I want my (Apple)TV (2.0)

Well, after originally getting all a-twitter at Apple's announcement of the iTV (now renamed AppleTV), I'm disappointed to learn that the final product doesn't quite match my original expectations.

Specifically, my original expectation was that the AppleTV would be able to play anything a Mac can play, albeit with a nice couch-friendly interface -- a wireless, streaming, beefed-up Front Row, in other words. In reality, the AppleTV can only play a subset of the media that iTunes can handle. This is a deal-breaker for me because I've got a fair number of video clips and home movies in my collection that AppleTV won't play. The only way to make AppleTV happy would be to re-encode them into a compatible format, which (a) will inevitably reduce the quality, and (b) fill up my hard disk with redundant copies of the same stuff.

Since paying $300 for a set-top box that only supports photos and music is a bit much for me, I'm going to have to take myself out of the AppleTV queue and wait for a revision that adds the features I want. Either that, or figure out how to get a cheap Mac Mini and connect it to my component-HD-only television set...

(Rob recommend Ars Technica's review of the AppleTV for all your in-depth edjumacashional needs.)