Apple TV Review
Apple has unveiled its completely revamped Apple TV, featuring a much smaller design, and is due in late September. It will cost AU$129, which is a large decrease from the current AU$329 price of the old Apple TV.
The new design is about a fifth the size of the original Apple TV, and its connectivity has been stripped to just five ports: HDMI, optical digital audio output, USB, Ethernet and power. There’s also built-in Wi-Fi, so you won’t need to drag an Ethernet cord into the living room. Unlike the old model, the new Apple TV doesn’t have on-board storage, instead it streams all content either directly from the internet or other devices on your home network. The capability to switch from watching a video on your iPad to your Apple TV was shown during the Steve Jobs’ keynote address, but as of now it’s unclear what content — iTunes rentals, YouTube and so on — you can use with that functionality.
Unfortunately, it appears the Apple TV still can’t stream from a DLNA device, such as a NAS, which means you’ll still need to keep a PC or your iPhone on to watch content. The lack of on-board storage and lack of support for 1080 content also limits the device’s flexibility.
Apple has announced that it’s doing away with the capability to purchase movies, moving to a rental-only pricing plan for movies on the Apple TV with standard-definition movies starting at AU$3.99, while high-definition movies start at AU$4.99. Customers have 30 days to begin watching the movie and from there can watch it as many times as they like for 48 hours. Unfortunately, the Apple TV lacks the US model’s ability to rent TV shows or stream Netflix movies.
Apple is including an updated aluminium remote control in the box.
Apple TV Specifications :
General
Dimensions (H x W x D) – 229 x 991 x 991 mm
Weight – 270 g
Connectivity – Ethernet, HDMI, Optical
File formats supported – MP3, WAV, AAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF, JPEG, MOV, MPEG-4, GIF .
Wireless standards – 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n
HD standards – 720p
Video features – H.264 video
