Product Description

Your computer is the center of your digital life. Your TV is the center of your entertainment life. But what if you want to watch movies, TV shows, movie trailers, podcasts, and photos from your computer on your TV? Apple TV brings iTunes to the big screen.Say you've just downloaded Cars from iTunes. Instead of huddling around your computer to watch, you pop some popcorn while your computer wirelessly syncs your new flick to Apple TV. Then you pull up a seat, put up your feet, and pick up the included Apple Remote to play your movie on TV. Give yourself a hand: you've just changed the way you watch digital media.Apple TV connects to your TV via an HDMI port or component video and audio ports. Its built-in, superfast 802.11 wireless capability syncs your iTunes library to any Mac or PC in the house. Best of all, what's on Apple TV stays in sync: anytime you change your library in iTunes, it changes on Apple TV - wirelessly, automatically.Apple TV puts your iTunes library - movies, TV shows, music, and podcasts - plus movie trailers from Apple.com on your TV. And your digital photos from iPhoto on a Mac or Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Album on a Windows PC appear in high definition, so you can put on a stunning big-screen slideshow.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #579 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Apple
• Model: MB189LL/A
• Released on: 2008-01-15
• Dimensions: 4.00 pounds

Features

• Mac + PC
• 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless
• 160GB hard drive for up to 200 hours of video
• Apple Remote

From the Manufacturer
Apple TV turns your living room into an on-demand movie theater. With a few clicks of the remote, you can rent HD movies from the same place you watch them — your widescreen TV.

What You Need:

Widescreen TV

Apple TV works with widescreen, enhanced-definition, or high-definition TVs capable of:

• 1080p/i 60/50 Hz
• 720p 60/50Hz
• 576p 50Hz (PAL format)
• 480p 60Hz

Cables

HDMI to HDMI cable orHDMI to DVI cable and analog stereo or optical digital audio or component video cable and analog stereo or optical digital audio

Buy TV shows and music, too

Buy your favorite shows — commercial free — as well as songs and music videos directly from your Apple TV.

Watch YouTube on your TV

Watch YouTube videos on the big screen. Enjoy thousands of free videos, including the top featured, most viewed, and top rated.

Show off your photos

Free your photos from the web and see them on your widescreen TV. Access your Flickr photos or .Mac Web Gallery with a click.

What's in the box

• Apple TV
• Apple Remote
• Power cord
• Printed documentation
 

---

Customer Reviews

Don't Buy Before You Read This
My Apple TV (ATV) worked fine for over a year. That changed with the latest software upgrade. Apple support is the worst I've experienced. Syncing with iTunes has stopped since their latest version 2.3 of the ATV software. A number of people are having this issue and reported it on the Apple support forum. Apple Support was totally unhelpful. Wanted me to pay for "extended care" since I bought my ATV last year. I said it's not my out-of-Apple support ATV, but their new software that's the problem. Told me it was "buyer beware" with respect to updates your ATV prompts you to do, and that my only recourse was to role back to the factory default (version 1.1) - that is unless I wanted to pay for support. So I asked her if she'd heard of the problem, and she said no. Excuse me? What would I be paying for then? Why can't this company support the software they just released for free like any other responsible manufacturer??? They are shooting themselves in the foot because now that I've rolled back to 1.1, I can't buy the new content they're pushing from the iTunes store. So much for the Apple mantra that "it just works."

And here's the icing on the cake - when I posted my experience on the Apple Support forum and asked for help, they deleted it as a "non-constructive rants or complaints." Apparently, customer dissatisfaction is something they don't want to hear about or for others to know. Interestingly, when I searched for my problem with the search function on Apple's forum, I couldn't come up any postings on point. I then went to Google and found relevant posts on the Apple forum right away.

So to be clear, I loved my Apple TV until Apple released this upgrade to its software. If there is a solution to this problem, good luck in getting it out of Apple since they don't even acknowledge there is a problem which is posted on their user forums.

Think long and hard before placing yourself at the mercy of Apple's support policies. And I certainly wouldn't buy this product until Apple announces that the problem has been fixed.

Reliable, but movie selection is limited.
Setup took a while, downloading of iTunes library and my photos taking the most time. I've only had to reboot it once due to hanging up. Itunes movie rental library is limited. Video podcasts are great, many are higher quality than those that I download on my TiVo series 2. I also enjoy the screen saver feature with my digital photos flowing while I'm playing songs from my iTunes library.

Now supports 1080p and 5.1 surround
The content on the Apple iTunes store does not offer 1080p for purchase, but you can rent 1080p content or add it (if you can get it) from your computer. There are also 1080p video podcasts. 5.1 digital surround is now supported and you can rip your DVDs using 5.1 with Handbrake software (free download on the web). Handbrake works with Mac OS 10.5 or > and Windows (if you are unfortunate enough to not have a Mac).

Caveats: It does run hot. The video used to lag, but this seems much better with the latest releases of the OS. The GUI can stick and then jump - so you click 3 times with no effect and then it jumps the 3 positions, etc. The remote control is a pain when typing passwords or searching youtube, etc.

If you have an iPhone (I think iPod Touch also) you can use the Remote Application to control your Apple TV (or iTunes) from your iPhone. It's great and much better than the remote that comes with the Apple TV.

I highly recommend a direct 100 Mb ethernet connection or 802.11n. Do not use this product with 802.11g or slower.

Don't bother with the 40GB version. It's just too small. You'll wish you had the 160GB. The 40GB is only good if you don't buy content - only rent movies. But watch out - if you keep you music on it, you'll want more space.

The Apple TV is great even just as a music jukebox! Even if you don't use it for video. We use it all the time for music. It's easier than hooking up an iPod and having to pick up the iPod to change songs, etc. The GUI on the HDTV screen is so much better. I looked at similar MP3 components for audio only - this was cheaper and had a far superior GUI. It is so easy to use that my wife can do it (she is not technology savvy).

The other great thing is that software updates are free and come automatically over the internet. New features and fixes!

Bottom line: There is no other product like it on the market in terms of cost, intuitive interface, quality, and features.