Apple TV contradictions

"What's this AppleTV?" I get asked and so I delve onto the Apple site to find out. Here's the front page usefully titled What is Apple TV? though sadly not as useful as telling you how it works - see you plug it into the TV and you can rent movies and sync up with your computer... presumably by magic?

Next page What's on Apple TV and here we go

All you need is Apple TV, your widescreen TV and a comfortable sofa. No computer required.

so um it is magic then? Oh and just for fun

sync the films you buy on Apple TV with iTunes, so you can transfer them to your iPod or iPhone

Okay one last try with Tech Specs - system requirements (at last) "Mac or PC" sorry did I misunderstand that "no computer required" bit oh and "Wi-Fi 802.11b, 802.11g or 802.11n wireless network6 (wireless video streaming requires 802.11g or 802.11n) or 10/100BASE-T Ethernet network" so not magic then and obviously dependant on your broadband connection yet another thing for the ISPs to blame and demand money from.

Okay if in doubt head to the support page and how to rent a movie for AppleTV or from iTunes.

Computer and iTunes first and

You can rent movies from iTunes and watch them with your Mac or Windows computer, iPhone, or a supported video-enabled iPod*, or on your TV using your Apple TV.

Yay! Now for AppleTV

Movies rented on your Apple TV are not transferable to any other device and can only be viewed on your Apple TV.

Que? But you said on the other page I can transfer them. I'm kinda following the gist here and it's not helped by what seems to be two versions of AppleTV new and old, with one allowing downloads directly and the older one not.

And I thought Apple were supposed to be the company for simple, intuitive, pick up and use devices? Then again the fact you can't wirelessly connect an iPhone to a PC should have told me something about spin versus reality.