YouTube On Apple TV Preview
June 21st, 2007
We’ve been testing out Apple TV’s new YouTube support, and, overall, it’s an exciting improvement to the Apple TV platform.
YouTube videos load impressively quickly, even on a relatively slow network, and there’s a lot to be said for watching videos on a big screen from a comfy chair.
Applying the update is quick and simple. After a reboot, the Apple TV is ready to go and a new YouTube option appears on the device’s menu.
Pros:
- Many videos look surprisingly good.
- Navigation is very easy.
- It’s a lot more fun to view the videos on a big TV than on your computer.
- They’ve made thousands of videos available.
Cons:
- No widescreen, HD tastiness. Many of the videos look really bad blown up, and it makes you wish there was more good free high-def content available on demand.
- Searching is a pain. You have to scroll around a virtual keyboard with the Apple Remote. Putting in your password to log into YouTube is even worse. Apple needs to come up with a kick ass keyboard/remote for this.
- The content that’s currently available is a tiny subset of YouTube’s content.
- Now it’s easier and more fun than ever to surf around for stupid videos. There went two hours of my life.
YouTube support adds a lot of value to the Apple TV platform. Apple’s Internet TV solution is still a work in progress, and the experience is really limited by the resolution of most videos currently available. Nevertheless, Apple TV is starting to look like the best platform for viewing Internet videos.
You can get a preview of YouTube on Apple TV below with the video below. Another first take is available at Engadget.
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