Apple TV 2nd Generation

So today my Apple TV (2nd Generation) turned up, and I have to say I’m pretty impressed.

Anybody who knows me or has been reading these my post, will know that over the last couple of years, I’ve become an Apple fan boy I’ve gradually replaced my MP3 player, my phone, my PCs and even my entire network with Apple products, and as time has gone by, I’ve organised my entire music collection to be “iTunes friendly”.

I’ve been toying with the idea of an Apple TV for a while now, and very nearly bought one of the 1 generation ones about 2 months ago.

I’ve been using a piece of software on my MacMini called MediaLink, to stream my iTunes content to my PS3, which to be honest has been working pretty well, apart from the fact that it won’t play DRM media.

So the announcement was made early in September that a new Apple TV would be out shortly, so me being me ordered one.

So what’s it like ?

Now this is the first time I’ve used an Apple TV, so some of the features I’m raving about, might have been in the first generation.

First of all, it’s size, this thing is tiny, it literally fits in the palm of my hand.

The device has a very small white light on the front, the flashes with the remote press. The rear has a USB port, a HDMI port, power port and an optical output.

Setup, as with any Apple product was painless, plugged it in, selected my language, added my apple ID and that was it, good to go.

So what is an Apple TV ?

Basically, it’s a device which allows you to stream content from the web, and a PC or Mac which is running iTunes home sharing (please note, you have to have iTunes 10 installed for it to be picked up)

The main menu gives you a few options.

Movies, and then the sub menu of Top Movies, Genres, Search and in Theaters.

The movie collection is huge, and everything I searched for came back with a result (kinda like the movie selection in iTunes)

The “in Theaters” option was essentially what you get on Apples trailer site, all the trailers for whats in the cinema right now.

The next tab is Internet, with the option of YouTube, Podcasts, MobileMe, Flickr and Radio.

The Youtube option will allow you to sign in and see your subscriptions.

The podcast option does what it says on the tin, it opens up the content as found in the iTunes store and splits them into Audio, Video or all. You can then “add to favourites”, which will let you know how many unwatched episodes you have, it also remembers your position which I thought was a good feature.

I don’t have a MobileMe account, but assume if I had, I would be able to stream from this.

The Flickr allows you to subscribe to public users and view their content. I can’t see a way of signing in, as this would be perfect as I’m a Flickr pro subscriber and have my entire photo collection hidden online, it would be nice to be able to access these.

Finally there’s the radio, which is the same content as the Radio tab in iTunes.

The next tab is Computers. Basically any machine that you have iTunes on (version 10 or above) with Home Sharing enabled, you can stream all you content from them.

Finally you have the settings tab, which you can…..well change the settings

2 interesting features in the settings are the AirPlay, and Remotes.

The Airplay allows you to use the Apple TV as an Airport Express, and the Remote option allows you to use you iPhone as a remote control. As your probably aware, the iPhone remote app has recently been upgraded to support the Apple TV. The app works with gesture controls, swipe left and right for fast forward and backward, tap to pause and play, and the godsend was being able to type in when searching. There is also flick up to get to chapter, and 2 finger left swipe to roll back 10 seconds, you can even move the onscreen content using this !

The AirPlay is pretty cool too, now granted, to play media from my Mac by selecting Computers > Mac Mini > Music > Album > Play or I also have the option to connect to my MacMini via the Apple Remote app, select the Album > Play > select the Apple TV as the speakers. This will not only output the audio to the Apple TV, but it will also display the album art and ID tag of the track being played.

Now I subscribe to a lot of podcasts, and it’s nice to see that if I’m looking at my Computers library, I then watch or listen to a podcast, this syncs back to the library. There was nothing more annoying than watching something using MediaLink, then having to Screenshare onto my MacMini to mark them as watched. This seems to be the same for Movies and TV too.

So far I’ve very happy with this device, and I guess I’ll be spending the next couple of months converting all my DVD’s to mp4 format and adding these to my iTunes library.

For anyone who uses iTunes for their media content, and if you have a spare £99, I suggest getting one of these.

As always, unboxing photos are below.

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Green light for faster broadband

The fibre rollout can begin in earnest says Ofcom

BT has received the green light to begin its rollout of super-fast broadband.

Ofcom has delivered its long-awaited ruling which offers BT more flexibility in the way it delivers fibre networks.

BT made clear it only wanted to make the move if regulator Ofcom allowed a fair return on that investment.

The regulator said that its ruling was a “pivotal” one for the development of broadband which it said would “be crucial” to the economy.

Three phases

“Our message today is clear: there are no regulatory barriers in the way of investment in super-fast broadband,” said Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards.

“We want to promote investment to support the widespread adoption of superfast broadband but we want to balance that with the need for competition,” said Mr Richards.

He said that the plans outlined in this “first phase” would provide the current conditions for investment in fibre.

Phase Two would look at how to reach the areas not covered by this market-led approach, and phase three would consider the evolution to even faster technologies.

Moves have already begun to upgrade the UK’s existing broadband networks to fibre.

Virgin Media has committed to upgrading its cable network to 50Mbps (megabits per second) – which will cover around half the population of the UK – by the middle of this year.

BT has pledged to complete the installation of fibre-optic cables to some of its street-side cabinets, offering speeds of between 40 and 60Mbps, by 2012.

This will offer higher speeds to around 40% of the country.

However, the regulator has “a central role to play in enabling both investment and competition”, it said.

That includes allowing BT to set its own prices on how to sell access to its network to secure a fair return on their investment.

It may lead to consumers paying a premium for super-fast broadband.

Ofcom also said it would also “minimise unnecessary inefficiencies” in the design and build of new networks, which will mean, for example, that BT will be able to reduce the amount of engineers needed to manage an upgrade to fibre.

To date it has had to send separate engineers from its wholesale and Openreach divisions to manage the electronics and ducting respectively in its exchanges. Now it will be allowed to use one.

Mr Richards said that the wholesale pricing would be considerably more flexible than current wholesale products and that its hands-off approach reflected that it was dealing with a new BT.

“This is not the BT of old milking a copper network put in years ago. This is a risky investment for it,” he said.

BT chief executive Ian Livingston welcomed the move, saying it “set expectations for the whole UK industry as the market evolves into a fibre-based world”.

“Today’s announcement gives us the green light to push ahead with our £1.5bn superfast broadband investment plans to reach at least 40 percent of UK households by 2012,” Mr Livingston said in a statement.

It has been estimated that to offer fibre to the whole country would cost £5bn. If the technology used is fibre to the home that cost rises to £29bn.

Wholesale focus

What will deliver next-generation broadband? Read Rory’s blog on Ofcom’s report

The focus of Ofcom’s announcement is on making for a flexible wholesale model rather than opting, as some had predicted, for an environment where other operators laid their own fibre alongside BT’s.

There was, said Mr Richards, “a lack of appetite” among the companies it consulted with for a fibre version of local loop unbundling.

This is largely due to the economic climate, he said.

Local loop unbundling, in which operators are able to install their own equipment in BT’s telephone exchanges, is largely credited with kickstarting the current broadband market and for making it as competitive as it is.

‘Limited options’

The fibre landscape will be different, thinks Ian Fogg, an analyst with research firm Forrester.

“What we have seen is a game, unlike football, of three halves. Dial-up was the first half, broadband was the second and this is the third. Ironically, in terms of competition, it will have more in common with what was happening in 2000 than what we see now,” he said.

He is concerned that the type of superfast broadband on offer from BT – fibre to the street cabinet rather than fibre to the home – is being overhyped.

“It has a theoretical maximum of around 50Mbps (megabits per second) but speed will vary based on how far people live from a street cabinet and how many ADSL lines are in a street as the two can interfere with each other,” said Mr Fogg.

“Even in urban areas there will be areas where speeds are no better than ADSL speeds,” he added.

BT has pledged to offer Fibre to the Home technology on new-build sites. So far one estate, at Ebbsfleet in Kent, has a handful of houses using the technology.

Andrew Ferguson, editor of ThinkBroadband.com, thinks Ofcom’s report was necessary: “The options for Ofcom were limited since if it refused BT, then the only next generation like network approaching national coverage would be Virgin Media who currently offer no form of wholesale access.”

Mr Richards did not rule out the possibility of regulating Virgin Media if it became the dominant super-fast broadband player.

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