Apple TV Review

Apple TV

A beautiful interface but very poor format support!!

Beautiful interface, beautiful box easy to set up just plug the cables in, note the five-digit code that it displays on the TV screen, and enter that number into iTunes on your computer and away you go.

If you can play a file in iTunes on your PC, you can play it through Apple TV. But that means no .wma music or Xvid or DivX , real, WMV video, without converting them first. Things get a bit more complicated with Wi-Fi, but even here the Apple TV's setup is easier than most.

Aside from a few video podcasts, 720p movie trailers are about the only HD content currently available for the Apple TV. Most iTunes videos are encoded at what the company describes as "near-DVD" quality. They still looked pretty good to me, but as Apple says, they are not quite at DVD level.

The Apple TV uses the iTunes web site to transfer selected video and music to its built-in hard drive (40GB, or 160GB). You can transfer photos from your pc or mac.
The Apple TV connects to wide-screen TVs only, via an HDMI, component, or analog connection no scart.. Apple TV decodes movie files at up to 720p resolution, and it can up-convert them to 1080i, the maximum resolution it can display.The minimalist but easy-to-use remote has a ring-shaped section for playback control and a Menu "go back" button.

Test files that the Apple TV could play looked good. I saw no blockiness in the streaming video, and images looked naturally sharp. Using 802.11g Wi-Fi produced some unwanted video pauses, but everything moved smoothly with ethernet or 802.11n wireless.

Apple plans to improve the Apple TV's features over time (as evidenced by the YouTube streaming update and film rental from iTunes); meanwhile, a number of unofficial hacks (including keyboard/mouse support, the ability to install OS X, and DivX and Xvid file playback options) have surfaced online. If you want to hack your Apple TV to play Xvid and Divx then Click Here

If you use iTunes for all your video downloads and video streaming then the Apple TV is the way to go but if not then this is not for you.