I got mine yesterday in the mail and was eager to set it up right away. I had done everything and was excited to see how my content in my iTunes library looked on it. To my dismay, the Apple TV only recognized my wife's computer which only has music on it. I got on some discussion boards to see if maybe my laptop needed to be connect to my airport extreme, which would've sucked. I found out that there was a new version of iTunes that was required for the Apple TV to recognize my laptop. I updated it and within a few minutes, I was basking in all its glory. Netflix content looks great also. To the reviewers that are saying it's not full HD, you can't tell the difference unless you are watching it on a super big screen. I have a 37" Toshiba and it looks just like HD content on tv.
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I just bought my second Apple TV2 today. I bought my first one back in December 2010 and have been extremely happy with it. I'm full on into the Apple eco system with all my media stored on my iMac with iPhones for all the family members and an iPad to share. All I can say is everything works perfect with the Applet TV2 and it took only 10 minutes to setup. I would also recommend a Harmony remote which I have at both my TV/AppleTV2 locations to reduce remote clutter. The AppleTV2 works great with the harmony remote. Using Handbrake, it's very easy to get all your video/movies/tv shows into iTunes and once it's there, it's on your AppleTV2 as well for large screen consumption. I have to hand it to Apple, their hobby has definitely grown up into a real and useful device. Down the road I can definitely see an AppleTV at every TV in my house and a blu-ray player on for my main big-movie screen so I can enjoy my 1080P. But for everyday movies and TV shows at 720P and music & photos it's the cats meow. My next project is getting all my movies into iTunes. Pretty soon I'm going to have to look at a 3TB network hard drive like the myBook world edition with ethernet connectability to hold all my stuff. Bottom line...Apple TV2 is highly recommended if you buy into the Apple/iTunes eco system.
Still cant find any good reason to buy this and I am an apple fan. I will probably look at the ROKU box or the BOXEE box.
This thing is FAST. Owners/users of the first generation appletv will really appreciate this. As soon as you rent a movie, play a netflix item, or stream something from your computer, its starts almost instantly, there is virtually no buffer time at all. (I'm on a 10mb down cable line). The iphone/ipod controller function is a welcome and makes the remote that comes with it collect dust. I can't wait to see when the Airplay functions comes later this month, I will update my review again when i get the chance to play with that feature, but even without it I am still very happy with my purchase. Best $100 I ever spent with apple!
Airplay was the reason I purchased this product a few days before the 4.2 update and I can tell you it is even better than I thought it would be. I am an iPhone 4, iPad, and iMac owner and Airplay was definitely the best thing to come out of the recent updates. This is so simple to do setup and there are features that you can't see unless you own one. For instance, this setup appears to be the quickest way to show pictures to friends in person at your house on the best screen in the house. I can literally take a picture on my iphone and show it on my big screen in less than 5 seconds...no joke. I can download a song on my iphone and play it immediately on my surround sound system. It is phenomenal! I don't think any setup is faster or more convenient. Even if you have a computer hooked up as your media hub you would have to email (or post) the picture to yourself and use a keyboard/mouse to jump into your email and pull up the picture. Another con I thought of was, you have to be an Apple user for many of the benefits. If you're not using an iOS device you may not see the the innovation behind ATV. For those of you who have an iOS device I think you will be amazed at what you can do and the ease with which you do it. I think ATV is really a treat for those who dedicated iOS users. I could certainly see if someone thinks the functionality would be the same with other devices will be disappointed, so if you're reading this make sure you research your options carefully.
In order for this to become a success, Apple needed to get the price to $99. I think it's an impulse buy now for those buying a computer or even an iPad. With 8GB of onboard storage, we'll be getting Apps on this and this will become the box that can do it all. Any shortcomings on TV rentals will disappear as networks offer their own apps.
I own a lot of DVDs that I've ripped and just want to be able to use on either TV (I have two 50" HDTVs) and I have a Mac Mini on one room. I like it but you still have to use a mouse and keyboard to get things started. Also, the setup is too cumbersome to tote back and forth from livingroom and bedroom. The AppleTV however will very portable and I'll be able to move it back and forth with ease. Mainly I just want to be able to stream whatever I have to either set and the ATV lets me do this without any problems and is much cheaper than investing in another Mini which is what I've been thinking of doing.
I think that Apple has finally the hardware and software just right to get these into millions of homes. I think that with an App store, this would just be a magical device!
Consider this a new product line with extremely low barriers to entry . More network deals and software updates will evolve this into a must have over the next 12 months. For now, this is one of the best ways to see your Netflix instant queue on your big screen and if you don't mind using your Mac or PC as a library, this is the best way to play your movies and music using your home theater.
Now that I can so easily play media from my computer on the big screen, it finally makes sense to buy high-quality movies and tv shows with replay value from iTunes as opposed to buying blu-rays/dvds.
First they got all my music purchases, haven't bought a cd in years. Then they get all my gaming purchases through their app store -- I've stopped using console and handheld gaming systems thanks to the iphone and ipad. Now they'll get my movie dollars, too.
It sounds like the folks at apple have realized hat its about media spending market share. They cancharge $100 bucks for a cool new device; the real money is in their cut of the $500 plus/year those folks will spend on purchases and rentals. And the customers don't mind, because we were spending it anyway!
Welcome to 2010.
Love it, it functions perfectly. Picture quality is great...I love that I can Airplay straight from my 3GS to my 42" tv. Comes in really handy if I want to show my friends a video.
The remote is great, love the fact that I can also use my iPhone as a remote.
Super clean and easy to use product. There seems to be a ton of potential as well. I like that it can easily access all of my media on my computer (through iTunes) as well as the Netflix and YouTube access. Can't wait to see what the future brings.