Apple TV with YouTube: v1.1 update hands-on
By Ryan Block 
posted Jun 20th 2007 1:37PM
posted Jun 20th 2007 1:37PM
- The update isn't available through iTunes, as you might expect -- it's either pushed out automatically directly to the ATV (it checks for updates weekly, and prompts if you want to install), or through manual update in the ATV's settings.
- The update process took about 9 minutes to download and install. Not nearly as bad as a TiVo update, but we still wish it would have been a bit faster.
- YouTube appears in the main dash, as expected. Users must log in with their YouTube account to rate videos, save to favorites, etc., but users who aren't logged in still get a video history.
- Using a keyboard on the Apple TV's USB port sure would be nice for logging in, searching videos, etc. -- we tried, it's still disabled.
- Video quality looks pretty decent, all things considered. YouTube regulars will be more than satiated.
- It was clear not everything has converted for Apple TV yet -- Engadget's smattering of YouTube videos were nowhere to be found. For shame!
- Unfortunately, you still can't fast forward further than the buffer has streamed, like you can with Google video.
- Apple also added an iTunes Store menu in the settings. Apple claims it's to set your country of origin so the top music previews aren't just assumed to be for US users.
- Other updates: parental controls setting for disabling YouTube, as well as slideshow option for screen saver.
I went to an Apple store with a friend of mine, and saw the appleTV in action--IN THE STORE.
They were playing Pirates of the Carribean, and the quality was apalling. It was HORRIBLE.
I can only imagine what it does to already crappy youTube videos.
Smooth move. The "idea" is great, but the execution is pathetic.
Except YouTube is re-encoding the movies to be a higher quality for Apple. YouTube videos will only look as good as the source, but they will look better on an Apple TV than even on your desktop computer. Your comment makes no sense. I know it's fun to hate, but at least do a better job at it.
@james
You'd be right IFF (and only if) the video hadn't been "DVD quality", according to its properties in iTunes as shared with me by the Apple Store attendant.
Nice try.
Uhh, iTunes store downloads aren't DVD quality no matter what a random Apple-store employee says. When you encode your own DVDs you can make them look indistinguishable from the source. And none of this has anything to do with YouTube quality, which will still be better on the AppleTV.
Again, your problem is with what the iTunes store sells, not what the AppleTV can do.
Quit trying to save the world. My roommate just ran the update and we're watching videos.
They are NOT higher quality than they are on my laptop. Get an AppleTV and try it out for yourself.
Yes, but can I turn it OFF?
I let my 3 and 6 year old thumb through our family movies and photo albums on the Apple TV. They are more than capable of operating it because it is so easy. I do NOT want them doing the same on YouTube.
Yeah, they added a parental control for disabling YouTube.
Wow, this looks almost EXACTLY like what my modded XBox with XBMC scripts was running a year ago. Way to innovate, Apple.
Cause everyone has the knowledge and the willingness to mod their Xbox. Moron.
The whole point of my comment is that this is nothing new, and has nothing to do with modding an XBox. I might be a moron, but at least I'm literate.
"Apple also added an iTunes Store menu in the settings. Apple claims it's to set your country of origin so the top music previews aren't just assumed to be for US users." So either Apple is lying through its teeth or it's staffed by incompetent programmers who can't figure out in what country an IP is located. You make the call.
In other news ... no fast forwarding is actually an advantage. Yeah. It helps us all slow down and smell the ... roses.
It has the same fast-forwarding limitation as all YouTube videos: you can fast-forward, but not past the buffer. Take it easy, champ.
I guess I don't see whats so great about AppleTV... The UI isn't that spectacular (and I thought thats what Apple was "good" at). I'm not an apple fan, but the physical form factor is pretty cool, it looks as though they should have spent the time on the UI that they did with the box.
@ BestSnowman
I think the simplistic large icons and text design is excellent for viewing on a TV in a living room.
What would you have done differently?
You can't possibly judge the Apple TV UI from images on a website, you have to see it in person.
I'm as big on apple as the next guy, but I can't see using this over the wii for doing the same thing without encoding restrictions.
Yeah, the Wii makes for a surprisingly good browser. But there are no "encoding restrictions" on the AppleTV. It's just taking Youtube some time to convert all the old videos. The videos will look better on the AppleTV than the Wii (or your PC, for that matter)
I am getting so fucking sick and tired of people posting about how "newsworthy" a story is or isn't. Just because this is an apple product does not mean thats the only reason it was posted, nor did they say it was "big news" It is a blog about consumer electronics. Apple TV being a consumer electronic device, and it went through its first update today, and engadget was kind enough to let people know. BIG FUCKING DEAL. they aren't sucking steves balls, and also aren't putting them on a pedestal. I don't see why you people care so goddamned much to post about how shitty one story is over another. get over it.
thank you!!
I'd like to thank Ryan for a nice, even-handed article. Lists the features, lists the caveats, notes that it's a decent new feature and a nice way to view YouTube on your TV and that's it. No snark, no random anti-Apple comments. Kudos.
Commence the hater parade in the comments. Remember: it's just a simple feature. Nobody but you has said it's some life-altering event. It's just a software update.
"I still can't SEARCH for my music, scrolling artists from A to Z takes me 5 minutes."
Really? what do you do, click and stop at every entry? try holding the button down won't you? I can go from A to Z in about ten seconds with the built-in acceleration - on a streaming 60gb library.
"I still can't BROWSE my photos, I can only view a fucking slideshow of them."
Hmm nope. Wrong. Two things here: you can disable the Ken Burns effect and get a normal full view of your picture OR you can just PAUSE the slideshow and use the arrow buttons to navigate. You can also go forward and back while the slideshow is playing normally. What's the problem again?
" still can't put my music videos in FOLDERS, all 400 of them are in one long fucking list."
That I agree with.
"Loading my iTunes library (streaming, not cached) takes 25 minutes."
As someone else has said, either you have a serious network problem or you've never actually owned an AppleTV. Connectiing to my (60gb) library takes about 15-20 seconds. Once I'm in there's absolutely no buffer issues - even with HD podcasts and full-length movies.
"Several of the YouTube videos had nothing but REALLY loud static on the audio."
Well... none that I watched this morning. Perhaps blaming the source would be an idea?
"The damn thing still gets hotter than a patch of asphalt at noon in Tijuana."
And? do you want to sleep on it? Mine sits next to my plasma tv, doesn't make a sound and does everything I bought it for. I don't spend my time touching it ;-)
And on the ridiculous issue of quality: PLEASE. Video quality has NOTHING to do with the device. Stop it already. I've watched HD content from the NASA that's phenomenal. I've watched some of our own HD material that looks beautiful. Blown up video WILL look crappy no matter what device you use. Just watch standard def 480i television on an HD set sometimes. The AppleTV streams and plays back HD content perfectly. Nuff said.
AppleTV still sucks.
I still can't SEARCH for my music, scrolling artists from A to Z takes me 5 minutes.
I still can't BROWSE my photos, I can only view a fucking slideshow of them.
I still can't put my music videos in FOLDERS, all 400 of them are in one long fucking list.
Loading my iTunes library (streaming, not cached) takes 25 minutes.
Several of the YouTube videos had nothing but REALLY loud static on the audio.
The damn thing still gets hotter than a patch of asphalt at noon in Tijuana.
I'm returning it and getting a real streamer. Steveo was right, it really isn't anything more than a hobby for him. Screw YouTube, get me some decent features on the damn thing first.
Some of your concerns are valid, but being that the AppleTV has no keyboard I don't know how "convenient" search would be vs. scrolling.
My iTunes library is 150GB and it loads on the AppleTV in less than 10 seconds *streaming*. I call bullshit on your loading comment unless you are using the world's first wireless router.
James, the iPod has a keyboard too? Cause I can scroll from the first to the last track on that in 20 seconds. On my iPod I can search and when I browse a nice little shortcut alphabet pops up.
The loading thing is very much true. 17000 songs and 900 video clips takes it 20 minutes to load, it is connected wired to my lan.
Oh, and I forgot to mention how much I HATE the remote. I'm sure it is great for a Mac user who plays with Frontrow for 5 minutes, but for any kind of serious media browsing it blows chunks. The AppleTV needs a REAL remote.
Is it ok your serial number is showing?
Can someone point me to a YouTube vid that has been encoded with H.264?
try m.youtube.com
"Can someone point me to a YouTube vid that has been encoded with H.264?"
Sure >>>> 'AppleTV'
Word of advice.. if you are trying to defend yourself in future, don't agree that you are a moron.
Then again, with the 'Schweiz' ATV indication, Apple considers Switzerland to be a German-only country... Seem to have forgotten that the french-speaking Switzerland was home to the World Wide Web's invention... In a few years maybe Apple will forget California used to speak English too and not Spanish... :'(
Ummmm...The US government (military) invented the internet...
Sure, CERN publicized it, but it was invented by the US government.
Yeah, we invented the _internet_, but CERN/Tim Brenners-Lee (=swiss) invented the WWW.
Unfortunately Apple decided that AppleTV works with downloadable content only. It doesn't work with Apple's own quicktime streaming solution. Content is played back while downloading. Hence you can't access random parts of videos. IMHO that's stupid. QuickTime Streaming (RTSP, also for MPEG4 and 3GPP) is a very robust and reliable delivery technology and they have stripped it from their own box, rendering all kinds of IPTV and VOD services impossible!
And unfortunately YouTube also uses progressive download for its flash content. Google uses a nifty semi streaming technology, explained here: http://www.jetstream.eu/servers/XL/stroboscope.html, that allows any webserver to offer random access to ondemand flash video content!
i installed the update and i have to say im loving it. its fun, a nice diversion! of course not all the videos have been converted and im sure a lot of them wont be. But I do like it a lot.
One can view all YouTube videos on a living room's television using Nintendo Wii's Opera Browser. It is great!
i was just looking at the Apple TV on the UK store and under Specs it says:
System Requirements
• Widescreen (16:9) enhanced definition or high definition television with an HDMI, DVI, or component video input
• Wired or wireless network
• iTunes 7 (available as a free download)
• Broadband Internet connection (fees may apply)
• Macintosh computer with Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later; or PC with Windows XP Home or Professional (SP2)
Does that mean it still no running well on Vista?
just curious, i dont plan on buying one, has anyone tried it?
Matt
"i was just looking at the Apple TV on the UK store and under Specs it says: ..."
Those specs are incorrect - perhaps Apple is being over-cautious, but I am using an Apple TV with:
- A standard (not HD) TV with component inputs.
- iTunes running on both a Mac OS X (10.4.10) and a PC (running Vista).
Also, I have to say that it's really cool having YouTube on the Apple TV. WIthout that, I can only play the media from my computer, which is fine for music and podcasts, but my video content doesn't change often. But with YouTube, there's always cool video to watch.
Has anyone else had a problem finding ALL if their YouTube favorites? Apple TV shows 1 or 2 when I first logged in and now only seems to find the ones that are saved via AppleTV. Also Youtube on AppleTV seems to be missing many videos. What gives?
We own the Apple TV and love it. However, the new software update with YouTube shows why the Apple TV seriously needs a more full featured remote and/or keyboard access. The parental control passcode to block YouTube access is visible during entry. Also, when entering the password for YouTube the password is shown with asterisks but anyone can see the keys being selected. If the passcode was restricted to numbers then passcode entry could be more private like with cable and satellite boxes.
Similarly, with people asking about attaching to the iTunes store, how will password entry be protected? Does a person always have to wait for others to leave the room or house?
On another note, how will backing up your music work?
What if different family members purchase music? How do they get them on their iPods? Is the music stuck on the Apple TV?