Apple TV MC572LL/A (2010)
Apple TV MC572LL/A (2010)
- Stream HD movies and TV shows rented from iTunes, plus content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr, and MobileMe
- Smaller, redesigned device with HDMI and digital optical audio output; connects to network via Wireless-N or Ethernet
- Silent, cool, and very low power operation in an enclosure that’s less than four inches square
- Music, videos and photos can also be streamed from PCs and Macs
- Comes with 7-button aluminum Apple remote; can be controlled by iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch via Remote app
Apple TV has been redesigned to be small in size but big on entertainment. Rent from the largest selection of HD movies – many available the same day they come out on DVD. Watch Netflix titles instantly. Rent TV shows, commercial free in HD. And stream photos and music from your computer to your widescreen TV. The sleek new Apple TV has been completely retuned for your entertainment. It’s 80 percent smaller than the previous generation – even with a built-in power supply. Which makes it perfect for sitting neatly on a widescreen TV stand or squeezing into a crowded media cabinet. Not only does the new Apple TV have an amazingly small footprint, it’s also incredibly energy efficient. It stays cool without a fan, so it’s never noisy. And when it’s not filling your living room with drama, romance, and comedy, it uses less power than a night-light. The sleek new Apple TV is small in size but big on entertainment. Rent from the largest selection of HD movies or rent TV shows in HD, commerc
List Price: $ 99.00
Price: [wpramaprice asin="B001FA1NK0"]
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Buy NZ Made not practising what it preaches
Buy New Zealand Made says the furniture in its Wellington office is due to be replaced with items that are made in this country.
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Video Review: Apple TV, so much for so little,
Customer Video Review Length:: 4:33 Mins
This is an amazing compliment to your home theater.
So many features, yet so simple to use.
My 7 year old son has it all figured out.
I hope you enjoy the video.
Let me know what you think.
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|Apple TV – Good Now, Potential to be Great,
I am not an Apple Afficianodo. I don’t wear jeans and black turtlenecks in reverence to Steve Jobs. I don’t hang out at the Apple Store and covet becoming a “genius”; however, I have to give credit where credit is due. The last few products Apple has brought out – the iPod, iPhone, iPad – have been incredible and changed the consumer electronics and media / software landscape. Apple TV is now positioned to do the same, but it will take some more time to fully realize the potential of this device.
Apple TV effectively allows you to stream whatever is on your iTunes to your TV and home theater system. Moreover, it has built in support for Netflix, You Tube and a few other internet based media content providers. The picture quality and performance for these services are worth the price of admission. There is significant potential to advance the platform – just give it some time.
System Overview: My Apple TV is plugged into a 60 inch Samsung 1080p LED HDTV via HDMI (video) and a Yamaha Home Theater Receiver via Toslink optical cable (audio). I have AT&T Uverse with their 802.11g Residential Gateway (combination of DSL modem and wireless router) with their Elite DSL service (6 MB per second). iTunes runs on a Dell Desktop with 4GB of memory, Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 500 GB Hard Drive operating on Windows Vista (64 bit) and secured with Norton 360 (firewall, antivirus, etc.). The network handles the Desktop, 2 iPhones, a Blackberry, an iPad, the Apple TV, 4 Laptops, a wireless Printer and a networked wired printer. The Computer / Residential Gateway are in the Den and the TV / Home Theater / Apple TV are in the family room. The two rooms are about 100 feet apart and are separated by five walls.
Set Up: Easy as pie. It took five minutes to plug in the HDMI cable, the optical cable, the power outlet and then adding it to the wireless network. Sharing iTunes from my desktop to Apple TV took another 20 minutes, since I had to download the new version of iTunes and restart my computer and Apple TV. Apple really makes it easy – I didn’t have to make any adjustments to my firewall settings to share iTunes on the desktop with Apple TV. I also downloaded the Apple Remote on my iPhone and iPad, which took another 5 minutes.
User Interface: Apple’s secret sauce is the simplicity of their products. Apple TV is no different. The menu is very simple – Movies, TV, Internet, Computer and Settings. Movies and TV are for renting content directly from iTunes within Apple TV. Internet gives you access to Netflix, You Tube, etc. Computer gives you access to iTunes on your computer. Settings allows you to change the various Apple TV options. The remote control is Apple’s usual model of minimalist efficiency, with a menu button, a play / pause button and an iPod like controller. The supplied remote works well with Apple TV, but is a bit cumbersome when one has to enter data (e.g., e-mail addresses, search on YouTube or Netflix). A much better solution is downloading Apple Remote on your iPhone or iPad. It basically turns the iPhone or iPad into a big touch pad that allows you to use gestures to control the Apple TV (e.g., swipe left, swipe right, double click, etc.). Moreover, it automatically provides a keyboard when one is asked for text input (e.g., for search). Apple remote is free on the App Store.
Netflix Streaming / Video Quality: Setting up Netflix was quick – basically just enter your e-mail address / password and you’re ready to go. I watched some TV from BBC, a foreign flick and Iron Man. Each program loaded quickly – less than 30 seconds. Picture quality was good to great, depending on the source material. Picture quality was comparable to DVD for SD material(perhaps slightly better), but slightly less sharp than upconverted DVD or blue-ray. HD Programming looked like the HD on-demand programming through uVerse. There was enough of a buffer that there was no jittering, pixelation or stuttering on the streaming to the TV. Sound quality on the stream was good – I don’t think they stream in 5.1, so the video stream doesn’t leverage the subwoofer. Considering that I’m running a heavily taxed wireless system on 802.11g with a 100 foot distance between Apple TV and the Gateway, the picture quality and streaming performance are impressive. Having this quality of Netflix compatibility is worth the price of admission by itself.
iTunes Streaming: I streamed some music from my Playlists from the Computer. Sound quality is good, but not great. My Yamaha CD Player sounds better, but it can only hold 5 cds. Having access to my entire library is very useful, so you lose sound quality but gain convenience. iTunes streams not only the music, but also the cover art. After a few minutes, Apple TV switches into screensaver mode and starts transmitting pictures to the TV along with the music. I also streamed some videos…
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|a great box for getting media from point A, B and C to your TV,
I was looking forward to this product since it was announced early last month. I’m glad I pulled the trigger and bought it when it became available. For $99 it provides most of the functionality I was paying microsoft $50 a year for. I’ve become less dependent on the XBOX as a game machine, and more as a Netflix/Media Streamer since my family has grown, and not having to pay for XBOX Live was one of the driving reasons behind this purchase. The reason I say “most of the functionality” is due to it not having the codec support that the XBOX360 comes with out of the box. I’ve had no issues with playback of mp4 or m4v files, and I’m happy with that, but it lacks support for WMV and AVI (as far as I’ve experienced). This isn’t exactly a deal breaker since I can re-encode any content to supported codecs with handbrake and use iTunes to take care of my video library.
The UI is slick, the setup was somewhat easy (but would have been easier with keyboard support) and the ability to control music from my laptop and desktop is fantastic (through iTunes via the currently limited “airplay” functionality).
I’m really happy with the YouTube, Flickr and Netflix support. They are by far the best I’ve seen from a media center, but I can see certain aspects being a pain if you use the included remote (there is no keyboard to speak of, and scrolling through letter to spell things out is a hassle). The remote app on iOS devices more than makes up for the lack of a keyboard since it provides added functionality (such as alpha numeric input, quick seeking and library browsing). I look forward to video support with airplay and will update this review once I get to play with that (in November?).
One last thing – it’s quiet. The thing barely makes a peep.
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