OK for those of you with laptops you're gonna have to plug it in to your tv every time you want to do this and put it where? On the floor? Or next to the TV? Whatever. I don't want a laptop plugged into my tv all the time or the inconvenience of unplugging and plugging in all the time. ?tv is a nice inexpensive alternative and its small enough to sit right on top of my dvd player out of sight(allmost) By the way my wife wouldn't be too happy if I take her Macbook Pro away from her everytime I want to watch a movie or look at photos on the tv.
Exactly.
I installed my new Apple TV last night, and everything positive said about that experience is true. Configuration: Home Office MMD G4 "always on" server hardwired to New Airport Extreme. Internet via Cable modem on Airport (another fantastic product, btw). Apple TV via Extreme "n", one floor down. Wife's Macbook transportable as 2nd iTunes source - n connected. TV is RCA direct view (Tube) 42" HD set, with built in DirectTV tuner.
To the point of the "options" route, I have experience there. Previously I used a KDS KD-VTCA3 converter to get my Powerbook connected to the HDTV via Component Video. (I will be putting that device on eBay shortly

) Connecting as a "monitor" presents many inconveniences - overscan, positioning windows where you want them, everthing izzie22 mentioned about placing that Powerbook. Even if you have a good place, it has to be powered up and open with the screen on. I had done this to present iPhoto slideshows, and it did work well and offered georgeous views of photos. But compared to the accessibility offed by Apple TV, it was not user friendly at all.
From what i have seen in the lst 12 hours, I predict the Apple TV will be a huge positive for Apple and iTunes.
Tech hint number one: If you have hardwire or n networking, don't bother synching with audi content, same for video. Save the storage for iPhoto content. My first attempt with all synching turned on filled the drive with movies, TV shows, then topped up with most of the audio. Photos did not synch at all, as the box was out of room by then. I reset my TV shows to "last 5 not viewed", and selected a handful of audio playlists for chuckles. When the synch nominations are changed, iTunes and Apple TV converse and "erase" the unwanted content from the hard drive immediately. Once space was opened up, iPhoto synching began. Again, I had selected a subset of the photo library by selecting "from selected albums" and checked a significant number of my alubms. Now the capacity graph bar reads 5.19 GB Video, 3.60GB Audio and 1.67GB Photos. Free space listed at 22.41.
Tech Tip # 2: I read that HDMI connect is automatic, but when connecting via Component Video, it was necessary in my case to command the unit to cycle among available scan rates untill my TV found one it could synch to. That process is documentd in the manual: Press and hold pause/play and + for six seconds. When a viewable picture is press pause/play. I am running at 1080i.
Surprise: Access to Apple-maintained list of Movie Trailers right from the menu. They are displayed, annotated and lauched with no fuss. Streeming directly from the internet, they ran flawlesly in wide screen HD.
Summary: the graphics and interfaces are georgeous. iTunes TV shows and movies present with the clarity I have been getting with DVDs or Direct TV HD shows.
And my wife can navigate it without me fussing for 15 min getting the laptop set up.