July 16, 2008

A Family's Review of the AppleTV - It Rocks!

We've seen quite a few reviews of the AppleTV from the media but it's nice to when we find reviews from typical users. We found a review of AppleTV from Sean at Sean808080.com that states:

When we started reviewing the AppleTV, we were surprised to find out that the AppleTV requires an HDTV. It was for this reason that we went out and bought one this year {REALLY!}
After that rather expensive day of picking up an HDTV and the 160GB AppleTV, we hooked things up. It was a _very simple_ hookup. Just an HDMI cable and we were off. After setting up our account information on the AppleTV, we began looking at our flickr pictures.

This is really one of the key benefits of the AppleTV. When it's idle, it will pull your photos and display them in beautiful color on your HDTV. If you've got a decent set of pictures that you've either taken or marked as favorites, prepare to be pleasantly surprised at how beautiful they are on an HDTV as opposed to your computer monitor.

What really interested us in the review is the way the family bonds around the AppleTV:

The big surprise for me was Youtube. I personally use Youtube sparingly as it's not very interesting to me. The kids on the other hand go bonkers when I offer to play some Youtube videos. They all sit around watch and dance to the Youtube selections. This was a real unexpected benefit of the AppleTV. It turns Youtube watching into a family experience as everyone in the house sits and watches very excitedly. I had no idea that the Youtube player on AppleTV would be the killer feature in our house.

It's a nice review so be sure to check it out.

At Sean808080.com

Related: First Impressions: Apple TV

AppleTV at Amazon