New tech company 'Apple' set to showoff new mp3 player, internet TV box

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

I don’t understand why people would want heavily compressed 1080p streams to begin with. Wouldn’t users demanding 1080p resolution want a full standard Bluray bitrate?

Nah, HD resolution is a quantifiable metric. Like megapixels on a camera. Or blades on a razor.

I wouldn't lower myself to buying a razor without 4 or more blades on it.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

- I don’t think you can do video out on protected content via the cable kit on any iOS device. The streaming is an important element from a content providers perspective because it preserves the integrity of the DRM environment.

Sure you can. I bought DS9 Season 1 from iTunes and can play it via the cable-out on the iPad no problems.

The streaming capability also means that you can move media between TV’s and houses easily - anywhere there’s an AppleTV, you can play media stored on your iPhone or iPad, including video you just shot with its HD camera. This is a much more elegant solution than carrying around cables and hooking and unhooking stuff.

Okay, that presumes my friends have an Apple TV. My friends still have VCRs.

And I'm surfing the US iTunes store and there are only 28 drama shows available to rent. So they don't have a very big selection available to rent.

[Roast Beef]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Sure you can. I bought DS9 Season 1 from iTunes and can play it via the cable-out on the iPad no problems.



Okay, that presumes my friends have an Apple TV. My friends still have VCRs.

And I'm surfing the US iTunes store and there are only 28 drama shows available to rent. So they don't have a very big selection available to rent.

Are your friends Hutterites? Actually scratch that. Even Hutterites wouldn't use technology as old as a VCR.

I was thinking of buying the cable-out but it was $35-$40 (VGA connection, audio out is separate) at the Apple store. Limited to 1024x768 and of course not a very elegant solution. The ability to wirelessly stream content from an iDevice to your TV or use an iDevice as a remote control for your entire iTunes library on your TV/Audio system is a very compelling option for $120.

The shows available for rent in the US is pointless in Canada since TV rentals are not a feature here. It may be in the future but all we will have is Flashpoint, Trailer Park Boys and Little Mosque.

When the new Apple TV was announced yesterday I though it was a joke. In a lot of ways it still is. But the more I think about it though the more it makes sense for me. Seamless availability to my iTunes library on the best screen and speakers in the house. Controllable from a touchscreen device that fits in my pocket. That was always something I wanted but I would have to shell out dough for the proper connections and it would still be gimpy. This streamlines everything and makes it easy.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

1080p theoretically requires double the bandwidth of 720p. Since that's not entirely plausible to stream online, and streaming is the "big thing" with Apple TV, they decided to keep costs down by not supporting it at all. At least that's my guess.

It's not a huge deal for me because the only thing I watch in 1080p are blu-rays.

More than double the pixels.

2073600 vs 921600.

Exactly 2.25 times as many pixels.

[Devils'Advocate]

Yes, likely Canada will have the Canadian shows. But as for American shows, we usually have a subset of the American library. Which, as I stated, is incredibly small right now and consists mainly of old shows like Ally McBeal and X-Files.

I'm thinking I might rent Ally McBeal.... I absolutely love every single other David E. Kelly show from L.A. Law through to Boston Legal. But I heard bad things about Ally McBeal, so maybe rental is the way to go to give it a try....

[FanIn80]

So... I was playing around a bit with the HDR feature that iOS 4.1 adds to the camera, and I thought I'd post a pretty good comparison shot. When you snap a picture now, the default setting is to save the picture twice: both with and without HDR.

These are both the exact same shot, only one picture was taken. The first was saved normally without HDR... the second was saved with HDR.

[HotHotHeat]

That's officially the coolest part about 4.1

Great thinking to add this feature in.

[HotHotHeat]

Also...With Airplay coming to the New Apple TV, Handbrake is going to become a lot of people's new best friend. The program converts many types of digital movie files into ones that can be opened in iTunes, and eventually Apple TV.

http://handbrake.fr/

[Roast Beef]

Badaboom is another good choice for converting to Apple TV specs. It is hardware accelerated and uses your gpu to help with the converting. On my system it is much faster than handbrake.

[silentsim]

Is there any DOWNSIDE to HDR?

[QuadCityImages]

Originally Posted by silentsim

Is there any DOWNSIDE to HDR?

The way Apple is doing it, it doesn't seem like it. Normally I'd say that yes, it can be overdone so things just look fake. Like most of these images: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008...-hdr-pictures/

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Roast Beef

Badaboom is another good choice for converting to Apple TV specs. It is hardware accelerated and uses your gpu to help with the converting. On my system it is much faster than handbrake.

Will it batch convert?

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Will it batch convert?

This might not affect you, but it only works with an Nvidia GPU.

[Roast Beef]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

This might not affect you, but it only works with an Nvidia GPU.

Didn't realize that. Thanks for the info.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by silentsim

Is there any DOWNSIDE to HDR?

If parts of the image (or the camera) moves, then HDR creates blur in trying to blend three separate exposures. HDR is only really good for photos that are completely static, ideally with a tripod as well. Clouds, cars, wind, people are all things that can easily ruin an HDR image. An image that isn't doesn't have clipped shadows or highlights will also usually not benefit from HDR and may appear "flatter" with it. Lastly, sometimes you want to maintain contrast even at the expense or clipping, or may even want to clip the image intentionally (e.g. silhouetting - i.e. shadow clipping - a foreground to hide ugly features).

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Sure you can. I bought DS9 Season 1 from iTunes and can play it via the cable-out on the iPad no problems.

Cool! I had no idea this was doable.

[Russic]

That's odd, I had heard video out doesn't work with purchased shows. Regardless, the apple tv is so small I'd just take it with me instead of a cable.

Just dropped an order for one. No more walking it between two tv's like some sort of punk. Almost tempted to sell my old apple tv for $50 and buy another new one. The no syncing feature is huge for me. I often show photos on my tv, and if I don't have them synced it can take a huge amount of time.

[silentsim]

Airplay is so ever amazing....I hope :P

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Russic

The no syncing feature is huge for me. I often show photos on my tv, and if I don't have them synced it can take a huge amount of time.

Funny how using it as a photo viewer ends up being so popular eh? I used to think “who the hell wants that”, then I noticed that any time people are over, if the TV is just running through photos it often becomes the most watched, or most talked about topic.

[Burninator]

So has anyone else tried Ping? I thought it was a service used for talking about music. It's not. It's a services used for talking about iTunes music. When you are signing up you search for various artist to put into your profile to give a taste of your music. Tried searching for a couple artists and nothing was showing up. I thought it would search your library. It doesn't, it searches iTunes. So if iTunes doesn't sell that artists music apparently it isn't part of your musical taste. Ping is completely worthless in my opinion.