- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 31 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Great things come in small, sleek packages"
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.
- 1 reply to this review
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Thanks for the review. I was wondering, could you elaborate a little more on the video quality of the tv shows downloaded from Itunes? I think this was the one issue (in addition to lack of 5.1 sound) that is keeping me on the fence.
Where to buy
Apple TV (160GB):
$229.00 - $230.73
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$229.00 | Yes |
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$229.00 | Yes |
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$229.99 | Yes |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$230.73 | Yes |
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$229.00 | Yes |
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