Apple TV Take 2 hands-on
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted January 15th 2008 2:12PM
posted January 15th 2008 2:12PM
Not too much to look at right now, is it? Really, you'd never know it from the original (er, because it is the original). Here you can see the future of your home entertainment super-center doing its new HD rental thing, and generally just chillin' on a counter top. Feel free to browse the images after the break, but of course they don't do the mind-blowing, face-destroying, wood-stripping Apple quality any justice.
Anyone who buys this in Quebec is retarded - it's a download-based service and we don't have limitless (download-wise) broadband here. Internet isn't nearly as bad as it is in Australia, but conglomerates are doing a killing on our backs.
Why can't they just include an ATSC tuner and DVR with 1080i HDMI out? That would make it the killer app they wish it to be. Slackers!
Because they don't want you recording your TV for free. They want you paying per episode to get it from iTunes.
Yes and you get to record it at home for free on your DVR, so there isn't much difference. They should give you the ability to record shows with commercials for free and if you want the version without the commercials you can go and buy that and keep it forever. The version with the commercials in it could expire automatically after 30 days.
http://thewarp.org/blog/index.cfm/2008/1/15/new-Apple-TV-software-still-misses-the-mark
I would also like to add on one thing.
Sony Vegas = Not Good
Real Video Editors use FInal Cut or Avid or use a Linear System.
Ahem, you mean non-linear.
And yet, the irony is that you're using a proprietary application like Sony Vegas to do your video editing, which also only exports to one proprietary format (WMV) that happens to be unsupported by a rival company. Quite frankly, I'm surprised Sony didn't come up with their own proprietary video codec as the only export. Buy an XBOX 360 if you want your precious WMV so much. I sure as hell have no need for that.
I saw a post about this on slickdeals.net. I don't get it. No recorder/dvr, and only supports widescreens.
Then again, I'm a cheap bastard, and people that buy Apple usually don't give a damn about money.
You are all single minded. WMV is a popular codec. The only reason you say you don't need it it's because you hate Microsoft. Well, I don't. I am a videographer, I am using video editors. And no, Final Cut Pro is NOT the only video editor in the world, GET OVER IT. Windows video editors export in WMV, that includes Movie Maker, Premiere and Vegas. For that reason alone, WMV should be a supported format.
It's funny how you say that I should get an xbox if I want WMV support. It's like saying "if you are sold to M$, buy M$ products". This is exactly the WRONG approach, because I don't give a f*ck who created WMV. I only know that it's a POPULAR codec, and for that reason ALONE, I need support for it.
Hi, Luck, here from Apple TV Source (http://appletvsource.com). Just chatted with the online rep at the online store. She informed me that the new Apple TV is exactly the same as the old one. Just comes preloaded with new software and cheaper. THAT'S IT.
So for all of Apple TV owners, I guess, we'll get a "new" Apple TV in two weeks.
I actually prefer MPEGS, which generally has support in all directions. And no, Eugenia, just because you say WMV is a popular codec and that Sony Vegas is a popular video editor doesn't mean it's true. WMV has a wide coverage, to be sure, but that doesn't make it popular, or even desirable. It's a codec that spread solely due to the fact that the majority of PCs run Windows.
On an unrelated note, just because you can use your actual picture in the avatar box doesn't necessarily mean you should...
Besides, you are telling me that if I want more video format support, I need to buy a “gaming console” instead of a “video playback machine”. See the fallacy? It doesn’t make any sense!
Hmmmm looks the same to me, aren't we supposed to see larger hard drive in apple produces this year like the Iphone, Ipod touch?
owning one would be a good start, and I'm guessing all the members of this group don't own one!
Microsoft cannot even be bothered making WMV fully compatible on a mac, why the hell should apple bother making it compatible?
You can view pictures from your computer, .Mac and Flickr on the Apple TV Take 2
Plus, I believe you're talking about the Xbox 360 when you mention the gaming console?
The Xbox 360 Arcade 279$ - 256mb memory unit
Apple TV 229$ - 40gb hard drive, with stores your movies, music ect.
Microsoft shill.
Far be it from me to defend Eugenia, but if you've read anything by her or posted on the tech site she founded, she's anything but a "Microsoft shill".
OSNews is second only to Slashdot for Microsoft bashing and Linux loving.
Video playlists?
Please? Please, someone at the expo make a video playlist and on the AppleTV and see if they videos play back-to-back.
That's all I'm asking.
Refurbished Apple TV prices have dropped as well.
40GB: $179.00
160GB: $279.00
I ordered a 160 gigger. :-)
Okay, so. Reading her rant, she wants 1080/60i, yet it doesn't play in that... Okay. So, she then goes on to mention a hardware upgrade. I wonder how many people would be PISSED that they did that? Remember when they dropped the iPhone price?
The Apple TV plays HD content in 720/24p because that's what all the big guys use for their movies.
And she also wants WMV playback. In case you haven't noticed, Microsoft has done *(^& all for WMV support on the Mac, why should Apple suddenly help them, put people on the job just to play a rival's format? Business doesn't work like that.
Please, only porn sites use WMV.
Ohhhhhhhhh I get it now!
Any reports if this new little guy will play content thats sitting on an AirPort Extreme or other type of shared disk?
LAME - that is all
I'm not sure if this affects everyone, but in Opera 9 and Firefox 2.11 a mistyped strikethrough tag is striking through all of the text on the page. You don't use , it's . Please fix ASAP.
Thanks
of course, it just rendered my tags. I meant it's not , it's . Take out the underscores.
or I could just use the code tag...
It's not It's .
It's fixed now anyway.
I just updated my CrApple TV. I got mine for free, I love connections. I must confess, I wouldn't recommend nor would I pay for such a useless device. It is like paying a company to show you only the content they want on the channels and proprietary format they prefer. Where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, Microsoft loves this.
They need to open it up let me record content from my TV- and my sat provider- as I am already paying to watch content. Why should a consumer get a device that acts as an extra cable box and pay hiked up rental fees? I hope Apple crashes.
Now that they have the popularity and power of Microsoft, let's see if they've used it for good or evil.
Well- closing off the iPhone, charging for updates, forcing consumers to subscribe to their store, etc. seems like they've made their choice.
The company now plays with the big boys and instead of empowering the consumer and the fans who helped them grow, they try to enslave us with these products. Bad Apple. Bad. No treat for you.
As someone who's been contracted by both Apple and Microsoft to encode video for both companies and their clients. As a delivery format WMV provides better quality per bit. QuickTime is the industry standard as an authoring format. Those are FACTS NOT OPINIONS. PCs running Windows have both options available. PCs running OS X do not. Blame whomever you like... point fingers (whichever one you want):P at whomever you want... whine.. groan.. moan. These are FACTS. Twist them however you want I don't care... they both pay my bills.
This is an observation: Even though QT plays back on both major OS's, unless the job is for Apple or sponsored by Apple, I've never had a request for QT only. It's QT for "the mac people" and WMV for everyone else. I get requests for WMV only, MPEG-1 only, MPEG-2 only, MP4 only, and last but not least the leader in cross-platform compatibility FLV/Flash video, but QT only requests have all been Apple sponsored projects or for archival jobs. (No pun intended but funny non the less)
For the porn experts who have commented that their sites of preference use WMV, I've done more QT for Playboy than all my other clients combined. I haven't seen Hef in a few years but he had a Mac every time I met with him. Try and figure out why Playboy requests QT...
yes, Netflix is cheaper and allows unlimitied VoD for WINDOWS users only... they have promised Mac support since its inception almost a year ago and have yet to deliver (and probably never will). That's the reason I'm considering dropping Netflix in favor of the slightly more expensive AppleTV rentals, and I feel that many loyal Mac users will consider doing the same.