Hi Stephen,

 

I think it will all depend on what you want to watch, how you want to watch it 
and how many times you want to watch it.

 

Back in the day I had a DVD player and an Apple TV (whatever version sold in 
late 2010) hooked up to my TV.

 

Once the initial enthusiasm for playing with the Apple TV wore off, I found 
that I rarely used it – it seemed to be too much hard work and very limited 
viewing options at the time. I am aware that the viewing options will have 
increased exponentially in the last 9 years but I never got around to hooking 
it up to my new (4 year old?) TV and never find myself with so little to view 
to warrant dusting it off.

 

Similarly, I bought lots of DVDs full of enthusiasm for the opportunity to have 
collections of movies & TV series on tap to view at my convenience.  Even 
though it is many years since I bought the last one, many are still unwatched 
and almost none would have been watched multiple times.

 

For a while I used an Eye TV to record programs and have an archive of these – 
but again some are still unwatched and I can’t remember the last time I browsed 
this.

 

For a while (pre Smart TV) I had a system whereby I could download iView 
programs and built a good archive of some of my favourites – but, again, I 
cannot remember the last time I browsed it.

 

The major game changer for me was the combination of a Smart TV and an internet 
plan giving me up to 500GB/ month for less than my old 10GB plan!

 

Our TV viewing now includes very little direct TV broadcast. Nearly all our 
viewing would be iView and SBS on demand. We do not subscribe to any paid 
streaming services.

 

Recently I have been finding less good viewing on iView but this has been more 
than covered by the expanding SBS offerings. I find I periodically browse the 
offerings and add anything that appeals to my “my favourites”. When I sit down 
to watch TV I can then go to “my favourites” and quickly choose a 
movie/program/series which suits my mood/time available. Once watched I will 
remove it from my favourites.

 

My main problem seems to be adding more programs to favourites than I actually 
have time to watch  ;o)

 

Of course, my viewing habits/taste are probably a long way from the Australian 
norm – no sport for starters and a predilection for foreign language film & TV 
series.

 

With more specific focus on your question – I would suggest thinking about how 
much content you need to store:
Temporarily, until your viewing convenience.
As a library to be visited and re-visited.
 

If you do have the requirement for a substantial video library, one way to do 
it is to use a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device – as with all storage, 
these seem to be getting cheaper all the time.

 

One other consideration is that many NAS can be set-up to be stand-alone media 
servers – always accessible over your network without needing to fire up your 
computer – the idea being that your smart TV gets the content directly from the 
NAS.

 

I believe a NAS media server can offer the simplest operation – once it is all 
correctly set-up – but you would need to research systems and confirm 
compatibility for your particular TV.

 

 

Just some thoughts.

 

 

 

Neil

-- 

Neil R. Houghton

Albany, Western Australia

Tel: +61 8 9841 6063

Email: n...@possumology.com

 

 

From: <wamug.org.au-wamug-boun...@lists.wamug.org.au> on behalf of Stephen 
Chape <chap...@bigpond.com>
Reply-To: WAMUG <wamug@wamug.org.au>
Date: Saturday, 20 July 2019 at 16:35
To: WAMUG <wamug@wamug.org.au>
Subject: Apple TV 4K - possible new model in September

 

Hi folks.

 

I am keen to move on from my Gen 2 Apple TV.

I have an LG 4K UHD Television that is not yet being utilised for UHD.

 

I came close to buying an Apple TV 4K about a month ago.

But then saw rumours that a next Gen 4K may be released about September.

Around the time that Apple TV Plus is released.

 

Has anyone heard any more about this please ?

 

Also I cannot decide if I should buy a UHD Disk Player and begin replacing my 
BluRay Disks with UHD Disks.

Or wait for a possible next Gen Apple TV and download UHD Movies from iTunes 
instead.

 

I guess if I go down the iTunes path I may need to move my iTunes Library to an 
external drive.

Because my iMac has an internal 500GB SSD that will soon fill up.

 

Any thoughts would be most welcome please.


Regards,
Stephen Chape

 

 

 

 

 

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