Hey I've got a crazy idea; what if Apple started providing HD content for it's iTunes-to-HDTV bridge?
Honestly, if they don't start providing HD content from the iTunes Music Store, then they may as well discontinue the Apple TV — or make it compatible with standard definition televisions, where the poor-quality video Apple continues to sell would look adequate.
720p movie rentals streamed directly to the Apple TV for instant-playability after purchase would do more for the Apple TV than any hardware upgrade could.
One thing that I just thought of...(building off of Cory's last post). I have always thought that it would be great if we could just skip the next generation of DVDs. Let say you lease a new movie and you can watch it as long as you keep a low annual subscription (say $50- or it comes with your .mac account) to an iTunes service. You don't actually download the movie, but it streams to your Apple TV. You can also rent movies (like On-Demand) for a cheap price of $1.99 (gotta beat out Blockbuster etc...). With that, you don't need an optical drive, worry about hard drive space etc... Kind of a starter idea, but I kind of like it. You could make it so if you rent a movie, you could watch it again for like 2 months or something too. Wouldn't it be nice to have access to all movies ever made (imagine the deals Apple would have to make to get that)?
The only reason I really want a Blu-Ray player is because I want to watch HD content all of the time and want to get rid of my current DVD player, but an online streaming 1080p or 1080i solution works for me (as long as the "Price is Right"!
Sounds good, but... for most of us, even our "high bandwidth" cable and DSL connections won't stream HD content. If I'm gonna have to buffer for an hour before the show starts, I'd just as soon plan ahead by three hours and download the entire film rather than stream it.
Sounds good, but... for most of us, even our "high bandwidth" cable and DSL connections won't stream HD content.
That's the unfortunate truth. I imagine even if Apple did offer 720p content on the iTunes Music Store for playback on the Apple TV, it would be considerably more compressed and of a far lesser quality than what you'd find on a disc. And you can forget about long-format 1080p coming down the internet anytime soon. There's a reason the new High Definition discs are able to hold 25GB+.
Are we finally going to get 1080p and a Blu-Ray player (doubt the Blu-Ray will happen)? That's all I want. A larger hard drive would be good too. Any ideas?
How about the ability to access network shares (AFS, SMB, or NFS) other than iTunes for remotely stored movies/tv shows. How about a way to access MythTV or networked Tivo content?
No. It couldn't. We've already had this discussion. Your "photoshop a black line to aTV" design assumes that there's space for a drive. There isn't. You'd have to add 50-75% additional height to the existing aTV.
That's the unfortunate truth. I imagine even if Apple did offer 720p content on the iTunes Music Store for playback on the Apple TV, it would be considerably more compressed and of a far lesser quality than what you'd find on a disc. And you can forget about long-format 1080p coming down the internet anytime soon. There's a reason the new High Definition discs are able to hold 25GB+.
I have currently been compressing HD DVD rips to 5000kbps and 720p resolution, and they look great. Obviously not original disk quality great, but on the level of broadcast HD. Why 5000kbps? Because that is the upper limits of what the AppleTV can handle. 5000kbps is streamable for me (I have 6Mbps DSL), and many others that have the best DSL, cable packages, or FIOS. But streamable isn't key, I wouldn't mind 4 hours for an 12000kbps, 2 hour movie in 1080p!
I think 720p is VERY doable today, at mid (5000kbps) to high (8000kbps) bitrates (live streaming, or 15-30 minute delayed start depending on connection). 1080p is doable today at upper-mid (12000kbps) bitrates. Think about it. You pick out a movie when you get home from work at 5:00 on a Friday, and it is watchable by 9:00 that night!
Comments
Honestly, if they don't start providing HD content from the iTunes Music Store, then they may as well discontinue the Apple TV — or make it compatible with standard definition televisions, where the poor-quality video Apple continues to sell would look adequate.
720p movie rentals streamed directly to the Apple TV for instant-playability after purchase would do more for the Apple TV than any hardware upgrade could.
The only reason I really want a Blu-Ray player is because I want to watch HD content all of the time and want to get rid of my current DVD player, but an online streaming 1080p or 1080i solution works for me (as long as the "Price is Right"!
Sounds good, but... for most of us, even our "high bandwidth" cable and DSL connections won't stream HD content.
That's the unfortunate truth. I imagine even if Apple did offer 720p content on the iTunes Music Store for playback on the Apple TV, it would be considerably more compressed and of a far lesser quality than what you'd find on a disc. And you can forget about long-format 1080p coming down the internet anytime soon. There's a reason the new High Definition discs are able to hold 25GB+.
Are we finally going to get 1080p and a Blu-Ray player (doubt the Blu-Ray will happen)? That's all I want. A larger hard drive would be good too. Any ideas?
How about the ability to access network shares (AFS, SMB, or NFS) other than iTunes for remotely stored movies/tv shows. How about a way to access MythTV or networked Tivo content?
No. It couldn't. We've already had this discussion. Your "photoshop a black line to aTV" design assumes that there's space for a drive. There isn't. You'd have to add 50-75% additional height to the existing aTV.
Let's break out the internet slaps *double slap*
That's the unfortunate truth. I imagine even if Apple did offer 720p content on the iTunes Music Store for playback on the Apple TV, it would be considerably more compressed and of a far lesser quality than what you'd find on a disc. And you can forget about long-format 1080p coming down the internet anytime soon. There's a reason the new High Definition discs are able to hold 25GB+.
I have currently been compressing HD DVD rips to 5000kbps and 720p resolution, and they look great. Obviously not original disk quality great, but on the level of broadcast HD. Why 5000kbps? Because that is the upper limits of what the AppleTV can handle. 5000kbps is streamable for me (I have 6Mbps DSL), and many others that have the best DSL, cable packages, or FIOS. But streamable isn't key, I wouldn't mind 4 hours for an 12000kbps, 2 hour movie in 1080p!
I think 720p is VERY doable today, at mid (5000kbps) to high (8000kbps) bitrates (live streaming, or 15-30 minute delayed start depending on connection). 1080p is doable today at upper-mid (12000kbps) bitrates. Think about it. You pick out a movie when you get home from work at 5:00 on a Friday, and it is watchable by 9:00 that night!