Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple TV Update Adds MLB.tv and NBA League Pass Streaming Video Subscriptions
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The update forTV released today is 4.2. The update for iphone/ipad is 4.3. It would be nice if they were using the same numbering system, but alas, not.
It's "OS Build-Version 4.3" for the Apple TV 2. In the iOS-4.3-forum someone found it out (the info toggles from "Apple TV-Software" to "OS Build-Version" when you press the center button of the remote control):
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=12098727#post12098727
Back door a la carte?
I was just thinking about the updates to apple TV and was wondering if Apple is making a move to a la carte cable via the back door. Awesome business model if they can pull it off. I have like 400 channels on Directv, but only watch like 6 plus sports.
Please be the beginning of a la carte viewing!
I was just thinking about the updates to apple TV and was wondering if Apple is making a move to a la carte cable via the back door. Awesome business model if they can pull it off. I have like 400 channels on Directv, but only watch like 6 plus sports.
Please be the beginning of a la carte viewing!
I've been hoping for something like this for years, and if there's anyone that can pull it off, it's Apple.
I don't have cable, but I'm gonna get DirecTV soon. I'd drop everything if I could just a la carte everything. All I want is the ESPN Networks, Fox Sports locals, and I already pay the NHL for GameCenter Live and will be buying MLB.tv or Extra Innings. Maybe a few channels like Comedy Central, History/A&E/Discovery (even though the first two are quickly going down the drain) etc for a small monthly subscription fee.
Like I said, if anyone could negotiate this with the companies, it'd be Apple. They've already got millions of people using their devices and could bring a whole new distribution method to the industry, if only they'd look towards the future and not stay stagnant.
I had no idea Apple was going to add MLB. I love baseball and just signed up for MLB.tv Sunday and was using my Samsung Blu Ray to stream Spring Training games. It seemed to have a lot of buffering problems and I didn't have anything to compare it to--until now. ATV seems to handle the feed so much better than the Samsung. I even tried connecting the blu ray via ethernet but still--lots of buffering interruptions especially when the feed is first established. Everything seems much smoother on ATV----and with a wireless connection--watching Seattle and Dodgers now--and the picture is quite good--a very nice move on the part of Apple to add this great feature!
That and Netflix 5.1--nice to see Apple become the second device to offer 5.1 streaming. I tried it out on an episode of 30 Rock and it was really nice to finally see Dolby Digital decoding by my receiver from Netflix.
A nice little update of features for ATV!
That and Netflix 5.1--nice to see Apple become the second device to offer 5.1 streaming. I tried it out on an episode of 30 Rock and it was really nice to finally see Dolby Digital decoding by my receiver from Netflix.
A nice little update of features for ATV!
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)
Yes, have posted this feedback to Apple with each release. ATV1, iTunes, and iPods all got this right. Why is ATV2 so clumsy!!
Scarpad said:
Yes, have posted this feedback to Apple with each release. ATV1, iTunes, and iPods all got this right. Why is ATV2 so clumsy!!
Bear in mind as well, aTV 2 has 8Gb onboard - way more than the average Blu-Ray player. That's bound to help streaming and buffering.
I just got an aTV2 a few weeks ago, I thought I'd succumb to the Jobsian way of buying movies. It's a great little device. So far all I've really done is move over some of my own collection to iTunes but it works really, really well. (HandBrake FTW.) I have no interest in baseball but I'd love to see stuff like SciFi, TNT, USA etc available. Imagine being able to record into your iTunes library like a DVR... giggity!!!
What's the issue? I haven't seen any problems - 8 seasons of Columbo, all display correctly just like in iTunes. Although the "cover art" sometimes doesn't match what displays in iTunes.
So I'm still stuck at work, can anyone send me some screenshots of what the new update with either MLB or NBA looks like?
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)
The issue is that with several seasons of several TV shows, the list becomes unwieldy because the top level menu is not "shows" but seasons of shows. The ATV2 needs the simple addition of one hierarchical level where the name of the show is listed, then drills down into individual seasons.
Also have seen the cover art issue, where the cover of the season's first episode is used for the entire season. OK for the most part, but I've tagged my family's home movies as a TV show with specifically chosen poster frames for each "episode." Annoying that they display correctly on every device except the ATV2.
Despite a consistent tagging scheme in either MetaX or Lostify, ATV2 also mangled release dates I've embedded that every other device including the ATV1 got right. It's just not polished for those of us who have been meticulous about organizing large volumes of video.
philr5150 said:
The issue is that with several seasons of several TV shows, the list becomes unwieldy because the top level menu is not "shows" but seasons of shows. The ATV2 needs the simple addition of one hierarchical level where the name of the show is listed, then drills down into individual seasons.
Also have seen the cover art issue, where the cover of the season's first episode is used for the entire season. OK for the most part, but I've tagged my family's home movies as a TV show with specifically chosen poster frames for each "episode." Annoying that they display correctly on every device except the ATV2.
Despite a consistent tagging scheme in either MetaX or Lostify, ATV2 also mangled release dates I've embedded that every other device including the ATV1 got right. It's just not polished for those of us who have been meticulous about organizing large volumes of video.
The PS3 is so awesome with 5.1 netflix surround sound....glad apple added it to netflix.
This device is going to be amazing when it gets the Apple A5 dual core chip this September.
The only reason I keep Direct TV is for FSC, Gol TV and FSC+.
If we got a FSC App on AppleTV I would cancel tomorrow.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)
They also got sloppy/lazy with the implementation of Home Sharing on iOS. Videos are listed in one huge list, Movies followed by TV shows followed by Music Videos. Completely unusable with over 300 movies and thousands of TV Shows.
3rd Party app Air Video did this exactly right. Why can't Apple? Really disappointed at how they have released some of this stuff, a few simple tweaks would be near perfection but they continue to leave it messy.
They also got sloppy/lazy with the implementation of Home Sharing on iOS. Videos are listed in one huge list, Movies followed by TV shows followed by Music Videos. Completely unusable with over 300 movies and thousands of TV Shows.
3rd Party app Air Video did this exactly right. Why can't Apple? Really disappointed at how they have released some of this stuff, a few simple tweaks would be near perfection but they continue to leave it messy.
Fair comment. I haven't loaded that much into the library yet to really have that as a problem, but I can see how it would become so.
The cover art is really annoying though.
Not had any trouble with tagging, but I do it all in iTunes. I wouldn't say I'm meticulous but I like it to look right. At the moment though I only have about 80 TV shows and 40 movies.
I live in Southern California and am a big Angels fan. I also like the Padres for some reason, and like watching the Dodgers lose. I had the MLB.tv package for 3 weeks a few years ago and during that time I had traveled to Nebraska.
The first 1-2 weeks all three teams were on homestands, and I was locked out due to all three being local. The next week I went to Omaha, Nebraska. The Angels that week were playing the Royals, the Padres the Cardinals, and the Dodgers the Cubs. All three apparently were in the local market for Nebraska, and I was blacked out for these series as well. When the Halos traveled to play the White Sox on my last day in Nebraska, and the Padres and Dodgers swapped series, I still had no access.
I'm not sure if the "local" areas are the same as they were back then, but if they are it's a pile of crap. In three weeks I saw 0 games I wanted to see. When I got home the Halos were back on a homestand and the Dodgers were in San Diego to play the Padres. I know this was just chance, but I still promptly canceled my subscription when I got back.
Perhaps Apple will have some clout in getting local access for these things. But I won't hold my breath. MLB isn't getting money from me from cable, and they aren't getting my money for MLB.tv either. If they removed the local blackout rules, they'd be getting my money.
The first 1-2 weeks all three teams were on homestands, and I was locked out due to all three being local. The next week I went to Omaha, Nebraska. The Angels that week were playing the Royals, the Padres the Cardinals, and the Dodgers the Cubs. All three apparently were in the local market for Nebraska, and I was blacked out for these series as well. When the Halos traveled to play the White Sox on my last day in Nebraska, and the Padres and Dodgers swapped series, I still had no access.
I'm not sure if the "local" areas are the same as they were back then, but if they are it's a pile of crap. In three weeks I saw 0 games I wanted to see. When I got home the Halos were back on a homestand and the Dodgers were in San Diego to play the Padres. I know this was just chance, but I still promptly canceled my subscription when I got back.
Perhaps Apple will have some clout in getting local access for these things. But I won't hold my breath. MLB isn't getting money from me from cable, and they aren't getting my money for MLB.tv either. If they removed the local blackout rules, they'd be getting my money.
Finally the update I've been waiting for, ran home from work for lunch did the update, bought a mlb.tv subscription and watched a little of the two games today.
The Mariners/Dodgers game looked great at 16:9 aspect ratio but audio was strictly the announcer feed, you couldn't hear the actual game.
The Cleveland and I forget who was in 4:3 with a grey background very ugly, but the audio was a normal broadcast with announcers and the actual game sounds.
Can't wait to for the regular season, go Cubs!
The Mariners/Dodgers game looked great at 16:9 aspect ratio but audio was strictly the announcer feed, you couldn't hear the actual game.
The Cleveland and I forget who was in 4:3 with a grey background very ugly, but the audio was a normal broadcast with announcers and the actual game sounds.
Can't wait to for the regular season, go Cubs!
Should I buy AppleTV now or wait?
So i'm debating on buying ATV in the next couple of days but don't know if i should wait and see if Apple releases the 3rd gen of ATV. What are your thoughts? Does anyone know if the 3rd gen. of ATV will be out this year?
So i'm debating on buying ATV in the next couple of days but don't know if i should wait and see if Apple releases the 3rd gen of ATV. What are your thoughts? Does anyone know if the 3rd gen. of ATV will be out this year?
I sure hope that college football takes this route. I like the progress on TV so far. In fact, I love my TV.
TV so far. In fact, I love my TV.
If you want the features of the current version ATV--go for it now. It is one thing to ponder the next release of a $1000-plus Apple product, but this is a very reasonably priced Apple product and it really is a great little device--if you want the services it offers. They may add a better processor next time but then again, they may be content to just take care of the current version with software updates this year.
It should have been an AppleTV!
Early this year I was thinking which one to get Roku or AppleTV. I chose Roku because of the NBA Game Time, however it's not an NBA league pass good enough for highlights. If ever the NBA League Pass supports only AppleTV this will pissed me off! I should have chosen AppleTV that time or maybe just wait for the 2nd generation. Ughhhh!!!
Early this year I was thinking which one to get Roku or AppleTV. I chose Roku because of the NBA Game Time, however it's not an NBA league pass good enough for highlights. If ever the NBA League Pass supports only AppleTV this will pissed me off! I should have chosen AppleTV that time or maybe just wait for the 2nd generation. Ughhhh!!!