Apple TV, Love it or Hate it!
by Rhoy Pamparo on Feb.06, 2010, under Personal Thoughts
After I week of Apple TV usage, here’s my fair assessment …
Apple TV
Love:
- Internet Radio — this really is the main reason for this
- Sync iTunes Library — including all DRM-infested music & videos
- Youtube Streaming — we’ve been cracking-up on failblog.org videos a lot more!
- Wi-fi connectivity
- iPhoto sync — our photos never looked better seeing it on a big screen
- HDMI 1080p output
Hate:
- Remote — tiny and limited features
- No keyboard support — a pain when doing searches and typing wi-fi password
- If the TV is off, the output goes back to 720p — minor, but annoying!
- Heat … literally, this unit runs very HOT!
Verdict:
If you use iTunes a lot (especially in a Mac), you will love this. It extends the functionality of iTunes to the home theater setup which is really impossible because of all the DRM stuff. It has its problems like some videos won’t play because of the encoding or ever once in a while, it will be dropped off the network (using wi-fi). Of course, the lack of keyboard makes this a bigger problem. But show me a device without an issue and I will be all over it!
Otherwise, this device is pretty much useless. A lot of people on the net complain about Apple TV. Unfortunately, they bought something and would like it to do what they want instead of using the device for what it’s meant to be.
I like mine … note, it’s not “Love” … but, I really do “Like it”! 
February 11th, 2010 on 1:18 am
That product was always a little baffling to me although it seems like people are more open to downloading movies now than a few years ago. A few years ago when I was in grad school, we had a team meeting at my friend’s office at Microsoft and he was showing us around their ip tv lab. He pointed out the apple tv box that they had. I asked him – can you explain what it does? Can it do what my tivo does? He said, no and we’re not really sure why anyone would want to buy it.
February 11th, 2010 on 4:59 pm
yeah … i hear you. and you know for the longest time, i thought about why would i buy myself an apple tv. and here i am owning one
like i said, its made for specific purposes/people. i guess, they made this for me! lol
February 13th, 2010 on 10:55 am
I use a WD TV: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=734
It does what I need it to!