Apple TV is finally shipping

[Boyd Ostroff]

There's a nice in-depth review of AppleTV over at Ars Technica: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/appletv.ars/1

We'd almost like to give the Apple TV two scores: one for our audience, and one for everybody else. Geeks are more likely than anyone else to hate the Apple TV out of the box. There are currently too many limitations to justify the price to many of us, although the potential is there for Apple to push down a few major software/firmware updates and make this device into (almost) everything we wish it could be.
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However, almost everyone else who witnessed the Apple TV in action in our presence fell in love with it instantaneously (about half of which were not Mac users). The look and feel of both the device itself and its functionality impressed all those who touched it. We would not worry whatsoever about our technophobic parents' ability to set up the Apple TV and use it on a daily basis.

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

It didn't take long for the hackers to start in on the AppleTV: http://www.appletvhacks.net/

Have been watching the modding process all weekend, Boyd. There's a thread at a site called SomethingAweful that has been a hotbed of getting the AppleTV hacked to do all sorts of things. The main attempt is to get the device to the point where you can have it recognize and use network attached storage, and use different software codecs for content playback as you would on your regular computer.

Replacing the hard drive with a larger unit took less than a day to figure out.

-gb-

[Christopher Witz]

I just got mine last night..... works well...... I'm excited about going dvd-less and mail-less.....

It seems to bring my router to it's knees when hooked up via cat5..... but works fine wirelessly. hmmm?

Image quality looks great on my 720p projector ( 10' wide screen )

The "300" movie trailer looks really good!

I've exported a few of mt z1 footage files thru appletv setting in qt..... looks great!

I'm a little scared I'll loose the remote..... also..... if my macbooks open, the remote works frontrow... so they must be the same

[Evan C. King]

Originally Posted by Christopher Witzke

I'm a little scared I'll loose the remote..... also..... if my macbooks open, the remote works frontrow... so they must be the same

Yeah they're the same to not have that problem you've gotta pair each remote to each device.

[Christopher Witz]

cool.... I'll try "pairing" them. I'm alergic to to instruction manuals.... something genetic.... so thanks for the info.

oh.... and man does this thing get hot! I think I'll use it to pre-warm my espresso cups!

[Jos Svendsen]

I have seen reports that the ATV is a stereo device. But a HD-trailer downloaded and iTuned from the quicktime site played in glorious 5.1 through my surround reciever. :)

This is a great and simple device. I am converting a old pc to serve our 90+ Gig music collection using WiFi. Finally - Music at your fingertips!

[Joe Goldsberry]

A few of you said the image looks great on a HD TV. By great do you mean HD quality? The reason I ask is I too bought an Apple TV, loaded some 720p and 1080i footage onto it and was not impressed. The picture is soft and not HD quality at all. I've viewing is on a new Samsung 40" LCD HD.

Please tell me I'm doing something wrong because there is a $30 fee to return the Apple TV to the Apple store if the box has been opened.

Thanks,
Joe

[Christopher Witz]

hmmm.... things to make sure are done

apple tv....
make sure 720p tv is checked

files....
1080i footage will only display at 540 size.
make sure your compression is not to extreme.
make sure 720 footage is 24p and not interlaced.

[Kevin Wild]

Something is wrong. The footage I put on there is anything but soft. It's excellent.

Are you sure you're plugged component into one of the HD channel ins? Many TV's like my Sony Rear Screen LCD, have 5 component in's, but only 2 are HD compatible.

Check that. It also could be that you're blowing up an HD clip from a smaller file already. I have been amazed at the quality...it is not soft at all.

KW

Originally Posted by Joe Goldsberry

A few of you said the image looks great on a HD TV. By great do you mean HD quality? The reason I ask is I too bought an Apple TV, loaded some 720p and 1080i footage onto it and was not impressed. The picture is soft and not HD quality at all. I've viewing is on a new Samsung 40" LCD HD.

Please tell me I'm doing something wrong because there is a $30 fee to return the Apple TV to the Apple store if the box has been opened.

Thanks,
Joe

[Greg Harris]

I checked out apple TV today at the Apple Store and it didn't look like the movies/ TV shoes that were playing for display were HD. I would have to see it again when they have HD clips from itunes and running in the store. But the device it self is very cool to use.

[Boyd Ostroff]

This reviewer was not impressed....

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070404/tech_...e_tv.html?.v=6

It's surprising, then, that videos from Apple's online iTunes store look horrible on an HDTV set. The movies and TV shows have the same nominal resolution as DVDs, but look much blurrier, approaching the look of standard-definition broadcast TV.

To make it worse, these barely watchable movies aren't cheap. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" costs $15 on iTunes, almost as much as the DVD.