First of all, you may think that doesn’t look like any TV you’ve ever seen before and that’s because it isn’t actually a TV, but rather a small device that connects to your TV via an HDMI cable and streams your photos, music, videos, etc. across the Internet and/or through your home network.

Despite saying that it streams information through your home network, I’m certain your next question is, how do I put my pictures, music and movies on it? To which the reply is simply that, you don’t.  Huh?!  With the 2nd generation Apple TV (you can tell the difference because the 1st generation is white and much larger), Apple decided to make your home computer, home network and iTunes do most of the heavy lifting. Although initially some people may balk at this, it actually works better because if you have multiple AppleTVs within your home network, you don’t have to sync your data between them because they should all be pulling from the same source (your Mac or PC running iTunes).  Please understand, that the AppleTV does have storage, it’s just not the kind you’re used to and is primarily used for onboard apps that will discuss in a minute. 

So what’s the catch to this streaming business?  Well, as I mentioned previously, iTunes does most of the heavy lifting, which means anything you want to see on the AppleTV needs to work with iTunes.  This means you need all of music uploaded into an iTunes library and in mp3 format.  With Photos, you need to tell iTunes where to find the folder that has your pictures.  And with Movies, they need to be in mp4 or mv4 format, which I can explain how to do in another article.  So if you have completed all of this, you now need to set up your Apple TV to see your computer on your home network through the use of Home Sharing.  Apple has graciously created a tutorial which can be found athttp://support.apple.com/kb/ht4352 explaining how to setup Home Sharing.  Once Home Sharing is setup you can now go to the Computers section of the AppleTV menu and you should be able to see your computer listed there.

So that takes care of my pictures, music, movies, but what else can it do?  As I said before, iTunes does most of the heavy lifting, but there are a few apps included such as Netflix, YouTube, Internet Radio, MLB.TV, NBA League Pass, and Flickr.  Netflix requires a membership to join, but you can and get a month free if you want to try it out.  I highly recommend Netflix if you have little ones in the house as their Kids & Family movie selection is quite abundant.  YouTube, Internet Radio and Flickr are free, as well as some portions of MLB.TV and NBA League Pass.  At this point, those are really the only apps available on the AppleTV; however, there is a way tojailbreak the device, but I’ll leave that up to you if you are so inclined.  In the meantime, it appears that Apple may be leaning towards an App store especially since they just added an App Store to their Mac computers…at least I hope!

What about pay-per-view, is there anything like that?  Yes, in fact, most new movie releases can be rented for $2.99, $3.99 or $4.99 depending on the format (HD is extra) and television shows from ABC and FOX can be rented for $.99.  True it’s not HULU, but I think you have to pay for that now too so you may want to keep the DVR around a bit longer.

I can’t stand having another remote control in my house!  Well, if you have an iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad, you’re in luck because Apple created a Remote App so you can not only control your AppleTV while you’re sitting in front of it, but anywhere within range of your home wifi network.  Since it works off of wifi, you don’t need to be standing right in front of the device, which is particularly great if you keep your devices hidden behind closed doors.

Well, I love music and it can only come through my state-of-the-art surround sound system.  I don’t want to keep my TV on while I listen to Internet Radio!  Again you’re in luck, because the AppleTV has a Digital Optical Audio out (also known as a TOSLINK) that you can plug right into your state-of-the-art stereo system.  Turn off your TV (or let the Slideshow kick in) and listen in full Digital audio through the system of your choice!

When I was in Best Buy, the sales guy kept talking about AirPlay, but I didn’t want to seem dumb so I just kept nodding my head, but honestly, I don’t know what that is! :/  I gotcha! The coolest way to describe what AirPlay is when that guy in the movie Avatar is looking at a picture on the computer and then just pushes it onto his tablet…it’s kind of like that…only the early stages. Basically, AirPlay will allow you to share pictures, movies, music, YouTube clips, etc from your iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad directly onto your big screen.  So the next time Grandma comes over and wants to see some pics of the kids, just turn on your AppleTV, pull out your iPhone, go to your Camera Roll and hit the AirPlay button and voilà, instant slideshow!

Okay, I’m definitely interested, so what’s this thing cost?  Unlike many other Apple products, they decided to price this one right and kept it at a lowly $99.00 which should be available at your local Apple Store or Best Buy.

So I’m super nerdy and really want to know the technical specs, what are those?  Well, rather than fill up more precious blog space, Apple has kindly provided all of the 2nd generation Apple TV specs at http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html