“Solution providers say they expect Apple TV, which is set to ship next week, to be a hot seller in the burgeoning digital home market,” Steven Burke reports for CRN. “‘It’s like Tivo on steroids,’ said Steve Feldman, president of Graphtech, a Deerfield, Ill., Apple partner who is looking forward to selling the new product to business clients who want to put an Apple TV in their home. ‘It’s really cool.’
“The $299 sleek VCR-sized box with built in 802.11 wireless functionality allows consumers to watch movies or listen to music they have downloaded from Apple iTunes on a TV. It includes a 40-Gbyte hard drive that can store up to 50 hours of what Apple calls ‘near DVD quality’ video. Apple is recommending a 42-inch or larger TV screen,” Burke reports.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple TV specs:
• 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 formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps); protected AAC (from iTunes Store); MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps); MP3 VBR; Apple Lossless; AIFF; WAV
• Photo formats supported: JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG
• Enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen TVs capable of 1080i 60/50Hz, 720p 60/50Hz, 576p 50Hz (PAL format), or 480p 60Hz
Burke continues, “Charlie Thomas, director of corporate sales for TekServe, a New York City Apple partner… said both his Apple consumer and business sales are growing. ‘Apple is going through a renaissance and we are benefiting from it,’ he said. ‘We’re having a good year.'”
“Peter Gambino, a senior sales director for Ingram Micro, one of a number of distributors that will carry the Apple TV product, said Apple TV is the next logical step in Apple’s iTunes music and movie product lineup. ‘Keep in mind this is not Tivo per say [sic],’ cautioned Gambino. ‘You are not recording programs. You are taking content that you have purchased and pushing it to your family or entertainment center to view.’ Ingram is adding several new VARs a month who are adding Apple to their product lineup,” Burke reports.
Full article here.
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Let me rent movies and shows and I might consider one of these.
The thing is, its not anything like a Tivo. It, as far as I can tell, has no DVR capabilities whatsoever. Does anyone know different?
Actually it’s per “se”
Oh, and hoops, you’re absolutely correct. Apple doesn’t want you recording TV when you can pay to download it!
Let me explain something very important: AppleTV is NOT going to be a hot seller. It doesn’t even offer basic DVR capabilities nor any other feature that anybody wants. It doesn’t even stream DVD’s from your Mac to the TV, so you still need to buy a DVD player in addition to this. AppleTV is a bust. A bomb. It’s not going to sell. Do you know ANYBODY who wants one?
too low quality.. too high total cost.
I doubt that millions of people want to fill up their hard drives with “near” DVD quality TV shows and movies. If thats true, essentially this just becomes over priced extended TV and DVD rental.
buy hardware…buy music…rent video content. I ONLY WANT TO WATCH A MOVIE OR TV SHOW ONCE…and now it sits there taking up space on my drive.
Just release it, and update the damned mini fer crissakes.
JohnE – I keep saying the same thing. LET ME RENT for iTunes.
Apple TV is far less than it could be:
No DVR capability
No 1080p capability (no true HDTV support)
Limited to iTunes purchased content (no DVD playback from Mac)
Marginally better than Airport Express in terms of actual capability.
You’d have to be a real Apple fanatic to fancy this thing…
WOW.. and we are the “crazy Mac zelots” and none.. not even one of us is ready to run out and buy this.. makes me wonder if the apple TV should have come in Zune Brown.
My Lacie Silverscreen isn’t wireless but in just minutes, I can copy files onto it via the Mac, unplug it and then attach it via its’ media cable to my TV and watch movies, photos and play music without fuss (HD is also supported). So why would I want to shell out big bucks on Apple TV?
Without PVR capabilities it loses a lot of appeal.
Unless Apple has an update that we are not hearing about, this handicaped box is DOA
Early adopters are going to be pissed when in 6 months Apple releases and update with DVR capabilities.
Tell me if I am missing something here, this is how I plan on using, am I off base??
I have a DirectTV DVR reciever, I rent pay per view movies (3.99 ea), but can only store so many,
I have purchased an eyetv hybred, to stream my pay per view movies to my iMac(iTunes) and plan to store on a 500gb Lacie hard drive, that will be hooked up to my airport extreme, then on to my appleTV.
the eyetv, 500gb drive, airport extreme, are in route, and the appleTV is on order.
Will the above setup work??
I currently use handbrake to rip DVD’s to iTunes, and transfer to my TV via iPod
“Early adopters are going to be pissed when in 6 months Apple releases and update with DVR capabilities.”
I was worried about that too.
But I would probably take the old AppleTV to the bedroom and buy the new imporved AppleTV 2.0 for our family room.
You all need to think beyond paid movie and tv content when considering the value of Apple TV. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve got my own home movies, pictures, music that can be called up to my TV/AV system via Apple TV. I don’t have to buy movies from iTunes or DVR TV shows to make use of Apple TV. Neither does anyone else.
Other reasons why Apple TV will fail:
1) The hotties on screen don’t pop out of the screen and walk up to you.
2) You are not able to stop the show and request for an alternative ending.
3) Besides not playing DVDs, it doesn’t play vinyl records or cassettes.
4) You have to use a remote control – which means it is no different to any other device.
5) It doesn’t have a screen of its own, which means I cannot shrink it and take it along with me on the go.
6) In fact, it is not possible to shrink it.
7) It has no DVR. Like most other people, I work from 9 to 5, and like to spend most of my evening watching all the old reruns that were on TV during the day. I hate having to watch all the new programming that’s on during prime time.
8) Its color doesn’t change to match the color of my TV set. A white box on a dark-colored TV – what’s up with that?
9) It doesn’t talk to me.
10) It doesn’t have the curves of the old Airport Express “Taj Mahal”.
I’m so sick of people spouting off about 1080p. There is no 1080p other than TV’s that display it. Not one unit for sale today or currently announced supports playback of true 1080p.
Name one…. Blu-Ray? HD-DVD? Nope. They both internally convert to 1080i and then upconvert to 1080p. Defeats the very purpose of 1080p.
Lost resolution is lost resolution. You can’t get it back. You can digitally fake it pretty well, but it is stlill just a fake. 1080i is half of the information in 1080p. You can’t add back whats not there. Clever tricks might make you think you do, but you don’t.
1080p will never be broadcast. Or at least not anytime remotly soon. It is just too much bandwidth. Don’t let the big companies out there sell you the marketing term 1080p. It’s just an upsell and a failed promise. I like to think of it along the lines of “Certs – with Retsyn”. 1080p is the Retsyn.
Abdullah, that was great!
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iPod= Place that most young people have their mobile stolen music
Apple TV= Place to play your stolen content from any wireless computer/new wifi iPod….. =Decent success. People will not replace their DVD player they will keep it. and then when you have a the ability to stream DVD’s over the comp to Apple TV, then DVD player will be replaced… see below for DVR.
future Apple TV… Download a DVR program
That is all…
my vote: Apple TV is NOT limited to iTunes purchases. If your video files are supported, you can import them into iTunes for use with Apple TV. Guess what? That information is on Apple’s website.
I wish people would stop moaning about HDTV support. You’re just a bunch of geeks looking for the longest, most impressive feature set without thinking about what it actually means. Apple TV supports 720p. This is equivalent to 1080i. No one is broadcasting in 1080p. Satisfied now?
And do you really think Apple is going to give you a DVR when it has all those shows it wants to sell you from the iTunes Store? Apple made its choice and its choice was content on demand, not timeshifting. You want a DVR? Fine, then go with Elgato or Miglia or Pinnacle. See how that works? You can buy stuff NOT made by Apple and it will still just work. Who’d have thought it!
Let me point something out — if y’all are quoting and debating over specs, you’re missing the audience of this device completely. The people who buy this will want to play their computer content on a TV. Guys, it’s that simple. Yes, there are other ways to do it. Yes, it’s not perfect (what 1.0 device is?). So, please, consider the needs of the 95% non-geek population before you start foaming at the mouth, k?
MacBill, you have already missed the boat. The thing is *already* a hot seller. The pre-orders alone were higher than Apple expected, and the thing is actually pre-selling decently in the UK where the available content will have to be home-grown. And in answer to your question, “yes, I do.” Not only did I pre-order two, but I know seven different people who pre-ordered one as well. It’s not about whether the aTV can do everything at the best possible quality; it’s about whether it can do a few simple things that expand people’s capabilities in a way that the Windoze platform has been trying for years. There is a market here, and much like the iPod, I expect, the aTV will succeed because it makes one thing very simple to do. Will there be greater capabilities in version 2? I hope so, and I sure won’t regret buying it when that happens. For now, I have EyeTV, and it will integrate just fine with aTV until Apple addresses that capability….if ever. Sheesh, I paid $1100 for my first CD player back in the early 80s. No regrets. Now, I have a 1-terrabyte array [less than $1k] full of video content hooked up to my Airport Extreme [$less than $200] just waiting to serve up two different plasma TVs. aTV is a borderline no-brainer. On many levels. And a successful one at that.
MW: “againt” as in, you can rail against it all you want, but it’s here, and all your pooh-poohing won’t stop it.
Know why I don’t give a crap about 1080p? Because you need a ginormous TV to display it! I just got a new TV. It’s 32″. It supports up to 720p. That’s all I can get at that size. Sorry, but I don’t have room for a bigger TV in my living space and I don’t feel like making room! 720p will do me just fine.