Spending Time with Apple TV
Having had some time to fully play around with the Apple TV, I figured it was time to share my experiences. There are plenty of reviews out there that describe the setup and functionality, so I’m not going to cover that ground again, but rather focus on the experience of owning one. What makes this review different is that it was based on using the device in normal living conditions, rather than hastily putting it through its paces in a studio or office. The result of waiting, hopefully, is that you get to see the little things that only crop up after using a new device for a while, and I can present a view of what it is actually like to own one, rather than just try one.
The Apple TV is truly excellent. Don’t get me wrong, it has some flaws, but overall, it really is a superb 1.0 product. Perhaps the most glowing thing I cold say about it is that last night (Saturday) was the first time all week that I actually turned on my cable set top box. It’s hard to describe just what it is about it that makes it so good. Like the iPod it is a combination of factors that leads to an almost ethereal sense of pleasure from using the Apple Tv. The interface while simple, is certainly not simplistic. It is well thought out with lots of attention to detail. For example, when scrolling down a long list of tracks or movies the scrolling speeds up the longer you hold down the button and when you release it the list gently (but quickly) slows to a stop. This gives it an organic feel making it almost tactile without ever touching it. Similarly, when fast forwarding thorough a movie, when you hold down the next button, first it starts forwarding at one speed, if you keep holding for a little while it goes to a faster speed, then when you release the button it goes back to the first fast forward speed. Finally tapping play returns to normal playback. That may sound a bit complicated but it feels very natural.
Another nice touch is what happens when you are synching. Once you select the content you want to sync in iTunes it starts copying the content to the Apple TV’s internal drive. However, everything you have selected is immediately available, and anything that is not yet stored on the Apple TV’s hard drive is streamed. The streaming, as reported elsewhere, is excellent. The only trouble I had with it over my wireless G network was with 720p content, where it had to buffer frequently. Having said that, this seems intermittent. Unfortunately, most wireless networks can be variable in quality now and again, especially if you live in an apartment with other networks all around you. Still though, it is impressive. The delay before things start playing is insignificant, and doesn’t distract form the experience at all.
One of the things many naysayers are complaining about with the Apple TV is that it doesn’t do anything unique, and that other products are doing the same thing. The same arguments were used against the iPod, and like the iPod before it, they are ignoring the crucial piece of the jigsaw: iTunes. It is the Apple TV’s integration with iTunes that makes it a truly fantastic product. Again it’s the little things. When you watch something on your iPod, and then sync it, it knows your playback position. When you watch a podcast, (if you set it to sync only recent episodes) it removes it and sends the next episode (but cleverly it waits till you have watched it to the end before it does so) Synching seems to happen often and as soon as you change something it will sync. It’s pretty impressive and seamless. Another cool thing is that if you have slideshows set up in iPhoto when you sync your photos it remembers the music you had set with that slide show. I know it’s simple little thing, but it just struck me as being indicative of the seamless integration across all Apple’s products, that competitors just can’t or don’t want to achieve.
Content:
Another piece of negative misinformation that seems to be perpetrated by the anti apple base (and xbox fans) seems to be that there is no content available for the Apple TV. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Even if you live outside the US and don’t have access to movies and TV shows on iTunes there are plenty of ways to get content onto the Apple TV. Two must have pieces of software are mediafork (aka handbrake) and visual hub. Visual hub does an excellent job of transcoding all those divx movies you may have acquired through whatever method you may have acquired them (and I’ll make no comment or suggestions on that topic) with no significant loss in quality, which is a pretty impressive feat. Media fork does a similar job with DVDs. I should point out too that it is worth taking a few seconds to enter some metadata in iTunes (by choosing get info) to help in the sporting process. You can set your file to be a TV show or music video as well as plain “movie” and this will place them in the appropriate part of the Apple TV’s listings when you sync. With TV shows you can set the season and episode number, as well as the show and the individual episode’s title. This leaves your TV shows neatly arranged on Apple TV organised by show and season.
Another great source of content is video podcasts. Although the majority of podcasts are pretty dismal, there are some great ones. And there is a surprising amount of HD content available too. Do a search for HD on the iTunes store and look at some of the podcasts. Of particular note are the recently publicised HD podcasts from the Washington Post. These are fantastic, both in terms of content and quality. (What makes them so good is the lack of editorialising or narration. They are just short documentary pieces that are incredibly well put together, and have a degree of professionalism that is often lacking from traditional broadcast media.) Other content of note is the Comedy Central Podcasts, National Geographic, and the ever-entertaining PhotoshopTV.
Quality:
With content that I encoded myself, either ripped from dvd or transcoded using visual hub, the quality is excellent. Hi-Def sourced material looks superb, and even some podcasts, in particular the Washington Post HD podcasts also look excellent. Before purchasing the Apple TV I used a DVI to HDMI cable to kook up my laptop (an aging powerbook 1.25Ghz) to my Sony TV and the picture quality was nowhere near as good as from the Apple TV. Videos never stutter, and photos also look superb.
As I do not live in the US the only Apple delivered iTunes content I have access to is music videos and pixar shorts. I make a note of this because I don’t know if the quality is the same for TV shows and movies. I hope not, because on music videos from iTunes, the quality is pretty awful. It’s not the size of the videos so much as the level of compression. While you might get away with this on an iPod, on a HDTV set they look really bad. I’m not sure why this is, or why they chose such heavy compression. Videos of a similar resolution that I transcoded myself, even if the source was already compressed, look substantially better. Even most of the streamed trailers from Apple look better than the current crop of music videos on iTunes. I am a little concerned about this as it seriously hurts Apple to be offering such poor quality content for playback on such a high quality delivery mechanism. They will have to start offering 720p or even 960X540 resolution, high bit rate movies at some stage or they are just going to continue to et bad press over the issue. Then again, like I said, I have not seen movies or TV shows from iTunes so I will reserve judgement.
Another curious issue with regard to quality is the limit Apple places on frame rates and bit rates of encoded video. According to engadget, hacked systems are able to play bit rates much higher than the limits apple places without any issue, so clearly it is not the hardware at fault. The biggest problem with these limitations is that for those of us living in Pal countries, HD playback is limited to 24 fps while our standard is 25fps. In NTSC most hd sourced material is either shot in 24 fps or shot on film and can be made into 24 by using a technique called pulldown. With PAL however, HD material is shot at, and delivered using 25fps, which is difficult to convert to 24fps without complex hardware or software. Why Apple decided not to support 25fps at 720p I have no Idea, but it is a situation they will absolutely have to fix for the international market.
The Not So Good
Like any first generation device, there are the obligatory bugs and niggles that affect the overall experience. Nothing is particularly severe or “deal braking” but none the less here are some of the issues that I have noticed.
First and foremost, the 40gb drive is too small. There, I’ve said it. While the streaming works very well, it’s a pain to have to go to the sources menu and switch between local and streamed content. A far better solution would have been to have the entire library of the machine you are synced to show up when you have the local source selected, in much the same way as it does when content is synching and not yet copied. They could have local content indicated by a subtle icon or a different text colour. Either way, the current method is a pain.
Why not just leave it set to stream I hear you ask? Well, there are a few reasons. For one, Photos don’t yet stream. Also, as I said earlier, High Def content buffers now and again when streaming. One of the best things about the Apple TV that puts it ahead of its competitors too is the fact that you can use it with the computer turned off, which obviously only works with local content.
I noticed a curious little bug in the menu system too. When you return to a menu after watching something there is a slight pause as the thumbnail generates. This is no big deal, but if you start scrolling up or down the menu, it jumps back to where you were when the thumbnail forms. It’s quite annoying. Having said that though, that is about the only true “bug” that I have found. Everything else is an omission or a “I would have done it better” moment.
Speaking of omissions, there is a couple of glaring ones. Audible audio books are not supported. Also, and this is odd, but there is no support for video playlists either, which makes organising your movies a little more complicated.
Another thing that would seem to be lacking is some kind of “play all” functionality. When you play a video it goes back to the menu. There is no way to get it to automatically go on to the next one. On the iPod, if you have a video playlist it automatically plays the next one but as the Apple TV does not support video playlists that’s not going to work. Another niggle from the “would be nice” category is that when you are browsing movie trailers, it would be nice if they used the same blue dot that they use with tv shows and podcasts to indicate ones that you have already viewed. Some way of showing new trailers (since the last time you visited the menu) would be cool too.
The Finish Line
So there you have it. This turned out to be somewhat more comprehensive a review than I originally planned, so for all those of you still with me, thanks for hanging in there. I will finish on a high note. Several in fact. The Apple TV, despite its 1.0 issues, is a fantastic piece of equipment. I haven’t enjoyed a new piece of technology so much in a long time. For those living outside the US too, don’t let the lack of iTunes TV and movie content put you off as there are plenty of other ways to get video onto the device. Also, despite what you might read, this is streets ahead of the Xbox 360 for this kind of functionality. The integration with iTunes and the whole Apple suite is what puts this offering from Apple far, far ahead of its competition. I fully believe that this product line has a great future in store for it, and may indeed change the face of Television. (And by the way, I work in Television so I don’t make statements like that lightly)
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One Comment, Comment or Ping
beccashaw21
Hey Thomas….
That’s a great, thorough review you posted. I’ve been considering whether or not I should pick one up, and so I’m reading some reviews.
I tried one out at a friend’s house, and got a glimpse of the “ethereal sense of pleasure” that you mentioned. (Very iPod-like.) I may have to make the plunge.
Anyway, I appreciated the well-balanced review. Shelly Palmer also posted a solid analysis of the box, based on his experience. He’s been writing a lot lately about where the Apple TV is going to take us — toward a time when you don’t even need that cable-box.
Becca
Apr 16th, 2007
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