CNET reviews Apple TV: Pitch-perfect design and user interface; AirPlay has game-changing potential

Apple Online Store“In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a revolution going on in how people watch movies and TV. Traditional services like cable and satellite are losing ground, as more people are streaming content directly from the Internet, using services like Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon Video On Demand. The revamped Apple TV is the company’s aggressive move to capture the streaming-video business: for just $99, you get access to Netflix, YouTube, TV, and movies from the iTunes Store, plus all the music and videos on networked computers running iTunes,” Matthew Moskovciak reports for CNET Reviews. “And with a pitch-perfect design and user interface, it’ll be hard for Apple fans to pass it up.”

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“Tech enthusiasts have been referring to AirPlay as Apple TV’s secret weapon and for good reason,” Moskovciak reports. “The basic concept behind AirPlay is that you’d be able to take any content–music or video–playing on your iPhone and ‘push’ the content to your Apple TV with a couple of taps. The most basic implementation of AirPlay will include any media that plays in the iOS device’s native media player, but the Apple representative we talked to mentioned that developers will have the ability to add it to their apps as well. So the idea is, if you’re listening to Pandora on your iPad, you’d theoretically be able to easily push that to your Apple TV, getting around the issue of the Apple TV lacking an App Store. (At least for those who own iOS devices.)”

Moskovciak reports, “That’s the idea, but unfortunately we won’t get to test out AirPlay until November, when Apple releases the iOS 4.2 software update. It will also depend on how many third-party apps support it. Bottom line: if AirPlay works as advertised, it has the potential to be a game-changing killer app for the Apple TV, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

Full review here.

42 Comments

  1. @ jmmx
    Off course it will work a lot better in an Apple enclosed ecosystem. Sure, you have iTunes for Windows, but it does not work nearly as well or smoothly as it does on a Mac. If you wan’t smooth it just works experience, you better stick to one vender providing the whole solution. Why do you think MS/Google/HTC/Motorola/Dell/HP/Sony can’t touch Apple?

  2. Airplay is the killer app! Make no mistake. Another thing Steve is smart. With help from the ATV, this will push up sales of iOS devices. He is aiming at the impulse buyers that does not have a iOS device. He is putting the ATV out there for 99 dollars and he is saying that with a iOS device you can have a better experience. Now this works the other way as well. For the persons who already has a iOS device, you can use the ATV to bring your content on your device to you living room. I agree to what cnet says that it could be alread enabled on the apps.

  3. Airplay is the killer app! Make no mistake. Another thing Steve is smart. With help from the ATV, this will push up sales of iOS devices. He is aiming at the impulse buyers that does not have a iOS device. He is putting the ATV out there for 99 dollars and he is saying that with a iOS device you can have a better experience. Now this works the other way as well. For the persons who already has a iOS device, you can use the ATV to bring your content on your device to you living room. I agree to what cnet says that it could be alread enabled on the apps.

  4. @ABQ Peter –

    “maybe apple just goes to the nfl, mlb, ncaa, nba, etc. and gets the rights from them.”

    Maybe the NFL, NCAA, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, PBA, PGA, etc., etc. should just make a great APP like MLB @ Bat and include the AirPlay button … they can charge for a subscription to their video services and keep most of the money! Why does Apple need to be involved?

  5. @ABQ Peter –

    “maybe apple just goes to the nfl, mlb, ncaa, nba, etc. and gets the rights from them.”

    Maybe the NFL, NCAA, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, PBA, PGA, etc., etc. should just make a great APP like MLB @ Bat and include the AirPlay button … they can charge for a subscription to their video services and keep most of the money! Why does Apple need to be involved?

  6. I would think that NBC, CBS, FOX, CW, CNN, Comedy Central, SyFy, HBO, Showtime, etc., etc. Player APPs with AirPlay buttons should soon be on the way as well. Of course most of those will probably not be free, or will require a subscription.

  7. I would think that NBC, CBS, FOX, CW, CNN, Comedy Central, SyFy, HBO, Showtime, etc., etc. Player APPs with AirPlay buttons should soon be on the way as well. Of course most of those will probably not be free, or will require a subscription.

  8. @Angryshortguy

    I did, but then you don’t know me. At first, the cable company charged a $5 premium for Internet access, but now they don’t. I just use them as a ‘dumb pipe’ and have my two phone lines come down it via Vonage (I need to call Europe A LOT, and other countries and been using V since it’s first year in business), the TV shows we watch come from iTunes (now rentals only, so holdouts get in line because for everything else there are ‘other means’) or NetFlix.

    This clean set-up and keeps my life simpler. I no longer waste so much time ‘channel surfing’ like I did when I used to have cable TV. Once you drop cable TV you’ll find a lot more time is suddenly freed up. Even if you watch the same amount of content, as cable TV content still has commercial interruptions, where none of the content I watch has. That alone saves you a few days of time a year.

  9. @Angryshortguy

    I did, but then you don’t know me. At first, the cable company charged a $5 premium for Internet access, but now they don’t. I just use them as a ‘dumb pipe’ and have my two phone lines come down it via Vonage (I need to call Europe A LOT, and other countries and been using V since it’s first year in business), the TV shows we watch come from iTunes (now rentals only, so holdouts get in line because for everything else there are ‘other means’) or NetFlix.

    This clean set-up and keeps my life simpler. I no longer waste so much time ‘channel surfing’ like I did when I used to have cable TV. Once you drop cable TV you’ll find a lot more time is suddenly freed up. Even if you watch the same amount of content, as cable TV content still has commercial interruptions, where none of the content I watch has. That alone saves you a few days of time a year.

  10. @ DRMSSB

    > I’m not sure why you are invoking a paradigm of streaming to the iOS device and then to the Apple TV.

    Because that’s how the media is describing the AirPlay feature. As this particular article describes it, content is “pushed” from the iDevice to the Apple TV. I say it may look that way, but the streamed content never goes through the iDevice. When you use AirPlay, the iDevice is just acting as the remote control for playing the content on Apple TV, and the only data being sent are control inputs such as play, pause, fast forward, etc.

    And then, other people go further and imagine that an app (such as a game) can run on the iDevice and its video output can be redirected (from its own screen) to the Apple TV to display on the HDTV. That’s even worse, in terms of efficiency, because you are taking the actual screen image every split second and sending over WiFi to the Apple TV. It would be like doing screen sharing between two Macs, with the inherent latency (slow screen refresh) problems.

    Again, (if games come to Apple TV) Apple will do it the smart way. The game app will be a version created for the Apple TV. It will run on the Apple TV (not the iDevice). A companion app will run on the iDevice and turn it into a custom touch and/or motion -based remote controller for the game that’s running on the Apple TV. This is efficient because the only data being sent from iDevice to Apple TV are the user control inputs, NOT the entire screen every milli-second.

  11. @ DRMSSB

    > I’m not sure why you are invoking a paradigm of streaming to the iOS device and then to the Apple TV.

    Because that’s how the media is describing the AirPlay feature. As this particular article describes it, content is “pushed” from the iDevice to the Apple TV. I say it may look that way, but the streamed content never goes through the iDevice. When you use AirPlay, the iDevice is just acting as the remote control for playing the content on Apple TV, and the only data being sent are control inputs such as play, pause, fast forward, etc.

    And then, other people go further and imagine that an app (such as a game) can run on the iDevice and its video output can be redirected (from its own screen) to the Apple TV to display on the HDTV. That’s even worse, in terms of efficiency, because you are taking the actual screen image every split second and sending over WiFi to the Apple TV. It would be like doing screen sharing between two Macs, with the inherent latency (slow screen refresh) problems.

    Again, (if games come to Apple TV) Apple will do it the smart way. The game app will be a version created for the Apple TV. It will run on the Apple TV (not the iDevice). A companion app will run on the iDevice and turn it into a custom touch and/or motion -based remote controller for the game that’s running on the Apple TV. This is efficient because the only data being sent from iDevice to Apple TV are the user control inputs, NOT the entire screen every milli-second.

  12. Absolutely true! The only problem I’d the AT&T effect. In other words once this type of use seriously cuts into the cable companies bottom line they will will start going to tiered pricing. Then we’ll see if we save time AND money. If the Apple tv paradigm takes off I think we’re only looking at about 5 years. But then again I’m no analyst.

  13. Absolutely true! The only problem I’d the AT&T effect. In other words once this type of use seriously cuts into the cable companies bottom line they will will start going to tiered pricing. Then we’ll see if we save time AND money. If the Apple tv paradigm takes off I think we’re only looking at about 5 years. But then again I’m no analyst.

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