Customer Ratings & Reviews

First, I'll get the bad out of the way. No surround sound output, no full 1080 HD. That's about it, and I assume the next model will have both. Beyond that this thing is beautiful. I have a massive DVD library and a few years ago I bought a 400-disc changer, but it just didn't work right. I dreamed of the day when I could sit and scroll through my library with the ease of a remote. The Apple TV answered. I am in the process of transferring my dvd collection to iTunes, and while it is a little bit of a hassle, it's worth it. I dont have to worry about storing dvd's, little kids hands touching them and ruining them. The speed is amazing. Before, you would sit down, wait for the BD player to load, open the tray, put in the disc, wait for it to load again, and then after it finally did, you have to sit through trailers, that rarely want to be seen again. This ridiculously small device is fast, I turn it on, and within seconds I am watching the opening credits to anything in my library. Hooked up to my speaker system the music library sounds amazing, completely different quality then just hooking up an ipod. And speaking of the ipod, you can use your ipod as a remote. That means, I can be downstairs, and when the kids yell down for a movie I can flip it on, within seconds. I was amazed at the price. 99 dollars? BD players were 300 when they first came out. I recommend everyone stop buying discs and start buying digital, because this is where media is going. When internet speeds catch up and hard drives are cheap enough (pretty much now) this will be the way to go. Its barely bigger than an ipod, and plugs in with 3 cords. I love it. Apple, on the next model add 1080 and surround sound, and I will be first to buy one for every tv in my house.

I originally purchased this b/c of the mirroring capabilities this had when paired with an iPad 2 or iPhone 4s. This accessory did not disappoint. If I'm playing a game, I can show it on the big screen. It will stream other apps (like NBC, ABC) to watch shows that you might have missed or want to see again. Beats watching shows on the. laptop. What I really like is the home sharing. Now I can access all my music or movies from my couch. Another cool feature is there's a free app to make your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad a remote to control Apple T.V. If you have the iPhone 4 (with the iOS 5 update) it will only wirelessly send your videos (also T.V. shows) or music to your television. It will NOT mirror your iPhone 4 or older models. I can't speak for the iPod touches b/c I don't own one but I assume with the latest update it should wirelessly do the same as the iPhone 4.

After doing extensive research on streaming devices I decided to try out the Apple TV. Just like any of the other many devices that are out there it streams netflix allowing you to watch several shows and movies on demand. And for $2-$4 you can rent movies through iTunes. It's disadvantage is it does not provide streaming service from Hulu- but lets be real- most of those shows you watch the night they come out anyways- right? It also does not provide access to some of the internet tv channels that other devices do- but anyone who has tried to watch any of those internet channels can tell you that 99.9% of them are lame anyways. What apple TV does do is link to any computers in your house running iTunes with homeshare on. For me this is was huge. I can now access anything on my iTunes library through any TV in my house. If I want to listen to music- I can access my entire music library through my TV and listen on my surround speakers. I have converted most of my dvd collection over to iTunes so I no longer have to load dvd's in and out of the dvd player- its all right there on the TV. I have set all my screensavers on the tv to stream family pictures shared through iTunes. The airplay option from iphone and ipad are awesome as well. In short- if you are into iTunes and fairly committed to it you will absolutely love apple tv. If you don't have iTunes or don't want to use iTunes then you can probably find a number of other devices that will work for you.

After researching several units (Roku, Google TV etc,) I settled on the Apple TV unit. No doubt Roku, the odds on favorite of everyone, has more content. However, I seriously doubt I will spend the money to access their tremendous content. In fact, I don't want to be in front of a TV enough to justify accessing that much paid content. Apple TV was the easiest thing to set up I've bought in a long time. The really neat part was the ability to stream my ipod content over the tv (read surround sound system). This was an automatic process, I put in my account info and it grabbed in in a few seconds. The radio content is really surprisingly good. More stations than I'll ever listen to but some unusual choices also that I found really appealing. I use Netflix and it streams effortlessly. Easy to use and no glitches or artifacts. I love the unit and would recommend it to anyone.

Some of the bad reviews, depend a lot about the following: 1. Connection/ ethernet vs wireless 2. other devices interfering 3. location of apple TV 4. the technology on this device has not been tapped yet, more to come. So I would have to say with my purchase, I love my apple TV, on my Tv the display is crisp and clear, you can stream Netflix, really no lag, now I was watching a movie and it did pause a couple of times, no big deal, it only lasted like 15 sec. and it doesn't happen all the time if not at all. no complaint here. Next you can view you tube video which is cool, I like that you can listen to music, it has a lot of radio channels on it, like a pandora feel. you can view your photos and content only if you link up to your PC thru itunes, their will be a different alternative I believe, the potential of this device has not been used to its full potential yet....be patient Apple geeks, there is something that will add better airplay for 3rd party apps, I believe that you will be able to use your ipad thru apple tv and play Angry birds/ access all your content thru that device, it will turn it in like a big remote, a hub of content.

Basic is beautiful in this case with the apple tv. First at a design stand point it's really well made and doesn't fell cheap, has all the connections that you need for your modern HDTV set up and its priced at only $100 and its a apple product.... There's not much to be said but that its a streaming only device with no storage on bored. You buy movies and shows form apples online service and it streams thru the device. You also have Netflix, YouTube and pandora just to name a few with the newly added sport offerings. I mostly just this to see Netflix movies and shows and recently been using it a lot to do air play with my new iPad 2 which means your streaming your things from the iPad thru the apple tv and viewing it thru your tv

Was hesitant to purchase as the video playback is limited to 720p. I'm used to watching Directv ppview movies in 1080p, so my expectations were low...but for $89.00 on sale, it was worth a try. Happy to say that playback looks great on my 55" Samsung. I can tell the difference, but 'barely.' 9 out of 10 people would not be able to tell the difference (even is shown side by side). SUPER easy hookup/setup (took 3 minutes), great user interface, and my internet is high speed, but not the fastest and my first HD movie rental took only 45 seconds to load. Just another great product from Apple. Completely satisfied.

Apple TV is great. I used to stream media through my WiFi bluray player and decided to try this product because we have 2 iPhones, an iPad, and now an iMac. The AirPlay capability is amazing. Any type of media you have - movies, music, photos - will stream wirelessly over AirPlay. On the phone or iPad, when they are connected to the same network as the apple tv, a new button shows up whenever you play a movie or song. The same goes for looking at photos. It also works with videos from websites. On your iMac, the same airplay button shows up at the bottom right corner of iTunes. Push the button and whatever you are watching shows up on your HDMI connected TV. With the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S you also have video mirroring wirelessly to your tv through the apple tv. Anything on your screen will show up on your tv. The device itself has built-in apps. We mainly use Netflix which works great. Loads faster than the bluray player did. If you turn on home sharing in iTunes, then your iPhoto library is also available to view on your tv. Also, any movies or tv shows purchased through iTunes will automatically show up in the purchased section of the apple tv interface. The remote is the standard 3 button apple remote, simple to use and virtually idiot-proof. If one button doesn't do what you want, try one of the other two. Easy. The same remote can be paired with your iMac as well. Or you can download the free remote app for your iPhone or iPad. Setup is simple. Plug it in, hook up your HDMI cable, and run through the WiFi setup. 5 minutes and it is up and running. I can go on and on. I am very happy with all of my apple products so far and this one definitely does not disappoint. The next version will be even better with 1080p and faster processor. May get one for another tv.

OK, granted I'm an Apple fan so yep, this will be a good review but it will also be honest. While I have 4 of these now, all connected to different TV's the one thing has to do with the latest update Apple provided. When viewing Netflix, it shows all TV shows that I have listed in my Instant Queue and being viewed before or if I chose one that I have watched before and watched it all the way to the end where it comes back to the TV show list, it will ask me to start from the beginning or start over. 3 of the 4 I have do this as they have been updated, the 4th one, this one I am reviewing does not as it is one version behind the others, so it is not a problem with the hardware. The other thing is it's max resolution is 720p, while acceptable, 2 of my TV's easily do 1080 p and i and while there is a difference in the quality, you have to really look for it as on is an LED LCD and the other is Plasma with Plasma clearly being the better of the two, again, not a function of the Apple TV per se' just a limitation it has and easily dealt with For the first issue and since I am an Apple developer, I have opened a bug report with Apple and for the second issue, I opened an bug report for improved functionality Other than those two items, I say go ahead and bye it, you cannot go wrong

I love this product. My wife and I purchased this product months ago and have loved it ever since. We dont watch that much TV anymore since we use Netflix. We have this setup in the master bedroom and we watch movies on it all the time. We even rent movies from iTunes. I also love the feature with the iPhone 4 that allows you to play videos and pictures on the Apple TV wirelessly. This is nice for anyone with small spaces and would really like to try something new. It is very easy to setup wired and wireless connections. We plan on getting an additional one once we get everything done with our new house. Apple did well on this and i am glad Best Buy is now selling Apple products.

I can't believe the Apple TV hasn't been more of a success. This thing is very cool. If you are like me and have a large iTunes library full of music, movies, TV shows and stuff like that, this product is for you. I got this so I can use my iTunes library on my home theater system. It works very well. All you have to do is hook this thing up with an HDMI cable and log it on to your wi-fi network. Then turn on "home sharing" in your iTunes library and you are ready to go. Once this is set up, it is so much fun. Being able to watch my iTunes stuff on my large 46" Bravia was enough to get me to spend a hundred bucks, but then I found out about the YouTube, Netflix and I went nuts. This is a lot of fun and the internet on this works better than it does on my Sony Blu-Ray player. It's menu is easy to use. Also, you can set up your screen saver to be photos from your computer, which is a lot of fun to watch when you're listening to music. And then, I also found out you can wirelessly stream to this via your iPhone (or an iPod touch). This thing is just so cool and so much fun. It's easily worth the price. And it's so small you can set in right under your TV and nobody will notice it's there.

Setting up the Apple TV was a snap. I connected the HDMI and a network cable, and then turned it on and followed the prompts. I did not set up wireless, which would add some complication. It prompted me how to share photos from my computer. One prompt had me enable a setting in iTunes. By the time I returned to the living room, pictures were already displaying. We turned on Airplay and almost immediately had photos playing from an iPhone & iPad. Again, effortless setup. I'm most impressed with streaming of Netflix. We used it a month before we saw the first pause in streaming. Our only complaints would be the remote and lack of an Internet browser. The remote is a little difficult to type with (though the size and operation are quite agreeable). And we would like a device that is going to the internet for content to also allow browsing. Overall, we're quite pleased with the product and price. It was nice to have a new electronic toy that didn't take hours to get up and running!

I have had the AppleTV for a couple months now and love it! Here's why: Netflix: I have three other devices that can also stream Netflix (Xbox 360, Wii, Samsung Blu-Ray) and AppleTV puts them all to shame. The user interface is intuitive and very visually appealing. It's very easy to search for new shows, seen things you watched before, and resume programs you had watched before. Having Netflix in HD on my 50" plasma is awesome! iTunes and photos: This is great for entertaining. Yes, you do have to have your PC running for Apple to stream your iTunes. It does a great job, and you can even have it make Genius playlists for you. My favorite is to put on some iTunes, then wait for the screensaver which I have set to my pics. The multiple modes of slideshow are nice to play with. Radio: One downside is that AppleTV does not do Pandora directly. There are some internet radio stations that it can do, but I find this way more painful to use than Pandora or Spotify. If you have an iPhone or iTouch you can use Airplay to send Pandora to your AppleTV. Overall, I love this product. As one of the cheapest Apple products there is (less than $100!) I think I definitely get my money's worth.

I bought this little device a least 3 months ago. It is amazing overall. I had bought the Logitech revue, and set it up. It destroyed my home network, I had to restart my whole router. I used it for 4 days and was not impressed at all. I returned it for the apple tv, and immediatey fell in love. The fact that it came in such a small box worried me, but I hooked it up and was blown away. It was a very quick and easy setup. It took5 minutes. And because of the A4 chp, it ran incredibly fast. Then I got my iPad and the experice got so much better. I could display all of my pictures, AirPlay videos and much more. But to make things even better, iOS 5 came out. Mirror for the iPad on the apple tv is amazing. It's such a high res picture, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. If your thinking about buying this, DO IT!!!!!!!

It set up well and is pretty straight-forward to use. For a hundred bucks, you get access to lots of stuff but the good stuff you have to pay for. So it is a convenience factor, saving a trip to the video store, super market red box etc. I'm surprised they don't sell this for half the price given that they would be keeping you in the APPLE network for your movie watching vs. the cable or DirecTV. It offers connection to NETFLIX but you may already have other ways to get access to them. Their new policy gives you streaming only for the older movies for 7.99 per month. For latest films, you need to buy another pkg. But anyway, that is not APPLE TV. Now I am reviewing Netflix. You can watch YouTUBE and it has RADIO features which may be convenient for some people but I have not found that useful. For me, it has been mostly about movies. One thing I do not like so much is the remote. They opted for very small and few buttons. It has a center button with up-down-left-right around it and it is sometimes hard to just hit the circumference buttons if you have big fingers. So that needs to be improved along with offering more function for simpler operation of the menus. It is also pretty small so if you have a stuffy chair or couch, you will lose it in the cushions.

I have many apple products, and they all work flawlessly. I purchased this item because I was having an issue with the built in NETFLIX app on my TV. At times, when I ran the TV NETFLIX app, the TV would reboot. It was very frustrating. I then decided to get a dedicated device. I was trying to choose between the ROKU box & the apple TV. I would have gotten the ROKU box because of the many different connection options, many different built in app’s, & the ROKU box is not tied to anyone company. But then I heard about ios 5 & the capability of mirroring from your ios device to the Apple TV. This will allow me to watch my iTouch or iPad on my TV. My ios device now allows me to send my videos to the Apple TV, but the option to stream everything, games, apps & many more, was the deciding factor for me getting the Apple TV. Get the ROKU box if you do not own any Apple products, iTouch, iPhone or iPad, but if you do own one, or many of these products, then this is an excellent addition. One more thing, this device looks great, it is very small, easy to hide, and works flawlessly, it has yet to stall or reboot on me. I have owned it for a few months now.

Wow, what a simple way to share media around a house without an HTPC! My wife and I have one of these in my house and we also gave one to my parents for their home. Mostly was purchased for them as a way to airplay their pictures and Videos from their phones. They use it for much much more. The HTPC remains mostly off unless some flash only content needs to be played. Many streams online now will play just fine on an iOS device so there is no problem. They are not super tech savy and they love it. In my home, all of our movies are in the iTunes library now and are available by simply clicking them on the apple TV. The HD content is great as well. Since all our pictures are on a Mac, iPhoto works beautifully with it and all of our pictures and iPhone videos are available instantly as well! Could not be more impress with the price and functionality of this device. Every so often, we will experience a glitch in an airplay stream or the keyboard function the the Remote app doesn't work quite right but it is simply one of the most simple devices I have seen for media. Nice and intuitive and it "just works"

I did not buy one until OS5 came out which allows mirroring from the ipad to the screen. This allows me to show various web videos on screen and put web pages up on the screen for everyone to see at the same time. I also discovered that I use it to watch a lot of podcast videos because it is so easy to use for this. It is also a good Netflix box. My wife likes how it can show photos on the tv. My only wish would be for the movie rentals to come down in price, most new movies are $5 vs the $1 for Redbox. Hulu would be nice also and maybe Amazon Video. I realize these compete with Apple a little bit so it probally will not happen. I have have used it way more than I thought I would.

The apple tv does have some shortcomings, ie 720p, rentals are slightly slower than pc using wifi, requires itunes open on pc. I bit the bullet and got it just because i have a lot of tv shows and i couldn't find a better program to organize them and stream to the tv. I love the organization i have now, getting from turning the tv on to streaming movies/tv shows is way way faster than things like wmp extender on xbox. the remote on iphone was kinda neat for the first week. Might not be for you if all you do is watch netflix and you have an xbox/ps3/roku already

I also bought a Roku HD and made a comparison with this. The AppleTV is top-notch in usability design. Large lists scroll very well and the search is good. This is best if you are into all that Apple offers. If you do not use iTunes then this is not so effective. The other services (such as Netflix) work just as well. I have a Mac Mini which stores a lot of videos and music, this connects-up flawlessly. You Tube is ok, but wish I could sort search results by date. Exploring new stuff is a pleasure on this but again, it is best with iTunes. The Roku has much more flexibility but at the expense of a good but clunky navigation in comparison.