iLounge gives Apple TV a ‘B’ in hands-on review: ‘recommended’

46 Comments

1. gorsh – why?
   wasn´t 10,000 songs enough? 231 movies? that´s almost one a day. plus tv shows. all that time to download, maintain, search, find, listen, watch.
   do you ever go outside? do you have a job, friends, wife,girlfriend? when was the last time you took a vacation that was over 200 miles from home?

   i am so glad not to be a digital media addict.

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2. easy, there, Teddy! Being a media addict is not that bad! Songs, movies, music videos – hey, at least I’m not collecting the severed heads of my victims…

   okay – maybe we collectors are a little obsessive – but don’t be too surprised, there are a lot of us. We’ve collected comics and baseball cards as kids, concert t-shirts, decorative water bongs…

   your average movie renter might rent one or two videos per week. Take the ones that you like – spend about three minutes to start them encoding – then drop them off in the mailbox or at the video store in the morning. That still leaves plenty of time for work, wives, kids, and your life-defining 200-mile trips. Not that hard!

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3. >>>”Don´t you guys see how you are all building the prison wall on your content
   and lifestyle?”

   >>It amazes me that they don’t seem to see it. They seem to walk blindly right into the DRM traps for the promise of a bit of cheese.

   Revolt! & Brau: These bits of wisdom never get said enough. Actually, it seems they never get said on MDN.

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4. >Odyssey wrote: AppleTV is a device that sells content through iTunes first & foremost, and does just the bare-minimum of what people would like it do do otherwise.

   What I’d like it to do-

   Act more like a expanded desktop. That way, it would play whatever I could play on my Mac or PC.

   — If it were playable, it’ll work.

   That’s a far cry from:

   — If it can play in iTunes, it’ll work.

   As you point out, its first master is the iTunes music store. It’s second is its buyer*.

   * with strings attached.

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5. From Grok: “Sorry, but I couldn’t disagree more with the above review. I knew from the keynote and the specs released beforehand exactly what TV was, what formats it supported, and exactly why I wanted it. I did not create a mental laundry list of unannounced features that I hoped it would have, and I am supremely unconcerned with being “locked in to Apple’s walled garden”.”

   Good for you dude.

   “TV does one thing extremely well – it takes my media and puts it on the big screen TV. With Handbrake, an iMac, and a few background cpu cycles I can rip a DVD into an h.264/AAC .mp4 video at full resolution that will stream flawlessly from an external USB media hard drive mounted on my desktop to the living room TV. Oh, and it also does music and photos.”

   Um, did you even read this review you disagree so much with? The best DVD ripper in existent wouldn’t work! Video that was already working on iPods & in iTunes wouldn’t work. Streaming worked ok most of the time, but not all of the time, and was no substitute for just having the files on a bigger drive IN or CONNECTED to the device … which the AppleTV doesn’t do out of the box. Oh, and music and photos on TV are nice, but I don’t need an AppleTV for that. The iPod I already own does it just fine.

   “Nowhere in the keynote or in the specs did TV claim to be:
   >”a central networked storage drive that holds all of their home or office iTunes content”
   >a DVR
   >a disc player
   >a game machine
   >something that’s sure to play videos from ADS Tech’s hardware H.264 encoder Instant Video To-Go [whatever that is]”

   Nice way to diss an argument without really adressing it. iLounge themselves said they weren’t grading AppleTV based on those things … it got a B- for the things Apple said it could do and didn’t do as well as they said. It wasn’t perfect based on it’s own capabilities. As for the rest, what they said was that, if it did have one or two or all of those features, it would have helped make it a more mainstream product, instead of somethin that just Apple fanboys were sure to buy. Which is true cause DVRs, disc players, & game machines are all huge mainstream sellers. Logic, right?

   An if you don’t know what the hardware ripper is, then why are you even talkin about it? Move on to somethin you DO know about. Next.

   “As for the silly insinuation that TV output has been crippled to force people into “prefering” content from iTunes – rubbish! I have a 300GB hard drive full of non-iTunes, non-DRM content that streams perfectly, without stutter. Hell, it even scrubs better than it does on the desktop.

   And the remote – it is true – has no volume control. Luckily, the TV remote right beside it probably has one.”

   Nice to see you can at least admit the obvious. Be proud. But no one said AppleTV is crippled by edging people to iTunes. They said … and I agree … thats what it’s purpose is. It achieves its purpose. So its not crippled. The question is whether that should be its purpose. Its not the purpose of the iPod … even though the losers trying to compete with it would say that … sour grapes an all … and the iPod conquered the world. Odyssey got it 100% right … My iPod lets me do what I want with ALL my music, no matter if I bought it from iTunes. That’s what makes it great. The AppleTV lets me do what Apple wants me to do, an only with SOME of my video. It only works ‘great’ when the video is bought from iTunes. Big difference.

   “Excellent device.”

   Shitty post. You sound like you work for Apple.

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6. Odyssey67,

   This is the first honest review of the AppleTV I’ve seen so far, which is more than I can say for MDN’s coverage of it…

   I call bullshit. MDN has not yet done a review of Apple TV to date. MDN’s “coverage” of Apple TV articles and reviews happens to include this review that you seem to love so much. Therefore, MDN’s “coverage” is exactly what you seem to desire.

   You are a retard.

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7. Boy, I guess I got it all wrong, Ishmael – I mean, if the “best DVD ripper in existent wouldn’t work!”… I’ve been using the poor man’s freebie rippers (Handbrake and MTR) and they all worked fine – every one.

   I (and no doubt scholars everywhere) am still pondering the meaning of:

   “They said … and I agree … thats what it’s purpose is. It achieves its purpose. So its not crippled. The question is whether that should be its purpose. Its not the purpose of the iPod … even though the losers trying to compete with it would say that … sour grapes an all … and the iPod conquered the world…”

   Maybe I’m missing it… what is it that people want this device to do? Play DivX? Xvid? Whatever crap is in that AVI wrapper? Your grandma’s super8 movies of Uncle Danny drunk at the 1962 Christmas party? This is one of those geek revolts that nobody really understands. It’s like the iPod audio revolt, where they came out of the woodwork with charts and graphs to show you why the iPod was crap.

   Here’s the breakdown:
   >they don’t make you buy it
   >if you buy it, you don’t have to buy content from iTunes
   >there are certain formats it supports – they are clearly listed
   >any conpiracies, coup d’etats, or black helicopter theories exist, as usual, only in certain imaginations out there.
   >go to the Apple store and try it – it’s really slick

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8. @ Tired of Retards: “I call bullshit. MDN has not yet done a review of Apple TV to date. MDN’s “coverage” of Apple TV articles and reviews happens to include this review that you seem to love so much. Therefore, MDN’s “coverage” is exactly what you seem to desire.”

   And I call troll. First, as you should already know, MDN typically doesn’t do reviews – they link to everyone elses. I’ll assume you aren’t dumb and are simply throwing out a red herring with that due to not having any better argument. Continuing to be so kind gets more problematic, however, as after that first statement you seem so filled with ‘anti-Apple rage’ that you don’t actually understand complete sentences anymore.

   So let me try it again:

   What I was saying was that, among all those reviews that have been linked to here at MDN, as well as others I’ve seen elsewhere, this review from iLounge is the first honest one – “honest” in the sense that this review has, for the first time, thoroughly pointed out all the pluses & minuses, using more set-ups & configurations, and is presented in a neat & understandable package that’s the most free of Apple-envy – that I have read.

   Clear?

   Jeeze. No offense dude, but if you’re so tired now, you must get absolutely nackered everytime you look in a mirror. You should probably get your platelet levels checked, pronto, as I’m pretty sure there isn’t anything to be done about your IQ.
   ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”cool grin” style=”border:0;” />

   MDN magic word (no kidding) is “specific”

   As in, “I can’t be any more specific than that”.

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9. The problem with AppleTV in Canada is that we can’t buy decent video content from iTunes. No movies, no TV shows available here.

   I already have a cable for connecting my MacBook Pro to my HD TV and can easily show dvds that way. But . . . since I started buying iBooks nearly a decade ago I’ve wanted to cut the cables and be able to use it from anywhere in my home. I actually ordered the first Airport in Toronto. I always wanted it to be able to replace my connections to USB devices-scanners, printer (it eventually did this), digital cameras, external drives, etc.

   I don’t wat another DVD player either but until decent content is available from iTunes or otherwise, I’m stuck. I will use my MacBook for DVD duty and hope to get a BluRay when I upgrade my computer in the next year or so.

   Only solution (suggested in a whisper at my Apple Store) was to use illegal means to rip a DVD. It takes about 48 h ours to do one DVD. That’s hardly a great solution.

   Seems to me that the only other way to solve this would be to add a DVD/BluRay player in the AppleTV box.

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10. It’s a first version. Wait for version 2 if you don’t like the initial features.

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11. @ grok: “Boy, I guess I got it all wrong … I mean, if the “best DVD ripper in existent wouldn’t work!”… I’ve been using the poor man’s freebie rippers (Handbrake and MTR) and they all worked fine…”

    Best refers to quality, and here also to speed. I’ve used the ADS and its damn good. So if your software works for AppleTV, fine. Free is even better. But some will want the performance that comes with a hardware ripper, especially since HD really brings out the flaws. And there’s no reason why an MPEG4 or H.264 file – no matter how it was made – should have issues if AppleTV ‘supports’ it. Yet the iLounge review – among others – make it clear this is a concern.

    “Maybe I’m missing it… what is it that people want this device to do? Play DivX? Xvid? Whatever crap is in that AVI wrapper? Your grandma’s … 1962 Christmas party? This is … like the iPod audio revolt, where they came out of … with charts and graphs to show you why the iPod was crap.”

    This is nothing like the audiophile beef with 128bitAAC. Your own examples demonstrate the ‘Joe Sixpack’ nature of AppleTVs problem. YES I want to see the 1962 Xmas party on my HDD. YES I want more playable codecs – at least all the ones Quicktime already supports – as those are the ones on my Mac. Who wouldn’t expect this?? AppleTV is sold as THE way to ‘get your video from your Mac to your HDTV’. Well, right now the only vids gauranteed to play on are video podcasts and iTunes shows.

    So, maybe I’M missing something, but just looking at that tells me that AppleTV, quite possibly, was designed more for iTunes compatibility than it was for compatibility with my life.

    “Here’s the breakdown:
    >they don’t make you buy it
    >if you buy it, you don’t have to buy content from iTunes
    >there are certain formats it supports – they are clearly listed
    >any conpiracies … or black helicopter theories exist … only in certain imaginations out there.
    >go to the Apple store and try it – it’s really slick”

    Reversing order:
    > I have – it’s definitely nice.
    > It’s no fantasy/theory that AppleTV is a limited device for files not related to iTunes downloads.
    > The current supported formats are a] too few (using QT itself as a reasonable standard), and b] don’t work across the board (using iPod & iTunes performance as, again, a reasonable standard).
    > While technically I don’t have to buy from iTunes to use AppleTV, Apple has not made anything else nearly as easy. Like I said, maybe this is a good strategy – but if so then stop glossing over it.
    > No one makes you buy ANY manufactured product – that’s not the point, and never is. If it was, then what consumer would have any right to ask for changes to a product that doesn’t suit their needs, or only does so partially (which I think is the case here). I mean, have you NEVER expressed an opinion before, on any product, regarding how good/bad/mediocre it is? If so, even if only to your friends, then you need to get off the high-horse on this one.

    I’ll say it again: If all Apple is interested in is selling to the Apple-faithful, fine. They’ll sell a shitload. But if they want AppleTV to replicate the success of the iPod – and they do – they need to relearn the lessons of the iPod. iPod gives people most everything they want/expect in a portable audio device. It does NOT overwhelmingly herd them towards buying through iTunes. That’s the SONY strategy – capturing customers rather than catering to them.

    For video Jobs is following the SONY strategy. Whether he or you want to admit it, AppleTV sells content through iTunes first & foremost, simply by perfoming best – or at all – with iTunes content. That’s not what iPod does – an normal MP3 or AAC file plays the same regardless. AppleTV also does the bare-minimum beyond streaming iTunes video, even though (again, whether Jobs likes it or not) people WANT to play their other old videos reliably. They even WANT to record non-iTunes shows, WANT optical discs to play through, WANT to cut down on the devices cluttering the shelf. AppleTV has the elan of iPod, but doesn’t satisfy the basic ‘wants’ like iPod. And if Apple has no interest in giving people that, then what exactly is the point?

    AppleTV is a great stock-price booster, and a wet-dream to those who love Apple & the Mac. It will come out of the gates like a shot. But I think, once it’s limitations become better known, more and more regular people will be saying what many of us are here already – that AppleTV is missing some ingredients.

    Ok – dead horse time. I’m done ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”cool smile” style=”border:0;” />

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12. Fair enough, O67-

    I understood your post, just didn’t agree with the review you posted. What I still don’t get is why (other) folks here and abroad are so incensed about this little box. Go back and read the posts and mark the level of vehemence. I thought that iLounge’s take was pretty good, but some people here seem to be furious at… well… something about AppleTV.

    So I guess it’s – more codecs that people want? Higher resolution? Those’ll be nice. In the meantime, it works great. Didn’t mean to get on the high horse, but this is exactly like the iPod audio controversy, with the same claims about Apple’s ulterior motives (why won’t this play ogg vorbis, anyone?). Google “itunes lock-in” and you’ll see how many people out there still feel trapped by the ITS. Hence the statement “they don’t make you buy it”. I wasn’t being facetious – but with the spitting rage shown by some of the other posters here, you’d think that Steve-O lifted their wallets at the club last night. This is outrage in search of a subject. AppleTV has its pros and cons – personally, I’d give it a “B”. Caveat Emptor.

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13. grok, I think I got this message by mistake. I’ll forward it to you below.

    “Grok, sweetie:
    Your Uncle Danny and I have decided that you are no longer invited over for Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays. Be a dear about those old movies and stfu.

    All my love,
    Grandma”

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14. case in point…

    hi, grammy!

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15. What I don’t understand is why so many reviews seem to point out the lack of volume control..

    Since when do devices with no attached speakers offer a volume control? Do dvd players have volume control? Do VCR’s have volume control? Do cd players have volume control? Do Turntables or cassette decks have volume controls? The answer is no, so why should Apple TV have a volume control? It is simply a playback device meant to go through either tv’s or stereo receivers which have their own volume controls.

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16. Thanks for this information.
    Thanks for all the kind words of support!

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17. @grok –
    sounds like a lot of people got stuck with hours & hours of video that they hoped would work, but didn’t. at this point, it’s either convert or bitch. bitching’s easier.

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18. I can’t remember an Apple product that has generated so much whining for what it doesn’t do. And this on MDN, one of the most rabid fan sites (I mean that in a good way). Well, I got my  tv on Friday, and spent the weekend checking it out. My take is: Screw video. Having my entire iTunes library right there, with a digital audio output and the Core Animation-based screensaver that scrolls album artwork up the TV screen, was worth the price of admission. Even if there was no video capability whatsoever, this is so much cooler than hooking up an iPod dock’s analog audio out or streaming from AirTunes.

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19. So many video formats that Apple TV won’t play? Exactly.. That’s the point..

    Apple TV is Apple’s attempt at standardizing video content to iTunes friendly formats.

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20. Gee… mine works great this far. Transferred photos and music in a jiffy. Real fast. Even played back HD clips from my Panasonic HDC-SD1 once I’ve processed them with BlackMagic Intensity. Excellent playback quality at the 1080i setting.

    Works exactly as advertised. Everything looks as good as it should. HD source looks great. SD looks just like that, SD. It doesn’t upconvert SD to HD, if that’s what people are complaining about.

    That mysterious USB port the manual claims is for “service” makes me wonder, though… you follow me?

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21. Thanks for the defense O67. I abide.

    You’re alright Grok. Bygones.

    Reply

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