Well now we know that iTV has officially become Apple TV. It's real folks: we got 802.11 b/g AND 802.11n, USB 2.0, Ethernet, WiFi, HDMI, bunch of standard outs, plus a 40GB hard drive -- all powered by an Intel CPU. So resolution is only 720p -- looks like a few folks are gonna be out of luck, but TV manufacturers are sure gonna be happy to sell all those new sets. Not just one, two or three but five computers can connect to the Apple TV box, making a true hub for all your PCs. You can watch content stored on your rig -- movies, TV shows, photos, etc. -- and you can also pull streaming vid directly off sites like...Apple.com! Plus, the box will even grab content from PCs outside of your house -- finally, we can watch all the great swag that our rich can afford. Interested? You'll be able to grab one immediately for $299.
posted Jan 9th 2007 12:15PM
I dont know about you flat screen guys, but 720p looks gorgeous on my Sony 1080i CRT HDTV. I mean all of those football games, Fox's "24", ect. look fantastic in 720p.
I am not complaining. But I would like some 720p movie downloads.
Oh and question: what is the hard drive for if the media is coming from the host computer anyway?
-Christopher S. Johnson
I'll be curious to read the reviews. I really like the idea of having a slim (silent?) device that can serve up all of my content. I currently use a Media Center PC which works fine, but it's really annoying to have to reboot it when it crashes (way too often). The XBox 360 is almost there, but the fan is too loud. 90% of what I watch is time-shifted, but what about the other 10%? If AppleTV will allow me to stream content from a network based ATSC\QAM tuner real time then I'd try it tomorrow.
I would get one and backup my dvd collection to MPEG-4 using Nero and stream my movies to the Apple TV to watch without having to load a dvd. Sweet. 40GB HDD is way cool.
-----------------------------------------------------
Video
Video formats supported: H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): 640 by 480, 30 fps, LC version of Baseline Profile; 320 by 240, 30 fps, Baseline profile up to Level 1.3; 1280 by 720, 24 fps, Progressive Main Profile. MPEG-4: 640 by 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile
-----------------------------------------------------
Audio
Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps); protected AAC (from iTunes Store); MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps); MP3 VBR; Apple Lossless; AIFF; WAV
Photos
Photo formats supported: JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG
------------------------------------------------------
TV compatibility
Enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen TVs capable of 1080i 60/50Hz, 720p 60/50Hz, 576p 50Hz (PAL format), or 480p 60Hz
I don't know about everyone else but I was really looking forward to Apple TV. Now that they've finally released their specs I have to say I'm extremely disappointed.
I'm new to the home theater market but am looking to invest in equipment that will keep up with the times for a few years. I have been waiting with wallet-in-hand for this product and now I figure I might as well wait.
Apple has underwhelmed me. What happened Stevie? I thought you were going to actually try. The Apple TV UI is the last thing I care about in this product. Sure it looks great and I'd love to have one, but you've half-assed the output and crippled any chance to hook me. Give me a decent output spec and then we'll talk. For now, I'm going to assume you're not serious about giving me a superb HD-quality product. Next time around I'm not going to come running.
720p?
40GB?
You ... wow.. you can't be serious?
Even at 720p that drive is going to fill up in what... about 7 hours?
Massive failure here, really, we're talking failure of Biblical proportions. Wow just wow.
The hard drive is only a temporary storage. Your PC or Mac is the main storage. So, quit complaining. I like the hard drive so that for people that don't have ethernet cables or 802.11n, 802.11g could still be used to pre-transfer HD content for watching at the TV. 40GB is plenty for a few movies or video shows. It is basically like buying an iPod Nano for music. Most people cannot put all their music on it but it is plenty enough to listen to for a couple of days before having to sync again.