November 20, 2008 9:25 AM PST
Apple TV 2.3 firmware update adds a handful of minor tweaks
(Credit:
CNET)
The 2.3 firmware update for the Apple TV is now available, but it delivers just a select few feature enhancements. According to Apple's support Web site, here's what you get:
- Music can be streamed via AirTunes to Airport Express speakers or other Apple TVs in your house
- Apple TV can now learn other remote controls and use them in addition to the Apple Remote
- Playlists in iTunes that contain Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, and Music Videos can now be seen on Apple TV
- Support for volume control in Music
If those sound like minor tweaks, that's because they are. (Indeed, I've already used a Logitech Harmony remote with our in-house Apple TV before applying the 2.3 update, so I'm not sure what the second bullet point adds.) Still, we're just happy to see that Apple is doing something with the product besides dismissing it as "just a hobby."
Let us know if the new Apple TV features are important or useful to you. (Or if you're skipping the Apple firmware update and hacking your Apple TV to run Boxee instead.)
Apple support via TUAW via EngadgetHD.
John P. Falcone covers home theater and network entertainment products. He's been writing for CNET since 2002. 
For our entire family, the AppleTV serves us with the programming a family of four wishes. I have no issues paying for content and welcome non-linear television. This is where TV will be going in the future. DVR's are simply a recorder band-aid'ing a linear world.
The 2.3 updates? Nothing that I see makes me jump up and down for the update. I do hope that Apple would stop the "hobby" comment. For a hobby, it has worked well, but I can only imagine what else they could do (Boxee features).
As for hacking...Boxee Hulu content is terrible to look at.
A few other features I noticed, these ones uncredited:
- Streaming radio entries in my iTunes library now show up and will play. There's even a custom radio tower "album cover" logo.
- The popup menu during music browsing/playback has additional "Browse Artist" and "Browse Album" items.
AppleTV is great for watching video podcasts, especially after the 2.0 update that allowed us to stream directly from the Internet, without the need of iTunes. However for everything else, it is a miserable failure:
1) YouTube: List of videos doesn't get updated, always the same old thing
2) Watch Videos and Listen to Music on a NAS: Not possible, requires the dreadful iTunes. Also for videos, it doesn't support most codecs out there so it's pretty useless. The PopcornHour is a champ for video streaming.
3) Rental is WAY too EXPENSIVE! For the price of 2 rentals I can rent movies from Netflix for an entire month!
- by cracker9 December 22, 2008 2:10 AM PST
- my biggest issue has been NO continues music video playback always making you manually select the next video after each one has played wondering if this update has corrected the issue when putting several music videos into an itunes playlist?
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