The Apple TV is a good AV appliance for the living room. Especially if you're already using an iPod and you buy media from iTunes.
Think of it as an iPod dedicated and permanently connected to your TV. It syncs with your iTunes library, and can broadcast any content on any computer in your house that runs iTunes.
However, if you want to record TV and do time-shifting, just forget about it, for the moment Apple isn't going towards that direction.
Also, if you want to play anything else than Apple supported formats such as DivX or Windows Mediai, it won't do the job.
You say you want a portable video player, though the Apple TV is small, don't forget that it's not really portable as it doesn't have a battery and you need a TV to see the content (no screen). If you want to watch TV shows while you're walking, you need an iPod 30Gb or 60GB.
I have 35 Macs in my network here; 3 of them are now sending content to AppleTV: one has 30GB of audio, including podcasts; the 2nd has dozens of movies saved in MP4 format, and the 3rd is my laptop.
The AppleTV has worked flawlessly from the start; I love the interface, it looks great on my plasma TV, and I absolutely love it. Having said that, there are a couple of things I'd love to see that it doesn't have:
1) surround-sound encoding
2) the ability to buy from the iTunes store directly from the AppleTV, rather than having to go to one of the computers to buy albums or video.
The 40GB drive isn't a problem at all, since video streams almost instantly; I can select a movie that's stored on one of my computers, and it plays almost instantly; I never notice any streaming, and it looks great. People who complain about the drive capacity don't understand how this device works; since it streams from other computers, it doesn't NEED a large drive.
What an excellent device; people who have seen my AppleTV have universally raved about it.
I think I'm going to wait
Submitted by JayM on Wed, 2007-03-21 13:01.I think I'm going to wait for the rev. B.
Did you?
The Apple TV is a good AV
Submitted by mactonic on Wed, 2007-03-21 14:23.The Apple TV is a good AV appliance for the living room. Especially if you're already using an iPod and you buy media from iTunes.
Think of it as an iPod dedicated and permanently connected to your TV. It syncs with your iTunes library, and can broadcast any content on any computer in your house that runs iTunes.
However, if you want to record TV and do time-shifting, just forget about it, for the moment Apple isn't going towards that direction.
Also, if you want to play anything else than Apple supported formats such as DivX or Windows Mediai, it won't do the job.
You say you want a portable video player, though the Apple TV is small, don't forget that it's not really portable as it doesn't have a battery and you need a TV to see the content (no screen). If you want to watch TV shows while you're walking, you need an iPod 30Gb or 60GB.
Here are some fresh new
Submitted by Alexandros Roussos on Wed, 2007-03-21 22:51.Here are some fresh new details on the Apple TV:
http://www.macscoop.com/articles/2007/03/21/apple-tv-details-reviews-and-unboxing
:)
I have one and I love it. I
Submitted by longterm on Wed, 2007-04-04 18:18.I have one and I love it.
I have 35 Macs in my network here; 3 of them are now sending content to AppleTV: one has 30GB of audio, including podcasts; the 2nd has dozens of movies saved in MP4 format, and the 3rd is my laptop.
The AppleTV has worked flawlessly from the start; I love the interface, it looks great on my plasma TV, and I absolutely love it. Having said that, there are a couple of things I'd love to see that it doesn't have:
1) surround-sound encoding
2) the ability to buy from the iTunes store directly from the AppleTV, rather than having to go to one of the computers to buy albums or video.
The 40GB drive isn't a problem at all, since video streams almost instantly; I can select a movie that's stored on one of my computers, and it plays almost instantly; I never notice any streaming, and it looks great. People who complain about the drive capacity don't understand how this device works; since it streams from other computers, it doesn't NEED a large drive.
What an excellent device; people who have seen my AppleTV have universally raved about it.