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iTunes Extras and iTunes LP on new Apple TV?
- Thread starter suss2it
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It has nothing to do with power.
Case against...
The new AppleTV is an iOS device, the old AppleTV wasn't.
The iPad doesn't support iTunes LP.
Apple has left iTunesLP out to die.
I suspect that there is an update coming for the Apple TV. The new one is missing things that the old one has. Ability of shows to be in a directory. Now they are all one right after the other. Also iTunes extra does not work on the new apple Tv. Look for an update around the same time as 4.2 for the ipad.
Is that a confirmation or speculation that the new ATV can't play iTunes LPs and iTunes Extras?
That's a shame. I hope Apple corrects that. That to me is the biggest thing that Apple excised from the Apple TV, and I'm not gonna buy one until iTunes Extra returns.
Picked up two new ATV's tonight since my classic decided to die today. I cannot believe they left this feature out. That to me is the best experience you can get from digital content. To me, I prefer to purchase movies that have extras, I feel like I get my moneys worth and it gives you the good 'ol DVD menu feel. It better return or these are going back and I will pick up two classics.
I am surprised that iTunes Extras don't play. Apple really seem to be into them lately, as most new releases feature Extras. I think they're pretty cool too.
But since the focus is renting now on the ATV and you don't get Extras when you rent, maybe they didn't think it was important. I hope they are going to get this worked out soon cause it's kind of lame if you can't play the Extras on your tv...
But since the focus is renting now on the ATV and you don't get Extras when you rent, maybe they didn't think it was important. I hope they are going to get this worked out soon cause it's kind of lame if you can't play the Extras on your tv...
I just bought Iron Man 2 on my AppleTV 1 and the iTunes Extras are not on the ATV. They are in iTunes however. In the iTunes store for IM2 it says they only run on a Mac or PC. I do however have the Extras on the ATV for some previous purchases. What is up?
Glennsan
Can't believe these aren't supported out of the box. I have no idea what the hold up on this is.
I love the new ATV, but this is a glaring flaw.
I love the new ATV, but this is a glaring flaw.
What makes you think that a 1GHz A4 processor would be faster than a 1GHz Pentium-3-class CPU as found in the ATV1? The GPU in the ATV2 has more support for the latest graphics standards but as a pure number cruncher I'm not sure that an A4 would be much faster than the 1GHz CPU in the ATV1. Sure, the A4 uses much less power (scratch one up for the ATV2) but I haven't seen any benchmarks that directly compare the CPU in the A4 to the processor in the ATV1.
A lot of the perceived performance in the ATV2 could come from the flash memory that has replaced the hard drive in the ATV1. That and the improved graphics in the A4 and in the iOS. However, those changes alone may not result in better performance in all categories for the ATV2.
Nevertheless, I'd wouldn't be surprised if a future release of the ATV2 software added support for both iTunes LP and iTunes Extras.
If the hardware isn't more powerful, the software is. It's by far more speedy than my original ATV at just about everything.
At any rate, you appear to know more than me since I know little about processors and the like. That post of mine is a little older, it was before more details of the ATV were known. I still find it hard to believe that iTunes LP/Extras weren't supported out of the gate.
You can't compare processor speeds across architectures (in this case X86 vs. ARM). The processor in the old Apple TV was a general use x86 processor. The process in the current Apple TV is a specialized ARM processor for iOS.
You're never going to see A4 to X86 processor benchmarks because there would be no point.
What you say is generally true, however, there's really no harm in trying to find a relatively objective measure of the differences in performance between the processors in the ATV1 and ATV2.
As I mentioned earlier, I think that a lot of the perceived ("seat of the pants") performance gain that has been reported on the ATV2 is the result of the flash memory and the faster graphics engine in that product. However, the A4 CPU isn't really that fast of a processor when compared to "general use x86 processor(s)." Remember, the A4 is optimized for low-power consumption (i.e. battery-powered devices) and while that's a good fit for the current crop of iOS products that fact alone does not make it the best choice for just any task.
Case in point (this may be a bit sobering for the people who are touting the A4's relative performance to the ATV1), here are some Geekbench results for the ATV1 and the iPad (higher is better):
ATV1 (1GHz Pentium, average of user-submitted results): 679
iPad (1GHz A4, singe user-submitted result, other reports are similar): 465
Geekbench tests processor and memory performance, it does NOT test graphics or i/o (which is where the ATV2 may be stronger). These results are for Geekbench 2, but I have no way of knowing whether the benchmark code run on these two different processors and operating systems is exactly alike. However, I suspect that these numbers are representative of the relative strengths of these two processors (integer, floating point, branching logic, memory, etc.).
Here is a breakdown on the ATV1 results (from the most recent ATV1 Geekbench submission which actually reported a higher average of 803):
http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/view/269530
Integer performance 583
Floating point performance 1077
Memory performance 784
Stream bandwidth performance 660
Here is the breakdown on the iPad:
http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/view/276786
Integer performance 374
Floating point performance 466
Memory performance 701
Stream bandwidth performance 313
Does this prove anything? No, not really. However, it may be useful when trying to set expectations on just how fast and capable the new ATV2 might be. In any case, in the final analysis it's the user experience that counts and in that regard the A4 and the iOS seem to be doing pretty well.
Finally, here is an article which tries to place some perspective on the relative performance of Apple's A4-based products versus PCs/Macs and netbooks.
http://www.crn.com/blogs-op-ed/the-...s-performance-weak-or-strong-for-its-size.htm