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Comment by citricsquid | Hacker News Reader

Not related to the subject matter, but I bought an Apple TV just after the new generation was released (last week) and it is probably the best purchase I've made for my media set up. The ability to just play stuff straight from itunes on my display device (projector) wirelessly is amazing. Really cool piece of technology, which I had never heard about before I went looking for it. Apple TV seems very under advertised / talked about.

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XBMC supports Airplay too - which seems to be even more under advertised. I only discovered this last week and have been enjoying it ever since.

Does it support AirPlayed video content, or just audio?

Supports audio and non-drmed video

It supports Airplay but not mirroring, which is unique to the latest AppleTV.

My guess is XBMC will add this soon. AirServer has mirroring support now (Mac OS X AirPlay server): http://www.airserverapp.com/

I really like mine as well, but for most people it's probably not the best streaming box on the market. I also have a Boxee for the codecs AppleTV doesn't support, and when I bought a streamer for my inlaws as a Christmas gift the Boxee is what I got them. It even does Airplay in the latest firmware.

I don't understand the love that boxee is getting. I also have one and it's a terrible device (albeit just cheap enough that some people might ignore the flaws).

It's loud, it's slow, the UI is pretty bad and unpolished. Sometimes it boots to a black screen or locks up randomly. Heck, 1 out of 5 times it doesn't even shutdown (just hangs on a black screen infinitely).

These are all documented issues (and really only the tip of the iceberg) that have gone unfixed for years.

As I said, I've got an AppleTV and the Boxee. The AppleTV is the one I prefer to use - the interface is the nicest of any streaming box I've used so far. Unfortunately, it really doesn't play anything except h.264. The Boxee is basically there to play whatever the AppleTV can't handle, and at that it excels. I rarely encounter a file Boxee isn't capable of decoding. The interface isn't the greatest, but having come from a cheap Popcorn Hour knock-off, it's certainly better than a lot of its competitors.

I still like Plex over Apple TV, but I also use a mini as my HTPC. Maybe Apple will buy them.

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