My Thoughts on the AppleTV

ByMike Moffit

When Steve Jobs announced the new AppleTV on September 1st, 2010 I looked at my wife and said “My first free $100 is going directly to that!”  It was pretty much a no-brainer for me to get this device. I am a bit of a home theater nerd.  I am the guy people call when they need something added to their system or their TV is on the fritz.  It is a not-so-secret secret of mine that I get too excited about things like the AppleTV and SPL meters (that is a whole different article…). So, naturally, when this device was announced, it was right up my alley.

A Little Bit of AppleTV History:
The original machine was a small computer. It was cumbersome, but had a lot of the bells and whistles a computer had. It could store content on it’s hard drive and be used as what some would call a Home Theater PC.  Some problems with it were that the physical footprint of the device and the syncing that needed to go on for you to enjoy the content on your computer on your television. Also, the original AppleTV went through two versions of the user interface, a Front Row style menu system and then the more current “Take 2” menu system. Suffice to say, the first AppleTV was definitely a “hobby” for Apple.

AppleTV: The 2nd generation:
The new generation of AppleTV is not a HTPC (home theater PC), it is a streaming link between a few different sources, locally and off the web. This separates it from the previous model in a hardware and software sense. This model is about 1/4th the size of the previous generation, largely due to the lack of a hard drive and a reduction in the amount of ports on the back. It is incredibly slim and uses about 6 watts of electricity when it is fully running. That is the same as most standard CFL bulbs. The ports on the back of the device are limited to five. The inputs are only an Ethernet port and a mini-usb port, while the outputs are only HDMI and Optical Audio. There is also a power adapter port on the back to plug into your surge protector. This is a long way from the three different connection types on the previous model. Customers wanted High Def and they got it with this device. Apple also got rid of purchasing content from the AppleTV to own. Everything is rental now from that store. More on this later. The remote responsibilities are handled by a little silver remote that fits well in your hand and is incredibly easy to use. I personally like using the Remote App from the App Store (it’s free and any card carrying iDevice owner should’ve it on their iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad), to control my AppleTV because when I need a keyboard it gives me a keyboard and I do not have to scroll through the whole alphabet to search of anything.

Content for the device comes from sources from the internet and locally. From the internet you can get the entire iTunes Movie Library in HD or SD for rental only. The rentals range from $2.99 to $4.99, newer releases are always going to be the higher price point. Also, you can currently rent HD television shows from ABC and Fox for $.99. Now, this is my one gripe about the AppleTV. Not all of their shows are for rental. Modern Family is not there and right now, it is one of the best shows on television. You can also stream from Netflix, with the appropriate monthly service, and from YouTube. Netflix is worth the money just based on the television series it has on streaming alone, but it becomes incredibly user-friendly on the AppleTV. The best part about it’s connection to YouTube is that it automatically goes to the highest possible resolution for your television. So instead of some of the terrible (visual) quality YouTube videos we might see on a daily basis, the AppleTV knows you want to see the best and it displays it for you. Watch the Tron: Legacy trailer in 720p on a 42” television and tell me it doesn’t look awesome (the quality, but the movie is still going to be cool too). You can also access Flickr, a picture sharing site, the great Podcasts from iTunes and all of the internet radio stations that you would find on the iTunes Radio menu.

Where I think this AppleTV really shines is it’s ability to stream all of your iTunes content from a computer using iTunes 10 to your television. With Airplay taking over for Airtunes, Apple has worked it out to get all of the TV Shows, Movies, Music and Photos from your computer onto your big screen. So even if you can’t rent the show and you want purchase it from the iTunes store, you can still watch it on your television. Alas, until the other networks jump on board, this is how we are going to have to wait to watch shows using only our AppleTV, instead of the dreaded cable companies. The next big thing about this AppleTV is the addition of Airplay to the iDevices. Anything that you can play on your iDevice that is running iOS 4.2 (releasing sometime this month) is going to be able to be streamed directly to your AppleTV. This is not just iTunes content, but also web video. The possibilities are almost endless with the amount of web content out there that will be able to be steamed to your TV with this new feature.

The best test in the world was when my wife was home alone one day and she wanted to be able to watch a movie we had on our computer. She didn’t even need to call me because she figured out the AppleTV pretty quickly and was on her way to streaming all kinds of great content to our living room. I can see a lot of great possibility out of this little device, especially with the ability to stream content from your devices to your television. It also makes me wonder what exactly could be down the road for the 2nd generation AppleTV, because with it’s iOS roots there is a ton of development possibility. I would highly recommend this device to anyone that wanted to quickly and simply add a lot of great functionality to their television.

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