Apple Announces Apple TV (Formerly 'iTV')

[dalvin200]

this is kinda limiting as you can't play all stuff that you ca on frontrow.. ie, avi divx etc...

on the product pagem it states that its any file which is in your itunes library..

so without converting avi to itunes format, then you're pretty much buggered..

i would have bought it but the non-divx thing has stopped me..

i'll stick with my macbook hooked up to tv using frontrow for the time being

 

[mrploddy]

Considering the UK doesnt yet have either a TV store or Movie store UK users have what reason exactly for buying an Apple TV ?.....

-mrploddy

 

[menziep]

It Needs iTunes 7.1​

 

[andyblac]

this is not much for use in the UK, as we cant buy Movies/TV from iTunes. yet another useless product for Europe. US gets all the good stuff and again the price is a rip off

$299 = £153.64 yet we are being charged £199. come on apple get your act together.

 

[dalvin200]

Considering the UK doesnt yet have either a TV store or Movie store UK users have what reason exactly for buying an Apple TV ?.....

-mrploddy

that as well as not being able to play divx etc..

 

[gavd]

Nice device but we need 720p downloads still, or any movie downloads outside the USA, hopefully they are working on those things too.

Agreed. Not having any movie downloads in the UK leaves me uninterested in this at the moment.

 

[aswitcher]

Can I attach an external USB HDD and put my iTunes library on it via this device?

 

[simontarr]

Yeah, this is kinda disapointing. I was hoping for just a simple device that brings front row to my TV easily. It's annoying that it doesn't play avi....but it does play your iTunes stuff and mpeg can be imported into your iTunes library.

But then that means you need two copies of each film- one that goes into your iTunes library for Apple TV, and one that stays in your 'Movies' folder for when you want Frontrow on your Mac. That's a bummer.

 

[VoodooDaddy]

So everyone is in agreement this is for itunes content only? No divx or other video formats? If so they just lost my sale because I was planning to get one.

 

[ziwi]

It can't record, that's the point. You buy your shows off iTunes.

Then it doesn't make sense. If I can only watch the limited library that iTunes has after paying the same as a DVD and getting lower quality - why would anyone want this over buying the actual DVD - assuming that they would still need it as not every movie comes from Disney or Paramount.
Sure have all you movies on your hard drive - who is going to sacrifice that storage versus the shiny platter? It is missing something - I don't get it...someone help me get it, please - what am I missing here?

 

[dalvin200]

So everyone is in agreement this is for itunes content only? No divx or other video formats? If so they just lost my sale because I was planning to get one.

exactly.. me in the same boat..

remains to be seen though what happens when reviewers get their hands on it though.

 

[Frisco]

Bill Gates was right the other day when he said Apple missed the boat to get into the living room.

 

[eenu]

oh well i bought it the second the store came up

 

[andyblac]

It's annoying that it doesn't play avi....but it does play your iTunes stuff and mpeg can be imported into your iTunes library.

But then that means you need two copies of each film- one that goes into your iTunes library for Apple TV, and one that stays in your 'Movies' folder for when you want Frontrow on your Mac. That's a bummer.

Note quite true, did you not know that you can import AVI's into iTunes. allthough you need QuickTime Pro & the necessary codecs, all you have to do is open your AVI in QuickTime Pro and go to "Save As" chose "self-contained movie" this will put a QuickTime (.mov) rapper around the AVI so iTunes can see it. then just add as a normal mov file. and your done.

 

[simontarr]

Bill Gates was right the other day when he said Apple missed the boat to get into the living room.

LOL. From these first impressions I'm inclined to agree.

It needs LOADS of hacks to enable streaming from your Mac direct. Looking at the Apple TV on the Hardware section of the Apple site, it looks like it has to sync with your iTunes library (whats the point in that?! You don't need another clone of your library!) It also implies thyat if your library is greater than 40GB you're screwed.

Time will tell though.

 

[Porco]

To repeat myself from another thread, it is possible to play DivX in quicktime, and so iTunes, and so (presumably) Apple TV. Also, there are many solutions for converting files if need be as well. Also, I guess that aliases will work fine for having one file in iTunes and one in your movies folder for Front Row. Feel free to correct me if any of that is wrong.

I'm personally disappointed it doesn't support full HD resolutions, (i.e. up to and including 1080p). I don't see why it isn't an option. I'm on the lookout for an HD LCD TV soon, and I'm going for a 1080p model - now I don't know whether to buy an Apple TV at the same time or wait until they upgrade it.

Oh, and I'm a UK user and I'd love one still, if it wasn't for the lack of 1080p issue - it's a nice elegant solution to watch my media from the computer on a TV - the fact that I might not download TV or movies form iTunes yet is irrelevant. Those who don't see the point probably won't need one.

I'd be voting 'unsure' if there was something between positive and negative on this...

 

[ChrisA]

I give it about 12 hours after launch before detailed instructions on how to swap out the hard drive are on the web. Not a big deal... TiVO's all have hard drives that are way too small, as well.. which is why people upgrade them.

Reading the tech specs on the new Airport Extreme, it says you can connect multiple printers and multiple USB hard drives to the USB port. Perhaps the Apple TV allows the same? So if 40GB is not enough just plug in a 1TB RAID box and you'd be set for a while. That USB port has to be there for a reason.

 

[simontarr]

Bill Gates was right the other day when he said Apple missed the boat to get into the living room.

LOL. From these first impressions I'm inclined to agree.

It needs LOADS of hacks to enable streaming from your Mac direct + other things. Looking at the Apple TV on the Hardware section of the Apple site, it looks like it has to sync with your iTunes library (whats the point in that?! You don't need another clone of your library!) It also implies thyat if your library is greater than 40GB you're screwed.

Time will tell though.

 

[Play Ultimate]

Bill Gates was right the other day when he said Apple missed the boat to get into the living room.

This comment seems a little premature since the product isn't even available yet. And as I recall, the original iPod had similar mixed reactions.

I believe time will tell whether this is a success or not.

 

[ansalmo]

Why does everyone assume you can only stream movies downloaded from the iTunes store? My iTunes server is full of movies I've Handbraked from my own DVDs, and they seem to stream OK.

 

[dalvin200]

but who wants to waste time converting avi's into mov's etc..

the whole point is that its simple and should be able to play what you have out of the box.. kinda like front row (with the codecs)

time will tell, so i will reserve full judgement till reviews come out

 

[orb]

Grrr... All I want is a replacement for the Mac mini that is hooked up to the TV, something that isn't such a hassle. Front Row works nice for the most part, but you can't really escape the need for a mouse/keyboard from time to time. Also, can it really only do 1080i? A mac mini can do 1080p. (not that there is any content available)

I've ordered one, but if it really can't play anything other than iTunes downloads, I'll probably cancel. Hmmm...

 

[soosy]

It just seems like slapping an hdmi port on a Mac Mini would make so much more sense... especially at this price.

 

[jacg]

oh well i bought it the second the store came up

Me too. Nearly. Then I realised I could just connect my MBP to my 720p projector via DVI->HDMI for photo slideshows, which is just about all that is offered in the UK at the moment.

And I get Keynote presentations, iTunes visuals, DVD Player, etc.

I am interested in the Wireless USB drive for Time Machine though. Might need a new Airport network for that though.

 

[Deefuzz]

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.