"The revolution will be televised". So says Apple, in its overly hyperbolic fashion about its latest product, the Apple TV. With the Apple TV, the company is trying to stamp its name on digital video the way that it has digital music. If Apple is expecting to start a revolution in the same way that the iPod did, it needs to make it a hell of a lot better than this.
Design
For anyone familiar with the Mac mini or the Airport Extreme there will be no surprises as to the shape of the Apple TV. In fact, when the Airport Extreme first arrived we initially mistook it for the Apple TV. It's roughly 20cm by 20cm and 3cm in height. It's an amalgam of plastic and metal with a rubberized base. Build quality, as you'd expect from Apple, is exceptional.
The Apple TV also ships with the old faithful Apple remote with its iPod-style navigation and Menu button. Unlike the PlayStation 3 it's still infrared, so you can program it into your universal remote for convenience's sake.
Being that it is a home theatre device, the Apple TV features a full complement of outputs, including component, optical, HDMI and stereo RCA. Don't think about getting this device if you only have a composite or S-Video connection on your TV -- it simply won't work. There is a USB port onboard, but strangely this isn't for connecting the iPod -- which seems an obvious thing to do -- but for external hard drives and USB keys. Finally, rounding out the connectivity options are a draft-N adaptor and a LAN port.
The Apple TV's Front Row software is one of the best looking media managers we've seen.
Features
The Apple TV has a narrow selection of supported formats, which is one of the main issues with this device. It'll support a few different flavours of MP4, including H.264, as well as supporting MP3 and AAC. The problem with this device is that Apple's other product -- the iPod -- was an MP3 player first, and AAC and the iTunes were a logical next step. It took what was a popular music format and took it beyond the PC in a very successful way; The Apple TV is hindered because it is trying to go the other way: take a moderately successful, region-locked video store and bring it to your TV. And it's trying to do so with its own proprietary video formats. It's doomed to fail because it doesn't use the most popular video format -- DiVX -- at the heart of it. Have the advances made by EMI and Steve Jobs himself meant nothing? DRM doesn't work.
But it's not all bad news -- with its black and white interface the Apple TV (Front Row) software is one of the most dynamic and pleasing GUIs available. It's stylish in every way you expect Apple to be. It's also intuitive, but that said, it's not as simple to use as the iPod.
For all intents and purposes the Apple TV is a hobbled Mac mini; it features a modified version of OSX designed to run Apple's media centre software, Front Row; an NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 for video; an 802.11n (draft) wireless card; and a low-power Intel processor. The Apple TV's credentials have even inspired a whole community of users dedicated to converting the device into a computer -- with varying degrees of success.
Performance
Before you can start synching your iTunes library you first need to connect to your network. You can use either the draft-N wireless connection or the Ethernet port. For a truly stable and secure connection use Ethernet, but if your router is close by a wireless connection should be OK. To set-up either choose Settings from the menu and either "Configure Wireless" or "Configure TCP/IP". Both options are easy to use -- as long as you know your wireless settings. The next part isn't as easy, however.
Clicking the Apple TV icon and entering the code syncs the two.
While this five-digit code appears on your TV, the Apple TV device will also appear in your iTunes.
To sync your Apple TV with your iTunes, you navigate to the main menu and select Sources -> Connect To New iTunes. This brings up a five digit code on both your screen and your iTunes. The Apple TV device will appear in your iTunes "Devices" list while these numbers are onscreen, but at NO OTHER TIME. Not even after you've synched them together. This can make it frustrating to set-up and use if your PC is in another room -- as presumably it would be. However, once synched you won't have to worry about it again.
If you want to use the device by itself, and not rely on your iTunes library being open all the time, you can synch the content across to the Apple TV. This is time consuming though: it took six hours to synch 30GB of music via a draft-N wireless connection.
We also showed the Apple TV where our collection of TV shows and video clips was, and from the dozens of DivX and MP4 files available it only liked two -- a little disappointing. But once your content is on there -- whether video or audio -- the performance is quite good. Sound is quite decent, and equal to the Media Centre PC we were using to sync the Apple TV with, even when using the analog outs. Of the two film clips we could view, the quality was good despite their compressed nature.
In addition, you can also synch the iPod to your photo gallery, but for PC it uses a really obscure method, being Adobe Photoshop Elements, instead of iTunes own Photo library. Despite our best efforts, and following the manual to the letter, we weren't able to upload any photos to the Apple TV.
The "killer app", as far as Australia is concerned, is the ability to download film trailers -- certainly not as cool as the US's TV shows or movies, but still saves you the hassle of visiting the Apple Web site. Video quality was dependent on the original trailer, but in most cases it was very watchable.
One thing we didn't appreciate though, was the inability to make playlists -- either on the fly or otherwise -- which is a great pity, because this is one of the greatest strengths of the iPod. You can still make them in iTunes and transfer them, if you can be bothered.
To make Apple TV truly compelling, Apple needs to remove its reliance on a Mac or PC altogether. It can already download trailers from the Apple Web site, all it needs to do now is connect to an iPod.
In the States, this may be a more immediately satisfying product, but the fact is that the Apple TV does very little and does so at a relatively high cost. The Xbox 360 Core is only AU$50 more than this device and, when coupled to your Windows XP Media Centre or Windows Vista Premium PC, performs all the same functions -- as well as play DVDs and Guitar Hero!
350-030
27/03/2008, 06:22 AM
rating
9/10
Must say it has really great interface and design.
Cons: one thing is that it cann't play DVD.
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Gary
07/01/2008, 09:44 AM
rating
8/10
Music and photo capabilities are excellent and reasonable intuitive.
Pros: Music and Photo importing and usage
Cons: The dinosaur movie industry needs to join the rest of the world and desist with their annoying, restrictive practices. The music industry has grown up, the movie folks are pathetic. This device could easily stream my purchased dvds to the screen if the movie bozos had clue about marketing.
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goddamit
07/11/2007, 04:11 PM
rating
9/10
Very easy to use, manages music, videos(HD) with ease. Only outputs 720 lines of res though. 1080 would be nicer. Only 2 channel stero sound though very good quality as per the source. The 160gb with wireless network is a great size.
Pros: Easy music & video interface.
Sets up like itunes.
Cons: Only 720 lines max to output.
Must save videos as apple tv to work flawlessly.
A good amp is needed to great a matrix surround effect for music in a theatre.
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canberra_photographer
03/11/2007, 03:45 PM
rating
7/10
I think too many people are looking at the Apple TV as Apple's answer to the Media Centre PC. A computer with music library, DVD and DVR functionality. It's not, nor was it ever meant to be.
It's an iPod for the television. And if you have an iPod with heaps of music that you'd love to listen to on your home theater system, then the Apple TV is great. Great sound quality and intuitive design coupled with easy setup in a compact package. YouTube access is useless but podcasting is great with SD and HD vodcasts from National Geographic, ESPN, ABC and cNet a nice addition.
Also great is the photo slideshow function, never have family slideshows looked better.
It's simple, costs as much as an iPod Touch and does what it does perfectly and intuitively. In other words, it's a focused device that works great.
Pros: Great sound and image quality, responsive, intuitive interface, easy to use and set up
Cons: YouTube is useless, limited video format support, it gets hot but hasn't burnt my furniture yet.
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Smooth operatoe
08/09/2007, 02:20 PM
rating
4/10
Apple TV that cant receive TV reception!. . Can't play DVD unless you ripped your DVD to your PC!(Why?). Towatch TV you need to record on your PC before you can stream it ( How in convenience!). Of course all the Apple die hard will say all this is great. Little did they know that there are other device that already can receive and record HD TV with dual tuners, Stream almost all video and music files from the PC, play DVD, all in one device.
Pros: it's less than $500.
Cons: cant play DVD.
Cant play DVIX.
Cant receive and record live TV
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jamesrouse
22/08/2007, 09:55 AM
rating
3/10
Cannot believe video clips can't be shuffled, or played continuosly.
Pros: Good user interface.
Cons: Video clips can't be shuffled or played continuously.
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SteveB
13/08/2007, 06:03 PM
rating
8/10
This a pre-eminantly Apple invention. Specifications are very average, but it does stuff, easily, with little or no fuss and no noise.
Combined with EyeTV on my mac I can view the little TV content I'm interested in, at a time that suits. Audio quality is great, and my CD/DVD collection is now available without needing to find who in our house has got the disk.
Pros: Good interface.
Silent operation.
Everyone in the house can drive it easily.
Cons: Integration with TV tuner would be nice.
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Mr Me
27/07/2007, 05:07 PM
rating
9/10
i am not a fan of apple but since getting my apple tv i have used it regularly. Some may make the mistake of it being a limited media player and expensive ipod, however i suggest it is the poor content available that makes such a situation thinkable. With improved content such as they get in the states there is no doubt this will become an ever popular device for those that wish to show content from there pc in the comfort of there lounge room. Whilst it is suggested that there is other devices it also does so in an adult manner as opposede to say an Xbox.
Its dissapointing that there are the hatters out there about this product siting no PVRor supply of HDMI cable. Stating that a games machine does the same job but i put to you that this misses the point. A simple device that plays digital content from a computer that makes the procewss simple. I cant speak for others but my tiime is worth money and i now find that i use photos muscic and videos i never used to bother because of this simpleness, and can do so in my loungeroom.
No doubt the devide is not for everyone because of this specific design yet i suggest it has the same factiors present in the concept as the ipod had when it was first released.
Pros: Easy to setup
Play digital media in the comfort of your lounge room
good playback from good content
Cons: Expense for what could be done manually ie burn to disc and play on DVD
insufficent content on itunes store
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tjf323
28/06/2007, 11:18 AM
rating
9/10
This is a great device for accessing all your media content in one central location. Especially on a wireless N network using Airport Extreme with Network Disk attached. I think this product has huge "potential" and at this stage does the basic things really well. Hopefully Apple will update the software regularly to improve functionality and features. The only downside is the slow process of ripping my entire DVD collection.
With regards to picture quality the device is producing excellent results for dvd's ripped at high qualit h.264. It all depends on the content and how you obtain it. The You Tube feature is fun and quality is respectable.
Pros: - Upgradeable Software (Huge Potential!)
- Simple & Elegant interface.
- Does all things it claims to do very well.
- No more loosing DVD's, Scratched DVD's that won't play etc.
- Excellent Picture Quality.
Cons: - iTunes integration could be improved. I would like to see the AppleTV behave more like an iPod when connected to iTunes.
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freetel
24/06/2007, 10:27 AM
rating
3/10
Read from the pros and cons...
Pros: -computer-tv integration
Cons: -lack of support for other video formats
-no movies available on the australian itunes
-no ipod compatibility
-overpriced
-overrated
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