Apple updates Apple TV with YouTube support (photos)

[AppleInsider]

Apple on Wednesday delivered the first of several planned software updates to its Apple TV streaming media hub, adding support for Google's widely popular YouTube video sharing website.

Owners of the $299 Apple TV can download the free update using the device's built-in software update feature (under the "Settings" menu), and then easily navigate through YouTube’s familiar video browsing categories or search for specific videos.

YouTube members can also log-in to their YouTube accounts on Apple TV to view and save their favorite videos.

Once updated, Apple TV displays a "YouTube" menu with options to view featured videos, most viewed videos, recent videos, and top rated videos. Users can also search YouTube and check their recent viewing history.

Installation of the software update took approximately five minutes on an 802.11n network early Wednesday morning. Step-by-step photos from the installation process follow.

YouTube coming to iPhone as well

Also on Wednesday, Apple said it has designed a new application for iPhone that will wirelessly stream YouTube’s content over Wi-Fi or EDGE networks. The software will be included with each iPhone when it goes on sale June 29th.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[ Digg this story ]

[Jemster]

Apple's iPhone to wireless stream YouTube content????

Someone's sleepin' at AppleInsider...

[Techboy]

Is YouTube that important for Apple to help people access low resolution contents? Most Youtube videos are barely watchable on a monitor, what makes them think watching these things full screen on a HDTV will be more satisfying?

[bdkennedy1]

Please tell me there are bug fixes for this thing.

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by Techboy

Is YouTube that important for Apple to help people access low resolution contents? Most Youtube videos are barely watchable on a monitor, what makes them think watching these things full screen on a HDTV will be more satisfying?

The quality is almost unbearable on a 52-inch screen.

K

[macfly]

can anyone comment on how searches for content are done? can you plug in a keyboard and type or is it some other mechanism?

[nagromme]

Originally Posted by Techboy

Is YouTube that important for Apple to help people access low resolution contents? Most Youtube videos are barely watchable on a monitor, what makes them think watching these things full screen on a HDTV will be more satisfying?

People use to watch VHS YouTube is never going to be about slick production values, but about variety.

And .H264 clips will look better than the FLV ones. (Same 320x240, or larger?)

[macfly]

thanks!
yeesh. what a PITA. wouldnt it be simpler to allow you to plug in a keyboard?
there is a usb port on the damn thing isnt there?!

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by macfly

can anyone comment on how searches for content are done? can you plug in a keyboard and type or is it some other mechanism?

We posted some photos in this article -- you have to use the Apple Remote to navigate the onscreen keypad, typing in your search one character at a time. As you type, search results update to the right of the keypad in near real-time.

Best,

K

[BlackSummerNight]

lol@searching with the Apple remote.

[solsun]

Originally Posted by Techboy

Is YouTube that important for Apple to help people access low resolution contents? Most Youtube videos are barely watchable on a monitor, what makes them think watching these things full screen on a HDTV will be more satisfying?

This helps Apple to bring Quicktime and h.264 as de facto web standards for video. With h.264, quality will improve over time. It's all about baby steps.

[eAi]

Originally Posted by solsun

This helps Apple to bring Quicktime and h.264 as de facto web standards for video. With h.264, quality will improve over time. It's all about baby steps.

Why? Only the Apple TV and iPhone have access to these h.264 versions. The end-user is completely unaware of what format the videos are in...

[physguy]

Originally Posted by eAi

Why? Only the Apple TV and iPhone have access to these h.264 versions. The end-user is completely unaware of what format the videos are in...

But to get to these devices the content provided have to use it. That's the key.

[Haggar]

It would be nice if the Apple TV provided a description of what's contained in the software updates.

[physguy]

I posted this in another thread but.

ust to let people know the Apple TV update disables as least some (or most) of the hacks that you may have installed. I had ssh enabled and several frappliances installed and now I don't have ssh access and all frappliances are gone from the menu.

I'm not surprised by the ssh and the frappliance may be gone because they installed a whole new 'Finder' which is the main menu.

Don't know that they could have done it any differently given the number of ways the hacks are installed.

Just a warning.

[PatsFan83]

Originally Posted by Techboy

Is YouTube that important for Apple to help people access low resolution contents? Most Youtube videos are barely watchable on a monitor, what makes them think watching these things full screen on a HDTV will be more satisfying?

It's about the content, not the quality. Instead of huddling around a computer monitor, groups of people can watch their favorite videos around a TV.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by physguy

I posted this in another thread but.

ust to let people know the Apple TV update disables as least some (or most) of the hacks that you may have installed. I had ssh enabled and several frappliances installed and now I don't have ssh access and all frappliances are gone from the menu.

I'm not surprised by the ssh and the frappliance may be gone because they installed a whole new 'Finder' which is the main menu.

Don't know that they could have done it any differently given the number of ways the hacks are installed.

Just a warning.

Does it affect StartUpItems? If not, you could create a simple app that could check for and reinstall any missing plug-ins during startup.

Just a thought.

[SpinDrift]

Originally Posted by Morbo

To those griping about the search - this looks to be EXACTLY the same way searching works on a TiVo. Because the search results update dynamically as you add letters, it's actually pretty quick and useable.

Indeed. It's not a problem at all.

[Morbo]

To those griping about the search - this looks to be EXACTLY the same way searching works on a TiVo. Because the search results update dynamically as you add letters, it's actually pretty quick and useable.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by macfly

can anyone comment on how searches for content are done? can you plug in a keyboard and type or is it some other mechanism?

Originally Posted by macfly

thanks!
yeesh. what a PITA. wouldnt it be simpler to allow you to plug in a keyboard?
there is a usb port on the damn thing isnt there?!

I agree, it reminds me of the days of entering my name into a game to save my high score. I too hope they introduce some means to use a keyboard. I don't recall aTV having Bluetooth, and I can't see a wired keyboard being useful, so the USB port is out unless you get a dongle.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Morbo

To those griping about the search - this looks to be EXACTLY the same way searching works on a TiVo. Because the search results update dynamically as you add letters, it's actually pretty quick and useable.

Like search with the iPod and every aspect of OS X.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

I agree, it reminds me of the days of entering my name into a game to save my high score. I too hope they introduce some means to use a keyboard. I don't recall aTV having Bluetooth, and I can't see a wired keyboard being useful, so the USB port is out unless you get a dongle.

I hope they allow you to cut/paste and sync prefered YouTube links within ITunes.

[GaspinRasputin]

I think AppleTV is starting to get cool enough for me to start seriously thinking about picking one up. A couple questions though: 1. I see that there is a label "pair remote" This must be for bluetooth devices, right? You don't have to be limited to just the small remote that came with the box. Will it pair with a bluetooth enabled keyboard, or mouse? Do you guys think that they are going to give the iphone the capability of acting as a multifunction remote for the AppleTV? Just wondering.... I'm saving for June 29th, but this may be on the docket soon after.

[parky]

There are a few other things that have been changed in this update :-

In Settings you can how :-

Select the iTunes Store you want to be connected too. This then limits the Music Top Songs / Top Videos to the store selected. It also removes the Top TV Shows / TV Show Previews and Top Movies from the TV Shows and Movies menus if they are not sold in your store. You can still see Movie Trailers though, which is good.

Select a Photo Album to be used for the Screen Saver rather than it using your whole Library.

There is a new Screen Saver option - Slide Show - which again you can select which Photo Album to use.

[BRussell]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

I agree, it reminds me of the days of entering my name into a game to save my high score. I too hope they introduce some means to use a keyboard. I don't recall aTV having Bluetooth, and I can't see a wired keyboard being useful, so the USB port is out unless you get a dongle.

I'm sure Apple hates the alphabet-searching with the remote, but they REALLY don't want a keyboard on this thing. They don't want it to be WebTV. I think they're just hoping that people don't have to use that awful alphabet screen very often.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by GaspinRasputin

I think AppleTV is starting to get cool enough for me to start seriously thinking about picking one up. A couple questions though: 1. I see that there is a label "pair remote" This must be for bluetooth devices, right? You don't have to be limited to just the small remote that came with the box. Will it pair with a bluetooth enabled keyboard, or mouse? Do you guys think that they are going to give the iphone the capability of acting as a multifunction remote for the AppleTV? Just wondering.... I'm saving for June 29th, but this may be on the docket soon after.

It' to pair that specific Infrared Apple Remote to a specific device. You can pair the remote with Infrared enabled Macs too.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by GaspinRasputin

I think AppleTV is starting to get cool enough for me to start seriously thinking about picking one up. A couple questions though: 1. I see that there is a label "pair remote" This must be for bluetooth devices, right? You don't have to be limited to just the small remote that came with the box. Will it pair with a bluetooth enabled keyboard, or mouse? Do you guys think that they are going to give the iphone the capability of acting as a multifunction remote for the AppleTV? Just wondering.... I'm saving for June 29th, but this may be on the docket soon after.

I have not heard of Bluetooth being in aTV. I don't think iPhone has an IR output. There's a vague chance that iPhone could use WiFi to control aTV, but somehow, I doubt it would happen.

The IR remote has a unique number embedded into each one so you can set one particular remote to control only one device. Without pairing, any Apple remote will work with any Apple computer or aTV. Pairing allows you to have multiple Apple branded IR-controlled devices in an area, and control a specific device without resorting to weird tricks to make sure only one device gets the signal.

[Louzer]

Originally Posted by GaspinRasputin

I think AppleTV is starting to get cool enough for me to start seriously thinking about picking one up. A couple questions though: ...Do you guys think that they are going to give the iphone the capability of acting as a multifunction remote for the AppleTV?

I can't imagine why this would make you think its worth getting. Do you find YouTube to be such an entertainment vehicle (which, BTW, contains a lot of TV content, yet Apple doesn't think it should have DVR capabilities) to push it over the edge, over watching movies and shows from your computer?

And, no, the iPhone won't be a remote for this thing. Or if it did, they'd have the same crappy buttons as on their remote. If they felt the AppleTV could use a better remote and made one out of the iPhone, wouldn't people complain that Apple knows their remote blows chunks and needs to be replaced with something that, I don't know, has some kind of features besides "forward" and "backward"?

[SpinDrift]

I use a Logitech Harmony 1000 remote with my Apple TV and it's great.

[sandau]

Originally Posted by SpinDrift

I use a Logitech Harmony 1000 remote with my Apple TV and it's great.

with this latest update, my harmony remote doesn't 'type' well on the search and entry areas. everywhere else it seems fine.

[BRussell]

Originally Posted by Louzer

I can't imagine why this would make you think its worth getting. Do you find YouTube to be such an entertainment vehicle (which, BTW, contains a lot of TV content, yet Apple doesn't think it should have DVR capabilities) to push it over the edge, over watching movies and shows from your computer?

And, no, the iPhone won't be a remote for this thing. Or if it did, they'd have the same crappy buttons as on their remote. If they felt the AppleTV could use a better remote and made one out of the iPhone, wouldn't people complain that Apple knows their remote blows chunks and needs to be replaced with something that, I don't know, has some kind of features besides "forward" and "backward"?

This is definitely a plus for AppleTV as far as I'm concerned. Youtube seems to me to be much better suited to sitting on the couch rather than at the computer. Rather than flipping around for some dumb half-hour or hour-long TV show, you can watch a few dumb 5-minute youtube videos.

[blackfrog]

I don't want my kids surfing YouTube... Is there an iTunes sync setting that lets me turn YouTube off?

[sandau]

Originally Posted by BRussell

This is definitely a plus for AppleTV as far as I'm concerned. Youtube seems to me to be much better suited to sitting on the couch rather than at the computer. Rather than flipping around for some dumb half-hour or hour-long TV show, you can watch a few dumb 5-minute youtube videos.

I agree, it is a plus -- and a harbinger of things to come.

still, though, no widget support. its coming, it just makes sense.

[parky]

Originally Posted by blackfrog

I don't want my kids surfing YouTube... Is there an iTunes sync setting that lets me turn YouTube off?

No, sorry.

[physguy]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Does it affect StartUpItems? If not, you could create a simple app that could check for and reinstall any missing plug-ins during startup.

Just a thought.

Won't know till I get a chance to re-patch and look.

[gordy]

YouTube is cool, but the biggest update to me is allowing photos to be synced first, then movies, tv, music, etc. I'm amazed that wasn't set by default, since photos can't be streamed.

[gordy]

Originally Posted by blackfrog

I don't want my kids surfing YouTube... Is there an iTunes sync setting that lets me turn YouTube off?

Yes it is, though, you set up parental controls in AppleTV with an iPod-esque code. It's not set in iTunes, since, iTunes doesn't facilitate the YouTube integration. See the iLounge article.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by parky

No, sorry.

Originally Posted by blackfrog

I don't want my kids surfing YouTube... Is there an iTunes sync setting that lets me turn YouTube off?

On Edgadget that same question was asked. The response was that Apple "added a parental control for disabling YouTube."

[elroth]

"Do you find YouTube to be such an entertainment vehicle (which, BTW, contains a lot of TV content, yet Apple doesn't think it should have DVR capabilities) to push it over the edge, over watching movies and shows from your computer?"

Being able to watch David Bowie in a dress and Marianne Faithfull in a Nun's habit singing "I Got You, Babe" to each other is a definite plus for me.

[djpadz]

Yes it is, though, you set up parental controls in AppleTV with an iPod-esque code. It's not set in iTunes, since, iTunes doesn't facilitate the YouTube integration. See the iLounge article.

Be aware, however, that doing a factory reset on the AppleTV will remove the parental controls passcode. Guess there's not much you can do about that, since there's no physical means for preventing a factory reset.