Or they could've just put in a slot loading DVD for playback only. Then we wouldn't have to keep a DVD player under the TV. And to the dude who asked why people want DVD playback when they are going away soon. I have 100+ DVDs NOW that I would like to play on my home theater. It would be nice to ditch everything under my TV except for my receiver and ATV. But, I have to keep my DVD player.
On a side note, why hasn't someone made an external DVD drive that runs off the usb port? Stackable, in the same footprint, if you want one, spend the money, all those people who are in this fantasy digital world can continue to do without one.
Even if they put a DVD player in the Apple TV, they most likely wouldn't give it a dedicated upscaling chip so the quality would pale in comparison to a set top upconverting player, or a Blu-Ray or HD DVD player (which all have good to great upconverting chips). With 100 standard-definition DVDs, you wouldn't want to play them on your HDTV without an upconverter.
It's funny how the people are saying this are the people that want to make money off downloads.
I don't think it's only "those" people. Really. I'll stick with physical discs as long as I reasonably can, but eventually it's going to be media independent, it's going to be a downloaded file on whatever drive or card or disc. In the long term, it's almost inevitable except for the AVphiles like the kind that still plays with vinyl. The same way that some people don't touch CDs anymore for their music, it's eventually going to happen with movies too. I think it takes someone in denial to not understand that.
Whatever happened to this rumored "Triple Play" feature, where one HD file would play back on your Mac or PC, your tv, and your current generation iPod? As it is now, I have to subscribe to two versions of podcasts, HD for my tv, and SD for my iPod that I hook to the HDTV in my kitchen.
Whatever happened to this rumored "Triple Play" feature, where one HD file would play back on your Mac or PC, your tv, and your current generation iPod? As it is now, I have to subscribe to two versions of podcasts, HD for my tv, and SD for my iPod that I hook to the HDTV in my kitchen.
You can, but only with SD media. HD media can only be played on the AppleTV because iDevices can't handle them. Sure, your iTunes capacble computer could handle them but people would be baffled and annoyed that the HD movie they rented won't copy to their iPod, so the best solution to offer HD, which is best viewed on a HDTV, is only make rentable and viewable on the AppleTV. Everything else can be passed around like a cheap whore.
Come on everyone.. you are asking for too much!! You used to scream about HD for Apple TV and now you have it! You have to understand that Apple need others support to do some of the things you want.
Streaming TV and HD TV shows seem beautiful. But Apple need the TV networks support to provide these two and we all know the problems they are facing in that area.
Just enjoy the new features for now and be patient.
Whatever happened to this rumored "Triple Play" feature, where one HD file would play back on your Mac or PC, your tv, and your current generation iPod? As it is now, I have to subscribe to two versions of podcasts, HD for my tv, and SD for my iPod that I hook to the HDTV in my kitchen.
Since it looks like the iPod hardware can't handle HD files, I'm not sure who came up with that rumor.
It has to be remembered that this is version 1.0 of the rental service. Don't expect everything at once. Some of the limitations are political, and they must be resolved over time, once the market is better defined.
The other is technological. This service, as do the others out there, uses H.264, which as we all must know by now, needs more horsepower to get decoded than good ol' MPEG 2.
Because of that, small weak devices simply can't decode HD files. That's too bad, but it's a fact. Another generation or two of ULV mobile processors (perhaps the new Intel platform) should be able to take care of that. Be patient.
From using the advanced search in iTunes, it looks like so far there are about 280 movies available for rent. There also seem to be a decent number that are for sale but not available for rent at this point.
So is there any confirmation on which iPods can play back rented movies? The store just says iPod, which implies any of the video models, but I've seen reports of people finding out that it doesn't work on 5G models. Is this documented anywhere?
So is there any confirmation on which iPods can play back rented movies? The store just says iPod, which implies any of the video models, but I've seen reports of people finding out that it doesn't work on 5G models. Is this documented anywhere?
Rentals only work on the current generation iPod Classic, iPod nano, iPod Touch, and iPhone.
Rentals only work on the current generation iPod Classic, iPod nano, iPod Touch, and iPhone.
I found it on their FAQ page, but their main iTunes rental page just says that it works on iPods. They really should clarify that, I was planning on trying out a rental but not an option with my 5.5.
Too bad for customers and apple on this one, they could rent more movies if they supported all video ipods. My guess is that they couldn't get the firmware that supports this DRM working on the older iPods.
And looking through the rental selection, there are a LOT in fullscreen format instead of widescreen - what's up with that? For me, pan 'n scan is a dealbreaker.
And looking through the rental selection, there are a LOT in fullscreen format instead of widescreen - what's up with that? For me, pan 'n scan is a dealbreaker.
Really? That's lame. Won't effect me though as I'll only be renting on the Apple TV in HD.
I know the older/previous AppleTV's will be upgraded with the coming software update but is there any difference in the "hardware" between the older AppleTV's and the new ones? I thought Steve (or someone) said the "hardware" was also being updated?
I know the older/previous AppleTV's will be upgraded with the coming software update but is there any difference in the "hardware" between the older AppleTV's and the new ones? I thought Steve (or someone) said the "hardware" was also being updated?
During the keynote Jobs referred to is as "AppleTV Take 2". He seemed to imply that the hardware is being updated along with the software but when all was said and done it is a free software update for all AppleTV users and a major price drop for all AppleTVs being sold.
Sorry if this has already been addressed in the thread and I missed it:
Has the res (or compression encoding) been changed? I don't own an Apple TV, but my first impression at the Apple Store, looking at SD movies, was that the PQ was pretty terrible.
Now that our little ATv is growing up and becoming something more than a "hobby", is it possible that the SD stuff is being encoded with a little more finesse? Or maybe the SD rentals?
Comments
It's funny how the people are saying this are the people that want to make money off downloads.
It's just a natural progression.
Look to your history. You can see where things are headed.
Or they could've just put in a slot loading DVD for playback only. Then we wouldn't have to keep a DVD player under the TV. And to the dude who asked why people want DVD playback when they are going away soon. I have 100+ DVDs NOW that I would like to play on my home theater. It would be nice to ditch everything under my TV except for my receiver and ATV. But, I have to keep my DVD player.
On a side note, why hasn't someone made an external DVD drive that runs off the usb port? Stackable, in the same footprint, if you want one, spend the money, all those people who are in this fantasy digital world can continue to do without one.
Even if they put a DVD player in the Apple TV, they most likely wouldn't give it a dedicated upscaling chip so the quality would pale in comparison to a set top upconverting player, or a Blu-Ray or HD DVD player (which all have good to great upconverting chips). With 100 standard-definition DVDs, you wouldn't want to play them on your HDTV without an upconverter.
It's funny how the people are saying this are the people that want to make money off downloads.
I don't think it's only "those" people. Really. I'll stick with physical discs as long as I reasonably can, but eventually it's going to be media independent, it's going to be a downloaded file on whatever drive or card or disc. In the long term, it's almost inevitable except for the AVphiles like the kind that still plays with vinyl. The same way that some people don't touch CDs anymore for their music, it's eventually going to happen with movies too. I think it takes someone in denial to not understand that.
Whatever happened to this rumored "Triple Play" feature, where one HD file would play back on your Mac or PC, your tv, and your current generation iPod? As it is now, I have to subscribe to two versions of podcasts, HD for my tv, and SD for my iPod that I hook to the HDTV in my kitchen.
You can, but only with SD media. HD media can only be played on the AppleTV because iDevices can't handle them. Sure, your iTunes capacble computer could handle them but people would be baffled and annoyed that the HD movie they rented won't copy to their iPod, so the best solution to offer HD, which is best viewed on a HDTV, is only make rentable and viewable on the AppleTV. Everything else can be passed around like a cheap whore.
I would have bought a Slingcatcher but they don't exist.
My guess is that any upgrade to "AppleTV take 2" is going lock down the box. No more SSH, no more XVID
:-(
C.
Streaming TV and HD TV shows seem beautiful. But Apple need the TV networks support to provide these two and we all know the problems they are facing in that area.
Just enjoy the new features for now and be patient.
Whatever happened to this rumored "Triple Play" feature, where one HD file would play back on your Mac or PC, your tv, and your current generation iPod? As it is now, I have to subscribe to two versions of podcasts, HD for my tv, and SD for my iPod that I hook to the HDTV in my kitchen.
Since it looks like the iPod hardware can't handle HD files, I'm not sure who came up with that rumor.
The other is technological. This service, as do the others out there, uses H.264, which as we all must know by now, needs more horsepower to get decoded than good ol' MPEG 2.
Because of that, small weak devices simply can't decode HD files. That's too bad, but it's a fact. Another generation or two of ULV mobile processors (perhaps the new Intel platform) should be able to take care of that. Be patient.
So is there any confirmation on which iPods can play back rented movies? The store just says iPod, which implies any of the video models, but I've seen reports of people finding out that it doesn't work on 5G models. Is this documented anywhere?
AppleTV has both, 480i and 480p.
True, but at the wrong aspect ratio.
So is there any confirmation on which iPods can play back rented movies? The store just says iPod, which implies any of the video models, but I've seen reports of people finding out that it doesn't work on 5G models. Is this documented anywhere?
Rentals only work on the current generation iPod Classic, iPod nano, iPod Touch, and iPhone.
Rentals only work on the current generation iPod Classic, iPod nano, iPod Touch, and iPhone.
I found it on their FAQ page, but their main iTunes rental page just says that it works on iPods. They really should clarify that, I was planning on trying out a rental but not an option with my 5.5.
Too bad for customers and apple on this one, they could rent more movies if they supported all video ipods. My guess is that they couldn't get the firmware that supports this DRM working on the older iPods.
And looking through the rental selection, there are a LOT in fullscreen format instead of widescreen - what's up with that? For me, pan 'n scan is a dealbreaker.
And looking through the rental selection, there are a LOT in fullscreen format instead of widescreen - what's up with that? For me, pan 'n scan is a dealbreaker.
Really? That's lame. Won't effect me though as I'll only be renting on the Apple TV in HD.
Really? That's lame. Won't effect me though as I'll only be renting on the Apple TV in HD.
I've rented 4 movies thus far but have only started two of them.
? Blades of Glory (2007) ? Widescreen
? Raising Arizona (1989) ? Widescreen
I've rented 4 movies thus far but have only started two of them.
? Blades of Glory (2007) ? Widescreen
? Raising Arizona (1989) ? Widescreen
I rented Ice Age. We bought the second one The Meltdown, and it was a riot. I haven't watched it yet either. It is widescreen.
I know the older/previous AppleTV's will be upgraded with the coming software update but is there any difference in the "hardware" between the older AppleTV's and the new ones? I thought Steve (or someone) said the "hardware" was also being updated?
During the keynote Jobs referred to is as "AppleTV Take 2". He seemed to imply that the hardware is being updated along with the software but when all was said and done it is a free software update for all AppleTV users and a major price drop for all AppleTVs being sold.
Has the res (or compression encoding) been changed? I don't own an Apple TV, but my first impression at the Apple Store, looking at SD movies, was that the PQ was pretty terrible.
Now that our little ATv is growing up and becoming something more than a "hobby", is it possible that the SD stuff is being encoded with a little more finesse? Or maybe the SD rentals?