Until then, a better option today is to buy a used Mac Mini on eBay for about the same price as a new ATV. older PPC Mini's support the same 720p display and Front Row is almost the same. but you get everything else too - DVD, browser, mouse/keyboard (or iPhone) control, web streaming (like Hulu etc), and whatever you want to add.

• ATV is three year old Mac technology. it runs a version of Tiger OS and has only 512M RAM. that's why it is so cheap.
• you can hack it and add a lot of great features via aTVFlash (browser, applications, mouse/keyboard, etc), but those limitations make it unstable. -Toast is a great but expensive program that can convert almost any media you have to ATV/iPod format with just (almost) one click. think of it as the missing piece of iTunes that solves all those problems (like DVD playback).
• on the other hand, with iTunes Home Sharing you don't need a "media server" like many are trying to sell naive consumers (including MS). you can stream to ATV from as many as 5 macs. or slicker, just create a master library on a big external drive plugged into any mac on your LAN (don't forget to back up somehow!).

one theory that makes sense to me is that Apple has focused its engineers on the upcoming new iTab the last year or more and simply pushed ATV development aside. but soon they can go back to work on ATV.

so i bet in the fall of 2010 we will finally see ATV Take 3. its OS will be updated to a version of Leopard like the iPhone/touch, along with new chips and more RAM. that will enable it to run iPhone/iTab apps! which would be a huge addition to its consumer capabilities and make them sell like hotcakes. but i doubt Apple will ever add a DVD or DVR to ATV, although 1080p will come someday.

That’s still Apple’s killer app."

You're not serious, are you? You think that most folks want/need a device that emulates the methods and the design of a dumbed-down kid's toy?

Naw. I think that there's a niche of users who want/need this, but that most normal adults buy stuff that is capable - like the Blackberry, and upcoming, like the Droid, even if it means that they can't get usage advice from their kids. Maybe that is why the Blackberry outsells the iPhone by a 2 to 1 margin? Maybe that is why the dominant prediction is that Android will overtake the iPhone? And Apple will (once again) languish in single-digit market penetration?

"The Telephone for the Rest of Us - Those who have trouble figgerin stuff out..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KVEHqIqM

If only I could find a britpop station too!

They would sell a lot more and get money for each if it had DVD upscaling and Bluray player abilities as well. As a set-top box the PS3 is much better IMO.

Steve, let's make this hobby an enterprise. =]