Surprise ad for Apple TV begins airing on networks

[AppleInsider]

Launching almost without fanfare, a spot for Apple's new media hub has begun making the rounds of TV networks.

Apple, Inc. on Monday launched a surprise new commercial for its Apple TV device, emphasizing the simplicity and echoing Steve Jobs' observations that the company was entering the living room after coming into cars, dens, and pockets.

The ad begins with a full-screen segment from the Paramount movie School of Rock, pulling out to reveal an iMac and observing that "it" -- that is, the video -- "is on your computer." It then draws the connection between the Mac and all of Apple's lineup by shifting to an iPod playing the same clip in a nearby room, adding that "it's on your iPod."

Finally, the scene pans to the living room where the Apple device plays the video on a TV, simply adding that "now, it's on your TV. Introducing Apple TV." The promo ends with a shot of the Apple TV substituting for the company's habitual ending logo shot.

Apple has yet to post the video online, but a sample is available below.

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[K.C.]

Apple is marketing their latest product for TV on TV and that's news ?

[Porchland]

On CNBC? Hmmm.... I think that spot may have been more for the investor community than for consumers.

Not too exciting, and it feels sort of derivative. Isn't there another ad out for AT&T or Verizon (or Best Buy?) that's sort of like that one?

[SpamSandwich]

There is no such thing as an original thought, right? Anyway, even though I despise AppleTV in its current form, at least they're trying to increase awareness.

[wilco]

I can't wait to not buy this thing!

[DeaPeaJay]

Originally Posted by wilco

I can't wait to not buy this thing!

That ad had a surprising lack of Apple finesse. The harsh dark shadow on the Apple TV at the end did not look quite right. Could this ad be a fake? Either that or their marketing department had a serious cut back in the budget.

[Cleverboy]

Originally Posted by DeaPeaJay

That ad had a surprising lack of Apple finesse. The harsh dark shadow on the Apple TV at the end did not look quite right. Could this ad be a fake? Either that or their marketing department had a serious cut back in the budget.

Seems like it must be a different marketing company than the usual one. This definitely seems a bit blaze-blah. Apple does seem to like Jack Black though...

I'm waiting for this one:

It's on your computer... its on your iPod... its on your TV... and now... its on your iPhone.

Humina-humina.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by wilco

I can't wait to not buy this thing!

No kidding.... I was in an Apple store the other day and watched The Incredibles on one of their display units and was shocked at the poor image quality. It wasn't even close to being "near DVD". I know that it is intended to bring your iTunes content to your tv which I'm sure it does with ease... but there is no way I would use that thing until the quality improves. As soon as Apple releases an updated version that supports true 5.1 and better picture quality - I'm there.

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by Wally

No kidding.... I was in an Apple store the other day and watched The Incredibles on one of their display units and was shocked at the poor image quality. It wasn't even close to being "near DVD". I know that it is intended to bring your iTunes content to your tv which I'm sure it does with ease... but there is no way I would use that thing until the quality improves. As soon as Apple releases an updated version that supports true 5.1 and better picture quality - I'm there.

For every bad report about AppleTV, I can only hope they make it up in iPhone sales. @#$%&!!

[DeaPeaJay]

I've got an Apple TV, It's sitting in my bed room waiting around for me to buy an HDTV.

[bdj21ya]

Originally Posted by DeaPeaJay

I've got an Apple TV, It's sitting in my bed room waiting around for me to buy an HDTV.

Why would you do that? Mistake about the specs?

[DeaPeaJay]

Originally Posted by bdj21ya

Why would you do that? Mistake about the specs?

I had post Macworld fever. And I didn't notice the requirement of having a widescreen TV till after I ordered it. I *could* return it, but I'm sure that I'll get an HDTV eventually anyway.

[EagerDragon]

Originally Posted by Wally

No kidding.... I was in an Apple store the other day and watched The Incredibles on one of their display units and was shocked at the poor image quality. It wasn't even close to being "near DVD". I know that it is intended to bring your iTunes content to your tv which I'm sure it does with ease... but there is no way I would use that thing until the quality improves. As soon as Apple releases an updated version that supports true 5.1 and better picture quality - I'm there.

That must look horrible to a potential new Mac customer. I wonder how well they though this out.

[dan.blanchard]

Originally Posted by Wally

No kidding.... I was in an Apple store the other day and watched The Incredibles on one of their display units and was shocked at the poor image quality. It wasn't even close to being "near DVD". I know that it is intended to bring your iTunes content to your tv which I'm sure it does with ease... but there is no way I would use that thing until the quality improves. As soon as Apple releases an updated version that supports true 5.1 and better picture quality - I'm there.

I find it really surprising that they would show stuff at the low quality that iTunes movies are in the store. I have an AppleTV and I love it, but that's largely because I don't buy crappy quality stuff from iTunes. I either download stuff or encode it myself. Word of warning though, Quicktime's "export to appletv" process takes like an hour for an hour of video, even on my Mac Pro with 2 gigs of RAM.

[DeaPeaJay]

Originally Posted by dan.blanchard

I find it really surprising that they would show stuff at the low quality that iTunes movies are in the store. I have an AppleTV and I love it, but that's largely because I don't buy crappy quality stuff from iTunes. I either download stuff or encode it myself. Word of warning though, Quicktime's "export to appletv" process takes like an hour for an hour of video, even on my Mac Pro with 2 gigs of RAM.

Mac Pro... what processor?

I do the same thing, I handbrake a DVD while at work and then export to Apple TV overnight, or vice versa.

[BRussell]

Originally Posted by Wally

No kidding.... I was in an Apple store the other day and watched The Incredibles on one of their display units and was shocked at the poor image quality. It wasn't even close to being "near DVD". I know that it is intended to bring your iTunes content to your tv which I'm sure it does with ease... but there is no way I would use that thing until the quality improves. As soon as Apple releases an updated version that supports true 5.1 and better picture quality - I'm there.

That's not the AppleTV's problem as much as it's the resolution of the movie itself.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by DeaPeaJay

I had post Macworld fever. And I didn't notice the requirement of having a widescreen TV till after I ordered it. I *could* return it, but I'm sure that I'll get an HDTV eventually anyway.

You don't have to have an HDTV, you can use an EDTV or SDTV. You do, however, need to have at least component video and RCA stereo ports on the TV.

[solipsism]

Am I being overly optimistic by thinking that this commercial means there will be higher-resolution content on the iTunes Store tomorrow?

[BRussell]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Am I being overly optimistic by thinking that this commercial means there will be higher-resolution content on the iTunes Store tomorrow?

I don't see the connection.

[socokid]

No, it's utterly Apple (and the company that does their marketing). Each addition to the line of succession is coupled with Jack adding a new instrument... it's pretends to be as simple as moving from one place to another without any effort of any kind, and puts it into a setting that the demographic would enjoy. White walls, organized, etc... dead on genius marketing, as always.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by BRussell

I don't see the connection.

First AppleTV commercial to arrive while the AppleTV has been available for 2 weeks now. I'm thinking that they held off the mass emdia marketing until the HD content--and new studios--were ready to download.

Yeah, I know, I'm being overly optimistic.

[Wiggin]

Originally Posted by Wally

I was in an Apple store the other day and watched The Incredibles on one of their display units and was shocked at the poor image quality. It wasn't even close to being "near DVD".

Same here. Stopped in an Apple store last week and had the same thought. I guess it would constitute false advertising if they ripped DVDs at the highest quality the AppleTV can show and used those for their in-store display since, legally, the iTunes Store content is the only way you'd get the movie in iTunes (at least in the US). And I'm sure their corporate lawyers warned them that displaying video ripped from DVDs could be constitute Apple endorsing violation of the DMCA.

I tempered my opinion of the low quality of the video by the fact that the way Apple has set up their in-store displays forcing you to watch from just a few feet away. If you were sitting a more typical distance from your TV, you wouldn't notice it as much. But even with that adjustment of perception, the quality was still very disappointing (even more-so when you are reminded that they are essentially charging DVD prices for this sub-DVD quality).

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by Wiggin

I tempered my opinion of the low quality of the video by the fact that the way Apple has set up their in-store displays forcing you to watch from just a few feet away. If you were sitting a more typical distance from your TV, you wouldn't notice it as much. But even with that adjustment of perception, the quality was still very disappointing (even more-so when you are reminded that they are essentially charging DVD prices for this sub-DVD quality).

That nails it for me. Until AppleTV2 comes out, this is another 'Newton' for Apple... ahead of the curve, lacking in content, lacking in development.

[JeffDM]

I just saw it as an ad on a CBS channel. It doesn't look as bad as that google video, and certainly without the ticker tapes.

[Superbass]

Thank-you AppleInsider for the wonderful article about the boring advertisement that's been running for several days. I too was shocked and surprised by the ad, which came with little or no warning or press release from Apple, or indeed and of the Apple rumor sites. Without this kind of insightful, ahead-of-the-curve reporting, I would not feel like a true "Apple Insider".

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Am I being overly optimistic by thinking that this commercial means there will be higher-resolution content on the iTunes Store tomorrow?

What content?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Ireland

What content?

Since I said "Hi-Res" I guess that means I'm referring to video content.

[britwithgoodteeth]

Originally Posted by DeaPeaJay

I had post Macworld fever. And I didn't notice the requirement of having a widescreen TV till after I ordered it. I *could* return it, but I'm sure that I'll get an HDTV eventually anyway.

People like you make me glad I own stock in Apple.

[Chrism70@mac.com]

The house in this commercial looks like the same house from the very FIRST iPod commercial!

Take a look and compare...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EQUOcfLkaJk

[britwithgoodteeth]

Originally Posted by BRussell

That's not the AppleTV's problem as much as it's the resolution of the movie itself.

And who encoded the movie? Gremlins?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Chrism70@mac.com

The house in this commercial looks like the same house from the very FIRST iPod commercial!

I don't think it's the same house.

But it was a nice trip down memory lane. Mac only, FW-400, iTunes v4(?). Only 1,000 songs for $400... and people think the iPhone won't sell like hotcakes.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

That nails it for me. Until AppleTV2 comes out, this is another 'Newton' for Apple... ahead of the curve, lacking in content, lacking in development.

I'm not sure how a new AppleTV will help the low-res content on iTunes Store look better. The AppleTV is perfectly fine, it's the content that needs changing.

[BRussell]

Originally Posted by britwithgoodteeth

And who encoded the movie? Gremlins?

Huh??

[purpleshorts]

The phrase "near DVD quality" is an ominous one. As I understand it, this phrase applies not to the Apple TV, but to the iTunes movies it will play... so perhaps it is all about bandwidth and codecs. Still...

Instead of a step up to Blue Ray HD DVD, we are TOLD that this is a step down! And, for convenience sake, many will take the step down.

It has happened before, but not so blatantly. Cell phones have didn't claim "near land line quality;" Early digital cameras didn't claim "near film quality;" iTunes didn't say "near CD quality." (Wait, maybe they did...) And while a landline never dropped a call on me, a film camera never refused to shoot the shot I asked, and a CD never had watery-sounding cymbals, still I bought them all for the convenience they provided. Each of these was a step UP in convenience, but a step DOWN in quality. Perhaps we are acclimatized to this pattern, but I wonder what emboldened Apple to claim a drop in quality as a selling point? Odd.

Remember the Suave commercial "Ours does what theirs does for less than half the price?" I guess today's version would be "Ours costs more and does not do as good a job, but is easy to use."

The "near DVD quality" phrase proclaims that the audio you hear and the images you see will not be even as good as your old DVDs. It may make users consider the other advantages of DVDs that iTunes movies will be missing: DVDs take up no hard drive space, you already have a player, DVDs have behind-the-scenes extras and commentary, they provide instant hard copy backup and lend-ability. In the brave new (inevitable) iTunes world, I will particularly miss the behind-the-scenes and commentary.

I hope that, in time, Apple will rectify all these missing DVD attributes... sell them as features in 2008! And they should start with the picture and sound quality. Skate to where the puck is, already!

-near-irritated

[DeaPeaJay]

Originally Posted by britwithgoodteeth

People like you make me glad I own stock in Apple.

True.

However, It wasn't *just* macworld that got me excited about the Apple TV. I had been wanting something like that for a while. It gets kind of old plugging in a DVI cable to my computer every time I want to watch something on the TV. I just assumed my TV would work with it. We only got it a year ago, but it doesn't have component video on it.

[ecking]

That family needs therapy. Everyone in the same house watching the same thing but refuses to watch it together. Tisk, tisk.

The commercial would have worked better if it showed different locations throughout the day.

[ecking]

Originally Posted by Chrism70@mac.com

The house in this commercial looks like the same house from the very FIRST iPod commercial!

Take a look and compare...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EQUOcfLkaJk

So that's what the silhouettes look like with the lights on!

[nvidia2008]

Originally Posted by BRussell

That's not the AppleTV's problem as much as it's the resolution of the movie itself.

Originally Posted by Wally

No kidding.... I was in an Apple store the other day and watched The Incredibles on one of their display units and was shocked at the poor image quality. It wasn't even close to being "near DVD". I know that it is intended to bring your iTunes content to your tv which I'm sure it does with ease... but there is no way I would use that thing until the quality improves. As soon as Apple releases an updated version that supports true 5.1 and better picture quality - I'm there.

It's partially the Sony Bravia HDTVs. Even hooked up to a BluRay demo source, or a "HD 1080" handycam, the image on the screen is totally harsh, pixelated, and just overall crap.

[nvidia2008]

Originally Posted by dan.blanchard

I find it really surprising that they would show stuff at the low quality that iTunes movies are in the store. I have an AppleTV and I love it, but that's largely because I don't buy crappy quality stuff from iTunes. I either download stuff or encode it myself. Word of warning though, Quicktime's "export to appletv" process takes like an hour for an hour of video, even on my Mac Pro with 2 gigs of RAM.

Originally Posted by DeaPeaJay

Mac Pro... what processor?

I do the same thing, I handbrake a DVD while at work and then export to Apple TV overnight, or vice versa.

Cool, my MacBook Core[1]Duo 2ghz 2gb RAM did it in about 1 hour 15 minutes or so for a 44minute file. Had "Lost" as .xvid, saved as .mov (just container change to .mov not transcoded, xvid fine because of Perian.org), then Export To AppleTV. Loaded into iTunes.

Then across the room I sat in front of my Vista AMD64 Overclocked (WinXP2Pro dual boot) and enjoyed some streaming action through iTunes Shared Library from the MacBook through to my Vista rig (watching on Sony 17" 1280x1024 computer monitor, VGA connection to PC).

It's on your computer... its on your iPod... its on your TV... and now... it's on Vista too.

[nvidia2008]

Originally Posted by purpleshorts

The phrase "near DVD quality" is an ominous one. As I understand it, this phrase applies not to the Apple TV, but to the iTunes movies it will play... so perhaps it is all about bandwidth and codecs. Still...

Instead of a step up to Blue Ray HD DVD, we are TOLD that this is a step down! And, for convenience sake, many will take the step down.

It has happened before, but not so blatantly. Cell phones have didn't claim "near land line quality;" Early digital cameras didn't claim "near film quality;" iTunes didn't say "near CD quality." (Wait, maybe they did...) And while a landline never dropped a call on me, a film camera never refused to shoot the shot I asked, and a CD never had watery-sounding cymbals, still I bought them all for the convenience they provided. Each of these was a step UP in convenience, but a step DOWN in quality. Perhaps we are acclimatized to this pattern, but I wonder what emboldened Apple to claim a drop in quality as a selling point? Odd.

Remember the Suave commercial "Ours does what theirs does for less than half the price?" I guess today's version would be "Ours costs more and does not do as good a job, but is easy to use."

The "near DVD quality" phrase proclaims that the audio you hear and the images you see will not be even as good as your old DVDs. It may make users consider the other advantages of DVDs that iTunes movies will be missing: DVDs take up no hard drive space, you already have a player, DVDs have behind-the-scenes extras and commentary, they provide instant hard copy backup and lend-ability. In the brave new (inevitable) iTunes world, I will particularly miss the behind-the-scenes and commentary.

I hope that, in time, Apple will rectify all these missing DVD attributes... sell them as features in 2008! And they should start with the picture and sound quality. Skate to where the puck is, already!

-near-irritated

Originally Posted by DeaPeaJay

True.

However, It wasn't *just* macworld that got me excited about the Apple TV. I had been wanting something like that for a while. It gets kind of old plugging in a DVI cable to my computer every time I want to watch something on the TV. I just assumed my TV would work with it. We only got it a year ago, but it doesn't have component video on it.

The aesthetes are losing out unfortunately. Nonetheless convenience wins out over digital blockiness... in the long run... for the hungry masses. ...And cost wins out over extra features of DVDs... I used to be more of a film enthusiast but with the digito-efecto-rama let's wow em, worrry about the script-later- world of modern pop movies, unless I was a 3D artist that would be the only commentary and special features I'd want... In which case I'd rather http://www.cinefex.com/ put out it's own monthly DVD with behind-the-scenes, commentary, etc. .