Apple TV (2012)

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 19 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 10 stars

  Use it every night.

  by delraydoc on March 17, 2012

  Pros: 1. Small elegant footprint; 2. Easy setup; 3. Access to everything I purchase from iTunes through the cloud; 4. Easy to use; 5. Only $99.00 (actually $85 for refurb)

  Cons: There are no cons.

  Summary: Everyone should own one. Very inexpensive and a true joy in every way.

  Summary: Everyone should own one. Very inexpensive and a true joy in every way.

  3 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  Watched Hugo in 1080P. The picture equivalent = Bluray.

  by youreright on March 19, 2012

  Pros: This review is coming from Canada. I didn't notice any issues wrt video/audio quality. With this device, I won't be renting any DVD's.

  Cons: None that I can see.

  Summary: What can I say, the little device is an excellent replacement for DVDs (and now that brick/mortar Blockbuster is gone, this came at a perfect time)

  Summary: What can I say, the little device is an excellent replacement for DVDs (and now that brick/mortar Blockbuster is gone, this came at a perfect time)

  2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  AirPlay is the killer feature.

  by redgeminipa on March 19, 2012

  Pros: Everything - AirPlay/Mirroring, interface, ease of use, picture quality, compact design, silent, responsive, Internet radio, Netflix, affordable, minimalist remote/remote app, build quality and much more.

  Cons: No RCA/Component output for older TVs

  Summary: I bought the Apple TV 2 primarily for Netflix and the interface Apple TV provides. There simply isn't a better interface available, period. After the update brought AirPlay, that ...

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  Summary: I bought the Apple TV 2 primarily for Netflix and the interface Apple TV provides. There simply isn't a better interface available, period. After the update brought AirPlay, that put the icing on the cake. For $99, and iOS device compatibility, there isn't anything better. Streaming music to my home theatre from iTunes on my Mac or iOS device is a fantastic feature.
  
  One of the least noted features of the Apple TV is Internet Radio. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of stations available. There are many genres to choose from, and tons of stations for each one. When you find one you like, hold down the button in the center of the directional button to bring up the menu to add to Favorites (the same to remove). It then creates a section for Favorites at the very top of the list of genres in the Radio section. Once you're in a genre with a station playing, you can push forward or back to change to the next or previous station in that genre, just like SEEK on a stereo. With the wealth of stations available, I don't see the argument for Pandora on Apple TV. Pandora seems like too much work. If you want it that bad, just use AirPlay from any iOS device running the app. It works flawlessly. If you have more than one Apple TV and home theatre system (or sound bar), just set them both for the same station and enjoy the music throughout the whole house.
  
  I bought a Roku 2 XS because my bedroom TV didn't have HDMI and I wanted to try out Hulu Plus. Well, it's a joke. You pay $8 a month for a horribly clunky interface that's slow and almost unresponsive AND you have to watch COMMERCIALS! I cancelled it after about 2 months of the same terrible results. The other Roku "feature" was Crackle, but that's easily solved with an iPhone/iPad (or iPod Touch) and AirPlay Mirroring, so that's no longer a valid bargaining chip.
  
  If I really want to watch Hulu, I can be patient until the Mountain Lion update comes later this year. Then I'll use my iMac and RDM Lite on my iPhone/iPad as the remote control for my Mac to watch FREE Hulu.com on my TVs using AirPlay Mirroring through my Apple TV 2 and, now, Apple TV 3. AND I'll be able to watch any other Flash-based sites to my heart's content, though they're aren't really many that I visit.
  
  I'll most likely be selling the Roku, since it's no longer needed. The only big win for Roku, in my eyes, is it can connect to TVs that don't have HDMI. That's the other main reason I bought one at the time. Since my TVs are now all HDMI-equipped, that eliminates the need.
  
  As noted, the Apple TV is fantastic for anyone who's into the Apple ecosystem. Even if it's just a lowly new iPod Touch, AirPlay is a killer feature that opens up so much, even for gaming.

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  3 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 4 stars

  It's apple - so it's obviously a good product.

  by moniquedg on June 27, 2012

  Pros: Does what it says it does. Easy to use, looks nice, HD, it's apple.

  Cons: PRICE PRICE PRICE! No HULU, No Amazon Prime. HULU offers ALOT of great shows for 7 bucks a month, most from cable.

  Summary: It's apple - obviously it's overpriced. I love APPLE products to the bitter end, and I almost feel bad for saying this since I'm typing from a ...

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  Summary: It's apple - obviously it's overpriced. I love APPLE products to the bitter end, and I almost feel bad for saying this since I'm typing from a MacBook BUT this is just another overpriced apple accessory. It offers less and is 50% more than the Roku, so I don't understand why it cost so much more. Honestly your paying $50 extra bucks for the apple logo! I'll just put a apple sticker on my ROKU.

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  2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  play games, music, movies, tv, and podcasts and more

  by djtabor on March 17, 2012

  Pros: the air play option with your iphone or ipad
  the music movies and tv shows
  podcasts
  netflix
  small and quiet

  Cons: hulu plus is not available unless you use airplay on your iphone or ipad
  amazon streaming for prime members is not available
  needs more apps

  Summary: overall we really like the interface and the size and how silent it is

  Summary: overall we really like the interface and the size and how silent it is

  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 6 stars

  AirPlay is the win here.

  by JCDallas on March 18, 2012

  Pros: AirPlay
  Easy access to iTunes content on the big screen.

  Cons: Limited streaming options.
  Audio ok at best

  Summary: All the streaming devices have good and bad. The big win here is certainly AirPlay. My biggest gripe is with audio. I've spent considerable money and time making a ...

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  Summary: All the streaming devices have good and bad. The big win here is certainly AirPlay. My biggest gripe is with audio. I've spent considerable money and time making a FANTASTIC audio system for movies. Blu-Ray movies will give an experience better than any big theater can offer on the audio side. DTS-HD Master is king. None of the streaming boxes can do better than Dolby Digital. Fine in the old days but shows its age next to Blu-Ray. Perhaps someday we can get both quality video and audio in a streaming world.

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  1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  Fairly cheap but very useful with the right setup.

  by PetrF on December 18, 2012

  Pros: iTunes home sharing

  Cons: Airplay being Apple proprietary protocol. Of course not an Apple TV fault per see, but inter-operability with outer platforms is a no starter.

  Summary: The 3rd gen Apple TV is one of the best and fairly low cost Apple devices that we have bought. Being able to mirror and stream content from the iPad ...

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  Summary: The 3rd gen Apple TV is one of the best and fairly low cost Apple devices that we have bought. Being able to mirror and stream content from the iPad or our iMac, as well as purchased content from iTunes or Netflix, all this with a super simple setup makes it perfect for us. The only I miss is able to stream from my Android devices, or get films through the YouTube app, but that's given.

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• 8 stars

  Works like an Apple....

  by Utiuti on December 11, 2012

  Pros: Connects your TV with all Apple products great.

  Cons: Needs more apps/appstore.

• 9 stars

  Apple keeps making it better. Especially AirPlay.

  by link48010 on June 3, 2012

  Pros: Streams things seamlessly, simple interface, easier to work and lower power usage compared to an HTPC, and when you consider AirPlay, nearly as flexible.

  Cons: Limited in native services, and not as quickly updated for new services as I'd like.

  Summary: The Apple TV is a good little box o'streaming. It's built in native services is fairly small, especially when you consider the absence of Hulu Plus (which I ...

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  Summary: The Apple TV is a good little box o'streaming. It's built in native services is fairly small, especially when you consider the absence of Hulu Plus (which I use constantly). However, when you consider airplay on an iPad of iPhone, it is possible to view Hulu Plus content on the Apple TV using Hulu's app for iOS devices. Also, because the Hulu Plus app is now found on the Wii, a desktop client for Windows, Mac, and Linux, iPhone and iPad devices, and other streaming boxes like Roku, it looks likely that Hulu Plus will soon come to the Apple TV as well.
  
  The device runs on less power then a Nintendo Wii which burns about 19 watts per hour (think a small compact florescent bulb) if the spec sheet I read was correct, and *FAR* less then any other device able to play as much media, PS3, Xbox 360, most Blu-Ray Players, HTPCs, and even a little less then a Mac Mini. This means compared to other devices, the Apple TV can save it's cost in power over the course of a year or two.
  
  It is amazingly small since it has no hard drive, and make no mistake, there is no power brick hanging off there somewhere. It is dead quiet, you really cannot hear it at all, this compared to the computer it replaced which was a constant source of background noise (despite me replacing the OEM fans with better, quieter fans).
  
  The picture quality is amazing, and beats the PC I was using at 720p and compares to my Sony Blu-Ray player at 1080p with the HD downloads. Be wary, to watch them, you need a pretty fast internet connection. However, lacking that connection, you can always download the movie or TV show to a computer with iTunes and stream it to the Apple TV.
  
  The User Interface is dead simple and really great looking, although Netflix and some of the streaming services have fallen a bit behind.
  
  In my experience, the wi-fi doesn't lag any significant amount provided your Wireless router meets the 802.11n standard, a G or B router won't lag videos, but it takes at least several seconds to start the video depending on how busy your network is. Over all, connecting it to Cat 5e or Cat 6 cable will provide you with a much more enjoyable and snappy experience.
  
  So, in short:
  
  Best results with a wired network but works okay with wireless.
  
  Get an airplay device at the least, Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, PC with iTunes, doesn't matter what it is.
  
  It's best with Airplay Mirroring from an iPad 2 or iPhone 4S or better (soon to include Macs running Mac OS 10.8 Mountain Lion) iPad 1 and an iPhone 4 or older will *NOT* mirror. There might be some jail breaking trick that can do it however.
  
  This device can replace traditional TV if you are willing to work with it a bit and get the rest of the necessary hardware (Airplay device, PC to store video files on, sufficiently fast internet connection), otherwise it is best in augmenting other Home Theatre devices (Blu-ray, Cable/Satellite, etc.)

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• 10 stars

  AirPlay/Mirroring sets it above the rest!

  by MrBoxhead42 on May 23, 2012

  Pros: AirPlay/Mirroring
  Picture Quality Awesome
  Quick movie loading, even with HD.
  Netflix UI

  Cons: To get the most out of this device....you HAVE to have another iOS device. (iPhone/iPad/iPodtouch)

  Summary: I happen to own both the Apple TV and the Roku Box. Both are awesome devices. However I would have to give the edge to the Apple TV, only because ...

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  Summary: I happen to own both the Apple TV and the Roku Box. Both are awesome devices. However I would have to give the edge to the Apple TV, only because of AirPlay/Mirroring. I can view and interact with anything on my iPad. Gaming, apps, internet, etc. is awesome.
  
  But if you don't own any iDevices, Roku wins.

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