Apple TV vs. Google TV

I reviewed Google TV last year, and though the Android 3.1 update this Fall has brought with it the Android Marketplace and better UI, the Google TV still falls short in my opinion.

I recently picked up an Apple TV for the ability to mirror my iPad 2 on it. Due to an issue I'll be buying a new TV later this year.

Both devices have their shortcomings, both are far from perfect. Overall I will say that the Apple TV is my preferred box of choice. One thing I used Google TV for a lot, was Podcasts. Apple has a larger selection of Podcasts, and all the ones I watched on GTV are also available on ATV. And yes, I realize that you can manually add podcasts to GTV that don't show up in their Podcast list, but it's more of a hassle. Especially when those Podcasts are listed on the Apple TV Podcast list. Also Apple TV makes it easier to watch movies I have stored on my computer. Just throw a movie into iTunes, and it plays on Apple TV. I'm not talking about just movies you buy on iTunes, I'm talking about DVDs that you rip to your hard drive. To do this on Google TV, I have to put the movies on a USB hard drive (or flash drive) and load up Media Player on GTV. And even then, there is a chance GTV will choke on the video and not play properly.

Now if you do buy movies from iTunes for some reason, well those only play on Apple TV. I bought one of the first movies to appear in the iTunes Store, just to test out the quality. After I found out the dreaded DRM prevented me from burning to a DVD, I stopped buying from iTunes. It just doesn't make sense, buy the DVD and rip a digital copy yourself. Luckily a lot of movies these days come with digital copies, so you don't have to rip as much as you used to.

ATTENTION MOVIE STUDIOS:
Speaking of digital copies, UltraViolate is a horrible piece of shit. STOP IT MOVIE STUDIOS! If you want to include a digital copy, make it a REAL digital copy. You used to include codes that worked in iTunes (for iPods, etc.) or Windows Media Center (for Zune). Just continue doing that, people still had a choice (iPod or Zune), but now you took that choice away. People MUST use your crappy software to play the UltraViolate movies. And you have to create TWO different accounts just to watch the UltraViolate movies on your computer.