Apple TV - MC572LL/A NEWEST MODEL Review. The sleek new Apple TV has been completely retuned for your entertainment. It’s 80 percent smaller than the previous generation — even with a built-in power supply. Which makes it perfect for sitting neatly on a widescreen TV stand or squeezing into a crowded media cabinet. Not only does the new Apple TV have an amazingly small footprint, it’s also incredibly energy efficient. It stays cool without a fan, so it’s never noisy. And when it’s not filling your living room with drama, romance, and comedy, it uses less power than a night-light....
"Video Review: Apple TV, so much for so little" 2010-10-10
By D. Bowman (LA, CA)
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R18DCQTG9T6VTO This is an amazing compliment to your home theater.
So many features, yet so simple to use.
My 7 year old son has it all figured out.
I hope you enjoy the video.
Let me know what you think.
"Apple TV - Good Now, Potential to be Great" 2010-10-15
By Just Another Geek (Simi Valley, CA, USA)
I am not an Apple Afficianodo. I don't wear jeans and black turtlenecks in reverence to Steve Jobs. I don't hang out at the Apple Store and covet becoming a "genius"; however, I have to give credit where credit is due. The last few products Apple has brought out - the iPod, iPhone, iPad - have been incredible and changed the consumer electronics and media / software landscape. Apple TV is now positioned to do the same, but it will take some more time to fully realize the potential of this device.
Apple TV effectively allows you to stream whatever is on your iTunes to your TV and home theater system. Moreover, it has built in support for Netflix, You Tube and a few other internet based media content providers. The picture quality and performance for these services are worth the price of admission. There is significant potential to advance the platform - just give it some time.
System Overview: My Apple TV is plugged into a 60 inch Samsung 1080p LED HDTV via HDMI (video) and a Yamaha Home Theater Receiver via Toslink optical cable (audio). I have AT&T Uverse with their 802.11g Residential Gateway (combination of DSL modem and wireless router) with their Elite DSL service (6 MB per second). iTunes runs on a Dell Desktop with 4GB of memory, Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 500 GB Hard Drive operating on Windows Vista (64 bit) and secured with Norton 360 (firewall, antivirus, etc.). The network handles the Desktop, 2 iPhones, a Blackberry, an iPad, the Apple TV, 4 Laptops, a wireless Printer and a networked wired printer. The Computer / Residential Gateway are in the Den and the TV / Home Theater / Apple TV are in the family room. The two rooms are about 100 feet apart and are separated by five walls.
Set Up: Easy as pie. It took five minutes to plug in the HDMI cable, the optical cable, the power outlet and then adding it to the wireless network. Sharing iTunes from my desktop to Apple TV took another 20 minutes, since I had to download the new version of iTunes and restart my computer and Apple TV. Apple really makes it easy - I didn't have to make any adjustments to my firewall settings to share iTunes on the desktop with Apple TV. I also downloaded the Apple Remote on my iPhone and iPad, which took another 5 minutes.
User Interface: Apple's secret sauce is the simplicity of their products. Apple TV is no different. The menu is very simple - Movies, TV, Internet, Computer and Settings. Movies and TV are for renting content directly from iTunes within Apple TV. Internet gives you access to Netflix, You Tube, etc. Computer gives you access to iTunes on your computer. Settings allows you to change the various Apple TV options. The remote control is Apple's usual model of minimalist efficiency, with a menu button, a play / pause button and an iPod like controller. The supplied remote works well with Apple TV, but is a bit cumbersome when one has to enter data (e.g., e-mail addresses, search on YouTube or Netflix). A much better solution is downloading Apple Remote on your iPhone or iPad. It basically turns the iPhone or iPad into a big touch pad that allows you to use gestures to control the Apple TV (e.g., swipe left, swipe right, double click, etc.). Moreover, it automatically provides a keyboard when one is asked for text input (e.g., for search). Apple remote is free on the App Store.
Netflix Streaming / Video Quality: Setting up Netflix was quick - basically just enter your e-mail address / password and you're ready to go. I watched some TV from BBC, a foreign flick and Iron Man. Each program loaded quickly - less than 30 seconds. Picture quality was good to great, depending on the source material. Picture quality was comparable to DVD for SD material(perhaps slightly better), but slightly less sharp than upconverted DVD or blue-ray. HD Programming looked like the HD on-demand programming through uVerse. There was enough of a buffer that there was no jittering, pixelation or stuttering on the streaming to the TV. Sound quality on the stream was good - I don't think they stream in 5.1, so the video stream doesn't leverage the subwoofer. Considering that I'm running a heavily taxed wireless system on 802.11g with a 100 foot distance between Apple TV and the Gateway, the picture quality and streaming performance are impressive. Having this quality of Netflix compatibility is worth the price of admission by itself.
iTunes Streaming: I streamed some music from my Playlists from the Computer. Sound quality is good, but not great. My Yamaha CD Player sounds better, but it can only hold 5 cds. Having access to my entire library is very useful, so you lose sound quality but gain convenience. iTunes streams not only the music, but also the cover art. After a few minutes, Apple TV switches into screensaver mode and starts transmitting pictures to the TV along with the music. I also streamed some videos from my computer and the streaming was again flawless. One of the issues with Apple TV is that it only supports the Apple video standards, i.e., MP4. I had some DIVX files that I converted over to MP4 by using DVD Fab and imported them into iTunes. So if you have a library of AVI, Divx, Xvid, etc., this will require conversion of those files in order to stream from your computer.
iTunes from within Apple TV: There is access to an iTunes store within Apple TV as well. They have a different pricing structure, in that TV shows and movies are available for rent only. They have a limited number of titles at this point - primarily BBC, ABC (since Steve Jobs sits on their Board) and Fox. CBS and NBC are not on Apple TV. Movie selection is decent - they have all the latest movies. The Apple TV selection can be easily increased by just downloading the content you want from iTunes on your desktop and then streaming it to Apple TV.
YouTube Streaming: Surprisingly good. The HQ / HD You Tube pieces look remarkably crisp on the TV. The older content that was meant to watch on a small window on your computer looked a little pixelated, but acceptable.
Apple has built a great platform with a lot of potential. With what is available right now - Apple TV is a pretty impressive value at $99. It is worth it just for the Netflix streaming and integration with iTunes. Since Apple TV is actually built on the same hardware (at least the processing chip) as the iPhone and iPad and has the same operating system, I wouldn't be surprised if there are "apps" that will eventually make it to Apple TV to further enhance Apple TV (e.g., ABC Streaming, Games, Amazon on Demand, etc.). There is supposed to be an upgrade to the operating system with a new version of Airplay that comes out in November, 2010. This will allow you to stream from an iPad or iPod to the Apple TV as well.
I looked at other streaming devices (e.g., Roku, using my Panasonic Blue Ray for Netflix, etc.) and none of them had the simplicity and reliabilty that the Apple TV offers. The Wi Fi "stick" for my Blue Ray player is $80 anyway and the Netflix integration isn't anywhere nearly as robust as Apple TV. UVerse also has music and picture streaming built in using Microsoft Media Center - however, it required some network configuration and it crashes quite often. I didn't purchase a Roku, but a friend of mine has had a number of issues with streaming performance. At under $100, the Apple TV is competitively priced with other streaming options. Now just bring on the "apps".
"Great Media Player" 2010-10-11
By Jinsoo Kim (San Diego)
I got this little box on last Friday and I could setup everything in 30 min. It's typical apple product which gives you very intuitive usage model with limitation.
It requires only 3 connections. Power and HDMI cable. Optical cable is optional if you are fine with your TV's speakers. Since Video connection is HDMI, video quality is superb. I really like the clean and well refined UI screen. It's not fixed screen. It changes depending on your contents. Whenever I browse through menu, upper section of screen shows snapshot of what I can choose and it updates very quickly when you add new contents.
It has built in wireless LAN so, you don't need internet cable though it has port if you want. The wireless seems better than mobile device since it could play Youtube pretty smoothly where iPad couldn't play very well. It detects available AP automatically and detects what type of security is used. Just type in password then you are good to go.
This device comes with following features.
1. Playing Movie and TV shows you can purchase or rent from iTune store
2. Playing Netflix, Youtube and Flicker
3. Playing your own contents
4. Playing internet radio
5. Playing photo slide shows
#1 is very easy if your wallet is ready. Just click and browse movies then click to play.
#2 is also very easy if you have netflix account. Just type ID and password then you have full access.
#3 is super easy if you are familiar with iTune on desktop. Apple doesn't find all movies automatically. It doesn't make UI super complicated to support everything. Apple TV uses Home Sharing feature and grab whatever you have in your iTune library. So the only supported video format is Mpeg4/h.264. If you have videos purchased from iTune store, those are already mp4. so you don't need to do anything. If you have lots of videos in other format, you will need to convert the format. There are some tools available on the market so it won't be very difficult. Once you add your contents, it appears on apple TV instantly. Though all movies are seen on same screen in iTune SW, it's possible to define category. Then Apple TV shows category such as Comedy, Drama and so on. When you scroll through categories, left screen shows snapshot of movies you have.
#4 it plays audio pretty well as well though there's one annoying bug. If you have songs and didn't mark in iTune, you can't play using Apple TV. You need to mark songs to play. I hope this is fixed in software update soon.
#5 I like photo slide show very much. You can define the style of slide shows and you can decide if you want to add background music or not. If you have your friends or relatives coming, this feature is very nice to share your great moments.
What I like about this device is typical Apple's intuitive UI. It's super easy to use. No complicated long list of hierarchy. I haven't read manual at all. And also, it supports most of the video contents you will need such as netflix and youtube. I use AT&T Uverse so I know how IPTV works but Apple TV works much better. In the first day of use, I changed my plan from U200 to U-family to save some bucks and pay for Netflix.
Video quality is also very nice. I have lots of low quality video with lots of artifact. Those are still visible but post processing smoothes out those. For high quality video, screen is super crisp and bright.
Also box is so small that it's hardly seen. I put close to my Harman Kardon receiver and apple TV fits very well. And it's also very easy to move around the rooms. I bought several HDMI cables so that I can move between living room, master bed rooms and others. Power consumption is so little that you don't need to bother to turn off all the time. It actually doesn't have power button.
There's some possibility of upgrade. This device has built in strong processor, A4 to handle video decoding. Everything is implemented using software meaning, it can be easily expanded. I am not sure what's Apple's strategy but this device might have great potential. This device is too strong for the media player.
The catch of all above feature is very good internet connection and faster desktop. If you have good internet connections, you won't notice much lags. When you play movies that are stored in your desktop, the lag depends on how fast your PC is. So, Apple TV is not standalone device. It smartly uses infra structure that are common in many of household these days. In my case, I upgraded internet speed since Netflix uses about 1.5Mbps.
Though what Apple TV provides is nothing new and all can be done by PC or similar boxes, it just makes perfect with $99. I think it's great addition to your media system.
"Awesome product." 2010-10-12
By Niter (Philadelphia, PA)
Got this to stream music and video to my TV instead of using the crappy PS3 streaming capabilities. Was looking at them for the past few months and when the new model was announced I decided to wait for it, I do not need an Hard Drive since I have a NAS server dedicated to iTunes library so this was the perfect fit.
It took a bit over 5 minutes from when I open the package left by UPS to when I started streaming content from iTunes. Make sure you have your WEP key readily available if you are running the box wireless.
The menu are simple, clean and not cluttered (Sony please do take a hint from this) the fonts are crisp and clear make it easy to read from far away. Setup is quick and guided, the only bugger is the onscreen keyboard layout which is not in the familiar "QWERTY" but in alphabetical order, and typing with the small (but wonderful) remote can be quite a chore if you have long user names and passwords.
The box picked up my iTunes library without me going to look for it and show the music content with no issues. Videos not so much, the box only supports MP4 and H.264 so I had to convert some of my videos to be able to play them from it but is not a big a deal, can be easily done through Quick Time (save as->Apple TV), directly through iTunes (select video file, advanced->Apple TV) or third party software which is recommended especially if you have multiple files. There a couple of freeware programs that allow you to queue multiple video and convert them automatically, your presence is not required once the job is started.
So after converting a few videos went back upstairs and tested the steaming....I was blown away, this unit was supposed to replace the PS3 which I was using to stream my media, well let me tell you it does the job wonderfully. Tested with different movie resolution ranging from plain SD to 720p HD and the frame rate is constant through a wireless network. The unit is right next to my PS3 (so the signal is not different) which always had issues when playing movies, stop and go, delayed control reaction, audio going out of sync (had to pause/stop and resume to fix).
Video quality is outstanding, it produces minimal artifacts on either SD or HD content visible mostly in dark scene or if the background is mostly of a single color. I haven't notice any lag on the frames or the remote (obviously there is a 2 secs delay when restarted from pause).
Definitely recommend the purchase if you are looking for a cheap, small foot-print, easy to use and practical media streaming device. Next step is to get a couple more...one per TV.....
Fast forward almost one week.....My iTunes library starts to get crowded...and so far I haven't had any kind of issues with the streaming of video content. Just takes a few hours to convert all the content to be available on the Apple TV, other than that is a joy to turn on the TV and have all my movies and show at the touch of a button without going crazy looking for them or hoping that the PS3 is in the right mood to stream the whole thing without glitches.
Just ordered the second one for downstairs which should be here on Thursday, right on time for the weekend....
"Wonderful little black box from an actual owner!!!" 2010-10-02
By JohnRN
I must say this little black box is just stupendous!!! This is my first Apple TV, I had always been hesitant about them but decided at $99 now with Netflix streaming I just couldn't pass it up. Setup was a breeze, it was so easy to learn, really didn't have to learn it having used other Apple products it was easy to figure out fast.
The picture quality in Netflix was really nice. There was no stuttering of the stream, the audio was just fine. I found the menu really nice. I was able to browse for new movies, rate films seen, add films to my instant que, and it gave me suggestions as well. VERY FUNCTIONAL.
There were quite a few free TV shows such as Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives (ABC shows) in addition to the $0.99 ones.
Browsing my movies on my Mac Mini media server was just a breeze. Connected it too my iTunes account, it instantly found my iTunes and thus all my media. Movies played quickly and at standard def. they looked just as good as they always have.
I have not tried any HD videos on it yet so I can't comment on that.
For those that are concerned about storage capacity etc, it has 8GB of Samsung flash memory storage per the tear down by iFixit, as well as 256MB of RAM, the A4 used is the same as in the iPad. It was also found that it runs iOS, it has been jailbroken but it is not yet available to the public. It is also capable of decoding 1080p content, so there is hope for that for those of you who are concerned with that.
By D. Bowman (LA, CA)
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R18DCQTG9T6VTO This is an amazing compliment to your home theater.
So many features, yet so simple to use.
My 7 year old son has it all figured out.
I hope you enjoy the video.
Let me know what you think.
By Just Another Geek (Simi Valley, CA, USA)
I am not an Apple Afficianodo. I don't wear jeans and black turtlenecks in reverence to Steve Jobs. I don't hang out at the Apple Store and covet becoming a "genius"; however, I have to give credit where credit is due. The last few products Apple has brought out - the iPod, iPhone, iPad - have been incredible and changed the consumer electronics and media / software landscape. Apple TV is now positioned to do the same, but it will take some more time to fully realize the potential of this device.
Apple TV effectively allows you to stream whatever is on your iTunes to your TV and home theater system. Moreover, it has built in support for Netflix, You Tube and a few other internet based media content providers. The picture quality and performance for these services are worth the price of admission. There is significant potential to advance the platform - just give it some time.
System Overview: My Apple TV is plugged into a 60 inch Samsung 1080p LED HDTV via HDMI (video) and a Yamaha Home Theater Receiver via Toslink optical cable (audio). I have AT&T Uverse with their 802.11g Residential Gateway (combination of DSL modem and wireless router) with their Elite DSL service (6 MB per second). iTunes runs on a Dell Desktop with 4GB of memory, Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 500 GB Hard Drive operating on Windows Vista (64 bit) and secured with Norton 360 (firewall, antivirus, etc.). The network handles the Desktop, 2 iPhones, a Blackberry, an iPad, the Apple TV, 4 Laptops, a wireless Printer and a networked wired printer. The Computer / Residential Gateway are in the Den and the TV / Home Theater / Apple TV are in the family room. The two rooms are about 100 feet apart and are separated by five walls.
Set Up: Easy as pie. It took five minutes to plug in the HDMI cable, the optical cable, the power outlet and then adding it to the wireless network. Sharing iTunes from my desktop to Apple TV took another 20 minutes, since I had to download the new version of iTunes and restart my computer and Apple TV. Apple really makes it easy - I didn't have to make any adjustments to my firewall settings to share iTunes on the desktop with Apple TV. I also downloaded the Apple Remote on my iPhone and iPad, which took another 5 minutes.
User Interface: Apple's secret sauce is the simplicity of their products. Apple TV is no different. The menu is very simple - Movies, TV, Internet, Computer and Settings. Movies and TV are for renting content directly from iTunes within Apple TV. Internet gives you access to Netflix, You Tube, etc. Computer gives you access to iTunes on your computer. Settings allows you to change the various Apple TV options. The remote control is Apple's usual model of minimalist efficiency, with a menu button, a play / pause button and an iPod like controller. The supplied remote works well with Apple TV, but is a bit cumbersome when one has to enter data (e.g., e-mail addresses, search on YouTube or Netflix). A much better solution is downloading Apple Remote on your iPhone or iPad. It basically turns the iPhone or iPad into a big touch pad that allows you to use gestures to control the Apple TV (e.g., swipe left, swipe right, double click, etc.). Moreover, it automatically provides a keyboard when one is asked for text input (e.g., for search). Apple remote is free on the App Store.
Netflix Streaming / Video Quality: Setting up Netflix was quick - basically just enter your e-mail address / password and you're ready to go. I watched some TV from BBC, a foreign flick and Iron Man. Each program loaded quickly - less than 30 seconds. Picture quality was good to great, depending on the source material. Picture quality was comparable to DVD for SD material(perhaps slightly better), but slightly less sharp than upconverted DVD or blue-ray. HD Programming looked like the HD on-demand programming through uVerse. There was enough of a buffer that there was no jittering, pixelation or stuttering on the streaming to the TV. Sound quality on the stream was good - I don't think they stream in 5.1, so the video stream doesn't leverage the subwoofer. Considering that I'm running a heavily taxed wireless system on 802.11g with a 100 foot distance between Apple TV and the Gateway, the picture quality and streaming performance are impressive. Having this quality of Netflix compatibility is worth the price of admission by itself.
iTunes Streaming: I streamed some music from my Playlists from the Computer. Sound quality is good, but not great. My Yamaha CD Player sounds better, but it can only hold 5 cds. Having access to my entire library is very useful, so you lose sound quality but gain convenience. iTunes streams not only the music, but also the cover art. After a few minutes, Apple TV switches into screensaver mode and starts transmitting pictures to the TV along with the music. I also streamed some videos from my computer and the streaming was again flawless. One of the issues with Apple TV is that it only supports the Apple video standards, i.e., MP4. I had some DIVX files that I converted over to MP4 by using DVD Fab and imported them into iTunes. So if you have a library of AVI, Divx, Xvid, etc., this will require conversion of those files in order to stream from your computer.
iTunes from within Apple TV: There is access to an iTunes store within Apple TV as well. They have a different pricing structure, in that TV shows and movies are available for rent only. They have a limited number of titles at this point - primarily BBC, ABC (since Steve Jobs sits on their Board) and Fox. CBS and NBC are not on Apple TV. Movie selection is decent - they have all the latest movies. The Apple TV selection can be easily increased by just downloading the content you want from iTunes on your desktop and then streaming it to Apple TV.
YouTube Streaming: Surprisingly good. The HQ / HD You Tube pieces look remarkably crisp on the TV. The older content that was meant to watch on a small window on your computer looked a little pixelated, but acceptable.
Apple has built a great platform with a lot of potential. With what is available right now - Apple TV is a pretty impressive value at $99. It is worth it just for the Netflix streaming and integration with iTunes. Since Apple TV is actually built on the same hardware (at least the processing chip) as the iPhone and iPad and has the same operating system, I wouldn't be surprised if there are "apps" that will eventually make it to Apple TV to further enhance Apple TV (e.g., ABC Streaming, Games, Amazon on Demand, etc.). There is supposed to be an upgrade to the operating system with a new version of Airplay that comes out in November, 2010. This will allow you to stream from an iPad or iPod to the Apple TV as well.
I looked at other streaming devices (e.g., Roku, using my Panasonic Blue Ray for Netflix, etc.) and none of them had the simplicity and reliabilty that the Apple TV offers. The Wi Fi "stick" for my Blue Ray player is $80 anyway and the Netflix integration isn't anywhere nearly as robust as Apple TV. UVerse also has music and picture streaming built in using Microsoft Media Center - however, it required some network configuration and it crashes quite often. I didn't purchase a Roku, but a friend of mine has had a number of issues with streaming performance. At under $100, the Apple TV is competitively priced with other streaming options. Now just bring on the "apps".
By Jinsoo Kim (San Diego)
I got this little box on last Friday and I could setup everything in 30 min. It's typical apple product which gives you very intuitive usage model with limitation.
It requires only 3 connections. Power and HDMI cable. Optical cable is optional if you are fine with your TV's speakers. Since Video connection is HDMI, video quality is superb. I really like the clean and well refined UI screen. It's not fixed screen. It changes depending on your contents. Whenever I browse through menu, upper section of screen shows snapshot of what I can choose and it updates very quickly when you add new contents.
It has built in wireless LAN so, you don't need internet cable though it has port if you want. The wireless seems better than mobile device since it could play Youtube pretty smoothly where iPad couldn't play very well. It detects available AP automatically and detects what type of security is used. Just type in password then you are good to go.
This device comes with following features.
1. Playing Movie and TV shows you can purchase or rent from iTune store
2. Playing Netflix, Youtube and Flicker
3. Playing your own contents
4. Playing internet radio
5. Playing photo slide shows
#1 is very easy if your wallet is ready. Just click and browse movies then click to play.
#2 is also very easy if you have netflix account. Just type ID and password then you have full access.
#3 is super easy if you are familiar with iTune on desktop. Apple doesn't find all movies automatically. It doesn't make UI super complicated to support everything. Apple TV uses Home Sharing feature and grab whatever you have in your iTune library. So the only supported video format is Mpeg4/h.264. If you have videos purchased from iTune store, those are already mp4. so you don't need to do anything. If you have lots of videos in other format, you will need to convert the format. There are some tools available on the market so it won't be very difficult. Once you add your contents, it appears on apple TV instantly. Though all movies are seen on same screen in iTune SW, it's possible to define category. Then Apple TV shows category such as Comedy, Drama and so on. When you scroll through categories, left screen shows snapshot of movies you have.
#4 it plays audio pretty well as well though there's one annoying bug. If you have songs and didn't mark in iTune, you can't play using Apple TV. You need to mark songs to play. I hope this is fixed in software update soon.
#5 I like photo slide show very much. You can define the style of slide shows and you can decide if you want to add background music or not. If you have your friends or relatives coming, this feature is very nice to share your great moments.
What I like about this device is typical Apple's intuitive UI. It's super easy to use. No complicated long list of hierarchy. I haven't read manual at all. And also, it supports most of the video contents you will need such as netflix and youtube. I use AT&T Uverse so I know how IPTV works but Apple TV works much better. In the first day of use, I changed my plan from U200 to U-family to save some bucks and pay for Netflix.
Video quality is also very nice. I have lots of low quality video with lots of artifact. Those are still visible but post processing smoothes out those. For high quality video, screen is super crisp and bright.
Also box is so small that it's hardly seen. I put close to my Harman Kardon receiver and apple TV fits very well. And it's also very easy to move around the rooms. I bought several HDMI cables so that I can move between living room, master bed rooms and others. Power consumption is so little that you don't need to bother to turn off all the time. It actually doesn't have power button.
There's some possibility of upgrade. This device has built in strong processor, A4 to handle video decoding. Everything is implemented using software meaning, it can be easily expanded. I am not sure what's Apple's strategy but this device might have great potential. This device is too strong for the media player.
The catch of all above feature is very good internet connection and faster desktop. If you have good internet connections, you won't notice much lags. When you play movies that are stored in your desktop, the lag depends on how fast your PC is. So, Apple TV is not standalone device. It smartly uses infra structure that are common in many of household these days. In my case, I upgraded internet speed since Netflix uses about 1.5Mbps.
Though what Apple TV provides is nothing new and all can be done by PC or similar boxes, it just makes perfect with $99. I think it's great addition to your media system.
By Niter (Philadelphia, PA)
Got this to stream music and video to my TV instead of using the crappy PS3 streaming capabilities. Was looking at them for the past few months and when the new model was announced I decided to wait for it, I do not need an Hard Drive since I have a NAS server dedicated to iTunes library so this was the perfect fit.
It took a bit over 5 minutes from when I open the package left by UPS to when I started streaming content from iTunes. Make sure you have your WEP key readily available if you are running the box wireless.
The menu are simple, clean and not cluttered (Sony please do take a hint from this) the fonts are crisp and clear make it easy to read from far away. Setup is quick and guided, the only bugger is the onscreen keyboard layout which is not in the familiar "QWERTY" but in alphabetical order, and typing with the small (but wonderful) remote can be quite a chore if you have long user names and passwords.
The box picked up my iTunes library without me going to look for it and show the music content with no issues. Videos not so much, the box only supports MP4 and H.264 so I had to convert some of my videos to be able to play them from it but is not a big a deal, can be easily done through Quick Time (save as->Apple TV), directly through iTunes (select video file, advanced->Apple TV) or third party software which is recommended especially if you have multiple files. There a couple of freeware programs that allow you to queue multiple video and convert them automatically, your presence is not required once the job is started.
So after converting a few videos went back upstairs and tested the steaming....I was blown away, this unit was supposed to replace the PS3 which I was using to stream my media, well let me tell you it does the job wonderfully. Tested with different movie resolution ranging from plain SD to 720p HD and the frame rate is constant through a wireless network. The unit is right next to my PS3 (so the signal is not different) which always had issues when playing movies, stop and go, delayed control reaction, audio going out of sync (had to pause/stop and resume to fix).
Video quality is outstanding, it produces minimal artifacts on either SD or HD content visible mostly in dark scene or if the background is mostly of a single color. I haven't notice any lag on the frames or the remote (obviously there is a 2 secs delay when restarted from pause).
Definitely recommend the purchase if you are looking for a cheap, small foot-print, easy to use and practical media streaming device. Next step is to get a couple more...one per TV.....
Fast forward almost one week.....My iTunes library starts to get crowded...and so far I haven't had any kind of issues with the streaming of video content. Just takes a few hours to convert all the content to be available on the Apple TV, other than that is a joy to turn on the TV and have all my movies and show at the touch of a button without going crazy looking for them or hoping that the PS3 is in the right mood to stream the whole thing without glitches.
Just ordered the second one for downstairs which should be here on Thursday, right on time for the weekend....
By JohnRN
I must say this little black box is just stupendous!!! This is my first Apple TV, I had always been hesitant about them but decided at $99 now with Netflix streaming I just couldn't pass it up. Setup was a breeze, it was so easy to learn, really didn't have to learn it having used other Apple products it was easy to figure out fast.
The picture quality in Netflix was really nice. There was no stuttering of the stream, the audio was just fine. I found the menu really nice. I was able to browse for new movies, rate films seen, add films to my instant que, and it gave me suggestions as well. VERY FUNCTIONAL.
There were quite a few free TV shows such as Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives (ABC shows) in addition to the $0.99 ones.
Browsing my movies on my Mac Mini media server was just a breeze. Connected it too my iTunes account, it instantly found my iTunes and thus all my media. Movies played quickly and at standard def. they looked just as good as they always have.
I have not tried any HD videos on it yet so I can't comment on that.
For those that are concerned about storage capacity etc, it has 8GB of Samsung flash memory storage per the tear down by iFixit, as well as 256MB of RAM, the A4 used is the same as in the iPad. It was also found that it runs iOS, it has been jailbroken but it is not yet available to the public. It is also capable of decoding 1080p content, so there is hope for that for those of you who are concerned with that.
