Photo Gallery: Hands-on with YouTube on Apple TV

With Apple's latest announcement, YouTube videos are currently available on the Apple TV and will also be on the upcoming iPhone when it's released. We fired up our Apple TV, downloaded and installed the update, then took it for a spin.

CNET Reviews staff

June 20, 2007 1:29 p.m. PT

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The initial download took a little over 5 minutes for us.

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Once the download finishes, Apple TV needs to install the update and restart, which takes another few minutes.

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Once you've updated, YouTube is on the main menu...

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...and you can go to the YouTube section. As you might expect, the interface is pretty slick. You can browse videos using the Featured, Most Viewed, Most Recent, Top Rated and History menus.

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We found that the Featured video section is pretty up-to-date and accurately reflects what's featured on the actual YouTube Web site.

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There's also a Most Recent videos section that shows you the latest videos that have been uploaded.

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Within a category, you can change the time frame you want to browse. For instance, you can browse the top-rated videos of all time or the top-rated videos of this week.

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Searching for videos is done by selecting letters on the onscreen keyboard. It's definitely the biggest limiting factor of bringing the YouTube experience to your couch, as it gets a little tedious if you want to type in something specific like "presidential debates." Luckily, the results page updates as you're typing, so you often don't have to type in your whole search phrase. Still, there's no denying that we'd love the ability to grab a wireless keyboard and go to town.

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Once we selected a video, it loaded up in just 1-2 seconds and started playing.

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Once you watch a video, you can select the Options menu to rate a video or save it as a favorite.

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To use the Favorites function, you'll need to be logged in to your YouTube account. You'll also have access to the Favorites you've saved via YouTube on the Internet, but they might not all show up because not every YouTube video has been converted to the Apple-friendly h.264 format. For example, we couldn't view any of our favorite CNET TV videos on YouTube via the Apple TV.