Apple TV, Hmmm
Mar 26th, 2008 by sharps
I finally pulled my finger out and bought an AppleTV. I’d been thinking about it for a while but hadn’t quite made my mind up. Which is probably the process most buyers go through. The problem is - it’s not a real slam dunk, killer product that I generally expect from Apple these days. Don’t get me wrong - it is a great product - in that it does what it claims with Apple’s usual flair and quality - but it’s not a killer product. It appeals to a niche - it’s not really one thing or another - ie. it’s not a general purpose Media PC, doesn’t have a PVR, has limited codec support, doesn’t play games, doesn’t stream Internet Radio, etc. It’s basically a video iPod that you can plug into your wide-screen TV and your audio system. If you think of the AppleTV as just that - you won’t be surprised; you might even be delighted - which I almost am.
Still, it’s early days. I’ve only watched onw “HD” movie from iTunes (Michael Clayton) - and the experience was good; but only slightly better than watching the same “HD” movie from TimeWarner. I’ve purchased one TV series (the original 2nd series of Scooby-Do - for my 3yr old Jack) - the experience was good - better than the DVD experience. But what’s really nice is the audio and image viewing. Pictures from my Nikon D40 look absolutely stunning on a 42″ plasma - I mean really stunning - I’m now of the opinion that it’s the only way they should be viewed. I have the ATV set up to play tunes and use my images as a slideshow - they we’re downloaded from Photoshop running on a Windoze machine. I can honestly say - I’ve been listening to more tunes and viewing more old photo’s than I have done in years - because ATV makes it so convenient. One touch I like is the ability to control your ATV from your iTunes laptop / desktop. For example - a coupe of times I’ve been listening to something in my office on the little tinny MBP speakers - and decided to crank the volume up a bit by directing the output to the main house audio - nice.
It will be interesting to see where Apple take the ATV - remember this is only the second rev. I think the market is still wide open for home media systems - I think Apple are starting with a huge lead with iTunes and iPods - but I’m not sure I fancy their chances taking on the telcos and the cable companies - but hey - it’s about time someone did. Let’s just hope they don’t turn (more) evil in the process.
Don’t forget that you can transfer purchased content to ipods and iphones. I have 3 ATV’s and can stream my daughter’s shows anywhere in the house plus we hook the iPod up to the portable DVD player in the car. No more changing discs and we can control it from the front seat. When my daughter gets restless in a restaurant I give her my iPhone to distract her for a few mins. Keeping tv limited but having it anywhere when you need it to prevent a meltdown is priceless.
Good point Shannon. Yes - I think as a complete media system - Apple lead - but it does bother me that I’m a little tied to Apple’s formats; I’d also like the convenience of ATV / iPod / iPhone for my own DVDs / home movies. I know I can hack it but that’s not convenient.
Rich
I don’t know if you’re using network storage (an airport disk or a time capsule), but that was what I found was the weak point. The interface and quality I found to be excellent, but keeping everything in my iTunes library has proved to be quite difficult.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/iandouglas/march2008/apple-home.htm
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