“Apple TVs have apparently begun to show up at Target retail stores,” Jacqui Cheng reports for Ars Technica.
Cheng reports, “In other news, a reader and friend of mine Dan Ciskey e-mailed me over the weekend, saying that some Costcos may also be carrying the Apple TV. He said that the one he works at in Lincoln Park in Chicago has them (apparently without fanfare) for $289.99 and that they don’t charge a restocking fee upon returns.”
“The Apple TV doesn’t appear to be showing up on Costco’s web site, so this little experiment may be limited to only a few retail stores,” Cheng reports.
Full article here.
Let the party begin.
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Anyone seen one to comment on the picture quality?
Funny, the MDN word is “given” as in “Its a given!” Weird
Go Apple TV!
Hey Emil you thier?
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We’ve seen with the iPod that when Apple creates a platform they continue to push it into the future, and have already stated that they plan to update the software on the Apple TV free of charge.
It will be very interesting to see where they take this thing in the next few years, and how successful it ultimately turns out to be. A key factor will be how it handles HDTV and if there will be a way to directly order content from the Apple TV and if there will be a rental option.
Cubert the picture quality is just OK – it will get better though.
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I was just at Sams Club today and they were selling them too (Same price I think)
The picture quality is as good as the content you have in your iTunes library and your iPhoto library.
If you have HD quality content — which is only now beginning to appear in some video podcasts — like Washington Post’s much touted and beautiful effort, then you will have 720 HD video coming out of your apple TV and going into your HD television. If you have iTunes Store content, videos downloaded from YouTube, DVDs that you have ripped with Handbrake (which also now has an apple TV preset), then you will see on your screen exactly what you put into it, no more, no less. I am quite pleased with the few TV shows I have purchased from the iTunes Store ( e.g. Heroes, Battle Star Galactica, etc.) Frankly, I like having all my short films, videos, and playlists in a convenient interface in the living room.
Oh, and your digital still photos ARE all HD quality and look stunning on the appleTV.
As far as quality goes it is pretty good. We have an Apple TV set at 720p and hook up to a 42 inch LCD TV where I work. Not bad at all…
Ragu,
I hear the poor picture quality is related to not setting them up properly at the Apple Stores (unbelievable as that may be for Apple). I was wondering if they had some screwed up ones at Costco, too. Apparently, if set up right the picture quality is freakin’ amazing.
Yeah, I gotto admit- I wouldn’t need a better picture. It’s fantastic.
I have one hooked up to a 52″ Plasma and it’s perfect (for me at least). I’m not even ripping my dvds at the max (I want to be able to still watch them on my iPod so I limit myself to 640xX and 1000kbs h.264).
I’m so impressed that I’m thinking of getting one for the bedroom. Apparently there is a feature that you can start a movie in the living room and pause it, head to the bedroom and resume.
Sure wish my Tivo could do that (my biggest gripe is that Tivo won’t xfer shows fast enought between two tivos).
At NAB this year, Apple folks explained that the less-than-stellar ‘HD’ via Apple TV was due to choosing a lower compression rate to insure glitch-free streaming.
Be patient, its still very early days for a new technology that will be considered downright revolutionary in retrospect.
Let the games begin! … (^_^) we all win…
@bob,
what program do you use to rip a dvd? I too am interested in finding a happy medium for files to use on both my ipod and appletv. I have had mixed results on my apple tv
most of the videos are NOTICEABLY dark.
thanks!