“Apple TV is as easy to use as it is to set up. The included six-button remote can be used to easily navigate through the menus to select and play content. Navigation is completely intuitive, and it’s hard to find anything more to say about browsing and playing content on the Apple TV — it simply works,” Heather Havenstein reports for Digit.
“Apple deserves high praise for the look and feel of the Apple TV interface, which is stunning while still managing to be simple. Each interface element delivers a cohesive look while drawing from such diverse sources as personal photos, album art and stills from video content. You really get the feeling as you navigate through the Apple TV that this is your personal digital media experience,” Havenstein reports.
“The fact that music and video tags from iTunes are displayed to give you additional information about selected titles (description, air or publication date, etc.) is a nice touch,” Havenstein reports. “One of the most visually stunning and personalized features of the Apple TV interface isn’t even truly part of the interface. The included screen saver feature will display random photos synced to the Apple TV with beautiful 3-D effects (you can also choose to view CD album art instead of photos). In fact, this screensaver makes your TV into a great digital picture frame when you’re not watching other content.”
Havenstein reports, “The Apple TV is focused on one goal: Bringing iTunes-based digital media stored on your computer to your TV. It achieves that goal quite well and simply with a device that is simple to set up and a delight to use.”
“Apple TV, however, isn’t for everybody. For one thing, its $299 price tag isn’t exactly inexpensive. And you are largely limited to using the iTunes store, which has a large and loyal following. However, videos are available from a variety of other sources that aren’t supported by Apple TV and the iTunes software,” Havenstein reports. “Still, if you want easy access to music and video from iTunes, as well as your personal digital images, Apple TV is an excellent choice.”
Full article here.
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