Apple TV Take 2 - First Impressions

For the last two weeks I have been somewhat of an obsessive-compulsive, continuiously navigating to the “Software Update” option on my Apply TV to see if the “Take 2″ software update was available. By this point I had resigned myself to doing this over and over again until the end of February, little more than a shallow husk of my former self suffering from lack of light and malnutrition. So, image my surprise when this morning my incessant clicking actually resulting in a new software update being available!

So, what should you expect? First, make sure you have a little time spare. The download time is about 4 minutes, and the install itself can take from 10 - 15 minutes. Once everything is installed you will be greated with an update welcome animation complete with inspiring “apple tv” tone. And if the swirling purple and blue haze behind the apple tv logo is anything to go by, I’d say this update is indeed leopard powered.

Let’s look at what’s in store after the break!

I’m sure by now that most of you already know about the movie rental feature, so I won’t go into much depth on that right now. Instead, let’s look at some things you might not know.

Something that hasn’t been noted until now is the Apple TV’s new “dual mode” operation. It used to be that you could either stream content from a remote computer or sync content to the Apple TV from it, but not both. Now, if you sync to a computer it will not only copy the content you wish it to, but will allow you to stream from it - showing both sets of content in a single unified menu.

Internet Streaming also appears to work, if you have internet radio stations in one of your playlists. However, it’s unclear right now if it’s streaming directly from the internet, or if it’s streaming via my computer (as part of the new dual mode operation). More on this as I find out.

Not everything is plain sailing of course - once the Take 2 software update had been applied, I had to re-establish the synching between my computer and the Apple TV in order to transfer content correctly, deleting all the exisiting content on the Apple TV in the process. Also, it’s not yet clear if the Apple TV will take over the duties of donwloading the TV shows I have subscribed to. Certainly the TV shows menu was messed up immediately following the software update, and I needed to press right and left on the remote control in order to get it to display correctly.

There’s still plenty more to be discovered - without a doubt this is a huge upgrade. However, it will still take a few more days playing with it to be able to see if this is finally the device that allows me to cut the cable cord.