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Apple TV came advertised as a convenient way to connect a computer to your TV -- and do it in HDTV, no less -- but critics say the device has clearly missed the mark. To be fair, Apple has never promised anything contrary to the specific complaints lodged by detractors. Still, the question remains: Will consumers accept Apple TV, worms and all? "Beyond the [first] 1 million units, the Apple TV will struggle until it opens up the box to the Web-streamed content that all the major networks are putting online for free," said James McQuivey, principal analyst with Forrester Research.
The worst thing is that Apple TV can not play games, and also it does not support a major range of video codecs (although it has got hacked now).
The Apple TV may be paralleling another TV-related device: the TiVo. Like the the TiVo, it turns out that the Apple TV is quite hackable. (Quite surprising so for an Apple product.) People are replacing the Apple TV's hard drive with a larger one. People are also adding software to allow the Apple TV to play media files it wasn't originally made to play.
If the Apple folks are truely geniuses, they won't purposely thwart this 'feature'. The TiVo wasn't wasn't as popular as it is now and being so hackable may have saved it at some point early on in its life. The Apple TV could be in the same boat.
If the Apple folks are truely geniuses, they won't purposely thwart this 'feature'. The TiVo wasn't wasn't as popular as it is now and being so hackable may have saved it at some point early on in its life. The Apple TV could be in the same boat.
