Apple TV and iTMS Movies?

[TheSpaz]

Now that AppleTV is coming out, will Apple update the videos on iTunes Music Store to HD resolutions such as 720p or 1080p? It really must suck to have an AppleTV that supports HD content but, nowhere to get the HD content unless you can rip it from an HDDVD or BlueRay disc which I'm not even sure is possible yet, plus you'd need an HDDVD drive or BlueRay drive (which are really expensive right now anyway). I mean, if Apple's not going to update the resolutions on the iTunes Music Store, you could just plug an iPod into your TV to watch iTMS content. I don't see the point of AppleTV without HD quality.

 

[roland.g]

Everything comes in steps. HD is in its infancy, it's barely available on some channels for TV and in DVDs even less. It's expensive and the data is large. Apple is making a product to appeal to a larger market. HD is too new. So no, tv won't be delivering HD content, and it doesn't need to be yet.

 

[Krevnik]

Now that AppleTV is coming out, will Apple update the videos on iTunes Music Store to HD resolutions such as 720p or 1080p? It really must suck to have an AppleTV that supports HD content but, nowhere to get the HD content unless you can rip it from an HDDVD or BlueRay disc which I'm not even sure is possible yet, plus you'd need an HDDVD drive or BlueRay drive (which are really expensive right now anyway). I mean, if Apple's not going to update the resolutions on the iTunes Music Store, you could just plug an iPod into your TV to watch iTMS content. I don't see the point of AppleTV without HD quality.

A few points:

1) Apple TV can only decode up to 720p, which ironically is the resolution that the vast majority of HDTV owners have (although I use a 1080p panel, personally).

2) You /can/ rip content from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD today. The catch is that it doesn't work under OS X at all yet (mostly thanks to Roxio's incomplete UDF 2.5 driver), and not all movies can be re-encoded for iTunes.

3) The iPod's only output is S-Video, which while capable for the current crop of video, will not 'scale' to newer content in the future. Apple TV can support 720p today, and when 720p content becomes more readily available, it will be able to play it, without having to buy a new device.

And as of right now, I have 5 movies in 720p ripped and in the middle of converting for iTunes, with 11 more waiting for re-encoding tools to mature a bit.

 

[TheSpaz]

3) The iPod's only output is S-Video, which while capable for the current crop of video, will not 'scale' to newer content in the future. Apple TV can support 720p today, and when 720p content becomes more readily available, it will be able to play it, without having to buy a new device.

That's funny that the iPod's only output is S-Video since I've been wasting all my time with an 1/8" jack to composite RCA cable with my iPod and it works great plugging it directly into the TV. What advantage does S-Video have that composite video can't do?

 

[Krevnik]

That's funny that the iPod's only output is S-Video since I've been wasting all my time with an 1/8" jack to composite RCA cable with my iPod and it works great plugging it directly into the TV. What advantage does S-Video have that composite video can't do?

S-Video is similar to composite, but produces higher picture quality by splitting some of the components of the video signal into separate signals, making it less susceptible to noise. I forgot about the composite cables for the iPod video, since I have a dock right in front of me with an S-Video port. Oops. I should have said best output.

 

[yadmonkey]

I'm a little confused about the appeal of iTV for this very reason. ITMS movies look horrible when viewed on larger displays. So is the iTV aimed at people who are ripping DVDs? I'm not trying to troll or dis this product, but I don't understand what it is meant to do.

Unless Apple has expressed that it will soon offer HD content, I can't see for the life of me what iTV has to offer other than viewing low-def videos on HDTVs.