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Apple TV. Is it everything I had hoped it was?

Having toyed with the idea of hooking up my Samsung monitor as a TV for a the last few months, yesterday I took the next step and purchased an Apple TV. Was it everything I had hoped it was?

Is Apple TV all that it is hope to be

Not exactly. The name Apple TV had conjured up ideas and hopes of the first truly interactive web home interactive tv viewing experience. I thought with Apple computing tied with the traditional concept of TV something amazing lay in waiting. Sadly it did not live up to its name. To my dismay, despite the fact that it is hooked up to WiFi, Apple has not given it the Safari browser. That was my first huge disappointment.

However, I consoled myself, at least it is advertised to connect to apps from my iPhone via airplay. Eagerly I began playing with my iPhone apps to see how they would connect. It did not turn out to be nearly as AirPlay friendly as it was advertised. Even Safari didn’t work with AirPlay. Perhaps they plan for that in the future but as of right now it does not work. Some apps did allow me to stream video to Apple TV, such as Crackle, TED Talks, and VEVO. However my favorite TV watching apps CityTV and Global TV do not. Which kind of defeats the whole point of an interactive TV.

There are some pluses, playing music from my home computer’s shared library is very cool. And airplay seamlessly lets me play music from my iPhone to the Apple TV.

Overall I will still use the music sharing, whatever video sharing I am able, and the video rental features. Hopefully with the upcoming release of OS X Mountain Lion in the summer I will be able to use my browser from my computer on the TV. Then we will be taking a big step forward for mankind. Until then I can only hold my breath. If you were intrigued by the idea of plugging the Apple TV into a computer monitor I have posted my setup here.