“I bought an Apple TV tonight,” Robert Scoble, former Microsoft technical evangelist and prominent blogger, reports for Scobleizer.
“I’ve watched Ask a Ninja, Rocketboom, my show, and Ze Frank on it so far,” Scoble reports.
“Works as advertised. Easy to setup. It rocks,” Scoble reports. “It makes me want to put out a high res version of my show. But, it’s pretty watchable, even at the low resolution it is.”
“I think I’m going to use this almost wholly to look at Internet video shows. The integration with iTunes really is great. This is a winner. I take back anything I wrote about it before,” Scoble reports. “Oh, and it also supports 1080i HD.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy and Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
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
Related articles:
Scoble: ‘Microsoft sucks’ – March 18, 2007
Apple TV hard drive upgrade works – March 23, 2007
Apple TV dissection photos – March 22, 2007
Apple posts Apple TV User’s Guide online – March 22, 2007
Enderle: ‘Apple’s attractive and well packaged Apple TV likely to set the pace’ – March 22, 2007
David Pogue demos Apple TV in humorous NY Times’ video – March 22, 2007
PC Magazine review gives Apple TV 4 out of 5 stars – March 22, 2007
NY Times’ Pogue: ‘Apple TV offers a gracious, elegant, effortless, delightful experience’ – March 21, 2007
Mossberg hands-on with Apple TV: ‘beautiful design, easy-to-use, classic Apple: simple and elegant’ – March 21, 2007
Can you see the chairs a flying?
Even me, a long time Apple user and fan, am amazed at the amount of positive press Apple has been getting from all corners of the media.
The 2nd coming of Apple looks as though it will surpass the 1st.
Suck it Apple haters!
1080i, eh?
I’ll be purchasing it today then.
The Apple TV is indeed great, now we just need more HD content to watch on it!!!
It will be interesting to see if this does for hi-res online content what iTunes did for podcasting.
So, I wonder what’s going to happen with Airport Express now?
1280 x 720 is commonly referred to as: 720p
1920 x 1080 is what is referred to as: 1080i
1920 x 1080 can also be: 1080p (if progressive)
So there you go. Want more info on HD technology go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television
“This is a winner. I take back anything I wrote about it before,” Scoble
Not so fast! You have a lot more penance to make up for your evil past.
Next up, all the iPhone nay-sayers (read: market manipulators). Hint: Do not make public comments about things you know absolutely nothing about.
Rock on Steve!
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Just a thought here. I went to the article and read the comments. What a hoot.
Why is it that people that love to tinker, hate it when something just works???
Its like: “Hey, I can walk to town, ride my push scooter, or ride my bicycle. What is go great about this “car” thing of yours??”
Yep, I guess the car will never catch on cause you can always use a horse. LOL
Have a good weekend. Unless you need to tinker with the weather. !!
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“So, I wonder what’s going to happen with Airport Express now?”
@mudflapper
The express still has its place as a less expensive way to extend your network. I would hope it would be updated to the 802.11n standard, but other than that, it’s still a great product.
Steve M,
Yeah, I love my Express.
I figured it would at least be updated to support 802.11n, but for awhile I was also expecting Apple to incorporate video streaming, like AirTunes. With the introduction of Apple TV, it looks like that isn’t going to happen.
I think people should be reminded of how much absolutely free content there is on iTunes. Get a few podcasts (audio and video), and you’ll have time to kill on your AppleTV as you wait for more movies to show up on the iTunes Store.
Last night I watched National Geographic’s video podcasts, Photoshop Killer Tips, Vintage ToonCast, and Discovery News on my AppleTV. All free, all video.
I connected my 3 year old Sony VEGA (4:3) which supports component inputs for 1080i and automatically swithes to 11:9 when a high signal is recieved. Apple TV works fantastic and the picture quality is excellent. The analog audio out is connected to my Rotel preamp which processes the soung to 5 channels.
This sysyem is only going to get better with future software upgrades and hardware add ons.
I set my AppleTV up this morning…true to Apple design, my experience was effortless. It is extremely intuitive. You can not go wrong. In fact, it’s very difficult to go wrong.