Apple TV Question

[Dfndr90]

I have a new 40" Sony LCD and am waiting to hook up the Apple TV. I have a couple of questions though. What would be better, hook it up via the HD cable, or the Optical Cable port. My TV has both, but my HD cable box is connected to the HD input on the TV. Would the Apple T.V hook up through my cable box? I am such a cabling novice, sorry if these are bad questions.

Matt...

 

[Krevnik]

The optical cable is only for audio.

Since this is a Sony 40" LCD HDTV, it is the XBR2/3, I presume? You should have an HDMI port on it. Use that.

You should also have at least 2 HDMI, and 2 Component (Red/Green/Blue) inputs. You can use one of either of these.

Without knowing the model of the cable box, best guess is that it won't.

 

[Old Smuggler]

i my self owning a KDL-52XBR3
i would have to say either would be fine since the xbr3 and 2 are 1080p tvs and the apple tv doesnt output 1080p only 1080i i would sett the ?tv to 1080i
for more pixels vs 720 since the sony will upconvert it
the component plugs will be fine since they cant accept 1080p any ways
just note that you will need to use the optical audio out through your home theater reciever since the xbr 2/3 doesnt output 5.1 surround sound from the lcd's optical out for hdmi or any other input it only does it for for over the air built in HD tuner
if apple tv even supports 5.1 or greater surround

keep in mine that theXBR's though they have many features are merely meant to be used as monitors as with any other lcd


gettting the STR-5200ES is a nice touch for your lcd and ?tv it has 3 hdmi ins and a XMB menu paired with an Aperion 5.1 setup it sounds phenominal
i cant wait to get my ?tv
hope you enjoy yours

 

[miTunes75]

There's a couple questions that I have myself in regards to AppleTV.

* will there be any problems wirelessly transmitting lossless music from mac to the AppleTV
* Will the quality of movies purchased be good or not? I have seen posts where the quality is bad. I have seen posts where people watch movies purchased through the iTunes store on their huge projector screens, and they look fine. Will you lose quality while it's wirelessly transmitting?

There's a couple of question there that keeps me scratching my chin.

 

[Old Smuggler]

i would expect the quality to be equal if not better than cable tv through a cable box since cable tv stations a highly compressed a have frequent macroblocking

but when it all comes down to it is how well does your tv handle SD video?
i had a 52 JVC 720p hdila projector that handled neither sd nor hd very well and had frequent macroblocking but since i changed all my tv's over to lcd's
i have had that problem less frequently
some on my samsung and none on my XBR3
the xbr handles all signals impressivly
so it all depends on your configuration

my tv question is is how many apple tv's can you have downloading content from one account ?
i want one for the bedroom also
is it limited to a number like 5 as with burning an ipod authorizations?

 

[Krevnik]

There's a couple questions that I have myself in regards to AppleTV.

* will there be any problems wirelessly transmitting lossless music from mac to the AppleTV
* Will the quality of movies purchased be good or not? I have seen posts where the quality is bad. I have seen posts where people watch movies purchased through the iTunes store on their huge projector screens, and they look fine. Will you lose quality while it's wirelessly transmitting?

There's a couple of question there that keeps me scratching my chin.

Wireless shouldn't have an impact on the quality of the display. 802.11g peaks at 54Mbps, with a realistic transfer rate it about 20Mbps when streaming data. Movies and TV shows you get from iTunes tend to be about 1.2 to 1.5Mbps. Plenty of headroom for video. Lossess music is even easier to stream than video.

In my experience with a 40" Sony XBR2 (1080p display), iTunes downloads actually look better than what I expected when playing back via VGA on my MacBook. When they mean "near-DVD", they aren't lying. I have a few movies I ripped myself, as well as TV shows, and the quality is still quite watchable, far beyond Comcast's digital broadcasts.

But when you compare it to HD content, it still doesn't look "great". I have a couple HD rips that play back much better, but are nearly 4GB in size, and even then are only as good as Comcast HD, for example.

 

[Krevnik]

if apple tv even supports 5.1 or greater surround

It doesn't seem to, at least not yet. The catch mostly being that there is no encoder for 5.1 HE-AAC from Apple yet, and that is pretty much a requirement before Apple supports it on the Apple TV.

Yes, either will work, but with so few devices having HDMI ports, and the XBR2/3 line carrying /3/ HDMI ports, why not? Save the Component video for cable boxes and game consoles, I say.

...Especially when you can find reasonable 6' HDMI cables for under 10$ at monoPrice.