The new device, which is similar to a set-top box and brings video and music from the Internet to a television, now has an app store. So I downloaded Madefire, one of the first apps available for the new device. Madefire adds a twist to digital comics with sound effects, music and motion, bringing the panels to life on the big screen. Within minutes, I was bingeing on a series about Superman turning into a corrupt dictator. I would get hooked on reading comic books on a TV screen. That changed last week after I picked up a new Apple TV.

For Apple, this type of reaction to Apple TV is important. The box, which made its debut in 2007, was long labeled a “hobby” by the company, and it accounts for a single-digit percentage of its revenue. With the new device,Apple is aiming to push hard into consumers’ living rooms, where it faces competition from players including the Microsoft Xbox and Amazon’s Fire TV device.

“This is the foundation of the future of TV,” Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said recently at a conference about Apple TV. “What has to happen in the TV land, it has to be brought up and modernized.”

All the extra features have now put Apple TV in a position to become a powerful apps and games console, not just a box for streaming movies and TV shows.

Even for those more basic elements, the device is better at streaming video content than less expensive products from Amazon, Roku and Google, all of which I tested over the last month. While the new Apple box has flaws, it also has a cleaner interface for finding things to watch and a niftier remote control — not to mention more compelling apps and games.