Signs point to possible Apple TV upgrade at Sept. 9 event - Page 3

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

I own @TV, and I like it - got what I paid for - but I have to agree with you. It is a product with such incredible potential to transform your family room, and yet, Apple has barely tried.

I was willing to wait a year or so when I first got it, but now I am getting a tad impatient. It's time for Apple to call it quits, or take it to the next level. If the latter, I hope they'll upgrade/update in a way that we early adopters get thrown a bone - after all, what is the point of that stupid USB socket they've had in the darn thing for all this while!?

Blu-Ray is still pie in the sky, imho. Cable pipes don't have the bandwidth to support it, discs are ridiculously expensive (and few). And, even if Blu-Ray was technologically feasible (at a decent price), perhaps it's an age thing, but my eyes can't really tell the difference......

Originally Posted by teckstud

I was just talking to a good friend of mine and we both thought it odd that Apple would be announcing that iTunes 9 would have Blu-ray support and yet not have any product with an actual blu-ray laser/reader in it. Then it dawned on us that the AppleTV must be getting Blu-ray next week as its upgrade. This way you get CD, DVD, and Blu-ray playback as well as the ability to rip the CDs (possibly DVD but I doubt it) directly in the ATV. We shall see - it should be very interesting.
BTW the discs aren't that bad- they've come down a lot- check out Amazon. Unforgiven is now $8.99.

Originally Posted by Galley

Why would you need a DVR for an IPTV service?

Originally Posted by pt123

I recently bought an AppleTV so my kid can pick from a movies I ripped, but I may not even wait for Christmas before going Blu-ray with movie prices that low. Too bad I can't rip the Blu-ray movies onto AppleTV now.

Originally Posted by MacTel

I just got an notification from Nintendo today that their Internet channel is free now with the Opera browser and flash.

Originally Posted by xwiredtva

Opera 10 only?

Or am I thinking Opera Mobile on all those Androided/Symbian handsets getting free access to NIN's stuff?

Originally Posted by Trajectory

Really? The HD movies I've bought and play thru my ATV look pretty damn good to me.

Originally Posted by kotatsu

They're watchable, but a million miles away from blu-ray level. Compared 1280x720@5mbits with 5.1 Dolby Digital to 1920x1080@45mbits with 7.1 lossless Dolby True HD/DTS Master...

Blu-ray is so much better, but for throwaway movies which don't need the PQ then an Apple TV download is okay.

Originally Posted by ncee

a MUCH bigger announcement then iTV, iPods or even the iTablet?

Hey, the moon and stars don't lie

Skip

Originally Posted by RichL

I hope they change the UI and the remote. Both give a very poor user experience at the moment. I really don't like having to scroll down to the 4th or 5th menu option to access my library and having to hold down buttons to perform basic functionality. I'm surprised such inadequencies slipped through Apple's QA.

Originally Posted by Trajectory

I hope that current Apple TV owners won't be left behind with whatever the new upgrade will be. Hopefully the update will include the software and crappy interface.

Originally Posted by xwiredtva

Handbrake won't rip BR?

(I honestly don't know, anyone try it?)

Originally Posted by Porchland

I don't see it happening.

1. Apple could easily have gone the DVR route already -- by adding it to Apple TV or buying TIVO for very, very cheap -- and hasn't.

2. Adding DVR functionality to Apple TV would cannibalize iTunes Store without adding getting anything in return, which is the same reason the Apple TV does not have a DVD or Blu-ray player.

3. Adding DVR functionality to Apple TV would strengthen consumer commitment to cable/satellite, and Apple will not be able to get wide adoption of a subscription plan in the $50-$60/month range unless they turn Apple TV into a Comcast-killer, i.e., a direct competitor to cable and satellite.

4. Apple usually makes the thing -- not the thing that helps the thing. Adding DVR functionality to Apple TV would really be an enhancement to your cable -- another company's product -- and I can't come up with another example where Apple does that. Again, it strengthens the tie to the other product rather than to the one Apple makes.

Originally Posted by teckstud

WHo owns an external BR drive? anyone?

Originally Posted by Hattig

The new AppleTV needs to allow other online media providers to provide apps / plugins to interface with their programming systems. For example in the UK we have iPlayer and 4od (and Virgin On Demand, and Dave On Demand, and others, but the others are the primary players in the market) which provide free on-demand programming from their back catalogues and recently shown on TV stuff. These providers will not want to provide their content via a third-party "store", especially as they've already got their own infrastructure to provide the shows for free.

It's quite simple in that I will not buy an Apple TV until it incorporates the ability to interface with other programming providers, even if the other providers have to program their own add-in functionality for the device and provide it via an AppleTV App Store (or automatically downloaded once the AppleTV knows which country it is running in). I can understand these plug-in applications being forced to use a certain UI style and mode of operation, and I can understand that media that they download should be put into the single repository on the device (or media server connected to the device) instead of having separate browsable libraries. But without iPlayer and 4od support in the UK, the device is irrelevant.

Also: HDMI 1.3a (or 1.4) output.
Also: Future external BluRay drive (that fits neatly on top, interfacing via USB). This does require the next AppleTV to be capable of decoding and outputting 1080p at 45mbps though.
Also: 802.11n, Bluetooth remotes with more than 6 buttons that are big enough to remain visible.

Originally Posted by cdyates

Apple wants to sell and rent content from the itunes store, not give you a blu-ray player and a dvr for your cable. Not only would them allowing other content not pay off for them, It would cannibalize sales from the itunes store.

I agree It would be nice if appletv could replace more devices in my living room like my dvr, disc player, etc. I just don't see them doing this.

Originally Posted by teckstud

WHo owns an external BR drive? anyone?

Originally Posted by cdyates

Apple wants to sell and rent content from the itunes store, not give you a blu-ray player and a dvr for your cable. Not only would them allowing other content not pay off for them, It would cannibalize sales from the itunes store.

I agree It would be nice if appletv could replace more devices in my living room like my dvr, disc player, etc. I just don't see them doing this.

Originally Posted by teckstud

I hope and think that Apple is beginning to realize that this is a no win situation. This strict iTunes jukebox dogma nonsense is not going to sell enmasse in itself. It needs more.

Originally Posted by djames42

They'd then discover the convenience of IPTV and make more purchases via the iTMS!

Originally Posted by pt123

From my experience, convenience is not the word that comes to mind. More like pain. When I tried to view the HD trailers, I get a black screen when I click on the HD trailer button as I wonder if the AppleTV is hung. The video shows up after a few minutes. Whenever my AppleTV accesses iTunes, there is that spinning cursor.

And then there is that "authorized" thing. I need to be authorized to watch my purchase? I don't think so.

Originally Posted by cdyates

sounds like maybe you have some throughput problems, network congestion, slow internet connection, slow wireless or something like that. I notice that when I watch HD trailers over my internet connection, I get some stuttering and pausing to wait for more to download, etc... I usually just watch the SD trailers. For tv shows or movies, I can get the HD and just wait a little longer before starting it and eliminate the problems with a not so great internet connection.

If it is slow accessing iTunes, I know that if you have a large library, it can take a while for the apple tv to download the database, playlists, etc. then parse them so you can have access to them over the network. Otherwise you may have a slow wireless network or a lot of traffic on it or something.

For the "authorized" issue, this sounds like the HDCP problem you will run into with HD content if your monitor is not HDCP compliant - this happened to me when I used my apple tv with a computer monitor that wasn't HDCP compliant. If you switch to using the component video connection it may fix that problem.

Originally Posted by pt123

I have a 802.11n router and 1.5 Mbps DSL, so no slow wireless yes slow internet. However, it is still a big turn-off to get a black screen for a while when clicking on a button to play video. Wife and kid ask, "what happened" and my response is "it's coming" as I deflect that "you paid what for that?" look.

I don't have an HDCP issue because my HDTV is HDCP compliant. I never bought anything from iTunes because of the whole authorized concept. It just sounds too totalitarian. I know Blu-ray has it's DRM but that would be out the door if it ever mentioned anything about authorized.

Originally Posted by djames42

However, streaming HD trailers is beyond painful - I usually have to wait about five minutes (at least) before playback starts (even with SD trailers I have to wait around 30 seconds).

Originally Posted by djames42

Forgot to mention, BTW, that I don't see the blank screen you do. Within moments I get a progress bar. While it may not move as quickly as I'd like it to, at least I know something is happening

Originally Posted by pt123

I have a 802.11n router and 1.5 Mbps DSL, so no slow wireless yes slow internet. However, it is still a big turn-off to get a black screen for a while when clicking on a button to play video. Wife and kid ask, "what happened" and my response is "it's coming" as I deflect that "you paid what for that?" look.

I don't have an HDCP issue because my HDTV is HDCP compliant. I never bought anything from iTunes because of the whole authorized concept. It just sounds too totalitarian. I know Blu-ray has it's DRM but that would be out the door if it ever mentioned anything about authorized.