Apple delays Apple TV "Take 2" software by a week or two

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Apple said Wednesday that it has started to ship the first batch of its new ultra-thin MacBook Air notebooks, but added that it will need a bit more time before rolling out its much-anticipate Apple TV "Take 2" software update.



"The new Apple TV software update, which allows users to rent high definition movies directly from their widescreen TVs, is not quite finished," the company said in a statement. "Apple now plans to make the free software download available to existing Apple TV customers in another week or two."



With iTunes Movie Rentals and the new Apple TV software update (AppleInsider's First Look), users will be able to just click a button on their remote to rent movies from a catalog of over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound, with no computer required.



DVD-quality iTunes Movie Rentals are $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases, and high definition versions are just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 and new releases at $4.99.



Once complete, the Apple TV software update will be made available as a free automatic download to all existing Apple TV customers, and will subsequently appear on all newly manufactured versions of the wireless set-top-box.



Apple TV, which includes the Apple Remote, is available for a suggested retail price of $229 for the 40GB model and $329 for the 160GB model (US and Canada). The device requires an 802.11g/n wireless network or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet networking, a broadband Internet connection and a high definition widescreen TV.



Separately, Apple said Wednesday that MacBook Air (AppleInsider's First Look) -- the world's thinnest notebook -- is now shipping from the Apple online store and will soon be available from Apple retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $1,799 under its base configuration.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 90
    Any news on 10.5.2?
  • Reply 2 of 90
    there's currently less than 756 movie titles on itunes - they need to get more content out there to get this to be a win. even if they have 1000 titles upon the new release - that's still anemic.
  • Reply 3 of 90
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple said Wednesday that it has started to ship the first batch of its new ultra-thin MacBook Air notebooks, but added that it will need a bit more time before rolling out its much-anticipate Apple TV "Take 2" software update.



    "The new Apple TV software update, which allows users to rent high definition movies directly from their widescreen TVs, is not quite finished," the company said in a statement. "Apple now plans to make the free software download available to existing Apple TV customers in another week or two."



    With iTunes Movie Rentals and the new Apple TV software update, users will be able to just click a button on their remote to rent movies from a catalog of over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound, with no computer required.



    DVD-quality iTunes Movie Rentals are $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases, and high definition versions are just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 and new releases at $4.99.



    Once complete, the Apple TV software update will be made available as a free automatic download to all existing Apple TV customers, and will subsequently appear on all newly manufactured versions of the wireless set-top-box



    Apple TV, which includes the Apple Remote, is available for a suggested retail price of $229 for the 40GB model and $329 for the 160GB model (US and Canada). The device requires an 802.11g/n wireless network or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet networking, a broadband Internet connection and a high definition widescreen TV.



    Separately, Apple said that MacBook Air -- the world's thinnest notebook -- is now shipping and will soon be available from the Apple online store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $1,799 under the base configuration.





    This is just crap.
  • Reply 4 of 90
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by johnhood View Post


    Any news on 10.5.2?



    No, more is the pity.
  • Reply 5 of 90
    areseearesee Posts: 776member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by johnhood View Post


    Any news on 10.5.2?



    The new Mac OS Rumors is saying the same thing for 10.5.2. The AppleTV must need something in the new update. http://macosrumors.com/2008/01/30/ap...-drawing-near/



    Though Mac OS Rumors posted this today, Mac Rumors announced the seeding of 9C23 last Thursday. I'm watching Mac OS Rumors to see how the new group is performing. So far they appear to be OK, but they are slow.
  • Reply 6 of 90
    boogabooga Posts: 1,082member
    According to all the announcements, it won't be "HD" movies, so I wish sites would stop parroting that line. Yes, it will use the HD standards, but the compression will render it worse definition than a standard DVD. And just using HD standards like MP4/AAC and 720p doesn't make something HD.



    You have 2 options with Apple TV: YouTube quality, or almost-DVD quality for $1 more.
  • Reply 7 of 90
    So, to re-cap on the Keynote speech:



    No AppleTV Take Two

    No 10.5.2

    No Time Capsule



    Remind me, why exactly did we have a Keynote?
  • Reply 8 of 90
    suhailsuhail Posts: 192member
    Typical MW announcements!

    I'm disappointed but not surprised.
  • Reply 9 of 90
    kasperkasper Posts: 941member, administrator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacBookBoy View Post


    So, to re-cap on the Keynote speech:



    No AppleTV Take Two

    No 10.5.2

    No Time Capsule



    Remind me, why exactly did we have a Keynote?



    It wasn't much different in 2007 =P



    Best,



    K
  • Reply 10 of 90
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Booga View Post


    And just using HD standards like MP4/AAC and 720p doesn't make something HD.



    You have 2 options with Apple TV: YouTube quality, or almost-DVD quality for $1 more.



    Why not? That's the definition of HD. My "HD TV" is 720p. The "HD" channels that I get through my cable company are compressed more than iTunes' specs. If they get to call that HD, then Apple gets to call it HD.



    And standard DVDs are not 720p, either, by the way. So your quip about "almost-DVD quality for a dollar more" is also completely inaccurate.



    Standard iTunes movies and TV shows are a lot better than YouTube quality.



    Let's back off on the hyperbole here and get our facts straight.
  • Reply 11 of 90
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by [email protected] View Post


    This is just crap. I was at the expo and the new software sure worked fine there!!!!!!



    Really? How many movies did you download in testing it that day?
  • Reply 12 of 90
    gqbgqb Posts: 1,934member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by [email protected] View Post


    This is just crap. I was at the expo and the new software sure worked fine there!!!!!!



    Most things look 'just fine' in a demo.

    In the wild is another thing altogether.

    I'd prefer they release it when its solid.
  • Reply 13 of 90
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by [email protected] View Post


    This is just crap. I was at the expo and the new software sure worked fine there!!!!!!



    Apple is great at showing you just what they want to show you at Macworld. Remember, the iPhone software sure looked complete at Steve's keynote last year, but several of the programs, including the Calendar and the Notepad, were just placeholder icons. I'm sure they ran into some last-minute bugs that they have to iron out. Unfortunate, but better than releasing incomplete or crash-prone updates, if you ask me.
  • Reply 14 of 90
    Guess I better return my movies to Netflix so I have something to watch tonight. I was sooo looking forward to renting on aTV
  • Reply 15 of 90
    ikirikir Posts: 127member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Booga View Post


    According to all the announcements, it won't be "HD" movies, so I wish sites would stop parroting that line. Yes, it will use the HD standards, but the compression will render it worse definition than a standard DVD. And just using HD standards like MP4/AAC and 720p doesn't make something HD.



    You have 2 options with Apple TV: YouTube quality, or almost-DVD quality for $1 more.



    Inaccurate at best.



    DVD quality is much lower than 720p. And 720p is HD (not full HD).



    A film encoded nicely rock in 720p even if fulHD is better... but most TV here are only 720p anyway, don't know in USA.
  • Reply 16 of 90
    gqbgqb Posts: 1,934member
    OK, guidance solicited...



    I've now re-wired my HT for HDMI and the AppleTV seems to be at a useful point for me.

    About to make the plunge.



    I'm pretty confident that the DVD's I've ripped, the home video I've done in iMovie, and probably HD downloads from ATS will look good.



    But when I go to the Apple Store and look at the content they have on their demo machines, the quality looks worse than VHS.

    Is that what the standard ATS downloads look like? If so, then that's far from 'near-dvd' quality. If not, then they're doing a grave disservice to the product by even showing that crap as a demo.



    In any event, I'll still be going with the ATV for music, pictures and the above mentioned 'other' content', but I'm curious what the story is on the Apple Store demo content.
  • Reply 17 of 90
    gqbgqb Posts: 1,934member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aresee View Post


    The new Mac OS Rumors is saying the same thing for 10.5.2. The AppleTV must need something in the new update. http://macosrumors.com/2008/01/30/ap...-drawing-near/



    Though Mac OS Rumors posted this today, Mac Rumors announced the seeding of 9C23 last Thursday. I'm watching Mac OS Rumors to see how the new group is performing. So far they appear to be OK, but they are slow.



    That would be...

    http://www.macrumors.com/2008/01/30/ap...-drawing-near/
  • Reply 18 of 90
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Booga View Post


    You have 2 options with Apple TV: YouTube quality, or almost-DVD quality for $1 more.



    Quotes like these are hilarious. Have you USED an Apple TV? Go to their TV show or movie trailer menu and tell me those are "youtube quality". The quality of the images is 99% as good as my digital cable signal.



    Overall, I'm really impressed with aTV and look forward to HD res content.
  • Reply 19 of 90
    boogabooga Posts: 1,082member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ikir View Post


    Inaccurate at best.



    DVD quality is much lower than 720p. And 720p is HD (not full HD).



    A film encoded nicely rock in 720p even if fulHD is better... but most TV here are only 720p anyway, don't know in USA.



    720p is just the output resolution, not a measure of quality. That's like saying that YouTube is displaying "better than HD resolution" if you maximize it on a 1600x1200 screen. It's the compression settings that determine quality, not the output screen's resolution.



    If you upconvert a DVD to 720p or 1080i, you're getting about the same quality output (plus significantly better sound) than what you'll get from Apple TV's HD. You simply can't compress movies down to a couple of gigs and expect them to be HD. That's why Blu-Ray movies take up 10x more space and deliver bit rates 10x higher than an "HD" movie from iTMS.



    Quote:

    Why not? That's the definition of HD. My "HD TV" is 720p. The "HD" channels that I get through my cable company are compressed more than iTunes' specs. If they get to call that HD, then Apple gets to call it HD.



    Actually, no, Apple TV's compression will, according to all currently available information, be significantly more compressed than your HD cable feeds.
  • Reply 20 of 90
    hattighattig Posts: 860member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ikir View Post


    Inaccurate at best.



    DVD quality is much lower than 720p. And 720p is HD (not full HD).



    A film encoded nicely rock in 720p even if fulHD is better... but most TV here are only 720p anyway, don't know in USA.



    I think his point is about the bitrate.



    AppleTV can handle maybe 6mbps H.264. However maybe this Take 2 update has optimised it more.



    The iPods can handle 1.5mbps H.264. Are the SD movie downloads transferrable to iPods - if they are, then this is their bitrate. I would call this near-DVD-quality, given the quality of Divx movies I've downloaded that use bitrates of around 1mbps. DVD video can be around 8mbps - but the MPEG2 codec is weaker. Broadcast SD digital TV? That's probably around 2-4mbps MPEG2 on average (Freeview Digital TV bandwidths: http://dtt.me.uk/), depending on how many channels they have scrunched into the available bandwidth. I'd be willing to put money down that 1.5mbps SD H.264 will look better than 3mbps MPEG2.



    The HD downloads are probably between 4 and 5 mbps and whilst they won't be as good as 30mbps HD-DVD or 40mbps BluRay they will still be significantly better than DVD, and probably as good as OTA HD in the states, but I don't know the figures for that.
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