A decent and elegant TV developed by Apple with a terrific interface. Its set up is quite simple and hardly takes ten minutes from start till finish. The features include the three major functions in a single package that has iTunes, wireless display and content or channel provider.
Some of its key features consists of; buying or either renting from the huge collection of movies in high definition of more than 15000 titles. You can buy free high definition commercial TV shows which are of more than 90,000 episodes. The streaming of TV shows and movies from Netflix catalogue can be done but requires subscription. Easy browsing and playing of videos from YouTube or Vimeo, the accessibility of Flicker photos online, high definition podcasts can be watched and can listen to the Internet radio, one can stream the content from iPhone, iPod or iPads to the widescreen of TV wirelessly.
If you have iCloud enabled device then you can view the recent pictures which are taken from any of the iOS device and can be pushed into the iCloud photo stream, MLB, NHL and NBA games in high definition can be watched live, favourite songs can be listened from iCloud library from HDTV, you can enjoy the photos, videos and music on your computer via TV speakers, the setup is simple with HDMI cable for video and audio both (these cables are sold separately).
All the above mentioned features indicate that the Apple TV is tremendously simple and entertaining that requires set up at minimum effort. The interface is extremely easy to use along with Wi-Fi. The old episodes which have been bought can be re-streamed as well. The application of Netflix is quite clean and awesome. There are no delays in the buffering and streaming or there is no delinquency in the uploading of pictures and no degradation of photos can be seen.
If any form of the Apple Eco System you have then definitely Apple TV is for you. Through iTunes users can buy or even rent various contents and view them. Alternative access to media from some other computer can be gained in which iTunes is running. The interface is extremely amazing to use but it depends on iTunes. Many other content is provided via channels/applications same as that of Roku box, however they are only limited to 13. There is an extremely smooth feel of the channel/applications and also works much faster.
Another feature is the AirPlay which is tremendously entertaining as it allows the user to stream video and music from iOS device and MacOS. An AirPlay mirroring is also there which receives whatever you see on this device and displays on Apple TV. It is extremely simple and fascinating to use it but some applications does not support it or else they block it.
Many things work well with AirPlay such as Netflix and Slingplayer whereas others do not work well such as Hulu does not support video in fact only mirroring. The Apple TV connects to the home computer either through Windows PC or MAC by which all the music, movies and TV shows can be streamed along with pictures slideshows via computer to your TV directly in high definition but make sure that your internet connection is same for Apple TV and other devices connected to it. By this you can even bring your game applications to the big screen.
You will be enjoying Apple TV to maximum if you give enough amount of time to it especially iTunes. If you are not using iTunes then you almost lose one-third of the enjoyment. If you are a crazy Apple fan and already spent too much on iTunes then this device is surely an amazing one for you.
The device is certainly joyous to be used since I usually enjoy listening to my favourite songs on TV and when I watch the excellent interface which is on the contrary extremely simple and gorgeous I enjoy more. Undoubtedly there is a limited usability of Apple TV unless you are a heavy user of iTunes but people using this device are in good percentage as the users of iTunes. The feature of Apple TV such as AirPlay is a bonus, but still not enough. Personally I really enjoy using iCloud as I can buy TV shows and movies of my choice and can easily watch them on my iPhone, iPod or iPad also in PC or Mac. I find it really convenient when I need to store my photos collection in iCloud.
Some of the pros of Apple TV are:
- it has set up which is quite simple as discussed earlier,
- it is much prettier and smooth,
- it has AirPlay for video and music
Few cons are:
- it has channels/content extremely limited,
- its dependency on iTunes for music, and
- shuttering of AirPlay with games and mirroring
On the contrary I would wish to see numerous things which are- there should be support for the storage of network for streaming of contents, there should be more channels\apps since I see all the missing channels on my iPad but not in my apple TV ad last but not the least of course there should be better and stronger performance of AirPlay. After the release of Mountain Lion, the mirror screen ability of the Apple TV has however been gained.
The Apple TV does not require any cabling up especially when I use it at my work while conference, so the employees are able to direct the contents to the wide screen of the TV from their personal devices of Apple. If you are asked why iPad does not have HDMI port? Then you can say that its HDMI port is Apple TV which is much better one as that of the one which is wired. It is mobile and projects to the big wide screen.
The Apple TV is compatible with HD TVs having HDMI that includes famous models from the following manufacturers; LG, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Toshiba, Sharp, Vizio, Samsung, Westinghouse, NEC, JVC. The formats of the photos are in JPEG, TIFF and GIF.
Apple TV is bought with a warranty of almost one year and the technical support is provided for 90 days. You can access the experts of Apple for the support and assistance directly by making telephonic calls.
It is a pretty small sized device with numerous entertainments. It has amazing mirroring options with iPhone 5 and provides excellent video quality. It is one was the best gadget purchases I have made this year. However Roku can be bought in much cheaper price but if you are a user of various Apple devices then you must go for Apple TV. Primarily I bought this device for my theatre room which has a surround sound system and then I found it so amazing that I decided to get another one for my house. I have other streaming devices which are 780p but when I stream via Netflix at 1080p and then projecting them on big screen makes it appear as a blu-ray quality videos. I basically enjoy to AirPlay music from my personal computer where I have saved thousands of songs.
At times the unit freezes up after I make few program searches then I need to reboot every time I use the unit because of which I lost all the login information and user profiles that includes re-entering of Wi-Fi information as well. This is one of my complaints about Apple TV. On the other hand it is quite convenient to use and works pretty good especially it allows you to share anything you are watching via TV.
But significantly this product has enhanced the use of my Television set due to its ability of being synced easily with other apple devices. I have a wide screen TV and I am a big fan of Apple devices therefore, this product suits me in all aspects and in this way I find it much inexpensive as compared to the quality options it delivers. I sometime use my sister’s account on iTunes in order to watch some of the shows she has bought from iTunes. For this I need to have access to my sister’s account by having her password.
In this way Apple TV is quite beneficial for an entire family as one user can have access to numerous libraries. There is an application on Apple TV known as Remote which is free and allows you to control TV with swipe gestures. It proves to be the best in home networking along with the other iOS devices. In simple words it brings the internet connectivity into my TV.
Moreover it is pretty simple and easy to operate. You just need to plug in the cables which are two and you are just done. The cables are of HDMI and power. Apart from that it has simple options to set up Wi-Fi and then you have the access to your desired connectivity be it iTunes or your favourite TV show or a movie which are either rented or purchased.
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