Apple iTV set top box announced: 2007
Update: Engadget has a hands-on and close up photos of the unit and interface, it is tiny. Still no word on supported output resolutions.
Update: Engadget has a hands-on and close up photos of the unit and interface, it is tiny. Still no word on supported output resolutions.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
plaque monster @ Sep 12th 2006 2:47PM
How is it going to stream from the internet without an HDD to cache the stream? Do they mean stream vis Mac or PC .. thats completely different then.
And, 640x480 movie downloads with DRM (no burning) is lame.
BC @ Sep 12th 2006 3:18PM
I think it's more of a wireless media interface for your Mac. The Mac does the heavy lifting, the iTV is the wireless output and IR receiver (in most basic terms).
Aaron Rodriguez @ Sep 12th 2006 3:26PM
this is going to be the same price as a core 360. no way id take this over a core 360 with media center.
Richard Krehbiel @ Sep 12th 2006 4:02PM
The next-gen DVD format war is now officially over. By creating a divided market the fight weakened both formats, and now both will fade into oblivion.
"How is it going to stream from the internet without an HDD to cache the stream? Do they mean stream vis Mac or PC .. thats completely different then."
First, you buy the content from iTunes, and download it to your Mac or PC. Then iTV streams compressed H.264 from there.
Tyler @ Sep 12th 2006 4:16PM
Of course Mac freaks are going to be all over this because they have never been able to this before. And sure it's cute and all, but I agree with #3. Microsoft has long been doing this with Media Center. I've been using my Xbox 360 to stream all sorts of good stuff from Windows Vista (pre-release of course). Plus with that $300 or $400 you spent on a Xbox 360, you get to play kick-ass games on top of the Media Center capabilities.
I also think #4 comment is flawed about the next-gen DVDs. Apple is only getting 480p movies from these studios not 1080p. So...we still need HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. There's no way in hell that any of the studios are ready to let 1080p movies be downloaded to people's computers.
Travis Bell @ Sep 12th 2006 4:26PM
First, it doesn't stream anything from online... it streams from your Mac.
I think a lot of people are going to be confusing this with a media center. This is NOT Apple's attempt at a media center, this is simply there device that will extend iTunes to your TV. I think of those as two very fifferent things.
Remember guys, Apple wants you to buy your TV, Movies, Music all from iTunes. IF you do, this device will do the job for a LOT of average houeshold families.
For guys like us, who like 720p or 1080i, have a variety of movie formats, play lots of DVDs, download lots of our content a device like this would not do. What I am getting at though is, I don't even think Apple is pretending it would. It's simply designed ot extend iTunes. That is all.
Gene Cowan @ Sep 12th 2006 4:34PM
Sort of underwhelming -- basically, an iPod for your TV. The drawbacks as I see it: it has no inputs, so it can't store any content other than what comes from your computer; no DVR ability. Apple is really locking us in to the content that they sell and control.
And why, in this day and age, is Steve Jobs crowing over content that is "nearly DVD resolution"? Where is the HD content to watch on, as he said over and over, our big flat screen HDTVs?
Richard Lawler @ Sep 12th 2006 4:46PM
Travis - According to Steve Jobs, unless his comments were misinterpreted, it can stream trailers directly from Apple.com
Picaso @ Sep 12th 2006 5:28PM
Just a foot in the door of your living room. This simple box (just $299) is not IMHO meant to compete with a media center PC. Think Apple. Simple, easy to use. Like the iPod Shuffle, you use it without even looking at it. It becomes seamlessly integrated to whatever you do. I guess that this was the intent, not to make it have the most features.
Travis Bell @ Sep 12th 2006 5:32PM
Richard,
Yes, it can. What I mean is no primetime content like TV shows or movies off the Internet. It's meant to run off of iTunes for the primary uses of this device.
Hell, in reality I bet even the streaming for trailers still gets served up from your iTunes machine ;)
Dean @ Sep 12th 2006 8:13PM
I think this looks like potentially a really great device. I have an XBox 360, but no media center, and the UI for displaying photos on my upstairs HDTV really sucks. I'm looking forward to this device for showing my photos on my living room HDTV. Plus, I get music and videos through a hopefully very nice UI to boot.
Brian @ Sep 12th 2006 8:57PM
I have an Xbox360 and I WAS running Media Center but I got tired of only being able to play MPEG1/2 and WMV video...it desperatly needs MPEG4/H.264 support. My 600GB of storage was nearly used up from all the HDTV streams I had...mpeg2 is rediculously large and converting to WMV was a royal pain and never seemed to work correctly. So, I sold my PC, sold my G5 Mac, and purchased a Mac Pro Quad Xeon...no more PC's for me...dual booting XP with OSX.
I'm looking forward to converting all my mpeg2 videos to H.264 and using this new iTV device instead of my Xbox360.
I'm still hoping Apple will extend this platform in the future by adding cable card to the mac mini to give us DVR capability on top of the iTunes extender the iTV gives us.
I think this is a great 1st step for Apple...hopefully they'll give us more in the future! I'm buying the iTV the day it's released.
Charles @ Sep 12th 2006 10:20PM
Definitely Apple's foot in the door ... much more to come.
The picture was a little hazy, but does it look like a the HDMI input is version 1.3?
mcloki @ Sep 13th 2006 12:00AM
Have to agree with #12. DVR will most likely come as a third party add on for the Mini. Apple needs the studios support for content so they would be in a tricky position selling a DVR. But this way they can keep their hands clean. The only question is does Front Row have an API that developers can write to. That way outside developers can create software add ons for the device. Definately interesting. And won't your next mini have a blue ray DVD player built into it. I'm sure that Front Row can now stream that HD content right to your HDTV.
Maff Mace @ Sep 13th 2006 5:57AM
still can't believe that apple are always stopping people using their names in their products (e.g. anything with "pod" in it), yet they name this product after one of the biggest TV networks in the UK: www.itv.com
cobalt @ Sep 13th 2006 8:09AM
'And why, in this day and age, is Steve Jobs crowing over content that is "nearly DVD resolution"? Where is the HD content to watch on, as he said over and over, our big flat screen HDTVs?'
People have started using HDTV in place of the old name, digital TV, as opposed to the analog SDTV. 640x480 is better than analog TV, and now that we're calling digital TV HDTV, etc. But when the first 720p sets were coming out, no one was calling them HDTVs. They were called "flat panel TVs" or "plasma screens" or whatnot. We were all going to switch to digital TV, but now we don't talk about analog vs. digital TV anymore. Because everyone wants those sexy flat screen plasmas.
The big deal with "nearly DVD resolution" is that you can download a movie faster than you can pick on up at a rental store. It saves you from having to rip it yourself as well, costs less than a DVD and about as much as a hotel movie rental, is ready to transfer to your iPod, and now is immediately viewable on an "HDTV" through your special "HD" video cable (that is, HDMI).
This is a step up for Apple in terms of the level of media that they are supporting from distribution and sales to end user file access and management. Their system is fully dual platform (XP and OSX), has DRM built in (for content purchased online), and appeals to people's desire for immediate gratification.
Movies at 640x480 could look pretty good on a 1080p TV. DVDs played on my Xbox 360 over component video look great on my 1080p TV.
It would be nice to know what resolutions are supported, i.e., over wifi vs. USB vs. ethernet. Adding a USB device won't get the mini to push 1080i or 1080p. Also, it might show pictures at higher resolution than movies.
HDTV is the new buzzword for the hardware multimedia market, particularly because people like us have established a market for 1080i/1080p. Look at the marketing for upcoming round of DX9 video cards, which are just about to be made obsolete for gaming by DX10. It'a all about HDTV and 1080i and HDCP compliance and all that.
If HD content hadn't been as widely accepted, the buzzword would be digital TV, which sounds less exciting. There is no computer without a video card that can reach 1080i or 1080p. Onboard decoders help, but there's no integrated video chip for that high a resolution yet.
480p, 720p, and 1080i/p are now the standards for these hardware manufacturers. As soon as they can get a real-time 1080i/p decoder in a mobtherboard or on a chip, I'm sure we'll be hearing about it.
nalgae @ Sep 13th 2006 12:04PM
Why don't people just buy a DVI to HDMI cable? You can then run your comp at whatever resolution your TV can handle and play your videos fullscreen. With the money you save, get a nice midrange 5.1 speaker system to connect to your computer, so it'll be a nice home theater setup.
As for the wireless part of the iTV, no way in hell will it be able to stream HD quality content wirelessly. I guess if you really want to be able to play your music or low quality video on your TV wirelessly...
Paul Bradley @ Sep 13th 2006 12:22PM
Sounds good, but other systems have failed as they aren't all encompassing and everything done through a hand hand remote. MUST have a DVR before anyone will buy it in droves. I wouldn't have a problem getting all content from Apple so long as I could dump my TiVo and satellite boxes.
ac? hayat @ Sep 13th 2006 7:44PM
ipod is very advancement of Interactive Television and the development of next-generation programming.
Jason @ Sep 13th 2006 11:15PM
#15 - iTV is not the name of this product. iTV is simply the internal codename for the device and will be changed when the product is formally announced in Q1 2007. Jobs noted this yesterday during the keynote. You can watch the video here:
http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/sep_2006/event/index.htm
Jasmin @ Sep 19th 2006 5:55PM
I think people are missing the point...the biggest advantage of iTV is the wireless aspect. Who wants cables from your PC to your XBOX to your TV/entertainment set. From what I understand, with the iTV you can have your laptop send the movies/music/pics wirelessly to the iTV, which displays the media on your television