“Apple TV works as either a streamer or as a hard drive storing music, video and images,” Stuart Miles reports for Pocket-lint.
Miles reports, “Streaming from other machines means you can have friends bring around their computer and share movies and music, however because of the way the Apple TV syncs images you can’t stream photos. It’s a shame, because we would have thought the idea of sharing your holiday snaps was more compelling than just sharing music or movies.”
“Once you’ve got your content loaded up, its all about enjoying it and Apple have opted for a simple interface very similar to its iPod. Users are presented with a home screen that allows you to select Movies, TV Shows, Music, Podcasts or Photos,” Miles reports
“Viewing movies depends on its quality, however in a world going High-Def Apple’s low quality movies be it trailers or music videos aren’t great. Of course downloading a HD movie is going to take sometime on a regular broadband connection and a hurdle Apple won’t be able to solve on its own,” Miles reports.
Miles reports, “The Apple TV is a good simple offering, however it’s not without its faults. No off switch (only standby mode) isn’t exactly the most green approach, while we were surprised that the box fails to include the ability to stream radio from iTunes either. It’s not that it’s not possible, after all you can stream the latest content from the iTunes store.”
“So should you rush out at go Apple TV? While the idea of media streamers aren’t new, Apple has this great ability to take something old, give it its California spin and make it very easy to use as well as desirable,” Miles reports. “That’s exactly what Apple has done here… Our advice, if you’ve got an iTunes collection and want to share it then this is a better solution than just plugging your iPod in to the back of the TV.”
Full review here.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV does have an “off button.” As stated in the review, Apple TV is an iPod for your living room. How does iPod turn off? Press and hold the Play/Pause button. How does Apple TV turn off? The same way: just press and hold your Apple TV remote’s Play/Pause button (click any button to turn it back on). Logical, huh?
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so how do you put it back on…?
if its via the remote it is not turned off but in sleep, I guess…
@ jona gold:
Riiiiight. Just like your TV is not off because you can use the remote to turn it back on.
(Almost every electronic device draws SOME power whenever plugged in, including virtually every one with a remote control – but somehow only Apple draws the criticism for it.)
Ooh! Greenpeace won’t like that – another “Phantom load” of a device eating watts even while “off.” That must really suck for people off-grid generating their own solar, wind and hydro power.
nice, i have it, and it still does not do enough! i.e. music video playlists without pause? buying directly from itunes via appletv?