Time will tell. For things to move forward we need internet technology revolution, because untill anyone that wants to have internet at home can't get unlimited 300+ Mbps internet we are stuck in the loop.
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iPad 3 to Pave Way for 1080p iTunes Content and a New Apple TV?
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Time will tell. For things to move forward we need internet technology revolution, because untill anyone that wants to have internet at home can't get unlimited 300+ Mbps internet we are stuck in the loop.
Blame that on the studios. Not Apple. Believe me, the industry bosses have a huge stick up their butts believing that DVDs are still THE way. They don't want digital to be anything close to the quality of a disk. So they refuse to contract anything close.
I already own one, but I'm definitely waiting to see if I new one pops up next month before I buy a second one.
For me it's mostly images. I'm "lucky" to not hear the difference between AAC 256 and lossless, but for images, I see most artifacts.
So I can understand your plight.
That would change my opinion quite a bit if it's true. I've never heard that the studios control apple's encoding scheme though. Where did you hear it?
I know the studios are to blame for apple's pricing on video being way out of line. Apple's "buy it" fee is usually 2-3 times more than I can get the DVD or blu-ray for at best buy, but that's where I know the studio is doing it on purpose to hurt electronic distribution.
Sorry - but which bandwidth are you talking about?
The one, your WLAN gives you (802.11n should be standard so no problem),
or the one your IPS gives you (I'm sitting on a 30 Mbit/s line, could upgrade to 100 Mbit/s easily but have no use for it currently).
I just wish the ATV could play from a external drive. It would be neat it the ATV act as the iTunes server eliminating my macs need to fire up every time I want to play a movie.
9 Mbps is still less than a quarter of BD bandwidth, and DD+ is still a compressed format.
The "advertised" speeds of the ISPs are peak speeds, and often people see buffering artificats with much lower speed streams.
And the kicker is that the 40 Mbps BD stream is using the same MPEG-4 codec - so obviously the 4 Mbps stream would have a very hard time trying to be better quality.
I find that the BD rips that I make (direct ISO copies without any recompression or transcoding) average just north of 40 GiB. If you're seeing 2/3rds of that, you're probably stripping content such as the lossless multichannel audio tracks.
Yes, the sound is important - but often ignored in these discussions.
Yes, if they were to release an upgraded AppleTV with 1080p capability and a decent chipset it would be in my hands. I have no love for streaming or buying online content but I would love a hackable box to be able to view free online content like Amazon Prime movies or video podcasts. With the iPad3 and AppleTV3 I hope they are going to move to the new wireless chipset which is much faster than N. I am also waiting for same in the Macbook Pro.
A couple of things...
I have purchased one HD video from iTunes, and unless the quality improves, it will be the only one. Artifacts are so bad (especially in black areas and quick motion) that I feel that money was completely wasted. HD movies from iTunes are overpriced. BDs can be had for lower prices and are obviously of a much higher quality. What's the incentive? Also, something else that is bothering me lately is that I simply cannot get certain things in HD from iTunes. You can buy/rent in SD, or you can buy in HD. There is not rent in HD choice. HD iTunes offerings are poor in almost every way possible.
Somewhat off topic... I'd really like an TV app for my Mac or Front Row back. I know Front Row wasn't used by many and didn't seem like it received much attention from Apple, but I miss it.
TV wish list: more RAM and storage to buffer and hold higher quality videos, improved media from iTunes, and obviously 1080p playback
I have purchased one HD video from iTunes, and unless the quality improves, it will be the only one. Artifacts are so bad (especially in black areas and quick motion) that I feel that money was completely wasted. HD movies from iTunes are overpriced. BDs can be had for lower prices and are obviously of a much higher quality. What's the incentive? Also, something else that is bothering me lately is that I simply cannot get certain things in HD from iTunes. You can buy/rent in SD, or you can buy in HD. There is not rent in HD choice. HD iTunes offerings are poor in almost every way possible.
Somewhat off topic... I'd really like an TV app for my Mac or Front Row back. I know Front Row wasn't used by many and didn't seem like it received much attention from Apple, but I miss it.
TV wish list: more RAM and storage to buffer and hold higher quality videos, improved media from iTunes, and obviously 1080p playback
I agree.
And I also think this is what we will see offered with the 'real' Apple TV due in the near future.
I think Apple will have a hard time unless it's truly revolutionary. Many people already have TV's with apps that provide this streaming functionality, or a console/peripheral that doubles as this kind of device. To compete I'm thinking their margins will be quite low.
Blue Ray technology cannot be mimicked by streaming yet at least in the states due to poor bandwidth and reliability. But even with 4G showing ridiculous speeds I think within 10 years we'll see streaming capabilities that exceed blu ray technology.
I see this as a real issue.
With current AppleTV (720) HD content, once you make the decision to buy or rent a movie, it usually takes about five to ten minutes to buffer enough data that the show will stream. Enough time to make popcorn and get comfortable in your chairs.
But HD or 4K-type content is going to take much, much longer to buffer. Probably a couple of hours for a four gigabyte file. And this is on a fairly robust DSL connection.
Apple may very introduce a 1080-capable version of AppleTV, and a higher-resolution iPad screen. But getting content to play on those devices at very high resolution is going to be an exercise in frustration
It's not even that the difference is that astounding - my point is more about value for money, considering that the prices for both downloads and CDs are virtually the same...
I recently bought a lot of classical music on ALAC format, with all liner notes included (Hyperion Records) - it's time for Apple to offer that possibility, too.
Many H.264 encoders are crap compared to x264. With x264 it is likely that you can reach nearly the same quality with less space.
=> http://x264dev.multimedia.cx/archives/328
Is this accurate? I thought current ATV's could do 1080p? Just that the current version of software limited it to 720p?
Not that I really care, I have two and the picture quality is fine on my old LCD's. When I upgrade my TV's, they'll be "SMART" and I'll no longer need ATV's.
Just give us apps already! I'd love to have Pandora, Hulu Plus, be able to surf social networking sites and the internet, and play games on it!
Seems like such a bottle-neck on something that could be AMAZING!
Not that I really care, I have two and the picture quality is fine on my old LCD's. When I upgrade my TV's, they'll be "SMART" and I'll no longer need ATV's.
Just give us apps already! I'd love to have Pandora, Hulu Plus, be able to surf social networking sites and the internet, and play games on it!
Seems like such a bottle-neck on something that could be AMAZING!
Container != Codec
MKV, MP4 and MOV are just containers to bundle streams like Audio, Subtitle and Video.
Most of them use H.264 for Video.
So: No, it's highly unlikely that Apple will support additional containers.
MKV, MP4 and MOV are just containers to bundle streams like Audio, Subtitle and Video.
Most of them use H.264 for Video.
So: No, it's highly unlikely that Apple will support additional containers.
Please re-read - I said "(direct ISO copies without any recompression or transcoding)".
Your comment makes little sense in that context. I have the original BD - nothing lost, no audio tracks dropped.
I don't want "nearly the same quality" if I can get "exactly the same quality" when I'm watching it on my 52" with bitstream audio to the 6.1 receiver.
Went to buy one at London Drugs for my dad's birthday last night and was told they are completely sold out across their stores in Calgary.
Immediately thought a refresh is coming.
I just hope they allow for some kind of third party app installation, so something like a Plex client could run on it.
Immediately thought a refresh is coming.
I just hope they allow for some kind of third party app installation, so something like a Plex client could run on it.
Finally!
Well, I hope so. I have an Apple TV and love it, but refuse to buy another (I plan to have one hooked up to every TV in the house) until they are capable of 1080p. Years into the HD transition, it's simply inexcusable to cripple products with 720p. 1080p, even, is on the verge of becoming SD with the impending roll-out of 4K TVs, cameras and projectors.
Well, I hope so. I have an Apple TV and love it, but refuse to buy another (I plan to have one hooked up to every TV in the house) until they are capable of 1080p. Years into the HD transition, it's simply inexcusable to cripple products with 720p. 1080p, even, is on the verge of becoming SD with the impending roll-out of 4K TVs, cameras and projectors.