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Apple TV 'Take 2' HD Image Quality

more anecdotal results...

6 meg DSL by AT&T

HD movie ready to play on my AppleTV in about 1 minute.

Watched on my new 50" Pioneer Kuro plasma, and the picture was just great. Much like others have said, it lacks the full Blu-Ray dazzle, but FAR surpasses upscaled DVDs or anything on my HD cable (Time Warner Los Angeles). HD cable is riddled with blocking artifacts, while the AppleTV movie had none.

I'm really impressed. They could certainly improve on price and selection, but I can see slowly weening myself away from NetFlix in favor of this... or at least getting a cheaper Netflix subscription and using both. And I doubt I'll ever use my cable's pay-per-view now that this is available.
 
no idea why they sell it in canada, no movie rentals, and you can buy shows, but the shows all suck and theres only a few to begin with.
 
jmadlena said:
So you think he should replace one of those boxes with another box... or add a third box?
Click to expand...

I don't think he should do anything. I don't own an AppleTV either.

My point is that I think it's funny to complain that the AppleTV "only" does certain things. It's kind of like saying "since there's an iPhone, why would anyone buy an iPod Nano?"

Well, obviously, they do different things. I wasn't even critisizing the original poster for what he said. I was just pointing out that, like the iPod Nano, the AppleTV is aimed at certain things and we shouldn't expect it to change anytime soon. Adding Blu-Ray or Tivo to it only fights against the iTunes store. Not gonna happen.
 
ChrisK018 said:
Nice that there is some good picture quality.

I got all happy-- thinking I might get one-- but from what mighty macrumors tells me the max Apple TV puts out is 720p?

That means I wait. I want 1080p.
Click to expand...

This whole 1080p vs 720p argument is really moot.

Yes, technically 1080p is better than 720p, you'll get no arguments from me on that. But....

A 1080p Blu-Ray disc playing on cheap LCD/Plasma TV will not look good as a 720p movie playing on a high end LCD/Plasma TV with excellent upscaling. In fact as I've mentioned in a previous thread, one of my friends who is very much into the Audio/Visual/HD world could not get over how well my TV upscaled a regular DVD. He said it was very close to a BLu-ray disc.

Then add in the room. Windows, floors, etc! If you really want to take advantage of the true HD experience, you might as well start working on a home theater.

Also another piece of the equation, which makes the argument very subjective, is the viewers vision. Everyone's vision is different, I for one cannot read sport scores on regular ESPN, however I can do so on ESPN HD. However, my sister is the complete opposite.

It will be a long time until 1080P is accepted into the mainstream, so you might as well enjoy 720P today and now with the talk of 3D TV....might as well hold off on Blu-Ray, unless you want to replace all of your content again.
 
ChrisK018 said:
Nice that there is some good picture quality.

I got all happy-- thinking I might get one-- but from what mighty macrumors tells me the max Apple TV puts out is 720p? That means I wait. I want 1080p.
Click to expand...

Life is short. Enjoy what's available today. That's my motto. :)
 
whatever said:
In fact as I've mentioned in a previous thread, one of my friends who is very much into the Audio/Visual/HD world could not get over how well my TV upscaled a regular DVD. He said it was very close to a BLu-ray disc.
Click to expand...

Which TV do you have?
 
I don't have an HDTV. Will there be any benefit to downloadin

hehe

forget it.

kudos to apple for getting this done. buying DVD's and/or Blu Ray disks is buying outdated technology.

If i want to see a movie in hi-def, I walk to the theatre! Best quality there is.

but that's just me!
 
gkarris said:
GREAT ARTICLE! I was wondering about the quality comparisons...

Blu-ray and 1080, obviously the best way to go on a larger screen where you can tell the difference.



I've bought a couple of Star Trek episodes in 720p from XBox Live and looking at the article, the quality tends to be about the same as Apple - obviously the source material is the same - 720p. It only wet my apetite for wanting the shows on high def discs (Blu-ray the winner now I guess).

From the article:



And hence, Apple not releasing any Blu-ray drives in its computers...
Click to expand...


1080p makes a lot of sense on tv sets 46 in and more. 720p scaled down from br discs on a modern 37-40 in 720p set looks very good, almost indiscernable from 1080p at 3-4m away from the tv. BR Players will be 150 USD/ EUR this xmas and all of the players upscale sd dvds to at least what Apple, Sony and MS can offer via their dl services. HD TV sales will continue to rise this year with most of the sets, even 37in, being 1080p right now.
 
TechnoLawyer said:
Which TV do you have?
Click to expand...
50" Pioneer Elite Plasma Pro-FHD1 Monitor. At the time of purchase I selected going with a monitor vs a TV mainly because the monitor was 1080P and I didn't need a tuner, since I was hooking it up to A/V system (TiVo, Digital Cable, A/V receiver, ETC).

Of course a few months after my purchase the new Elite KURO came out, so I had an opportunity to trade my Pro-FHD1 in for one (even swap, it's a long story), but after being put in contact with the AV guy who optimizes home theaters for a living (he did George Lucas home theater), I learned that Pro-HFD1 is superior to the newer Elite KURO (I guess there are more expensive parts in it which were substituted in the KURO line to bring the price down, I don't know for sure, but after two months of going back in forth I decided to keep what I had).

One more thing totality off topic, I wonder no one has mentioned the rumors of Apple buying Sony. These rumors started appearing again a few weeks ago. They need help and I can picture either Apple or MS buying them (alright did I just discredit this post with that statement?).
 
ayale99 said:
Amen Brother! Who cares?! "Wah Wah It's not 1080p!"
Once you actually sit down and get into a movie, your not going to notice 720p or 1080p difference.
Click to expand...

...says a guy who obviously hasn't sat down and watched Ratatouille on Blu-Ray on a 65" plasma.

When I got up and walked away, the real world looked blurry and dull for the next hour.
 
benpatient said:
...says a guy who obviously hasn't sat down and watched Ratatouille on Blu-Ray on a 65" plasma.

When I got up and walked away, the real world looked blurry and dull for the next hour.
Click to expand...

Well, maybe except for you then. My eyes actually see the world in 2160p, so it's kind of a downgrade for me.
 
liberty4all said:
If Apple TV had Blu-Ray, I'd buy one...

Come on Apple, make it a fully-functional entertainment device -- or add Blu-Ray to the Mini...
Click to expand...


Yeah. And an integrated popcorn maker/beer fridge too. I mean, I want fully functional, right? Stop trying to sell me this dumbed-down kludge-meat, Apple!
 
I Can Tell A Differerence!

I rented the Transformers HD version on Apple TV. I have the DVD version of it also and saw the action scenes on it after viewing HD version. I could tell that the HD version was better and sound was very similar.

The UI is better than the previous version. Much easier to use. (Love the menu shortcut)

___________________________________________________________________
:apple: Iphone 8 GB
:apple: Macbook
:apple: 20' Imac G5
 
OMG seriously, I just can't STAND not watching my movies in 1080p....I just won't have it any lower. I mean granted, I can't actually tell the difference when I'm far away on my couch.....but that's not the point, it's the principle of the thing....

As soon as Apple comes out with Apple TV: 1080p (which I know they will, because they are here to make products for MY individual wants...), I'll get my complaint ready for how they don't have "PLAYS 1080p!!!" in big letters on the front of the unit, so all my friends will know that I have the biggest and the best.

Seriously....
 
whatever said:
This whole 1080p vs 720p argument is really moot.

Yes, technically 1080p is better than 720p, you'll get no arguments from me on that. But....

A 1080p Blu-Ray disc playing on cheap LCD/Plasma TV will not look good as a 720p movie playing on a high end LCD/Plasma TV with excellent upscaling. In fact as I've mentioned in a previous thread, one of my friends who is very much into the Audio/Visual/HD world could not get over how well my TV upscaled a regular DVD. He said it was very close to a BLu-ray disc.

Then add in the room. Windows, floors, etc! If you really want to take advantage of the true HD experience, you might as well start working on a home theater.

Also another piece of the equation, which makes the argument very subjective, is the viewers vision. Everyone's vision is different, I for one cannot read sport scores on regular ESPN, however I can do so on ESPN HD. However, my sister is the complete opposite.

It will be a long time until 1080P is accepted into the mainstream, so you might as well enjoy 720P today and now with the talk of 3D TV....might as well hold off on Blu-Ray, unless you want to replace all of your content again.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

You can't expect the greatest picture if you don't have the greatest scaler, and you are still ultimately running through analog wire (component). Encoding/decoding/scaling etc all require a lot of processing.
 
pjarvi said:
I have a 6Mbps DSL connection, and it took around 5 hours for me to download Die Hard in HD. It gave a notification that it was ready to play after about 3 1/2 hours of downloading. I went to sleep instead, and plan on watching it this weekend.
Click to expand...

I have 15 Mbps FIOS and it took maybe 2 hours to download Live Free or Die Hard in HD... but it was ready to start playback in about 30-45 seconds, and did so flawlessly.

As a sidenote: I had 5 Mbps FIOS but upgraded to 15 knowing that AppleTV 2.0 was on its way... I am thoroughly satisfied with the result of the extra ten bucks a month and hope that as content expands, I'll just do away with the 900 channels of crap I'm feeding my TV. :D

filmguy15 said:
OMG seriously, I just can't STAND not watching my movies in 1080p....I just won't have it any lower. I mean granted, I can't actually tell the difference when I'm far away on my couch.....but that's not the point, it's the principle of the thing....

As soon as Apple comes out with Apple TV: 1080p (which I know they will, because they are here to make products for MY individual wants...), I'll get my complaint ready for how they don't have "PLAYS 1080p!!!" in big letters on the front of the unit, so all my friends will know that I have the biggest and the best.

Seriously....
Click to expand...

1080p? Are you kidding me?

I'm mad as hell that it doesn't play 2540p on my $250,000 Barco theatrical digital projector! What about Ultra High Definition? What about Human Eye Vision. I'm just not satisfied until AppleTV can discern between wavelengths 1 nanometer apart like the human eye!

WHY!!!!
 
Unless there's a whole lot of content (and I don't mean HD vs. non-HD) that's available to Apple TV but not to the rest of us through the iTunes store, I don't (yet) see the value of getting an Apple TV since it really can't replace my DVD player. I don't personally want yet another box attached to my television (and yes, I realize that's just me and I don't speak for everyone).

I do look forward to the day when the downloadable rental content is comparable to what's available through Netflix or, perhaps more realistically, the corner DVD rental place.

Avatar74 said:
I'm mad as hell that it doesn't play 2540p on my $250,000 Barco theatrical digital projector!
Click to expand...

Well, sure, if you're the sort of person who enjoys slumming it on occasion...

I want the movies to be broadcast into my dreams, and sponsored by Lightspeed Brand Briefs™.
 
whatever said:
This whole 1080p vs 720p argument is really moot.

Yes, technically 1080p is better than 720p, you'll get no arguments from me on that. But....

A 1080p Blu-Ray disc playing on cheap LCD/Plasma TV will not look good as a 720p movie playing on a high end LCD/Plasma TV with excellent upscaling. In fact as I've mentioned in a previous thread, one of my friends who is very much into the Audio/Visual/HD world could not get over how well my TV upscaled a regular DVD. He said it was very close to a BLu-ray disc.

Then add in the room. Windows, floors, etc! If you really want to take advantage of the true HD experience, you might as well start working on a home theater.

Also another piece of the equation, which makes the argument very subjective, is the viewers vision. Everyone's vision is different, I for one cannot read sport scores on regular ESPN, however I can do so on ESPN HD. However, my sister is the complete opposite.

It will be a long time until 1080P is accepted into the mainstream, so you might as well enjoy 720P today and now with the talk of 3D TV....might as well hold off on Blu-Ray, unless you want to replace all of your content again.
Click to expand...

This is laughable. No offense but it honestly seems your friend isn't into Audio/Visual as much as you say he say's he is. Screen size plays a big factor also. 32" or smaller the the difference between a DVD upscaled vs a 1080P Blu-ray may not be as noticeable when comparing on a 42"+ HDTV. Either way the movie will still be a lot sharper with better color depth then what DVD offers. Now saying a DVD upscaled comes very close to Blu-ray sounds ignorant to me. I'm not saying all Blu-ray movies are created equal but honestly comparing say Pirates of the Caribbean on Blu-ray and DVD with a decent sized HDTV(42"+). Blu-ray wins hands down. DVD can't compete with the sharpness or color depth which Blu-ray offers.

As for everyone else on this forum saying 1080P is "dumb" or "a waste", "you can't see that much of a difference". Then do this simple test change your monitor resolution from 1208 x 720P to 1920 x 1080P and let me know what difference you see. Stuff look a little different? Thought so. That is unless you are on a monitor which is not capable of those resolutions. Sounds like a lot of people know a little bit about the subject but haven't really tested it out for themselves. I really don't understand why people would go for the lower standard. If you guys want stay in the past I'm looking towards the future. Right now 1080P is where it's at but soon we'll be at even even higher resolution. Bring me 1440P!
 
You have to remember what the AVERAGE person ownes. Not everyone has nice 50" screens or home theaters...

AppleTV is for the masses - the average 40" or smaller 720p sets.

I have an AppleTV to watch my favorite shows and music videos. My favorite movies and TV shows I end up getting on disc anyways and eventually erase the "almost DVD" quality TV shows from my iTunes and watch the discs.

I won't even rent the HD content. I will rent SD, and if I sorta like it, buy the DVD used. If I love it, end up with the Blu-ray...

I want media you can hold...
 
Looks like blu ray wins again and just yesterday I get an email from netflix saying that they are dumping HD DVD and going with blu ray. Guess my xbox 360 hd player is going to wind up in the garbage soon enough.
 
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