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Posted by rod@drury.net.nz in Apple, Technolust at 9:22 am on Thursday, 31 May 2007
Another logical step in Google and Apple getting closer (Googles Schmidt is on Apples Board).
Steve Jobs: Apple TV getting YouTubed
But the AppleTV is getting panned: Fortune: Apple TV A Dud
I tend to agree. I have a 36″ CRT (haven’t yet jumped on the flat screen bandwagon) I brought a few years ago and can’t easily plug in an AppleTV. It doesn’t make sense to require HDTV for low res pictures.
I hope they update the Mac FrontRow software as well so you can YouTube from there. That would be more useful. Looking forward to seeing how you search for keywords with the remote.
Apple shares up 30% since the iPhone announcement so who’s complaining.
blog
Does your 36 incher not have component inputs? I’ve got an Apple TV plugged into a Sony 34″ SDTV via component, no problem at all - the TV has a widescreen mode so everything is in the right aspect. I installed an Airport Extreme at the same time and had streaming video running about 20 minutes after unpacking both of them - best out of box experience I’ve ever had.
Apple TV supports 576i so any TV can be used, but for a decent experience it needs to be either widescreen or have a widescreen mode.
I saw a downloaded ep of Lost on a 42″ LCD in CompUSA the other day (via appleTV)
OMG. It looked like really really really bad VHS. But worse.
the UI and menus look great, but the content looks awful. If apple made it play divx, it would sell out. They didn’t (but you can hack it to make it do it).
a HD divx on my macbook still looks a lot better than itunes-downloaded stuff on an appletv….
idea: cool. Execution: not so good.
What Rod you don’t have a flat screen! Apple has always been at the forefront of technology adoption - think Firewire, Wifi, etc. (2.5G iPhone excluded). HDMI is just the next logical step. I think they tend to design for what is fairly common in the stores now but may not be what the installed base has. It may hurt the initial sales but the longer term gain is a far superior product.
I personally have a Mac mini connected up to my TV to watch podcasts and downloaded content on but am thinking of moving to the Apple TV as it looks like it will just work a lot better in the living room.
Also in other AppleTV news. They are releasing a 160GB version.
Well there is a bit of a story there. I splashed out on a big Loewe TV in 2000 and built it into the wall. I had wifey convinced that it was a no name eastern set. Imagine my horror when a visitor some time later said ‘Hey nice Loewe TV, always wanted one of those. Made in Germany aren’t they’.
Having had a nice 100 hertz CRT TV for a while I’ve never been that impressed with LCD and Plasma sets. Still seems a hack when 4:3 broadcasting is pushed wide.
I have an AppleTV and I love it. It worked fine with our old tv, though only on the lower resolutions. Naturally this was all I needed to hear to upgrade the television :).
As for DivX and XViD, while the appleTV won’t play them, I’ve had great success with transcoding into h264 and watching on the appleTV using ffmpegX. Soon enough there’ll be software out there to do it automatically without the linuxy UI. T
The killer feature of the apple TV is it’s two layered architecture. You just get stuff into itunes and the rest is taken care of. Soon there’ll be 3rd party stuff for recording TV, ripping DVDs, automating torrent downloads, all built around this idea. I’m sure apple will feign outrage towards some of the software, but they’ll sell you an appleTV.