As you can imagine, Music excels thanks to iTunes’ huge range of content – both audio and music videos can be purchased using Apple TV (is nothing free around here?) with 30 second previews available on most tracks. Perfect for checking out a new album before torrenting it. Erm, I mean purchasing it.
You can, of course, play music from the PC holding your iTunes library on Apple TV, and the experience is generally pretty good, with album art displayed whilst tracks are playing and track navigation being reasonably quick. Scrolling through the list of artists/albums/tracks is extremely fast, although there can sometimes be a short delay in accessing music. It’s a good job that navigation is fast, though as I can’t spot a search option for your music, which is a huge miss.
One great plus point for the Apple TV is the inclusion of Podcasts in the media selection – very few digital media receivers offer any dedicated Podcast playback features, but Apple TV builds on the great selection of podcasts available in the iTunes store by providing easy access to your podcast subscription on TV as well as the ability to search for new podcasts in the iTunes store.
One big change I found for me using the Apple TV is that video podcasts suddenly make so much more sense – I love podcasts, but generally listen to them in the car during my commute to work, so, no video required, thanks. However, on Apple TV, it’s all about the video! You’ll find it easy to discover a mammoth library of free video podcasts, with a variety of quality (video as well as content!) Programming such as the Engadget Show or Tekzilla HD looks wonderful on TV, and you’ll find high definition video streams smoothly with an Ethernet connection.
Podcasts can be browsed by Provider, Genre and Popularity as well as Titles, so you can be sure to find something of interest across a dazzling array of free content. A big win for Apple TV here vs the competition.
Photos can be viewed in Apple TV from a variety of sources, including iTunes (as ever), a MobileMe online storage account as well as online photos stored at Flickr. The latter is of real interest to those with large Flickr accounts who share photos with family and friends as all of this content can be enjoyed on Apple TV simply by adding the Flickr contact name. Photos can be displayed individually or in slideshow form, with the usual selection of transition effects and slideshow settings.
Other than Podcasts, internet video selection is restricted to You Tube, although the integration is very polished. Videos can be browsed based on what’s featured, Most Viewed, Most Recent and Top Rated, alongside a free text search. Video quality varies by source, and as you’d expect, varies from the sublime to the hideous. But, if you’re a YouTube fan, you know that, right?
Finally, we get to the Settings menu, which includes a host of options for tweaking your Apple TV.
Verdict
Apple TV is entirely frustrating – on the one hand, you have a great looking (if overpriced) device, with a stunning array of audio and video content. Forget iPod + iTunes, Apple TV + iTunes is really where it’s at. There’s a fantastic selection of music, movies, audio and video podcasts, trailers, internet video and more to keep even the most attention deficient viewers satiated.
The hardware works well, but isn’t perfect – the unit gets a little hot under the collar after a couple of hours and during testing I experienced a number of lock ups requiring the Apple TV to be rebooted. Switching between content can incur short delays which also take the edge off the overall experience, but menu scrolling and navigation is a joy, thanks to a UI which blows away the competition.
The issue with the Apple TV is its reliance on iTunes, and its inability to access PCs and devices on the network other than the iTunes PC its tethered to. We can levy the same criticism at most Windows Media Center Extenders, but a true digital media receiver needs to be able to pull content from all devices on the network, without the need for the user to maintain a library of content on one device.
In truth, the Apple TV is limited without being hacked, and it’ll be up to the individual as to whether this can be forgiven for the fabulous content which can be accessed through iTunes. For me, it’s a shame it’s not a “proper” DMR, but I’d be prepared to live with the Apple TV’s foibles and limitations, as on TV, iTunes just suddenly makes a lot more sense.
There’s an old saying that “content is king”, and Apple TV has it in abundance. But with a little bit of work, this device can do a whole lot more, so join us in future articles as we set about hacking Apple TV to enhance its features, and ultimately, its value.
