One more excuse to be unproductive and lazy, I took home the Apple TV. Yes, that’s right, I succumbed to the alluring draw of one more shiny Apple gadget. The net is full of recent reviews and I do not plan on spending much time doing the same (that would take away from entertaining myself away from the computer).
I will, however, state how ridiculously easy it is to go from shrink wrap to Apple goodness on the widescreen. Apple’s simplicity and ability to integrate with an existing home network is amazing.
- Remove Apple TV & remote from Styrofoam
- Ignore the fact that Apple includes a manual
- Connect [composite or HDMI] & power cable
- Turn-on television and select appropriate video source
- Enjoy opening credits
- Enter wireless network password
- Be lazy
You need to register a specific computer for syncing, but I skipped that step only because streaming sounded more convenient. Load time for video content was incredibly quick. Most likely due to the fact that the Airport Extreme Base Station has that N-goodness. Streaming television downloads from my Mac Pro loaded in about 1.5 seconds and movies 3-5. I am enjoying the fact that 98% of my video content consists of .mp4’s.
I wish all television related remotes were as simple as Apple’s. I only wish I could somehow control the volume on the television without needing to find the actual TV remote.
You can’t turn an Apple TV off but you can put it into hibernate mode by holding down the Play/Pause button for six seconds…