Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Official: The New Apple TV

Platform said:
Seriously Apple

-No 1080p support
-No mkv, avi support
-No gigabit ethernet
-The USB is for service & support only

:mad:


If the above were fixed I would have bought one....but in this day and age its just sad that the points above aren't supported :(
Click to expand...

Why would you expect mkv or avi support? Or a USB port for casual use? Apple has never supported that many video codecs/containers, and they probably never will, because they've been killing with h.264 support. They sell tons of content, and there's a healthy market for iTunes-compatible converters.
 
nutmac said:
I am sick of this chart. I have 55" 1080p and I can see the difference.
Click to expand...

Yea, I see where you are coming from also.

For me, my basement home theatre has 130" screen, so I really-really need 1080p.
I have "old" AppleTV already in 1st floor living room, 720p there is fine because it's a 2005 42" HDTV 720p.
However on my dad's 55" 1080p I was telling him wait for this rev of AppleTV, hoping 1080p, now....
 
fivepoint said:
No, it will still play 1080p content. It will just display it as 720p.
Click to expand...

I don't think so. I doubt it has the horsepower to down convert 1080p files to 720p files. If it does have that much horsepower, it would just play 1080p files.

Don't be fooled by getting to choose 1080p in the setup menu. They could let you choose 4096p in a menu, but that wouldn't mean it is able to downconvert 4096p video either.
 
tbayrgs said:
Count me among the disappointed. Granted, I'm an existing :apple:TV user so I was hoping for significant improvements to justify replacing my existing units and I just don't see it. No syncing it a problem for me--my kids unit is all the way across the house from my Time Capsule and wifi signal isn't great so while I can take more time to sync the kids movies for later watching, streaming just doesn't work so well. Also, no more traveling with the :apple:TV fully synced with movies for vacation. Looks like I'll be picking up another first gen :apple:TV as a backup for when the current one fails.

AirPlay just seems like a nice gimmick to me. Why would I be watching a movie on my iPad in my house in the first place when I have access to a television? And if the content is on my iPad, chances are it's also on my mac so I'd just stream to the :apple:TV in the first place.

Nice product for first time general consumers--$99 should attract a few more new customers--but just isn't worth it to replace the existing units.
Click to expand...

Which is fine.. I think..can't please everyone and I do agree with you, it will attract newer first time customers and if the goal is to move units off the shelves, that's a "mission complete" for Apple.
 
Fail!!!!!
4 years without an update then this. Apple does not want to be in the home theater buisness. All you people buying this are ultimate fanboys.
There are tons of devices that does everything this does that have been out for years. It will only play .m4v, .mp4, and .mov formats. Are you kidding me. Everything I have is .mkv. Stop being so controlling apple. No 1080P. This was bad in 2006, now its almost criminal to charge for a 720p device. You can no longer buy movies. who would ever want to rent a movie for 4.99? Redbox rents blurays for 1.50. They are 1080P with HD sound.
 
GermanSuplex said:
Why would you expect mkv or avi support? Or a USB port for casual use? Apple has never supported that many video codecs/containers, and they probably never will, because they've been killing with h.264 support. They sell tons of content, and there's a healthy market for iTunes-compatible converters.
Click to expand...

A "normal" USB port would allow those that like local storage the option to add it to the box, rather than being forced to stream (only). There are hacks for sale with the old :apple:TV to normalize the USB port so that you can add big storage to the box. Attach whatever size hard drive you desire, sync all your movies & shows to that box, then turn off your computer and still have access to all your media.

I can't hardly believe that Apple may- that's MAY- have chosen to lock that out again. I guess it keeps the hackers employed.

Streaming is fine & all, but for all the excuses about bandwidth limitations against the "clog" if they went 1080p downloads, home bandwidth is also finite. When someone is streaming a show, someone else has less bandwidth for other stuff. It will be even a bigger deal for wireless streaming for some people.

On the other hand, sync to a USB attached drive, and you have just about 100% of your home network bandwidth available to others.
 
GermanSuplex said:
Why would you expect mkv or avi support? Or a USB port for casual use? Apple has never supported that many video codecs/containers, and they probably never will, because they've been killing with h.264 support. They sell tons of content, and there's a healthy market for iTunes-compatible converters.
Click to expand...

Because this is 2010 and mkv is one of the leading 'container' formats for HD content (for people who store their movies on a central storage unit)

And USB, well simply because when my friends come over they should be able to plug in their USB HDD/ USB mem stick and show me their latest photos/videos. Or simply a lot of people have their content on their external disk and wanna plug it in to view their content !
 
hmm...just about the only thing useful here is netflix...which I can get on about 20 other machines.

Sorry folks...streaming technology continues to suck...and you will get VERY annoying with the streaming only.

No app store? fail.

Not sure I mind the not being able to buy movies thing...you still can on itunes and just stream. Impulse buys are usually rentals, not purchases.

This will get a big yawn from most current ATV owners. No updating for me...not until there is a compelling reason.

(this is standard apple, i expected it...new products are ALWAYS lacking in major ways...they only become compelling later in life).

Case in point...the ipod touch is now FINALLY becoming compelling...The IPad won't be compelling until rev 2 or 3.

As always...most people will undoubltly be unimpressed by this ATV.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
A "normal" USB port would allow those that like local storage the option to add it to the box, rather than being forced to steam. There are hacks for sale with the old :apple:TV to normalize the USB port so that you can add big storage to the box. Attach whatever size hard drive you desire, sync all your movies & shows to that box, then turn off your computer and still have access to all your media.

I can't hardly believe that Apple may- that's MAY- have chosen to lock that out again. I guess it keeps the hackers employed.
Click to expand...

I know what it can be used for... but Apple has never supported those uses so I'm not sure why people were expecting a more "open" Apple TV. That's like me saying "What, no wma/wmv support?" It just ain't gonna happen.
 
I just placed my order for one ... I am reallly excited to see how it works out. I've been wanting to get a device like this for some time, and now with a $99 price tag, it seems like the time do it. Well see how it works out soon.
 
if this gets hacked to do the following I'm in

1. MKV playback
2. 1080p playback (if enough horsepower)
3. USB port for external storage.

Then, i'm game! Otherwise, my ps3 can do just as good....well, better.

Edit: If they can unlock the usb port and connect and blu-ray player, now that would be sweet.
 
Platform said:
Seriously Apple

-No 1080p support
-No mkv, avi support
-No gigabit ethernet
-The USB is for service & support only

:mad:


If the above were fixed I would have bought one....but in this day and age its just sad that the points above aren't supported :(
Click to expand...
People still use .avi? I agree with the rest of what you said though.

All my movies that are HD are 720p and HD TV is 46 inches so I think I'm gonna buy this. Hopefully it'll be able to stream my stuff efficiently.

If someone has on average 16 mbps down and 6 mbps up do you think that's good for HD streaming?
 
No NAS, No Pandora - No Sale

No NAS support, no Pandora - no sale.

Seems like this still requires an Itunes connected Mac/PC to stream. I keep all my media on Iomega StorCenter NAS and don't want to turn on my computer to stream.

No apps, so you are just limited to Itunes, Netflix, YouTube for content providers. The only thing new here is Netflix. Plenty of other options out there such as WDTV, Roku, Popcorn hour that support many more formats (i.e. MKV, VOB etc that AppleTV wont') and have had Pandora, Live365, and Netflix for awhile.

I think this is an ok product for someone that wants basic streaming of music, photos, and purchases a lot from Itunes but those that want other content providers (Pandora, Live365, etc) and wide range of formats are out of luck with this. I'll be sticking with WDTV Live.
 
The new Apple TV is PERFECT for my needs.

I have a 4TB NAS hooked up to my Mini, so I never cared about about syncing to ATV local hard disk. Diskless ATV will be silent and run cool.

NetFlix streaming was the biggest missing piece for me in the current ATV, and they have addressed that.

$99 price point is perfect. I am ordering 3 of them, for each of my rooms.
 
GermanSuplex said:
I know what it can be used for... but Apple has never supported those uses so I'm not sure why people were expecting a more "open" Apple TV. That's like me saying "What, no wma/wmv support?" It just ain't gonna happen.
Click to expand...

True. But Apple's never had a phone to support 4G, so why should we expect a 4G iPhone in the future? Apples never had anything support USB3 or lightpeak, so why should we expect that in the future? Apple's never had sandy bridge in anything, so why should we expect that in the future? Etc.

Past complaints about the old :apple:TV are generally these:
  • too little storage
  • no 1080i/p playback
  • missing third party apps/options like netflix, hulu, etc
  • too sluggish
  • no DVR functionality
  • no BD player

Of course there's others. With this update- about 4 years after the first, and after Apple has had tons of time to hear what owners want most in the next-gen, it appears that we got netflix, and I'm guessing the UI won't be as sluggish.

A normal USB port would open the door for companies like Elgato to add DVR/BD options for those that want them, without others having to pay for features they don't want.

A normal USB port would easily cover the local storage desire by customers- just plug in as much storage as you want, without making others happy with purely streaming have to pay for some arbitrary amount of on-board storage they don't want.

And only Apple could have addressed the 1080i/p playback, which- to me- is the most disappointing part of the announcement. I hope we don't have to wait another 4 years for :apple:TV nano/micro: "even smaller & thinner, and now with 1080p".
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
True. But Apple's never had a phone to support 4G, so why should we expect a 4G iPhone in the future? Apples never had anything support USB3 or lightpeak, so why should we expect that in the future? Apple's never had sandy bridge in anything, so why should we expect that in the future? Etc.

Past complaints about the old :apple:TV are generally these:
  • too little storage
  • no 1080i/p playback
  • missing third party apps/options like netflix, hulu, etc
  • too sluggish
  • no DVR functionality
  • no BD player

Of course there's others. With this update- about 4 years after the first, and after Apple has had tons of time to hear what owners want most in the next-gen, it appears that we got netflix, and I'm guessing the UI won't be as sluggish.

A normal USB port would open the door for companies like Elgato to add DVR/BD options for those that want them, without others having to pay for features they don't want.

A normal USB port would easily cover the local storage desire by customers- just plug in as much storage as you want, without making others happy with purely streaming from having to pay for storage they don't want.

And only Apple could have addressed the 1080i/p playback, which- to me- is the most disappointing part of the announcement. I hope we don't have to wait another 4 years for :apple:TV nano/micro "even smaller and now with 1080p".
Click to expand...

Apples and oranges. The Apple TV is bought to be used with Apple products, USB support isn't advertised or needed to people who buy it to sync/stream from iTunes. USB 3 and 4G are updated standards that will be implemented.
 
I have never really seen the point of the apple tv because I don't watch much tv or films anyway so I never gave it much attention. I watched the conference today and was suprised as to how small it was but can't help thinking that it will be overlooked sitting next to a bluray player in a home media setup. Another disappointing thing was that you cannot buy movies and content to keep.

I was however later encouraged that you could stream with an iPad or iPhone directly to the hub. What I also found neat was the low cost of hd content and ability to use netflix.

The price was pretty good as well which was one of the main reasons the apple tv was overlooked as a product in the first place.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
normal USB functionality and 1080p are not updated standards?
Click to expand...

You're twisting things, but I'll cop to the 1080p. The USB port has never been supported by Apple for end-user use, and probably never will. It's just not what it's there for.
 
edk99 said:
If the old one get a software update how can the new one be any better?
Click to expand...

Do we know if the old ones will get a software update? I hope so...

anim8or said:
WTF $99 in the USA... £99 in the UK CMON APPLE GIVE US A BREAK!!!

Its disgusting!
Click to expand...

Apple has never priced their products according to exchange rates, have they? If it's so disgusting, why don't you spend your money with a UK company?
 
Massively underwhelmed by the new apple tv. So many possibilities, could be a fantastic product.

Still, it's cheap. Might buy one just to see if they've fixed all the bugs that plagued the old apple tv.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back