Apple TV - Part 2: Apple Enters the Digital Home
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 26, 2007 1:22 AM EST- Posted in
- Mac
iPod for your TV
Music playback is simple on the Apple TV; simply select music from the main menu and then you have a 10-ft version of the iPod interface at your disposal. In order to keep the UI simple, you can't search for songs; instead you have to browse according to Artist, Title, Album name, etc... Just like the iPod, this browsing hierarchy works very well if all of your MP3s are properly tagged; otherwise it can be a bit frustrating. Scrolling through thousands of songs is not difficult and can go by quickly once you get used to how the UI reacts to your inputs. Playlists on your Mac/PC are also accessible through the Apple TV, which makes things a bit better if not all of your music is the easiest to find.
While your music is playing, there are no conventional visualization effects. Instead, you get the usual song information as well as cover art (if it's available) for the album the track is from. Album cover art is synced from your Mac/PC if it's available; otherwise you get a nice looking question mark in its place. During playback, at first all that will happen is the track info and album art will periodically shift from the left side of the screen to the right. If you leave the Apple TV alone, it will begin showering the screen with whatever photos you've synced to the device. If no photos are available, the Apple TV has a selection of pictures it will use - mostly of flowers. Like it or not, that's the extent of visualization effects you get with the Apple TV right now.
There's not much to praise or complain about when it comes to the music playback functionality of Apple TV; it just works and quite well at that. Although at a cost of $299, you had better find some other functionality in Apple TV other than music playback otherwise it may be more cost effective to just get an iPod dock with some speakers.
The only major complaint we had with Apple TV's music playback was that if you went too far back in the menu structure (back to the main menu), your music would stop. The same is true for any other sort of media playback with Apple TV; go back to the main menu and everything stops. It's not really designed as a multitasking oriented platform, unfortunately. It's not like we're asking for the ability to do much: just keep playing music while we are navigating through other branches of the menu tree.
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ninjit - Monday, March 26, 2007 - link
I'm a little surprised at your comment about the apple remote and the Macbook pro - it doesn't sound like you've used them together much.There's an option under the Security section of System preferences, that lets you select whether to disable the remote access or not.
The other (and much more reasonable) option, is to pair the remote that came with your Macbook to the computer - this is really what everyone should do.
Once paired, only that remote will work with your macbook, and you won't run into the issue you are having with the Apple TV
tuteja1986 - Monday, March 26, 2007 - link
This device is good if you buy alot of itune stuff. It lacks in feature from being a true Home MCE box. Dual TV tunner , Xvid , DVIX , Ogg , MKV and other stuff that can have in a MCE box.Awax - Monday, March 26, 2007 - link
How much is a MCE ?A MacMini can also play all this.
I think you missed the point : this is basically a iPod with no screen, no battery, HD ouput and Wifi+Ethernet.
feraltoad - Monday, March 26, 2007 - link
I might have two video files on my PC I could extend with this. How can this be considered anything but crippled in regards to video? I think extenders would catch on but for the fact that all of them don't "Just Work" with your "digital home". Maybe Apple sees a "digital niche" for iTunes junkies? I certainly don't think they should use the word "TV" in it. TV=Mindless/EasyThis looks like a trial run to me. Apple must be throwing this out there to get some ideas for their AppleTV 2 that will have decent file support and support HD.
I don't think it could be put better than another poster in the AppleTV preview "Wow, Apple created a 2 yr old ultra mobile laptop."
shady28 - Tuesday, May 29, 2007 - link
I have both an XBox 360 and the iTV, and I'm a heavy iTunes user. The reality here is that the XBox 360 is nowhere near the ease of use and handiness of the iTV.In fact, I've put most of my DVD collection into iTunes at this point. Lots of programs are out there that can do this - I use Jodix Free Ipod video converter among others.
This makes the iTV able to select any movie or show from my collection and play it in my living room. That's an incredibly convenient feature. Other 'generic' DVR type devices are limited by their drive capacities, whereas my collection can grow on my PC with no effect on my iTV.
I'm not talking about pirated content here - I know a lot of people with large DVD collections that are messy and hard to manage. This makes it all a snap for the videos, plus I can listen to my iTunes music without having to hook up my ipod to my stereo - yes not a major problem, but one less thing to clutter up the living room.
For me at least, this was one of my better purchases as far as home entertainment goes.
yyrkoon - Monday, March 26, 2007 - link
How about: 'Yay, Apple created another heaping pile, of overpriced s**t' ? If it wasnt the same person, then it was another poster who also said something along the lines of: 'This is nothing you could not do for yourself using MiniITX hardware', etc. With which I whole -heartedly agree.
Now that, that has been said, wake me when something truely innovative comes along ;)
rjmasotta - Saturday, August 11, 2012 - link
Question. I am looking to buy the Apple TV G3. I'm trying to solve an issue. I have a 1080p CEILING mounted projector (providing video only, no audio) which is currently wired with component video cables coming from a high-end receiver. The sound is produced from optical out of the reeiver to speakers. Current video inputs are from cable box and DVD. I have an iPad 2 and want to stream video from it( Hulu, Crackel, HBO) to the projector. I don't want to remove the 35' of component cables and replace with HDMI) What I'm thinking is to use the HDMI output from the Apple TV into a HDMI to Component converter device, then take the component output produced and push it through the component video cables which run up, into, and over the ceiling to the projector. I would also use the optical output from the Apple TV to the second optical port on the receiver for sound.Does this sound like it will work?
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