Apple Introduces Updated Apple TV with Netflix Integration, TV Show Rentals

[genosseinski]

AirPlay is awesome. I often wondered what is a good and comfy way to play music at home. Before you could buy one of these Docks, AUX-cables and stuff, but then you usually have to get up the couch every time you want to skip a song. The iPhone is fixed to one place.
Now you can just turn on your (admittedly really cheap) AppleTV, pull out your iPhone/iPod Touch and play music everywhere around the house, without having to turn on a computer.

I guess I might buy the AppleTV just for that. Don't really care about movies, but being able to walk around and change a song in the living room is quite cool.

Missing storage is only bad for pictures, imo.

 

[DoFoT9]

interesting to note

one interesting thing to note: is that apple do not list the 720p max bitrate as they usually do. previously is was 5mbps - now its NON EXISTENT.

i hope this means i can playback 40mbit 720p movies.

 

[Frazzle]

So does the WD allow me to play (and navigate) all my dvds (ISO files or can they be the VOBs in correct directory structure) that are sitting on my 1TB hard drive? That would be absolutely killer...

...I could also stream them, I think, over WIFI but not sure how great WIFI streaming is on G network.

Dunno about the WD. But a Popcorn Hour will support BluRay ISOs and DVDs. Streaming over WiFi (even 802.11n) I wouldn't recommend. Most devices (even tv) have wired ethernet though.

 

[AnalyzeThis]

I must admit I'm a bit new to AppleTV and WD...but I am quite the techie.

So does the WD allow me to play (and navigate) all my dvds (ISO files or can they be the VOBs in correct directory structure) that are sitting on my 1TB hard drive? That would be absolutely killer...I've been looking for a "jukebox" to load up my hundreds of dvds so I can sit back and click a button rather than go hunting for the dvds.

I could also stream them, I think, over WIFI but not sure how great WIFI streaming is on G network.

Thanks in advance for any answers on my questions.

-Eric

I do not use iso or network shares (streaming with twonky 5.0.68: avi, mo4, mkv, m2ts, mpg, ts and etc.), but I know WDTV Live Plus has very complete DVD/BD menu and subtitles support. Another good feature: WD TV Live - supports SUP type subtitles (blu-ray) out of the box, so no need to OCR it to SRT(text)type or convert it to SUB(DVD type) type in order to use them.
AFAIK, Popcorn and others did not support SUP.

Good luck...

 

[Skaught]

I use the AirVideo app on my iPad and iPhone to stream AVI (and other format) movies through my iMac from a stand alone network hard drive. I was hoping the new Apple TV would allow for apps like this so I could do the same on my TV. Any thought on that? Still no way Jose?

I currently use an old Mac Mini that's attached to my TV to watch the movies, but I was hoping to retire that (i.e. give it to the kids).

Scott

 

[wimbledonsound]

Spotify Video will render all of this moot.

Of course that's not even a rumour, but it makes a whole lot of sense to me.

We're halfway between the old model invented by record companies in the 50s (we must all own our own copy of things) to the way things are inevitably headed (subscription service).

1080P is great. 720P is almost as great. DVD still looks pretty good on most TVs with upscaling technology improving all the time.

I don't think NetFlix will even work in the UK, so for now it's still one box to play discs, one AppleTV for rentals, and a TVIX for, erm, all the stuff that consumers didn't ask Steve for.

Magical.

 

[lilo777]

the technie nerds but for the mainstream it will be a god send.

No set up.
It will just work as it supposed to.
No wireless connections to make (ie WD need at least a USB cable to hock up.)
Simple search menus.
Stream stuff from you networked devices.

My bet is that this device which is being laughed at by your average techie will sell like will be scooped up by the average person.

You are assuming that "mainstream" people at least know how to switch TV inputs. In reality, those who do know that usually know a lot more. WD is WiFi capable ($20 extra). Streaming stuff from the networked devices will require a setup.

 

[scottybe]

I'm disappointed

I guess I will have to wait for v2 with 32GB flash storage and an App Store. It's coming...

(I think everything else announced today is fantastic, by the way.)

 

[SiskoKid]

I do not use iso or network shares (streaming with twonky 5.0.68: avi, mo4, mkv, m2ts, mpg, ts and etc.), but I know WDTV Live Plus has very complete DVD/BD menu and subtitles support. Another good feature: WD TV Live - supports SUP type subtitles (blu-ray) out of the box, so no need to OCR it to SRT(text)type or convert it to SUB(DVD type) type in order to use them.
AFAIK, Popcorn and others did not support SUP.

Good luck...

See, I'm actually fairly savvy with tech products, and all that garbage you just spewed just shows how annoying it would be to get WD TV Live versus just getting an Apple TV.

It sounds like to get the most out of WD TV Live you'd have to download a lot of Torrents, rip a lot of Blu Rays and have all necessary software to rip your blu rays. All of that costs money. A lot more money.

Not to mention how annoying it is that although WD TV Live says it's compatible with certain files, the wrappers for those files sometimes are still incompatible.

All of that is a cluster F unless you know what you're doing, and the super majority of people don't and won't.

 

[cfitz7111]

A couple of things that I have seen or heard.

1) If you are streaming off your computer (old library of movies already owned), make sure your computer is not set to sleep, or switch users while someone else in the house is streaming.

2) How large are these rentals going to be? Start downloading a bunch of movies or tv shows, and all of a sudden you will be hitting your data cap pretty hard.

3) As an TV owner, I loved having the kids movies locally on the TV, so the kids could wake up early, watch what they wanted without my computer having to be on all the time, and logged into my account.

 

[tallyho]

Do we have to do this every time? It's the added cost of exporting and your VAT, which is included in your cost. The prices in the US are without state and local taxes. Can we please never have to go through this again?

I take it that basic arithmetic is not one of your strengths? Allowing for VAT, the UK price should be around £75 including VAT
. Apple could round it up to £79 I suppose. I might email Steve to let him know there's a mistake on his website and it says £99 by mistake... Actually though this new AppleTV looks completely pointless so I'll stick with my two old AppleTVs

 

[mac'n'nz]

Help

Hi all. Apologies for asking simple questions , but I have a MacBook pro 09 model and I'm interested in getting the new apple tv. I have a wireless network and a HDTV . How would I set this up? Would I require anything else? I'm not familiar with atv or AirTunes or airport etc. Also can I stream non purchased content that is it my iTunes library ? Like downloaded movies, tv shows and music? It's all in iTunes but not purchased from the apple iTunes store.

Thanks guys

 

[lilo777]

AirPlay is awesome. I often wondered what is a good and comfy way to play music at home. Before you could buy one of these Docks, AUX-cables and stuff, but then you usually have to get up the couch every time you want to skip a song. The iPhone is fixed to one place.
Now you can just turn on your (admittedly really cheap) AppleTV, pull out your iPhone/iPod Touch and play music everywhere around the house, without having to turn on a computer.

I guess I might buy the AppleTV just for that. Don't really care about movies, but being able to walk around and change a song in the living room is quite cool.

Missing storage is only bad for pictures, imo.

We could do it for quite a while with DLNA -capable devices. These devices (AV receivers, TV sets) can pull music from DLNA server (regular PC can serve as a server) and the devices offer a menu and commands for skipping the song etc. It would be nice if Apple joined open standard (DLNA) instead of building proprietary stuff incompatible with most devices out there.

 

[adamcz]

I was really hoping for apps. My tv has almost all of these features built in already, as do lots of other newer tvs.

I thought the obvious move would have been to include some of the iphone apps such as NBA League Pass, etc.

 

[buzzbee]

I'm leaning towards ROKU

The ATV got me interested because my wife is now getting hooked on watch instantly and i was thinking HTPC. Then the ATV announcement today.

However, one thing I really like is the shorts on VIMEO in HD. Lots of interesting user created content that is a lot more creative than Youtube stuff. ROKU just announced the Vimeo channel. Plus, it has the ability to play other file formats.

 

[nighttrain2008]

Your PS3 doesn't have Hulu + unless you have Playstation Plus which is an additional $50 a year.

Sorry but you're wrong. Especially as I subscribed it. It's $18 for three months and you only have to pay it once.

 

[amanset]

Simple. People want to rent The Bourne Identity.

They DON'T want to rent: AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1), TS/TP/M2T (MPEG1/2/4, AVC, VC-1), MP4/MOV (MPEG4, h.264), M2TS, WMV9

:glassy eyed consumer:

Some people live in countries where Apple doesn't give you the option.

There are no films or TV shows in the Swedish iTMS full stop. None. Vast parts of the world are like this (video of any form is only in a very few iTMS worldwide). In any of these countries the new TV is next to pointless.

 

[AnalyzeThis]

You are assuming that "mainstream" people at least know how to switch TV inputs. In reality, those who do know that usually know a lot more. WD is WiFi capable ($20 extra). Streaming stuff from the networked devices will require a setup.

+1c
... Most mainstream folks do not even know what hdmi input/output is. So Apple TV is doomed from the beginning, because of no one would know how to connect or change the input on TV. The rest of the world is doomed as well

too bad, seemed like a good idea...Darn it!

But, But people watch HD TV...
Yes, they do because of cable guy set it up during install...

 

[Frazzle]

Why defend 720p?

Even the crappiest chipset can output 1080p nowadays, and I'm guessing the hardware can do it too.

Defending 720p and Dolby Digital 5.1 is silly in 2010.

• Practically every HDTV is 1080p - and scaling hurts, always.
• Every HD camcorder does 1080p. Home movies, anyone?
• Photos are even higher resolution and benefit from 1080p as well.
• The tv UI would look better in 1080p.
• Soundwise, any modern AV receiver can do better than Dolby Digital.

You don't need top-end hardware to see and hear the difference. If you can live with that difference, that's fine. But please, don't pretend that there is no difference.

For content that I'm buying to own, Bluray is the way to go. For TV rentals, the device may be great. But why doesn't make the full 1080p available for UI and photos is beyond me.

 

[SiskoKid]

Sorry but you're wrong. Especially as I subscribed it. It's $18 for three months and you only have to pay it once.

You're splitting hairs. You paid for 3 months of the service. But the things you got free for subscribing (i.e. games) actually aren't accessible after your service expires. I wouldn't be surprised if Hulu + was the same way.

Can you confirm that Hulu + would not disappear after Playstation Plus expires?

Also, you just also confirmed that you DO need Playstation Plus to use Hulu +. Which is an additional cost, it just depends on which package you purchased.

 

[Xtremehkr]

That is why the 1st Gen AppleTV has done so well?

If you knew your Apple history you would also know that AppleTV has been a 'hobby' up until this point. Apple were still trying to figure out exactly how they were going to make this new model work in such a way as to win consumers over. They feel they've done that now.

If AppleTV had been considered a failure it would have been discontinued. The original AppleTV was more like a huge, real life, beta test.

 

[gugy]

Even the crappiest chipset can output 1080p nowadays, and I'm guessing the hardware can do it too.

Defending 720p and Dolby Digital 5.1 is silly in 2010.

• Practically every HDTV is 1080p - and scaling hurts, always.
• Every HD camcorder does 1080p. Home movies, anyone?
• Photos are even higher resolution and benefit from 1080p as well.
• The tv UI would look better in 1080p.
• Soundwise, any modern AV receiver can do better than Dolby Digital.

You don't need top-end hardware to see and hear the difference. If you can live with that difference, that's fine. But please, don't pretend that there is no difference.

For content that I'm buying to own, Bluray is the way to go. For TV rentals, the device may be great. But why doesn't make the full 1080p available for UI and photos is beyond me.

I agreed.
My feeling Apple crippled 1080p so folks who want it to use their libraries of content would go the MacMini route and spend way more $$$.

I really like AppleTV for being an Apple solution that would work with all my Apple devices, but at this point I am considering either WD TV or Roku. Lack of 1080p is a killer for someone like me that have tons of 1080p home movies and want to rip my Blu-ray library. I guess I am the minority anyway.

 

[cfitz7111]

I dont know if this is the answer or if I am completely wrong, how much more data is 1080p versus 720p?

Maybe it is as simple as a data download, especially now ISPs are capping data, 250GB in many cases, and the ability to stream 720p versus 1080p from your computer to the new TV

As I said I dont know if this is why, maybe someone with a little or more tech background may be able to anseer

 

[Frazzle]

Some people live in countries where Apple doesn't give you the option. There are no films or TV shows in the Swedish iTMS full stop. None. Vast parts of the world are like this (video of any form is only in a very few iTMS worldwide). In any of these countries the new TV is next to pointless.

Not entirely, any video content you import (from DVDs with Handbrake or from Blurays with MakeMKV+Handbrake) into iTunes on a Mac will stream to the device as well. And photos. But for that content, it's quite pricey and I'd like 1080p.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I am certain people here will $&%^ about the lack of purchasing, but there are 2 things to remember:

1) You can still do it on your Mac and stream them. (Get off the couch for 30 seconds!)

This makes no sense, though. Why not simply have the option to reroute all purchases to the host computer that's running iTunes (if available)? If not available, ghost out or remove the buy option. There is no reason you should not be able to buy something for your iTunes library FROM the Apple TV when all it needs to do is reroute the purchase to your primary library instead. In fact, I wish the current generation ATV had an option to do that. Why should I want it to download a song to my ATV when I have NO intention of storing it there? It has to wait until I next sync it from my main computer to transfer it. Why? Send it to that computer and then stream it back when it's done. That's not so difficult. This situation creates a needless hassle. It's very "unApple". It should just work.

2) I think Steve is right, this AppleTV contains the stuff the regular public cares about the most. I'm betting it will be much more popular because of the things it leaves out.

People want simple things to hook up to their TV. That's why only nerds like us hook up computers to televisions. If everyone liked that they'd have done it by now. But they haven't.

I'm more interested to know if a hacked version (if even possible; I mean is there enough free space on that thing to even hold something like XBMC?) will be able to do 1080p. Will this thing have any kind of USB port on it? If not, it's probably 100% worthless to some of us that have gotten used to using XBMC on AppleTV. Heck, I use it just to lock out pRoN off the main ATV listings, for example or to quickly run an AVI file without conversion, etc. Of course, if Apple would just start allowing other formats to work with iTunes, MOST of these issues would be non-issues. Just to be able to watch your own 1080p home movies, even, they should add support to both iTunes and AppleTV even if the iTunes store doesn't offer them! Jobs doesn't seem to think about the BIG picture, just his own little iTunes empire and that's going to keep biting him in the butt (major reason why the 1st ATV failed).

Simple. People want to rent The Bourne Identity.

They DON'T want to rent: AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1), TS/TP/M2T (MPEG1/2/4, AVC, VC-1), MP4/MOV (MPEG4, h.264), M2TS, WMV9

Sorry, but that's an absurd argument. Apple can use M4V on their own rental site all they want. That won't affect a thing. What people DO want is to view their home movies and other format files they get from wherever (Internet, etc.) and have them JUST WORK. The problem with not supporting those formats is they DO NOT WORK and *THAT* is what irritates the crap out of people because there is no technical reason they cannot work in most cases. I'm guessing this hardware has the capability to handle 1080p, but it won't support it until some day in the distant future when Apple decides the public wants 1080p (the rest of us know that was about 4 years ago).