Comments on: Why Apple Shouldn’t Have Launched the New Apple TV

By: Confused

Confused — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 17:16:00 +0000

Does this guy know what company he is buying from or..?

By: kenn213

kenn213 — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 02:57:00 +0000

I totally agree. Everyone expects every iteration of each Apple product to amaze and astound them. While Apple sometimes does play up the hype on their new products a little more so than they’re due, they offer a faster product supporting full HD which is defiantly cause to call it a new device. I’d like to see the author receive their “update kit” complete with a soldering iron and thermal paste to install their faster processor (assuming the same board is even used).

Oh and the author left out Netflix integration, which for many, is the reason for purchasing an Apple TV.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 19:14:00 +0000

It’s only good if it’s jailbroken and you have a good sources of pirated content

By: Applefan

Applefan — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:04:00 +0000

Browser – No
Apps – No
Camera – No
Microphone – No
Touch-pad remote – No
Siri – No

Wasted potential!

By: Mail

Mail — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:37:00 +0000

If you don’t like it don’t buy it. Your angry that it hasn’t been tailored to your wishlist, who cares. You are asking for apps and games etc to be added. Well apps take up hard disk space and a big factor in keeping the cost so low on an Apple TV is the fact that the hard drive is big enough to support the firmware, and a 1080 video plus a little extra just in case someone releases a stupidly long film. Add a big HDD onto that and your price will go up a huge amount. Plus if you have apps and games then you need a more advanced controller which costs money. I suppose you could argue that they could be sold separately or that iPhones and iPod Touches would serve as a game and app controller, except those cost a hell of a lot extra and if you want to play games multiplayer in one room then you need multiple iphones and ipods. So we’re back to including more complicated controllers available separately but then Apple alienate anybody who wants to spend not very much getting something to stream videos but aren’t interested in games and doing Word Documents on the TV like my parents for instance.

The AppleTV 2 was a good product, the AppleTV 3 is a good product refined. Not revolutionary but evolutionary. So I say again if it isn’t what you want to buy don’t buy it.

By: Evan Garrett3

Evan Garrett3 — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:01:00 +0000

Also.. Cool idea about the games.. I didn’t really think about that

By: Evan Garrett3

Evan Garrett3 — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:59:00 +0000

I don’t think I will be “wasting $99″ by buying the New Apple TV… I think you wasted your money buying the Old Apple TV. I was quick to jump on the “cut the coax” bandwagon years ago but the products were not ready yet.. period. Now they are starting to come around, as a day1 owner of the logitech revue- I can tell you that only in the last 3 months have I seen a reason to own it (Slingbox support)- I love apple and have many products but I didn’t buy the 1st or 2nd Apple TV because it wasn’t ready. People still may say its not ready but at least full res HD… like every other set top box.

By: Pete Mancini

Pete Mancini — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 22:50:00 +0000

My technology choices are generally Windows/Intel centered but for TV and media I am also using Mac Mini as the media server and Apple TV and the delivery mechanism. Works great. There is a lot they could have done with this platform but they are probably waiting for integration with TV sets. In the meanwhile this works like a charm. The interface is nice, the selection from iTunes, Netflix and Podcasts cover my wants.

By: Glenn Gore

Glenn Gore — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 07:39:00 +0000

The thing that makes the tv worth the price is the ability to throw pretty much anything at it from either your iPhone or iPad and display it on your TV using Airplay. And with Air Video Server you can throw other types of movies and video to the device. Videos, movies, game video, and if you jailbreak the device, you can throw pretty much any esoteric format to it. Play your games on your iPhone or iPad and throw the video of your game to your TV. That’s how you do gaming instead of loading games onto the tv. I use mine every single day doing one of these functions, and love it. Don’t know if I will buy the new model or not, as the difference between 720 and 1080p are not all that noticeable, but we’ll see.

By: gerickson

gerickson — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:50:00 +0000

”And yet, all I got was a device that looks the same, comes with the same price tag, and now supports 1080p.”
“…a better processor to handle the higher-quality video…the new
software design is a welcome addition…And the 1080p video? Well, I’m not too sure I care.”
Ok. This is how every Apple product gets a spec bump. Do you expect something revolutionary out of every product update?

“…the $100 they just dropped was for a black box that really should only cost $50.”

How do you figure?

By: Craig Girard

Craig Girard — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:19:00 +0000

I agree 100%, great article. Very disappointed in the release. I hope Apple is not falling into the ‘PC’ way of thinking, bigger better specs each time with no real functionality difference. Apple’s hardware is great, it needs to focus on software now.

By: Craig Girard

Craig Girard — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:19:00 +0000

By: Jason Israel

Jason Israel — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:49:00 +0000

Hi JSmith,

Maybe you or someone else out there can assist me.

Im looking to do mirroring on any andriod tablet like the way it can be done on an ipad with an apple tv.

I dont mean just stream movies, photos etc. I mean see everything that is on the tablet mirrored to the TV wirelessly.

Ive been searching for a few weeks now and have not come across any decent solution. I know it can be connected by HDMI cable but who wants to sit with a 5m HDMI cable running across their lounge room easy for someone to trip over and awkward.

This feature has been out for a while now on apple and i cant believe its not out on android yet?

I am in the market for a new tablet and I always hear andriod users saying its better than apples.

please assist anyone who knows if this is possible and comment. otherwise i have no choice but to go with the Ipad and apple tv.

By: Matt Rocca

Matt Rocca — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 00:45:00 +0000

Unless you’re :
A. Hooked on iTunes
B. Someones grandmother
C. A Gadget junkie
D. An Apple sycophant

There’s pretty much no reason to own an ATV. So many other devices do more and don’t lock you into one content provider. Roku, Revu, Boxee just to name a few.

By: fauxshizzl

fauxshizzl — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:53:00 +0000

While I will probably get flamed for this, my Google TV has been outstanding for my uses. Those uses basically boil to using Plex to stream all of my content from my computer (which is quite an extensive collection) from MKV BluRay rips to your basic avi or Divx. Beyond that the browser works excellent for things like Grooveshark and playing uh..ahem..”web videos” full screen with great quality. To top it off the included BluRay drive is also a very welcome addition, and the remote controls my DVR also. So again, I only use it for a select few things, but it performs those few things outstanding. If you are looking for games and what not, this is probably not your answer. But a powerful streamer that also plays BluRay and has a decent browser, it would be worth looking into.

By: JSmith

JSmith — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:51:00 +0000

>> “Typical Apple hater”
Oh snap! This is gonna be hard to bounce back from. Let me try: Well, you’re a Typical Apple Lover. There!

>> “I suppose you’re still running Vista on some Dell desktop ”Ouch! The stupidity of this comment makes my head hurt. I’ll just respond with, No, I don’t.

>> “The success of the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Macs shows that Apple does in fact know what the customer wants”
iOS Smartphone Market Share in Feb 2010 was 25.4%.
Android Smartphone Market Share in Feb 2010 was 9.0%.
iOS Smartphone Market Share in Jan 2012 is 29.5%.
Android Smartphone Market Share in Jan 2012 is 48.6%.

Seems like a company other than Apple is listening to the customer market a little more closely than Apple is.

I’m sorry to have to use facts rather than blind faith to prove a point. The point being, I was a potential Apple customer. I used their phone through work. Just like the author of this article, I was repeatedly disappointed when release after release of the new version was nothing more than incremental, rather than monumental. So, when it came time to get a tablet and get a personal phone, for me the choice was easy. I went with Androids and never looked back.

By: Primetime

Primetime — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:43:00 +0000

Can’t be surprised. This has always been Apple’s business model; add 1, 2, maybe three new features, put it in a new chassis and market it well. They have never been big on bringing in new features as an update.

By: Primetime

Primetime — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:43:00 +0000

By: go

go — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:38:00 +0000

I get many HD content in YT and Vimeo. Netflix experience is great..radio stations, access to iTunes match, iPhoto..$99 is nothing..Crazy complain..

By: spacem00se

spacem00se — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:14:00 +0000

Airplay is basically a middle man, its totally not needed. You should be able to play back content via the local network, be it mac or pc based. With XBMC, the video add-ons let you watch ESPN3 without the need of an Desktop, Laptop or Mobile device.

By: spacem00se

spacem00se — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:10:00 +0000

I own two AppleTVs, jailbroken specifically to run XBMC and these are the only Apple products ive ever purchased. If Apple wanted to impress me, they would have given the new device an infrared re-direct cable (to completely hide the device) they would have given it a displayport/thunderbolt connection, so you can connect external hdd or blue ray. They also would have made it compatible with cutting edge HDTVS, like the 55″ OLED HDTVs that LG has released, because right now, theres not much you can connect to them as they OLEDs dont use the traditional red, blue, green for imaging. You can stream local HDTV via antenna and maybe the PS3, but thats it. OLEDs will be screaming for HD content by the end of the year. Apple could have tapped that market.

While it wouldn’t have been enough for me to buy the new version, it would have impressed me. Both devices are basically 99$ PPV boxes and when it comes to 1080p content, you are better off renting movies from Comcast as it wont count against your bandwidth cap. 1080p PPV rentals will be a hard sell for Canadians.

By: Sekbrkr

Sekbrkr — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:10:00 +0000

I didn’t buy the Atv2 _because_ it didn’t support 1080p. Now I can buy… well as soon as XBMC has better Live TV / PVR support :)

By: sir1jaguar

sir1jaguar — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 05:56:00 +0000

Gary???

Perfect device – APPLE TV???

I have it (jailbroken) and SONY google tv with built in blu-ray player and have honeycomb update now (completely stock)…

I will choose the SONY google tv any day…

By: rsbell

rsbell — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:36:00 +0000

This is what passes for commentary on Slashgear?

Adios.

By: Sweet 'n' Tender

Sweet 'n' Tender — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 21:40:00 +0000

My thought is that the new AppleTV was launched because they are going to add games into the mix in the very near future, and it will have something to do with the new HDTV they are putting out… so between the new ipad 3 and cloud based gaming on your HDTV from AppleTV , I’m pretty sure this was the start of their jump into the mainstream gaming market, going beyond the casual mode.

By: Benjamin Puna

Benjamin Puna — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 08:07:00 +0000

”After all, the television will come with all the features we want.” Because the new apple tv came with everything you want didn’t it…

By: troyds

troyds — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 06:13:00 +0000

Don, you’re such an angry bird. relax. have a sanka and enjoy your current apple tv. You’re really over analyzing it a bit too much and you may want to consider anger management therapy. But hey, we don’t know what you know, right? We’re just morons that expect the world and have no idea what we’re getting into.

By: Jjmfe

Jjmfe — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 02:34:00 +0000

hmm, I’m still running a pair of 160 gig silver & white AppleTV units in my house, and I like them very much. They’re simple to operate, and though they don’t stream my iTunes library from the cloud, they’ve got plenty of room to keep a fair portion of that library on my device for use in the house. I also have an iMac with a huge hard drive that shares/streams to those older AppleTVs within my home network. All of those devices are remotely manageable from my iPhone 4. How “sweet” is that? These units seem to buffer well enough that I never have had erratic breaks, jerks, & pauses in content.

While I like the new features on the newest AppleTV device, the quality (1080p) of signal is still going to be limited by the quality/speed of your DSL service. I currently can not use VUDU HD, nor hulu plus, from my internet enabled Samsung BluRay players, because of the limitations of the AT&T DSL service in my area, and I suspect that those players don’t buffer enough content to stay ahead of the limitations of my signal. (by the way, I’m paying for AT&T’s “top tier” speed). My old AppleTVs hit the “sweet spot” for me on that score. I would bet that other’s have the same problem with their home network.Hence, in a real world, vs ideal world scenario, Apple’s current incremental step is probably just slightly ahead of the curve for most of us mass market consumers.

Apple generally pushes the envelope just in advance of ancillary or allied technical support features. We saw that in it’s early adoption of flash drive hard drives in MacBook Air, and dropping off the extra ports, and in the distant past “firewire” vs USB, and on and on. We see it with “thunderbolt,” now, and dropping DVD drives on their ultraportables. I have a MacBook Air, and I’ve never missed the DVD drive. Apple also pushed the envelope when they jumped from OS 9.2.2 to a very sluggish and device unsupported first release of OSX. I was not happy then, and rebelled by moving to WinXP at that time.

Currently with all these network dependent services, I do have problems running 5 pairs of M-Audio AV-40 stereo speakers, 3 printers, 3 computers, 2 apple TVs, 2 Samsung internet enabled BluRay players, wireless hard drive backups, and various smartphones, and iPad devices off the same home network. Especially on a day when everything is trying to synch with the cloud, or download major software updates. And mine is just a simple home network, grown up since 2008, based on Apple’s easy “plug n’ play” gadgetry.

This incremental TV “bump” is just fine with me, and I expect that I will be adding one in the mix over the next month or two just to enjoy the new UI that Apple won’t be bringing to my older AppleTV units. I’ll end up moving the handiest, device to the place of most use, and the less feature rich to someplace that I don’t use all the “bells n’ whistles.” I predict that many others out there will do the same. I give Apple “two thumbs up” for it’s newest iteration of the set top box!

By: Gary Reed

Gary Reed — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:54:00 +0000

It sound like you should sell your Apple TV on ebay or give it to someone else. Instead you are bitchn and stealing money to bitch. From your article it look like you wanted a full big screen ATV. Anything short of what you want will not be go enough. (Are you still curing Apple for calling the new iPad iPad) News flash NO ONE IS BUYING TVs NOW! The market is flat and dropping like a stone. Apple couldn’t save the TV market now. Apple will do a full TV when it make sense.

The Apple TV is the perfect device for a streaming market that is still developing. Yes if you are techie you could always find away to steam everything but in the real world people want simple. In the real world is where the money can be found. The real world want plug in play. You can pick what you want.

Finally if you have a 2nd free OS update. No one is forced to laid out another $99 if you own a 2nd gen already then life is good. No one being force to buy anything

By: VedX

VedX — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 21:08:00 +0000

I agree with this article. This announcement should have just appeared on the store like so many of their other minor spec bumps. There’s nothing wrong with a spec bump; just don’t announce it like it is something that we come to expect from an Apple announcement, which we’ve come to expect as something impressive.

By: Eleeflyguy43

Eleeflyguy43 — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:14:00 +0000

chill out. they are merely updating it to be inline with higher resolution screens and in preparation for 1080 video content from the iPhone 4s and iPad New. The update makes sense. It isn’t like you are going to shamefully walk around with an Apple TV that looks tired and old… getting mad at Apple is like getting pissed off why Netgear didn’t add a tape dispenser to its next gen wireless router. You migt as well get upset at Apple not launching the 30pin to HDMI adapter in different connector colors to match the smart covers. Now, not geting LTE on an iPhone 5 would make sense, especially if your iPhone 4 contract is up and you are eligeable for a subsidized upgrade….

By: Mgs044

Mgs044 — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 16:50:00 +0000

Typical Apple hater, I suppose you’re still running Vista on some Dell desktop. The success of the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Macs shows that Apple does in fact know what the customer wants.

By: Mgs044

Mgs044 — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 16:41:00 +0000

Don, you’re angry? About what exactly since you don’t mention any improvements that you expected in the new Apple TV. No, this is not the groundbreaking device that will change our viewing habits, but an incremental hardware update to support 1080p. As a 2nd gen Apple TV owner, my biggest disappointment with the device and the OS update is that it does not offer much free, built in content like the the YouTube and WSJ apps. I would like to use Apple TV more than my Verizon Fios set top box but we are not there yet. But I purchased my Apple TV knowing in the future it will have more capability.

And keep in mind that the lack of content is partly due to Apple’s so far unsuccessful efforts to cut deals with media companies to add their content to Apple’s platforms. Once Apple can work that out, then we can look forward to more innovated features from this little black box and perhaps its big screen progeny.

To answer your question, no, I will not run out to but this new device, but for $99, I would recommend this new device for any iPhone/iPad owner who wants to connect their existing HDTV to the Internet.

By: JSmith

JSmith — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 15:42:00 +0000

”
I’ve been calling on Apple to make its [xyz product] impressive. I’ve wanted a host of features that the company is seemingly against offering. And time and again, it delivers products that in no way impress us. At what point will Apple finally understand the needs of today’s [xyz] customers and deliver to them what they want?”

It’s why I run Android for all my devices and why I’ll never understand how people could be such big fans of a company that doesn’t care at all about their customer wants.

By: hokietrax

hokietrax — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 15:41:00 +0000

Apple TV 2nd generation parts cost was $64 so basically, Don’s full of it. This is a great refresh for only $99.

As far as an actual Apple TV, I cannot imagine an actual TV made by Apple to have enough value added to be (a) worth $3-$4K (given their markup over like products) or (b) worth upgrading every few years, as Apple’s normal business model wants us to.

By: hokietrax

hokietrax — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 15:33:00 +0000

Yes. I can watch ESPN 3 on the iPad and mirror it through the ATV to my TV rather than connect via an HDMI cable. I can use the TV as a “whiteboard” also. Even though there are some limitations, this is pretty cool.

By: hokietrax

hokietrax — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Typical Reisinger rant: “it wasn’t the tuner-based DVR, set-top-box, 4TB drive I was hoping for, so it sucks” My only wonder is if my wifi bandwidth will be good enough to carry the 1080p signal.

By: hokietrax

hokietrax — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 15:30:00 +0000

By: oilums

oilums — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 15:06:00 +0000

i don’t believe Apple will make a fully integrated TV. Thats just not consistent with all their other iOS devices that have short release cycles of one year and whose customers update their products after 2-3 years. Most people will keep their TV 5-10 years. That would fragment the platform. If they separate the screen and the computing device they can have short update cycles for the computing hardware and long update cycles for the screen. Instead of putting everything inside the TV like most manufacturers do now take everything out of the TV except for screen and audio and put it in a separate box. So the TV becomes a dumbed down computermonitor and everything else moves into a separate device. Box can be replaced cheaply(think apple Tv 99 Dollars) every 2 years and the screen can stay 5+ years. So Apple can make a cheap dumb screen + cheap Apple Tv box + a dedicated controller(think kinect, wiimote) thats controlling the screen via the box.

By: scxfan

scxfan — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:50:00 +0000

If there is no good content, I do not see Apple doing an actual TV.

I am sure they have something that’s close but as I said, no content, no point.

I do not want to run a crap TV with a crap UI on a shiny Apple branded TV.