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Apple TV Shipping Tuesday, March 20th?

f, like me, you don't have a pre-existing media library, then you're probably better off doing what I did: buy a Mac Mini and plug it directly into your HDTV which (as noted upthread) adds PVR functionality if you have a TV tuner. The custom build option for a 120GB HDD is more than enough to get you started, and Iomega and LaCie offer external drives which stack with same styling as the Mini if you want to expand.
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Yeah.....I see where you're going. My only problem with the Mac Mini PVR route is the inability to record HD content via Cox Cable. That's why I chose Cox Cable's DVR. I also have an Eye TV Hybrid which I really enjoy. However, I've yet to be able to get any HD content (OTA) 'cause I've been too darn busy to go to Radio Shack and get an HD antenna.:mad:
 
Krevnik said:
I've done a couple Blu-Ray rips, and I find that you are about right. I have to dip the bitrate considerably on longer movies though, because of issues with the 4GB boundary within Quicktime and iTunes. Right now, QT will not create a streamable movie larger than 4GB, and iTunes doesn't stream any movie larger than 4GB...
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I think whichever way you look at it the files are going to be large and take a considerable time to download for all but those with extra wide broadband connections. Assuming of course that HD movies are going to be a reality from Apple. Vapourware in the UK since we don't even have the low-def movies yet. :-(
 
I'd love an AppleTV but Apple let me down by not including a SCART output. I have a 576i widescreen TV. That's another £200 Apple won't be getting.
 
macinfojunkie said:
I think whichever way you look at it the files are going to be large and take a considerable time to download for all but those with extra wide broadband connections. Assuming of course that HD movies are going to be a reality from Apple. Vapourware in the UK since we don't even have the low-def movies yet. :-(
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I think that early on, at least, "Managed Copy" is the route for HD w/iTunes. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray both support a feature that allows a DRM'd (bleh) copy of the HD disc to be made by getting a license for it from a studio-owned server. iTunes could (in theory) hook into this to make 720p rips from HD discs in the future that will work with Apple TV.
 
raggedjimmi said:
I'd love an AppleTV but Apple let me down by not including a SCART output. I have a 576i widescreen TV. That's another £200 Apple won't be getting.
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it supports component out, so pick up a component to scart converter for <$10 and just use that to hook it up. That's how I used to hook up my Mac Mini and it worked fine.
 
When you go to a store and see the same content on a variety of displays, the aspect ratios of the actual content (a person's face) is widely variable.

All I want, independent of all this format chat, is for the aspect ratio to remain true.

If that means displaying the image in letterbox format, edges clipped format, or perhaps even proper format to the screen, pick one. DO NOT modify the ASPECT RATIO to fit one of two erroneous specifications of the display device.

Rocketman
 
Krevnik said:
I've done a couple Blu-Ray rips, and I find that you are about right. I have to dip the bitrate considerably on longer movies though, because of issues with the 4GB boundary within Quicktime and iTunes. Right now, QT will not create a streamable movie larger than 4GB, and iTunes doesn't stream any movie larger than 4GB...
Click to expand...

Out of interest, how long are those BRD > H.264 conversions taking and on what spec Mac?
 
Yvan256 said:
That's probably because your file was higher than 24FPS. Also, HD in everyone's book includes 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 720i and 480p. That's the supported resolutions. Your file is above the lowest HD spec.
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HD has NEVER included 480p. NEVER. It's never even been called that by deceptive marketing types. They call 480p (which is DVD resolution) EDTV, for Enhanced Resolution TV. I've never seen anything ever done in 720i, either... in fact, here's what wikipedia has to say on that "format", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720i.

macinfojunkie said:
It all depends at which bit-rate they decide to encode so it is hard to provide anything but a very wide ballpark at the moment. As a guideline DVD rip of a 90 min movie converted to H.264 @ 2000 Kbs takes up approx. 1.5GB. Given that a standard DVD is approx. 300,000 (720*404) pixels and the 720p "HD" movies would occupy 3 times that many pixels for 1280*720 Then for the same bit-rate I would expect files of around 5 GB. Since the current movies are not for sale in the UK I can't tell what bit-rate Apple currently use, but I suspect it is considerably lower than 2000, so the files might well by smaller than indicated by my napkin calculations.
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I think you meant for the same quality-level, not for the same bit-rate. If you encode a 320x240 file at 1000kbps and a 1280x720 file at 1000kbps they will be the exact same size. The former will look very good, for it's size, while the latter will look very crappy.
 
mrgreen4242 said:
I think you meant for the same quality-level, not for the same bit-rate. If you encode a 320x240 file at 1000kbps and a 1280x720 file at 1000kbps they will be the exact same size. The former will look very good, for it's size, while the latter will look very crappy.
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you are indeed correct. :)
 
Krevnik said:
I've done a couple Blu-Ray rips, and I find that you are about right. I have to dip the bitrate considerably on longer movies though, because of issues with the 4GB boundary within Quicktime and iTunes. Right now, QT will not create a streamable movie larger than 4GB, and iTunes doesn't stream any movie larger than 4GB...
Click to expand...

I was unaware of that limit. Would a macmini allow for playing these as opposed to streaming them? Of course, I'd have to get these from my mac into the livingroom where I'd put the macmini. I just want the highest quality and I wonder that the 4gb limit will make rips too compressed and compromise PQ?
 
hatcher002 said:
i have use these for about 2 weeks grate tool takes some time to convert but if you install it on multiple mac os journaled partitions and have multiple dvd drive you can do few at one time which speeds up the Process and i have not ran into an dvd that i could not ripped because of encryption
http://www.mp4converter.net/appletv-video-converter-mac.html
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Please check out the shift key and the punctuation keys on your keyboard.
 
I'll Pass

Don't know how I feel about the iTV (refuse to call it :apple:TV - sooo cheesy a monicker). As the movie content on iTunes isn't exactly DVD quality, I don't intend on buying and watching any iTunes movies. The stats indicate that the iTV won't be able to wirelessly stream DVD's or record television programs as a DVR, so if the only purpose is to stream movies purchased from iTunes then I'm checking off this overpriced $300 Airport Express. Sorry Apple, you need to add a few more options before convincing this long-time Apple consumer that this new product warrants a position under my flat screen system. :(
 
CJD2112 said:
Don't know how I feel about the iTV (refuse to call it :apple:TV - sooo cheesy a monicker). As the movie content on iTunes isn't exactly DVD quality, I don't intend on buying and watching any iTunes movies.
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Can you not rip them using HandBrake? I've done that for iPod (and to be able to simply watch movies in iTunes). Very good quality. Though I do believe that Apple should (not necessarily will) add capability to rip DVDs in one fashion or another - even if it is simply allowing iTunes to copy the VIDEO_TS folder and allowing iTunes to play DVDs from there.

CJD2112 said:
The stats indicate that the iTV won't be able to wirelessly stream DVD's or record television programs as a DVR, so if the only purpose is to stream movies purchased from iTunes then I'm checking off this overpriced $300 Airport Express.
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There are other purposes: photos and music, for example. And if you rip your movies into iTunes anyway, then the :apple:TV could be quite useful. All your movies on your computer...

And Apple will likely up the quality of movies on the movie store to 720p, which is better than DVD quality... if they don't raise prices, or only raise them slightly for the high-def version, it would be a cheaper alternative to Bluray and HD-DVD.
 
FleurDuMal said:
Just out of interest, if iTunes were to start selling HD (720p) movies in H.264, what would the average size of the file be?

I know no one knows for sure, but I'd like to here some (reasoned) guestimations. :)

Is it gonna be the case that only people with a Mac Pro will be able to have a significant digital move library? Or will the advent of the 1TB hard drive (which I think might make an appearance in the next iMac...is it out yet?) mean we can all join in?
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That's not true. Any good PC with a substantial amount of storage space will do.

But this issue of storage may be a good reason for iTunes to have a subscription or rental service for movies. I'd gladly pay a few bucks to see the movie a limited amount of times with an ATV and have the media expire and delete. This would make a lot more sense than having a purchase only model, and would lower the necessity for really high storage since all rentals would be temporary.

As for Apple actually providing a DVD decryption program, it ain't gonna happen. That's all the movie studios need to see. That would suddenly make non-DRM media that can be copied over and over again, that is of course if it doesn't apply it's own DRM encoding to the file, which would also draw complaints. As of now, third party software provides a cheap and easy way to do this.
 
FleurDuMal said:
Or will the advent of the 1TB hard drive (which I think might make an appearance in the next iMac...is it out yet?) mean we can all join in?
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I just installed a 2TB external on my iMac for a very reasonable price, about 4 times the price I paid for a 250GB drive a few months earlier - wow!
 
CoreWeb said:
Can you not rip them using HandBrake? I've done that for iPod (and to be able to simply watch movies in iTunes). Very good quality. Though I do believe that Apple should (not necessarily will) add capability to rip DVDs in one fashion or another - even if it is simply allowing iTunes to copy the VIDEO_TS folder and allowing iTunes to play DVDs from there.
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Problem is, all of this is illegal. Without substantial changes to the DMCA, Apple will never support anything that encourages ripping DVDs. Besides being illegal, which discourages many people, ripping DVDs is a cumbersome process which discourages others from doing it. Until Apple (or other download services) offers aTV compatible HD content online, there's nothing too special about video on the aTV (IMO).
 
iDave said:
Problem is, all of this is illegal. Without substantial changes to the DMCA, Apple will never support anything that encourages ripping DVDs. Besides being illegal, which discourages many people, ripping DVDs is a cumbersome process which discourages others from doing it. Until Apple (or other download services) offers aTV compatible HD content online, there's nothing too special about video on the aTV (IMO).
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What I don't understand is why is this ripping illegal for movies, but legal for music? Is there really a qualititative difference between the two that justifies different rules?
 
FleurDuMal said:
What I don't understand is why is this ripping illegal for movies, but legal for music? Is there really a qualititative difference between the two that justifies different rules?
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I think because breaking the encryption on the DVD is itself illegal. No such encryption exists for cd. At least that's my understanding. It's always illegal to break the "use" part of the law (PTP trading, public screenings) but DMCA makes it illegal to "break" the protection layer of the DVD.

Is this right?
 
Adobe75 said:
Netflix - $18
MacBook Pro $2,000
400GB FW Drive $130
Handbrake $0
EyeTV Hybrid $125
AppleTV $300
+ Sanyo Z3 Projector $1,500
-------------------------
Awesomeness
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that entry cost sure make it seem like getting a $20 dvd player, a $250 EDTV, and a library card seem like a pretty good investment.
 
mrgreen4242 said:
HD has NEVER included 480p. NEVER. It's never even been called that by deceptive marketing types. They call 480p (which is DVD resolution) EDTV, for Enhanced Resolution TV. I've never seen anything ever done in 720i, either... in fact, here's what wikipedia has to say on that "format", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720i.
Click to expand...
Before this gets out of hand, 480p *is* part of the HDTV standard. It is an official and sanctioned HDTV resolution; The ATSC standards body differentiates only between SDTV (480i) and HDTV(all progressive resolutions and 1080i). 480p is not "HD" content in marketspeak, though, which is just 720p and 1080i/p.
 
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