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Apple TV has now received a major software update that Apple is calling Apple TV Take 2. I updated two Apple TVs last night. One in our Family Room that is connected to a Sony 50 inch 1080P Rear Projection HDTV and the other in our Master Bedroom that is connected to a Sony 40 inch 1080P LCD flat screen HDTV.
The new Apple TV is very cool and had a few pleasant surprises for me. This update makes the Apple TV more of a stand-alone set top box (STB) that no longer relies on a computer to sync or stream from to play content. You can now Rent standard definition or high definition movies and buy TV Shows directly from the iTunes Store without the aid of iTunes running on your computer. Podcasts (audio or video) can be chosen and played directly on the Apple TV for a more IPTV experience. I am sure this the product Apple wanted to deliver originally.
Updating the Software
Updating both Apple TVs was simple and only took about 12-15 minutes. My Apple TV is connected to my home network via ethernet, but wireless users should have no problems.
I just navigated to Settings on the Apple TV menu, choose Update Software, and pressed the Apple Remote’s Play/Pause button. The Apple TV showed an available update and I choose Download Now. The download was quite fast on my FiOS Internet connection only about 2 minutes. Next I choose to Update Now and the update proceeded with several restarts. This process took about 10 minutes or so. Once the update was complete I was greeted with the Apple TV’s new opening animation and then the new interface.
New Interface
I have to say the UI is very nice, replacing the old Apple TV that was first class that still exists mostly as OS X Leopard’s Front Row. I like the new interface a lot. Very easy to navigate and understand.
All the navigation now takes place essentially within a box with two columns that is layer and floats above the rest of the Apple TV interface. On the left side of the box is Movies, TV Shows, Music, Podcasts, Photos, YouTube, and Settings which are the main categories. The right side choices are subcategories on the left side. For example, if you’ have Movies selected, the right side will display from the top – Rented Movies (if you have rented a movie on the Apple TV), Top Movies, Genres, All HD, Search, Trailers, My Movies, and Shared Movies.
The new interface has lots of subtle improvements over the older interface, like aiding navigation by adding numbers and breaking TV shows up into seasons.
Rent Movies
The Apple TV can still be either synced or have content streamed from a computer running iTunes (Windows PCs or Macs). But being able to rent movies in HD quality with 5.1 surround sound is probably what you are most interested in.
After the update I went to Movies -> All HD and picked the HD version of Transformers to rent, which we thought would be a great test for video and especially surround sound audio. The rentals cost $3.99 for standard definition (SD) and $4.99 for high definition (HD) for newer movies and $2.99 (SD) and $3.99 (HD) for older library titles. The terms are that you have 30 days to watch the rental and once you start watching the rental you can watch it as many times as you want in a 24 hour period. If you rent a movie directly from the Apple TV you can not transfer it to a different device (at least not at this time). Since the current iPods is not capable playing back HD, this is not too much of a limitation. Note however, movies rented using iTunes on a computer (these are only SD) can be “moved” to an Apple TV to view.
Movies for rent are available from major movie studios, including Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony, along with Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, New Line and Lions Gate. You can preview a movies trailer before purchase. Some movies even have an HD trailer in the HD trailer section. If you’ve already rented the movie you picked, the Apple TV will ask if you’re sure you want to rent it again.
The first time you use your Apple TV to purchase or rent something, you will be prompted for your Apple ID and password (same ones you use with iTunes on your desktop). If you have your Apple TV synced with a computer running iTunes you may be asked for just the password. After entering the information on the Apple TV, you will be asked the option to save this information so you don’t have to enter it again (this can be deleted later within the iTunes Store area in General settings by choosing the Sign Out command). You can also use Parental controls to limit purchases and protect certain types of content from being played.
You do not have to wait until the entire rental movie downloads to watch it. I was able to start watching Transformers in about 10 minutes after placing the order. Apple TV tells you as soon as you can begin watching it. Once a rental is ready to watch, a Rented Movies entry appears in the main interface when you select the Movies category.
HD and 5.1 Quality
OK to what you probably most want to know. How is the HD rental’s video and audio? Well it looks very good. The quality of the video on my Sony 50 inch 1080P HDTV appeared better than an unconverted DVD and as good as anything I get from my Verizon FiOS TV connection. The 5.1 surround sound was fabulous, especially on Transformers which is a good flick by the way. My setup for audio in our Family Room is a Sony STR-DG1000 Home Theater surround sound receiver with Polk speakers all around and a Yamaha subwoofer. Playing the rented Transformers movie, my Sony receiver’s blue light indicating Dolby Digital Audio lit up and the sound was better than anything I have ever heard from the Apple TV and some DVDs for that matter.
Looks like my trips to the video store may be over. As long as Apple can maintain a good selection of movies, as they promised I will become the ultimate couch potato and order with my remote. Sure FiOS TV offers VOD, but they still no not offer HD content in my area and the interface on the FiOS TV is in no way as cool as the Apple TV. Also there is no way to move rentals to a portable device like an iPod or iPhone (rented from iTunes on a computer).
TV Shows
TV shows can not be rented but they can now be purchased directly on the Apple TV now. Adding a TV show to Favorites allows you to easily find them in the new Favorites area. TV shows can be previewed before purchase. TV shows can be viewed with a minute or two after purchasing it.
Purchased TV shows as well as music and music videos are automatically synced back to the computer you’ve designated to sync your Apple TV with without any user intervention.
Music
Purchasing music and music videos from the iTunes Store directly with your Apple TV is easy. You can purchase single tracks or albums. Some tracks are available only when purchasing the entire album. This is the same as when you use iTunes on your computer.
Podcasts
One my new favorite features of the new Apple TV update is the way it now allows you to pick a free podcast to watch (or listen to) directly on the Apple TV and watch it almost immediately.
Finding a podcast is very easy and searchable. Choose Podcasts on the main interface and the right side shows Favorites, Top Podcasts, Genres, Providers (1UP, ABC News, PodShow or NPR, for example), Search, My Podcasts, and Shared Podcasts. Choose the one you want to watch and you can “Add to Favorites” so finding it next time is a snap. Press play and you are watching it fast. You can still download it if you wish. This makes the Apple TV more like a true IPTV box. As a frequent viewer of several podcasts this is fantastic. No longer do I have to subscribe on my Mac running iTunes to view these on my HDTV. By the way there are more and more HD podcasts available and this feature on the Apple TV will help this effort as podcasters can get what is equivalent to a channel into your home.
YouTube
Like before the update. you can view YouTube videos. The Apple TV makes it easy to find videos as Featured, Most Viewed, Most Recent, Top Rated, or choose History, Search, and your Log In options.
Photos
One of my favorite features of the Apple TV was being able to view my digital photos on a large screen HDTV. Thsi update has made big improvements in this regard. While you can still view photos synced to your Apple TV, you now have the option to view photos streamed from .Mac Photo Web Galleries and Flickr contacts. It test this and it worked flawlessly. You simply add the .Mac or Flickr account information which is quick and easy.
A Few Surprises
Two things in the Apple TV update that surprised me was that the Apple TV can now be used with Airtunes and that there is now a 1080P video choice in the video settings.
Computers running iTunes have long had the ability to “stream” audio from your computers iTunes Library and iTunes Internet radio to remote speakers using an Airport Express. I have several of these Airport Express units connected around our home – one connected to the Bose radio in the living room, powered speakers in the kitchen, our sound system in the family room, etc.
As of the software update on the Apple TVs, they now also show up in the list of available speakers in iTunes! When using this connection to play music from your iTunes Library your Apple TV will also display the album art and give you a status of where it is at in the track. The Apple TV has settings to allow or disallow this use or password protect it located within the Audio settings. This is a nice surprise and may give you some insight of yet another way Apple is planning on getting into your living room.
I was also surprised to see a 1080P video choice in the Apple TV video settings. The older software only offered 720P or 1080i as well as some others. Not that this means a whole lot but worth mentioning.
Wish List
Apple does not offer TV shows for rent. This would be nice. At the usual $1.99 per episode, rentals are not a necessity, but would still be nice since the Apple TV has no recording features.
Rental times for movies would be much more useful to busy families if the time to watch the rental was extended from 24 hours to 48. Or maybe a re-rental 50% discount might be a happy medium. Apple might consider adding a subscription model for renting movies after they have added more content. This would allow them to go head-to-head with Netflix and Blockbuster.
Overall this is a fantastic update to the Apple TV and shows that Apple is listening to its customers. If you held back on buying an Apple TV, this update along with the $70 price cut may make you reconsider. The Apple TV (40GB HD) costs $225 from Amazon which is cheaper than an iPod classic.
The Apple TV requires a widescreen (16 x 9) enhanced-definition or high-definition television with an HDMI, DVI, or component video input port, a wired or wireless network. an iTunes Store account, and a broadband Internet connection.
See the guided tour and the details on features on the Apple site.
Apple TV 2 is awarded 4 out of 5 Paws
