Uncle Walt gives Apple TV a thumbs-up

Our favorite 'dead tree media' technology columnist, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, has a review out today (available free at ptech.wsj.com or with subscription at the mothership) of the Apple TV -- the 6-min video above includes most of the high points. Mr. Mossberg praises the unit for its simplicity and ease of setup; he appreciates the fit and finish of the Apple TV and likes the fact that it doesn't try to be everything for everyone. He and co-author Katherine Boehret say the Apple TV is a "pleasure to use," and it "worked great, and we can easily recommend it for people who are yearning for a simple way to show on their big TVs all that stuff trapped on their computers."

Walt thoughtfully points out that you don't need a Mac to use an Apple TV (XP or Vista with iTunes works fine), and that his unit performed perfectly skip- and stutter-free on his 802.11g network, even without the speed boost of 802.11n/Airport Extreme. Interestingly, Walt suggests the main competition for the Apple TV isn't a similar device from Sling, Belkin or other second-tier vendors: it's the big kahuna, the Xbox 360.

Thanks Ben!

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Source: http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20070321.html

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Our favorite 'dead tree media' technology columnist, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, has a review out today (available free...

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He had enough caveats with this though, with regards to the targeted user base and its functionality. I'd say it's more like "one thumb up". I'm skeptical of the market for this, but then, I think a few million movies were sold by iTunes.

March 22 2007 at 8:39 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Sheridan

http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2007/01/managing-mossberg.html
Funniest article on Walt.

March 21 2007 at 11:22 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jessica

Walt is a great Mac proponent. This review was very positive, and I imagine it will move a lot of units.

One thing I don't see mentioned is talks of the "bigger issues" surrounding this device. The shift to what some call "over the top" delivery is going to cause some major problems for the cable industry:

http://advancedmediacommittee.typepad.com/emmyadvancedmedia/2007/01/over_the_top_fi.html

What if I stopped paying for cable TV, and just bought my songs off iTunes? That would halve their revenue from me. I can't imagine they'll stand for this on a large scale.

March 21 2007 at 11:13 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jessica

Walt is a great Mac proponent. This review was very positive, and I imagine it will move a lot of units.

One thing I don't see mentioned is talks of the "bigger issues" surrounding this device. The shift to what some call "over the top" delivery is going to cause some major problems for the cable industry.

What if I stopped paying for cable TV, and just bought my songs off iTunes? That would halve their revenue from me. I can't imagine they'll stand for this on a large scale.

March 21 2007 at 11:12 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

eric

wallstreet branded apple fan boy lol!

March 21 2007 at 10:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

tevetorbes

"But the comparable Xbox costs 50% more than Apple TV, is much larger and stores only half as much material."

Apparently mathematics is not one of Mr Mossberg's stronger suits. Last time I checked, a 360 premium bundle was $399.

Oh, and you can download HD content from the XBLM.

*yawn* AppleTV - lets get some HD content from the iTunes Store if we have to use an HDTV, mmkay?

March 21 2007 at 10:17 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply