“We’re approaching the Apple TV from a slightly different perspective than most of Apple’s prospective customers. We’ve had a Mac mini hooked up to our TV ever since the mini’s launch in 2005 and acting as an HTPC-like device for all of our non-live-TV needs. Our mini, which we upgraded to a Mac mini core solo last year, is able to stream music and video content through iTunes from other Macs and PCs in the house—just as the Apple TV can—but it can also play a wide variety of other files. The mini acts as a DVD player, and it can function as a DVR with the use of an Elgato eyeTV. It is a full-fledged computer, after all, with the TV as its monitor,” Jacqui Cheng and Clint Ecker report for Ars Technica.
“So what does the Apple TV have to offer us—people who have been slightly spoiled with the use of a seemingly more versatile device for years now? We tried to examine both how the Apple TV would fare among my family members who are intimidated by even the slightest hint of technology, but also how it would fare among fellow geeks,” Cheng and Ecker report. “To do this, we decided to spend some quality time using our Apple TVs before reviewing it, and we seeded our staff with a few units to get feedback from both PC and Mac users, from both HD videophiles and standard definition users. This probably isn’t the first Apple TV review you’ve read, but we also spent much more time going over everything than was possible last week.”
“We’d almost like to give the Apple TV two scores: one for our audience, and one for everybody else. Geeks are more likely than anyone else to hate the Apple TV out of the box… However, almost everyone else who witnessed the Apple TV in action in our presence fell in love with it instantaneously (about half of which were not Mac users). The look and feel of both the device itself and its functionality impressed all those who touched it. We would not worry whatsoever about our technophobic parents’ ability to set up the Apple TV and use it on a daily basis.”
Full review – recommended reading if you’re interested in Apple TV – here.
Related articles:
The chips inside Apple TV – March 27, 2007
Analyst: Apple TV is a platform, not a single product – March 27, 2007
Digital Trends reviews Apple TV: 7 out of 10, ‘huge phenomenon will challenge conventional thinking’ – March 26, 2007
Automatically convert video files for Apple TV with Apple’s Automator – March 26, 2007
Apple TV, iTunes, iTunes Store: BusinessWeek’s Wildstrom blows it – March 26, 2007
iLounge gives Apple TV a ‘B’ in hands-on review: ‘recommended’ – March 24, 2007
CNET reviews Apple TV: ‘Very Good’ – 7.7 out of 10 – March 24, 2007
Video: Apple TV menu and interface walkthrough – March 23, 2007
Analyst: Apple TV will change the TV business – March 23, 2007
G4’s ‘Attack of the Show’ host Olivia Munn licks Apple TV – March 23, 2007
Xvid fully functional on Apple TV – March 23, 2007
Apple TV does not require Widescreen TV or HDTV, works with standard TVs – March 23, 2007
CBS looks at Apple TV on ‘The Early Show’ (with video) – March 23, 2007
Scoble: ‘Apple TV rocks’ – March 23, 2007
Apple TV hard drive upgrade works – March 23, 2007
Apple TV dissection photos – March 22, 2007
Apple posts Apple TV User’s Guide online – March 22, 2007
Enderle: ‘Apple’s attractive and well packaged Apple TV likely to set the pace’ – March 22, 2007
David Pogue demos Apple TV in humorous NY Times’ video – March 22, 2007
PC Magazine review gives Apple TV 4 out of 5 stars – March 22, 2007
NY Times’ Pogue: ‘Apple TV offers a gracious, elegant, effortless, delightful experience’ – March 21, 2007
Mossberg hands-on with Apple TV: ‘beautiful design, easy-to-use, classic Apple: simple and elegant’ – March 21, 2007
Apple TV projected to surpass TiVo, Netflix – March 20, 2007
Former Microsoft ‘Enthusiast Evangelist’ Gartenberg looks at impact of Apple TV – March 20, 2007
Apple TV ships – March 20, 2007
Devices like this are not for geeks. Apple knows its primary audience is not geeks, just consumers who want items to work as advertised. Ubergeeks do make a lot of noise, though.
“impressed all those who touched it”
And at least one woman who licked it. Oh, Olivia. . . I’ll be in my bunk.
Jadis
you SOOOOO got it covered. I agree. Geeks are the noisiest on the net and blog-o-sphere but make up a very small part of the market. The best thing Jobs can do is not listen to ubergeeks and let them play with their UMPC’s.
There’s a big consumer market out there that avoids technology because of the horrors microsoft put them through.
We know what a hit those are…were………will be?
Simplicity is key, especially for typical consumers.
How many VCR LEDs flashing – 00:00 – have we all seen? How many people could actually program and use VCRs, computers and digital cameras beyond a few basic functions.
Being able to use MS Word and play Solitaire on a PC is not being techno-savvy!
The fact that I see little need and no desire for an TV must mean that I’m a geek. I guess I’m content plugging my PowerBook in to my HDTV, using an upsampling DVD player and ripping music onto my iPod with Apple Lossless….
Still, iTunes needs to offer a flat rate subscription service for TV and movie content before this thing really soars.
I agree with drz, flat rate monthly subscription service for unlimited tv show rental. Then maybe single movie rentals. And then, but won’t happen, flat rate unlimited movie rental al a netflix.
I won’t mention who posted a ‘blog entry under the banner:
Apple TV = hacked
OK, it was O’Grady. But … don’t go read it. The “hacking” referred to was to the hardware, not the software. It was local, not remote. It was about as interesting as adding memory.
It’s a cut-rate, re-purposed Mac mini … and that isn’t a half-bad thing to be.
Gotta love Ars Technica’s articles – super geeky and super thorough.
I touched the AppleTV…
…it didn’t like me for some reason.
This is what I don’t get about the whole “Aw, it sucks because it’s not a DVR and a DVD player and shit!” argument.
“Well, er, let’s see… Would you pay a couple ‘a hundred more dollars for that functionality to be added into one unified package?”
“Well, sure!”
“Okay, this is a Mac mini…”
And Vóila!!! An AppleTV with DVR and DVD reading, plus…
Web surfing…
Email…
Adobe Photoshop® Lightroom™…
GLTron…
etc…
With clever marketing, this is a slam dunk. The mini could use a bit of a boost in specs at the 500 dollar price point, but it in the perfect position to claim the premium-end media interface slot.
-c
MW: ‘girl’ (you betchyer sweet ass)
Please buy more stock at higher prices
So the big question for me is.
When will iTunes copy DVDs that you own into iTunes just like it copies songs from your CDs that you own into iTunes?
Seems only natural.
hahaha, “I’ll be in my bunk.” Thank you, Twisted, for knowing that.
I’m just glad to see a few sane reviews starting to come out. I’m not a technogeek and I am let down by the TV as it offers nothing over what I have now with my Airport Express … because … no 5.1 .. and for those outside the USA, there’s no iTunes video content available which even more severely limits its desireability.
I waited a long time for this device, not for one moment thinking Apple would cripple it so badly. Now I’ll have to wait longer or buy something else.
The TV will gain functionality with time. The whole scenario feels like something is off. I bet that HD videos were supposed to be available on iTunes, but weren’t negotiated in time. I’d bet that the powers that be are trying to knock Apple down a peg or two. Hopefully, no one else will emerge as a legitimate competitor, so Apple can move ahead on its plans. It’s a certainty that Apple intends this product to do more. It’s a matter of when, now.
MDN “husband” as in I’ll be in my bunk, too.
Good article.
I wish good luck to TV, but this convinced me even more that I want a Mini as soon as it goes Core2 and .11n, and an HDMI out would be nice, but I don’t see Apple shootong themselves in the foot with that, so DVI-HDMI and Toslink it will be.
One gig of RAM in the cheapest model will be more than adequate for my living room. Front Row handles all I want.
Maybe they will change the Mini’s name to TV Pro…
MW:cost, as in getting what you really want cost less than what you save when you don’t..?
TT, you just proved the whole point of the article. I mean I can wade through the geek that you just spoke, but I’m getting increasingly tired of Having to, you know?
Brau;
Co to read roughly Drafted’s latest on the AppleTV, it DOES do 5.1, read it:
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/147048D8-D8B7-45E7-9A97-3CD5B4C2B75A.html
MW= bill, as there’s no bill for that service!
“Maybe they will change the Mini’s name to TV Pro…”
How about the Mac Maxi? With an enhanced and absorbent control pad.
TMF-
Does that mean it could stick to the wall? That would make it red hot!!
Busting-I’m probably missing something.
You just need to touch it to be impressed?
WOW…impressive (and no, i’m not touching anything, with the exception of the keyboard, at the moment)
Yes Tower Tone, it could stick to the wall, well….if you got some chewing gum, that is (Attention: neurones could stick to the wall as well, use with caution)
@rahrens,
Very interesting and insightful article. I really want to post the parts that clearly demonstrate how MS bastardized the mpeg4 codec, especially in light of the perception that everything Apple does with online media is “proprietary”, when in fact, and I’ve said this all along, Apple is often either setting the standard, or conforming to real media industry standards. as opposed to contrived industry standards like V3, VC-1, and even WAV, which essentially became a standard simply because there were so many Windows installations on the planet, not because it offered anything better than AIFF was already offering. Its incredible how many people perceive AIFF as being an Apple exclusive, incompressed audio format and of couse nothing could be farther from the truth. AIFF has been the true universal industry standard for uncompressed digital audio since the beginning of audio CDs going on thirty years ago. I still wish that MS would get off of the WAV crap and simply conform to the already established AIFF – which DOES NOT stand for Apple Interchange File Format – dammit.
I did not agree with the article’s implication that the average user would not hear the difference between Dolby Pro Logic Surround, and Dolby 5.1. For any media that was orginally produced with 5+1 audio post production, and given a room where a listener could quickly A/B betweent the two, the average listener would instantly pick up the difference assuming that they were listening to a part of the program or movie that was actually utilizing more than two channels at that moment. This fact does not imply one is simply better than the other, only that there is a difference.
The author also was a little ambiguous on how Dolby Pro Logic should actually be setup to actually take full advantage of what it has to offer. Pro Logic is basically a free-space matrix developed by this formula: (L+R)+(L-R)=surround matrix. While its true that there is only one physical connection (one pair of wires) for the surround content in Pro Logic, the way that surround channel is distributed is what actually gives you a sense of “immersion” when listening. In a true Dolby Pro Logic decoder, that single surround channel actually shows up as two speaker connections on the back: One speaker is wired with the positive and negative leads in phase with the front speakers, and the other surround speaker connection is meant to have it’s leads wired with positive and negative reversed, or out of phase with the front speakers. It is only in this configuration that Pro Logic Surround sound can be fully realized. One thing I like about Dolby Pro Logic Surround sound is that audio production that is only available in stereo can take on a surround sound like quality by allowing the listener to hear out of phase audio material more discreetly, where a simple stereo playback of the same material would tend to mask out the more out of phase audio.
With my DVD player I don’t even have to think about it, I just hook up all of the 5.1 outputs to my amplifier with corresponding speakers, and the DVD player takes care of the rest. If it senses a movie with Pro Logic surround then it automatically reverses the phase of the Right Rear Channel thus automatically rewiring my system to take full advantage of what Dolby Pro Logic has to offer. Most if not all DVD players with discreet 5.1 analog (RCA) outputs offer this convenience, I’m not sure about DTS.
MW=”toward”: As in – Toward a better understanding of how MS continues to screw the consumer.
If they add numerous extra features in, then people complain that they want this capability but hate to pay for that capability which they would never use or it is not flexible enough). If you don’t add extra features in, people complain that it is useless because they do not want to buy it plus extra components.
Sigh….you cannot win for losing.
@ Mr. Peabody
Great post, as always.
We so often forget an obvious fact.
Bill Gates is a geek. For the most part people don’t like geeks.
Steve Jobs is not a geek. Bill will never understand Steve.
Steve knows what my 83 year old mom wants in a computer, and in a tv. And if she ever got the idea that she wanted to take the pictures and stuff on her computer and look at them on her tv – Steve would know how to give her that. Indeed he has!
Geeks don’t understand that, or my mom.
One more thing Steve knows. Even at 83 years of age there are more of my mom and her like out there than there are geeks.
Hence – the TV will sell.