Kind of funny how things go in a circle. After getting Netflix (finally!) we've ended up using the Apple TV much much more. The Netflix app on the Boxee Box is slower to load and is not as pretty as the other. While we enjoy streaming on the Boxee Box the fact that it doesn't have out of the box ir and is more coupled with the Netflix app, my family abandoned me with it.
So in order to make life simpler I've been making Apple compliant files of all our videos. The DVD's were no problem: Handbrake on the Apple TV 2 setting. Then there were my recordings from my HDPVR. Those were all at 720P and 60fps. The Apple TV 2 profile in Handbrake converts to 29.97 fps which caused stuttering on playback. I eventually realized this and adjusted the fps to same as source. We still have an occasional playback audio synch issue or skipped frame, but letting the entire movie buffer up seems to help.
If I could have found a way to remux my files into mp4v easily I would've been happier. Mac's have a program called Subler that looks like it might've worked if I didn't live in a PC world.
Anyways, I followed the setup featured on the HTGuys.com website for the Apple TV movie server and now the family is happily watching their movies again.
Me, I'm eyeing one of those WDTV boxes to try out.
