I have the original apple tv. Works fine. What's the difference between it and the new one that's only $99?

Question

I paid $250 for the first generation apple tv and wonder if there's any new features to make it worth upgrading to the latest apple tv.   What am I missing?
Thanks, Tzipora

Answer 1

The new one has no hard drive instead it has 8GB of solid state memory.
You can't sync to it as a consequence.  It uses less energy, is smaller and doesn't get hot enough to fry an egg.
You lose analogue video/audio out.  It's HDMI/optical only.
No mopre iTunes LP/Extras functionality.  No sending audio to Airtunes speakers fro AppleTV.
The new one has a more powerful processor and can handle 720p 30fps which the old one couldn't and higher bitrates.  It tends to be more responsive going through menus but I prefer ATV1's way of sorting things and interface in general.
You lose the ability to up/downscale video output to anything other than 720p.  Output if fixed to 720p.
It's still evolving.  To my mind it's more an iPhone/iPad accessory / iTunes rental vehicle with some US centric (on the whole) novelties - Netflix, American football feeds may appeal to US users, but no use if you can't get Netflix in your country.
The game keeps changing and iCloud features will enhance it's functionality but currently possibly only in US.  iCloud may let users play their purchases across the internet rather than from local storage - could be gtreat if it works but only provided things remain available in the store.
US had TV Show rentals as well as Movie rentals, but TV Show rentals have been scrapped.
You couldn't purchase anything at all on it until recently, and that's probably only TV Shows and only in the US currently.  No browsing music or music videos.
iphones/iPads can use the Airplay feature to send video/audio across wi-fi to the AppleTV but personally I'm not that impressed by it.
Vimeo has been added recently to complement YouTube, Flickr, MobileMe (end of line anyway).
It's a mixed bag really - suits some people down to the ground, has limitations for others.
AC