I Was a Apple Tech Support Nightmare.

[Kathryn]

Sorry Apple. I think I loose my Nerd status on this one.

Thank you to my sons for getting me a wonderful Christmas gift of an Apple TV. I spend Christmas, and the day after, at work, Bummer. But, it was much less a bummer since my boys drove down to my station and spent the day with me and my Bo at the station. My boys know that anything that comes in an Apple box is a fantastic gift for me. They made me the proud owner of an Apple TV, and I couldn't wait to play with it and see what it could do.

I didn't have composite cables to hook it up with so I used 2 sets of RCA cables. I got it working and was presented with beautiful color graphics that end with the Apple symbol. I tried and tried to get it to connect to the web but the local internet I connect to down there is an 'employee's' internet and it has a start page that you must 'click to continue' to get access past this page and onto the internet. Well, I couldn't get access to this 'click' because there is no web browser on the Apple TV. So, access denied. Bummer. I had to wait until I got home to play with my new toy.

Once home, my son had it connected, but he had no success in getting it to work. I tried as well, but didn't get any type of response with the HDMI connection. We had some success with the RCA cables, but I was determined to connect it with HDMI. After all, Apple TV is HD, my TV is HD, why not use both to their fullest capabilities, right? I tried moving it to different HDMI locations, tried turning both off and then on. Rebooted the Apple TV, etc., until I was getting irked and frustrated.

Then, I resorted to calling Apple Tech Support. The second thing they suggested, after asking how it was connected was, "do you have another HDMI cable." I instantly realized I hadn't followed the proper steps in troubleshooting. I heard my inner monolog whisper to me, "Duh! You just lost your Nerd points! You are now demoted to "Tech Support Pain in the Arse status!" That ranks me right up there with those who can't get it to work because it's not plugged in. Well, maybe one level above.

After finding that my new HDMI cables were bad, and using the ones connecting my DVD player, the Apple TV worked like a charm.

[Umpiremac]

I too took the plunge and bought a new TV and a apple TV for a family christmas gift, I thought I was just falling under the distortion field and felt myself to be forced to do so. After getting it set up I now find myself falling asleep in the recliner and getting a stiff back from doing so on the weekends. I really like this new toy. Have bought a new hard-drive to move my itunes to for it and am busy copying my dvd's to mp4's for the living-room's use. I hope you enjoy yours as mush :)

[Wholly Mindless]

The scariest thing for me here was this statement:

I didn't have composite cables to hook it up with so I used 2 sets of RCA cables.

RCA cables (The Yellow, Red and White) ARE composite cables.

But I do agree that a new HDMI cable shouldn't have been bad. What do they cost? $100? (Unless you don't fall for it and buy from a good place like Monoprice.com (you have checked Monoprice when buying cables, right?)

I am glad that you managed to get it working!

[Kathryn]

Ya got me there, they are composite cables. But, I always consider the set of red, white and yellow, to be RCA cables, and the ones with the 5 or 6 different colors to be composite cables.

And, yep, I do love my Apple TV, it is a great way to have access to your computer media on your TV, plus, endless entertainment from youtube, not to mention the movie rentals. Yep, it is way too easy to find yourself in the recliner at 0300 saying, Ok, one more movie trailer, or one more stupid youtube video then I'll go to bed.