Hands-on with the Apple iTV prototype

We're as surprised as you, but Apple actually put their iTV units on display right after the show! Really, there isn't a whole lot here that we didn't already see in the keynote and up on their site, but it's definitely Mac mini sized in terms of footprint, and is a sexy little bugger. Click on for lots more pics!

The Apple rep who was showing us the iTV was quick to let us know that the unit was a prototype -- and we were quick to ask for the settings menu. And then we were quick to ask for the TV resolution sub-menu, which he put the kibosh on. "Sorry, we're not drilling down into the settings at this time." Boo, we say.

[cbogg @ Sep 12th 2006 3:05PM]

pretty slick

[Alric @ Sep 12th 2006 3:08PM]

Thanks for trying on the resolution issue. I am a little worried that they haven't come out and said 1080i or such..

[Smeagol @ Sep 12th 2006 3:10PM]

Nice Sony HDTV.

And, those overpriced, 640x480 IMovies are going to look great up-rezz'd and stretched.

[Dave @ Sep 12th 2006 3:11PM]

Odd. I was going to link to this story on Fark, but on their submissions page my hand was slapped and in a red font was told, "sorry, we can not accept submissions from that site." That's a new one. Just submitted the fat-ass 9" long Swiss Army knife story to Fark a few weeks ago.

[zombieflanders @ Sep 12th 2006 3:12PM]

Judging by the resolutions available at Apple's site, it'll probably by 480p/720p/1080p.

[anonymous @ Sep 12th 2006 3:12PM]

what was that usb 2.0 plug attached to?

[yaddayaddayadda @ Sep 12th 2006 3:12PM]

Seems silly to include HDMI and Component Video but NOT support 1080i, no?

[antel0pe @ Nov 8th 2006 12:03PM]

Would be silly not to do 1080p

[Tony @ Sep 12th 2006 3:12PM]

I love the interface! Sexy is back!!

[anonymous @ Sep 12th 2006 3:13PM]

upon futher inspection, that's not the USB, it's the HDMI. but what is that USB port gonna be for anyway?

[antel0pe @ Nov 8th 2006 12:03PM]

Adding a HD?

[Jiggsaw @ Sep 12th 2006 3:16PM]

I doubt this thing has the horsepower to play back 1080i MPEG2 .TS files.

..and I love how Apple's press says that Apple is "Apple forges path to digital living room". Yeah right. Ever heard of Windows MCE? For $300 I built a Windows MCE box that plays back 1080i content flawlessly thanks to an GeForce 6600 and Nvidia's excellent Purevideo decoder which means GPU-assisted decoding negating the need for an expensive CPU. Doesn't get any better than MCE + MyMovies right now, sorry.

[Ed @ Sep 19th 2006 10:52AM]

Yeah, you built one. But you're a smart guy.Look around Jiggsaw, the thousand or so other guys like you constitute a user base on the - what- macro level. Apple build stuff for the rest of us. People with more money than sense, grammas, technophobes. And folks who don't give a shit about the magic inside the box.

[Jesse @ Sep 26th 2006 9:24AM]

Well, first off, if he built it with hdmi out for three hundred, then he spent at least a good amount of time researching where to find the best parts for the job at the best price.

Also, his box must be small, and eye catching. laff.

or he's just lying -

i think it's a great idea for $299

all depends on how it plays my higher rezed avi files, after i bring them to mp4 land of course

[labuss @ Oct 3rd 2006 9:40PM]

bet all that "adware" and "spyware" look great at 1080i/1080p

[Curtis @ Oct 14th 2006 12:29PM]

I agree with you, Jiggsaw. MCE has been around for a loooong time and even many opensource media centers have come out. Ofcorse everyone's gonna' say that Apple got it first. As for your MCE computer I'd really like to know what you've got in it.

Oh, and by the way, labuss, what you just said is just Apple crap comming from a Mac user.

[ramp @ Jan 6th 2007 1:37PM]

I'm curious about what's in the $300 box as well.

Personally, I'm sick of the Mac hype --and-- the Bill Gates bashing.

[baba @ Jan 31st 2007 2:46AM]

Apple could quote your post in their next MacWindows commercial, and you would make their point for them. You are among the relative few who can even understand what you have said, let alone build such a device. The rest of the world, if they are to have something like this, will simply want to open the box, plug it in, and have it work.

[Bigredend @ Sep 12th 2006 3:16PM]

Hmmmm..... Could we see a lawsuit pending with British broadcaster ITV ?

[GadgetGav @ Sep 12th 2006 3:16PM]

That's not a USB2 cable, it's the HDMI.
And it is pointless to have HDMI and Component if the max resolution is 640 x 480. It looks to me like the content is what's holding this up, not the hardware. My guess is that Apple have given out this much detail to generate market demand that will help it force the hand of studios (although they launched the iTunes Store with only Disney, so they could have done that for hi rez too). When was the last time super-secret Apple let the press see hands on demos of prototype hardware..?

[Jason @ Sep 12th 2006 3:16PM]

Where is the link to the iTV on the www.apple.com website?

[russ @ Sep 12th 2006 3:17PM]

The iTV would be very interesting IF it acted as a remote display for your computer. I really want a web browser that displays on a large, wide screen tv but guess I will have to buy a nintendo wii to get that feature.
There are lots of media players around, does this do hdtv?

[antel0pe @ Nov 8th 2006 12:02PM]

So plug your computer into your TV.

[Evan Doyle @ Sep 12th 2006 3:21PM]

did u see the remote for it, or is it just the reg apple remote?

[GadgetGav @ Sep 12th 2006 3:22PM]

Jiggsaw,
At around $100 for the graphics card and $100 for Windows (at least) it doesn't leave a lot to build the rest of the Media Center...

[George @ Sep 12th 2006 3:25PM]

What I want to know is if you'll be limited to iTunes-purchased video and audio. A Mac w/ the appropriate codecs will play back DiVX, XVid, etc., via FrontRow, but what's under the hood here? Is this just a nextgen FrontRow running on flash with a couple gigs of buffer and a handful of locked-off "approved" codecs?

[Apple iTV @ Sep 12th 2006 3:28PM]

Nice Job guys! This is great first hand coverage.
Cheers!

[Joe @ Sep 12th 2006 3:30PM]

I'd love to see a future Engadget piece on where we think Apple is going with this. Do we think Stevie J is about to try to put the Cable & Sat TV co's out of business. He can distribute VOD and give you the means to keep it locally with his DRM. He's got a huge digital distribution infrastructure, and now he's getting more content and giving consumers more ways to consume it. If I could subscribe in iTunes to every show in my TiVo season passes, I'd be pretty happy to do so and tell Rupert to take his D* bill and stick it where the sun don't shine. They'd have to figure out solutions to live events (sports), but they could be in an interesting spot to use iTV to do to TV networks what the iPod did to traditional radio!

[Sir Chuks @ Sep 12th 2006 3:32PM]

why can't they make the mac mini do all this, it seems every1 forgotten that we been waitin for a media centre mac mini 4 a year now!!

[Kevin Cannon @ Sep 12th 2006 3:36PM]

Any idea if it's got a hard drive? I'm wondering if it syncs with your PC or if you have to leave it on all the time.

I also wonder if they'll have rentals on the iTunes store. For me that makes much more sense that buying stuff digitally. The appeal of being able to rent a massive online catalogue of movies would be amazing.

[al @ Sep 12th 2006 3:40PM]

Can hardly wait!

[fishpatrol @ Sep 12th 2006 3:41PM]

Russ, I wouldn't hold my breath. If you want your HDTV to be your computer monitor...hook it up. I don't think that's what the iTV device is for.

HDTV playback is definitely the $300 question. A device like this doesn't need "horsepower", per se. It needs a decoder chip, like what sits in my LinkPlayer2 DVD player and can decode HD content from my Mac: MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DIVX, WMV. It certainly can be done. I hope this does it.

Announcing a product, features, price point that isn't coming out yet? Yeah, Apple must be pressuring someone. I'd guess it's the movie studios, saying hey, this is how we'll bridge the gap between computers and TVs. Get on board or get left behind. Unfortunately, that doesn't speak to HD support. Here's hoping...

[superstovall @ Sep 12th 2006 3:41PM]

So its an Airport Express with video. Yawn. And there I was thinking this was going to keep me from buying the Tivo 3.

[Steve Jobs SUCKS ASS!! @ Sep 12th 2006 3:42PM]

Um, and Apple copying Microsoft is apparently ok now? Media Center Rip-Off if I've ever seen it.

[irish1 @ Dec 2nd 2006 2:14PM]

Are you really this stupid?

[Greg Baz @ Sep 12th 2006 3:43PM]

Ryan,
No chance you were a track star in high school...how fast can you grab it and run?

[sal @ Sep 12th 2006 3:43PM]

add another 100 dollars and you can do the same with an xbox 360 while playing games.. I think the price is not relative to the competition...

[x23 @ Sep 12th 2006 3:51PM]

"add another 100 dollars and you can do the same with an xbox 360 while playing games.. I think the price is not relative to the competition...

Posted at 3:41PM on Sep 12th 2006 by sal [ ! ]"


i must be missing something... but is the required XP MCE needed on the host computer now $0? i keep seeing this said... and i could've swore i've seen a dollar amount attached to getting your XP host turned into an XP MCE machine.

and technically... doesn't the same priced $299 360 Core also act as an Extender? or not?

[Stewart @ Sep 12th 2006 3:55PM]

Wonder what ITV (Independant TeleVision) will think of Apple using their brand like that

[Kerry @ Sep 25th 2006 11:39AM]

iTV is the project�s internal code name and will not be the final product name.

[Joe V @ Sep 12th 2006 3:56PM]

Is this thing a really small Mac, or a really big iPod?

[Tyler @ Sep 12th 2006 3:58PM]

This is the reason I modded my original xbox...I'll take XBMC any day.

[Tom Boucher @ Sep 12th 2006 4:01PM]

For those of you who keep posting your cheap media PC comments I'd like some links with details on what you bought and how you managed to get anything that doesn't sound like a freight train noise wise.

I've got a Media PC. It cost $1299 but is totally silent. Don't stand near it though because the PentiumD in the sucker puts out a heat wave that will melt you during the summer, and keep a room warm in the winter.

Seriously i'd love to see some low cost HTPC options out there. But if you want em dead quiet like everything else in my theater room you add a $1 in front of the 300 most of the time.

[Jeff @ Sep 12th 2006 4:05PM]

What, exactly, is "wireless" about this?

I see three wires coming out of this thing - exactly the same number as coming out of my cable box, and one more than comes out of my DVD player.

The iPod/iTunes announcements today were neat, but the video stuff was all pretty meh.

[Arsenio @ Sep 12th 2006 4:06PM]

So basically this is like a media center extender similar to the linksys for Microsoft's MCE. That's probably why it is so cheap. For a second I thought it was somewhat of a full system able to play dvd's. But from what I am reading its not. They are definately on the right track here but, if you have a dvd then no one really wants to go to the other room or upstairs to stick it in the mac then run downstairs to view it. Install a dvd player and its a go.

[Sean @ Sep 12th 2006 4:07PM]

It should be called IdontdoTV.

Where's the tuner/dvr?

[Brian @ Sep 12th 2006 4:11PM]

In the Settings Menu, there is an option to 'Unpair Remote'. Looks like there will be a bluetooth remote...

[Devious @ Sep 12th 2006 4:14PM]

The USB will probably be used with a "Cable Card" reader that will be an extra fee. Then you can have the "iTV" as your digital tuner for viewing content from your cable operator.

[djsyndrome @ Sep 12th 2006 4:15PM]

"For $300 I built a Windows MCE box"

I'd like to know how you legally did that.

[Mike Bellman @ Sep 12th 2006 4:15PM]

Too bad to see yet another TV interface using pure white color in it's menu. It makes my Television FREAK out.