Apple TV: Back from the Dead

Just last month, I called Apple TV one of the worst gadgets of 2007. But based on yesterday's Macworld announcements, the once-floundering set-top box is set for a major comeback in 2008. Here's why.

Launched way back in April to great fanfare, Apple TV was supposed to vault Apple into the living room—instead, it's been (until now, at least) a major disappointment, and it's not hard to see why: a middling selection of TV shows, a mere handful of movies (for purchase only), and no way to browse for and buy videos and music over the box itself (as you can with the Xbox Video Marketplace and Amazon Unbox videos over Series3 Tivos).

Back in October, I blogged about five ways Apple could save its floundering set-top box, and with Steve Jobs' keynote yesterday, three of my five issues are on their way to being fixed, including:

Movie rentals: It was well-leaked that Apple would announce a fix to at least one of Apple TV's problems: a greatly expanded iTunes video store, complete with hundreds of movies available for rent from all the major studies (about 1,000 movies are slated to be ready by the end of February). Even better: about 100 movies will be available in HD (or 720p, to be exact, but only over Apple TV). Rental prices aren't exactly cheap: $3.99 for new releases, and $2.99 for older, "catalog" titles (with HD movies going for $4.99 for new films and $3.99 for catalog). Then again, that's the going rate for online movie rentals these days; if you want cheaper prices or a subscription model, you're better off sticking with Netflix (which has yet to launch Net videos you can play on your TV, although it's announced plans to do so with LG). Rental terms are, again, par for the course: you have 30 days to watch a rented movie, and once you hit "play," the movie will expire in 24 hours. Here's a bummer, though: movies won't show up until 30 days after they appear in video stores. Let's hope this annoying caveat is a short-lived one.

Bringing the iTunes store to Apple TV: The biggest problem with the old Apple TV was that it was tethered to your Mac or PC—you had to download videos on your desktop or laptop first, then sync to the Apple TV box, a lengthy (and two-step) process. With the free software update unveiled Tuesday (and due for release in the next two weeks), you'll be able to browse for and rent (or buy) movies, TV shows, and music directly over the Apple TV interface, and videos begin within a few minutes of making a selection (depending on the speed of your broadband, of course). Indeed, not only do you no longer need to transfer videos from your PC to Apple TV, you actually don't need a computer at all to use the set-top box (or at least, that's what Jobs is promising us). Something tells me that my often-dormant Apple TV will soon be getting a lot more use.

HD movies: It's a stretch to say the movies on iTunes are DVD-quality; in fact, most iTunes videos look, as I wrote before, anywhere "from barely acceptable to atrocious." The Xbox Video Marketplace has been offering HD movie rentals since its launch last year, and now Apple TV will finally catch up, with 100 movies soon to be available at 720p resolution, and some (not all, though) with 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtracks. The $5/movie rental price for new releases is steep, but in line with the pricing on Xbox Live and competitors like Vudu. Still no HD television shows, however.

What's still missing? A couple of things, from my perspective: shows from NBC (a gaping hole in the iTunes TV lineup thanks to failed contract talks) and DRM-free videos (still a pie-in-the-sky idea, unfortunately). Also, Apple TV's ultimate success or failure depends on the size of its movie catalog: 1,000 standard-def movies and 100 HD-quality films by the end of February is a good beginning, but I'd expect that number too grow—rapidly—in the coming months (by way of comparison, the Vudu set-top box has 5,000 movies in its library).

That said, these upcoming changes (along with over-the-box audio and video podcasts and access to Flickr and dot Mac slideshows) will revitalize a product that I thought was well on its way to being forgotten. Up until yesterday, I've been dissuading people from picking up the Apple TV (now priced at $229 for the 40GB version and $329 for the 160GB model). Now, however, I think Apple TV is worth a serious look, for both PC and Mac users.