Roku or Apple TV?

I updated my MacBook to Mountain Lion this week and so far, so good. There is definitely a theme of unification between OSX and iOS with the Apploids newest release.

Notification center, the cloud, reminders and notes all play nicely at the OS level with Mountain Lion. The killer feature though may be AirPlay.

I spent the last hour restoring my Jailbroken Apple TV to its pristine original software state so I could play with that feature. I did because my middle daughter had just gotten back from a mission trip out of the country and she desperately wanted to catch up on the Batchelorette. Yeah, I know, no accounting for taste, but when you live in the estrogen zone like I do (three daughters, a wonderful wife and female dog) sometimes the wisest thing is to roll your eyes and acquiesce.

Being able to push everything on your computer screen to your big home display device wirelessly makes the connection between computer and entertainment much more elegant.

I have been able to mirror from an iOS device for awhile, but I am cheap and I wont pay for Hulu Plus AND Netflix so watching TV shows that we have missed around here has come down to being a computer task. Not too great if it is more than one person watching. Also, if Hulu is going to make me watch commercials anyway why would I want to pay for their services?

A couple of clicks and whatshername is breaking whosits heart on national TV. Not my cup of TV but it made my daughter happy and that is definitely a daddy’s job! I like to make my girls happy!

I have an Apple TV upstairs and a Roku downstairs (note the $5 bribe on that link!) and until today they were pretty neck and neck. Setup for both was easy…the Roku was a little cheaper and has 1080P output, the Apple TV could mirror my iPad and iPhone.

This however changes the game if you are a Mac owner. My dependence on the cable company for anything other than a fast internet connection is waning.

I wonder how long it will take them to plug this hole?