Apple TV vs Airprot Express

[admin_exported]

If connecting via optical and for using for music, is there any difference in sound quality between the two devices?

Its seems better value to just buy the apple TV, don't really need the extra features, but for 10 pound more you seem to get a lot more features than could be useful down the line. Both are wireless, support airplay, and can stream music into a hi-fi system. Or am i missing something?

 

[DavieCee]

Seems like a fair summary

You may need to hook up to a TV/monitor for initial set up purposes though.

 

[amcluesent]

It's been widely reported that Apple TV resamples everything to 48Khz, which would knock on the head any chance of bit-perfect CD rips at 44.1Khz getting to your DAC.

 

[professorhat]

There are a couple of features the Airport Express provides over the Apple TV like being able to create a wireless network and being able to share a USB printer over the wireless network. Given it's just a plug, it may also be easier to hide in your setup. It is also cheaper as you've pointed out.

So it depends on your individual needs as to which is better.

 

[Anonymous]

I bought an Airport Express from Apples refurb store for £57.00 just before Christmas, it's worth checking out for bargains. It came looking as new fully packaged and is simple to set up and use.
Nick

 

[Anonymous]

Nick21:I bought an Airport Express from Apples refurb store for £57.00 just before Christmas, it's worth checking out for bargains. It came looking as new fully packaged and is simple to set up and use.
Nick
...time to update the signature then!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reminder Iggle.
Nick

 

[Helmut80]

professorhat:
There are a couple of features the Airport Express provides over the Apple TV like being able to create a wireless network and being able to share a USB hard disk / printer over the wireless network. Given it's just a plug, it may also be easier to hide in your setup. It is also cheaper as you've pointed out.

So it depends on your individual needs as to which is better.

it's the USB port for external hard disk on the AE that is the winning feature for me, as I keep my iTunes library on an external USB drive. So with an ATV I would still need the AE to access it wirelessly, if I want to avoid connecting it to my MacBook

 

[DavieCee]

Helmut80:professorhat:

There are a couple of features the Airport Express provides over the Apple TV like being able to create a wireless network and being able to share a USB hard disk / printer over the wireless network. Given it's just a plug, it may also be easier to hide in your setup. It is also cheaper as you've pointed out.

So it depends on your individual needs as to which is better.

it's the USB port for external hard disk on the AE that is the winning feature for me, as I keep my iTunes library on an external USB drive. So with an ATV I would still need the AE to access it wirelessly, if I want to avoid connecting it to my MacBook

Does that work straight out of the box or does the AE need a mod? I thought it worked for updates only.

 

[John Duncan]

Helmut80:it's the USB port for external hard disk on the AE that is the winning feature for me, as I keep my iTunes library on an external USB drive. So with an ATV I would still need the AE to access it wirelessly, if I want to avoid connecting it to my MacBook

The USB slot on an Airport Express is so that it can work as a print server - it doesn't work with external hard drives. The old Apple TV could be made to do that with a hack, the new one doesn't have USB.

EDIT - actually the new one does have a mini USB slot, but not sure whether it's been hacked sufficiently to use the slot to attach an external hard drive

 

[iMark]

DavieCee:Helmut80:professorhat:

it's the USB port for external hard disk on the AE that is the winning feature for me, as I keep my iTunes library on an external USB drive. So with an ATV I would still need the AE to access it wirelessly, if I want to avoid connecting it to my MacBook

Does that work straight out of the box or does the AE need a mod? I thought it worked for updates only.

The USB port on the AE is for printer sharing only. I don't think any mods are available for the USB port.

It seems that Apple deliberately disabled most features of the USB port of the AE. This way they are not inundated with complaints about compatibility problems with USB devices.There are however people that have succeeded in attaching a NAS to the ethernet port of the AE.

 

[axman]

As previous posters have said, the USB of Airport Express is not for external HDD.

I want to add that this feature is available on the Airport Extreme. Easy to mix up the two.

You can connect the external HDD to the iMac though. Remember that no matter what, iTunes has to be running, so plug in your HDD where it can be reached by your iMac.

 

[John Duncan]

Agreed, but the Extreme doesn't have any sort of audio capability...

 

[Helmut80]

mmm, so I am still left in the same position I don't want to be in. The only way to access separate iTunes library is to keep it on a drive that is directly linked to router with ethernet cable?

 

[paulyboy233]

I have a 1st Gen ATV (160gb) with most of my music collection on it, (which is attached wirelessly to my router) connected to an Onkyo 807 via a Cambridge Audio dac Magic. I control the tunes using the Remote app on my iphone and feed the music to a second zone into a pair of Kef iQ30's. It sound stunning, and is a relatively easy set-up.

 

[DavieCee]

paulyboy233:I have a 1st Gen ATV (160gb) with most of my music collection on it, (which is attached wirelessly to my router) connected to an Onkyo 807 via a Cambridge Audio dac Magic. I control the tunes using the Remote app on my iphone and feed the music to a second zone into a pair of Kef iQ30's. It sound stunning, and is a relatively easy set-up.

That is similar to my set up and no computer or TV required (for music) once synched. However my music is more than 160 Gb and TV/Films around the same again so I have to pick and choose what to sync.

 

[axman]

JohnDuncan:Agreed, but the Extreme doesn't have any sort of audio capability...

Yes, the Extreme is just a router. Just pointing out that the different Apple products' USB have different capabilities and quite easy to confuse which one does what.

@Helmut - might be easier if you told us what exactly you want to do.

Some basics that I experienced (others may know more):

- the benefit of NAS is that you don't need your PC to be on to access the data. However, as I mentioned above, if you are using iTunes (with Apple TV you must), then iTunes must be running on your main PC. So NAS is not beneficial, unless you are using it as a home server for everything else and not just sharing iTunes library. There are some NAS machines which claims to run an iTunes server, but so far I've heard that you still need iTunes to be running on your PC.

-sticking an external HDD to a router via USB would allow various computers/devices to access that drive. I use the apple Extreme as my router. This way, your iMac need not be on for your Macbook to access the library. However, if you want to access the library from Apple TV, your iTunes must be running, i.e., your Mac needs to be on. The benefit of using Apple Extreme is that if your iMac is in sleep mode, the Extreme can wake it up when Apple TV is calling. I am not sure if this wake-up function works with other routers.

 

[professorhat]

Thanks for the heads up guys - have edited original post to indicate only printer sharing. I thought I'd read the other day someone was using one to share a USB disk, but very possible I got confused and it was an Extreme not an Express.

 

[Helmut80]

axman:
JohnDuncan:Agreed, but the Extreme doesn't have any sort of audio capability...

Yes, the Extreme is just a router. Just pointing out that the different Apple products' USB have different capabilities and quite easy to confuse which one does what.

@Helmut - might be easier if you told us what exactly you want to do.

Some basics that I experienced (others may know more):

- the benefit of NAS is that you don't need your PC to be on to access the data. However, as I mentioned above, if you are using iTunes (with Apple TV you must), then iTunes must be running on your main PC. So NAS is not beneficial, unless you are using it as a home server for everything else and not just sharing iTunes library. There are some NAS machines which claims to run an iTunes server, but so far I've heard that you still need iTunes to be running on your PC.

-sticking an external HDD to a router via USB would allow various computers/devices to access that drive. I use the apple Extreme as my router. This way, your iMac need not be on for your Macbook to access the library. However, if you want to access the library from Apple TV, your iTunes must be running, i.e., your Mac needs to be on. The benefit of using Apple Extreme is that if your iMac is in sleep mode, the Extreme can wake it up when Apple TV is calling. I am not sure if this wake-up function works with other routers.

By the time I have completed re-ripping all my CDs in ALAC, my iTunes library will be too big for my MacBook, so I need to keep it on a separate HDD. The problem is that our router is in the corridor, not a good place to keep network storage. Ideally I would like storage that can connect the network wirelessly so I can put it anywhere ( hide behind tv or sofa).

The end product I would like is an iTunes library shared so the missus can access it from her macbook as well, that can then be streamed with airplay from any of our Macs, or the iPad to AE/ATV > DAC > Amp.

Is the easiest solution to just find a better place for the router, stick in a 2TB external and be done with it?

 

[axman]

Helmut,

Assuming that you want to have a totally standalone HDD, then you either

- find a better place for the router and stick the 2TB external to it, or

- find a 2TB that can be connected wirelessly to your router. ( I don't even know it this is available and if the performance is acceptable)

- advantage of this compared to what I will suggest below is that the "main computer" does not need to be on for other macbooks to access the library. But, if you want apple TV/Express to have access to the library, then your main computer has to be on anyway.

If your Macbook has a fixed place at home, then I would suggest that you connect the 2TB external directly to your Macbook and allow sharing of your iTunes with all other Macbooks. You can't switch off your Macbook for this to work, but manage its sleep mode instead. But then again, it needs to be on anyway as you need iTunes to be running. Probably this solution is better if you have a desktop (iMac?), which you leave in one place all the time.

 

[Helmut80]

thanks for all of that. So basically I should just by a Mac Mini as media centre that I can leave on 24/7 and forget about ATV2/AE.

 

[DavieCee]

Could a Mac Mini & external HDD serve this purpose?

Just a thought. Simpler and cheaper options are welcome

I still think that the Apple TV Mk1 is the best solution, if you can live with 160Gb.

 

[iMark]

DavieCee:
Could a Mac Mini & external HDD serve this purpose?

Just a thought. Simpler and cheaper options are welcome

I still think that the Apple TV Mk1 is the best solution, if you can live with 160Gb.

Yes it would. Any HDD attached to the Mini will be recognised. Theoratically with FireWire drives you could go up to incredible amounts of storage by daisy chaining them, a maximum of 16 unless they are AC-powered. Or even 127 HDD's through USB.

But to throw something else into the mix: the MacMini Server. Comes with 2 HDD's. The setup is probably a bit of overkill for most home users.

http://www.apple.com/uk/macmini/server/

 

[Helmut80]

iMark:DavieCee:
Could a Mac Mini & external HDD serve this purpose?

Just a thought. Simpler and cheaper options are welcome

I still think that the Apple TV Mk1 is the best solution, if you can live with 160Gb.

Yes it would. Any HDD attached to the Mini will be recognised. Theoratically with FireWire drives you could go up to incredible amounts of storage by daisy chaining them, a maximum of 16 unless they are AC-powered. Or even 127 HDD's through USB.

But to throw something else into the mix: the MacMini Server. Comes with 2 HDD's. The setup is probably a bit of overkill for most home users.

http://www.apple.com/uk/macmini/server/

how does it differ, what purpose does server software serve? I mean, in terms of functionality, regular mac mini should be fine, as long as i stick 2TB external on

 

[pwiles1968]

DavieCee:
paulyboy233:I have a 1st Gen ATV (160gb) with most of my music collection on it, (which is attached wirelessly to my router) connected to an Onkyo 807 via a Cambridge Audio dac Magic. I control the tunes using the Remote app on my iphone and feed the music to a second zone into a pair of Kef iQ30's. It sound stunning, and is a relatively easy set-up.

That is similar to my set up and no computer or TV required (for music) once synched. However my music is more than 160 Gb and TV/Films around the same again so I have to pick and choose what to sync.

I have the same, started with the AE, then this moved to the Dining Room when I picked up a 160GB ATV in the US over summer, it is fantastic.