Questions about the Apple TV? Get them answered here.

Myself, I canceled the cable years ago. $100/month strikes me as extortionate. The only downside for me is that I miss CNN & MSNBC. Even though the same news can be found on the web instantly, shows like Anderson Cooper appear a day later.

Otherwise, between Netflex, iTunes, Hulu, and others, there is more online streaming digital entertainment these days than any one person could possibly ever watch. True, you have to wait a day for the latest Downton Abbey to appear on pbs.org and sometimes a year or more for the newest HBO or Showtime series. Meanwhile there is certainly plenty to watch, and for me, the benefits of being able to watch whatever I want whenever I want far outweigh not being up to speed for chat on the hot show of the moment.

The only other possible drawback is that it does require some elementary technical common sense to either match-up the appropriate hardwired connections (HDMI vs, VGA or DVI, for example) or to pair up the wireless wifi connections if your TV is equipped for that.

AppleTV makes it dead easy for iTunes content, which while extensive can also get spendy fast if you watch a lot of it. Venturing outside the iTunes eco-system is of course entirely possible, but not totally intuitive if you are not mildly computer literate.

Myself, despite having a wifi-enabled TV, I've found it simplest to hardwire a Mac Mini to both the big flat screen AND my sound system, which gives me access to absolutely everything, along with the option to easily switch to web browsing to check my email, phone messages or the online news headlines via wireless keyboard and trackpad.

You can use your (new-ish) iPad the same way. I'm just fond of a real keyboard.

Bottom line, a minor learning curve is well worth $1,200 (or more!) per year. Also, depending on where you live, it might be worthwhile to make an under $100 investment in an antenna to pick-up the HD network content still broadcast for free over the air. Good luck!

• Answered by Gordon S from Mill Valley
• 12-Feb-2013
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If you subscribe to the iTunes Match service ($25/year) then yes.

• Answered by Hamza R from Calgary
• 18-Oct-2012
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When you have your Apple TV turned on, just double click on your iphone 5's home button, then swipe all the way to the right. Select airplay mirroring. This should work because I have an iphone 5 and the latest Apple TV

• Answered by Trisin R from Ely
• 03-Dec-2012
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Answer is Yes. I do this as all my movies and music are stored on an external hard drives: What you need to do is open iTunes, make some folders called say, Movies new, Movie old etc. Then open the Hard drive with the movies stored and just drag each item you ant stored into the iTunes folder you created.
Then they will show up as folders in the Apple TV (Your computer) movies menu.
We have over 300 movies and videos available on our Apple TV using this method.
Hope the helps.
Pak frank
Bali Indonesia

• Answered by Frank W from Frankston South
• 27-Sep-2012
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