I had considered buying one a year ago and ended up going with the roku instead. I wish I had gone with the apple tv.

Any of the streaming devices will allow you to stream netflix, hulu plus and a number of other services to your tv. They vary in watch additional services they stream. Apple has its own library too-- last I knew, the library was very limited and the cost to rent was high. This may very well have changed.

What apple tv offers that the others don't is Airplay which gives you the ability to throw what's on your other apple devices (ipad, iphone, macbook, mac air, etc) onto the tv screen. This includes games, movies, videos, whatever. I talked myself out of this .. "how often would I use it?" Well, I've wanted it more often than I thought.

I use Amazon Instant Video more than Netflix or any other service and it isnt currently part of the Apple TV services, however, I can run Amazon movies on the ipad-- and then use Airplay to watch on the tv (with larger picture and surround sound).

If I had it to do over again, I'd absolutely go with Apple TV. If you don't have any other apple devices, then I'd save the money and go with Roku.

Oops.. sorry, I didnt address your technical questions. The Apple TV attaches directly to your HD tv and also uses your wireless home network. I am told (by a "genius" at the Apple Store) that the setup is incredibly easy. The Roku setup was pretty easy but I did have some issues with my wireless router that required me to change some configuration settings. I understand this is not normally required for setup.

We have one on the television in our den, so the grandkids and I can watch netflix movies.

Incredibly way to set up and use. You just have to make sure to keep up with the updates or the movies don't stream smoothly; the system tells you when it needs updating.

I've also seen some good deals recently.

Dee

It is just so tiny too! (it's the itty bitty black box on top of the cable box)

We have it and really like it. Good for netflix and youtube on the TV.

As funky said about the Airplay--The media that is on your computer on you ITunes Library can wirelessly be sent to the TV to view. So if you buy a movie on Itunes you can watch it on the TV. Play songs on a playlist through the TV and if you have a sound system attached as well. Watch video slide shows of your photos, etc. We have the apple airport for our wireless router, so I am not familiar with other setups.

Wow, it sounds like everyone on here likes this device.
I do have an apple iPad.
I will be looking into this more, sounds interesting.
So, do I have to first join net flick, then I can stream movies to my tv.
Or do I have to download them first to my computer and then to my tv.

Join Netflix. It's $8 a month

You can also watch on your phone. I watch it when I'm on the treadmill at the gym..

If your iPad has the data plan you wold be able to watch on that anywhere. Mine is the wi fi version so I need to connected o a network to watch on my I pad.

And you can also watch on our computer. 3 simultaneous users can watch different things on 1 account.

Lyban, check out the page on apple's site on the apple tv. You will see it has a simple menu system that allows you to select whatever service you want to watch from the onscreen menu. Netflix is available right from the appletv menu. (There are other services too-- like Hulu, itunes, youtube..)

Yes, you can send ANY content from your ipad to the appletv-- but you'd only want to do that for the things that arent available for the appletv.

I do sometimes watch movies directly on my ipad-- but I generally prefer the tv (with a sound bar and large screen).