ATV2 does it cache a complete film or tv episode?

I too would love an answer to this. My internet is painfully slow so it'd be ideal if I can rent a film and let it download overnight.

I can't directly answer this question as I haven't rented anything from the new ATV. However, I can give you a good educated guess - YES.

I have over 500 gigs of movies and TV shows in my iTunes. If I start watching a movie or show, it caches the whole file in a short time. This is as expected.

Now the surprise that the old ATV did not do.

If you then watch another show and return to the movie viewed earlier, it is still cached!

ATV has 8 gigs of storage. My guess is that it doesn't erase anything until it needs the space. Then it is FIFO.

Someone who has rented could chime in here.

I rented and watched an HD movie last night on my ATV2 and it is cached. What I don't know yet is whether it will cache a movie before you watch it or not (and then whether it is different for none, some or all).

I think so.. Because I rented an HD film, last night I had to wait for it to buffer, whereas now I can skip to any part of the film and it doesn't buffer at all, goes straight to the movie.

philipk said:

I can't directly answer this question as I haven't rented anything from the new ATV. However, I can give you a good educated guess - YES.

I have over 500 gigs of movies and TV shows in my iTunes. If I start watching a movie or show, it caches the whole file in a short time. This is as expected.

Now the surprise that the old ATV did not do.

If you then watch another show and return to the movie viewed earlier, it is still cached!

ATV has 8 gigs of storage. My guess is that it doesn't erase anything until it needs the space. Then it is FIFO.

Someone who has rented could chime in here.

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The more and more I read stuff like this, The more I think that apple will not make a ATV app store. The only way I see it being possible is if they allocated between 512MB to 1GB for apps and the other 7GB would be used by the ATV. I don't know why so many people think that they will be able to fill up the whole 8GB with apps.

thetruth1985 said:

The more and more I read stuff like this, The more I think that apple will not make a ATV app store. The only way I see it being possible is if they allocated between 512MB to 1GB for apps and the other 7GB would be used by the ATV. I don't know why so many people think that they will be able to fill up the whole 8GB with apps.

Click to expand...

I think that's why they haven't enabled apps on the ATV2 yet... there will be a subset of apps designed to worth with and approved for the ATV2. Basically those (like the Netflix app) that have a relatively small foot-print that are designed around streaming media and cache management rather than just plopping static 500MB apps into the cache.

thetruth1985 said:

The more and more I read stuff like this, The more I think that apple will not make a ATV app store. The only way I see it being possible is if they allocated between 512MB to 1GB for apps and the other 7GB would be used by the ATV. I don't know why so many people think that they will be able to fill up the whole 8GB with apps.

Click to expand...

Yes, but in general iOS apps don't take up much space. Plus, the ATV doesn't have to become a gaming console. Apps like Pandora and other streaming apps are all that are really needed to make the ATV a killer device. Those are all pretty small footprint apps.

So I don't think the question is one of the ATV's technical limits, but rather one of Apple's willingness to allow users to seek out other avenues for content besides the iTMS. This has started somewhat with Netflix on the ATV, but it is anyone's guess where it goes from here. I believe that Apple will quickly either need to get the other networks in line for the rental thing or open the ATV up to other streaming portals. Otherwise, they are going to cede victory to the GoogleTV (provided that device doesn't turn out to be vaporware or go the way of so many Google products).

Apple told Macworld that the new Apple TV has enough flash memory to cache a complete movie rental and then some. In fact, it could probably cache at least two movie rentals.

So, yes.

There will be an AppleTv app store...you can bet all your apple stock on it. Why? Because google is gonna have one.

Apple already has the best app store in the business, why not expand it to AppleTV?

8GB is enough space for AppleTv apps. We are only gonna see apps like VLC, Hulu plus, and some sports apps at first.

Yes.

I've watched TV eps from my iTunes library and the Apple TV caches the content.

gramirez2012 said:

Yes.

I've watched TV eps from my iTunes library and the Apple TV caches the content.

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Not only that, if you rent one and watch it and then the 48 hours is up and you go back and rent it again its all downloaded already - Im not sure what trigers the delete of the actual file but its still there unless you have rented other content. (I rented Raising Hope, for free, and then rented it again two days later - didnt have to stream it, but had to go through the rental process on the system again)

No, well sort of. You have to start watching a rental before it is completely cached. Example: I two nights ago rented a movie but did not start watching it until last night. I found that after 20mins the movie paused and started to buffer again. After 2-5 mins it started to play again and I had no other interruptions for the remaining 70 mins.

So in summary, the movie is only cached once playback is stared.

I'm not sure if the Apple TV will have an app store. I think Apple will definitely have an SDK that supports the Apple TV though. If you think about it, there is no need for apps on the ATV itself. All you need is the ability to Airplay audio and video from your iOS device which downloads and stores all the apps. They also need a way to control games if they decide to go that route. Neither of those require apps directly on the Apple TV.

Apple doesn't make a whole lot of money on the Apple TV and profits on iTunes content has never been even a blip on their revenue. They make almost all of their money on hardware like Macs, iPhones, and iPads. My guess is the new Apple TV is more like the ultimate killer "feature" of any iOS device to give them an edge over competitors using Google's, RIM's, or Microsoft's mobile OS. It's a halo effect and value add for being in the Apple ecosystem. The complete integration of software and hardware. Since Apple controls both the hardware and the software and not many (if any) other companies do, that's going to be something very hard for them to copy and do as well at.

newagemac said:

I'm not sure if the Apple TV will have an app store. I think Apple will have an SDK that supports the Apple TV though. If you think about it, there is no need for apps on the ATV itself.

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I would love Pandora. And a sports app would be great too. Think of how the PS3 tells you you have new messages or that someone is online. Imagine, watching a TV show on your ATV and it intermittently showing you live updates to your favorite games. For a more detailed, interactive experience, open up the full app.

That would be amazing. And those are just 2 apps that I thought of on the fly. I think apps on ATV could be really awesome.

I'm also sure that there will be apps, but the box is built for streaming from other devices or the internet, so the apps will be lightweight and built for seeking information from elsewhere. I'm really hoping that BBC iPlayer will be one, and Channel 4 will get one too (I know it's on You-tube).

You could also have serious reference apps, like dictionaries and medical references, but their data would come from the web when required, rather than be stored locally. So apps could easily be limited to less than 1Gb, because they'll never have any substance stored locally, and it'll still be able to cache a whole movie.

Having seen what integration Google wants to do with their TV, I'm wondering how Apple are going to compete fully. The one aspect of the GTV that I like, which appears to be more than I believe the ATV is capable of, is the integration with the cable/satellite/freeview TV system that's also plugged into the TV. With that you can actually, on a decent sized TV, watch TV and set up some rentals, or play a game, or check emails, at the same time, on the same device. I don't understand how, or if, Apple can get to that.

TT

Well Apple is basically trying to become your cable/satellite provider so I don't think they will compete with Google in that area. Most people I know who want internet video streaming to their tv actually want to cut off their cable and use that method instead. Google TV is basically throwing the traditional cable and satellite companies a lifeline. I think in the end it will be good for Apple, Google, and all the internet focused tech companies because it puts internet content on an even footing with cable content and it will become more obvious to consumers that streaming any show at any time from the internet is far more convenient than cable even with a DVR.

I'll give it 2 years before the cable and satellite companies realize this and stop supporting it... but then it will be too late. The other possibility is Google will be tied up trying to please their cable/satellite partners to keep them and won't be able to move as fast with internet video streaming as they would like. They won't be able to just outright say that Google TV allows you to cut your cable and do all the things to make that happen. Apple will because they're going full steam ahead with video streamed from the internet with no reliance on cable or satellite. True, they are having to drag the content providers kicking and screaming with them but there's no doubt that's where they are headed.

Should be interesting times ahead.

I'm worried about it in the UK. I'm so keen to get an ATV, especially when Airplay comes along, and it will get me sorting out all of the photos and video that I've got so that we can actually see them, rather than having to hook cameras up to computers to TVs, etc. But I want to be able to watch 'proper' tv shows as well. And I can't currently see the UK terrestrial TV companies co-operating, as they've just announced 'Youview', which combines live tv, catchup tv, internet and a DVR in one set top box, for launch sometime in the first half of next year.

So, while $99 (plus tax!) looks good in the US, especially as it has more services immediately available, £99 in the UK, for something which currently offers less, and which I don't think will get support from the TV companies here, looks a bit pricey. Unless, of course, the SDK/APIs allow developers to create apps that will stream iPlayer, etc. without needing the agreement of the BBC.

I wish I knew - but love to speculate anyway. I've been close (privately) on a few Apple announcements over the years, so maybe I'm hopeful enough to believe that, by Q1 next year, we'll have something much more substantial to salivate over here.

TT

I rented a movie on my ATV2 last night, which fully downloaded, but then didn't watch it. Went to watch it today expecting it to just play because I have already downloaded it but now have to wait for it to fully download again!!!! Is this correct function? I expected it to be cached in the memory and to just play without the need to download.

If the power supply to the ATV2 was disconnected would this cause it to be lost?

Because I have a fairly slow broadband connection it takes between 3-4 hours to download a movie, but I was expecting to be able to rent and download a movie overnight and then watch the following day. Current experience would suggest that I need to watch the movie as soon as it has finished downloading!