This is what the Apple TV SHOULD be like (and what I'm buying instead)

[wombat888]

It does tv streams from Hulu. At least in theory.

Also plays more formats. Don't know about iTunes integration, but http://www.boxee.com if you want to try the beta

TV streams from Hulu - interesting, but not a killer app to me. I have TV service, and a DVR. If I want to see something, I can see it. I'm not that into TV.

More formats - another minor plus - I can watch content from the iTunes store; I can rip DVDs and put them on the Apple TV if I want; I can put videos from my handheld camera on the Apple TV. What other formats do I need?

iTunes integration is more important than those things, and interface (which is unknown for this device) is also important.

As for 1080p - yes, I'd prefer that, too, but the main limitation for downloaded/streaming content isn't hardware, it's bandwidth. Until that's solved for, improving the hardware to work with 1080p will be of little importance. The only advantage would be letting you rip a Blu-Ray to the Apple TV at 1080p (and why not just play the Blu-Ray instead?).

 

[shinji]

TV streams from Hulu - interesting, but not a killer app to me. I have TV service, and a DVR. If I want to see something, I can see it. I'm not that into TV.

More formats - another minor plus - I can watch content from the iTunes store; I can rip DVDs and put them on the Apple TV if I want; I can put videos from my handheld camera on the Apple TV. What other formats do I need?

iTunes integration is more important than those things, and interface (which is unknown for this device) is also important.

As for 1080p - yes, I'd prefer that, too, but the main limitation for downloaded/streaming content isn't hardware, it's bandwidth. Until that's solved for, improving the hardware to work with 1080p will be of little importance. The only advantage would be letting you rip a Blu-Ray to the Apple TV at 1080p (and why not just play the Blu-Ray instead?).

Oops...gave the wrong link in the last post, it should be http://www.boxee.tv/ not .com

Anyway, we do know the interface...Boxee is an app that runs on macs, pcs, and even the apple tv with a hack. The Boxee Box is simply a set-top box dedicated to running Boxee.

As for formats, it really depends what kind of content you have. With DVD's that you own, one advantage is that you don't need to spend time encoding. Boxee plays the VIDEO_TS or .iso. You also don't have to stream- you can simply put them on an external hd or NAS and Boxee will play it.

But if you wanted to stream, wired ethernet over your local network can absolutely stream 1080p. I do that to my PS3. Wireless is another story.

But you're right it can't play protected DRM content from the iTunes store...for that you are permanently locked into Apple.