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Friday, October 19, 2012

Review: 2012 Apple TV – New Interface Preps for App Boom


Apple TV started life as a half-baked media center device in 2007, during the height of the HDTV boom. At the time, the unit shipped with HDMI, component video,
optical audio, USB connectivity, and a built-in hard drive. It soon became clear that the future of media was in cloud-based streaming and not physical file ownership. During its next revision, most everything was stripped from the device – with it being repositioned as a $99 streaming only-device.
With a third revision announced during this month’s Apple press conference, the newest Apple TV is mostly the same physical hardware, with a few critical software changes that signal Apple may have finally made amends with media in the living room.


Design and Hardware:

The design of the current generation Apple TV is wholly a carry-over from the previous iteration. The unit carries a sleek black puck shape, with polished sides, and a matte top. A single white LED lights on the front to show it is alive and well. Overall the unit is a very unobtrusive addition for most any home theater.

The unit is packaged with the same uninspired aluminum Apple remote. Overall the remote itself looks great, but is not very functional, with a narrow and long shape that is awkward to hold. The remote also uses IR instead of RF and requires direct line of sight. For this reason, the Apple TV cannot be placed into a cabinet without an additional IR blaster.

A final hardware tweak involves the newer A5 processor. This gives the Apple TV roughly the same processing power as an iPhone 4S and enables 1080p video playback on the device.

Software:

All of Apple’s important changes have been made to the software and interface. With the exception of 1080p playback, all of the updated features will also be made available to owners of the previous generation Apple TV.

From within the new interface, users are greeted with a friendlier iOS-like interface. Each application, or channel is given a dedicated button on the home display. Current channel partners include YouTube, Vimeo, Netflix, MLB, NHL, and Wall Street Journal, among others. After clicking into an application, the interface return to being mostly identical to the previous generation model, but it is important to note the interface change, not because it looks more appealing, but because it indicates that the interface is designed to support expanded app and/or channel support.

After clicking into one of the Apple TV channels, the interface returns to being a carry-over from the previous generation. In addition to streaming content from a “Home Sharing” enabled PC, the new Apple TV can also access your previously purchased movies, music, and TV from iCloud. This means you no longer need to keep and archive downloaded iTunes files – a big departure and welcome change in keeping with the cloud direction of media. Even podcasts can be marked as “favorites”, so they are bookmarked and streamed directly from Apple’s servers – without the need to sync and download physical files.

If unfamiliar with the previous generation model – the Apple TV can retains the ability to serve as a “AirPlay” destination for video and audio. From an iOS device, such as an iPad – the unit can also support display mirroring, if you would like to conquer Angry Birds on the big screen. This screen mirroring support is also expected in the next generation of OS X on the desktop – making Apple hardware in the living room an even more cohesive setup.

Summary:

If looking only at the surface level, or analysing changes in hardware, the new Apple TV would look to be an update for updates sake. But it is quite pleasing to see the number of changes made to the software that make the device a much more logical choice for the living room.

Unlike systems like the Boxee Box, the Apple TV also does not include USB ports, or the number of channel partners. Where the new Apple TV makes most sense is if you already buy a majority of your content in iTunes. For this block of people, you are able to forgo traditional channels for podcast streaming from an even larger list of providers – as well as streaming every TV show, Movie, and song ever purchased through iTunes. If you are still a holdout for subscription services such as HBO Go and Hulu+, I would not be too concerned – as the revised interface on the Apple TV all but confirms that these additional sources are being planned.

Since the Apple TV software update is available to previous generation owners – this group of shoppers need not apply. For any other shopper who has purchased content in iTunes, owns a Mac, or is simply looking for an easy, low cost streaming device to get on-demand content to their HDTV, the revised Apple TV is definitely worth the $99 purchase price, and if hunches on the interface redesign are correct – an expanded app library and pending SDK could make the Apple TV the streaming device to beat.

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