MacRumors Review: Apple TV

[k2k koos]

Surround sound

Even with the info now available, I am still not excited about the audio capabilities. Dolby surround is a technology from the VCR days, this is the digital age, and from a company that is usually up front in this area, it is dissapointing to say the least. Please Apple, give us AC3, Dolby Digital Surround, and THX support please!

 

[Maccus Aurelius]

Lots of potential and my gf's television supports it, but I think I'll stick with my modest video iPod+S-video+Klipsch sound system hooked into my plain jane 36" CRT set. It's by no means top-flight, but it sounds great to me.

Now I do plan to upgrade sets one of these days, so the ATV will be even more appealing to me. Perhaps it's cuz I'm buying parts for a busted iPod and saving up for a new mac desktop that I don't really care to spend the $300

 

[Avatar74]

I'm sorry, but you can't really tell anything from that...

as for me, I have no HD in my home other than what might get put on a computer. I'm used to analog stuff. The main complaint is just severe blockiness (and yes, I stood quite a ways back for normal viewing distances for a TV). I understand all we get is 480p from iTS, but it just seemed to me it could have done a better job at scaling.

Two things...

1. 480p is 720 x 480, not 640 x 480.

2. Why is the file content from iTunes the main complaint against AppleTV? Fundamentally, the device supports 1280 x 720 HD, and I've tested it and I know that the quality of the 720p streaming is excellent.

So, aside from the content availability issue, in principle this is a technically sufficient device for 720p, which definitely makes it sufficient for 480p.

Also, by any chance were you viewing the AppleTV at home or in an Apple Store? The floor demo units have shipped with demo files smaller than 640 x 480 for some ungodly reason.

I can tell you that the 720p output looks stunning. Hell, I streamed it from a G4/933 (less than the base system they recommend) over a WEP-ENCRYPTED 802.11g (yes, g) network, and no jitter or skips.

The EDTV and/or HDTV content will come... If you remember the iPod had launched two years before the iTunes Music Store was even up. Apple didn't launch this thing with 720p capability in revision one just so they could continue delivering 640x480 content. Note that the 640x480 content was introduced right around the time Apple intro'd 640x480 iPods... My guess is they're quietly working out the kinks so they can roll it out without a hitch.

 

[Avatar74]

Even with the info now available, I am still not excited about the audio capabilities. Dolby surround is a technology from the VCR days, this is the digital age, and from a company that is usually up front in this area, it is dissapointing to say the least. Please Apple, give us AC3, Dolby Digital Surround, and THX support please!

AC-3 is Dolby Digital. And THX is not a format, it's a set of engineering standards... and if AppleTV's were part of the THX program they would cost two to three times as much just to pay for THX's "Seal of approval" when they could easily meet the criteria and not be part of the program (like Yamaha).

The hardware is in the AppleTV to support Dolby Digital. It's just a matter of publishing content to their datacenters that contains multichannel AAC to transcode to AC-3 internally in the AppleTV. Other than that, just some software updates to the AppleTV unit and iTunes.

 

[uNext]

I bought mine today. Set it up and then stood there trying to figure out why I bought it.

I play Blue ray movies, Hd is amazing in quality. Love the additional extras on DVD's, like Directors commentaries etc.

Why would I get the movie via iTunes? To lose the extras? To lose picture quality? That would be stupid.

Next _ Are there some Podcasts I like, maybe but stretched to this screen size, I wouldnt like them anymore.

Next- Streaming Music? yawn, i have a real stereo for that, doesnt everyone?, isnt that why Apple made the iTunes or Airtunes part of the WiFi ?

Next- Movie trailers, those were kinda cool, streamed from the internet to my huge HD screen. Wish there was more of that kind of stuff.
This should be an internet interface! More of a direct itunes style, straight to all the previews that they have on the Quicktime website.
There seems to be many more than what is listed in ATV than what exists on the Apple site.

So that doesnt really work fully.

I guess that I could Sync all my photos and watch them on the HDTV, not sure if that is worth 300 clams!

I don't see a real product here and kinda feel like there is more coming or I just got fleeced because I trust Apple and buy all their stuff with almost blind faith. Ha, does that make me a loser with too much money?

I think that the killer app of this product is what will scare the hell out of BLockBuster.

Video Rental Online! DO it! Steal millions from BlockBuster and save Gas and the earth from the green house effect by stopping all the travel to blockbuster for video rentals and returning.

I think that the quality from iTunes can be as good as a average DVD rental. This could be a fantastic idea, rent your movie right away through iTunes.

Damn , I wonder who will rent all the empty stores when BlockBuster is gone. And why hasnt it been done already? Could there be a forced deal with BB , not to do this? What the hold up?

Imagine the stock prices on Apple would skyrocket!

I see great minds think alike.

 

[Maccus Aurelius]

Is it possible to rip content into AC3 encoding to take advantage of it now, or is the DVD-decrypting software just not up to snuff at the moment? I'd like to look around and see if I can actually produce this sort of stuff myself if ever I did decide to purchase an ATV. *applies noob sticker to shirt*

I checked out the ATV at the apple store this weekend. I see lots of potential in this product, and so far is one of the few items I've seen that is easy to set up and is guaranteed fully to work with my mac. I may pick it up just because the hardware itself may not need any changes whatsoever.

 

[pagansoul]

Now that it's been hacked and you can change the HD to 120GB from the current it seems like a better deal. I'm waiting for Apple to increase the HD themselves. I have no time to pull things apart, void their warrenty and risk screwing it up.

 

[pilotError]

Does anyone think this thing was rushed to market?

There have been some issues (which I assume will be corrected), such as the inability to organize the video / tv shows.

The surround sound issue is kind of a big deal to anyone who invested in a home theater setup.

Aside from all that, I haven't seen anything from Apple besides their weak in-store advertising.

Seems like their using the Mac community as guinea pigs to polish the old apple TV before doing any media blitz to the general public.

The free media advertising is nice, but I haven't seen any commercials showing off the Apple TV.

Seems to me like there's something bigger being planned, or this was just a rushed product. Have they bitten off more than they could chew? (OK, sorry for the stupid puns).

 

[Maccus Aurelius]

It's hard to say for me. I think Apple wanted to keep it simple but wanted to give out a more limited package for now. What I'm glad for is the fact that all of the major updates do not require a change in hardware. The ATV is pretty much ready to go on about everything since it DOES do surround (but is currently disabled) and has a fast draft n WiFi connection. I agree though, this seems somewhat like beta testing, but if you're aware of what it can do right now then this shouldn't be a problem. The bright side is that all of the changes will most likely be software, not hardware, so at least they'd still have the ATV to see all of the revisions.

The video organization is still a problem, since every video ripped off of DVD's is stuffed into the movies folder in iTunes. I can't seem to find a way to put television shows in the tv playlist, and I hate having to shuffle through my movies for television shows.

 

[GadgetDon]

The video organization is still a problem, since every video ripped off of DVD's is stuffed into the movies folder in iTunes. I can't seem to find a way to put television shows in the tv playlist, and I hate having to shuffle through my movies for television shows.

Do a "Get Info" on the items in question, switch to the Video tab, and change the popup to TV Show. That has it put the videos under TV show instead of movies.

Hmmm...you could hack together some organization by calling your movies "TV Shows" with the shows being "Horror" "Romance" "Drama" etc.

 

[surferfromuk]

Well, this shall be my final thoughts on the matter ...

The Thing is, it's very easy to stand in the sidelines and cast opinions on what is needed in an unknown market - it's a very different thing meeting those 'unknown' expectations especially when your 'creating' a new market that has hitherto been largely unsuccessfully pitched for.

Really it is often as safe to put out a good simple working product and then find out who is buying it and what else they want.

The DLink Streamers were previously and literally 'the best of a bad lot' - so much so that I wouldn't even pay £50 for one on ebay since even they have been savagely lambasted for their basic technical failings and are iccky to use.

So on that score for Apple to ship an elegant product of such tech complexity that actually WORKS as reliably and as simply as your microwave, toaster and TV set is a great accomplishment.

Secondly, it would have been very easy to over cook the pudding and make it all things to all men which often requires an awful lot of second guessing and as we've seen in the case of 'over specced mp3' players often only appeals to a niche market.

Well, seemingly hackers have got 'what they want' from it ie a way of making it deliciously uber-teky, 'ordinary TV watching folks who like a simple life' have go what they want from it...so really it's just a few silly little things that need clearing up...

I consider it an amazingly sweet piece of H/W & S/W integration - and I think if we stood back and re-appraised it most of us would do too. It is just as I've said a 'teeny tad' too expensive to make it a 'what the hell' kind of purchase. The more I think about it it is very nearly 'the iPod Formula' all over again.

It's become what is known on QVC as a 'considered' purchase'...I think it'd be far more prudent if Apple could find a way of dislodging it from that 'category' to a 'must have'...but I have the sneaking feeling that Gen 2 will be exactly that!!...all the lessons learned and applied to create another Apple world class 21st century winner!.

 

[Rocketman]

We're going to see AppleTV in almost every car in 2 years.

 

[brutus4]

apple TV gets really hot!

my apple tv gets unbelievably hot! so hot it could burn your hand. since there is no off switch are you just supposed to unplug it each time you are not using it? has anyone else encountered the same problems? any suggestions. it rocks though!

 

[skinnylegs]

my apple tv gets unbelievably hot! so hot it could burn your hand. since there is no off switch are you just supposed to unplug it each time you are not using it? has anyone else encountered the same problems? any suggestions. it rocks though!

Press and hold the center button on the remote to turn it on/off.

 

[skinnylegs]

We're going to see AppleTV in almost every car in 2 years.

Please explain.....

 

[Rocketman]

my apple tv gets unbelievably hot! so hot it could burn your hand. since there is no off switch are you just supposed to unplug it each time you are not using it? has anyone else encountered the same problems? any suggestions. it rocks though!

Since the top face is a radiator, perhaps someone will make a third party "Apple TV topper" which is a yet more effective radiator with some asthetic to it.

Rocketman

 

[aine]

You do not list TiVo as a "competitor" to this device. Ignoring the DVR abilities of TiVo, TiVo is in fact a competitor.

With TiVo, you can:

1) purchase movies online (Amazon unbox) and watch them directly on TiVo.
2) view photos from your PC
3) stream music from your PC
4) stream MPEG videos from your PC
5) access video content from the internet (without PC)

Clearly, there is a lot of similarity between TiVo and AppleTV. The fact that TiVo is also a DVR is almost beside the point for the purposes of this comparison.

 

[Rocketman]

Please explain.....

It has a very simple interface which can be operated by any person in a car. It does music, photos, podcasts and video. Drivers need the audio and passengers need the remaining capabilities. When you pull into your driveway or carport or even work lot, it synchs with your designated computer(s) and does it's thing. It is a natural. It is small, capable, and I suspect that a power brick for a 12V DC car electrical system would be sufficiently smaller it might even get an internal battery!

Almost all cars have good speakers. Most have video displays (necessary for front row). Most of those displays are at least "better than a video iPod." Wifi means it can have a non-wired connection to those displays and speakers and even your installed AM/FM-tuner/XM/Sirius/CD/DVD/cassette/8-track

I want one in my flying car.

Rocketman

 

[janstett]

Funny how the Netgear device is NOT Mac Compatible, but in their illustration, every computer in the house is a Mac:

From my viewpoint, the problem is more that the Mac (nee Apple) is not embracing the UPnP standard. In any case, we know those emo artist types of course would use a Mac in their illustrations.

In all seriousness, I do begrudge Apple just a little bit for not embracing the industry standard UPnP and instead continuing to embrace its own proprietary Bonjour/Rendesvous technology.

And by the way, there are UPnP servers for the Mac, which will allow the Netgear devices and any other UPnP client to work.

 

[brutus4]

Press and hold the center button on the remote to turn it on/off.

cool, thanks...

 

[Ino]

Press and hold the center button on the remote to turn it on/off.

Even though I've used this method to turn the TV "off" overnight, it was still hot when I checked in the morning. I've resorted to unplugging the power for now...

 

[janstett]

Have much AC3-encoded audio on your computer, do you? I agree that it's unfortunate that it's not included, but seeing as though it doesn't play MPEG2 (obviously a conscious choice rather than an oversight), there's no reason to support surround sound at the moment--you can't pipe DVDs to it unmodified. If you want to watch lots of DVDs without getting up, get a DVD changer.

That's a lame excuse. First, I'm fairly sure many online movie trailers are in 5.1 AC3; next, if you want to put all your DVDs into a computer-based media sever, you want MPEG-2 and AC3 support; finally, you can make your own "lower quality" rips using handbrake (which, if I recall, let's you preserve the AC3 track inside the MP4 container).

The worst part is that, if the source contains AC3, the Apple TV doesn't have to do any work, just pass the bitstream as-is over the optical output. They only have to work to downmix it to 2 channel stereo on the analog outputs.

 

[janstett]

Also, as long as we're talking honestly here, can we be honest? I think it's safe to say that those who are screaming about lack of file compatibility (movies and music not purchased via ITMS) are more than likely pissed off because they can't watch or listen to their pirated stuff via TV . DivX <for instance>? Are you kidding me? Who has a collection of DivX movies? I'll tell you who......people who "share" stuff via BT.

Great review!

Utter and complete nonsense! I have somewhere around 300 DVDs. It has long been a dream of mine to have them all ripped in Divx format (with AC3) and sitting on a file server for my perusal. Am I a pirate?

You know, the same thing the iPod did for music (allowing you to store your own CDs, legally, on a small portable device).

Typical Apple snobbery, if something doesn't meet your needs, it must be something shady and illegal.

 

[milo]

"Everyone!" That is, everyone willing to convert their entire collections to a proprietary format (QT) or buy movies under the most restrictive DRM regime ever concieved.

Did you miss that people figured out how to hack support for xvid and other codecs in the first DAY it was released? And way to ignore DVD ripping. But I guess with "the most restrictive DRM regime ever concieved" I shouldn't be surprised, eh?

Have much AC3-encoded audio on your computer, do you?

Who says surround has to be AC3? Many HD quicktime trailers have AAC surround sound. Apple could definitely support that if they wanted to, and there's no reason DVD's couldn't be ripped to QT/surround AAC files, or convert other vids with surround to that format.

This is a crisis and Steve needs to get kicking some butt right now...

It's a crisis only if it doesn't sell well. People complained that the original ipod release was a "crisis" and it was inferior to other mp3 players. So when will we get an idea how this is selling?

value 10/10?

completely biased. how can a product with such obvious shortcomings be a perfect value?
...
when I am able to purchase hardware that does all this and more for a significantly lower price, there is no way the apple tv is a perfect value.

So it's not a good value because you can imagine vaporware that will ship at some point that will be a better value. I assume the reason it's a 10 right now is because you can't buy anything else with those features at that price point. Is there a $299 alternative that does everything the appleTV does?

 

[aristobrat]

Utter and complete nonsense! I have somewhere around 300 DVDs. It has long been a dream of mine to have them all ripped in Divx format (with AC3) and sitting on a file server for my perusal. Am I a pirate?

You know, the same thing the iPod did for music (allowing you to store your own CDs, legally, on a small portable device).

Typical Apple snobbery, if something doesn't meet your needs, it must be something shady and illegal.

isn't ripping your DVDs technically illegal since the program you'd use to unencrypt your DVDs was reverse-engineered?