First look: Unboxing Apple's new $99 Apple TV with streaming HD content
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.
More images on page 2
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.
More images on page 2
Comments
Looks really tempting ...!
I'm liking the interface. Will probably pick one up for Christmas.
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.
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?
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.
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.
I don't get it. It's a smaller version of the old AppleTV with no local storage.
But it is also significantly cheaper.
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.
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.
... 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.
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
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!
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 &
Thompson
But it is also significantly cheaper.
And apparently faster.
But taking flash pictures of a TV screen makes me sad.