First look: Unboxing Apple's new $99 Apple TV with streaming HD content

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Apple on Wednesday made good on its promise to deliver the first shipments of its new HD-streaming Apple TV media box to early adopters who plunked down the $99 for the device in the hours following its announcement earlier this month. AppleInsider offers an in-depth first look at the product in this extensive series of unboxing photos.



The new Apple TV ships in a box that's roughly 4.25-inches square and slides open like a box of highbrow chocolate truffles to reveal the device itself. Underneath rests the slim form, aluminum Apple TV remote, a matte black AC power cord, a pair of white Apple logo stickers, a Setup Guide and standard warranty pamphlet.



All four edges of the Apple TV itself -- which is about a quarter the size of its predecessor -- come wrapped in a black film, which peels away to reveal the devices four I/O ports -- AC Power, HDMI, Optical Audio, and Ethernet -- in addition to a micro USB port which Apple says is only for service and diagnostic purposes.



Setup is painlessly simple. From the time we plucked the Apple TV from the box, it took less than a minute to plug in our AC Adapter, HDMI cable and optical audio cables and get the box booted up into the setup dialog.



Gone from the previous-generation Apple TV is the traditional start-up video. Instead, the new $99 Apple TV thrusts users directly into the standard configuration screens, asking first for a preferred language, wireless network password, and permission to allow Apple to receive diagnostic information over the internet.



From there, the Apple TV home screen loads almost instantly, with no noticeable lag. Browsing through the various media categories is similarly smooth, with thumbnails for movies, TV shows, podcasts and built-in screen savers popping into place within seconds.



Most HD movie rentals continue to fetch $4.99 while HD TV shows are all priced at into Apple's new $0.99 model. However, only 8 TV stations are currently available to choose from, coming from just 3 providers: Fox, Disney (ABC) and BBC. They include 20th Century Fox, ABC, ABC Family, ABC News, BBC America, BBC Earth, Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Fox. Shows from other networks who participated in the previous-generation Apple TV model are not accessible. There is, however, a selection of free TV shows.



Under movies, Apple has also added a new section called "In Theaters" which graphs the company's extensive library of movie trailers into the Apple TV universe, letting users preview dozens of HD trailers for current big-screen features. Also making its debut is Netflix integration, which requires a netflix account.



AppleInsider will be spending a few days with the new Apple TV before publishing a formal, in-depth review of the device. Stay tuned.



























































































































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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 174
    Looks really tempting ...!
  • Reply 2 of 174
    Ample pictures. Love the black strip that goes around it.
  • Reply 3 of 174
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacApfel View Post


    Looks really tempting ...!



    I'm liking the interface. Will probably pick one up for Christmas.
  • Reply 4 of 174
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,520member
    Still no firm eta on my order, I wonder when the retail stores will stock them, getting impatient now! Lol



    Seems that Apple once again heavily underestimated consumer demand and so are flat on their backs not able to stock up on these.



    Still not a bad position for them to be in, just annoying that I ordered mine on September 9th and probably have to wait at least another 2 weeks.
  • Reply 5 of 174
    For those ordering an AppleTv, don't forget to order a HDMI cable as well.
  • Reply 6 of 174
    Still no visualizer? Surely there's enough power now.



    The interesting thing about the ATV to my mind has been the way it represents vastly different things to different people. I think this has also been a great part of Apple's difficulty in marketing it. For me it's been an excellent GUI for my music and video collection - I've never been interested in TV shows or possible DVR functionality - and the internal storage has been important since I've not wanted to stream media. With my living room ATV bumped up to 320 GB it holds all my lossless music files... so I wonder what's in this new version for me?
  • Reply 7 of 174
    I don't get it. It's a smaller version of the old AppleTV with no local storage. The Netflix integration is pretty nice. Still need multiple boxes to do everything. I actually prefer the older AppleTV. Syncing it makes music and movies, etc available even when the network is running slow, etc.



    Is it true that 802.11n slows down to g speeds if there are g devices on the network? Or does it transfer at the highest speed available between two devices?



    I have three g devices on my network (Wii, PS3 and iPod touch 2G), hoping these don't slow down my entire network to g-speed.
  • Reply 8 of 174
    Nice idea as for $99 I can bring additional content to big screen viewing. Seems simple enough.

    The one thing lacking is the Quality content from the Itunes store that is available such as current T.V. Shows etc, which i'm sure will be available eventually.

    Might be worth waiting for next generation model as perhaps other features will be in place.
  • Reply 9 of 174
    that fedex truck can not get to my house fast enough this afternoon.
  • Reply 10 of 174
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by webpoet73 View Post


    I don't get it. It's a smaller version of the old AppleTV with no local storage.



    But it is also significantly cheaper.
  • Reply 11 of 174
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Orlando View Post


    But it is also significantly cheaper.



    Exactly! And that's why this thing starts getting interesting. Even if it is just to play around with and see what it's capable of. With the next iteration, when things get even better, you know what you will get and be probably willing to upgrade. Especially if it stays at that price.
  • Reply 12 of 174
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by webpoet73 View Post


    I don't get it. It's a smaller version of the old AppleTV with no local storage.



    But at one third of the price. The old Apple TV ? which I have and like ? involved a buying decision that most people have to think about fairly seriously. At $99 the new one is virtually an impulse buy. At this price point Apple is hoping to drive the sales volume out of the hobby category.



    As for still needing multiple boxes, yeah, welcome to the world of modern video. TiVo, ATV, DVD player, A/V receiver with HDMI switching, cable box...and of course the TV itself. I think of it as job security: my wife says that without me she'll never figure out how to watch TV.
  • Reply 13 of 174
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by webpoet73 View Post


    ... Is it true that 802.11n slows down to g speeds if there are g devices on the network? Or does it transfer at the highest speed available between two devices?



    I have three g devices on my network (Wii, PS3 and iPod touch 2G), hoping these don't slow down my entire network to g-speed.



    It's not as simple as "everything slowing down to g speeds," but yes, if you run a network of mixed devices, things will be slower than if you have a dedicated "n" network.



    The easiest solution is to buy an old Airport device to run the g devices and attach it to your main router running the n devices. Everything still talks to each other, you just have two separate networks for each type.
  • Reply 14 of 174
    Yeah, Apple stickers!!
  • Reply 15 of 174
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    It's not as simple as "everything slowing down to g speeds," but yes, if you run a network of mixed devices, things will be slower than if you have a dedicated "n" network.



    The easiest solution is to buy an old Airport device to run the g devices and attach it to your main router running the n devices. Everything still talks to each other, you just have two separate networks for each type.



    Better still buy a new AE with auto dual band
  • Reply 16 of 174
    If it had upgradable "channels" a la the Roku box, then that would have made it different. If Apple announces some sort of developer program for this ATV or perhaps use the USB for adding local storage, then I might pick one up. As of now, it isn't capable of replacing my old ATV.



    I am looking at the 99 dollar Roku box. At least with it, you can add local storage via USB. Unfortunately, it doesn't support AAC, so there goes most of my music. Except that it can be played the old fashioned way... from the cd! [via DVD player]
  • Reply 17 of 174
    The packaging is uncharacteristically sloppy for Apple.
  • Reply 18 of 174
    I can see in the screen saver menu there is more option of screen saver than before. instead of only floating photo it seems there is origami photoshot like iphoto got. Why not integrate a itunes effect when music is playing, like thegelé, stix and iTunes animation. It will be great on a big screen.
  • Reply 19 of 174
    thomprthompr Posts: 1,521member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    It's not as simple as "everything slowing down to g speeds," but yes, if you run a network of mixed devices, things will be slower than if you have a dedicated "n" network.



    The easiest solution is to buy an old Airport device to run the g devices and attach it to your main router running the n devices. Everything still talks to each other, you just have two separate networks for each type.



    Actually, the easiest solution is to get one of the new dual band AirPort extremes. Run one band as 5 GHz N only, and run the other one as 2.4 GHz Mixed Mode (N, G & B). Go ahead and give them two separate names so you can specifically assign devices to whichever band you want. If you have two N devices that are going to talk to one another frequently, I've found that it is better to attach one of them to the 5GHz N and the other to the 2.4 GHz Mixed, otherwise during any given transfer the two devices are competing for wireless bandwidth with one another. By putting one of the N's on the mixed mode (and potentially slightly handicapped) band the contention is removed, and the result is better throughput... even if there are some G devices attached (but not currently doing anything).



    Thompson
  • Reply 20 of 174
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Orlando View Post


    But it is also significantly cheaper.



    And apparently faster.



    But taking flash pictures of a TV screen makes me sad.
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