Help with understanding storage

[MrTofu]

I am a bit lost when it comes to issue of storage and the Apple TV. I did a quick search on the iTunes Store and found the entire Star Wars collection in HD was almost 30 GB. Am I missing something or can only about 6 movies (probably less with what you get out of the box) be downloaded onto the 32GB Apple TV? Sorry if these are newbie questions but this would be my first Apple TV. I am primarily looking to use it for renting movies from iTunes, perhaps some music streaming, some apps. But thought it would be neat to store digital copies of movies on here. But only about 6 movies for the 32GB model? I'm sure I don't have this right...

 

[pkcable]

Movies are quite large in size, but 30GBs for the Star Wars collection while MAYBE correct is atypical, so you can probably count on storing more than 6 movies. HOWEVER as I said movies can be quite large. The movies I download tend to be about .5 GBs to 1.5 GBs depending on quality. The Star Wars collection may be including LOTS and LOTS of extras, and little or no compression. Your first idea of renting, and streaming and watching on demand content is really what the Apple TV is designed for and is much better at. It can also be used to display your ipad or Mac's screen on your TV, which can be handy at times also. It's really not designed to be a storage device for a movie collection, BUT you can store a few movies. IF you want a movie collection you might want to invest in a Network Storage drive. (The Apple TV should be able to play movies from the Network drive)

 

[MrTofu]

Thanks for the reply! Would the airport drives that Apple sells be considered a network drive? Or can I download content from the iTunes Store on my computer/external hard drive and some how stream them through the Apple TV?

 

[pkcable]

Thanks for the reply! Would the airport drives that Apple sells be considered a network drive? Or can I download content from the iTunes Store on my computer/external hard drive and some how stream them through the Apple TV?

Yes to both questions! However to share the content on your harddrive you will need to make some settings tweaks most likely on your PC or Mac, BUT the airport is designed for sharing.