How would you change the Apple TV (take 2)?
By Darren Murph 
posted February 15th 2008 6:30PM
posted February 15th 2008 6:30PM
Aside from finally offering up 1080p support and giving users the ability to rent HD flicks (though only some with Dolby Digital 5.1), the v2.0 upgrade changed up the look and added in Flickr integration. Granted, the innards here have remained the same, but we're not just interested in finding out what you adore / detest about the newest update. Oh no -- we're also curious to know how you think the existing hardware is handling its new duties. Has anything slowed down? Are you still (or were you ever) satisfied with the port assortment? Have you found yourself itching to downgrade? We know, software updates as substantial as this one
Play lists and cover flow as an option for your own videos.
The new left/right main menu... use a second highlight color to indicate which side you are active in.
External hard disk option
DIVX, AVI... whoe needs them. H264 is the future. I use VisualHub. Drag n'Drop conversion of just about anything to MP4 or H264 in a flash. Even has an auto add to iTunes option.
USB Mass Storage support--hell, just enable the USB port
1) This is a must: give me the ability to browse movies remotely, as you could with the first version. Now that you have to sync everything, I have to pre-select which movies to store on the 140GB Apple TV. I have over 300 movies and want to be able to choose from any of them, as before. I used "Factory Restore" to get back to version 1, JUST FOR THIS. There's no reason at all why you shouldn't be able to stream movies while watching them! I Mean, that why this thing was invented in the first pace, I thought.
2) Allow cover flow and iTunes Store new-style browsing (seeing 12 titles at once, etc). "My Movies" browsing is still the same tedious one-at-a-time, V4-or-less-iPod style. No reason for this especially when I've also got things sorted with genre, etc. Tell you what, why not just drop all this custom interface, and just SHOW ITUNES on the TV.
3) Allow a FULL power-down, not just "sleep mode." Yes, the light is turned off, but the thing is still sucking juice, and is still warm even during an idle.
4) Stick a fan in it or something. Damn this thing runs hot.
5) Bluetooth keyboard
6) Add cover flow, or anything better than typing one letter at a time to search videos, to YouTube browsing (something I can no longer do anyway, now that I've factory restored it to version 1.0!). The bluetooth keyboard would negate much of the need for this item.
7) Need more versatile options for syncing. I'd like to be able to choose the order of priority for movies, music, photos, TV, and Podcasts. So far, you can just prioritize Photos either first or last, and everything else is non-adjustable.
8) I disagree with the consent about adding some sort of drive (be it DVD or Blu-Ray). However, perhaps that USB port could be finally be used for something; in this case for an external optical drive if you absolutely must use the AppleTV as an archaic hard-media player.
9) Play more file formats (like this'll ever happen). Seems ridiculous that I can't even play a .mov file, let alone all those non-Apple codecs everyone has such a hard-on for like .wmv.
10) Don't really need to see that 30-second warmup movie with the TV screens every time
"1) This is a must: give me the ability to browse movies remotely, as you could with the first version. Now that you have to sync everything, I have to pre-select which movies to store on the 140GB Apple TV. I have over 300 movies and want to be able to choose from any of them, as before. I used "Factory Restore" to get back to version 1, JUST FOR THIS. There's no reason at all why you shouldn't be able to stream movies while watching them! I Mean, that why this thing was invented in the first pace, I thought."
I have no idea how you have yours set up, but mine does this already with Take 2. I have maybe 2 or 3 movies synced to the aTV drive, the rest are on my iMac. They all show up under "My Movies" on the aTV. As long as my iMac is running iTunes, I can seamlessly stream those movies that aren't synced to the aTV drive. You can't even tell which ones are synced local and which ones aren't. You should check your settings.
They didn't all show up in myMovies. Only around half of them. Once it ran out of room, it stopped copying them. I don't like not being able to tell what's on the Mac and what's on the AppleTV. These should be two different things, so you know what you can watch if your computer's turned off.
So far my biggest complaint has nothing to do with the Apple TV itself - I just think it sucks to have to wait 30 days for new releases to appear. Other than that, I would love to see some sort of optical drive add-on.
How about a search function for my media? They have it for YouTube, so it can hardly be a stretch. I have a reasonably large music library (at 30,000+ Songs), and it's now at the point were finding music on the TV is far too clunky.
Add a DVD player to it, or even make it something that can stack and attach over USB and I'll buy one today. Right now, it's ANOTHER device that does the same thing a few other devices of mine already do.
How about standard def (4x3) support?
Oh, this is an easy one.
Make it play more container formats, including AVI.
Make it easy to install additional codecs, supported or not, e.g. Perian.
Do that and I'd buy one. As it is I'm waiting to see how hackable 2.0 is.
It's a huge shortcoming compared to the level of service expected from Apple at this point.
How about we start off with on-the-go-on-demand. Kinda like PSP-PS3 style, that would be great. Maybe put DVD ISO support on iTunes for people who have their libraries backed up in that format.
How about easily moving rentals from one appletv to another without having to use your computer.
AppleTV missed the boat. When it was annouced I was pretty excited, but gradually that excitement waned. First came the news that it would only do 720p. Then there was its total lack of codec support (no divx streaming etc), and finally its horrible bitrate restricts for the content you *could* play (you couldn't even watch some of the trailers from the itunes store. How stupid is that?)
In short, while I was waiting for AppleTV Take2 (which solves a few of these) my PS3 and 360 got updated to do everything I wanted and more (except MKV support grrrr), so I have no need for the Apple TV. They missed the window of opportunity.
I know that we can turn it off, but I wish that the hard disk would power down also. I'm in school and I like quiet when I read. That constant click-clicking from the disk drives me crazy. Some days I just yank the power cord.
I would like it to have plugins, so I could add functionality to read shared drives from my NAS, read my extensive .avi with dolby 5.1 collection from my NAS.
Then this would be perfect.
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Most things people want and stated here (such as USB support, codecs etc) can be done with the AppetTV but it looks like to me that Apple has deliberately crippled the device.
If you hack the device, you can easily enable USB Mass Storage Support, add more codecs and add plugins like a RSS Reader etc. Just Google "AppleTV Hacks" and you will see many sites devoted too this topic.
I also understand that you don't need to open up the AppleTV to hack it anymore. You can hack it via software.
In fact you can even run Mac OS X on the AppleTV and make it a $300 Mac!! (But the AppleTV does not use a very fast processor and has only 256 MB of RAM so don't expect a fact machine!)
But hacking the AppleTV (including running Mac OS X on the AppleTV) would likely violate Apple's End User License Agreement. I suspect you will also prematurely end any support or warranty. So keep that in mind if you decide to hack it and breach the license agreement.
I really HATE AppleTV Take 2. Everywhere you look it seems that Apple is pushing ITS content OVER your content. I would like it the other way around.
I think Apple really missed the boat. People WANT one device that does all. At least add a simple DVD player to the device.
And enable the USB port so you can ADD extra storage. The only way to do that now is via a software hack that violates the license agreement (and likely any warranty etc).
Also add support for Flickr PRIVATE groups / pictures.
Given the shortcomings, I would not be surprised to see AppleTV Take 3 soon.
Rob
DVDR, built in MacTheRipper and DVD2OneX to copy my movies with the touch of a button!
1. 2.0 interface is too much. 1.X interface was clean and uncluttered (though it could have taken better advantage of the screen real estate). I prefer less emphasis on movie rentals and iTMS (though this is great if there was a wide selection of content available in Canada). XBCM like interface would be awesome.
2. Better codec support (such as DivX/Xvid). Even the XBox 360 and Sony support DivX. Make it a fee-based feature if you must.
3. Less iTMS centric for content. Allow us to import and encode our own DVDs (again, not much content available in canada). This is not about enabling piracy since the content could still be DRM'd to prevent it from being used on other devices. I own the DVDs and like to be less cluttered. I realize this may be a pipe dream, but other companies like Kaleidoscop (?) have done this. I'm sure theres still potential for misuse
9i.e. people renting and ripping) but this is an opportunity for Apple to REALLY innovate and do something for consumers by coming up with something acceptable to copyright holders. (iTunes Digital Copies is a start).
4. Customizable UI such as skins and the ability to add, remove or group menu items. I really dont like to see YouTube menu item (or would bury it deeper) and would love to create some custom "viewes" to filter based on metadata.
5. Better handling and displaying of Metadata for videos and photos. For movies, I'd really like to see actors, directors and genre.
6. Jukebox feature so people can add songs (or music videos) to a queue instead of starting play immediately.
7. Handle music videos more like music so that I can navigate the menus but audio still plays.
8. Volume control with the Apple remote. Plugins can do this so why can't it be done natively with the Apple TV?
9. Apple TV SDK so others can develop plugins and additional functionality. RSS and Weather widgets would be nice.
10. I like the simplicity of the AppleTV and felt that optical drive and tuner functionality miss the point of the device. However, I see potential for a higher-end version thats larger with these embedded capabilities (I'd love to replace my DVD player with an Apple TV).
RE: XBOX 360 as a media center replacement. I bought one simply for DivX support (and Paradise City) but I'm not convinced I'll use it to replace my Apple TV. The XBox 360 is about 6x the size of the Apple TV, the power supply is an eye sore (larger than the Apple TV) and it's loud. The Xbox 360 interface has the feel of simply being a file navigator (very computer-esque and not focused on browsing content or displaying metadata). Video content cannot be saved on the XBox HDD (except downloaded content).
I believe Forbes called the AppleTV (Take 1) the "iFlop". Why? Because you get better bang for your buck with an Xbox360. In my view, the AppleTV Take 2 does not change things. The xBox360 is a better deal.
By the way, you were running the older AppleTV software and just upgrade to version 2.0, there is an EASY way to go back to the original AppleTV software. Just do a Factory Restore in the Settings menu.
After complaining about the Take 2 interface, I told my parents to do a "Factory Restore" and now they are back to the less cluttered version 1.1 AppleTV interface (which is what the unit originally came with). My parents rarely rent movies. They just wait until they show up on HBO etc a few months later.
And IMHO the Flickr support in Take 2 is useless since it does not support Private Groups / Photos.
Rob
Allow it to stream it's audio _to_ Air Tunes points.
Aside from the hideous UI and hardsell in the 2.0 [Nothing more to say - just fix it!], it's SO close to being awesome, but it's crippled. Apple don't want this thing to work properly. There are major improvements that would take only a few days to roll out:
USB storage - duh! Failing that, use the Airport disk for storage, so everything is available when my laptop is turned off.
Now my library is permanently online, let me access it from other iTunes clients (so my wife can play music from my library on her laptop when my laptop is off). OR add this to the Airtport/Time Capsule.
Safari - let me browse on my TV.
Better browsing/management of my content. I've only got about 20 movies on there, and it's a pain to navigate. Give be genre's and playlists. I could also use a way to tag content for parental control - most of my synced content is kids movies for my daughter, but there's other stuff on there I'd like to lock out.
1) enable volume control from remote
2) enable composite video out;
3) enable wireless internet connection sharing (to work as an airport base);
4) enable SOON movie rental outside US;
5) develop a remote with display of library contents (so you can select music to play on your hifisystem withou siwtchin-on your plasma)
Top five reasons I am taking my Apple TV back after one day:
5. No DVR (but I knew that going in)
4. Glitch in the video streaming pauses video constantly during viewing.
3. No support for multiple iTunes libraries on different machines.
2. You must be connected to an iTunes library on a running computer to view existing content...?? Lame! Lame! LAME!
And the biggest reason I am taking it back today...
1. The quantity of movies available to rent or buy is EMBARRASSINGLY SMALL.
Needs more cowbell.
Day late, dollar short, but:
"netflix support would kind of be counter productive to Apple wanting to fuel their new rental business."
This is the exact same reason Apple is unlikely to ever release a 1st party DVR. They are making bank on the per episode pricing structure. Why would they allow you to record your own?
I think apple TV is a great product, but I would never pay $300 for it. What’s the point of it? Is it for all the lazy ass people that won’t get up and drive 5 minuets to a block buster or can’t spend $20 for a cable to extend from your computer to TV? I don’t see it worth my money.
I think apple TV is a great product, but I would never pay $300 for it. What’s the point of it? Is it for all the lazy ass people that won’t get up and drive 5 minuets to a block buster or can’t spend $20 for a cable to extend from your computer to TV? I don’t see it worth my money.
Make it with all the functionality of Archos TV+, and add some real HD support, not because I actually care about HD, but because I don't want to be annoyed by HD fanboys constantly questioning why I spent money on new tech that's not HD. Chances are, Archos will come up with an HD update for the TV+ anyways, and Apple will continue to release almost-good-but-shiny gadgets.
There are a few glaring oversights with the Take 2 version:
1) The Apple TV does not allow you to buy either multi or season passes for TV shows, nor will it automatically download any that you already have purchased. Instead, everything is downloaded by iTunes and then synched to the Apple TV.
2) It would be great to see direct audio and video streaming to the Apple TV - thus allowing internet radio or live TV if your bandwidth can support it.
3) It would be nice to have the option to add an Artist as a favorite, much as you can add TV shows and podcasts.
4) The addition of "widgets" would be a spectacular move, a la iPhone - weather, stocks, rss feeds etc.
By making it a DVR as well.
compilation support.... sounds stupid, still not on apple tv
I would really like to control the volume with the remote, now I´m stuck with two remotes...
1. simple filters for movies, e.g. by genre, by actor, by year, by rating - i have my entire dvd library re-encoded and imported into itunes, purely for appletv, so its quite a long list of films to scroll through and pick.
2. pvr/dvr - able to record tv, ala elgato eyetv.
3. international itunes rentals!!! (i am in uk - when is this happening???)
4. gigabit ethernet. (hardware upgrade, i know. and not really useful, but my lan is gigabit, so this would be MY personal request)
5. web browser.
Let the Apple TV independently drive Airport Express and share movies, TV, YouTube and podcasts with other computers on the wireless network in addition to music. Add other internet video sites in addition to YouTube and adding internet access in general seems like a great idea. Allow storage expansion through the ports and Blu-Ray players (including iBlu-Ray movie playing software) and burners to all systems.
Apple TV desperately needs the ability to make a playlist of one's music videos, have the choice to shuffle and continuously play them if we want. As of right now we can only play one music video at a time. Why ???
I'm close to buying one of these bit it needs more space. In all fairness, it should come as 500 gb. And its going to need to get a lot bigger for storing multiple HD movies. Media formats aside eventually the goal is going to be a single media drive that can wifi to anything.