The Apple TV (2010) Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 4, 2010 12:07 AM ESTAirPlay
Apple is toying around with a feature that has huge potential on the Apple TV. It’s called AirPlay and it lets you stream content from any iOS device to your TV via the Apple TV. It’s very similar to Intel’s WiDi but existing only in the iOS ecosystem.
AirPlay won’t be fully enabled until later this year. For now the best you can do is play your iTunes music library over your Apple TV by selecting it as a output target.
When AirPlay is fully enabled however you can be watching (presumably) any video content on your iPad, iPod or iPhone and at the tap of a button stream it to your TV. It’s a convenience play.
If you watch a lot of content on your iPad, AirPlay may be compelling enough to get you to buy an Apple TV but I believe there’s a much bigger opportunity here.
The real potential with AirPlay is the ability to stream more than just iOS video content, but your OS X desktop or videos played on your iMac or MacBook Pro. I’m talking WiDi for OS X. Apple could probably sell more Apple TVs as a Mac streaming adapter if it enabled this sort of functionality.
Apple does have grand plans for AirPlay outside of the Apple TV. Working with HT component vendors like Marantz and Denon, Apple plans to allow you to directly stream music to other receivers and devices in your house. Apple could take this all the way and begin competing in the distributed audio market, but I suspect that may violate Apple’s stay focused policy (although that’s one area where Apple’s design and UI expertise could really be put to use).
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Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
Thanks for the correction, fixed :)cjs150 - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
And it will look like the Apple TV.What a simple concept, small box, very limited backplate. Lets think about it how about a box that had the following connectors
1. Ethernet connection (but a bit faster)
2. HDMI connection
3. Audio out (personally would not bother and take through HDMI)
4. USB
5. Wifi (optional for me because house if wired)
Add in 2 Gb of memory a small SSD for OS + limited applications
Plays movies, TV, music. Can surf web and basically that is it.
Would need some sort of wireless connection to allow remote control and to attach a keyboard (if only to type web addresses).
Apple have got the size of the box about right. Even a mini-itx board has too many features that would not be needed for the ideal straming box.
Apple has given me a glimpse of the future - it looks like Apple TV but it will be something else
tipoo - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
Is that a typo, or can it really go that high? Apple's official specs list MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps and Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps.Docchris - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
he was specifically testing non-apple videos to ty and break it, so what apples specs state doesn't really matter.i was just curious where he got a video form which exceeds the blu-ray specification
Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?t...I remuxed the files as .mov without re-encoding and sent them over to the Apple TV. Even if I re-encoded down to 10Mbps there was still some slight stuttering so there's something unusually stressful about these samples. At 70Mbps or above the Apple TV would start behaving very strange, the video player app would either crash or the unit would reboot before finishing playback.
Take care,
Anand
tech6 - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
While the cable and content oligopoly are terrified of IP based home entertainment, no legitimate solution will truly replace cable. Cable is simply too good of a revenue stream not to protect by these companies. Once they have "cabel-ized" the Internet through the defeat of net neutrality and can restrict and monitor users Internet activities then I'm sure we will see a lot more IP TV but at the expense of any freedom or anonymity that we may have ever had on the Internet.mfenn - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
Perfect response! XDvol7ron - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
"You can argue that it’s for firmware updates but there’s also WiFi/Ethernet for that."Isn't WiFi firmware update for anything considered bad practice? Or have people turned the other cheek on this?
Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
Technically as long as the firmware package can download over WiFi and execute once completely downloaded it should be ok. I agree USB seems like the safer bet though, particularly if there's a firmware update that fixes a network issue.Take care,
Anand
naho - Monday, October 4, 2010 - link
"Unlike a smartphone it eats a good amount of power at idle - a whole 1.8W. I don’t think Apple even bothered to enable serious power management on the A4 in the Apple TV, it’s just not necessary."What would power management reducing idle power to 0.8 W have saved customers?
Eg. if 5 million units are sold of this model x 22 hours idle per day x average product lifetime 4 years x 365 days/year x 0.12$/kWh (maybe less in US, more Europe) = 160.6 GWh x 0.12$/kWh = 19.27 million dollars in additional electricity bills.