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"Good Ludite-friendly last-six-feet device" on by Scott Gardener
Pros: Extremely simple and elegant setup and use, Does what it's supposed to do extremely well
Cons: Lower resolution and lack of surround sound contradict its high-def-only connectivity
Summary: This is definitely a niche product. It's an Apple product, and thus it's got its own cult following. But, unlike the iPod or iPhone, Apple TV has been largely panned by the tech critics, some even branding it "one of the worst products of 2007." This is extremely undeserved, because for all its faults, Apple TV does an excellent job at doing what it's supposed to do--which basically is to serve up to your TV anything that iTunes can play on your computer. Most of the complaints are about what it can't do. But, what it does do, it does do well. To that end, its a good device, and it deserves better to be put anywhere near to a Coby mp3 player or Windows Millennium Edition. (I think of how Starship's "We Built This City" has been similarly misclassified as the "worst song ever" by people who have never listened to garage bands, or for that matter obviously haven't been listening to the radio lately. Two words: "Ashlee Simpson.")
It can render putting an iPod on your home theater system obsolete. It's an excellent mp3 music jukebox, and at 160 Gigabites in this model, chances are, you can put your entire music library on it.
I grant that its video playback is a bit limited in quality. I'll be the first to admit that it's particularly odd that its video output is limited to component or HDMI, implying that it's meant to plug into a big screen HDTV; whereas its content from iTunes generally displays at 480p, with compression artifacts at that, in two channel sound. Still, $2 for a TV show episode is not bad, considering that you own it instead of renting. And, Apple TV can import a few select formats of external video. It does show still-frame JPEGs, and for those, having 1080i does make an actual difference. (Note that Apple TV lacks 1080p, but interlacing is not really an issue with still frames.) It also does a pretty decent job of upscaling and cleaning up YouTube downloads. (Though you can only scrub a wet dog so much before realizing the funny smell is not coming out completely, no matter what.)
There are other media servers available. (My Apple TV is sitting directly underneath a Playstation 3. A simple forthcoming hard drive swap should make it an even bigger media server.) But, the elegant point-and-shoot simplicity makes Apple TV a great device to add to a home theater unobtrusively while giving the less technically inclined in your household a way to enjoy the stuff you watch on your computer and a way for both of you together to watch iTunes content on a screen bigger than an iPod.
Also note that the box includes a tiny remote, a power cord, a brief instruction manual, and that's about it. You will have to provide your own component and audio cables, or your own HDMI cable. The remote is a welcome change from yet another fifty buttons or so; it's got six buttons, five of which are arranged around a quasi-iPod menu-driven play/stop/REW/FF. It did take me a little while to figure out how to turn it off without unplugging it. (press and hold the middle "play" button for several seconds)Updated
Though I'm not officially able to change a rating, if the update goes without a hitch, I could find myself recommending this product much more heavily, as the forthcoming software upgrade is likely to make this a considerably more useful device. Of course, I'll have to reserve judgement until the update actually comes out. But, Apple's track record for stability and reliability has been above average, so I'm pretty excited. I'll post additional comments once I actually have the update.Updated
The firmware upgrade is a huge improvement in functionality, as now, in case you haven't already heard, Apple TV can be used to rent movies online, in high def no less. Suddenly, the HDMI connector actually makes sense. This also implies that one might soon be able to buy HD movies for keepers as well, providing the first real-world substance to the often-speculated premise that "Blu-Ray is already obsolete, as movies are about to attain enlightenment and transcend need for a physical medium, being instead purchased and downloaded as pure energy." Since HD rentals are already real, Apple TV already beats the local video store in terms of convenience, and it knocks the socks off my local cable company--which isn't really saying much, since they, lacking any on-demand offerings what-so-ever, suck.
Without repeating what you've already read elsewhere, I'll discuss some findings of my own.
The update itself took about ten minutes and involved two reboots. Afterwards, the menu system is slightly different, but it's still intuitive and Apple-easy. The gripes I've read elsewhere about actions once being one click now requiring two are from my end pretty trivial, as the new menu system keeps things pretty straight-forward and easy even with the added new functionality. I was also pleased to see support for 1080p resolution added, which I promptly took.
To try it out I rented a movie I had been wanting to see, "Alien Vs. Predator." I didn't watch it right away, instead putting it on the drive to be seen later, so I didn't have a chance to test the reported "start watching within so many minutes." Playback was smooth, and the sound was good, though I was limited by my own home theater system to the TV speakers, so a true test of audio channels is unavailable to me. In terms of picture quality, it was noticably better than DVDs upscaled through my PS3 console on the same TV, and it blew out of the water standard-def TV shows I had downloaded and watched on Apple TV prior to the update. (Standard definition picture quality remains the same after the update, by the way, with negligible improvement with the switch from 1080i to 1080p.) It was still less than watching uncompressed Blu-Ray content from my PS3. Compression artifacts were visible in a few places--usually nearly solid-colored areas such as large expanses of snow (the movie is set in Antarctica), where color gradient lines are visible. It was generally not distracting, though, and the sharp detail compared to DVD more than made up for this effect.
All in all, it's a great device, and the 40 Gig model is a worthwhile consideration to someone who wants to rent movies and doesn't need a media server. It was a nice niche product before the update, but afterwards, it's a serious contender for the living room, especially if your cable or satellite's on demand service is lacking or absent altogether, or if you for one reason or another have no TV service but somehow none-the-less have broadband Internet. -
"Great things come in small, sleek packages" on by g8rdmd
Pros: Easy setup, wide variety of uses, quick and easy to use
Cons: Video looks less-than-sharp, MUST use iTunes
Summary: I don't think Apple is the best computer company in the world, nor do I think Microsoft is. I think each does it's own things well. Just like I enjoy the PS3, XBox 360 and Wii...I don't like to just jump on one bandwagon and ride along--I think each company's technology is great for certain things. (So please, Apple bashers keep your opinions to yourselves. And likewise to the Apple-is-superior camp...)
That being said, Apple hit one out of the park with the Apple TV. I have the 160GB version, but from what I understand, the 40GB is different only in capacity. Of course, being from Apple, the box, packaging and the device itself are very minimalist, sleek and modern. Set-up was a snap--connect the power cable, connect the HDMI cable and then give it the password to your wireless router. That's it. Seriously. Once it's online, launch iTunes and the Apple TV will give you a code to input into your computer to sync. It begins working without you even asking it to. I synced my entire library (>30GB) which took quite some time (bonus is that the Apple TV supports 802.11 N, which made the transfer quicker).
Once everything is synced to the internal hard drive, you don't have to have your computer running to play your library. Or, you can stream from your computer.
It will play anything from music to movies to TV shows or music videos. The video quality leaves some to be desired, hence the one point deduction in my score--but really, I didn't buy it to be a dedicated movie server.
The only other downside (debateable)is that it runs exclusively off iTunes. I already had an iPod and all of my media was in iTunes, so it wasn't a big deal. I think iTunes is a good media library program with a slick interface, especially if you have all your album artwork in place.
It is extremely fast and reliable thus far. I had been using a Roku Soundbridge before this and the Apple TV could run circles around it's accessing speed. Also, the Roku would routinely lose the connection with my computer--the Apple TV hasn't lost the connection yet.
And finally, as an added bonus, I performed a firmware update and can now access YouTube directly from the Apple TV menu. Not that I'm a huge YouTube user, but it's pretty cool having access to all that content on my home theater.
Sorry for the long-winded review, there's just a lot to say. I'm sure I've forgotten some things anyway. Feel free to add or to disagree. But please, don't drive down the ratings by bashing it simply becuase you hate Apple. -
"Better than described" on by paulcgraves
Pros: excellent video and audio quality, streaming video, mulitple itunes libraries
Cons: remote is small with few buttons, does not accept all video files
Summary: I have quite a few DVDs (about 800 at last count) and I've been looking for an easier way to manage them. I purchased a large HD and I ripped the DVD using handbrake (free). Half of them were ripped using H.264 and the rest were regular .MP4 files. The apple TV prefers the H.264, but it played the MP4s just fine. I was able to load all of the movies on the HD and reference them in itunes (by unchecking the copy to itunes box in preferences) so that they loaded onto the box (or at least 150 of them). The remainder will stream on demand. The Apple TV upconverts the video files to 1080i and they look great on my 60 inch TV. I love having all of my music as well, and if I want I can stream music or radio as well. It is a very simple, impressive audio and video solution.
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"tried 2 different machines... no go" on by justbane
Pros: I could not find any
Cons: The thing just wouldn't work. And I tried 2 of them.
Summary: Get this right. I love apple. I own all apple products (ipods and multiple machines) I keep my software up to date. I keep my hardware up to date (as money allows) I purchased the first of 2 AppleTV and upon connecting to the tv all seems ok.
But when I tried to connect to my Computer my iTunes (fully up to date 7.3.1) would not see the device... so I figure its the wireless, I set it up hardline through the router... still nothing. I try all manner of troubleshooting from the apple help to the apple site, reinstalling applications, I even get online and browse the net for possible fixes... none worked.
So I returned the first and exchanged it for a new one... same story.
Bottom line for me... keep looking. cause AppleTV is not the answer.
I am very disappointed in both the product and the available support. -
"If you use ITunes regularly this is great" on by cmon11ey11
Pros: Rental Movies, TV Shows, Pictures, Syncing with ITunes
Cons: Waiting for a bigger catalog
Summary: I love the new Apple TV. My main concerns before buying were a these. Would the old standard def. shows I had purchased over the years look good. My only experience with Apple TV 1.0 was at the Apple store. The TV shows looked horrible. Now they look great at least as good as standard def cable if not better. Could my basic Time Warner Cable high speed connection download high def. movies. The answer is yes I usually give it about 5 minutes to download before watching. Apple TV says I can watch after about 90 seconds but we caught up to the download at the end of Pirates. Granted that movie is almost 3 hours long. I am using an 802.11B router so nothing special here. The standard def. stuff is fine, it is available for watching in about 30 secs. and I never catch up to the download when watching. Next I love having all my pictures 1500 of them on the box to watch on the TV with my playlist going in the back ground. The pictures look incredible on the big screen. Syncing with the ITunes on the computer is great also. The only thing I would want is more content available on Itunes but I know that will come. Oh the High def. quality is not blue ray quality but pretty much as good as high def. cable. I am not a videophile but the quality is great for me, and the 5.1 surround sound is great coming out of my Onkyo receiver. All in all I would highly recomend this product to anyone who uses Itunes on a regular basis. Also I will never buy a blue ray player, or another DVD.
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