Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple TV
Apple TV: The first 24 hours
After spending a good 24 hours with a shiny new Apple TV, I agree with Mossberg and Pogue: this thing rocks. Apple has produced a great device that makes getting your iTunes and iTunes Store content from your Mac/PC to your TV and entertainment center, and with a nearly 10x lead in the digital media market at 118 million active iTunes users, they have quite an audience for it as well.
As with everything else in life, however, the Apple TV isn't without its downsides. But instead of penning a post that did nothing but dog the device, I figured I would put together some pros and cons I've found from poking and prodding at the Apple TV:
Pros
- My initial sync was performed via that iTunes wireless AirPort Disk setup I wrote about earlier this month. Just to see how far I can push things, I occasionally tried to watch a video that hadn't been synced yet so it had to stream while the sync was still going on, and I never experienced a hiccup besides a noticeably slower start time. Impressive. I must mention, however, that I'm using Apple's ideal setup: a Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro upgraded to 802.11n, with an AirPort Extreme N-based router.
- As Paul Kafasis confirmed, the Apple TV doesn't require an HD TV, just one that has component (RGB) inputs. That's great news for me, and I can happily say that iTS videos look great on our 32" JVC SD (Standard Definition) TV. HD - what me worry?
- Thanks not only to Apple's sleek industrial design but also the entirely screen-based UI and minimalist remote, the Apple TV is by far the least intrusive piece of hardware in our humble entertainment center. It has but one tiny white light; no bright calculator-style numbers of blinking lights, unlike my clunky Comcast PVR box.
- You can turn off the Apple TV's display (holding down Play for a few seconds) during a sync. This 'powers down' the device in more or less the same way you power down an iPod; it isn't completely turned off, and the Apple TV still wakes up instantly at the press of a button.
Cons
- This whole 40GB thing is for the birds. We're living in an increasingly digital society, and our libraries are expanding faster than ever. I currently have 28GB of music, 4.26GB of movies (and that includes only two truly feature-length films purchased from the store), 6.13GB of TV Shows and 4.05GB of Podcasts, which is arguably (one of) the most quickly expanding portion of virtually any podcast subscriber's library. While I am on the whole pleased with this device, 40GB is a borderline insult. This is 2007, not 1998.
- Parts of the UI definitely feel like they were designed specifically for HD in mind, though designing software for the strange, wide world of television can't be easy for anyone. For example: while browsing TV shows to watch, a block of text appears below the show's album cover that contains metadata such as series, show description, etc. Even sitting barely two or three feet away from my SD TV, this text is barely legible, and before you ask: my eyesight is tip-top.
- Social downside to using the Apple TV: I can't display what I'm watching/listening to in iChat. I'm no software engineer, but me-wagers Apple could easily fix this.
- While playing music, the Apple TV occasionally swaps cover art and the track control bar horizontally between the left and right sides of the screen. I can understand the desire to do *something* with the TV UI since whatever is on TV is supposed to 'do stuff,' but the effect is really cheesy. [Update: Commenters are pointing out that this is to prevent burnout in plasma displays. Complaint retracted, for the most part.]
- The Apple TV is a trojan horse: I *so* have the urge to start buying iTS content without reserve. A long time ago a friend bought Pirates of the Caribbean as a gift for me, but I never caught the movie bug. After playing with the Apple TV for a while yesterday, however, I began wanting to buy movies like never before because this setup just works. I buy, I download, I watch on TV - all from the comforts of my couch (since my MacBook Pro is on my lap). As long as Apple cranks out an iTreadmill sooner or later, I'll consider us even.
- The Apple TV doesn't seem to be able to initiate a sync while something is already playing on it. This is of course to be expected, and I debated leaving it off this list entirely, but I figured it was ultimately worth a mention. [Update: it appears I might be wrong. I'm playing music on the Apple TV and had to restart my MacBook Pro. Upon starting iTunes up again, it found the Apple TV and began syncing a bunch of new items in mid-song. My initial guess as to what's going on here is that, given the drive-intensive nature of video, the Apple TV can't perform a sync while it's playing a movie, TV show or video podcast, but song files are typically small, allowing many to be queued into memory which makes it easier to do two things at once. If anyone has more insight into this, do share in the comments.]
But don't leave my pros and cons all alone here - feel free to voice your own! If you've snagged an Apple TV be sure to leave your thoughts here, and if you're still on the fence, we'll try to help you pick the yard with the greenest grass.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Dave said 3:11PM on 3-24-2007
Until the resolution of videos, movies, and TV shows sold by iTunes matches the 720p output of Apple TV it's very tough to justify buying one.
I saw an Apple TV playing movies at an Apple Store that were purchased from the iTunes Store and they looked grainy and highly pixelated on the Sony Bravia HD TVs. I mean, the movies looked BAD.
The resolution of available video content cannot stay this way. It's one thing to sell videos designed for the iPod and another thing entirely to expect the same videos to look good on far larger TV screens.
At present they do not look good at on TVs, so for me the Apple TV is more of an interesting idea than a real product.
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jesse said 3:11PM on 3-24-2007
40GB? Small for a computer. Sure. But it's bigger than the 30GB iPod. Which this machine essentially is. An iPod for the TV. What do you need more storage for? Don't you have a computer with 100s of GB on it? Stream steam steam. IMO, the hard disk is entirely unnecessary accept for running the OS. So why is it there?
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five337 said 3:12PM on 3-24-2007
I would assume that the swapping sides with the cover art is for people with plasmas to avoid burn-in.
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TEd Blewett said 3:21PM on 3-24-2007
The cover art is not just some cheesy extra added for no reason. When Steve Jobs announced the apple TV he specifically mentioned that they added that to prevent screen burn in that can occur when an image does not change for a long period of time.
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Brock Batsell said 3:29PM on 3-24-2007
Just a quick correction: you meant "component", not "composite".
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Not On Demand said 3:42PM on 3-24-2007
Why does anyone care what you are watching or listening to? I never understood why anyone wants to broadcast over iChat what they are doing with iTunes. Seems juvenile at best. "hey look at me, I am listening to snoop".
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Erik M. said 3:48PM on 3-24-2007
The cover art flipping is specifically to prevent burn-in on plasma displays. Steve Jobs addressed it at the Macworld keynote.
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Tim H said 3:56PM on 3-24-2007
Here's my question. I'm considering picking one of these up for the sole purpose of being able to watch the few TV Series that I purchase from the iTS on my TV (small 27" 16:9 HD set).
For the price, I could just pick up a video iPod and dock with svideo connector. I've never seen what the video quality of that setup looks like. Since the iPod would make my video portable as well as get it to my TV (since my nano doesn't do video), it's tempting to go that route...
How does the video quality compare, all things being equal? Will the iPod/dock combination playback video in the correct aspect ratio (16:9) on my widescreen set?
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Jeremy said 4:45PM on 3-24-2007
I've realized something about Apple products:
When you first hear of it,
you either really want it immediately
or you think you don't want it,
but later realize you do.
And maybe you don't want it all, ever (on very rare ocassions).
The Apple TV, for me, is a "It's cool...but I don't really want it.
Oh, who am I kidding?
I want it."
Want it bad.
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Dave Chartier said 3:58PM on 3-24-2007
#6: Music is a fundamental part of just about every society's culture, and many people enjoy the social aspect of it. I can tell a friend over the phone about a new CD I bought, or I can broadcast to all of my friends across the planet what I'm listening to, and they can do the same. It helps us all to discover new kinds of music we might enjoy, especially since I'm far more inclined to be interested in music from a friend - someone with whom I very well might share similar tastes with. Beats the hell out of waiting for the radio to belch out some worthless new pop star.
#2: This is almost why I'm *not* touching HD in the foreseeable future. The rest of our content just hasn't caught up, and I just don't need that much more detail in my video yet. iTS videos honestly look fantastic on my 32" SD TV at 480i - and I even got right up in front of the screen to check for grain and pixelation. I'm *happy* using an Apple TV on an SD TV.
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matthew m. barnes said 4:08PM on 3-24-2007
i'm looking at movies/tv shows/podcasts through my appletv on a 60" sony grand wega and they don't look bad.
are they high def? no. and some definitely look better than others. (not sure why.) but they don't look bad. i wish they would sell in high def though.
however, my favorite part was the one i least expected to be excited about...
the screensaver. whether in pictures or albums mode... it just looks cool to have going in the room when i'm not watching anything. and people that have come over have been very impressed.
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Tubby Bartles said 4:05PM on 3-24-2007
Also had the Apple TV for 24 hours. Agree in general with your comments, except for three things:
1. I have a plasma TV and much appreciate the switching around of the cover art to prevent burn-in.
2. Handbrake works *great* putting DVDs on your Apple TV, so my DVDs are now viewable there (it puts files in .mp4 format which works with the Apple TV)
3. There's an odd missing function, in that you can watch slideshows from iPhoto on AppleTV and you can stream content from other computers than the main computer. However, the *primary* thing you'd want to do with a secondary computer - watch their slideshows - cannot be done. You can't stream iPhoto content to Apple TV, you can only sync it with the primary computer. Very odd limitation, I hope they address it soon.
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Ryan said 4:10PM on 3-24-2007
I've only had it half a day, but I love it. It's not a Swiss Army knife -- it does a few things brilliantly and elegantly. It helps that we already sold our souls to iTunes, so all our collected content came to our living room without a hitch.
I, too, was impressed with the stutter-free streaming, and even the video quality of non-HD iTunes content. But you can subscribe to HD video podcasts now, and they look great.
Our Apple TV has lost its link with our computers a couple of times, for no reason, but I've narrowed the problem down to the Airport Extreme base station. Resetting it, not anything else in the chain, is what gets things flowing again.
I agree some of the interface choices are head scratchers. The random 3-D spin seems gratuitous, and the fact that you can't back "up" to the top "Sources" menu without selecting the last item in a list makes no sense at all. It's completely backwards from everything else the iPod and Apple TV does. But the CoverFlow music browsing is gorgeous, as is the screensaver slideshow (we use our Album Art).
Yeah, 30GB is small, but I've found the streaming more than sufficient. I think that drive is really to have stuff available when your computers are off, not to solidify playback.
I posted my first impressions here:
http://www.lightfantastic.org/imr/extras/weblog/archives/004649.html
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mark roberts said 4:18PM on 3-24-2007
1: 118 million users maybe, but I wonder how many of them live in a place where you can't get movies or tv programmes on iTunes.
2: Why can't I direct audio to my stereo using airtunes like the airport express - I don't need the TV to play music. I'd like to add it to my home's airtunes receivers.
3: Why not make it a airport base station while you're at it. It has an ethernet connection. It runs a version of OS X. Why can't I plug my cable modem into it, which is conveniently right next to the TV?
These seem to be rather obvious design flaws that make me want to hold off until Applt TV2.
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Joo said 4:33PM on 3-24-2007
Well... its been a little over a day for me any my Apple TV. I don't have 802.11n, but the Apple TV seems to stream fine over 802.11g. But to get it to, I did have to tweak my TCP send/receive windows and buffer sizes on my Mac Pro. Set to 8M/8M/16M. Works great now over 802.11g.
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Tironius said 12:21AM on 4-10-2007
The cheesy flip thing it does with the UI is so that your plasma screen doesn't get burn-in.
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Jeff R said 5:02PM on 3-24-2007
I have been using for 24 hours and am extremely pleased. Even my non-tech wife thinks this is the best thing since TiVo.
Sync feature is rather cumbersome but I believe this could be fixed by a software update and without increasing the hard drive size. Whether synced or streamed I have never had a hiccup with audio or video on our 802.11g network. However, I have a large library of music and video. It would be nice if there were a stream only option in iTunes that would still let you see all of the content in your library. It would also be nice to stream from your Movies folder and not just the iTunes library.
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poitch said 4:54PM on 3-24-2007
24 hours of AppleTV as well here and I have to say that in deed 40GB is not enough, not being able to buy directly from the AppleTV is also a big hurtle since when I'm enjoying TV I don't really have my laptop nor desktop next to it.
Finally when it comes to picture quality, this is really bad but maybe that is just because I am used to HDTV/Blu-Ray 720p/1080i/1080p for TV Shows and movies.
I think TV shows are definitely enjoyable but I would not go that far with movies. There are nice enough, but wasn't 2005 the year of HD according to Jobs? It's not so much pixeleted for me but the lack of details in the pictures.
I'm still pretty happy with it but for sure I will put a bigger harddrive in there.
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david said 5:08PM on 3-24-2007
I wish it had a dvd drive, then it would be all I need in the living room. Yes yes, mac mini blah blah.
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Bratling said 5:51PM on 3-24-2007
David, the swapping of cover art is to avoid burn-in on plasma displays.
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