Apple TV is coming

It’s February, and already I am looking forward to the Apple TV. To be honest, I really was not all that interested in it for the last month or so. All the talk has been “When is Mac OS X 10.5 coming out? What about a new iPod? What’s up with iLife ’07? Can I pre-order my iPhone?” So in many respects, the Apple TV has taken a back-seat in the limited space that I call my brain.

So now that it is February, the month Apple is set to release the Apple TV, I am actually excited. As I have publicly stated before, my only real problem with the Apple TV is that it does not actually replace anything in my living room, it adds to the it. With the Apple TV, I still need my cable HD box. I still need my DVD player. The game systems are not going anywhere. I have need of my component switch box, which all the game systems plug into.

A slight problem there: my audio receiver only has two inputs for component video, one for my cable HD DVR box, and another the external three-port component switcher is on, which connects the PS3, Wii, and 360 to the other component input on the receiver. I really don’t want to go out and buy yet another switch box. Any suggestions? Because once the Apple TV comes out and lands in my living room, that will make six electronic items I need to plug into my receiver. Any suggestions? Does anyone make a six-port component switcher? One with a remote control would also be excellent. (No HDMI or DVI inputs on my HDTV, just component)

I am really interested in seeing how the Apple TV works in the real world, and what the picture quality is on my HDTV. I am also curious on the feasibility of having multiple Apple TVs in my home, with the option of controlling the type of content each box has access to. I don’t think that is possible in this first version, but I would love to be able to set one of these up on the kid’s television, and only grant them access to G-rated content.