Bonehead Apple TV/iTunes question (resolution of iTunes movies)

hegor said:

I am considering the purchase of Appletv. Here are my bonehead questions, and thanks in advance for any answers provided.

What resolution are movies purchased off of iTunes at?

Now on Apple's site, apple tv is stated to support 1080i. My hdtv is a few years old and only supports 480i/480p/1080i. No 720p for me. So will content thats 720p be scaled to 1080i (a la xbox 360) or scaled down (a la ps3) 480p?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Firstly, I believe that iTunes content is 640*480.
Secondly, I think 720p content would display as 480p on your TV unless the AppleTV has an upscaler (doubtful). Recall, the PS3 doesn't have an upscaler and also will display 720p only as 480p if the TV doesn't support 720p

hegor said:

I am considering the purchase of Appletv. Here are my bonehead questions, and thanks in advance for any answers provided.

What resolution are movies purchased off of iTunes at?

Now on Apple's site, apple tv is stated to support 1080i. My hdtv is a few years old and only supports 480i/480p/1080i. No 720p for me. So will content thats 720p be scaled to 1080i (a la xbox 360) or scaled down (a la ps3) 480p?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I am going to have to disagree with swiftac on this. Granted, I'm just as likely to be wrong since no one, outside of apple insiders, really know much about the aTV.

I'm thinking that your TV will handle aTV just fine. The fact that the specs say that 1080i devices are supported implies it. Your TV accepts 480i/480p/1080i, so the aTV can output a 1080i signal. You have to separate the output resolution from the content resolution. The "assumed" 720p content from the store would be converted from 720p to 1080i for display on your TV. The analogy would be the Cable box that is connected on your TV is set to output 1080i. When viewing Fox, ABC, or ESPN, the box converts from 720p to 1080i and you get what you get.

I'm thinking aTV would behave in the same fashion as a STB.

Also keep in mind that the 720p that Apple's "assumed" content is slightly different than the 720p that many TVs support. Apple's 720p is 1280x720, 24 fps. Broadcast 720p is 1280x720 30 fps. I think the "throwing around" of these terms just lead to more confusion. RANT OVER.

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