Apple has released Apple TV 3.0 (requires iTunes 9.02) today. This new version brings support for Tunes LP and iTunes Extras content for albums and movies, Internet Radio, Genius Mixes and Photo ‘09’s Events and Faces (but not Places) along with a new main UI.
After updating the two Apple TVs in our house, I can tell you this update is nothing to get excited about. My take is the Apple TV is still nothing more than a hobby. Performance is still terrible with connecting to stream from your computers taking waaaay too long (especially for users with large iTunes libraries). Syncing still takes forever (even on my gigabit WIRED network). Apple TV still has no support for plugins, widgets, or new content.
Note: For other frustrated Apple TV owners like myself, I would like to point out that your iTunes LP and iTunes Extras will need to be updated before they will work with the Apple TV. No rush for updating your Apple TV as you will need to wait for the updated Tunes LP and iTunes Extras. So I guess adding this support to the Apple TV was a bit of an after thought.
The Apple TV is in dire need of a total revamp in my opinion. Just the fact that the Apple TV needs to have iTunes open and running just to get to your content is a bit ridiculous. While Apple continues to allow their "hobby" to languish with mostly useless updates that do not fix the Apple TV's core problems, Microsoft has made amazing inroads to "own" the living room.
Why did adding Internet Radio to the Apple TV take so long? This feature should have been available on the first version. Actually this is not even a new feature as you could always play Internet Radio if you put the stations in a playlist. So this is hardly new content.
Putting Plex (and or EyeTV) on a Mac mini makes a far better media PC for your home theatre than the Apple TV (at a far higher price however).
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