Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iTunes, Apple TV
I heart my Apple TV, but as for 3.0 ...
As we learned yesterday, not everyone loves the update to Apple TV.For me, however, the upgrade was an improvement to an adequate piece of hardware -- when it chose to work. By mid-afternoon, I was listening to classical music being streamed over Internet radio, and I was very happy with the Apple TV for the most part. The flagship new features -- iTunes Extras and iTunes LPs -- were finicky and hard to work. Trying to navigate through iTunes Extras was akin to herding cats. When it works, it's fantastic. When it doesn't, you want to hurl something at the wall.
I'm quite the opposite of fellow blogger Steve Sande when it comes to the Apple TV. I chose the device over getting cable back in February. I promptly did the hacks to open up the USB port and utilize Boxee (with Hulu) and XBMC. Please note that these hacks will be wiped when you upgrade to 3.0.
I frequently use it because it became the perfect home for streaming content from first an external hard drive, then my new iMac. I'm an anime fan, and used the chance to rip my DVDs to my hard drive and have all the episodes in one place. It's very nice not to have to get up and change DVDs after every 3-4 episodes. I also stream YouTube content and play music over it.
Here's a look at some of the new features:
If you're going to use Apple TV and have an iPhone or iPod touch, do yourself a huge favor and get the free Remote app [iTunes Link]. You will get a lot more mileage out of the device because it makes it so incredibly easy to navigate through the system. If you have the Remote app, be sure to upgrade it when you install 3.0. You'll thank yourself for it.
Speaking of navigation, I'm very pleased with the new layout of 3.0. Everything is right there for your immediate perusal and responsiveness is much, much quicker than with previous versions of the software. This was something Steve noticed himself, and seems to be getting an overall positive nod from those who've tried out the update.
I bought my second-ever movie over iTunes to play with the extras. I wasn't very happy with the initial selection. Most of the movies I wouldn't care to own, and if I ever downloaded Twilight I'd have to burn the hardware. So, I went with Wall-E, a favorite of mine. If you've already purchased movies and want to watch them over Apple TV, you need to download a new version of the extras -- same goes for iTunes LPs. I followed this handy advice from iLounge and synced the movie plus extras directly to the Apple TV's hard drive.
Then the fun began. At first, it felt like I was really going through a DVD. Wall-E's extras aren't all of the ones included with the DVD, such as the free Pixar short, but it was still a lot. There was also content specific to iTunes that was a nice bonus. You could easily spend a couple hours going through all the extras. But, then, I got stuck on the extras sub-menu and couldn't navigate away. I got the movie to play, but when I exited out of it, it took me back to that persnickety menu. I dug out my small white Apple remote and used it. Nothing. I used the Remote app to jump to an anime episode under the TV menu. It streamed, but the music from the Wall-E extras played over it as well. When I exited out of the show, it took me straight back to the iTunes Extras submenu. I finally had to unplug the Apple TV just to get out of the movie. I tried again, using just the Apple remote, got stuck once more, and gave up. I later tried resyncing the extras, but iTunes froze and I had to abort the task.
Internet radio was a different story entirely. Browsing and connecting to stations was a breeze and I've had music playing in the background for most of the past day. Genius Mixes were equally easy. If I had iTunes connected, music was selected from my entire library. If iTunes was closed, it utilized music just available on the Apple TV hard drive.
When struggling with iTunes Extras, I noticed a tab under my Apple TV settings in iTunes for iTunes U. I downloaded a class and synced it over, fully expecting to see an iTunes U tab for the Apple TV. Nada. I sighed, and rebooted both iTunes and the Apple TV. Still nothing. It took going back to iLounge to find out that the iTunes U content is lumped in under your Movies and Music depending on the class content. I'm extremely disappointed that iTunes U didn't get its own menu somewhere in the upgrade.
Overall, the upgrade is a mixed bag. It's a lot easier to navigate through the menus of the device. Internet radio is such a beautiful thing, and those two improvements alone are worth the upgrade. Provided Apple can work out the kinks with iTunes Extras, I see this definitely driving more people toward downloading some movies versus DVD. But, for now, if you want to play with Extras, do so through iTunes itself. In the meantime, I'm eager to see how third-party developers will add their own flavor to this upgrade. Who knows, maybe in the process they might be able to fix iTunes Extras.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jason Martin said 6:11PM on 10-30-2009
Now THAT's the review of Apple TV 3.0 we expected yesterday.
I haven't bought a movie with iTunes Extra yet, although I might tonight despite your problems. But I agree with each of your other points. I love the Internet Radio feature, and the new menu is cleaner and much more intuitive.
I did notice, however, that a number of Internet radio stations that are owned by Live365.com will not play. Instead, they play a loop about having to sign in with my free Live365 account. I have an account, and I'd love to sign in to get those stations, but I don't know where to do that. Anyone know how to fix that?
Reply
Trev said 6:56PM on 10-30-2009
The Live365 stations have been broke for a long time with that signon message.
The only way (I think) to get them to play in iTunes right now is to go to the webpage, sign in then launch the station you want as an MP3 stream making sure that iTunes is your default player
Logan said 6:32PM on 10-30-2009
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the 3.0 update break Boxee?
Reply
Megan Lavey said 8:35PM on 10-30-2009
It does, yes. I mentioned it earlier in the article.
Jordan said 6:32PM on 10-30-2009
". I promptly did the hacks to open up the USB port and utilize Boxee (with Hulu) and XBMC"
That's the thing about the AppleTV though. You have to hack it to make it anywhere near useful. Other than that is just a pointless piece of hardware to get you to spend more money in the itunes store.
Reply
Todd Sieling said 7:03PM on 10-30-2009
Mine's not hacked and I use it all the time, but I've also done a lot of work to set up a workflow for bringing in video, running it through a conversion/metadata adding process and adding to itunes. Without that workflow it wouldn't be near the experience it is for me now, but it's possible to get a lot of good heavy use without hacking it.
And that's as a replacement for cable, which is the truly pointless ripoff.
david said 7:05PM on 10-30-2009
And when hulu starts charging next year your complaint will be? Your statement is utter BS anyway, we have ripped all of our DVD's and watch them on the AppleTV. It is also an awesome picture viewer and a fun way to watch YouTube videos. Is it a general purpose computer to do everything under the sun? No, and it is not the purpose of it anyway.
We use it to listen to music every and watch movies every day
mikehild said 7:26PM on 10-30-2009
That's just a matter of opinion. I find mine quite useful, and I have no intention of installing any extra hacks. Plus I have loads of content, none of which (aside from a fee free shows and podcasts) came from the iTunes store - all transcoded off the DVDs I own.
imnastybutler said 8:10PM on 10-30-2009
The Apple TV is simply an extension of your iTunes library (movies, tv shows, music, podcasts and photos). It is just like your ipod, touch or iphone. Nothing more. When they add stuff to iTunes it will then make it to your ipod, touch, iphone and Apple TV.
Beat up on iTunes for the enhancements (DVD, Blue Ray, AVI, etc) and not a piece of hardware that delivers your iTunes content to your TV.
Megan Lavey said 8:35PM on 10-30-2009
Like Todd, I actually don't use the hacks at this point. I did all the time at the beginning, then Hulu was just never quite right after 2.4. So, that fell by the wayside and I just used the Apple TV as it came out of the box, but with the hacks still implemented for my external hard drive.
Kai Cherry said 9:42PM on 10-30-2009
So much for the "hardware/software" notion :)
Once you deconstruct it and then essentially install a different front end, hooks and extensions...I think it is a stretch to still refer to it as Apple TV as it clearly isn't the "hardware and software" product that Apple developed and delivered :)
-K
James said 6:38PM on 10-30-2009
I used to play internet radio on the AppleTV by creating a playlist with my favorite stations and syncing the playlist to the AppleTV - I never had any issues. I haven't tried the radio stations yet - maybe tomorrow. Can't wait for Boxee to catch up (and fix the darn Pandora crash issue).
James
Reply
Gillan said 6:56PM on 10-30-2009
Thanks for posting a good post :)
Reply
Andrew Kippen said 7:45PM on 10-30-2009
Megan - wanted to let you know that Boxee now has a great new Anime content provider named Crunchyroll. They've got a ton of free stuff, and for $6/month you can watch things in HD as soon as they air in Asia.
We'll let you know when Scott Davilla and Stephan Diederich over at the ATV-USB Creator project create an update for 3.0 to get Boxee&XBMC onto the new platform.
Andrew
Boxee
Reply
Megan Lavey said 8:35PM on 10-30-2009
Andrew, thank you so much! I've been a fan of Crunchyroll for years and was so happy to see on ANN this morning they finally got onto Boxee. I'm looking immensely forward to updates so I can get Boxee back on the ATV so I can try it out. I hope one day that Viz and Funimation will have their own Boxee-specific apps instead of going through Hulu (which never worked for me after 2.4. Just went to a black screen after selecting an episode and stayed there)
Please don't hesitate to keep in touch!
Rickyd said 8:29PM on 10-30-2009
Mac mini ftw! Apple TV is a lamest Apple device ever. 3.0 is nothing more than lipstick on a pig.
Reply
DistortedLoop said 10:34AM on 10-31-2009
Despite people voting down your comment, I actually agree. It costs twice as much, but the Mini is so much better at everything the AppleTV does, and the Mini can do so much more for your home theater experience.
My AppleTV sits relatively unused in a bedroom while the Mini gets full time duty in the family room playing iTunes video and ripped DVDs (or even the occasional inserted physical DVD).
mikehild said 10:53AM on 11-01-2009
It's not really fair to do a straight 1:1 comparison of the Apple TV to Mini. At least in Canada, the cheapest Mini costs $400 more than the Apple TV. So of course the Mini is going to be capable of way more! At only just over 1/3 the price, it would be foolishness to expect the Apple TV to do EVERYTHING a Mini can.
When I bought my Apple TV I too went through the "Do I get an Apple TV or go all the way to a Mini" thinking and for what I personally need, I decided it wasn't worth it to me to spend the extra $400 for the mini. But just because you personaly decided for you it was worth it to get the Mini that doesn't make the Apple TV a bad product.
Megan Lavey said 12:02PM on 11-01-2009
And I agree with Mike completely here. I did the same thing and probably would have gone for the Mini if I had regular cable so I could take advantage of Elgato's hardware/software. However, I don't and my iMac can do everything the Mini can and stream to the TV using the Apple TV as well. Not everyone needs a Mini.
DistortedLoop said 4:31PM on 11-01-2009
The AppleTV's a fine product if you want a low cost solution to streaming iTunes video content to your TV, but I think most people will find that that solution is a bit limited in the long run.
The bottom line with the AppleTV vs the Mini is that the aTV is very underpowered, and the video resolution is really unacceptable compared to other options.
If you don't mind blocky blacks and low contrast, the AppleTV's great, but an extra $200 US to get a Mini is money well spent to me, for a device that does all the AppleTV does, plus plays DVDs in full resolution, plays movies ripped at much higher bit rates, and can also do Netflix, Hulu, etc., etc..