So my wife purchased an Apple TV for me when they first came out for valentines day or something like that, I let it sit in the box for at least six months because I was not really sure what I would do with it. Then I read that it only worked on HD televisions so I was even more discouraged. Eventually I decided I would try to make it work and found out that there is an option for 480i and 480p in the setup menu meaning that it can work with standard def tvs. However my tv is old enough that it does not have component or hdmi in so a coworker of mine found a component to composite/svideo converter that I could use for the Apple TV.(see my post on why he found it instead of me) This worked pretty well and it has been in our living room for the past year or so. (note I have no concept of time so this is probably wrong)
Anyway, Apple finally decided to make this thing useful with Apple TV take 2 which is a firmware/software update that can be done to any existing apple tv. It allows you to do everything the old version did but also rent movies, view podcasts, youtube directly from the tv using the apple remote. Also it now supports AirTunes which means you can use it just like an Airport Express but the music will play through your tv.
Pretty cool.
One last note, when using the Apple TV in 480p mode it is very hard to read the text on the screen. It is super small and looks kinda squished. So even though this is not the perfect setup, it will due until I break down and buy an HD tv.
Tags: Airport Express, AirTunes, Apple TV, HD, Standard Def
