The Apple TV Hardware - What Is Apple TV - The Apple TV Crash Course (2015)

The Apple TV Crash Course (2015)

Part One: What Is Apple TV

The Apple TV Hardware

So that’s what’s in the box, but what’s in the box? The hardware inside the device, that is.

Apple loves simple. That’s pretty clear when you look at the box. There’s not even a power button! Hitting the menu powers it on, but how do you power it off if there’s no button?! Simple: you don’t! The box will time out and turn itself off when not in use. You’ll know it’s on when you see a tiny LED light turn on in the front of the device.

The back, however, has a few different things to note:

In the diagram above, we’ve labeled the three items that aren’t labeled on the device itself. On the left, you’ll find the power receptacle. This is where you’ll plug in the lone cable that came in your Apple TV box. Next to that, you’ll find the HDMI slot on top (where you’ll connect your television to the device), and a MicroUSB port below that.

The MicroUSB port is, according to Apple, only meant for service and support. Trying to plug anything into it (assuming you’re not an authorized Apple service technician) will void your warranty. So just leave it alone!

The remote control is also ridiculously simple! Just a up/down, left right controller and three buttons. It’s not your grandma’s remote, that’s for sure!

Here’s a run down of what each button does:

· Up/Down/Left/Right – these are the ‘navigation’ buttons, used to move around the various menus and items on the screen. Left and Right are also used for rewinding and fast-forwarding, which we’ll discuss a little later.

· Select – This button, located in the center of the navigation buttons, is used to select items on screen.

· Menu – This button is used to return to the main menu, or move up one menu when you’re in a sub-menu. Think of it as the universal ‘back’ button.

· Play/Pause – As the name suggests, this button will begin or pause playback of your content, whether it’s a video, music, podcast – it’s universal.

As with pretty much any apple product, things aren’t always as they appear on the surface. As we get into more advance topics, you’ll see how holding a button longer will do more things. Here’s two examples:

· Hold Select For Six Seconds – this will put your Apple TV into ‘Standby Mode’. If you don't, then it will eventually power itself down after several minutes. Standby means it’s not fully off; unless you unplug it, the Apple TV will always be on, but it won’t really be consuming much power, so don’t worry!

· Hold Menu and Down For Six Seconds – it’s rare, but the Apple TV “might” freeze or become unresponsive. If this ever were to happen, then this would reboot the device. It’s kind of like CTRL, ALT, DELETE on a Windows computer. But chances are you’ll never have to do this.