Apple TV w/ 40GB Hard Drive

Pros: Told cable TV to take a hike.

Cons: Not enough time in this life to watch everything available.

Summary: Disconnected cable TV last year. Subscribed to many podcasts and, with just the local news over antenna, we've got enough shows; more, actually, than there are hours available to watch.I don't bother syncing much of my music but that's a personal choice. I do sync a number of iPhoto albums and they become my TV's screensaver.Any videos I get that aren't in the MP4/H264 format required by the AppleTV can be easily converted using ViddyUp or MPEG Streamclip or ffmpegX.Do note that you will need a wide-screen TV with HDMI or Component inputs. While a 4:3 (standard def) TV can be made to work (if it has the inputs), the video proportions will be wrong and, while there is a work-around (altering the video content by shrinking the height 25%), it isn't convenient; I know because I did it before I finally bought that HDTV.In Apple's defense, they plainly note that you need a wide-screen TV, not a standard-def TV, so be aware of this fact before you buy an AppleTV.

Pros: Compact Easy to Use no need for the 100+Gig version

Cons: Expensive for what it does.

Summary: Don't buy the bigger HD version, and don't spend more than $199 for it. Thats ipod money and for that it was worth it for me to have access to all of my music and photos on my main tv. From there I also have access to my whole house system. I really like the fact that I can have access to all of my DVD's with a few clicks. It takes a bit of time but is worth it, down load mac the ripper and Handbrake. With Mac the Ripper rip all of your DVD's to your HD then convert them to Mpeg4 with Handbrake. I have done about 40 so far its fairly painless once you figure out handbrake and the resulting picture on the apple TV is more that satisfactory. I would say just a notch under DVD quality. At this point stay away from anything on Itunes when it comes to video the picture quality sucks. There is a new load coming apple TV that will enable HD content from Itunes which might help. Also this is not a Tivo, no recording of live tv.

Pros: Streams very well from PC or Mac, the interface truly feels like it's an iPod on your TV, compared to alternatives available. appletv is probably the best for mac AND pc; small and compact so it fits

Cons: No HD-content just yet, accepted formats is limited, no keyboard (for password protected networks), the music gets cutoff when you leave the Music sub-menu, for $300 you'd like a bigger HDD

Summary: The AppleTV accomplishes its job by streaming multimedia from multiple computers. The streaming is top notch with the only inconvenience of waiting for it to load (only about 5 seconds for a TV show).Fast-forwarding is not favorable to me because holding down the fastforward/rewind button can go too slowly. You can jump one minute by simply clicking the fastforward/rewind if you want. When streaming content, I advise using the one-minute jump because it will actually lag up ("Buffer") if you hold down and will cut off when it can't read as quick, thus ruining the purpose of fastforward/rewind. If the multimedia is "synced" (loaded up in the HDD), you won't notice that inconvenience. The interface of the AppleTV is very nice, as it truly feels like an iPod on your TV. With that in mind, if you're on a trip and want to hook your AppleTV up to someone else's HDTV, the content in the HDD is playable. - My biggest peeve was how the music would get cut off when you exit the "Music" sub-menu. So while you can listen to the "Now Playing" song while you scroll through the music, you're cut off once you scroll the videos or any other menu. Also, the screen when you play music (idle) which shows off your album art flipping is a fancy idea because it doesn't leave a burn-in for your HDTV (thanks for thinking one step ahead Steve Jobs!). It gets really old though, so I'm hoping that they add in a "Visualizer" option (that would be AMAZING on your HDTV). The intial setup only lags when you type in your network's password (you use the remote to select ABC123) and is very annoying. - Videos-wise, it's fair. Not having HD content on iTunes is good reason to wait on this product, because the ipod-format stuff doesn't look that good on your HDTV, as you can (obviously) see the grains. I mean, it's minor and very bearable, but even their widescreen content doesn't look good yet.-The AppleTV has got an HDMI and component output and I strongly advise you to pickup the XtremeMac cables because for $20 you get a gold-plated HDMI/component with a very durable cord build. -Overall, I enjoy the product because when you're hanging out with friends (whatever you're doing) it's cool to lie back in the sofas and listen to the music or watch your videos. The biggest problem most people, such as myself, have is the format restrictions. I would recommend iSquint (google it) for Mac users and for Windows, I'd google up "Videora Apple TV" for free converters. They don't do EVERY format you have, but they cover the basics (XviD, DivX, etc). For those that want to convert DVDs for AppleTV, I find Handbrake as a pretty reliable ripper, but I don't know of a good free one for Windows. For around $300, the AppleTV's price is actually better than its competitors, and is Mac-compatible. Buy if you really want, but hold out for HD content. BTW, some songs I purchased from iTunes were "not authorized to play on AppleTV." I'm sure this will be fixed in a later update, but it's worth noting.

Pros: nice design and nice marketing

Cons: expensive and almost useless

Summary: As much as hypered, in the reality this AppleTV does the things most of which can be done with a $29 DVD player can do. Given the resolution of downloaded video clip, it makes no sense for someone to play it back in his HDTV. Worse, the time spent on downloading is more than the length of video clip.