“You know, our next big step is we want it to make toast.”
– Steve Jobs (2004, referring to iPods)
I have written a lot about the Apple TV. I’ve written about updates, I’ve pointed to stories and reviews, and I’ve discussed the compression issues related to getting HD content into the customer’s Apple TV via the Internet. All along the way, I’ve resisted buying one for several reasons. I didn’t think much of the content selection, I was trying to avoid another “buy the box then pay for the content” syndrome, and finally, I was using an iPod nano 3G to physically move content from my Mac to my HD TV system’s A/V receiver input, and that seemed good enough.
In time, I decided those reason’s weren’t good enough, so over the weekend, I bought a 40GB Apple TV, and while my perceptions about the device haven’t change a lot, my perceptions of the Internet culture surrounding devices like this have.
Sometimes, It’s Time for Fun
First of all, I should say that I like the Apple TV. The feed from a Comcast cable modem goes to a hardware firewall/router, then a D-Link gigabit switch in my office. From there, it continues through the walls to the living room via a Cat 5 Ethernet cable to an uplinked Linksys 10/100 switch. From there, I’m into the Apple TV and out to the Denon A/V Receiver via HDMI. I’m easily exceeding the 6 Mbps required to utilize an Apple TV for HD trailers and movies, since the link exits the Linksys switch at a measured 12 Mbps. All’s well there.
I’ve not purchased any movies or TV shows yet, but I have looked at some trailers in HD, synced to my Mac’s iTunes that has Jeremiah, Season II, (one of my all-time favorite TV shows) and…