I Bought an Apple TV Yesterday (1 Viewer)

[Yumbo]

Buying one soon as the new version with price drop is available!

 

[Chad A Wright]

Actually it's the same hardware, so I think you can just go buy one today at the reduced price, then download the update when it comes out for free.

 

[Yumbo]

Waiting on Amazon or Outpost to reflect pricing.

 

[DaveF]

I hope Apple improves the variety and quality of movies for rent. The selection seems very small and scattered, a mish-mash of movies from the past 20 years (Big Trouble in Little China between Dodgeball and Napoleon Dynamite ?).

Worse, the selection is like the leftovers in Target on Black Friday -- too many Fullscreen. A quick survey suggests 30% or more are Fullscreen. Three recent movies I'd consider renting, to try the service are Fullscreen: Fantastic Four 2, 300, and Live Free or Die Hard.

After some mulling, I'm persuaded that the AppleTV 2 as an online movie distribution service could be very compelling. But this Fullscreen business is disappointing. I wonder what future releases will be like?

 

[Craig S]

No need to wait. The price drop was applied yesterday. The "new version" is software only. There's no change to the hardware. Buy one, hook it up to your network. When the new software goes live in a couple of weeks, update directly from the box.

Edit: Oops, guess I should read the rest of the thread before replying.

 

[Yumbo]

Previous studios = Widescreen
New studios = Fullscreen

 

[Craig S]

Actually, I was kind of pleased the Day 1 selection included a "mish-mash" of movies from different genres and release dates, instead of being all recent blockbuster titles. Very happy to see the much-lauded indie Once as one of the titles. That will be my first rental when the new ATV software is released.

At any rate, it's far too early to fairly rate the selection. Let's give 'em a few months and see then.

As for the "fullscreen" thing... I'm not sure that means the old "pan & scan for 1.33 ratio tube sets" it used to. Remember, Apple is ultimately targeting HD widescreen flat-panel sets through ATV. If you look at the previews for the titles above, you'll see they are widescreen aspect ratios. It'll take some folks actually renting & playing these to see what we really get.

 

[Chad A Wright]

I watched the keynote and I think it was Blades of Glory that Jobs rented. If I remember correctly it was in full screen which I found odd considering how they keep promoting the AppleTV with widescreen TVs.

 

[Yumbo]

1.85:1 Blades of glory
2.35:1 Die hard 4

Ratatouille was shown fullscreen on the regular iPod.

But I was shocked to HEAR Steve make several mistakes.

1. "In Tiger, we have Time Machine..."
2. "iPhone market share is....(% quoted TWICE did not match number on screen)"
3. Can't remember....but shocking.

Was it fake Steve? lol.

 

[Craig S]

To follow up on Chris' post - I just rented Moulin Rouge, which is one of the Fox catalog titles marked as "Fullscreen" in the iTunes store. It plays at the correct 2.35:1 ratio.

Looks like the "Fullscreen" thing is just a mis-marking on the titles from the studios that are new to iTunes with rentals.

 

[DaveF]

Good news that the "Fullscreen" labels are simply incorrect.

Is iTunes video processed substantially differently than for DVDs? On another forum, it was noted that:

My immediate thought was that's not "pretty good". A standard (anamorphic) DVD has 720 x 480 resolution, so to sell 640x272 seems like a significant step backwards. How could that look at all decent on a large-screen HDTV?

Am I missing something here: is iTunes video actually lower resolution than DVDs? Is it processed in such a way that overcomes that decrease in simple pixel count?

 

[Craig S]

Dave, I'm pretty sure iTunes videos have always been lower res than DVDs. However, there is a significant change in the processing of rental videos. iLounge posted an in-depth article on iTunes 7.6 (including deets on rentals), and this little tidbit popped out at me:
Sorry for double-posting this info on two threads, but they seem to have different audiences and I wanted to make sure everyone saw this.

 

[Brennan Hill]

Which hard drive size is recommended?

 

[Yumbo]

I looked at my trailer folder - 130GB.

So, just to verify - this will allow me to stream 720p trailers from my Mac to my Plasma ala any playlist?

Does Apple TV create playlists?

 

[Phil Kim]

Since Hitchhicker is 2.35:1, the resolution will be less than 720x480 on anamorphic DVD. According to my quick calculation, 720x360. 640x272 is still 33% less than DVD and with DD 2.0 to boot.

I guess us enthusiasts are supposed to spring $1 extra for 720p DD 5.1 rental.

 

[Craig S]

The current software does not have any way to create playlists, although it can use playlists defined in the iTunes library it is attached to. No idea if the new software will let you do this or not.

 

[Yumbo]

Cool. Amazon/JR just price dropped, so order is in.

 

[Yumbo]

Hi,

Just received it! Two issues:

1. Does it turn off somehow?

2. Is there a Leopard issue? It says can't sync due to firewall etc.

Thanks!

 

[LDfan]

I'd snatch up an Apple TV in a hearbeat if they were able to DVR tv shows. Hopefully some day that may happen with these things.

Jeff

 

[Graham Perks]

To turn it off - pull the plug. It gets pretty hot with the default screen saver, so that can be turned off in Settings. You can turn off the display by holding down Play for a few seconds (the white light will turn off). The AppleTV will still sync with iTunes when in this state, so it's not really off. Standby might be a good term for it.

No Leopard issues here - do you have your firewall turned on in System Preferences?