I Want My Apple TV

Written on March 19, 2007 by Louis Gray and 11 people have commented

Shortly after Steve Jobs formally introduced the Apple TV at MacWorld San Francisco this January, I did what any good Mac aficionado would do. I plunked down my credit card and bought one, using the proceeds I had gained from playing the MacWorld hype in Apple stock.

Before noon Pacific Time on January 9th, I received an order acknowledgment from the Apple Store, saying the Apple TV would ship on February 28th, and be delivered by March 6th. As we all now know, Apple has experienced delays in producing the device, and those of us extremely early adopters are still waiting. Heck, the new and improved Airport Extreme Base Station I ordered the same day, at the same time, has already been humming along for the better part of a month at home, waiting for its TV-focused counterpart.

Meanwhile, I keep running into new ways to use the Apple TV, if I had one. As the music side of the iTunes Store did, starting slowly, over time iTunes’ TV offerings continue to get better and better. Now, if I miss a show, I’m not heading to YouTube or BitTorrent to find it, but iTunes is my first stop. And while watching the show on my 15-inch PowerBook is fine, presenting it to our home flatscreen would be much better indeed.

Last week, I noted how some shows, like NBC’s Andy Barker P.I., are debuting a full season on iTunes, even before they have aired on traditional TV. Fox’s “The Winner”, featuring Rob Corrdry, formerly of the Daily Show, went the same route. I purchased the full season, and have already seen three episodes. Meanwhile, this evening, I found out I missed FX’s premiere of “The Riches”, with Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver. Sure enough, a quick search on iTunes got me exactly what I wanted. The availability of good content is being solved, but the connection to the TV is still missing, even as the Apple Store online now says it will ship Tuesday, March 20th.

Apple has a mega-hit with the iPod - a game changer that has put the company on the forefront of people’s minds when it comes to innovative tech companies, whether they be PC users or Macolytes. While we still wait for the debut of the iPhone later this year, Apple TV could be Apple’s next home run. We can’t wait to get our hands on it. Soon, please.

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#1 Kyle Korleski says:
Yeah, Apple TV sounds like a smexy new product and I would love to get my hands on one when I move to the UK.
#2 Michael Rasmussen says:
I’m still not giddy over AppleTV. I’ve been a TiVo user for a long time now. TiVo is a little behind the curve on most features, but they technically beat apple to video delivery. http://unbox.amazon.com. They’ve had MP3 to TiVo streaming for years now, and you can view images on the TV too. I can also record live TV, which the AppleTV will NEVER do. So I don’t really get the hype. If I’m missing some feature that is worth $300 (and no, an Apple Logo is not a $300 feature) then let me know. Don’t get me wrong here. I’ve been an Apple Fanboy for 23 years now, but this one just seems like too little, too late.
#3 xis4us says:
apple tv to start shipping march 20th!!! bought the prestige which i can’t wait to show my hubby on our big screen wega. i’m feeling lucky!!
#4 Neven Mrgan says:
Michael:

I don’t have a cable subscription and don’t intend to get one as I watch only 1 or 2 TV shows at any point in my life. So, TiVo wouldn’t work for me.

While I haven’t tried Amazon’s Unbox myself, It’s been ridiculed in every review I’ve ever seen, so I’m not too excited about that either.

What I do have is a growing library of digital content on my Mac, and I’d like to enjoy it on my HDTV without the hassle of hooking up my PowerBook to the TV and speakers, playing the video in QT, and having to run to the PowerBook every time I want to pause, skip a photo in a slideshow, or change a song.

TiVO wouldn’t give me any of that, and it’s worth $300.
#5 Richard says:
New ways to us apple tv? How about for movies that you dont buy from itunes. Use RipItForMe for the rip. Use “Super” to convert from ripped vobs to h.264. Export from Quicktime to itunes library. You can now stream the movie or tv show of your choice to the Apple TV. It works….I can play them at 720p. If it plays in itunes it will stream to the Apple TV according to Mr. Jobs so there we are.

Super is a little slow but you can batch file it and run while you are off doing the more important things in life.

Now if the rumors that Leopard will allow you to stream your desktop to the apple TV are true then I get to play Battlefield 2 on my 42 inch plasma.

We are getting there arent we.
#6 Jon says:
Perhaps I’ve missed something — assuming you’re willing to plug your laptop into your TV, what is Apple TV’s value add? Is it about HD?
#7 anon says:
I totally missed this until about a week before its official announcement. I still don’t care. What’s the big deal? I’ve read headlines that claim that it’s going to take over the living room, etc. It doesn’t seem like a very interesting product to me - am I alone in this?

Maybe I am among the very few Americans who doesn’t own a television, anyway.
#8 Richard says:
Woohoo!!!! Apple TV Shipped to my home in Canada by Fedex originating from Shenzhen China. Expected to arrive in 8 days!
#9 Jimmy Webster says:
Apple TV is now shipping. After months of pre-order agony, eMails are arriving in the inboxes of the faithful detailing shipments and tracking numbers. I have converted some DVDs to mp4 placed on my hard drive following the guide http://www.appletvconverter.com/ , then put them onto Apple TV once I received it.
#10 pup says:
Anyone know whether you can use Apple TV to transfer/view MLB.TV from your computer to a TV