Good work Apple! Love the new interface. Movies that used to give me shuttering while streaming don't seem to shutter anymore...NICE! Scrolling through my movies (130) seems less choppy as well. Seems like the code was tightened up significantly. Now, time for some handbrake experiments....
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple TV Take 2 is now LIVE!
- Thread starter imlucid
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Its one of the reasons PVRs and Tivos are so popular. It allows for watching content when you feel like it and not according to the broadcast schedule.
As for rentals, if you watch movies and don't feel like walking to the video store, have to browse the whole store to see if there is something you like, hope that its available, rush back in a few days to return it, Apple TV is for you. If you use Netflix and don't feel like waiting a few days till your movies arrive and then have to send them back as well as paying a subscription price, this is for you.
I have the following devices
Apple TV
BluRay player
HD PVR
With a Universal Remote from Harmony, I press only one button to switch to any of the above.
As for rentals, if you watch movies and don't feel like walking to the video store, have to browse the whole store to see if there is something you like, hope that its available, rush back in a few days to return it, Apple TV is for you. If you use Netflix and don't feel like waiting a few days till your movies arrive and then have to send them back as well as paying a subscription price, this is for you.
I have the following devices
Apple TV
BluRay player
HD PVR
With a Universal Remote from Harmony, I press only one button to switch to any of the above.
Photo Navigation Improved?
Has the photo navigation been improved with Take-2?
Or is it still via slideshows?
(Would be nice to see a grid like menu, such as that used on the iPod's)
Has the photo navigation been improved with Take-2?
Or is it still via slideshows?
(Would be nice to see a grid like menu, such as that used on the iPod's)
Nice to hear that the new Apple TV has 1080p output.
But what's the point, if it can still only play back 720p content?
How good is the upscaling on this $200 device? Will it be better than the internal upscaler in my $2000 TV?
(I don't have a $2000 TV. But many of you do. The question stands. Do you let the Apple TV, or your LCD/plasma, do the upscaling?)
Can the Apple TV hardware support 1080p playback? Is this something we can expect to see in a future software update? Is the UI natively 1080p, even if the content isn't? (e.g. viewing movie trailer posters, album artwork) Do photos display at 1080p?
But what's the point, if it can still only play back 720p content?
How good is the upscaling on this $200 device? Will it be better than the internal upscaler in my $2000 TV?
(I don't have a $2000 TV. But many of you do. The question stands. Do you let the Apple TV, or your LCD/plasma, do the upscaling?)
Can the Apple TV hardware support 1080p playback? Is this something we can expect to see in a future software update? Is the UI natively 1080p, even if the content isn't? (e.g. viewing movie trailer posters, album artwork) Do photos display at 1080p?
Darn it. That makes me disappointed. I would have much rather had it count up by episode. Too bad there's not an option to just flip it.
Well, that is a good point. It would be great to not buy or rent DVD's. However, most people have a collection of DVD's they've purchased. Again, I would find myself having to switch over to the DVD player to watch those, and back to Apple TV to watch content there and over to Satellite to watch it. I just wish the Apple TV could replace my Tivo, and it had a DVD player built in.
HD Downloads
I'm downloading Star Trek II The Wrath of Kahn in HD. I've been downloading for about 30 minutes and I am at 15% but no pop up window announcing I can begin watching. I have a Verizon 3 Mbps connection. If this is the case for HD movies, I may have to switch to Comcast 10 Mbps.
I'm downloading Star Trek II The Wrath of Kahn in HD. I've been downloading for about 30 minutes and I am at 15% but no pop up window announcing I can begin watching. I have a Verizon 3 Mbps connection. If this is the case for HD movies, I may have to switch to Comcast 10 Mbps.
Incorrect
Double check your selections in Handbrake. If you choose MP4 as your file format, you won't be able to pass through DD 5.1. It will do 5.1 AAC, but not DD or DTS. For that you have to choose either AVI or MKV file format.
Double check your selections in Handbrake. If you choose MP4 as your file format, you won't be able to pass through DD 5.1. It will do 5.1 AAC, but not DD or DTS. For that you have to choose either AVI or MKV file format.
Well explain to me how you are setting it then. My nightly build copy of Handbrake only gives the MP4 options of MPEG-4 Video / AAC audio and AVC/H.264 Video / AAC audio and both only allow the passing of a Pro Logic II mix channel for Dolby or 6 channel discrete (which isn't dolby)
The only one I see I'd like would be the non-MP4 MKV file format which is AVC/H.264 Video / AC-3 audio, the 'Dolby Digital 5.1 passthru' that the AppleTV specs mention. Unfortunately .mkv files are not MP4 or Quicktime .MOV compatible and iTunes won't accept them.
So what format are you using?
Well one 'point' would be if the UI is displayed in 1080p, then that will look much better. Another 'point' is I think the aTV scaler would probably be better than the TV scaler, but the only way to find out for sure is to actually test it with your particular TV.
Well, technically the new 120hz LCDs have a higher effective resolution during motion...
Pssst, not to derail the thread, but you shouldn't convince yourself this is actually legal. It sucks, but because DVD's have DRM, under the DMCA it is not legal to circumvent the DRM to copy them, or for any other reason, whether you own them or not. Ridiculous maybe, and no one's going to get prosecuted for it any time soon (unless they're sharing), but be advised that it's never actually legal for a consumer to copy a coprighted DVD (unless you're authorized by the copyright owner, of course).
For those of us without nice HDTVs...
Can anyone tell me if the apple TV now supports composite? I've only got one component input on my TV which I use for my DTV receiver.
It used to be by plugging a composite cable into the green component output you could get a black and white image, but there were hacks to get it in color. Any chance Apple officially support it now?
And on a related note, if not, any suggestions for a cheap component selector? They all seem to be $00s?
Can anyone tell me if the apple TV now supports composite? I've only got one component input on my TV which I use for my DTV receiver.
It used to be by plugging a composite cable into the green component output you could get a black and white image, but there were hacks to get it in color. Any chance Apple officially support it now?
And on a related note, if not, any suggestions for a cheap component selector? They all seem to be $00s?
Which resolution 720p or 1080i
I have a pretty cheap RCA HDTV that can display 720p or 1080i. What should I set my AppleTV to output on?
I have a pretty cheap RCA HDTV that can display 720p or 1080i. What should I set my AppleTV to output on?
I hear you man...sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who still watching a CRT.
No, this was a software update not a hardware update - you would need to change the hardware to support composite.
You can't download an update for 802.11n. It requires more antennas/processing of those antennas to get the benefits. This is why the iPhone and iPod touch don't have it either... cramming it into such a small device is either not possible, doesn't provide enough of a performance gain given the limitations, or just costs too much to be worth it.
So a better way to say this is:
You can push audio from your MAC/PC running iTunes to your Apple TV, thus using Apple Tv and a audio output device.
Let you play a custom play list via home theater system without having to sync or use the Apple TV interface.
Podcasts: Favorites order + First BUG
I noticed that Podcast favorites are organized by the order in which they were added. Wouldn't it make more sense to organize them in the order in of most viewed podcasts or allow the user to move them around?
Also, I found my first bug: Scrolling through a long list of Podcast Favorites sometimes results in the selection box leaving the screen. It falls below the last selectable thumbnail and doesn't come back until I leave that menu, go to another menu and come back.
I noticed that Podcast favorites are organized by the order in which they were added. Wouldn't it make more sense to organize them in the order in of most viewed podcasts or allow the user to move them around?
Also, I found my first bug: Scrolling through a long list of Podcast Favorites sometimes results in the selection box leaving the screen. It falls below the last selectable thumbnail and doesn't come back until I leave that menu, go to another menu and come back.
Try both to see which one looks best to you. On my side - I have a Samsung 47" 1080p LCD - I use to have it on 720p - but both looked good to me, I now have it on 1080p.
(On my Dish receiver I let my TV do the upscaling because the scalier in their box is awful)
Now why... WHHHYYYYYYY can't we get HD movies through Front Row on our Macs??? Apple wants you to go buy an AppleTV to do that... but I don't have a widescreen or HD TV. That's what I have my new Mac with a Radeon HD card for.
It all comes down to personal prefrance. I have an 37 inch LCD and love it. We have a "great room" which has the living room and the tv room in one big space. With the LCD mounted on the wall and a nice looking piece of furnature underneath to hold all the AV gear it really does not overwhelm the room when hosting partys and events.
Also CRTs are a pain the the arse to move. If you move a 40 inch CRT you better get about 6 friends to help you cause those MOFOs are heavy.
LCD over Plasma for me, i play lots of console games and I worry about burn in with video game HUDs that stay in one particular spot for a while.
imlucid,
- Can music videos (or anything else) be played continuously from a playlist?
- Can music or movies be made to repeat?
- Can a playlist or category be played using Shuffle?
Thanks!
- Can music videos (or anything else) be played continuously from a playlist?
- Can music or movies be made to repeat?
- Can a playlist or category be played using Shuffle?
Thanks!
Podcasts
So can I subscribe to podcasts directly on the ATV now ? I can see I can add them to my favourites and download an episode if I select it, but subscribe ?
So can I subscribe to podcasts directly on the ATV now ? I can see I can add them to my favourites and download an episode if I select it, but subscribe ?