I need a few things cleared up

[asnozz]

I am flying out to Japan tomorrow and I have noticed that the apple TV is around £50 cheaper there. I have been looking for a media center type device for under my TV although I am not really sure if the apple TV will serve my purposes.

I love my ipod and the music it holds, although I dont generally use the video function on it (small screen etc). The UK itunes store does not sell TV/movies and even if it did, it wouldnt be HD (720p +).

I am looking to stream files which are 480>1080p off my Mac (many of them AVI's). Is this possible? or will I have to use a modified software version? I currently use the frontrow function on my Macbook for this. Presumably there is a way to do this.

Is it even possible for the apple TV to record TV (in the future)? Presumably it has no inputs from the TV? I know the future of TV will be on demand downloaded TV, but it would still be a nice feature.

Also if I put a DVD in my Mac's disc drive, will it stream across to the apple TV? I have an xbox360 for DVD playback, but I think we all know its shortcomings (going to upgrade when 65nm arrives).

What do video podcasts look like? is the resolution look shockingly bad?

If I get the new airport basestation and plug a HDD into the USB in it (containing loads of video files), will it detect it and allow playback? I am fairly certain that Xvid and Divx won't play on the apple TV, but there are plugin options on apple computers. Surely there is a plugin option for this on the apple TV?

As you can probably see I havent had much chance to research the product. The idea only recently cropped into my mind, and I fly tomorrow.

 

[imlucid]

I am looking to stream files which are 480>1080p off my Mac (many of them AVI's). Is this possible? or will I have to use a modified software version? I currently use the frontrow function on my Macbook for this. Presumably there is a way to do this.

You can stream up to 720p/24 from your Mac but it has to be MPEG4 or H.264 (the latter for anything over 640x480).

Also if I put a DVD in my Mac's disc drive, will it stream across to the apple TV?

No.

What do video podcasts look like? is the resolution look shockingly bad?

Depends on the podcast. I watch DiggNation and others that is a higher resolution and it isn't too bad. Things like MacBreak and washingtonpost.com have HD podcast feeds now that look pretty good.

If I get the new airport basestation and plug a HDD into the USB in it (containing loads of video files), will it detect it and allow playback? I am fairly certain that Xvid and Divx won't play on the apple TV, but there are plugin options on apple computers. Surely there is a plugin option for this on the apple TV?

Apple TV will only playback content from iTunes.

Kevin

 

[sandman42]

I'll take a crack at answering most of your questions:

As far as video goes, the (unmodified) TV just plays the video content of your iTunes library. It syncs with one computer, but can stream the video content of the iTunes libraries of up to 5 other computers on your network.

The TV has no video input and cannot record TV. The TV has a USB port, but there is no official support for any use of that port yet. Apple says it's for diagnostic purposes only. You could conceiveably connect a device, such as ElGato's EyeTV, to that port, but that would need either a hack or some future, unpromised support from Apple.

You cannot put a DVD in your computer and then watch it on your TV, at least not without taking some additional steps -- you have to rip the DVD to your iTunes library first, using software such as Handbrake. Once you take those steps it works great, but you can't just drop in a DVD and watch it.

Unmodified TV does not play AVI files -- only MPEG-4 and H.264. People have successfully hacked the TV to play other codecs, including AVI. You could also use software such as MPEG Streamclip (free) to convert your AVI files to H.264. If you did this, it should work just fine.

Don't have much experience with video podcasts yet, but I suspect there's a lot of variability.

If you connect a HD to your Airport Base Station you will only be able to access its audio and video content if you add it to your iTunes library. You can do this easily though, especially if you set your iTunes preferences not to consolidate your library.