Leigh also thinks that the product wasn't designed with Web video in mind, which leads to one of its shortcomings. "The Apple TV is a good way to access content on iTunes," he said. "It's not a good way to access Web sites like Hulu."

Whatever the reason, it's Apple TV users who miss out. Instead of an open and extensible media device that can bring together various forms of content onto your TV, Apple has providing a limited piece of hardware--and has shown little interest in making it anything more than what it is now.

And that's a shame.

[Jim Dalrymple contributed to this story.]