Apple TV
Reviewed by Mike Hubbartt
http://www.apple.com/ Requirements: Strengths: New; unique; very easy to set up; wireless. Weaknesses: None found. |
|
After a long wait, the Apple TV is here. Some industry analysts forecast this product will change the home entertainment industry, but even if it doesn’t, it will be noticed and it will make more people aware of Apple, Inc products.
Getting Started
On 3/21, I called Apple to request a review unit, but was told they would not be able to ship until a week later and I would not get it until after the first of April, so I ran over to the local Apple store and bought my Apple TV. The sales people were just as excited as the customers – something I’ve come to expect – and the gentleman that helped me made sure I had all of the extra items to get my Apple TV up and running.
The items needed to use the Apple TV are:
Hardware: a network (wireless or Ethernet), a television capable of at least 480p, HDMI or component cables, Internet access (broadband strongly recommended).
Software: Mac OS X 10.3.9, iTunes 7.1.1, QuickTime 7.1.5.
I already had the needed items, so I gave the man my credit card and walked out with my evaluation Apple TV in an Apple backpack shopping bag. After returning home, I opened the box and found just a few items: the Apple TV unit, an AC power cord, a small remote, instructions and software. Not too complicated, even for non-technical people.
The Apple TV is small – thinner than my Mac Mini – so it was easy to find a place for it on the home theater stand. Note: It does get a bit warm, so I’d suggest placing it where there is airflow to help keep it cool.
I looked at the back of the unit and it seems hard to imagine anyone could misunderstand how to connect it to a television and stereo. I plugged in the power cord, HDMI cable and audio cables, then set it on the video stand. 
I turned on the television and then were a few things to do to get it set up: select language, resolution, and network. Again, very simple. I selected the name of my wireless router and then went to the main Mac I want to use to sync my iTunes content and configured iTunes, which starts the syncing. This can take a while, depending on the amount of iTunes content you have.
A nice feature of Apple TV is the ability to run with local content (put there when syncing) or using streaming content from 1 to 5 computers. I used the Apple TV setup to select a Mac and listened to music while my music and TV shows library transferred to the Apple TV. You can tell in iTunes when it is syncing, and you can initiate syncing from iTunes as well. Note: Use iTunes to select syncing options (the number of movies, which specific titles, and photos from a library or folder) for audio, video and photos.
After the sync operation completed, I listened to some music videos I bought from the iTunes store and they were excellent, then watched a couple of Lost episodes I bought last year. I wanted to check out movies of the unit, but have movies from the iTunes Store, so I downloaded and ran HandBrake to pull some content from a few DVDs. I used the H.264 and MPEG-4 settings and found the MPEG-4 videos were 3-4X larger than H.264 movies, but much better quality images and they finished processing faster than movies done with H.264. We were not impressed with the H.264 videos, but the MPEG-4 videos were very good. I tested using movies on the Apple TV and streaming movies from other computers – the streaming video was fine, except when HandBrake was running ,which caused the movies to stop and restart. This problem did not occur when streaming content from computers not busy running heavy CPU-intense software.
I almost forgot to mention trailers. A good reason to have Internet access is to see a one to two minute trailer for new and existing movies. Neat, and easier than using a web browser to locate the same material on the Internet. I do not know how often this information is updated, nor the criteria that determines which previews are available, but suspect the list is from companies with iTunes distribution agreements with Apple.
I like the small remote. It is easy to use – functionality is similar to the G4/G5 iPod control, and it lets you select from the same general music categories that are available under iTunes (Artist, genre, etc). While looking at a category, the album artwork scrolls to the side – a nice visual touch. I don’t have a remote control Mac, so I enjoyed using a remote to scan through and select music from our music library. The album covers are displayed (but not lyrics) for a bit (set in preferences), and then the screen saver kicks in – it can either use photos or album artwork. Note: I saw reports online that said photos did not work correctly with the Apple TV - I did not encounter any problems with photos synced to the Apple TV when testing, although I did not try to stream photos.
Conclusion
I like the Apple TV. It is easy to set up and use, the music sounds good through the stereo, syncing content is easy, and videos looked good (when using MPEG-4). I liked that I could specify which photos and videos I wanted to keep synced on the Apple TV, and enjoyed watching slideshows with music in the background, as well as watching videos.
While $299 isn’t petty cash, I suspect Apple will sell a lot more Apple TVs than iPhones.
By the way, I spoke with one of our writers about the Apple TV, and he was under the impression that movies needed to be in H.264 format to work on the unit. Not true – I found MPEG-4 videos did work and were better quality than the same movies done using H.264.
Recommendation
If your Mac lacks a remote control, if you want to enjoy your music on a home stereo instead of smaller computer speakers, if you have a library of music videos or movies from iTunes, you will like this product. Definitely Recommended.---------------------------------------------
TOC
