Apple TV "Take 2" Thoughts

Last night, I updated my Apple TV (or is it TV?) to the 2.0 software, and hot damn.

The new interface is a great implementation of "simplify simplify simply." The rotating graphics of the previous version are replaced by two simple (but elegant) columns in a box. The left-hand column is the master list of options; the right-hand one, it's sub menu. Delve in beyond that, and you end up in custom windows as necessary, in a very logical flow. And these submenus are quite tasteful: beyond interface graphics (buttons and such) and the occasional separators, the only graphics are the cover of the song/album/show/movie in question, either as the list itself, or accompanying a details page.

I love it.

The ease with which I can connect to my Flickr page, and through that my friends' pages, is incredible. The same goes for the .Mac Web Gallery connectivity.

The HD rentals blew me away from the start. How do you win over a geek like me? Easy— carry all of the Star Trek films in HD! No, I haven't rented one yet, but Josh has, and he seemed pretty impressed. They may only be 720p, but that's better than the nothing Paramount has released on any kind of HD disc so far.

I do wish the trailers/preview for HD movies were HD themselves, but I suppose that's asking for too much.

A lot of fuss has been made about the 24-hour viewing window (once activated), and I agree, it's a bummer. My guess: within the next year, that gets expanded to two full days, if not three. I have no inside connections to back this up, but it makes sense. Right now, the viewing window is identical to cable T.V.'s video-on-demand timeframe, and until downloads prove themselves as solid a revenue stream as that, the studios won't be cutting Apple any extra slack. I expect this to take off, though, and with existing rental models all favoring two or three days, I expect the digital formats to follow suit.

There are other little fixes here and there, too. Playing videos and slideshows before, I;d often get a little jaggy white line at the extreme bottom edge of my screen. This is the kind of error we'd never notice on SD tube televisions, as that part of the image gets cut off. In HD, on an LCD, a single row of pixels being off shows up. This problem is nowhere to be seen after the new update, which is a site for my sore eyes. Apple also added AirTunes support to the Apple TV. Basically, just like the Airport Express, you can select the Apple Tv as anew speaker set within iTunes. This is a much more elegant solution than linking to a streamed library through the Apple TV interface, all while preserving your ability to control that playback with the Apple TV remote.

Plus they upgraded all of the interface graphics to 1080p. Yes.

What becomes instantly clear to me as I play around with the new features is how limiting the "sync-to-a-central-computer" model is. Here's my utopian dream: that when you buy something, it's hosted on the web. You call it up on any device you own that is registered to your account, and it can only be active on any one device at a time. That way, you aren't responsible for the gigabytes of media you accrue; you just need an internet connection to access stuff. This is probably not appropriate for music, as waiting for it to stream is a drag, but for video... well, a boy can dream, right?

That being said, I am the guy who keeps telling all of my friends that buying HD discs (specifically Blu-ray discs) is a safe bet, because digital downloads are at least 5-8 years from becoming mainstream and ubiquitous. And I still believe that. Until I can get the same kind of selection in 1080p quickly with hi-fidelity 5.1 audio from the internet, in formats I can store and access quickly and painlessly, I will continue to buy the discs I really want. I'm all for digital downloads, I'm just for quality first.

That won't stop me from renting from iTunes; indeed, as a large amount of the HD titles aren't even available on any HD disc yet, it may be my only choice. It just means I'll be buying Blu-rays of the movies I want to own.

Anyone with an iTunes based media library should seriously consider an Apple TV. I've had mine three weeks, and I use it almost every day. With the new update, it'll only become more useful. Check out the "Guided Tour" here, but be warned: about halfway through, she rents Live Free or Die Hard in HD, and the Apple demo video plays the video in the wrong aspect ratio. No joke; instead of letterboxing the movie to preserve the 2.35 image, they stretch it out to fill the 1.78 frame. Amateur hour, even at Apple.

If any of you are curious about picture quality, iLounge has a great comparison up between Blu-ray, HD Cable, DVD, and Apple TV HD rentals. AppleInsider also has a solid in-depth review as well.