I think it's telling the Jobs called Apple TV a "hobby" at yesterday's D5 conference.

He acknowledged that getting media from the computer to the TV was a challenge that no one had quite figured out yet, and that Apple had really just begun to work on.

So is Apple TV perfect? No, but it's an attempt to succeed where others have failed. It's better than the other potential solutions, and with further development it will get even better.

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No DVD drive

> Seems like a similar thing to when Apple didn't include a floppy on the original iMac - what disaster that turned out to be like everyone predicted.

The perceived requirement of an HDTV (though we know that to be not-quite-true) even though you can't buy full HD content from the iTunes Store

> Not quite true, and not yet. The market for this is higher end customers - who probably already have HDTV rigs or will shortly.

The fact that you can't shop the iTS right from the Apple TV despite its internet connection

> I think Apple was waiting for 2.5" SATA drives to come down in price, which has started to happen. WIth larger sized drives, I think this will happen.

The annoying conundrum with only being able to use images from one computer's photo library, even though most people's pictures are probably the one batch of HD-ready media that isn't rights-managed in any way and completely sharable over a network and amongst friends or even strangers.

> Steve has nightmares of watching relatives trips slide shows in the 70's and had the annoyance of doing it as a public service

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No DVD drive?

The iPod doesn't have a CD player in it.

AppleTV is out to replace your DVD player.

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Brent Schlender most likely just upgraded to a CD walkman and is willing to try these "new" DVD players everyone keeps talking about soon. He just does not get it.

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I thought the requirements were pretty tough (widescreen HDTVs only) but figured that Apple would make the most of that setup, as they tend to do. Then I saw the Apple TV display at the Apple Store. Very disappointing. Even on what I would assume to be the best setup they could come up with, the picture was not much better than standard TV. And Youtube videos will look even worse, no matter how they code them, since the source video is usually crappy to begin with. I've already chalked this one up to a swing and a miss by Apple.

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* No DVD drive

The whole point (well, one of the major points) of the device is to drive sales of iTunes video content. They sell movies. Why would they want you to watch DVD's instead of buying the iTunes movies? Duh!

* The perceived requirement of an HDTV (though we know that to be not-quite-true) even though you can't buy full HD content from the iTunes Store

Steve is hinting that HD content may be appearing Soon(tm). I for one am glad that they haven't started with the HD content yet - we are NOT quite ready for downloadble HD. I have an Xbox360 and tried using the Microsoft Marketplace HD movies, they take frackin' FOREVER to download.

* The fact that you can't shop the iTS right from the Apple TV despite its internet connection

Ok, he's got a point there. Although, with a 40GB drive, buying stuff right from the AppleTV may have been kind of infeasible (not enough space?). Maybe now that they are putting 160GB drives in these things, this will become more feasible.

* The annoying conundrum with only being able to use images from one computer's photo library, even though most people's pictures are probably the one batch of HD-ready media that isn't rights-managed in any way and completely sharable over a network and amongst friends or even strangers

Another point. I was disappointed to find that the AppleTV does not support picture streaming, which iPhoto on the Mac does support quite well. I had to copy both mine and my girlfriend's iPhoto libraries onto the machine that I had AppleTV pointed to, in order for us to see both of our photos. A real pain.

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@ 1 "I think it's telling the Jobs called Apple TV a "hobby" at yesterday's D5 conference."

To me, that said it all.

I think the Apple TV (at least with this version) has already failed. It's an overpriced box with limited functionality. Sorry guys, but not everthing coming our of Apple is going to be hit. The Apple TV was DOA.

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I disagree!! I have an AppleTV and I absolutely LOVE it! I love that I can just pop in movies that I download online (itunes or torrent) and play them with 5.1 audio on my new sound system. The convenience factor does it for me, and the screen saver with photos is so cool! I always add new photos to aperture and it's really fun to display them in high def on my tv each day when I have guests over! I really love the AppleTV and I think the price is just right.

The hackability is another factor. I have some automator scripts that automatically check for new TV shows, download the torrents, then move the .avi's to the appletv when they are done downloading, so each day I come home from work and my new tv shows are right there ready to watch! I think this thing is young and can only get better!

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AppleTV is a 1st Gen product. Think back, iPod G1, No music store. No legal way of getting music on.

It is the exact same with AppleTV. As it's popularity grows, the film industry will EVENTUALLY cotton on to the fact that this isn't a half bad idea.
just wait for the future.... It will come

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I think what would assist the AppleTV is the ability to connect and view content like MLB.TV and other online material. I canceled my DirecTV when I knew I could subscribe to all the games, pay less than the DirecTV package price, and not have to pay the $49/a month or higher just to have the regular DirecTV package. I have hooked up my MacBook Pro to my HD and watched games. Sure, it's not the quality of DirecTV's picture, but I would rather watch games this way and save $600+ a year.

I believe Setanta Sports will do something similar with Premier League Soccer from England in the Fall.

YouTube will be low-quality on a HD screen and I have a hard time thinking the family will gather around the screen to watch the idiot du jour.

What Apple TV should do is get associated with JOOST and these other content providers who are envisioning the Internet as a way to deliver programs on-demand to customers.

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My take is this:
It is a device that brings iTunes to a HDTV. That is what it does. The lack of S-Video has kept me from buying one. I don't own a HDTV but if I did, I would buy an Apple TV.

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I think "dud" is a little strong but it could definately be better, I think the boost in harddrive space helped a lot. I'd like to see it be more of a dvr replacement, and possibly they could have a sort of subscription model for renting movies? I dunno. Anyway, not a dud, yet.

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I still want something that will hook up to the cable box and allow me to take recorded programs from the cable box dvr to the Apple TV, up to my Mac mini, and onto my iPod. This would be handy for dealing with shows not available on iTunes (House until recently) when traveling. Something like TivoToGo, but with an Apple on top.

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I would LOVE it if it had a DVD player. I, like many others, do not have the space for a lot of extra devices around my tv. Give the Apple TV a dvd drive and I can seriously consider it because I will be able to ditch my DVD player and free up some space.

More space, less clutter, & fewer remotes.

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I don't know about you guys, but I love my AppleTV. I use it for music more than anything, and it is a great way to finally get all my tunes into the living room without having to run over to my iPod every time I want to change a song. I don't really care much about the lack of HD because DVD quality is good enough and storage for all that HD would cost a fortune. I think that movie rentals would turn this product into the next iPod. That is the killer function that they need to push this over the edge. I would love to just flip through an online movie selection from my couch and rent a video for 3.99 that allowed for a certain number of viewings before it disappeared and cleared up room on the hard drive. Lets be honest, you can listen to the same album 1000 times, but you are only going to watch most movies once. I don't want them taking up all my money and my storage space.

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I've kinda come around to the idea of AppleTV over time, but I do not want one yet. I will require the HD content.

I look at it like a new format (ie, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, or even DVD when it was first introduced). Who doesn't see the benefit of eventually eliminating ALL forms of physical media if all the appropriate devices can access them (via iTunes in this case)? I could write another long post about the benefits of elminating physical media. However, no one wants to jump on the band wagon for lack of HD and the simple fact that they don't own the player or movies, yet, so they don't want to have to buy all the stuff over again. Eventually, be it AppleTV or some other form of computer, this IS the future of digital entertainment. This aTV is only the beginning.

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I think the Apple TV hardware wise is off to a good start, but it is the functionality that is sort of lacking for me. Personally I have no intention of watching DVD's on it an so forth. Everything has a DVD player these days.

What Apple TV should be though is your direct connection to the iTunes store. Bascially a media server specifically for iTunes. I should be able to purchase music, manage my library, subscribe to podcasts, and sync up iPods right to it, without the need for a computer.

If it can get to that, then it has sold me. direct connection to iTunes is what I want.

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DUD.

Why does Apple TV require an HDTV? The content looks HORRIBLE on an HDTV.

There are numerous ways to stream iTunes content to a home theater; the MacMini is a MUCH better option, because it has:

1) any and all codec support you want;
2) a DVD player/ripper built-in;
3) [until today] a bigger HDD;
4) a MUCH better processor;
5) full internet browsing capabilities.

Why spend $400 on a 160GB A.tv when you can spend $600 and get a MacMini that is 10 times better?

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edit:

I meant non-DRM'd iTunes content, not iTMS content. that stuff is DRM'ed to hell and is of a low bitrate, so I'm out.

and I love Apple.

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