“Apple’s laudable [Apple TV] effort to simplify video downloads by running everything through iTunes leaves too much good content out in the cold,” Stephen H. Wildstrom reports for BusinessWeek.
“Although the iPod approach to music has come in for criticism, especially from European antitrust regulators, I think it has served consumers well. The iTunes Store is the only online source of purchased iPod music, but this does not limit customers, since nearly anything you can buy online can be gotten from iTunes. And the record companies have effectively forced all online stores to price tracks at 99 cents, just like iTunes,” Wildstrom reports.
Wildstrom reports, “The video world, by contrast, is fragmented into incompatible sources and formats. (I’ll be examining the digital video mess in more detail next week.) The $299 Apple TV set-top box, designed to move video from your computer to your TV, can only play movies and TV shows from iTunes. That adds up to about 400 movies from Disney, Paramount, and Lionsgate and a couple hundred TV series. There are thousands of other shows and movies you can download from other sources, but they haven’t been licensed to Apple, so you can’t get them from iTunes. Unless iTunes becomes a universal source for video, as it is for music, Apple TV’s simplicity and convenience will require unreasonable trade-offs.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Joe Architect” for the heads up.]
Before you examine anything more about digital video next week, Mr. Wildstrom, you should learn what the heck you’re typing about first.
Some hints:
1. iTunes does not equal iTunes Store.
2. Apple TV content does not have to come from Apple’s iTunes Store. (Extra special bonus hints: rip dvds, P2P, video podcasts, home movies, etc.)
We’ll leave it at that for now, Mr. Wildstrom. We wouldn’t want you to strain yourself trying to understand anything beyond the absolute basics.
BusinessWeek and Wildstrom should be as embarrassed as we are for them.
Contact: techandyou@businessweek.com
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
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rip ? moi ?
Sure he’s not working for the New York Times?
I have played with the AppleTV for a few days now. I was suprised that the unit would not play most file formats from the internet (DivX, XviD, YouTube, etc.). I understand that these formats compete with Apple’s iTunes video offerings, so it makes sense. My PS3 is also greatly limited as to the video formats it supports (Sony Pictures).
I purchased VisualHub to convert almost any format to a compatible file for the AppleTV. It is not a big deal.
I think the techies with do the same as I did.
This moron doesn’t realize that you can rip your own CDs to listen to on an iPod I’m sure as well. How uninformed idiots like this even get a job in their profession in the first place, muchless stay hired for longer than a week, I’ll never understand.
With a little bit of hacking, the Apple TV actually will play both DivX and XviD files.
I’d like to hear how folks use Mac Minis to store and play video compared to how Apple TV works. I’m thinking of buying a Mini and wonder what the best software is for video playback and recording. Any thoughts?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but rip DVDs? You either already own it, so ripping makes no sense, or if you’re ripping a borrowed DVD using handbrake or another ripper, you’re violating copywrite law. Am I missing something?
RC: “How uninformed idiots like this even get a job in their profession in the first place, muchless stay hired for longer than a week, I’ll never understand.”
Morons like him, and the vast majority of the so-called journalists out there these days are hired by overpaid morons commonly referred to as Executives. Less than 0.1% of “Executives” actually deserve their jobs, and none of them like informed talented people working for them that can see through their inability to do, well anything.
I thought Peterson blew it.
DasGeek (or anyone with an Apple TV):
Have you tried watching a downloaded TV show through Apple TV? And, if so, can you try turning on the closed captioning feature of your TV set to see whether or not iTunes passes along the closed-captioning information (normally embedded within the regular TV signal).
I know that QuickTime does not allow the display of closed captions, but I’m hoping that iTunes passes the information along to the TV set…
Thanks!
Yoko Geri Kekomi,
http://centerstageproject.com/
http://www.pure-mac.com/mediacenter.html
jay: “…if you’re ripping a borrowed DVD using handbrake or another ripper, you’re violating copywrite law.”
Like that has ever stopped anyone thus far? People can download pristine DVD quality films weeks before they are ever released onto DVD to the public… The film studios have been blaming the Academy members for this, but closer inspection indicates that many of the leaks are occurring before review DVDs are sent to academy members, and weeks before release to the general public. So, it’s fairly clear that the leaks are internal… probably disgruntled, underpaid worker-bees who are sick of seeing talentless executives getting paid millions whilst doing nothing.
Yoko,
I forgot: http://www.equinux.com/us/products/mediacentral/index.html
MediaFork: http://handbrake.m0k.org/
Well, the Business Week guy has it right on this point: iYunes video downloads look like crap on a big screen HDTV and Apple is doing itself great hard with this first impression of Apple TV.
Perhaps Apple should have waited until the studios were willing to allow downloadable HD content. Still, this alows Apple to stretch the online system and work out the kinks bfore HD comes…
In my country we rip the DVD no problem.
Is called fair use. Fair for me. Fair for studios not so much.
Man:
You’ve got a point. And I know about disgrunted employees. On Wednesday, the 28-year son of an ex-high ranking official of my company will be joining my work group. He has two years work experience.
His starting salary is higher than I make after 22 years here. Too bad we don’t make DVDs. I’d put a few on the street too.
Sorry, but I agree with the authors bottom line on this one… Before you blast me, I ordered an Apple TV the day it was announced and have been using it since Friday.
It’s all about ease of use and content. Apple mostly nailed the ease of use, but the content is sorry lacking (and don’t even talk about ripping DVDs – first, it’s illegal to decrypt encrypted media and second, it’s a VERY time consuming, multi-step process).
I’m sure Apple is working on the content, but at this point, it’s just sad and lacking…
Here are my issues with AppleTV and I’m hoping Apple will address them soon:
1. Inability to stream photos (even my TiVo can stream photos from iPhoto). I don’t want to be wasting AppleTV hard disk space for photos.
2. Purchased video media quality. If Apple wants me to purchase video, I’d prefer HD quality and a much greater selection (especially in the movie area).
3. Inability to rent video. Unlike music, I prefer renting video media and would accept the current video quality for rentals. I think the ability to rent video is key to the long term success of AppleTV. BTW: I use the term rent, because streaming is not currently a viable option for most people. Let me download it and watch it once.
4. Heat… The AppleTV gets very hot. I have it sitting on a nice piece of furniture and I’ve already put rubber bumpers on the bottom of it because I’m concerned about damage to the finish of the furniture.
5. I’d like to see less distinction between the Main Mac and the media that’s actually on the AppleTV (would prefer to see this as one blended source and have AppleTV just use the media on the AppleTV first). While I like the ability to be able to stream media from up to 5 other sources, with my setup (1 Main iTunes library), that feature would be most important for photos, which can’t be streamed.
I applaud Apple for making a cross-platform product that is easy to setup and use. If they can quickly address the issues, they’ll have a winning product.
I love Steve’s Businessweek Podcast (bad audio quality, good tech quality) so don’t want to bag him too much since he is generally unbiased.
But in this article Steve is showing his age. He and I have been trained by the media sellers that shops are the only source of entertainment. My 16 and 14 year old girls almost never watch traditional media, but download music videos and grab files off YouTube with PodTube. They want the flexibility to have it on the Mac, iPod or TV, depending on the trends or fashion of friends. Steve and I need to learn the new ways of using old media. Plus, unlike us geeks, to them aTV vs 360, 720p vs 1080i, 802.11g vs n, etc are never an issue compared with ‘cool’. They find mobile phone-resolution photos good enough! They prefer the Wii to the PS3 because their friends want to play it with them – it makes them popular. Next week they’ll just as likely move onto something else. This is the generation raised on the yearly mobile phone purchase.
In the UK ripping your own CDs to listen on your own iPod is a violation of the EULA.
DVD’s on a HD will soon fill it up. The only way to keep a significant collection is on disk media which is v. CHEAP – but not everlasting – especially the burnable blanks when compared with factory made copies.
Dave nailed it.
I have the same issues. I love my AppleTV but it feels a bit like a beta at this point. Why can’t I stream photos? Why not offering HD quality movies? Why can’t it detect when my TV is off and go to sleep automatically?
Waiting for future update. Hope it’s coming soon.
I agree with him, and I think MDN is too harsh as are many of the comments above.
It is a bit of a chicken and egg situation. If Apple TV is the best mechanism then it has to have as much content (and certainly no less) than what is available to other mechanisms.
Let’s hope it does take off and the content providers make an orderly line to iTunes’ door with their content.
Dave:
It seems Apple TV is doing absolutely nothing worthwhile for you. Why did you buy it in the first place?
Doesn’t this moron know that most of the music currently on iPods was ripped from CDs (or gotten as MP3s from “other” sources)? I think people are using the iTunes Store more and more, instead of buying CDs. I know I am. But the original iPod was introduced and became popular before there was an iTunes Music Store. iTunes was originally just a CD ripper and jukebox program, that started life as SoundJam before Apple bought it.
Video will go the same way, except it already has a head start because the iTunes Store already offers a selection of movies, TV Shows, and video podcasts.
I have some advice for Mr. Stephen H. Wildstrom. Before thinking, do this ..try letting your brain warm up ..otherwise,
you run the risk of nosebleeds, early childhood and air guitar …oh, yeah, and technical swiss cheese.
Here’s how …wrap head with heating blanket set on low …wait 20 minutes …..press nose against the glass of the iTunes Store …
…..and sing a verse softly to yourself “How much is that doggy in the window?”
I think you’ll be amazed at how new and improved your articles will have become.
Oh, and one more thing …don’t tell anyone.
So ripping a DVD or a DivX to an iPod-supported format is what you consider a paragon of Apple-style simplicity, isn’t it? Let’s forget about the drop of quality because of recompressing, the codec and decryption issues and the absolute waste of time it represents, plus the fact that every freaking DVD player supports DivX nowadays.
Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, But considerest not the damned oil supertanker that is in thine own eye