AppleTV Take 2 - First Impressions

Apple being Apple took advantage of the 2-week extension to update AppleTV and released v2.0 (take 2) of the AppleTV software on Tuesday afternoon. To many, this has been a highly-anticipated release with many people (myself included) running Software Update on their AppleTVs a couple of times a day for the past 2-4 weeks. Twitter feeds, blogs and podcasts (Adam@The MacCast has been pulling his hair waiting for this update) have been yelling for the update. Well, now these people are rejoicing since they started to update their AppleTVs last night.

So was it worth the wait?

Oh yes, very much.

As soon as my RSS feeds started to light-up with the release announcements late Tuesday afternoon, I quickly found a reason to leave work early and hit the road home. The update itself took about 15-20 mins (depending on your connection) to download and install, and before I knew it I was presented with the new menu system, including a beautiful background of movie art. Before I give my initial impressions, let me highlight the new features of AppleTV take 2:

• iTunes Movie Rentals. 30 days after a DVD release you can download DVD or HD quality movies
• New DVD quality - $3.99
• New HD quality - $4.99
• Library titles DVD quality - $2.99
• Library titles HD quality - $3.99
• Rentals are available for 30 days from download and 24 hours from when you start watching
• Support for 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround sound
• No computer required - AppleTV sources direct from the internet (local computers still supported)
• No need to switch sources - AppleTV groups available iTunes content from all associated local computers (Mac or PC)
• Preview and download Movies, TV Shows, Music and Podcasts direct from AppleTV
• Podcasts now stream directly to AppleTV, including HD podcasts
• Photo library support for .Mac Web Gallery and Flickr accounts
• Updated UI for browsing Movies, TV Shows, Music and Podcast content
• Support for AirTunes

Reading back over the list above, AppleTV now brings most of the main iTunes and photo browsing features you’d expect on your Mac or PC to your large HD TV. No longer do you need to run back to your computer to download new content and then sync over; you can do this directly from the comfort of your couch.

So now that we have the update in our hands, how does it perform?

Movie Rentals, TV Shows, Music and Podcasts each have the same new user interface. The display is structured into multiple rows with select highlighted titles at the top, followed by top downloaded/listened to, new titles and staff favorites. Using the standard Apple remote, you scroll to the right and left to see additional titles as the cover art scrolls with the very familiar Coverflow effect. Navigation throughout is just as you would expect.

Selecting a title brings up individual details of that selection. This includes a larger view of the cover art, a description, some specifics like Show Details and options to Preview, Rent or Download. At the bottom is a list of other titles rented by users who have also viewed the current title.

The true killer new feature for me is the ability to stream video Podcasts. Now at my fingertips I have access to the full range for Podcasts available from the iTunes Store and can either flick through the featured selection or search directly by title. Streaming and quality isn’t so much dependent on your own internet connection, but the source from which the Podcast is being streamed. Note that, unlike paid content, Podcasts are not hosted or served-up by Apple. Many of the more popular Podcasts stream immediately without interruption. In some cases I tried to view some that I’d never heard of before, and they either didn’t begin to play or I got a message stating “Unable to play selected song” (the error message needs to be corrected for Podcasts). At any rate, I was able to catch up on a couple weeks worth of Mahalo Daily before turning in for the night.

Given the size of my music library, I have not synced any music over to the AppleTV. Before, I would have had to change the source and point to my MacBook Pro, but now with this update it’s as simple as selecting “My Music” and AppleTV displays all the music and playlists from each available source - a much simpler solution.

“Photos” is also now able to view all photos and albums from each available source. The ability to view .Mac Web Galleries and Flickr galleries worked well - I didn’t run into the same problems Steve did during his Macworld Keynote.

YouTube features appear to be the same as before; I didn’t see any change here.

Overall, I have to say that I’m really, really impressed with the software update. AppleTV is now what it should have been a year ago. I was an early adopter and purchased one as soon as I could after Macworld 2007, and although it lacked most of the above features, I still found it a great devise that we used regularly. With the full range of iTunes Store content and the addition of Movie Rentals from all the major movie studios available it finally feels complete.

I’m sure Apple will find many ways to further extend the feature-set over the coming years, but for now, the on-demand, streaming content that is available to you is incredible. With the writers strike now wrapping up, it will be months before we see a return of new shows. In the meantime, I think Apple has been handed an opportunity to fill the content gap and draw in new users. Retailing for $229/40GB and $329/160GB, the AppleTV is positioned at a very reasonable price for a devise that is going to open the door to floods of rich new content that will cause the Apple halo effect to only continue to draw in new adopters in droves. The AppleTV revolution has just begun.

Have you found any hidden gems? Please add your thoughts and impressions in the Comments section below.