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I have the 160 gb AppleTV and we love it! The kids love being able to watch their videos at the push of a button and I love not having all my DVDs scratched up. What I would like to see…
1) The USB port opened up to allow an external HD to act as extra storage.
2) Movie rentals (and/or iTunes shopping) straight from AppleTV.
3) DVR capabilities. (Drooooooool)
Just my wish list.
I don’t care for the HD content. Would be nice but most of my movies are not in HD…yet. And I don’t really need to see Barney in HD. Actually I don’t really need to see Barney at all but my 2 year loves that dinosaur and the AppleTV.
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1. DVR capability. TV is OK. But I hate ads, and I don’t want to adapt to THEIR schedule.
2. Cheap rentals. We need rentals because we can’t afford to own a big enough hard drive to store a bunch of movies. Plus you can only watch them so many times. Plus we can’t afford it. We want to spend most of our hard earned cash on Apple hardware. . .
If it had these, they would not be able to keep them in stock. Remember, “software sells hardware”, and for AppleTV, movies are the software.
That would be a good rule for Apple. Anytime a product is not selling up to their goals, add more software, or update what they have.
One more thing. New products from Apple should not rely on the desktop computer. We have gotten rid of that. The new paradyme is to use Airport Express for “network” hard drive and printer, and have all laptops. Rely on the web. Don’t rely on desktop computers.
Because of this, they should allow direct downloads from iTunes to AppleTV without having to go through a computer.
For those who would like more features added to the Apple TV, you can go to Apple TV’s feedback page at:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html
While you are there, ask for these features too:
– iTunes on Apple TV
– looping, looping, looping, looping, looping.
– maybe a web browser (though FireFox and Camino can run on it if you hacked it)
– visualizer. Come on. It would so cool to have that running on a big screen when I throw a party.
– a movie playlist, please. It supports playlist for music but not movie.
– true 5.1 digital audio support.
– enable the USB port already!
I don’t have an AppleTV because I cannot connect it to my non-HD-TV. If I would buy a HD-TV, it would be a Full-HD TV. AppleTV however does not support Full-HD. Especially for watching photos I would prefer Full-HD support from AppleTV since Full-HD is a mere 2 Megapixel and I really do not want do see them in an even lower resolution.
As Algr wrote here, AppleTV requires a HD-TV but does not offer any HD-content.
Apart from this, I would like to rent movies for a cheap rate rather than buying them. I would’t mind either if AppleTV had a DVB-Twin tuner and would serve as a PVR as well.
AppleTV will be a flop if it will not be upgraded soon an have at last some HD-content to show.
I have 2 AppleTV’s and I like them alot, but I am using them differently than I first envisioned…
I thought I would use it more for movies, but the lack of content available via iTunes is sad… I’m positive that’s not Apple’s fault (I like Apple’s pricing of $9.99 and $12.99, but I just won’t pay more than $12.99 for a downloaded video of the current quality – sorry Disney, but at those prices all your classic movies – which you’ve already made billions on are just not going the be purchased by me).
TV shows are reasonable at $1.99 per episode, but they should be at least half that price for a full season.
I did find that there are quite a few interesting video podcasts and actually subscribe to a number of them. This was the surprise feature for me.
As for NBC/Universal just removed all of their programming from my TiVo Season Passes (there wasn’t that much anyway, Bye “Ellen” & “Earl”) and removed the channels from my listings (I’ll never miss what I don’t know is there). I hate corporate greed more than just about anything and that’s exactly what NBC is demonstrating.
As was stated by MDN, there isn’t much with AppleTV that a couple of software updates and improved content offerings wouldn’t fix. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
I like my TV very much even though the UK has no movie downloads and very few TV shows. Why? Because the screen saver randomly displays all our old holiday photos and the grandchildren brilliantly – while playing iTunes through my Yamaha AV receiver.
I don’t believe Vudu lets you move the movie from its box to a computer. You definitely can’t burn it to disk.
I think movies on computers is the sticking point for most studios.
APPLE TV SALES RANK ON AMAZON.COM:
#2,706
Yep, it’s a flop. And I predicted that it would be a flop too. It’s an overpriced piece of garbage that does close to NOTHING.
While I don’t share Woolley’s opinion that the AppleTV is an “iFlop”, as an owner of the 160GB model I am frustrated with Apple’s lack of upgrades and functions. For one thing, watching it on an HDTV even connected via an HDMI connector yields substandard picture quality.
I don’t criticize Apple too often, but considering the effort that went into the iPhone and the latest round of iPods, I would have expected the same attention paid to the AppleTV. HD quality is a must for this device. I do use HandBrake to transfer movies from DVD to iTunes and use the AppleTV settings to convert them to mp4s. It gets me close to HD (or even excellent DVD quality) but is still not where it needs to be. Further, it DOES need a DVR.
Funny how we rarely hear about the AppleTV anymore. It’s all iPhone, iPod and Mac – not that there’s anything wrong with that. But I can remember last January standing on the floor at MacWorld where even then the attention paid to the AppleTV was dwarfed by the iPhone. That’s a problem.
Count on the following with AppleTV’s next round:
– New home menu system ala iPod touch and iPhone
– New 720 x 480 stnd. definition TV shows and movies.
– HD content (from at least Disney’s studio’s)
– Rental Service (5 days, $3.99 per rental)
– Direct connection to iTunes for purchase or rentals (movie & TV content only)
– 160 GB HD base model
– 320 GB HD high-end version
– Connect to standard TV ability (S-Video or RCA)
The two biggest hitters for the mass consumer are:
– HD content
– Rental Service
– Connecting to standard def. TV
The direct connect thing is huge, but consumers assume it has that already – which it will. The other 3 parts to this puzzle will be tackled.
The last remaining piece for AppleTV to take off lie in Steve Jobs ability to acquire more studio’s content for iTunes.
I Love mine – I have ripped all my kids shows and movies for me and it is all menu driven. Of course seeing pictures on the big screen is great as well. Menu driven music is great as well – no more going up stairs to change the song.
One idea I thought might work is combining he AirPort Base station and the Apple TV into one unit, making it into more a stealth product or more reason to buy one.
He lost me at “Syriana”……
@ clunker
Yup, I think you hit it way on the head clunker. This product really is ahead of its time. Certainly ahead of what the studios are thinking. I own one and I use it every night. I am studing film right now so the ability to handbrake all of my DVD’s to that little box helps a great deal. But I think the single thing that makes this box a special product is when you go looking through YouTube.
Now I dont’ mean YouTube itself. I am talking about what is actually happening when you watch the you tube stuff on your screen. Think about it. You are watching a streamed content from your broadband via a little box onto you television and/or projector (in my case a very nice Panasonic).
Think of the possiblilites. Since it doest this very well why not use this box for IPTV, or what I am waiting for, monthly movie rentals one fee per month all the movies you can eat. I for one don’t care to “own” a movie if I can pay a fee and have it stream to my cool litle apple tv.
The only problem really for this box is the fact that more movie studios (again) have not embraced this model yet. I understand their need (lust) for control over the distribution of the content. I’m down with that. What puzzles me is that as they clamor for ways to protect the content from piracy they overlook (again) the one compnay who has a solution RIGHT NOW! Apple.
Hell, if they did the all you can eat per month model for the damn Xbox 360 I’d do that too. I just wish the studios would do something…anything.
Thanks for playing
end of line.
Apple TVs are great, but most people dont get it…
#1 problem imho is the price tag.. drop it $100 or $150 and they will start selling.
its convenient, but I can buy a cable for $30 that will let me hook my mac up to my TV, and I dont really have the money to spend the ticket for an apple TV (gotta be able to afford my dual 24″ monitors)
I was skeptical about Apple TV from reading all the negative spin from ‘pundits’ (which continues unabated). When the 160GB model came out, i bought one and have never looked back. I love it now and feel its potential for the future. (Already noted posts about movie rental text strings in iTunes Store.) I use it for music, photos, TV episodes and YouTube. As many of you know, Apple TV Rocks and Scott Woolley’s spin on it sux.
I’d love higher quality content, yet I live in the boonies with a local cable company monopoly supplying ‘high speed internet connection,’ but it takes 30-40 minutes to download an episode of Heroes–which I’m happy to buy for $1.99 (higher and I’ll need to learn Torrenting). I.e. two episodes for $3.98 whereas my local DVD rental store charges $3.75 for a disc with two episodes and I have to return it the next day! Further, the 23 cent different doesn’t come near the cost in time and transportation expense to drive to the rental store.
“4) Let my play DVD images on my AppleTV. I’ve got a lot of old DVDs that have photos and videos that would be a real pain to transfer over to iTunes. And really, why should I have to? Apple may have abandoned the DVD format, but it’s still alive and well in my world!
“
try streaming that bit rate lol, or if ya sync, see how little the HD will hold
“Apple, if you want AppleTV to be a real hit, give it a fast DVD & a huge internal drive for storing movies. Do for the video shelf what the iPod did for the CD rack.”
The call it an “Apple Playstation 3”.
The reason that the Apple TV has floundered is not for lack of technical merit, but for lack of marketing focus by Apple. Apple normally releases a new product and keeps the focus on it for a while. In this case, the Apple TV was COMPLETELY swamped by the media created by the iPhone (both by Apple itself and others). The iPhone is so much easier to get emotionally connected to than the AppleTV. This doesn’t mean that the AppleTV isn’t a great product (I know I want one eventually), but everyone has forgotten about it as we continue to drool over the iPhone.
The movie studios are deathly afraid of having Apple dominate the movie rental/sales industry like it is doing in the music industry. When one dog controls the yard, everyone has to answer to that dog if you want to play in the yard.
Plus, who would buy a downloaded movie for $20? If I buy the DVD, for $20 or less, I can rip it to my hard drive, watch it somewhere besides my living room, sell it later on eBay, or whatever.
What TiVo is doing is interesting, but not really much more than making PPV easier by allowing you to buy it with your remote instead of having to call the company or go online.
AppleTv just ain’t quite there for the masses.
ONe problem is asking consumers to pay $300 for a 2nd iPod that can only be used in your house.
They should really have focused on making it easier to hook up and use iPOds with your TV.
Like what if you could get the iPOd menu on your tv screen?
Basically they should have enhanced the dock/ipod to do this.
I think that represents a much better value equation for consumers because you could hit a $100-$150 price point for a dock kit.
The other problem is that that shows are expensive and don’t quite replace the standard cable package alot of people get. I can’t watch any live sports over iTunes. There’s quite a few shows still not available. And cable starts to represent a better value when you consider anyone in the family can watch it on any tv.
Another problem is DVRs/Tivo. For a small fee a month you skip commericials. I talked Tivo down to $7/month on my old series 2. And actually this makes me wonder why NBC wouldn’t be all over iTunes more. Tivo and DVRs have been slow in being adopted, but they are a big threat to the traditional broadcast television model because consumers skip all the commercials.
Another problem with the AppleTV is the remote. I mean you could have added a few more buttons. I would have made it the size of a Nano without the screen, but with a scroll wheel. And I would have given it the capability of turning your tV on/off and switch the inputs of your TV. Possibily change channels. The thought being that this would integrate it better into consumer’s lives and they would pick it up more and eventually use the AppleTV more.
anyway I have a book going and I gotta run.
There are too many resons why this product has limited appeal. All of them were written when the product was introduced. Like the “Home Stereo Reinvented,” Apple TV is a solution to a non-existent problem. I cannot remember a time when anyone I know said “gee, I wish I could wirelessly stream content from my computer to my TV.
I have never heard anyone say “gosh this downloaded movie with no extras, no alternate language tracks, no DTS or discreet Dolby Digital is such a good value compared to a DVD.”
Let’s face it. This device only appeals to the ultra-wealthy class who are unconcerned with the price of things. And of course, the kool-aid drinkers who feel that Apple can do no wrong.
“Waste of Money Reinvented™”
720p24 content instead of “near DVD” quality, that’s what Microsoft are offering on XBox Live and Sony are offering on the Playstation Networks.
is forbes for real? Isnt there any better news than pure speculation?
I can’t believe I am saying this, but I can’t wait for AT&T;to complete their purchase of Dobson, so I can get an iPhone. Beyond that – AppleTV is the only Apple product that I feel I can totally live without. If Apple adds some of MDN’s suggestions, maybe enough value is added. Until then, I just don’t see why I should spend that much. Now add on the Apple vs. NBC spat.