July 12, 2001. Okay, you can relax, you’re not the only one who hadn’t heard of the Apple TV, nobody around here had either. And we thought Apple made computers, laptops and pads etc? Well, read MarcForrest’s blog below and enter the world of Apple TV.
A couple of weeks ago I picked up my new Apple TV from a mate of mine who had managed to organise a few through a friend in the United States. I had always wanted one, but the Apple TV was never at the top of my priority list, well, that was until I actually started using it. WOW !!!
The integration between the iPhone, iPad AND the Apple TV is seamless and amazing. Using AirPlay you can watch almost any video/picture/song that you are currently seeing on the iDevice and watch it on the TV. So for example, using the AirVideo (iTunes link $2.99) app on my iPad, I can start watching the video on the Apple TV instantly, with just the tap of a button.
The Apple TV is a simple plug AND play device which starts working as soon as you plug in the HDMI cable into your TV. If you have setup Home Sharing on your iTunes you can access your iTunes music and video library wirelessly through the Apple TV. You can also opt to Jailbreak it, and install XBMC on it, which allows you to stream AVI’s from a shared folder on your wireless network (Okay guys if you want more info on this I confess, you’ll have to contact Marc through his blog).
I did this when I got it, and while it is nice, honestly it’s not the be all and end all, as it is quite a mission to set up. I prefer to rather use AirPlay and stream an AVI I am already watching in AirVideo.
The best thing I have found so far is the fact that you can rent movies straight away from the iTunes store and they will start playing almost immediately. This means you can watch some of the latest US releases (provided you have a US iTunes account) at the cost of almost renting a DVD (yes, you also need to account for bandwidth, but if you have an uncapped account, this is negligible) Over the weekend I rented a movie for the kids, and within a few minutes it was streaming to my TV. Awesome !!
The thing to remember is that the Apple TV relies heavily on wireless streaming, so you need to have a wireless setup at home, as well as a decent ADSL line (1mb +)
Unfortunately the Apple TV is not on sale in South Africa “officially” but you can get it from a couple of places including the Guys at WildTwig ($199) or Have2Have .
If you have an iDevice and enjoy watching movies, or have an awesome home theatre setup, I highly recommend getting one of these devices.
Also, check out Jason Bagley’s latest post about his take on the Apple TV.
Get more great tech blogs at MarcForrest.com. Click here for Marc’s take on iPhone Photography . . . iPhoneography.