Interesting: Apple TV (The Old Version)

January 22nd, 2008

Apple TV

Over the weekend I picked up an Apple TV, mostly because a software update in a week or so will turn it into a much more compelling machine - and geek that I am, I wanted to play with the old version of the software before the upgrade wiped it out.

Anyhow, the Apple TV’s present incarnation, while amusing, has me agreeing with Steve Job’s MacWorld 2008 keynote. There are some compelling aspects, but overall it really needs some tweaking.

The Good

  • All the content (music, photos, and ripped video files) I threw at it played back seamlessly.
  • The streaming feature is extremely useful. I have an external hard drive attached to the Mac Mini loaded with TV episodes that can now stream to the television.
  • The UI is very easy to use and intuitive. It’s very similar to Front Row on any recent Mac.
  • The movie trailers and YouTube videos are really cool.
  • Video podcasts are much more fun on the Apple TV than an iPod.

The Bad

  • The Apple TV likes to “sync” with a computer, whereas I’d like the option to just pick and choose certain files to copy to it.
  • The iTunes Top TV Episodes and iTunes Top Songs are the biggest teases ever, because if you find something you’re interested in, you have to go to your computer to order it, and then push the file to your Apple TV.
  • Runs very hot. I’m a bit concerned about having it in a television display case.
  • No power button. There is a sleep mode (activated by holding the play/pause button down for a few seconds until the light goes off), but the device is still on, and slightly warm. You have to unplug it, or plug it into a power strip which does have an on / off switch, to shut it down completely.
  • The screen saver choices (which comes on when music is playing for a while) leave much to be desired. I’d like to see some iTunes visualizers or the same screen savers available in OS X.
  • I now have three Apple Remotes.
  • I have to update a fair amount of my album art to a larger size. On a large TV, blurry images look terrible.

The best way to think about the Apple TV in its soon to be obsolete incarnation is an iPod connected to the TV that syncs via WiFi. Its really shines when it has access to a huge iTunes library of music, videos, and photos on a central computer, as all that content is now moved into the living room.

Luckily, Apple is already rectifying the Apple TV’s average-ness with an upcoming software revision announced at MacWorld 2008:

  • Download movies and music directly to the Apple TV. Definitely convenient. From what I can gather, any content you purchase (not rent) can be sent back to your computer and in turn, your iPod.
  • Movie rentals, either directly on the Apple TV, or on a computer first.
  • A more streamlined and graphically rich UI.
  • Access to .Mac and flickr photos.
  • HD video podcasts.

Anyhow, I’m looking forward to the software update, and will write a post about that in the near future.

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  • JC
    If you think about it, you really don't want a power button on the Apple TV. Turning it off would mean needing to reboot every time you came back to watch something. People watching TV aren't accustomed to waiting two minutes or so before they can start watching.

    Also, a powered off Apple TV wouldn't sync as seamlessly. So if your computer is upstairs, say, and you bought something on iTunes to watch later, you would download it to the computer, but it wouldn't sync until you went downstairs and turned the Apple TV back on. Once again, you're waiting for something that you're used to doing instantly.

    So sleep mode makes a lot more sense than an on/off switch. I wouldn't worry about the heat or the power consumption. Mine has been on for almost a year without any issues or noticable power cost increase.
  • I'm definitely leaning towards getting one very soon as well. Did you get the 40 or 160 gig one? Can you just store movies on the Apple TV and not your computer or do they have to sync up - if so what's the point of the larger hard drive unless you plan on renting a lot of movies at once?
  • It's the heat that makes me wish I had an on/off button. That's good to hear you haven't had any issues being on for so long. Do you have your Apple TV in a cabinet? I'm wondering if I should leave it in a cabinet behind glass doors.

    If I set it up out in the open, it's warm enough that the cats might sit on it.

    MG, I got the 40 GB. You can push movies to the Apple TV from your computer. Right now I have all my music and a bunch of photos on the Apple TV since I'm using it for that most.

    You can access an iTunes Library from the Apple TV for streaming (similar to share my library over two computers). I have encountered some slowness in the streaming - it's presently prohibitively slow. It was working great the other day. I think it's my cheap ass router.
  • It's definitely something up with my router. I set up Internet Sharing from the Mac Mini, had the Apple TV log onto that network, and the streaming and syncing goes much quicker now.
  • Good to know, so you are able to JUST store movies on your apple tv without them existing on your computer? I think that is the only way I would get the 160 gig one and put all my ripped movies on there.
  • MG with the current software I don't think that's possible. If you delete a file from your iTunes library on the sync computer, the Apple TV would delete that same file on the Apple TV the next time you sync. Basically unlike the iPod you can't manage the files manually.

    So the next best thing is the streaming option, where I have an external drive storing all the video files that wouldn't all fit on the Apple TV attached to my Mac Mini and the Apple TV can access them.

    It's certainly possible the new version of Apple TV software will have different management. For starters since you can rent movies and purchase music directly to the Apple TV I would imagine the file management has to allow you to at least get the music off of the Apple TV.
  • Yeah that'll be my plan as well it looks like, but with that being the case I don't see at all the point of getting a 160 gig Apple TV over a 40 gig one. I guess if you're having bad streaming performance?...
  • Yep. My entire music library is under 40 GB, so I loaded it all on the Apple TV. I think it's good to leave some space for the movie rentals which would be about a GB apiece. But still, I can't imagine renting more than two movies at any one time.

    The one drawback with the streaming is the host computer has to be on with iTunes open, and there is a bit of a delay as you choose the library to stream from - just like how there's a delay when you access someone else's iTunes library. But I've just watched an episode of BSG streaming and there were no stutters or anything once the video got going. I'm already getting a fair amount of mileage out of it :)
  • Excellent. Appreciate all your help on this Jason.
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