This was a good way to start a Friday morning. Our Apple TV finally arrived. We spent this morning setting up the Apple TV in one of our meeting rooms with a Panasonic HDTV.

 

After we unbox the Apple TV, we'll connect it to the TV, and step through the Wi-Fi setup. Once that's done, we'll sync the Apple TV with iTunes. And then we'll watch some Apple TV content.

 

First, let's open the box.

 

Front of the box. No standard-Apple-issue white box here.

 

 

Back of the box.

 

 

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Inside the box.

 

 

Front.

 

 

Ports (left to right): power, USB, Ethernet, HDMI, component video (red, blue, green), RCA audio (white, red), optical audio.

 

Now, let's connect it to the TV.

 

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We connected the Apple TV to our TV using HDMI. We used a XtremeMac HDMI cable. You can also use component video. If your widescreen TV doesn't have HDMI but it has DVI, you can get a HDMI-to-DVI cable.

 

HDMI connection to the Apple TV.

 

 

The TV's HDMI connection.

 

Then we plugged in the Apple TV, switch the TV to HDMI input, and Apple TV was on our big screen. Now it's time to configure the Wi-Fi network.

 

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We're fond of English - oh, and sorry about the glare; the TV is in a corner meeting room, all windows.

 

 

Making a WiFi connection.

 

 

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Select the WiFi security.

 

 

Wait, you mean I have to use the Apple Remote to enter the 26-character password? Ugh.

 

 

I made a mistake in the password. Argh!

 

 

Even though the Apple TV's USB port is for Apple maintenance purposes, I tried plugging in a keyboard to re-enter the password. Didn't work (hey, you never know). So after I entered the 26-character password using the Apple Remote again, it was time to sync Apple TV with iTunes.

 

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Startup screen. (Sorry 'bout the bad angle. Caught me off guard.)

 

 

Apple TV gives you a code that you use to identify the iTunes library on your Mac.

 

 

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Back at my Mac, on the other side of the office.

 

Enter the code on your Mac's iTunes.

 

 

Apple TV shows up in iTunes as a source.

 

 

It takes a little while for the Apple TV to sync with iTunes. I took the long way back to the meeting room, where I wanted to see the Apple TV content.

 

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Apple TV screen saver. Pretty flowers!

 

 

My iTunes library shows up. It's not done syncing, though. Apple TV syncs only when it's not doing anything else.

 

 

TV resolution settings.

 

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You can preview music videos, movie trailers, and TV shows from the iTunes Store.

 

 

Maybe a movie will look better.

 

 

Some initial impressions:

• If I didn't have to stop and take pictures, set up would've taken me about 20 minutes.

• It's been about two hours since I started syncing the Apple TV with iTunes. So far only 580 items out of 4,882 have been copied over.

• When we first used Apple TV there was a lag when you access iTunes store stuff, such as movie trailers or music video previews. After the Apple TV sat for a few hours, the lag disappeared. Go figure...

• We're still waiting for Apple TV to finishing syncing so we can check out video quality on movies, TV shows, and so on.

• The device barely makes any noise.

• Apple TV can heat up, though. 

 

We'll have a in-depth review of the Apple TV in the June issue of Mac|Life.