Apple TV: Couch Surfer

November 3rd, 2008

Want a simple web browser on your Apple TV? Well, there’s a program called Couch Surfer that does a passable job.

Installation is done using an sftp client like Fugu and the Terminal. First download the latest version of Couch Surfer, copy a folder of files to the Apple TV, login to your Apple TV via ssh using the Terminal, and run the installer. Installation instructions are in the Install.txt folder that comes with the installer, and listed at AwkwardTV. To set up SSH access on an Apple TV, use ATV USB creator. Once installed, Couch Surfer appears in the Apple TV menu.

Using Couch Surfer you can enter a URL to load, enter some text for a Google search, or call up a bookmarked page.

Navigation through websites works passably if a bit clunkliy. Once a page is loaded, you use the up and down arrows to scroll the web page up or down. Clicking the center button brings up a large arrow cursor that you can move around on the screen using the Apple remote. Text is entered using the Apple TV on-screen keyboard which is the UI’s biggest flaw.

Couch Surfer is based on Apple’s WebKit which is the basis for Safari, so web pages render acceptably and fast enough for casual web surfing.

The Good

Works as advertised.
Should prove acceptable for impulse situations and simple websites.

The Bad

Typing in long strings, URLs in particular, is extremely tedious as it’s done via the Apple TV keyboard. It can take a surprisingly long time just to enter short text strings. Filling out any fields longer than a search box is tedious and not worth the effort.
The large cursor navigation is acceptable but I found it occasionally problematic. I couldn’t select the search field on IMDB. Once in large-cursor mode, it would be nice if the web page would scroll up or down if the cursor went off screen.
Even on a large television, text size is on the small side. I haven’t figured out a way to increase the font size.
Support for Flash and QuickTime aren’t supported out of the box. There are instructions for installing both but require copying files from “Tiger” installers that aren’t readily available (the Apple TV runs the Tiger version of OS X). Flash in particular sounds like more hassle than it’s worth.

Conclusion

Couch Surfer is fun addition to the Apple TV, but it’s no replacement for a full featured web browser on a PC or even Safari on the iPhone. While passably functional, the browsing interface feels awkward and inefficient, and the largest reason is the reliance on the Apple Remote to enter text, for which there isn’t an obvious solution.

Despite my gripes, I can still think of a few good uses: I’ve already bookmarked several websites for casual updates and subjects associated with the television: the latest news, movie listings, IMDB, Netflix, etc. I may even code a very simple website on my domain that pulls in important news in big, bold type – a sort of “start page” for our Apple TV.

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