Apple TV - 40Gb and 160Gb In my continuing boycott of Time Warner Cable Los Angeles, I have opted to get the Apple TV as my multi-media hub/outlet for watching movies, TV, and listening to music. Boy am I glad that I didn't cave and go back to Time Warner. The Apple TV does a great job in all of the areas, bringing the simplicity and ease of the iTunes interface to TV to display not only your movies, TV shows, and music, but also your video podcasts, Youtube videos with search and favorites, as well as slideshows with the pics that you have given iTunes access to. Out of the box the Apple has HD component plug-ins, HDMI connection, ethernet port, USB 2.0 port, component left and right audio, and an optical audio jack, bringing the clearest sound and picture available to your entertainment set-up. I used to watch movies and the TV shows that I bought on iTunes over the DVI connection on my TV and it would experience these weird screen flashes from time to time, which after a while became really annoying. With the Apple TV those strange flashes are gone and the picture is far superior to the computer connection that I had. Hopefully since the picture quality has been improved so much by the HD capabilities of the Apple TV, iTunes will start providing HD versions of TV shows and movies to their already impressive and growing catalogue. Strangely enough though, iTunes does have HD podcasts for download which are shown through the Apple TV in all their HD glory. With crisp, clean movies, TV shows, and podcasts the Apple TV does a great job of showing off your iTunes media collection. The Apple TV also does a fantastic job with music and the ability to have my iTunes library playing in my apartment in 5.1 surround sound is probably why I love this gadget so much (HDTV shows and movies could take over as my favorite but Apple has to start doing that- *hint*hint* Apple). The Apple TV syncs with your Mac or PC either through wireless or wired connection to grab all (depending on how much space you have on your Apple TV) of your playlists, music (along with album covers), and music videos. It allows you to browse through them just like you would channels on a TV. The music playback is very much an Apple interface and the playback sounds really good. After about 3 minutes of the Apple TV being idle, the screen saver comes on and can be set to display the album covers or your pictures you have stored on your Mac or PC. Personally, I would have rather had a really cool HD visualizer that was able to sync the visuals with the beats and tempo of the song playing, but its not there. In addition to syncing up with the purchases made on your computer you also can go to iTunes store on the Apple TV to buy new songs, music videos, movies and TV shows. All in all, I am rather pleased with my decision to get the Apple TV instead of succumbing to the evil will of Time Warner Los Angeles. With the Apple TV and my Netflix subscription, I have no need for broadcast cable (except to watch full sports games, big disappointment, but the highlights on iTunes from NFL Network are enough to get me by). I would not recommend buying this unless you are planning on using or already using iTunes very extensively. Apple TV is a good compliment to the array of Apple products that I already own (MacBook, 8 GB iPod Nano, and my 8GB iPhone) and is cheaper for me and better suited for my needs. With there being only a hundred dollars difference for 120 GB (40 GB $299, 160 GB $399), I think that the 160 GB is a better deal. However, I find it hard to tell everyone to go out and get one of these. The Apple TV is for the Apple-pheliacs and iTunes veteran users. If that is you, you'll enjoy, otherwise pass it by. RANKING: 7 out of 10