New Apple TV - Jailbroken: now with a Flash browser, Last.fm, and Plex

[Barnes]

1080p can be a bunch of frame rates. From 24 to 60. 1080i is 50 or 60. Upconverting the 720p signal to 1080i50 on your set would probably better and more efficient for streaming than sending even 1080p24.

[Flames0910]

i can totally see teennie boppers and college kids (dear god I'm old) buy the nano just to have their music displayed as an accessory now that they've got the clip

(those new nano's are seriously cool)

I mean, the nano gets overlooked with the awesomeness of the iPhone but seriously? a postage stamp with multi-touch and 8gb of music..lol

[HeartsOfFire]

So....

Comparing this 'new' AppleTV to my own, the only difference is... it's black?

Without 1080p video, I am not impressed.

[Roast Beef]

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

So....

Comparing this 'new' AppleTV to my own, the only difference is... it's black?

Without 1080p video, I am not impressed.

It's also a lot smaller (it's about the size of a puck) It is also a lot cheaper. Lets face it, the older versions of Apple TV were not exactly flying off of shelves. This version is not for the "power user". It has no local storage, everything is streaming. 720p max. HDMI and optical audio are the only connections. It's pretty much an iTunes extender for your TV. It will be able to stream audio and video off of other iDevices. If you have a movie on your iPhone you can wirelessly stream it to the Apple TV.

Like everything Apple does it is geared towards ease of use and locked into the Apple universe. HDMI only + Apple DRM ensures wary content providers that the Analog hole is closed. Specific codecs ensure that you can't just stream your bittorrent collection from your computer without lengthy conversion. It is designed solely to put money in Apple's pocket through TV and Movie rentals. The 720p max video is due to the hardware itself. The A4 processor that is now used in most Apple devices (iPhone 4, iPad, new iPod Touch, new Apple TV) is not powerful enough to handle 1080p decoding. If I am not mistaken most if not all rentable HD content on iTunes is 720p content so this is a no brainer for them.

In the end it comes down to the magic $99 / $120 price. It's almost an impulse purchase at that price. Hell I know whats what and even I am tempted to buy it just so I can have my iTunes library on my TV and surround system.

[Burninator]

1080p who cares? The hardware isn't nearly as important as the content and the price of the box itself. The success or failure of the Apple TV won't be whether or not it plays 1080p at such and such a frame rate blah blah blah. It will be the content. It won't be a success if it plays 1080p but only has a small library. It will be a success if it plays HD content (720p is pretty good HD) and has a huge library. I hope this catches on and lots of people buy it and studios and broadcasters see it as a viable medium and start throwing all their content onto it. If that happens there is so much potential for a set top box like this. I hope netflix comes to Canada soon because that alone will sell a bunch of Apple TV's.

[Rathji]

I would be all over this if I didn't have to convert my entire video library.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I would be all over this if I didn't have to convert my entire video library.

Converting isn't as crazy as you think.

Download HandBrake (open source)
Fill up the queue with a bunch of movies
Select the Apple TV preset
Hit Start
Go to bed

MP4 is supported (naitively) by far more devices than MKV anyway.

[Flames0910]

I could write a rallying defense of the decision to opt for 720p over 1080p or x and y 'missing feature' but I think I'll just say that in many cases less is more and leave it at that.

I don't have an Xbox so I would love one. Hey Torture, if you make it into this thread, I have a birthday coming soon...

[MickMcGeough]

The thing about 1080p is that 99% of people only care because it's a quantifiable metric, like megapixels in a camera, or number of blades on a disposable razor.

Vudu HDX is the only product I know of that streams 1080p content at any kind of reasonable bitrate. In all other cases, 720p will actually look considerably better because you don't have to make as many compromises in video & audio quality to stream.

1080p would be nice for streaming video locally, but I think Apple's correctly guessed that the vast majority of their target audience do not have loads of 1080p content ready to stream locally.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

1080p would be nice for streaming video locally, but I think Apple's correctly guessed that the vast majority of their target audience do not have loads of 1080p content ready to stream locally.

Where do you get 1080p content that is a digital file? The only 1080p content that I have is Blu-ray and I see no reason to compress that into a digital file anyways. Defeats the purpose of the extremely high quality that is Blu-ray.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Converting isn't as crazy as you think.

Download HandBrake (open source)
Fill up the queue with a bunch of movies
Select the Apple TV preset
Hit Start
Go to bed

MP4 is supported (naitively) by far more devices than MKV anyway.

You forgot the part where you need to select each episode/movie manually.

I already do it for my iPod, but the time it takes and the amount of resources it uses on the PC means that PC would be out of commission for months taking care of this.

600 DVD's and 50 seasons of various shows and miniseries.

Problem is, I encoded it all for use with a divx dvd player, which has since died. I currently use an O!Play Air but the clunky nature of the remote and the need to unplug it to reboot it every day or 2 when it freezes has just got me frustrated.

[photon]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Converting isn't as crazy as you think.

But converting means a permanent loss in quality.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by photon

But converting means a permanent loss in quality.

That too.

Right now, when I convert for my iPod I really don't care about the quality because it is a 2 inch screen.

[OilKiller]

I'll stick with my current version of AppleTV for streaming Internet radio stations over my tv/audio system and for watching downloaded/converted music videos.

My $149 WDTV media player will play full 1080p MKV files without issue, so I'll stick with that thanks.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Where do you get 1080p content that is a digital file? The only 1080p content that I have is Blu-ray and I see no reason to compress that into a digital file anyways. Defeats the purpose of the extremely high quality that is Blu-ray.

It's already a compressed, digital file (or files) on your Blu-Ray disc. It's just encoded at a very high bitrate.

You can download 1080p content from any torrent site. 99% of people will not see a difference between a properly ripped & encoded 1080p x264 Blu-Ray video and a Blu-Ray. Vudu HDX streams 1080p movies and it's apparently nearly indiscernable from Blu-Ray as well.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

It's already a compressed, digital file (or files) on your Blu-Ray disc. It's just encoded at a very high bitrate.

You can download 1080p content from any torrent site. 99% of people will not see a difference between a properly ripped & encoded 1080p x264 Blu-Ray video and a Blu-Ray. Vudu HDX streams 1080p movies and it's apparently nearly indiscernable from Blu-Ray as well.

I meant besides a torrent because there is no point in Apple adding functionality that is only used when people steal it.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Burninator

I meant besides a torrent because there is no point in Apple adding functionality that is only used when people steal it.

Ok, well, off the top of my head here's the legal 1080p video that I've got:

Physical Blu-Ray backups
HD video camera footage
Legally acquired 1080p content (the best concert recordings I have are 100% legal 1080p downloads)
PVR Backups

Plus, the Vudu HDX streaming I mentioned earlier proves that streaming high-quality 1080p is entirely possible (if only plausible for those with very fast connections) today.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Ok, well, off the top of my head here's the legal 1080p video that I've got:

Physical Blu-Ray backups
HD video camera footage
Legally acquired 1080p content (the best concert recordings I have are 100% legal 1080p downloads)
PVR Backups

Plus, the Vudu HDX streaming I mentioned earlier proves that streaming high-quality 1080p is entirely possible (if only plausible for those with very fast connections) today.

Okay I concede there is some limited 1080p content you can have on your computer legally. Although Blu-ray and PVR backup could be sketchy. Anyways, streaming 1080p content will be the future, but I doubt we'll it anytime soon with current internet speeds. And like you said that is the bottleneck, not the box besides your TV.

[Burninator]

No software update for the original Apple TV.

Not a surprise, but still too bad.

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/09/02/...inal-apple-tv/

I think I am going to hold off upgrading until we get Netflix in Canada.

[silentsim]

So when they so no software update, does that mean AirPlay won't work on my current ATV? Reason I wonder is Airtunes supports it now, I just wonder if Airplay will just magically work :P

Won't matter much anyway since i'll gladly buy a 120$ ATV.