Apple TV (take 2) update now available
by Paul Miller 
posted Feb 12th 2008 at 1:26PM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Filed under: Media streamers, Apple
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Adam @ Feb 12th 2008 1:52PM
Finally! Take that Blu-Ray! Just kidding...I have a PS3 also.
Zak @ Feb 12th 2008 2:20PM
The AppleTV update is pretty slick. Being able to get to the music and movie/tv store is cool. You can't buy movies from the AppleTV, only rent. At least I didn't see any that I could buy. TV shows are purchase only.
Not sure if the trailers are in high-def or not. The trailer for the Italian Job looked only OK, not great. Didn't try to rent the movie.
The menu system has changed from the Front Row-like system of old. It'll take a little getting used to. The options for all of the personal content is the last option in each section (TV, Movies, Music) which makes it a little more cumbersome to get to. Obviously Apple wants you to go to the Store and buy new content. We've seen all of this on Apple.com and at the Keynote in January.
The installation was painless. The unit went through a number of restarts before the update was finished. Total time with download and installation on a cable connection was less than 10 minutes. The only things that I had to change on the AppleTV after the install was the resolution of my television and my Apple Store account information. The AppleTV defaulted back to 720 instead of 1080p. I also think the 1080p mode is new. I only remember 1080i being there before. I may be wrong on that.
With some decent promotion by Apple, the AppleTV could eventually move out of the "hobby" category that it is now in. This looks like a very solid update.
John Wulff @ Feb 12th 2008 10:11PM
Watching Presidio now in HD. Looks amazing (40" 1080p Samsung LCD). Truly great.
Also, Flickr screensaver is really nice.
Rick K. @ Feb 13th 2008 9:17AM
Wow! This ain't the crappy "HD"VOD from my cable company. The HD movie I rented looks really damn good, first on my 32"LCD where the top rez setting was 720p (I didn't expect more) and then on my 61"DLP where the setting jumped up to 1080p and looks absolutely beautiful. Not a huge HD library yet but with every studio on board that'll change soon, I'm sure.
Well done, Apple!!
YodaMac @ Feb 13th 2008 2:39PM
The HD Movie I downloaded was over 4GB, so not as compressed as some thought they would be. It looked great and played great.
If you look under "Trailers" there is an HD only section of all their HD movie trailers. (including the new Star Trek movie!) :)