Apple TV Article

[srl7741]

I found this Article on the Apple TV and what may end up being an update.
Thought it was interesting.

All Things D (http://allthingsd.com/http://)

An App Store for the Apple TV? Games, Hulu?

[Kilamite]

Link is dead.

[alm99]

Proper link (http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20090604/app-tv/).

This would be an amazing idea and would make sense. Seems completely plausible as Apple, on their homepage, just recently featured an article about how the Apple TV is a “must have” on May 29th. Here is that article. (http://stuff.tv/Review/Apple-TV-160GB-review/)

[kjvi5]

Again, this sounds cool but I'd much rather they work on fixing the bugs and problems that plague the ATV. Yes, I know a lot of people have no issues at all with theirs but there also seem to be an abundance of people who have the same problems with bugs, and drop outs from itunes, and syncing issues, and speed, and buffering, etc. etc. I just hope they work on fixing those either at the same time or before they start making the system more complex than it already is.

I love the machine but it does test my patience quite frequently.

[alm99]

Again, this sounds cool but I'd much rather they work on fixing the bugs and problems that plague the ATV. Yes, I know a lot of people have no issues at all with theirs but there also seem to be an abundance of people who have the same problems with bugs, and drop outs from itunes, and syncing issues, and speed, and buffering, etc. etc. I just hope they work on fixing those either at the same time or before they start making the system more complex than it already is.

I love the machine but it does test my patience quite frequently.

I have the drop outs from iTunes and drop of video/sound while playing for a couple of seconds. If they could get a Hulu app on that I am game. Boxee is just too much for the ATV.

[uberamd]

I have the drop outs from iTunes and drop of video/sound while playing for a couple of seconds. If they could get a Hulu app on that I am game. Boxee is just too much for the ATV.

Amen about boxee for the ATV. It lags so much, flash videos lag when playing, its a terrible experience. Even when trying to exit the app it takes forever. Way too much for the poor little ATV. NitoTV + ATV = the awesome though. Mount my network media share, and boom. DivX, etc. Amazing.

[voodoofish]

I found this Article on the Apple TV and what may end up being an update.
Thought it was interesting.

All Things D (http://allthingsd.com/http://)

An App Store for the Apple TV? Games, Hulu?


i think they should definitely do this! then people will be thinking of new things the apple tv could do all the time without apple having to do anything! the only reason i can see for apple not wanting to do it would be if they want to try and force people into getting all their ATV content through the itunes store (since having hulu etc. on the apple tv through apps instead of you having the hack the apple tv would make it easier for people to get their content elsewhere) - but if anything, i think the app. store would make more people buy apple tvs and so actually increase the amount of stuff people buy from itunes just cause more people actually had apple tvs.

[zedsdead]

I love the idea, but I first want new hardware. The Apple TV needs to get more RAM, better processor and a better graphics chip.

[Enigmafan420]

I like the IDEA of Apple TV-but not crazy about its implementation.

I have a late 2006 mini that I will be moving into the living room as a media center computer. No need to worry about an "app store" with the mini :)

[srl7741]

Sorry about the dead link, thanks alm99 for the fix. I was away all day. I like the idea that the ATV is not dead and it's being discussed. It needs to be improved upon so I was happy to just read that information. Guess we will have to wait to see.

[itouch rulz]

A major retailer in Aus currently has the 160gig version on sale for AUD$409 rather than the usual AUD$449. Very unusual.

Maybe a sign?

[GeekLawyer]

Sorry about the dead link, thanks alm99 for the fix. I was away all day. I like the idea that the ATV is not dead and it's being discussed. It needs to be improved upon so I was happy to just read that information. Guess we will have to wait to see.

I agree with you. I love my aTV -- it does 95% of what I'd like it to do. That other 5% is kind of a big deal, though, and at this point I suspect that it's a hardware limitation. If not software (due to the software being Tiger-based rather than Leopard-optimized).

[srl7741]

I've been holding off for so long waiting and waiting hoping there would be a break in some sort of Media Center, Server or much improved ATV. I hope it comes in the 09 year. At least some confirmation on something would help.

I have 2 ATV's and they work great but I'm running out of room on my 2TB external and don't want to spend more $ only to find out a few months later I have to change directions to some new device.

[GeekLawyer]

Well, as long as your media is stored in external drives that connect by USB, I'd imagine that you're pretty well future proof. If aTV can access media over the network on your external(s), I suspect that whatever comes next will be able to do the same. Even if you ultimately decided to play your own game and get a Mini.

[srl7741]

Well, as long as your media is stored in external drives that connect by USB, I'd imagine that you're pretty well future proof. If aTV can access media over the network on your external(s), I suspect that whatever comes next will be able to do the same. Even if you ultimately decided to play your own game and get a Mini.

I've been soo close to purchasing a Mini. Besides just wanting to have one It would keep me happy for another year easy.

For now tho, I'm going to wait Juuuust a bit longer.

[GeekLawyer]

Me too. I pulled the trigger on the last-gen Mini, but then decided to use it as my principal desktop (works great for that).

If Apple doesn't make up its mind on its aTV "hobby" by Christmas time, I might just grab one of the new Minis for my livingroom media hub. But I want to believe (in aTV).

[TuckBodi]

I love the idea, but I first want new hardware. The Apple TV needs to get more RAM, better processor and a better graphics chip.

Whatcha mean a better graphics chip? The one that's in there can do 1080p, it's just not turned on. Yeah, having the latest & greatest is always cool, but the GPU in the original ATV was not its downside.

[kiranmk2]

I don't think it can do 1080p. It can't even do 720p properly - to run 720p, you can't have any high-level encoding features and you are limited to 720p@24fps. If they can't even squeeze 720p@25-30fps out of the chip it hasn't got a chance of reaching 1080p.

[EarthDawn]

I have 2 ATV's and love them ... for me anything extra they do or updates they get are a bonus in my eyes.

[Bye Bye Baby]

I love the apple tv. I think it is great, even though i am very annoyed at the DRM on conetnt. But that is the movie studios, not apple.

[GeekLawyer]

I love the apple tv. I think it is great, even though i am very annoyed at the DRM on conetnt. But that is the movie studios, not apple.

Yep, I've (sort of) overcome that challenge by ripping my personal DVD content using Handbrake. My aTV plays those rips without any hassle. (Aside from the encode time... ugh.)

[srl7741]

I'm gonna hi-jack my own thread a little bit. Since updating to iTunes 8.2 I can't seem to keep my aTV's sync'd for more than a few hours. They just drop off. Things were purring for so long too.

[GeekLawyer]

Can you peg that to iTunes 8.2 or to that AirPort update we got around the same time?

I haven't noticed my aTV dropping off, though...

[srl7741]

Ohhh your right, i forgot about that one too. When I get home later today I plan on looking closer at what could be causing it.

Edit* After looking around I think this may be part of my issue.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=692873


.

[TuckBodi]

I don't think it can do 1080p. It can't even do 720p properly - to run 720p, you can't have any high-level encoding features and you are limited to 720p@24fps. If they can't even squeeze 720p@25-30fps out of the chip it hasn't got a chance of reaching 1080p.

Well, are you trying to say it can't do high profile MKV crap, err, I mean content, or that Apple's implementation can't do high profile in general (versus main)? My take on it is Apple could care less about peoples illegally downloaded stuff as their sole focus is iTunes rentals/purchases and therefore have to balance out best quality and best download speed. That's why I believe we won't see 1080p content from them for quite some time (who wants to wait several days)(and plus, how many households really have a 50"+ 1080p capable TV anyways??).

GeForce Go 7300
http://www.nvidia.com/page/go_7300_features.html
Integrated SD and HDTV Output
Connects to your standard definition or high definition TV via Composite, S-Video, Component, DVI, or HDMI connections. Supports resolutions up to 1080p depending on connection type and TV capability.

AND

http://www.nabble.com/Re%3A-AppleTV-with-Linux-p15362240s15552.html

FYI, Davilla is an XBMC programmer who also wrote the ATV-USB Creator patchstick and who also happened to write to bootloader all patchsticks use. He's also been heavy into the VDPAU stuff (Nvidia video GPU drivers), which while unfortunately is not supported on the 7300 (at this time), shows great promise for other stuff. I also thought I read a post somewhere of his mentioning people trying to reverse engineer what Apple has written for 720p, but I can't find it at the moment. I thought I had read they were getting close and it looked promising for the ATV (although I coulda been smoking something that day).

[kiranmk2]

It does "support" 1080p output - I have 1080p selected on mine - but this is just the output resolution. It's the same as upscaling DVD players - just because they output 1080p doesn't mean they can play 1080p content.

The specs are locked down pretty tight - no CABAC stuff, maximum of 5 Mbps and 24 fps max. For 30 fps stuff you only only get 960x540p. The GPU is also limited by the 1 GHz cpu - if you remember, when HD started coming out people needed pretty beefy core2duo chips to get 1080p playback - gpu acceleration has only come about in the last few generations of gpus.

I wish it could be soft-upgraded to support 1080p, but I don't think a new hardware revision based on the new iphone internals is coming.

[TuckBodi]

<sigh>

They said the same thing about 720p before Apple enabled it. Said the CPU couldn't do it, which it couldn't, and then Apple did their magic using the GPU (and CPU). As far as being limited by the 1 GHz CPU, have you seen what they've pulled off with the Linux VDPAU driver implementations for XBMC? I don't think the CPU's in some of those homemade systems are considered screamers.

All I'm saying is I saw some threads where some dev's said the GPU was capable of 1080p video playback, if they could take advantage of it (ex: the reverse engineering effort). Similar to how the Linux guys can now use the VDPAU Nvidia drivers for playback (although it's only been released down to the 8xxx hardware).

I'm no hardware expert, just going on hearsay, albeit, from what I consider a very good source in Davilla. So I guess if you're an expert at this stuff, and know exactly what the Nvidia h/w is capable of, they hey, power to yah.

PS: Too bad those cheap Sigma chips weren't around way back when and Apple had thrown one of those in the AppleTV. Then we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[GraphicRhino]

Good read.