I rented Underdog SD for my son and me, the quality was very good no skipping or buffering problems.
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What have you rented on ATV and what did you think?
- Thread starter Chuck
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Just a Follow up. The kids watched it a second time. Still 10 hours to go and no issues so far...
I think we need some more info on what folks references are for comparison. Sounds like compared to standard upconverted DVDs this is a step up for Apple TV HD, but not quite at the level of HD DVD or now only Blu-ray. Same is probably true for sound as we can get Dolby Digital but not Dolby Digital Plus.
Can folks please state what they are comparing the picture quality to when they give their judgements?
TIA
Can folks please state what they are comparing the picture quality to when they give their judgements?
TIA
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You are dead on. My experience is: better than standard dvd, not as good as Blu-ray. However, ANYONE expecting an on demand digital deliverable to compete with an essentialy uncompressed media has unrealistic expectations. In my opinion Apple has hit a home run with the AppleTV.
ctakim said:I think we need some more info on what folks references are for comparison. Sounds like compared to standard upconverted DVDs this is a step up for Apple TV HD, but not quite at the level of HD DVD or now only Blu-ray. Same is probably true for sound as we can get Dolby Digital but not Dolby Digital Plus.
Can folks please state what they are comparing the picture quality to when they give their judgements?
TIA
You are dead on. My experience is: better than standard dvd, not as good as Blu-ray. However, ANYONE expecting an on demand digital deliverable to compete with an essentialy uncompressed media has unrealistic expectations. In my opinion Apple has hit a home run with the AppleTV.
I completely agree, but remember that DVDs (both SD and HD/BR) are not 'uncompressed'. SD is MPEG2, and I think HD-DVD is H.264 (I don't know what Blu-Ray is). You're essentially right though, as I'm sure they're less compressed than what the
TV delivers. Regardless, I loved my TV before the upgrade, and it's even better now!I rented Wrath of Khan in HD tool about 90 seconds on a 10mb cable connection and watched with no hitches. Not best choice for a HD because of teh age of the movie...Shatner looked old and his hair fake...think he looked that way when I saw it in the theatre
Rented two HD movies this weekend. Fantastic 4 - Silver Surfer and Live Free and Die Hard. Both movies looked awesome on my 40" Samsung! Process was simple and can be dangerous for us in the future as it's very easy to spend money
+1, My fiance and I really enjoyed the film, quality was great for the most part, seemingly less artifacts than HD cable and started up in about 2 mins after clicking on it.
A very positive experience on my 1080p panny plasma. Probably still prefer blu-ray but a really fantastic option.
• Rented 300 to try the transfer from iPhone to Apple TV. Well, Apple TV took it upon itself to delete it after telling me I was not authorized to playback the file. The rental synced perfectly fine from my iPhone to iTunes, then to Apple TV.
• Rented "The Brave One" in HD. Flawless. Great picture and sound quality. Good movie.
•*Rented "Chuck & Larry" in HD also. Again, flawless with great picture and sound quality.
The only downside is that Apple TV rentals are expensive compared to a subscription plan like Netflix. So, although it was neat—I will probably stick to Netflix for now.
I have a PS3 and Samsung 32" 720p HDTV. To be honest, I couldn't tell the difference between the rental on my Apple TV and Fantastic Four 2 on Blu-ray I received from Netflix. Obviously, I could be more accurate if I was comparing two movies that were the same, but both were quality experiences.
• Rented "The Brave One" in HD. Flawless. Great picture and sound quality. Good movie.
•*Rented "Chuck & Larry" in HD also. Again, flawless with great picture and sound quality.
The only downside is that Apple TV rentals are expensive compared to a subscription plan like Netflix. So, although it was neat—I will probably stick to Netflix for now.
I have a PS3 and Samsung 32" 720p HDTV. To be honest, I couldn't tell the difference between the rental on my Apple TV and Fantastic Four 2 on Blu-ray I received from Netflix. Obviously, I could be more accurate if I was comparing two movies that were the same, but both were quality experiences.
I completely agree, but remember that DVDs (both SD and HD/BR) are not 'uncompressed'. SD is MPEG2, and I think HD-DVD is H.264 (I don't know what Blu-Ray is). You're essentially right though, as I'm sure they're less compressed than what the
You're right, of course, and I should have been clear that I was speaking purely of Blu-ray. With its 50GB capacity on a dual layer disc and TDK's development of an 8-layer 200GB disc we're really talking a virtually uncompressed audio and video media.
This makes it all the more insane in my mind that we're even speaking in the realm of AppleTV (or any other media delivered via current internet parameters) -vs- Blu-ray. The naysayers arguing that AppleTV is useless due to its inability to provide the same quality as Blu-ray discs clearly aren't "getting it".
Those individuals (say... 99% of us!) who were happy enough with DVD quality will be thrilled with AppleTV HD quality and the convenience is invaluable.
Rented Live Free or Die Hard in HD and it was great. Very good picture quality on my 46" Sony LCD and the 5.1 was great.
Unfortunately the lack of Closed Captioning has my wife put off. COME ON WITH THE CC APPLE!!
Unfortunately the lack of Closed Captioning has my wife put off. COME ON WITH THE CC APPLE!!
What are the words I'm looking for? Oh, here they are: Totally Agree!!
As far as the 'not getting it' phenomenon is concerned, I think it has to do with people thinking that Apple products take on the big issues (e.g. the vast resolution capability of Blu-ray), when what Apple really does is iron out all the small ones, creating a wholly enhanced user experience. It's like people who say, "I don't see what's so special about it, the iPhone doesn't do anything new." It does a couple little things no other phone does, but it's really about how it puts all the functions together and works so smoothly and intuitively that makes it beautiful. iPod vs. MP3 players: same thing, and same thing about the
TV. It may not be able to beat Blu-ray at what Blu-ray does best, but the TV does it at least adequately, and slickly puts together a bunch of other functions too. Maybe outstanding integration isn't important to everybody. I sure like it though!
This weekend I rented Casshern (HD) and 28 Weeks Later (SD). Picture quality was excellent on both and enjoyed both movies. I'm loving the new rental option and looking forward to more movies in the future.
I downloaded the movie rental Next yesterday in HD and it took about 2.5 hours to download. It played fine and I was able to rew and ff just like a regular DVD. I was impressed with the functionality of the remote commands and liked the time line bar at the bottom. The DD soundtrack sounded terrific and seemed to have an output level matched to the HD and SD DVD's I watch in my HT. The video quality was good but not outstanding. I won't make a judgement on the quality of the 720P downloads yet as this movie may not be the best looking transfer and there are lots of variables in play. The movie Next did not look as good as many of the HD DVD movies I've watched but did look as good as many high quality SD DVD's I've watched.
I impressed upon my wife and relative that watched the movie with me that what we just did was take a step into the future of all media watched through a downloaded file over the internet via computer and that this is officially the beginning of the end of physical media. I'm not saying it's going to happen quickly but it will happen.
I impressed upon my wife and relative that watched the movie with me that what we just did was take a step into the future of all media watched through a downloaded file over the internet via computer and that this is officially the beginning of the end of physical media.
I'm not saying it's going to happen quickly but it will happen. Tranformers HD - looks absoletly amazing. Almost as good as my HD DVD's (which are worthless now!)
Brave One HD - Also looks amazing. I can live with the Apple TV HD quality vs optical media.
Spiderman SD - Looked to be DVD quality, but was disappointed that such a high profile movie was not in HD.
Ice Age SD - Without question DVD quality.
Simpsons SD (iTunes Version) - Also looks to be DVD quality now that Apple is using Anamorphic encodes.
I have been completely happy with the rentals. Just wish 5.1 was used with the SD as well, no reason not to.
Still would like to see HD on iTunes as well (for both purchase and rent) so that way we can move the files around a bit. It is ridiculous that they are held captive on the Apple TV for no reason. Sure the iPods can't play them, but the Macs can.
Brave One HD - Also looks amazing. I can live with the Apple TV HD quality vs optical media.
Spiderman SD - Looked to be DVD quality, but was disappointed that such a high profile movie was not in HD.
Ice Age SD - Without question DVD quality.
Simpsons SD (iTunes Version) - Also looks to be DVD quality now that Apple is using Anamorphic encodes.
I have been completely happy with the rentals. Just wish 5.1 was used with the SD as well, no reason not to.
Still would like to see HD on iTunes as well (for both purchase and rent) so that way we can move the files around a bit. It is ridiculous that they are held captive on the Apple TV for no reason. Sure the iPods can't play them, but the Macs can.
Brave One and 2010 both in HD, Looks and sounds great. Download times approx. 90 mins. Warner Cable with AEBS.
"Invasion" is SD - a much better movie than the reviews everywhere. Picture was fine. Will probably end up with a used copy of the DVD.
Downloading "Transformers" in HD - I have a slow 768k DSL line and I turn off my AppleTV when not used. Will probably finish downloading tonight and watch later in the week.
I just want to see what HD rentals look like. I will usually rent the SD and get the DVD used if I want to add it to my collection, or if I've already seen the movie, just get the DVD and if I really love it, get the high-def disc (Blu-ray now only, I guess).
Downloading "Transformers" in HD - I have a slow 768k DSL line and I turn off my AppleTV when not used. Will probably finish downloading tonight and watch later in the week.
I just want to see what HD rentals look like. I will usually rent the SD and get the DVD used if I want to add it to my collection, or if I've already seen the movie, just get the DVD and if I really love it, get the high-def disc (Blu-ray now only, I guess).
Watched Live Free or Die Hard HD and thought it was excellent picture quality. Rented Underdog SD and it was about DVD quality.
The best is renting HD movies that are not available in either HD-DVD or Blu-ray (or just Blu-ray soon). In this vein I look forward to watch Night Watch and Day Watch both in HD.
I use a 1080i 50" CRT and also own an HD-DVD player (Xbox).
The best is renting HD movies that are not available in either HD-DVD or Blu-ray (or just Blu-ray soon). In this vein I look forward to watch Night Watch and Day Watch both in HD.
I use a 1080i 50" CRT and also own an HD-DVD player (Xbox).
Fantastic but need more HD content
Saw "How to lose a guy in 10 days" in HD... started one evening and finished the following evening going past the 24 hour mark by the time finished (started about 23 hours post renting).
Picture quality fantastic (on my 50 in 1080 Pioneer Elite plasma) and sound as well (5:1). Was ready to view in what seemed like 10 seconds after selecting (20 MBs connection)! One minor stutter in first minute but then perfect.
Please more HD movie choices!!!!
Saw "How to lose a guy in 10 days" in HD... started one evening and finished the following evening going past the 24 hour mark by the time finished (started about 23 hours post renting).
Picture quality fantastic (on my 50 in 1080 Pioneer Elite plasma) and sound as well (5:1). Was ready to view in what seemed like 10 seconds after selecting (20 MBs connection)! One minor stutter in first minute but then perfect.
Please more HD movie choices!!!!
Rented "The Core" in HD over the weekend. Said I could watch it after 1 minute 18 seconds of downloading (8 mbps Comcast connection), but I didn't start watching for about an hour (putting the kiddies to bed). Never had playback issues. Movie was lame but somewhat enjoyable because I went into it knowing it was very weak so I didn't expect much and let A LOT slide in the story. Anyway, getting back to the AppleTV experience though, visual quality was very good, better than my upconverting DVD on a 32" screen. I will definitely rent again.
50" CRT! I have a 36", and it weighs 240 lbs. Couldn't even imagine how much that monster would weigh! I didn't even know such a beast existed!
Rented "Heartbreak Kid" (HD) last weekend as our first.
I actually rented it the night before so I knew it would be downloaded fully. It played back with no problems.
The picture was highly impressive. As good or better than my crappy compressed Bell Expressvu HD.
The film wasn't great. It's OK for a brain-dead, zone out for 97 minutes kind of thing, but nothing to write home about.
We'll be renting more for sure.
I actually rented it the night before so I knew it would be downloaded fully. It played back with no problems.
The picture was highly impressive. As good or better than my crappy compressed Bell Expressvu HD.
The film wasn't great. It's OK for a brain-dead, zone out for 97 minutes kind of thing, but nothing to write home about.
We'll be renting more for sure.