Gadgetory

hey I'm Matthew miskovic from cnet com we're going to take a look at the Apple TV this is the third generation of Apple streaming video box which originally came out in March but apple recently added some new features so we're taking another look at it this is still the best-looking streaming video box you can buy it's small it blends in with your home theater and the power supply is built into the box so there's no annoying AC adapter or power brick there's no display on the box other than a tiny white light on the front that lets you know it's on around the back there's an HDMI port and optical audio output and Ethernet port and a micro USB port although the USB port is only used for service and support it also has built-in Wi-Fi for connecting to your wireless home network the user interfaces icon driven and it kind of makes your TV look like a giant iPad if you're looking at iTunes for movies or TV shows there's a menu bar across the top letting you quickly access useful categories like purchase content and search with purchase content your movies and TV shows are saved in the cloud for rewatching and you can also download them later to an ipad or iphone for third party apps are a handful of services including netflix MLB TV youtube and the recently added Hulu Plus at however that's not quite as many services as you'll find on Roku's boxes which feature HBO GO amazon instant and pandora now while the Apple TV doesn't have as many content sources it does have another killer feature if you own other apple products that's airplay let you take almost any photo music or video you have on an iOS device and stream it right to your TV so if you're listening to pandora on your phone you can then play it on your Apple TV even though the Apple TV doesn't have a native pandora app Apple also recently announced airplay mirroring for its latest mountain lion operating system which means you can stream whatever is on the screen of your computer directly to the apple TV wirelessly now airplay mirroring only works but relatively recent max that support the feature but it's the easiest way to get any web video on your TV including flash video and even free hulu videos so overall if you're already in the apple ecosystem the apple TV is a must-have gadget for one hundred dollars and with the recent feature updates the Apple TV now gets our editors choice award for streaming video boxes but if you're not invested in apples ecosystem it's still worth considering our other editors choice in the category the roku LT which is half the price and offers more content sources I'm Matthew miskovic and this is the Apple TV