes with it. This book provides detail on how to do many things. For example, getting video from iTunes, how to show classy HD slideshows with all kinds of effects (panning/"Ken Burns effect" etc.), varied ways to get the slideshow from your computer onto AppleTV, copying DVD's onto AppleTV, how to sync to it, how to get highest definition...

For more details on making slideshows in particular, you will also benefit from Jim Heid's detailed masterpiece "The Macintosh iLife '09".

Even though you can find much of this info on the Internet, it is very helpful to have the info all in one place on my Kindle. Great help in both troubleshooting and setting up the Apple TV.

This book is about the size of a paperback novel (160 pages). The inside pages are in black and white and contain many photos and screenshots to illustrate points. If you have thought about purchasing an Apple TV, then this book would certainly be a handy thing to have on hand. It takes you from explaining what the Apple TV is and what it isn't, to getting it set up and connected and then how to use it.
There is a good Index if you need to hunt for a particular word or phrase.

I do not have an Apple TV and don't plan on buying one anytime soon, but I am interested in what it can do. Who knows? Maybe I will find a reason that I absolutely need one.

Things you can do with an Apple TV include streaming content from your iTunes Library to watch on the television. You can even stream content from a friend's computer to your TV. Obviously, you can show photo slideshows from your computer to the television, and play your own home movies including high-definition content, assuming you have an HDTV also. Actually, you have to have a widescreen HDTV or "enhanced definition" to use Apple TV--that is something I didn't know to begin with.

I didn't see any mention of viewing youtube.com videos through the Apple TV but Apple has said you can do that. This book was published in 2007 but probably just before that news was out.

I am hoping that in the future the Apple TV will let you do a lot more. Currently, I have watched many TV shows online that I missed watching when they were broadcast. It would be great to be able to watch any of those with the Apple TV through my television set while kicked back on the sofa. I could do that if those shows are in the iTunes Store, but then I would have to pay $1.99 for each episode I watch. Of course, I would get to keep them forever, but when it comes to watching TV shows, I usually am satisfied to watch it once.

Well worth $10 to help make a decision about spending $300 plus on an Apple TV.