I've mentioned AppleTV a few times recently and had quite a few folk contact me asking for more details. As I don't have the service I'm not in the best place to pass comment, but here are some links that may be of interest
Original review from EndGadget
Apple TV 2 review from Gizmodo
Apple TV future plans according to CNet
And a very interesting comparison between AppleTV's HD picture quality with DVD, Blu-Ray and cable (US) from iPodLounge
Hope that suffices guys
8 comments:
Apple TV is shite in my opinion it only offers you whats available on the Itunes store. Its basicly a big ipod you plug into your TV. You also have to pay ££££ for what you watch.
I own an AppleTV, but I've never once downloaded a TV show from the iTMS. Personally, I prefer to own a more versatile DVD copy. However, I've ripped a significant number of my own (SD) DVDs in Handbrake, and I find it excellent for playback of these. It's also great for playing music through your AV system and for viewing photos on a large screen. It's easy to navigate, but very much geared towards buying content from Apple, something I'm not really keen on.
I recently installed Boxee, a third-party app that allows you to view streamed content from iPlayer and some US networks. Sadly, this does not include Hulu or ABC who restrict their stream to US IP addresses. The good news is that Comedy Central is on there, with every single episode of South Park, the Daily Show and the Colbert Report.
@ Chris
Nice foul mouthed comment which is not actually based on the facts. Apple TV offers one massive thing which is not available through a regular Mac (or PC) connected to the iTMS - HD movies. I would have thought as a reader of this blog such a fact might not have eluded you.
Apple TV is also a capable of playing any HD content you may have acquired yourself, (although it tops out at 720p 5mbits) which an iPod connected to a TV will not do.
The Amazon reviews are interesting: http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B000MLU13I/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?ie=UTF8&coliid=&showViewpoints=1&colid=&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
"Apple TV offers one massive thing which is not available through a regular Mac (or PC) connected to the iTMS - HD movies."
Huh that's weird, wondered why I couldn't find any HD movies on iTunes. They do have HD TV series on there though. What's the rationale behind that? Are they really making enough of a profit from Apple TV? I'd have thought they would want you to buy it at their loss so you used their store, and (since iTunes and ITMS were available on windows as well as mac) they'd appreciate everyone who used their store regardless of their hardware!
"Apple TV is also a capable of playing any HD content you may have acquired yourself, (although it tops out at 720p 5mbits)"
Hmm that doesn't give you a lot of legal or illegal download choices apart from ITMS... and I'd be concerned about the quality on most titles at that bitrate (not that ITMS could beat it though!). So the advantage over iPod plugged into TV is you can watch your own legally owned blu-rays which you have semi-legally ripped to failry low quality 720p?
Films on iTunes are available in HD, but currently only through Apple TV. If you look at a new release (Dark Knight for example) it says the HD version is available on Apple TV. Movies appear on Apple TV first for purchase only, then a few weeks later for rental too, to the same schedules as the DVD / Filmflex releases and a few days ahead of Sky Box Office. More studios seem to release in HD on Apple TV than on FilmFlex.
It's rumoured that Apple is rethinking it's strategy with Apple TV, see my original post.
Those amazon reviews are interesting but most are a couple of years old now, so I would have expected at least some of the issues to have been resolved by now.
The Apple TV its current guise does seem to be a big outlay for not many features. Movie-rental and PVR is its obvious future, as well as "Apple approved" context-sensitive overlay options to what you're watching.
I find the concept of purchasing digital movies "to keep" as dated as well as un-interesting, but then I don't often watch a film more than once.
The delay between purchase-to-keep vs. rental will continue to send many potential renters to the pirate's bay, imo.
I was bought an apple tv as a very kind present. I mainly use it for showing photographs to friends. It is excellent for this. I cant imagine that i would ever watch a film though as it took me about 20 mins to download a 3 min HD trailer, which was in stereo ! until they offer a massive selection of HD content with HD audio and at cheaper prices, ill be sticking with lovefilm.
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