Macworld Forums: Apple TV, Take Two - Macworld Forums

Post your comments for Apple TV, Take Two here

Still, I think that Apple is missing the mark in a key respect. They treat Apple TV as an iPod - a means for playing video (plus other stuff) - and not as an iPhone - a convergence device. In the case of TV, that means, a DVD player so we don't have to leave the world of Apple's GUI, etc. to use something we aren't going to stop doing: playing DVDs -- you (or at least I!) just don't "rip" DVDs and stick them in iTunes. With kids, we simply aren't going to leave that, nor frankly Netflix for some time since (a) the downloadable movie list is so limited and (b) we have no broadband available and © the 24-hour rental limit is unworkable.

My local library's extensive (free) DVD selection is the real reason I won't buy an Apple TV for a bit. The movies are free, play instantly, and I can enjoy all the director's commentary, deleted scenes, and other goodies that Apple TV chooses not to provide. The local library is a resource that more people ought to consider.

Two things keep me from getting too enthusiastic about my i#?TV. One of them is the 24 hour limit on rented movies from the time you 1st start watching. I know there's an unsupported "trick" to getting around that, but still, 24 hours is way too short.
The other thing is the limited library of available films to rent. Netflix and Block buster have literally thousands of movies. i#?TV has barely hundreds, if that many. I haven't seen anything about the target number of rental films or when such target might be met.

For the most part, I agree with everything Christopher Breen writes about here but still feel that the TV parts of Apple TV are merely great bonus features of a revolutionary MUSIC device. There are tons of products that are basically overpriced boomboxes with ipod docks, but until the ATV came around, nothing reasonably priced existed for the user who wanted to incorporate all the benefits of itunes into a high end home stereo set-up without having to tether a computer or dangle a cable and deal with the fragility of an ipod. Flaws and all, the ATV is awesome just for bridging that gap. A great product keeps getting better and maybe finally getting it's due. Now if only they could develop a better remote for it with it's own display screen.

Philmco said:

That last sentence perfectly frames the Apple TV's fatal flaw as a music device: horrible browsing. For movies and video, of which most people don't have that many, the slow-scroll approach is OK. But when you've got thousands of audio tracks, as many people do these days, this type of navigation makes using the Apple TV frustrating. For example, playing a track by They Might Be Giants involves going to Artists and then holding the Down button for a long, long time, hoping you let go at the right time to get somewhere close, then scrolling the rest of the way (and more often than not, for me, overshooting it).

Because of this, our Apple TV music listening is pretty much limited to shuffle play and the occasional playlist. We end up using an AirPort Express with a laptop running iTunes for anything else.

I'm with you: the Apple TV needs a better remote.

While I can certainly agree with most things said in both the review and the comments posted here, I think a lot of people are missing the 'big picture'. Of course there are things that we wish were different or were improved; that can be said about any product. But for very short money (less than many iPods, iPhones, Mac Minis, etc.) one gets an entirely functional and pleasurable device that truely compliments and enhances the home theater environment. If you look at a typical home theater set up (TV, Receiver, Sat/Cable, and DVD player) think about what Apple TV adds :
1) Access to your complete music library
2) Access to the digitized part of your video media library
3) Access to all your digital photographs
4) Access to others digital photos (via .Mac and Flickr)
5) YouTube access
6) Podcast Access
7) Movie rental with leaving home or waiting for something to come in the mail
8) Catching up on missed TV show episodes via a purchase from iTunes
etc...etc...etc.
That is a lot of additional functionality for only $230, and while it has not replaced my DVD player or my cable company's On Demand and DVR service, it certainly adds to the overall home theater experience.

Yeah, we've been using a lot of library DVDs lately. It's great, though they can get pretty scratched up.

As for Apple TV, Rob Pegoraro put it well in today's Washington Post:



All those these restrictions make for a very narrow target market.
Somebody who doesn't subscribe to an on-demand cable-TV service, but
pays for a faster-than-usual broadband connection. Someone who isn't
satisfied with the movies on premium channels like HBO but doesn't want anything too esoteric-- and doesn't watch movies often enough to justify a Netflix subscription.



I just can't see a lot of people dropping $300 for this. Maybe on take 3?

There is full music search on Apple TV take two. In fact, the search is one of the more amazing features for me. I hope the Reviewer updates the review to be more accurate.

I'm looking to purchase an Apple TV in the near future. I would like to build a large library of resources from music and movies to old recordings that I have made on cassette tape. Anyone know a tool that I can use to convert my cassette tapes into digital files that I can eventually import into my iTunes library?

swiller said:

I'd be happy to update the review if you can point out where this "full music search" feature is. Currently there's a single Search command when you select Music on the left side of the interface. When you choose Search and press Play/Pause, you're taken to a Search screen that clearly states it's searching the iTunes Store, as I said in the review.

When you choose My Music or Shared Music there's no search command in evidence. So how is it that you're able to search your iTunes libraries' music with the ATV 2?

I stand corrected and you did point that out in your review. Of course, like most people I refer to the pros & cons in the review first. A con is no music search, which seemed innaccurate. Having access to thousands of tracks with previews seemed too cool on my TV and a big improvement over the last version. thanks for the response.

Because of the little space we have for it, the bits of information in pros and cons are necessarily telegraphic. We assume that people will take the time to also read the review so they can get the broader picture ? at least before suggesting the reviewer's work was inaccurate ;-).

Chris,
There IS an On/Off switch on Apple TV- Hold down the "Play" button for about 8 seconds, until the white light shuts off.
I agree with your review, and the couple of times I've had a freeze this has worked.
Does the pause button "hold" a movie indefinitely? I tried restarting a movie from the beginnng two or three times (never letting it hit the end) while watching a basketball game off cable, so I could finish a movie. I thought "Pause" would default back to the main menu after a couple of minutes, and then lose your movie.
Also, you kind of touched on this, but my router is upstairs, but my Apple TV is downstairs. I did bring just the Apple TV upstairs, hook it via ethernet to my computer, hit the remote so Apple TV lights up, and then once it appeared in iTunes, set up my initial sync. I did find stopping the automatic sync, then setting up what I wanted, and then hitting "Apply" or "Sync", worked well.
I am a professional photographer, and although I can hook my laptop to my 50" Plasma, using Apple TV gives amazingly beautiful, sharp, slideshows with music, without cables and wires, and the default Screensaver when clients come over with my photos cascading and spinning around is very impressive. I've had 100% bookings for weddings when clients see this. The TV and movie rentals are a huge bonus.
Last gripe, it took almost 30 hours on a very fast "G" network to download the Latest "Die Hard" movie. Even standard rez movies take 2-3 hours. And I get 20MB downloads! Would getting an "N" network make that much difference?