Apple Announces Apple TV (Formerly 'iTV')

[-::ubermann::-]

i think its unnecessary, why dont just connect computer to a hdtv?

if i use appletv i can see movies, photos, podcasts...
if i just connect my computer i can see everything is in my computer not having to do hacks to play divx for example...

 

[smadd]

blecch

You know, I was so psyched about the iTV back during the Media Event, and I was hoping that they would include some kind of optical drive in it: at minimum a DVD player, max a combo or SuperDrive. I wanted the AppleTV to be a packaged complete solution for digital entertainment on your TV. I am not trying to undercut the coolness of streaming from my computer to the unit, but with only a 40GB hard drive, it just won't hold all of my media - I will have to pick and choose, and eventually, take some material off to make way for others. I feel that for $299, that it's not a good compromise. Right now (albeit, not at HD resolutions) I go through s-video and digital audio into my TV/audio receiver from my C2D MBP, and can have EVERYTHING on the TV with out compromising. I just can't see what the Apple TV is going offer to do that my computer can't besides 1. convenience and 2. HD video (which yes, is an important step, but not worth it IMO). I was hoping that the USB 2.0 port on the back was indicative of being able to attach a hard drive or an extrenal optical drive, but it's just for service access; no end-user features are indicated for it at this point.

I guess I will wait and see how this evolves... man I wish it had an optical drive! It could have been the ultimate Mac-Lover all-in-one multimedia solution, but it's only halfway there.

I was a hell of a lot more excited about the new Airport base station, to be honest.

 

[gkarris]

You know, I was so psyched about the iTV back during the Media Event, and I was hoping that they would include some kind of optical drive in it: at minimum a DVD player, max a combo or SuperDrive. I wanted the AppleTV to be a packaged complete solution for digital entertainment on your TV. I am not trying to undercut the coolness of streaming from my computer to the unit, but with only a 40GB hard drive, it just won't hold all of my media - I will have to pick and choose, and eventually, take some material off to make way for others. I feel that for $299, that it's not a good compromise. Right now (albeit, not at HD resolutions) I go through s-video and digital audio into my TV/audio receiver from my C2D MBP, and can have EVERYTHING on the TV with out compromising. I just can't see what the Apple TV is going offer to do that my computer can't besides 1. convenience and 2. HD video (which yes, is an important step, but not worth it IMO). I was hoping that the USB 2.0 port on the back was indicative of being able to attach a hard drive or an extrenal optical drive, but it's just for service access; no end-user features are indicated for it at this point.

I guess I will wait and see how this evolves... man I wish it had an optical drive! It could have been the ultimate Mac-Lover all-in-one multimedia solution, but it's only halfway there.

I was a hell of a lot more excited about the new Airport base station, to be honest.

Your MBP was about $2,000. The AppleTV's only $299....

 

[shen]

wow, thanks guys

i have been reading the negative posts on this an the phone, after my wife and i were both totally blown away by both, most of you hate them....

then i went back and read thread 500 about the original iPod. i now have no idea at all why i read these forums.

i think i am done here.....

...but i am buying both products. go figure.

 

[XFce]

1080p format is the future of high definition television. If Apples new i Tv is not capable of producing movies in Blu-ray 1080p format, then I am not going to waste my money, I’ll buy the phone instead.

 

[dmelgar]

For a person who only needs to stream from one computer and listen to their music and watch video on their TV, what benefits does the Apple TV offer over a MacMini?

Aside from HD, I didn't see anything in the menu system that you can't do with Front Row via a Mac Mini.

A Mac Mini is at least a fully fledged second computer with a bigger hard drive and a DVD player! I was hoping that the Apple TV would at least have a DVD player as I've resisted getting one because I watch all my DVDs on my MacBook Pro anyway.

I agree. And with the Mini, I've read reports that you can view 1080p H.264 video.... although I've heard varying reports. I'd feel more comfortable if the Mini came with the Core 2 Duo processor and 802.11n capability.

Plus with a Mini you can
- View DVDs from the included drive.
- You can expand to include TV reporting via Elgato or others.
- Add external harddrives
- You can view videos from the internet, ie YouTube etc.
- You can surf the internet, generally use it as a computer with your HDTV as the monitor. This is great for kids that you don't want surfing the net in their room.

Based on this announce, I'm pretty convince I want to buy a Mini when Leopard comes out. I hope they upgrade it to Core 2 Duo by then. Then hopefully I'll have a PC that will function as an HDTV gateway for years to come.

 

[Umbongo]

Widescreen only? Really?

I'm not really that clued up on TVs, but is there a reason Apple went with widescreen TVs only? They have under 20% market share in the US as far as I know, is there some compelling technical aspect that I'm missing?

 

[0010101]

For $299, i'll pass.. and just burn anything I wanna watch on my TV that's on my computer to DVD and play it in my DVD player.. or buy a USB to composit video adapter and string a cable across the room.

When they start showing up on eBay for $100 or less when the product flops, i'll buy one and see about hacking it for use as a file server or low cost OSX file server or general purpose eMail and web browser.

 

[grovertdog]

For $299, i'll pass.. and just burn anything I wanna watch on my TV that's on my computer to DVD and play it in my DVD player.. or buy a USB to composit video adapter and string a cable across the room.

When they start showing up on eBay for $100 or less when the product flops, i'll buy one and see about hacking it for use as a file server or low cost OSX file server or general purpose eMail and web browser.

Whatever dude... You get on with your bad hacking self. Anyone who would even consider using composite connections shouldn't even be commenting on this technology.

Jeez, where do these rags come from?

 

[0010101]

Whatever dude... You get on with your bad hacking self. Anyone who would even consider using composite connections shouldn't even be commenting on this technology.

Jeez, where do these rags come from?

What kind of technology is it your talking about, Mr. Tech Savvy? It's a freaking hobbled MacMini with component video and no media drive.

For the vast majority of people in the U.S. who do NOT have HD tv's yet, I fail to see what good HD outupt is going to do them.

Without some way to play discs, and no Tivo-esque capabilities, Apple TV is about the dumbest idea since the CueCat scanner.. and I predict will meet the same fate.

 

[iDave]

1080p format is the future of high definition television. If Apples new i Tv is not capable of producing movies in Blu-ray 1080p format, then I am not going to waste my money, I’ll buy the phone instead.

Sure, 1080p may be the distant future. In the meantime, people are just getting into HDTV and the vast majority of HDTVs sold are 720p. I think we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Sounds like the AppleTV isn't for you, but it'll be more than adequate and useful for others.

 

[Evangelion]

while the macrumors news post does say "stream," apple's website for the appletv does not ANYWHERE that I can find say that it streams content FROM other computers on the fly. It in fact says "sync" everywhere I want it to say "stream."

You can sync itunes from one computer and you can stream from five computers. The website clearly says:

"Apple TV streams as well as it syncs, so you can pair up to five additional computers and let friends and family stream their iTunes libraries to your TV. Apple TV stores up to 50 hours of video, ready to watch when you are. And if iTunes is still syncing what you want to see — or if you don’t want to sync at all — you can watch a stream from your computer right away."

 

[risc]

If it has support for other video and audio codecs (xvid, divx, ogg, ac3 etc) and also supports playback and recording of El Gato EyeTV TV for any Mac in the house I'm in. Hell I'll buy 2, but if it doesn't the device is nothing more than a pointless iTunes extender.

 

[teme]

If it doesn't support more than few video formats, that's like iPod without MP3 support... so no thanks, I don't need it.

 

[MacPhilosopher]

Low res, no inpuy...

I agree with some of the earlier concerns. How good is the Apple movie resolution now? Also, why not have input from other souces with conversion? That would have truly made this a media hub. Also, I agree that a pumped up Mini would have been a better option. With the big flat panel TV's it would be a nice multimedia hub/computer/web device.

 

[skunk]

I'm not really that clued up on TVs, but is there a reason Apple went with widescreen TVs only? They have under 20% market share in the US as far as I know, is there some compelling technical aspect that I'm missing?

In Jobs' words, that's "where the puck is going to be, not where it is."

 

[MacPhilosopher]

Oversampling...

has anyone noticed the frame rate specs for the itv.

1280X720 is 24fps-- isn't that kinda low for today standards??? isn't the minimum without flicker 20fps???? with todays technology and the gaming industry the frame rate should be much higher shouldn't it.

just my 2 cents.

The human ability to perceive the differences in frame rates are minimal. Super high fame rates/refresh rates in games and video cards are just to fool consumers into buying new gear. They blew past the threshhold years ago. I used to have a friend that spent a fortune on Audio gear that equalized sound well above and below human hearing. If you can't hear it or see it than you were fooled into spendin g money. Granted, NTSC and PAL are pitiful signals. The quality of DVD's and Digital Cable have more than made up for that limitation, though.

 

[JonasLondon]

40 GB hard drive? Too small, in my humble opinion. It should have at least a 100 GB hard drive to be useful.

Do you need to watch more than 40 GB per day? poor thing. The whole idea is that the 40GB stores what you are ABOUT to watch soon, not your entire library...

 

[pjo]

DVD drive - or the lack thereof

So, a $300 box that brings iTunes to my TV?

No thanks.

Include DVR functionality and a slot loading DVD drive and then we can talk.

That more or less nails my sentiments about this. And as has been said previously in many places... it kind of makes the mac mini the way to go.

 

[Evangelion]

That more or less nails my sentiments about this. And as has been said previously in many places... it kind of makes the mac mini the way to go.

Well, there are few problems with Mac Mini:

- Keyboard and mouse
- no HDMI
- More expensive
- External power-brick

 

[SweetOleMac]

Sorry i don't know if this has been said, but don't have the time to go through all these pages.

The ITV sounds great in the US, but since the UK does not have Movies & or TV Shows yet in ITunes, it's pretty useless.

We get the ITV and what can we do, oh...listen to audio and view our photo's.

Whoopee Dee Doo

 

[JonasLondon]

Sorry i don't know if this has been said, but don't have the time to go through all these pages.

The ITV sounds great in the US, but since the UK does not have Movies & or TV Shows yet in ITunes, it's pretty useless.

We get the ITV and what can we do, oh...listen to audio and view our photo's.

Whoopee Dee Doo

Well, quite certainly we WILL get movies here too (at least I am hoping for that big time!) - but in the meantime, why not rip your DVDs with Handbrake and watch those? That's what I'm going to do

 

[4np]

I don't think I'm gonna buy one; I find it pretty useless... Now I just hook up my PowerBook and can watch anything I want (DivX, streams, you name it). I don't need a 'standalone device' for watching movies thtat even requires my PowerBook to stream to it and being able to view less than when I hook up my PowerBook directly. Also, I already have Airport Express for my iTunes so the audio part is not really necessary as well. And I certainly don't want to have to turn on my tv for listening to my music collection :S

Can't see the point in getting an Apple TV.

 

[Evangelion]

Sorry i don't know if this has been said, but don't have the time to go through all these pages.

The ITV sounds great in the US, but since the UK does not have Movies & or TV Shows yet in ITunes, it's pretty useless.

We get the ITV and what can we do, oh...listen to audio and view our photo's.

Whoopee Dee Doo

Again: you can play back all content that iTunes can play back. And that content does not have to be downloaded from iTMS. You could rip your DVD's to your computer, import them to iTunes and watch them with AppleTV.

 

[SweetOleMac]

Your correct, but i'll think i'll stick with my Kiss DP-600
Might not have a fancy interface, but at least i don't need ITunes.

Would have been nice of them to allow you to specify a folder for audio/images/movies, instead of having to have it all in ITunes.