Apple TV: What happens now?

I've had my 40GB unit for about a year now. My thoughts:

1. Hard drive size is fine. The only things that sync to the unit itself are photos and music; I have about 7,000 photos and nearly 5,000 songs, and plenty of room. I have over 500 DVD rips on a desktop machine in another room (two 1TB drives plus one 1.5TB drive). Everything is hard-wired (i.e. no wireless) and it all runs smoothly.

2. I have no use for DVR capabilities on the ATV itself. Every satellite receiver in my house has a DVR (or two) built-in.

3. I have no use for downloading movies for a 24-hour period. I get 4-5 Netflix movies each week, which keeps me plenty busy. I occasionally watch the movie trailers, which is a nifty feature, but otherwise the online portions of this thing are worthless add-ons. The only times I listen to music on it are when I'm reading or doing something else in the background; no real need to be able to search/buy music on the TV.

4. My chief complaint is with iTunes. The tagging is hit-and-miss; sometimes files that were perfectly fine yesterday are suddenly showing up with no artwork. If iTunes isn't running, then the movie library doesn't work. If iTunes is running, then it's acting wonky (iTunes, not the ATV). Sometimes the link to the library is randomly reset.

I'd like to see the ATV be more of a stand-alone unit, without the need to connect to iTunes to function properly. I.e., I'd like to be able to tell the ATV unit that there are a zillion *.m4v files on a network hard drive, go find them and display them here. Ditto for music and photos. I'd like to see it be able to play DVD rips, complete with menus.

That's about it, really. Like I said, I'm mostly happy with mine just the way it is.

ok, no one else mentioned it, so maybe i am crazy... but if everyone wants pvr/bigger hard drive, wouldn't a cablecard/satcard capability make sense?
i'd pay good money for 1 box to do everything, 1080p, dual tuner pvr/tv, bluray/dvd, rentals, wifi enabled storage, and link to my other systems. heck, for me they wouldn't even need to do more than modify front row, i happen to like it... just it's limited.

Most of all I would love to see the movie and tv shows becoming available in mainland Europe.

It needs full HD: 1080p not just 720p. And sources for 1080p videos. The UI improvements wouldn't be a big step, but if Apple can't get to 1080p at this price point, the Apple TV has no future.

I was interested in one, but opted for an upgraded Mac mini with the Nvidia 9400 chip. That produces 1080p on my 47" LCD TV.

App Store TV and better controls.
I think these two things could really get the Apple TV to fly off the shelves.

The iPhone has fun games, elegant and informative apps (Weather, News, Stocks), communcation tools (Skype, SMS), etc. What living room couldn't benefit from this? You can hook a computer up to your TV, but it's not so elegant to deal with keyboards, mice, and small text from a distance. An App Store specifically for the Apple TV would really generate a lot of usefulness, and there are plenty of enthusiasts ready to make bad ass programs.

My ideas for improving the Apple TV (easiest/cheapest to more difficult):

1) App store!
2) A better (faster, more intuitive) remote or control scheme (voice control? click wheel? either would be a huge improvement). Also, make it metal and better looking. Bluetooth keyboard or mouse optional.
3) Webcam/Mic support for living room iChat, Photobooth and Skype.
4) Better codex support (DivX/Xvid and MKV are the MP3 of video, and MP3s are what made the iPod take off) for self-made backups. While we're at it... iTunes DVD/Blu-ray ripping for our Macs/PCs?
5) Video switching. Make it the elegant hub most H.T. setups are lacking. This would also allow for widget/app/etc. overlays, dashboard-style.
6) Make it a replacement for these P.o.S. cable box DVRs many are stuck with. Tricky, I know, but very useful. With MP3s, iTunes behaves basically the same whether we bought the music from the Store or back-uped our own CDs. But with video, we're already getting TV shows and movies from broadcast/pay TV. Don't try to force us to pay for shows we already get, at least if we can remember to DVR them. If we forget, then fine, sell us your Store content, and treat the media in the same way.

Sink or Swim
Keep improving yourself at watch what happens.

What Blockbuster are people going to that have BR discs for under $7?! HD content although not as high quality as BR is still quite a bit cheaper and the picture on my 50" plasma is fantastic. As for getting content of home movies on there it's not much more work to import into iTunes than any other format. My mino HD is very easy to convert videos and if you tag them correctly using the genre it organizes great. I love it but would like it to work a little smoother. It does tend to lock up for no reason or sometimes doesn't recognize the format and you need to reboot it.

I love my ATV. I recently applied the ATB Flash "upgrade" and it's smokin'. I've got all my DVDs ripped and all my home videos and lots of TV shows on there. I've hooked up two 1TB drives to the USB port and even a keyboard and mouse. My family can surf the web on TV. It's opened up a whole new world for my ATV. If you haven't done it, you have no idea of the potential of this thing. This is what Apple should have done. I'm sure they could clean up things a bit, but the functionality is there.

They should add more storage to the device. Allow for iPhone games to run on it, then make an iPhone app to control game play on the big screen.

Apple, call me I got good ideas! www.pocketup.com

The rentals are overpriced and so is the hardware. I will gladly take 5 minutes of my time to get a Blue Ray disc at Blockbuster or Redbox for less than Apple charges for mere HD. Apple can get away with overcharging for hardware, but content is content.