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5 things I hate about Apple TV
I have been using a couple of Apple TVs at my house for the last several weeks. I actually cut my satellite service so that I could experience an Internet-only media environment for our entertainment/news.
I’m putting together a post on the experience and why I did it, but I already have 5 things that I hate about Apple TV. Here they are:
- You cannot purchase/download video directly from the device. You have to do everything through iTunes on another computer. I knew this when I bought it, but it is extremely frustrating. Apple would make a fortune off of my impulse purchases…wait…maybe this is not a bad thing.
- The hard disk is too small. I was surprised at how fast I filled it up and how annoying it is to free up additional space.
- I cannot transfer/sync videos to the Apple TV while I am watching videos on it. This is just silly.
- There is no “repeat” function when playing videos. This may not matter at home, but it is a simple feature that would make the devices much more usable in digital signage.
- The remote. It is the same little white remote that Apple ships with every computer. It does not control the volume (a TV watching basic). It is one example where the smaller=better equation has a diminishing return. (It is so easy to lose)
Visit 
Bobby-
Same frustrations here. I tried to use the Apple TV for Easter in the lobby. Got on a ladder, strapped it to the back of the LCD TV, synced some videos on it, VOILA!! Then, I realized that I couldn’t set it to repeat… very stink! I assumed this was a natural function, but not there. A bunch of message boards later, and realized it wasn’t going to work. Sheesh! I’ve heard that this might be fixed in an update at some point but who knows.
It does eat up space waaay too quick. I wish you could plug in an external HD. I went to Best Buy and bought the DVI-HDMI cable and hooked up my mac mini to it… works good, but pretty useless as anything other than media device. I assumed (incorrectly) that my HDTV would be like the mother of all computer screens, but the desktop was very blurry and not at all fun to play with.
Take care, post more thoughts when you get time!
Larry Boatright
I concur with Bobby’s list, and have one more…
For me, the problem is how photo album organization doesn’t migrate to AppleTV as it is organized in iPhoto. I use slideshows extensively in my situation, and need to have the slideshows organized in sub-folders. AppleTV doesn’t allow sub-folder organization or the opportunity to drill-down, but rather just shows all slideshows in a looooooooong list.
Why, Steve?
I totally agree with Bobby (in regards to using a HDTV as a monitor) that you would think it’s the ultimate solution … however it is most definitely not. Apple’s iTV was supposed to be the link between a media server and TV to make the two a match made in heaven, so far it hasn’t quite accomplished that goal.
I think where they went wrong was when they stopped focusing on just creating a create tool (the link between media server and TV) and started making a media server, something iTV was not originally destined to be. I think it’s a great example of when an organization lets their mission get watered down and then creates a mediocre product.
I’ve had mine for exactly a week and so far I absolutely love it. I do agree that it would be nice to download directly from the couch, but like you, I would spend a fortune.
I like having the simple remote, but turning the volume up and down would help a lot.
I thought the HD size would bother me, but it doesn’t. In fact, I’m not synching anything to the HD. Instead I’m just using it to stream all the content from my main computer. I’ve got so much TV and movie content that it would fill up 40GB pretty quickly. Then I’d be stuck trying to decide what I wanted on there and what I could live without. So far, the streaming has been surprisingly great. No real stutters at all. It’s smooth and loads up very quickly.
I’ve been very happy with it. I’ll like it a little better when iTunes starts selling HD content.
I really like my Apple TV. I agree that the ability to purchase music directly from the device would make it a better device, but purchasing content from iTunes is still better than going to the the store to buy a DVD, and even easier than purchasing movies directly from your satellite or cable provider.
I’m not an Apple fanboy, but this is a great product that will get better with time (the software upgrades itself).
Although, I also wish you could set it to repeat.
Bobby, hate is a very strong word, although I do hate sunburns.
I do not have an iTV and was thinking of asking for one for Father’s Day. I am glad that you are blazing a trail for those of us who will wait for version 2.0.
Are we still better off putting together our own media center with a Mac mini (or similar) and something like Front Row and/or Media Central?
Josh
Just an FYI for the small size of the hard drive of the Apple TV. You can get a larger hard drive and install it yourself there are instructions on macworld. *although you automatically void the warranty. Just some ideas if you feel a little adventurous
Thanks for the feedback, Bobby. As a general rule, I try to avoid buying Version 1.0 of any new technology. I’ve broken that rule a few times in the past and have always regretted doing so. Doh!
I have little doubt that Apple will be listening carefully to customers and will be working to improve the TV product. My guess is that all of your qualms will be addressed in the months ahead so hang in there!
Looking forward to seeing you at the SNS Future In Review Conference in a couple of weeks. Perhaps we will be able to corner somebody from Apple at the conference and give them some real time feedback.
Agape,
steve
Before any of you write off the Apple TV or write off me :)…I am simply talking about what I do not like about it. There is a lot that I like. I just figured I’d express my frustrations first.
Steve, I am really looking forward to the Future In Review Conference. It is definitely the most unique event that I have ever been invited to. I’ll be radically out of my league there. Thank you for the invite.
Quick question: how would or could one use Apple TV in a church setting?
Larry has already mentioned using it in the church foyer. How else could it be used?
As far as it goes with home media, I thought Apple TV was a bit of an underdeveloped idea. How does it work for church media purposes?
Chris and Gene,
Sorry for the delay in responding.
We are looking to use the Apple TV as a device to bring our teaching to the living room. We already have many people who have subscribed to our Apple TV video podcast.
I also think the Apple TV can be used as a device for us to distribute content to all of our LifeKids rooms that use video teaching in their curriculum.
As Larry mentioned…with a few software changes…digital signage would be another good use.
Just about anywhere you currently place a DVD player might be a place for an Apple TV or similar device. The primary advantage in most cases would be improving the media distribution process.
Bobby -
If you have a few moments over the course of the next couple of days, I’d love to speak to you directly about the AppleTV. We’re considering using one for our satellite campuses to playback the message video, and I’m wondering what your thoughts are on it.
You can contact me directly via email, and if you have time, I’d love to chat with you.
- Josh
Joshua,
Sorry about the delayed response. I am happy to connect offline, but I figured that it would be good to respond here as well.
If I remember correctly from visiting your church, you use a 4:3 aspect ratio for your video. The AppleTV is designed to work with widescreen TVs and projectors. Though it will play 4:3 content on a widescreen by using black bars on the sides, but it will not work appropriately with 4:3 screens. Unless your projectors can compensate…the Apple TV itself will not.
For others considering it as an option for message playback on widescreens…I’d say that it should work. I have noticed that some files that I have encoded have the potential to hang up the device a little. It still plays fine, but the menu gets a little sluggish while navigating to those videos. It also occasionally (but rarely) will show some video artifacts when starting the playback of a video.
I had another thought here. Currently we have 2 children’s rooms side-by-side (I think one is K-2nd and the other is 3-4th grades. Right now they both have idential video and audio systems (speakers,tv’s, etc) but we only have media content in one through a mac mini. It works great. I’m thinking we could buy an external hard drive and load up all of the media on it that they use, and then get an ATV for the other room and just sync it with the other room’s mini. So for say 800 bucks you could have media servers for 2 rooms. What do you guys think? Have you thought of any other uses up to this point for the church?
Okay, one more thought here…
If you have a control room where you are mixing HD cameras and decks and such for live video, maybe you could add an AppleTV to the mix as a digital deck, or DVR. Your video guys when they are done could simply shoot the video to the appleTV and then you could roll it to your switcher with the appropriate video?
Larry,
Good ideas.
Not sure if I would use an ATV in a production environment. I don’t feel real comfortable relying on a little remote for playback control and the ATV has consumer outputs instead of the pro connection our gear would expect.
Not saying it would not work…just saying I probably wouldn’t use it in that environment.
bobby, could you do a post on what technology/software/hardware you think can help churches on a day to day basis (running the church) and also having a greater impact through your sunday services? dose that make sense?
Bobby,
I agree with you on that for sure. It would be somewhat risky.
I hang out a bit at Fellowship Church on Wednesday and they were saying something along those lines… they certainly trust tape way more than anything hard disk.
I’m wondering though when they get big flash drives if that might be more reliable… who knows.
Thanks for your insights!
Chris,
I’ll see what I can do.
Larry,
Don’t hear me wrong. I actually like disk-based video playback. In fact, we will likely move to a disk-based playback and record solution when we move to HD.
I just don’t know if I would rely on an apple TV or in general a consumer video device.
do you think you will sync somehow and have a deck in the loop for redundancy as well? (meaning sync a deck with some sort of digital playback system). Have you ever looked at the video toaster system? We used it a few years ago for some live production stuff and it had some digital DVR capabilities that functioned just like a deck, was very dependable, I’m sure it’s even better now.
I’m looking for the AppleTV-formatted podcast, where is it?
Thanks for answering these questions! I’m sorely wishing they had the loop playback capability… like I said, I tried to hook it up to the lobby computer but our only option was to set up a looped video in Final Cut that took forever to render and export so it just wasn’t practical.
Maybe at WWDC Apple will announce some good things!
We’ll have at least one record deck for long-term archive and redundancy, but playback will probably be redundant from multiple disk based sources.
We have a couple of VT-4 (video toasters) that we use for the Internet Campus, but not in our broadcast suite.
You can find the Apple TV podcast info here:
http://www.lifechurch.tv/Default.aspx?p=723
Thanks Bobby!