iTV becomes Apple TV

Well now we know that iTV has officially become Apple TV. It's real folks: we got 802.11 b/g AND 802.11n, USB 2.0, Ethernet, WiFi, HDMI, bunch of standard outs, plus a 40GB hard drive -- all powered by an Intel CPU. So resolution is only 720p -- looks like a few folks are gonna be out of luck, but TV manufacturers are sure gonna be happy to sell all those new sets. Not just one, two or three but five computers can connect to the Apple TV box, making a true hub for all your PCs. You can watch content stored on your rig -- movies, TV shows, photos, etc. -- and you can also pull streaming vid directly off sites like...Apple.com! Plus, the box will even grab content from PCs outside of your house -- finally, we can watch all the great swag that our rich friends can afford. Interested? You'll be able to grab one immediately for $299.

[Omar @ Jan 9th 2007 12:39PM]

so a high def xbmc. i really like my xbox w/ xbmc but high def would be sweet.

[Purrrrrrr @ Jan 9th 2007 12:43PM]

LOL for $299 you can do all that in 1080i with a core Xbox360 Plus play games to boot!

[Evan @ Jan 9th 2007 2:33PM]

"LOL for $299 you can do all that in 1080i with a core Xbox360 Plus play games to boot!"

Microsoft can sell XBox 360s at a loss, because Microsoft pockets about $10 on every game sold. Apple has to make their profit on the hardware.

[Spencer @ Jan 9th 2007 12:43PM]

yawn...

what is with the crappy specs?

[stretchsje @ Jan 9th 2007 12:45PM]

720p is what most good broadcasts are at nowadays- I'm very happy to hear that Apple is using that. Honestly, we couldn't have hoped for anything better- 720p can look nicer than 1080i and 1080p isn't in the spec for broadcast television. I was worried it'd launch with a more bandwidth-friendly 480p, so 720p is great!

[spree @ Jan 9th 2007 12:56PM]

Apple TV is crap in a package and its DOA. 720p is horrible, thinking "different" is more like "thinking backwards." Xbox 360 with 1080i is the way of the future, IPTV is going to give the crappy cable companies a run for their $$$ and video on demand services are gonna rule the next generation of TV. Did I mention, the IPTV is gonna be 1080i, not the older 720 which has been around for years and years.

[Jeff @ Jan 9th 2007 1:06PM]

"720p is what most good broadcasts are at nowadays- I'm very happy to hear that Apple is using that."

Forgot to answer this...

The only stations using 720p are ABC and Fox. Every other HD station - *every* one - is 1080i.

[jack @ Jan 10th 2007 3:07AM]

wth if this was m$soft or another company everyone would be complaining but since its apple its "great theyre only doing 720p" ugh

[Number 2 @ Jan 9th 2007 12:48PM]

Yes! I 'm having multiple orgasms! Now, all I need is... ugh
Like i said multiple, a touch-screen iPod!

[Brian Rabil @ Jan 15th 2007 12:26AM]

lol

[EddieG @ Jan 9th 2007 12:49PM]

40GB? Really? My iPod has more room than that. :P

[Tom Jackson @ Jan 9th 2007 12:54PM]

5 Macs or 5 Computers?

[Icelander @ Jan 9th 2007 8:37PM]

IPTV isn't going to give the cable companies a run for their money: THE CABLE COMPANIES WILL BE PROVIDING THE INTERNET ACCESS.

The only way IPTV will work is if you've got a fast broadband connection. You can still use the Apple TV if you don't have broadband by ripping DVDs.

Besides: Not everyone wants an XBox, and not everyone is willing to blow $1000 on an HDTV. I've only got a 32" CRT TV at home, and I buy a lot of content from iTunes, so this will be great for me.

[mjscalesjr @ Jan 9th 2007 9:37PM]

1080i is a thing of the past.... most people buy numbers, however, the i stands for interlacing.... interlacing is wack! p stands for progressive. Progressive is the direction we are going in. You either are buying AppleTV becuz it makes sense for your lifestyle, our your buying a xbox becuz you're a gamer... I'm not a gamer and don't want an xbox, but my music and video collection is in iTunes and I like that. Also, this means not having to goto blockbuster, netflix, etc...

[Jeff @ Jan 9th 2007 1:05PM]

720p is sooooo 2004.

Seriously, when every single major TV announcement over the past year has been for 1080p, what the hell is Apple doing diddling around with 720p?

Maybe they're trying to pull a Nintendo and hoping to convince everybody that nobody cares about 1080p. That may work in video games, but it's not the future of home media. Nobody's going to buy something new that they know is already obsolete at this point.

Christ, I'm becoming cynical. I'm a devout iPod owner, but what the hell are they thinking with this paperweight and the iPhone?

[Lincoln @ Jan 9th 2007 8:55PM]

Delivering contect and storage are magor concerns, the box is just another device to sell itunes as a the goto app for purchasing media. Anything above 720 would be a stretch to accomplish. Its simply a happy medium between quality and file size. Evyone knows that mp3 is so 2001, but the quaility of the compression is good enough for most people. Selling songs and movies is the goal and at that price they will.

[Rick Lyon @ Mar 20th 2007 10:19AM]

Ah, so you do believe everything marketing departments feed you about 1080p. Someone keeps their job as long as you believe what they write.

[Nick @ Jan 9th 2007 1:08PM]

Will it play Divx??!!

[DG @ Jan 9th 2007 1:20PM]

I don't have a good answer for you, but I had the same question.

I'm looking for a cheap PC that I can add a big HD to (assuming Apple TV has USB ports) without having to mess around with TV tuners and such. XBMC is intriguing, but I'm not sure how to deal with the illegalities of modding an Xbox, adding an HD, etc.

So, yeah, DivX is kind of the clincher here. If AppleTV requires everything to be converted to Quicktime (which is a possibility), forget it.

[yagi @ Jan 9th 2007 1:12PM]

My HDTV doesn't support 720P, only 480P and 1080i. Oh well, guess I'll continue to use my XBox 360.

[Rick Lyon @ Mar 20th 2007 10:35AM]

Read the specs, it supports 1080i HDTVs.

[audioeric @ Jan 9th 2007 1:18PM]

For $100 more you get an Xbox360 that doesn't suck you into using iTunes, and has a way to purchase HD movies directly from it... Oh yeah, and you can play awesome games with it and listen to your music at the same time...

I just don't understand what the market is for a device like this when there's something out there already that has all of these features as secondary features and allows you to do so much more...

eric

[Thayden @ Jan 9th 2007 1:21PM]

Cablecard support?

[Alan Erickson @ Jan 9th 2007 1:29PM]

Does anybody know what formats this thing can play? Divx, wmv, etc?

[jSn @ Jan 9th 2007 1:37PM]

this is proof that everything Apple does isn't necessarily innovative or successful. This product will crash and burn.

[TorontoGuy @ Jan 9th 2007 1:47PM]

I guess Steve finally realized that "i is now one of those boring lame cliches that have been banned.

Lake Superior State University’s 2006 list of words banished “for mis-use, over-use and general uselessness”:
— Gitmo
— Combined celebrity names
— Awesome
— Gone or went missing
— Pwn or pwned, a misspelling of “own” used by online video gamers
— Now playing in theaters
— We’re pregnant
— Undocumented alien
— Armed robbery gone bad or drug deal gone bad
— Truthiness
— Ask your doctor
— Chipotle
*— i-anything
— Search
— Healthy food
— Boasts

[Qsat @ Jan 9th 2007 6:59PM]

iTV is a british television network wich registered the trademark name in most country in case they would expand.

BTW, iphone was a registred name of linksys, wichuse it on a voip phone, the word on the street is that linksys agreed to let apple use the name in exange of contracts (probably airport and iphone hardware supply)

[Kent Wishne @ Jan 9th 2007 1:50PM]

I have had HD for 3 years now, and still cannot tell the difference between 1080i and 720p. I do think that the FOX HD picture is not very good compared with ESPN's HD, but I don't know if it is a number thing or if ESPN just uses better equipment. In any case, why CBS still broadcasts many of their NFL football games in standard def, I have no idea.

[H�kan @ Jan 9th 2007 1:52PM]

Kids, chill down. Most tv-sets sold today is only capable of 1366*768 or less, 720p will work just fine. And resolution is only a (small) part of the puzzle in creating a great picture. Bitrate and codec used is much more important considerations.

Those wanking over 1080i/p as the holly grail of resolutions is just that - wankers. Relax, take a deep breath and judge the technology not from its spec but from what it really performs like.

[Chuckles McGee @ Jan 9th 2007 2:03PM]

So it's just mac mini with some extra tv outputs and software? And only a 40 gig drive for all that pseudo-high def video?? Yawn.

[Pobolius @ Jan 9th 2007 2:12PM]

Apple Couldn't use the iTV name because theres a TV Broadcast network here in the UK that has used the name since the mid 50's.

[voghan @ Jan 9th 2007 2:13PM]

I'm surprised that 1080p is not supported since all HD movies are now in 1080p. Maybe it's because donwloading a 1080p movie would take too long. The 40 gig HDD seems small too but it will keep the cost down.

[Dave @ Jan 9th 2007 2:22PM]

Apple store is up... Apple TV compatable with 1080i TVs, also works with Windows XP.

Video specs:

• Video formats supported: H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): 640 by 480, 30 fps, LC version of Baseline Profile; 320 by 240, 30 fps, Baseline profile up to Level 1.3; 1280 by 720, 24 fps, Progressive Main Profile. MPEG-4: 640 by 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile

no word on divX WMV etc. that I can find

[DG @ Jan 9th 2007 2:27PM]

Forget it. HD or EDTV required, which I don't have, and it seems to only play media directly from iTunes. It's not worth converting all of my DivX files to h264 and I'm definitely not about to upgrade my TV.

I guess I'll have to just pick up an Xbox or a cheap PC with a TV out. I was excited about AppleTV, but man, what a total disappointment.

[Dave @ Jan 9th 2007 2:28PM]

Looks like there's a new Airport Extreme shipping February for $179 also... same 802.11a/b/g/n Wifi capabilities as Apple TV but just has 1 USB, 1 WAN, 3 LAN ports...

They were quiet about this one but I guess there was a bit more to talk about today...

[Jimbo @ Jan 9th 2007 2:30PM]

Link to buy:

http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html

Video
Video formats supported: H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): 640 by 480, 30 fps, LC version of Baseline Profile; 320 by 240, 30 fps, Baseline profile up to Level 1.3; 1280 by 720, 24 fps, Progressive Main Profile. MPEG-4: 640 by 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile

Not quite there without Xvid / Divx and also missing VC-1. Won't be playing Blue Ray or HD DVD from your PC.

[Phil @ Jan 9th 2007 2:34PM]

720p looks so much better than 1080i...and only the rich and elite have 1080p. I think this is great, but I do agree xbox360 can do all this plus play games too...i'll get a x360...

[emile @ Jan 9th 2007 2:38PM]

Apple snuck the new AirPort out.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=19333EBB&nplm=MA073LL%2FA

[Joe V @ Jan 9th 2007 2:46PM]

They were probably limited to 720 for wireless bandwidth reasons. And for the record, (number)p > (number)i -- plain and simple. Interlacing is so 1950s.

Are they available immediately? I thought I read shipping in February.

[L. M. Lloyd @ Jan 9th 2007 2:48PM]

So, what does this thing do that a Linksys or Netgear box don't? I guess I'm missing something, because this seems like a pretty generic media extender box, with an incredibly limited set of CODECs (like MPEG only). But hey, It has an Apple on it, so I'm sure plenty of people will be happy to explain to me how a product like this has never existed before in the history of the world.

[rip @ Jan 9th 2007 2:51PM]

I'm sorry but when did the xbox 360 get hdmi and wifi-n?

Oh that's right it didn't.

I have no interest in "HD" over weak-ass component cables.

[DEEZNUTZ @ Jan 9th 2007 3:01PM]

Yeah like you would be able to tell the difference in a side by side comparison of HD through COMPONENT and HDMI (EVEN in 1080P!)
Get real moron. HDMI is still not perfect... I still read consumers and reviewers (Sound and Vision Mag) swear that color and resolution through component looks more natural and not overly saturated like it tends to over HDMI. You people swear by a technology you know nothing about except some fanboy told you that HDMI was the holy grail of connections.
Question of the day: How many versions of HDMI currently exist since it's introduction and over how many years? Do your own research and stop following other kids... damn SONY FANBOT!

[jeffInChicago @ Jan 9th 2007 2:55PM]

Ugh....1080p vs. 720p....you do realize, like 12MP cameras 1080p is BS on anything lower than a 50" screen? Your eye CAN NOT detect the difference between 1080 or 720 if you are greater than 10 feet away from a screen less then 50". However the content size difference throwing these files around is vastly different. Seem someone at Apple decided the time and storage factors outweighed the other. To all of you that paid big $$$$ for your 40 or 42" 1080p displays...about twice what the 720p would have cost you...I say...SUCKER!

[Chris @ Feb 6th 2007 4:05PM]

jeffInChicago is just wrong. I walked into Fry's electronics annd my eye immediately focused on the 1080P Television they had. This was 42" and from at leat 30 feet away. I was not aware at the time that 1080P was even out. But what a difference.

It's the same idea in Photoshop. You scan at the highest possible optical resolution and then resize to a smaller size. You get a much better picture than if you had scanned at your final size.

It's obvious that some people's eyes are better than others. When dvds first came out I HATED them. They were so JPEGGY, just artifacts everywhere, It was more distracting than analog noise. My friend couldn't see it. We argued for days. Lucky for you (like my friend) you can't differentiate quality from lesser quality.

BTW, my replacement for my 18 year old CRT was a 40" Sony LCD V series costing $1999 (no tax no shipping). I had been SAVING money to make a flat panel purchase so it was not a problem.

Outputting from my Apple Powerbook at 1080P is a bit choppy, but I can see the difference. I wish AppleTV had better specs. Higher Res, More codecs... I'll probably get a mac mini that can handle 1080P and replace my current old G4 tower as my media server. MediaCentral is pretty cool as an all inclusive Front Row. Handles about every codec you have installed.

AppleTV is not made for Nerds/Geeks/Spazzes, plain and simple. It's for the masses who want a clean, simple interface they can understand. Just like the iPod. This will do well. It will be improved along with iTunes' services and be great. Maybe not for me though.

[andy @ Jan 9th 2007 2:59PM]

They should have partnered on the PS3 to design the UI for Sony on these features. This hardware and codec support is a joke.



http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/07/diego-plans-to-release-two-stand-alone-hd-dvrs/

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/buffalo-intros-new-viiv-certified-linktheater-wireless-aandg-media/


I think that BUffalo and Digeo have already beat Apple to this party with their codec support (Buffalo specifically).

Even the TIVO S3 (assuming they ever enable the features of the darn thing) will do more (codecs)than this.

I'm very under-impressed with the price and performance here.

[stoph @ Jan 9th 2007 2:59PM]

Any chance of it playing vob files?

[rip @ Jan 9th 2007 3:20PM]

actually, yes, I can tell the difference between an all digital connection and digital-analog-digital.

Yes, if you have a great d/a converter, you can get a nice picture over component. But why even bother, if you can go all digital? Why even introduce an additional step? Oh, because xbox 360 buyers are too fuckin poor to have digital connections. Either that or microsoft decided 360 buyers are too stupid to notice. Which would explain you.

FYI, for years, a significant group of people swore that vinyl LPs were sonically superior to CDs. That LPs sounded "warmer, richer, more natural." Whatever.

[RyanTV @ Jan 9th 2007 3:02PM]

I would definitely buy this if it would play DIVX files. Lame codec support, Apple.

[Armyb77 @ Jan 9th 2007 3:18PM]

My only problem with this device is that it serves no practical use. If I was to pay $1.99 for every TV Show I watch every week, I would end up with a $250 bill a month. No one would ever consider even doing this. If they added a subscription based TV Show Service then it would be worth the price.
I have over $6000 invested in 2 HTPCs, and a 64inch HDTV, and a 37inch HDTV. If apple had a subscription for the TV Show Service then that would all but eliminate the need for cable, and the PVR HTPC. Hell I would even be willing to watch 2mins worth of commercials before the TV Show if I could save on my $109 month cable bill with a $30 a month subscription to AppleTV. If someone really like the show then after they watch it give them an offer to purchase the show after viewing for the $1.99.

[Omar @ Jan 9th 2007 3:10PM]

no divx? no xvid? cant watch burned movies on my computer? this is great if i purchased movies/music on itms, otherwise its not that great.