Preview review: Apple's second-generation Apple TV

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Posted on 2 Sep 2010 at 12:12

So it turns out the rumours were true - Apple did launch a new version of its Apple TV last night, as a bonus on top of its new range of iPods. Expert Reviews was fortunate enough to be at the London launch to get a hands-on preview of the device.

Steve Jobs said that the original Apple TV hadn't been a hit in terms of sales, but those who did buy the device (which plays videos, photos and music on your TV either from the in-built hard disk or from the internet) absolutely loved it.

He conceded that Apple hadn't quite got the product right - and neither had any of the other manufacturers of multimedia streaming devices. He went on to say that since the TV's launch in 2006, Apple had learned a lot from users and now knew exactly what they wanted. The main point was that people wanted only "professional" content, not "amateur hour". Plus, they wanted HD, not SD, and they didn't want to have to manage storage, either. Finally, they wanted a box that was small, silent and cheap.

The second-generation Apple TV (which isn't called iTV, presumably due to the problems with the independent TV channel of the same name in the UK) fulfils all of these requests. It's miniscule - and easily fits in the palm of your hand.

The power supply is still built in, just like the older model, so you need only connect a power cable and HDMI cable to get up and running. Although there's a network port, there's also built-in 802.11n WiFi (the old model had 802.11g). There's also an optical S/PDIF for hooking up older AV receivers. Crucially, there's no hard disk any longer, so this is now purely a streaming device.

That may put some people off, but importantly, there's now a much better selection of movies and TV shows available at lower prices than before. You can't buy them any more, you can only rent them, but rentals last for 28 days, and then you get 48 hours from when you press the play button.