107 of 111 people found the following review helpful:
It's Two Devices In One
Apple really needs to advertise and explain this thing better. It's an awesome device that does many things, but it's easier to understand it if you think of it really having only two distinct functions:
1) It's for renting HD movies. Give that new HD TV something to make it shine. Sure Blu-ray has won the format war, but what format war is next? Skip the...
275 of 292 people found the following review helpful:
Good, but I must ding it on a couple of important items
Disclaimer: I am a huge (but no longer kool-aid-drinking) Apple fan.
It's good enough, and the rest of the reviews here attest to that, but now having my own, I have to touch on a couple of things that nobody has mentioned yet.
1) There is no way to shut it off. It sucks 18-22 watts down at all times. 22 watts when playing a movie, 18 watts in "hibernate" mode...
This review is from: Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A (Electronics)
Disclaimer: I am a huge (but no longer kool-aid-drinking) Apple fan.
It's good enough, and the rest of the reviews here attest to that, but now having my own, I have to touch on a couple of things that nobody has mentioned yet.
1) There is no way to shut it off. It sucks 18-22 watts down at all times. 22 watts when playing a movie, 18 watts in "hibernate" mode (which is obviously not the laptop-style hibernate mode one would think... I think it merely turns off the video output). You literally have to unplug it to get it to stop. There is no "shutdown" option or power switch. This I find a little ridiculous. Especially because they bothered to put in a neat startup movie- Did they expect you to watch it only once?
2) It runs very hot (no fan), even when it is "hibernated", and thus cannot be covered by anything or you will affect heat dissipation.
3) It is laggy sometimes. The worst offense an interface can have is to be laggy. If it's busy syncing, fine... just prioritize the user interface, please. (Edit: Even after syncing, it gets laggy sometimes.) A few times I'd hit a few buttons, wait 20 seconds, and then the audio feedback kicks in and does what I had commanded a half minute ago. This is pretty unforgivable. (Perhaps it's because it only has a half gig of RAM.)
4) No 1080p. Just to let you know. 1080i, yes. 1080p, no.
5) If you intend to hook this up to any sort of computer display via a HDMI>DVI cable, be aware that you will be unable to watch rented movies because your computer display will not support HDCP and you will get an error. Why it is still quite feasible to rent the very same movie on a computer via the iTunes Store and watch it on a non-HDCP computer display is left as an exercise to the armchair IP lawyers out there.
If you can get past those things, it's a nice little device.
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This review is from: Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A (Electronics)
Apple really needs to advertise and explain this thing better. It's an awesome device that does many things, but it's easier to understand it if you think of it really having only two distinct functions:
1) It's for renting HD movies. Give that new HD TV something to make it shine. Sure Blu-ray has won the format war, but what format war is next? Skip the wars and just stream the video. No clutter of DVDs and players to buy. Yes the selection is small now (it just started a month ago) but it will soon build up to include newer movies as they are released. Beware of old movies being released as HD. Renting "Blazing Saddles" in HD is not going to impress you. So, the only REAL new HD movies are the ones in theaters now and will soon be released for rental. We actually kept our Netflix account for renting the bulk of the older movies and TV shows we still like. Renting an HD movie for $5 is a cheap night of entertainment. I have a 6.0 Mbps internet connection and the HD movies are ready to play in about 1-2 minutes. You watch the movie as the rest of it downloads. I never had it stutter during playback.
2) It's an iPod for your TV. If you use iTunes and have photos, music, and home movies, this makes it easy to view them on your TV. I made my last vacation video in HD by using Final Cut Express and exporting it in the Apple TV format. Just drop that movie into iTunes and it will sync with the Apple TV. Viewing the still shots in HD is really amazing. Being like an iPod, Apple TV only shows content that you already have in iTunes. Don't think of it as some kind of backup drive for your music or movies.
Sure it does some other stuff like watching You Tube, but if the top two features are what you need, then this is for you. The simple "spouse friendly" remote is great too. My wife can now easily play our music collection without my computer being on.
ps: I bought the "take one" version of Apple TV. All I had to do was run the firmware updater and mine is now the same as the Take Two version (5.1 sound and all). The old and new Apple TV's have the same hardware.
One last thing - rentals are paid through the iTunes store so you can use iTunes gift cards to pay for movies!
Enjoy!
PS - one more reason - the $0.99 movie of the week. Apple has started offering a $0.99 movie rental each week. We've had Escape from Alcatraz, The ghost and the darkness, The Dead Zone and others. Not blockbusters, but certainly worth $0.99 and gets you used to the renting experience in an easy way.
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This review is from: Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A (Electronics)
What a joy it is to have all my home made movies, originally shot in Super 8 (remember that format?), on my Apple TV.
I had tons of old Super 8 movies, some of them filmed by my dad some 60 years ago. Watching them now required setting up the old family projector, and pulling up the portable white screen. Some movies became dry, and tore in the projector, so watching one of the old movies became a process of stop, remove film, glue it back together, and continue watching.
My brother eventually gave all the movies to a specialized company that converted them all into mpeg format. Once in mpeg, they were transferred to iTunes, and then to the Apple TV via the home network.
What a pleasure it is now to watch my family's old home made movies on my TV screen. It is now a snap to switch between my movies, and by being so accessible, I can now show them to other family members and friends.
The Apple TV is really like an iPod. It is controlled by a very simple remote control with one menu button, a play/pause button, surrounded in a circle by the forward and rewind buttons, and the volume control (`+ and -` buttons also used for navigation). You are going to wish all remote controls were that simple.
Navigating the Apple TV is like navigating an iPod. You can store video, music, and photos. There is a slideshow feature for your pictures that will display your pictures on your TV with background music of your choice. The background music can be chosen at random from your music library.
Though as simple as an iPod to operate, the Apple TV is itself a stripped-down Mac mini, running a version of Mac OS X. When you plug in the Apple TV to your TV, you will not need to do any configuration. It's basically plug-and-play. Audio and video cables (not included) connect it to your TV. There is an HDMI output.
The Apple TV comes with a wireless feature allowing you to wirelessly connect to your home network. However, in order to sync your Apple TV with your iTunes, I would recommend you use an Ethernet cable to connect to your home network. The video, music, and photo transfer will be faster through an Ethernet cable. Once you sync your Apple TV for the first time, you may then disconnect the network cable and use the wireless feature in the Apple TV to update its content.
I also recommend you first start syncing at night. In this way, the syncing process will go on while you are sleeping. My Apple TV is 160 Gigabyte strong, and to put that much information on it might take the better part of a day! In most cases, depending on your hardware, connecting through the network Ethernet cable will make the transfer much faster than connecting wirelessly, particularly over 802.ub, 802.ug, and 802.un networks.
You can sync content from only one computer at a time, and you can't add content manually--for example, by dragging it from iTunes library to the Apple TV icon on iTunes' Source list, as you might do with an iPod. If you choose to sync with a different computer, all the data on the Apple TV will be replaced.
Another nice feature of the Apple TV is its ability to connect to the iTunes store, through your computer (either a Mac or PC), where you can download music and videos. Like the iPod, the Apple TV will neatly categorize your media for you, and automatically download the covers of the music albums and films.
One negative comment I have about the Apple TV is that you cannot transfer the media files on your Apple TV to your computer. It is only a one way process, with files moving from your iTunes to your Apple TV, and not vice versa. So if you want to send an Apple TV to a friend, loaded with your music and video library, your friend cannot connect it to his computer. If he does so, all the media on the Apple TV will be erased when it tries to sync with your friend's iTunes, replacing it with the media files on your friend's computer. This also applies to the iPod. There are software on the internet that claim to address this problem, but I have not tried any of them.
Be careful about earlier versions of Apple TV. Earlier versions don't support streaming videos. Newer versions shipped give you the option of navigating YouTube, and streaming their videos. I think that older versions can be updated to support streaming videos.
Apple TV also has limited support for video formats. This means that you will have to rely on tools like Techspanion's Visual-Hub to convert videos to Apple TV-ready formats. You can also use Apple QuickTime. You cannot directly burn a DVD into iTunes. DVDs also need to be converted in order to have them transferred to your Apple TV.
You can stream movies, however, you can't stream photos. Instead, on the computer synced with the Apple TV, iTunes formats the pictures you select and copies them to the Apple TV's hard drive. Once they're on the Apple TV, you can view a selected album or your entire photo library as a slide show. You can choose from a variety of transitions, as well as determine the display time for each picture.
Apple has chosen to say that generally, 5.1 audio is not supported.
The Apple TV does not offer true HD quality.
Apple Computer Inc. has changed its name to Apple Inc. With the name change, Apple is now promising us gadgetry other than computers. The iPhone is one example. There's more to come.
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This review is from: Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A (Electronics)
The content on the Apple iTunes store does not offer 1080p for purchase, but you can rent 1080p content or add it (if you can get it) from your computer. There are also 1080p video podcasts. 5.1 digital surround is now supported and you can rip your DVDs using 5.1 with Handbrake software (free download on the web). Handbrake works with Mac OS 10.5 or > and Windows (if you are unfortunate enough to not have a Mac).
Caveats: It does run hot. The video used to lag, but this seems much better with the latest releases of the OS. The GUI can stick and then jump - so you click 3 times with no effect and then it jumps the 3 positions, etc. The remote control is a pain when typing passwords or searching youtube, etc.
If you have an iPhone (I think iPod Touch also) you can use the Remote Application to control your Apple TV (or iTunes) from your iPhone. It's great and much better than the remote that comes with the Apple TV.
I highly recommend a direct 100 Mb ethernet connection or 802.11n. Do not use this product with 802.11g or slower.
Don't bother with the 40GB version. It's just too small. You'll wish you had the 160GB. The 40GB is only good if you don't buy content - only rent movies. But watch out - if you keep you music on it, you'll want more space.
The Apple TV is great even just as a music jukebox! Even if you don't use it for video. We use it all the time for music. It's easier than hooking up an iPod and having to pick up the iPod to change songs, etc. The GUI on the HDTV screen is so much better. I looked at similar MP3 components for audio only - this was cheaper and had a far superior GUI. It is so easy to use that my wife can do it (she is not technology savvy).
The other great thing is that software updates are free and come automatically over the internet. New features and fixes!
Bottom line: There is no other product like it on the market in terms of cost, intuitive interface, quality, and features.
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This review is from: Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A (Electronics)
I very respectfully submit that some of the otherwise excellent reviews here on Amazon have not emphasized what I believe to be the main point about the Apple TV accessory. That is the fact that the Apple TV can access movies, TV shows or other videos that are on the user's main computer hard disk without transferring the actual data file (e.g. an MP4 file of a movie) to the hard disk drive on the Apple TV unit. This is a very significant capability. It means that so long as the user has a desktop PC with lots of hard disk space together with a home WiFi network, the Apple TV unit has complete access to the user's video library regardless of the hard disk capacity of the Apple TV unit. To me, this is a very big deal, because I have a very large video library stored on my main desktop computer, which my Apple TV accesses via WiFi. (This capability takes advantage of the fact that hard disk space on one's desktop is very inexpensive these days.) The Apple TV effortlessly accesses and streams a movie video directly over WiFi without the need to download it to the Apple TV Hard Disk. Thus, you are limited only by the disk capacity of your desktop, not by that of the Apple TV. The Apple TV hard disk is vital, of course, if you use the Apple TV in a portable setting away from your main iTunes desktop and WiFi setup. Then you are playing the Apple TV as a direct source of video content from its Hard Disk to your TV. I do this in my boat.
To me, the ability to stream content directly from the desktop to one's widescreen TV via the Apple TV is what sets the Apple TV apart from other source devices such as DVD players. Further, being able to purchase content directly from the iTunes store, even in HD format, adds to the capability of this unit. I have "bought in" to the whole Apple music and video concept, and those of us who have done so will quickly see that the Apple TV is made for us. The Apple TV interface is a great way to browse the iTunes store for movies or whatnot; I personally prefer doing it that way as opposed to accessing the store on my desktop computer.
But even for those who eschew the iTunes store, the Apple TV is terrific if you have other videos such as legally ripped archival MP4 files of movies purchased on DVD, for example. I also enjoy watching History and Military Channel video podcasts, which can be downloaded for free from the iTunes store onto iTunes and then enjoyed on the big screen via the Apple TV unit.
It appears that I am more impressed with the Apple TV unit than many of the other reviewers. The unit is small, elegant, and attractive. Smaller than a DVD player, it does far more and it does it in a much more elegant manner, i.e. all of your content is accessible via the Apple TV menus without hassling with individual DVD disks. The cost is similar to a high-end DVD player. I frankly think that DVDs are rapidly becoming obsolete and that direct digital electronic downloads are the future, but I digress. The unit has wonderful screensaver capability, in sharp contrast to my two DVD players, and various other nice touches. It is great for a full-screen display of photographs. (I am an avid digital photographer, so I in particular appreciate this.) It is very pleasant (great ambiance for parties) to put on a slide show of one's digital photographs, and stream a music playlist to accompany the slide show. Very cool.
Installation was essentially effortless. The unit immediately recognized my wireless network, and accepted the WEP code. My main desktop computer immediately recognized the Apple TV and offered to synch. The Apple TV immediately offered to upgrade its internal operating software over the internet and did so. Even before synching, my entire video content was available on my widescreen TV through the Apple TV via WiFi streaming. I was watching a movie from my iTunes library within minutes. Incredible.
Like all Apple products, the Apple TV is beautifully made, and nicely packaged. I wish that more American companies focused on quality the way Apple does.
I agree with other reviewers that the remote for the Apple TV is kind of small and minimalist for what is destined to become the centerpiece of my video library. Strangely, the remote does not even include a volume control. (You can program many third-party remotes to control the Apple TV and I will probably end up going that route although I have not yet done so.) Hilariously, there is an iPhone app that allows one's iPhone to act as a substitute remote ("Remote") and it is not at all bad. And it is odd how the Apple TV does not even have an "off" switch. These issues are minor, keep the cost down, and perhaps even add to the simple elegance of the unit.
The wireless streaming is what really sets this unit apart, but there is much else to like about it as well. Apple seems to have a clear vision of the future of digital content, and the Apple TV seems to be ideally situated to capitalize on this vision.
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This review is from: Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A (Electronics)
I recently purchased the 160GB Apple TV after Apple discontinued the 40GB model and lowered the 160GB to $229.99. I got a great deal on Amazon with a one day special; it was going for $199.99. The main reason I purchased an Apple TV over a full HTPC is because I only want to stream the media from my iTunes library to my 40" Samsung LN-40A550 1080p HDTV.
* Compatibility: I have a black MacBook and early 2008 iMac both running Snow Leopard and iTunes 9.0.1. There have been no compatibility issues between ATV v2.4 and the new OS/software updates. In terms of video format compatibility, I don't really have any complaints except it won't play .avi/divx files out of the box unless the user converts the video formats or installs software hacks to the Apple TV. I knew this when I purchased the unit, but it would be nice to have included support for other video formats than just MPEG4 and H.264 (which is a very popular standard). Music compatibility is perfect as I had my entire library encoded as AAC/MP3 before purchasing ATV.
* Ease of installation: Installation was simple; open the box and plugged in via HDMI. And of course the power cord needs no explanation.
* Ease of setup: I ran into a few issues with my AirPort Extreme network when setting up the ATV. I have my network hidden and it took several tries before the Apple TV discovered and connected properly to the network. After connection it works great. As noted above, I am primarily using ATV for media streaming and not media sync. I plan on using the internal HDD for TV shows that I have converted and will store all ripped/purchased movies in my iTunes library.
* Ease of use: The remote that comes with the ATV is simple and true to Apple design. For more tech saavy users, however, the Remote app available for iPhone and iPod touch is a more featured remote with full keyboard/search functionality. I was able to configure the ATV to work with my iPhone quickly and easily. Navigating the menus is simple, however there is at times a noticeable lag. Setting the sync settings through iTunes is easy and controlling what to sync is as simple as syncing an iPod/iPhone. I will say my only concern is the sync takes FOREVER, even over my AirPort Extreme 802.11n network. My iMac is set for 802.11n as well as the AirPort Extreme, but the wireless sync was so painful I only transferred one episode of a TV show to the internal HDD. Apple recommends users first time sync be done over Ethernet rather than Wi-Fi.
* Features: The Apple TV performs perfectly for my needs. Streaming has a short delay based on the size of the video file, however audio streaming is instant, and YouTube video streams take a few seconds to buffer. Apple TV supports output up to 1080p, however, videos are not scaled to 1080p because the unit cannot properly decode 1080p content. The 1080p output is for the menus and for photos and video will play at a max resolution of 720p. It would be nice if the ATV supported 1080p but I suspect that will require a hardware/software revision as the ATVs processor and memory is limited by today's standards. Integration with the iTunes Store is seamless for browsing new content (music, movies, podcasts, TV shows, HD content). It should be noted that HD movies purchased from iTunes are 720p which fits perfectly for the video output resolution of ATV. 1080p video files are killers on HDD storage any way.
* As of the time of this review, iTunes LP and iTunes Extras WILL NOT work on Apple TV 2.4. There is much speculation and hope that a future software update from Apple will enable these features to work on ATV.
* Video Quality: Overall, I am very satisifed with the video output quality of the Apple TV over HDMI. I have gone back and re-encoded several movies because they looked poor due to lower bit-rates and resolution. After setting Handbrake to encode using the Apple TV preset the files looked much cleaner and more pristine on a HDTV. YouTube video quality is poor and needs a major update from Apple/YouTube for support for the HQ/HD formats now available. YouTube videos are watchable, but in most cases unbearable for everyday use.
I have been looking at purchasing either an Apple TV or Blu Ray player for quite some time, and after reading all the user reviews on Blu Ray players I was put off by technical issues and noisy/innefficient equipment. I will wait a while longer before jumping on the Blu Ray wagon. In the meantime, Apple TV will hold me over for all my digital/HD content needs. With the debut of iTunes LP and iTunes Extras (again iTunes 9 only), Apple TV will be a more viable option compared to DVD/Blu Ray. I give Apple TV 160GB with ATV 2.4 **** stars. Not perfect, but does exactly what I need.
Thanks for reading my review.
Also, I'll share with you my Handbrake video encoding settings: Apple TV preset, H.264, constant quality 62%, loose anamorphic, decomb filter (default). Enjoy your encoded movies!
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This review is from: Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A (Electronics)
They're calling it Apple TV Take 2. In other words, any review before February 12, 2008 is a review of the old model. A huge update--a complete revamp of the system was released as a free upgrade by Apple to make the Apple TV and entirely new device.
You watch the TV shows you want, the movies you want, when you want. We had Tivo and loved it, but Tivo can only record what the networks feed you. With Apple TV, if you want to sit down and watch one of those first episodes from Season 1 of MythBusters, you can search or simply navigate to The Discovery Channel, select MythBusters, Season 1, pick your episode, and begin watching it within a minute or so. All on your big flat-screen TV from the comfort of your couch, using your Apple remote. No computer needs to be turned on. You just need wireless Internet access. You can buy television episodes, movies, or now you can rent movies for about $3.
We cancelled our DirecTV when we bought the original Apple TV last year, but this new update makes live television obsolete. Add to that the ease of an Apple interface, and it's like having an iPod Touch for your TV. We're very, very impressed.
This review is from: Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A (Electronics)
After Apple released the free "take 2" update for the Apple TV (applies to all models), the box became quite a bit more useful. I would now not hesitate to recommend it to people with flat panel TV's looking for a great way to watch Podcasts, TV Shows, Movies, and YouTube. The built in movie rentals are great - they literally start playing about 30 seconds after renting and are great quality (even the non-HD ones). I also enjoy instant streaming of any podcast available on the iTunes store - I find myself using the Apple TV instead of watching regular cable TV. However, why can't you rent TV shows yet? The only way to get TV shows is to BUY them for $2 each, whereas you can rent an entire movie for only $3.
As a music hub, the product also shines - I can have all my music permanently hooked up to my stereo, and by using an aux input on the stereo, I don't even have to have the TV on to listen to music. This new version also allows you to stream *and control* the Apple TV from any other Mac (or PC?) via iTunes, so you can stream music wirelessly to your living room. The old version could kind of do this too, but you had to set it up via the Apple TV which required turning on your TV set. Now, I can just turn on my stereo and start streaming while I'm sitting at my computer.
YouTube is also fun, and as a photo sharing box, the Apple TV really shines. Photos synced from iPhoto, Aperture, or just a folder on your computer look stunning. Built in Flickr and .Mac support is also nice, although the Flickr option only shows public albums which is kind of disappointing.
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This review is from: Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A (Electronics)
I am loving this product. It is like an ipod for your TV. You can browse movies, tv shows, music and You Tube all from your television. Or, you can look up and buy on itunes and then watch it or listen to it on your tv. The screensaver is very neat and pulls multiple pictures from a file of your choosing. We are very pleased and love the option to rent hd movies. I found the hook up to be a breeze - it immediately found the wireless network, I put in the network key and then it found my computer. You then put in a key to itunes to allow the two to sync. Also, you can control what syncs to protect space. I am always impressed with Apple, and this is no exception.
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This review is from: Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A (Electronics)
I'm an Apple fan. I have owned two desktops, an Airport, four iPods, and and iPhone. This product is just not ready for prime time. But it makes a really nice, warm, $300 doorstop.
Here's my setup, DSL line to Airport base station, over wireless, to Apple TV. (Note: I later added a Cat 5 wire between the Airport and the Apple TV, and performance only improved marginally.)
1. Movie Rental Scheme Makes No Sense - If you want to rent an HD movie it takes about 5 hours to download. Then you've got 30 days to start watching it. Once you start watching a two hour movie you have to finish within 24 hours. We have a toddler. Those blocks of time are not likely to line up in our lives for at least 15 years. It just doesn't make any sense. The only real knock on the Apple TV here is the 5 hours it takes to download. Apple pitched it as something you could start watching right away. That just hasn't been my experience.
2. Only 780p, not 1080p -- If I'm going to drop $300 on a consumer electronics device, it should perform at the current gold standard.
3. It gets hot -- As many others noted, the unit gets very warm. I was afraid to leave the stereo cabinet doors closed for risk of fire.
4. The Remote is Lame -- Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling . . . keep that thumb scrolling. Too many menu choices for such a limited remote. It takes many many clicks to get where you're going.
5. Latency -- It's like a bad cell phone or PDA. If you push a button and it is busy doing something, it just sits there. No acknowledgment, no little hourglass, just sits there. I had to wait up to a few minutes for remote clicks to be processed. I routinely waited 10-30 seconds for clicks to process.
6. Long Waits for Content -- If you want to watch HD content, it does NOT start playing right away. You have to wait between 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 times the length of the content before you can start watching.
Contrast all of this above with a Blu-Ray DVD player. The player is about the same price. The content costs about the same. There's no latency. There's no waiting for downloads. The images are full 1080p.
The one good thing about the Apple TV, HD Podcasts. We loved the NASA podcasts of space imagery and underwater diving podcasts.
Final word, way too expensive for what it does. We returned it after 3 weeks.
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