September 1 Music 'special event' discussion (1 Viewer)

[Michael_K_Sr]

It's streaming to iOS devices and Safari on Snow Leopard. If you prefer Firefox under 10.5, you're out of luck.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Originally Posted by Michael_K_Sr

It's streaming to iOS devices and Safari on Snow Leopard. If you prefer Firefox under 10.5, you're out of luck.

I read the Macrumors story -- that's actually very cool, it means my office's firewall won't be a problem -- I was expecting to be trying to watch on the iPad via 3G and cursing AT&T when it dies on me. Now I can watch on my MBP. It's an open standard -- the competition, Firefox included, are dragging their feet -- it's their problem, not Apple's.

 

[Sam Posten]

Happy Christmas morning everyone
It's Christmas, Theo, the time of Miracles, so be of good cheer!

 

[Sam Posten]

And I for one predict that this live streaming is a big deal.

 

All killer no filler today.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

It's Festivus for the rest of us!

 

[Sam Posten]

And a double rainbow!

http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/31/apple-live-event-stream/

 

[Carlo_M]

Yeah...I'm real happy to have been scheduled for a 10am-12pm (pacific time) meeting today...just great...

 

[DaveF]

Read most of Engadgets Live Blog. Love the new iPod nano! The new iPod Touch is the compromise I half expected: old body, new features.

 

AppleTV: looks like everyone got it wrong in terms of iOS features. It looks like the old aTV with cursor driven controls on gridded menus. But the important details are there: $99 box, $0.99 TV and $4.99 movie rentals, and Netflix playback. Expand to all four networks, maybe HBO, and it's quite the system.

 

[mattCR]

Originally Posted by DaveF

Read most of Engadgets Live Blog. Love the new iPod nano! The new iPod Touch is the compromise I half expected: old body, new features.

 

AppleTV: looks like everyone got it wrong in terms of iOS features. It looks like the old aTV with cursor driven controls on gridded menus. But the important details are there: $99 box, $0.99 TV and $4.99 movie rentals, and Netflix playback. Expand to all four networks, maybe HBO, and it's quite the system.

I thought the Nano and the Shuffle were killers. Those were great introductions, they will be great gift items. Homeruns on those.

New iPods are slick, but they are at a price point that will make it debatable to grab one or grab an ipad.

aTV is, to me, garbage. At $99, you get 720P only playback with no DTS etc. support, no storage, rental only, no hulu.. only ABC and Fox, and only new, non-archive programming.. no support for AVI (unless MJPEG.. uncompressed) no support for any CODEC other then apple's QT, stream must originate from an iTunes or direct through net.. Netflix is the killer app..

 

This is where I'm struck. It's a Roku with less capability (a lot less) or a Bluray player that has netflix (numerous) without bluray. With no live media support, no storage support, and no CODEC support, you're locked into it being a rental box. It should almost be free as it's pretty worthless without tons of content you'll have to buy. I mean, at least on Roku you can get Hulu and MLB.... and a single point. I mean, if you're going to be locked into being unable to support UPNP/DLNA, you can at least get a box where it's cost is next to nothing.

 

[DaveF]

I've had nothing but contempt for the previous AppleTV's. This one interests me. But, on describing it to my wife, she responded, 'why would we want that? what does that do for us but waste more money?' So, Matt, you're not alone.

 

[Ted Todorov]

The AppleTV, for those who don't thing 99 cent rentals is a good deal, is a media extender for iTunes. Nobody is forcing you to buy the stuff.

 

For me it is meaningless, because I have a MacPro hooked up directly to my HDTV. But if I didn't, it would be a superb media extender (at a great price -- the audio only Airport Express is what -- $79?). EyeTV (my DVR software) can automatically export every recording to iTunes in AppleTV format, Handbrake can transcode other media. It allows you to have an HTPC without having to hook up the PC to the HDTV.
 

Beyond that it is dead simple for non-techies. I am willing to bet it is infinitely simpler than its competitors.

 

[mattCR]

I don't mean this as bad, I'm just trying to figure out what about this appleTV is interesting.. to anyone. Since it can't store content, and it will get only limited ABC/Fox programming, and you'll pay for everything you show on it (only Itunes media, basically, except uncompressed AVI.. which are super rare) and no Hulu or Webmedia formats outside of Youtube..

 

I'm trying to figure out what the killer feature for this is. Even at $99. The RoKu at $69 does basically all of that, and it at least will do MLB and has widgets/apps.

 

But both of these devices look.. "eh". And the Netflix method on AppleTV is -terrible-. There is no search function because the remote doesn't make it friendly in a layout that is crazy in comparison to the wii/ps3/xbox360/pc offering.

 

God, I had to figure they'd put at least 4GB or so of local storage on this thing, so that people with slower network connections could download ahead and watch the next day, etc.. but nope, not possible.
 

 

But for as bad as I think ATV3 is, the more I look at the new Nano, the more I love that thing. That is a hit.

 

So, summary, here's what you have:

 

A device that is 720P

 

That outputs only what is rented or streamed from a working Itunes10 client.

 

M4V or M4P formats only, or AVI if MJPEG (uncompressed)

 

Dolby Digital at 160kbps (about 1/3 the rate of a DVD)

 

2 Channel audio from non-secured titles (anything not purchased content)

 

No DTS, LPCM or of course any HD audio format

 

No Live format

 

No web.

 

HDMI only, so those who would buy this "on the cheap" for component-HD TVs (which are often 720P) are out of luck

 

No analog audio output, so audio only on HDMI again eliminating the cheap buyer

 

As pointed out, eyeTV could be used to make M4P/M4V content which is Itunes friendly, of course then you're using it as a DVR extender, not a liveTV extender, so no liveTV option.

 

System buffer under 1GB.. so you better have a good internet connection for your HD content if you're renting.

 

10/100 Ethernet (not gigabit) so, again, if you're using your EyeTV to capture in full rate TV quality, and you have a couple PCs on your home network, the 100mb connection on this is really going to struggle here. Good luck with that.

 

 

I'm just at a loss for what is compelling. Ted, I know you're an apple fan, and I've been a critic. I really love the new Nano, and I've already ordered a pair... that to me is greatness. I can see others liking the shuffle. I'm torn on the iPods, because it's a divide between them and an iPad.

But I'm really at a loss for AppleTV. It just seems like a complete turkey.

 

[mattCR]

One great thing.. for those with RoKu or who have any Amazon streaming Bluray player (there are several) Amazon cut prices of it's episodes to .99 cents today:

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Video-On-Demand/b/ref=sa_menu_atv2?ie=UTF8&node=16261631

 

[Carlo_M]

Ugh, exactly as I feared, they held the Touch to 64GB. Despite my earlier promise to myself not to upgrade until I could hold my entire 77+ GB library on my next flash-memory based iPod (looking to leave traditional hard-drive iPod behind forever) the addition of face time and retina display are really appealing to me. But at $400, it's getting really hard to justify buying one now knowing that it's likely the next revision in 12 months will have 96GB or more in capacity.

 

Choices, choices...

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by mattCR

System buffer under 1GB.. so you better have a good internet connection for your HD content if you're renting.

Isn't that a given for any streaming content, such as from Netflix?

 

Nano is neato

 

Looking forward to getting iTunes 10 and iOS 4.1.

 

[Ken Chan]

In addition to ABC, Fox (and apparently BBC America) for TV content -- to begin with -- you can get movies. There probably is some amount of cache memory to buffer downloads -- they just don't bother to tell anyone how much there is.

 

MJPEG is not "uncompressed". And this very limited AVI support is only for downloading from (older) cameras. Other formats/codecs -- MKV, DTS -- Apple doesn't give a crap, because neither do the majority of consumers.

 

100Mbits is plenty for streaming 720p H.264

 

AirPlay will be cool.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

 

Definitely will be picking up an AppleTV. I could care less that it's "only" 720p. I don't collect TV and film content anymore. A rental model works just fine for me. By the end of this year I hope to have an OTA HD antenna on the roof and dump my existing paid television service. The AppleTV will do a nice job filling in gaps in programming. As for this comment...  

Originally Posted by mattCR

It should almost be free as it's pretty worthless without tons of content you'll have to buy.

I get a good laugh because the same could be said for the iPods Apple has been selling for the last ten years. 275 million people seem to think otherwise, though. Oh sure...you could load it up with free content you might have acquired illegally through file sharing, but most people still chose to buy CD's or downloads to fill those iPods up.

 

[Cory S.]

This Apple TV is perfect for me in this sense. I've been struggling for a while now on my ever expanding DVD/Blu Ray collection. I want to streamline it to the most essential films but at the same time, I want to keep the okay to good to guilty pleasure films at my disposal if necessary. With having to upgrade to another shelf soon, I needed another way to expand my movie library without actually physically expanding it. I don't want to have to re-rent them on Netflix all the time, via mail. This is it. I don't download illegal copies. I go through iTunes for the simple fact that it's just easier and less of a headache for me. Purchase an iTunes card once a month and just decide if a film is worthy to physically be on the shelf, a rental, or digital copy. Because this thing streams from one's computer, it's perfect. I basically want more movies without physically having more movies. Make sense?

 

The netflix app is not really that big of a deal considering I have a ps3...but I'm willing to bet that the interface will be faster with this thing for netflix streaming than the ps3.

 

 

[Sam Posten]

I'm getting 4.1 as soon as I get home, yay!

I've pre-ordered a new apple tv. How bad can it be?

Carlo, you already know my feelings on your issue. Just go for it and be reasonable, do it Steves way

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

Wait...I thought 4.1 isn't available until next week?