Mac to TV or AppleTV?

Hey guys,

So I have a simple question really, I see the new apple TV is out here in the UK and in the US too, so am actually contemplating going for it but had a thought cross my mind and since I am no expert in this regards, perhaps someone can shed some light

In your honest opinions, would it be better to:

Purchase the new Apple TV, connect through HDMI to my HD TV and stream content from iTunes over the wireless to watch on the TV

or

Purchase something like a cable from the display port to DVI and then a cable from the DVI to the DVI port on the TV? - don't know if you can go from display port to HDMI to TV ....

Just curious really

IMHO, if you already have a Mac you don't need an ATV. I have a Mini hooked up to my Vizio HDTV and it does anything someone could need. It's not dumbed down to only present iTunes compatible content, so you can watch any video format and even good old fashioned DVDs. Frontrow on the Mac works the same as the ATV interface so one really isn't losing anything there. I have an original ATV which I like very much, but mostly keep that with the bedroom TV where there is less space available.

XJ,

Thanks for your comments, how do you have your Mini hooked up to your TV, my bedroom TV has both HDMI and DVI, where as my TV in the lounge only has HDMI.

I figure that you can port form the Mac to DVI or to HDMI ....

Then the question begs about a remote control as ATV has one, what do you use to control your mac, or do you just go to the keyboard?

Good questions. Let me see if I can offer anything useful...

daFunkMaster said:

XJ,

Thanks for your comments, how do you have your Mini hooked up to your TV, my bedroom TV has both HDMI and DVI, where as my TV in the lounge only has HDMI.

I figure that you can port form the Mac to DVI or to HDMI ....

Click to expand...

Well, my living room 37" Visio LCD TV has 2 HDMI, a VGA and some RGB, and other sundry connections. I leave the Mini hooked up via a Mini-DVI to VGA connection and it works perfectly. I've looked around for a decent Mini-DVI to HDMI connector, but lost interest since the VGA connection is working. I haven't looked around for a year or so though, so perhaps there is something out there now that is affordable and usable. (Someone else chime in here?)

My 1st Gen ATV hooks into the 27" Vizio LCD in my bedroom via HDMI to HDMI. It works well also.

daFunkMaster said:

Then the question begs about a remote control as ATV has one, what do you use to control your mac, or do you just go to the keyboard?

Click to expand...

Most Mac's (that I'm aware of anyhow) have an IR receiver that allows you to control them via an Apple remote. The Apple Frontrow application that is included with OS X integrates well with the remote and allows you to run the Mac in pretty much the same manner as the ATV. Both interfaces are basically the same for all practical purposes.

Wicked!

I just did some googling and picked up this from Amazon:
Apple Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter cable by Neet®: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Guess I will be going down this route then, seems cheaper to achieve the same thing really ... idea was to rent movies off itunes and stream them to my TV ....

You pretty much answered everything for me, thank you very much for your time!