Apple TV was started as iTV back in the fall of 2006. However subsequent upgrades, media mockery and consumer indifference aside, it is evolving into something that most people will want to pocket. Apple TV along with iTunes is set to jump to the front of the line in living room media rentals. The existing early adopters will be able to access the new features via a software update without needing to replace or upgrade their existing hardware. The new software updates promise to entice the viewers as now rental movies will be offered in both standard def and high-definition formats. And now since Apple's movie studio support in iTunes has also expanded over the last year from one studio to all the major movie studios, the titles offered have also increased. The upgrade in the software allows users to rent and buy movies, as well as buy music, music videos, and TV programs directly from the iTunes Store using the simple remote control. While music and video purchases can be synced back to a desktop iTunes library, just like the new WiFi Store on the iPod Touch and iPhone, video rentals ordered on Apple TV can't.

You can rent movies directly from iTunes for playback on iPods, however they can't be synced to the Apple TV. The rentals range between $3.99 and $4.99. A new menu system displays Apple TV features in two columns: the first lists Movies, TV Shows, Music, Podcasts, Photos, YouTube, and Settings. Under Movies, it presents downloadable Trailers, your Rented Movies, a listing of Top Movies, Genres, and All HD titles, a Search, and a selection of My Movies. Within any of the submenus, the movie title selection and browsing interface has graphical representation, with rows of title art that spin past similar to Cover Flow. Apple TV presents more than a half dozen options at once in each row, and quickly zips through additional titles when you scroll to the right. Families of content or genres of titles appear at the top. Thus navigating the menus of movies can be done in a jiffy.
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