http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/ Engadget HD Comments for Sizing up Apple TV (take 2)'s HD http://www.engadgethd.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadgethd.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 5:19PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 5:19PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 5:28PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/1. BD
2. Apple TV
3. HD Cable
4. SD DVD]]>Feb 13th 2008 5:39PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 5:40PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/What do you mean, do you have a link?]]>Feb 13th 2008 5:48PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 6:07PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/[url=http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=959]http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=959[/url]]]>Feb 13th 2008 6:33PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=959]]>Feb 13th 2008 6:35PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Yeah that guy is an idiot. I would've never said that about the 360 downloads.]]>Feb 13th 2008 6:39PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
This actually coincides with the comparison shots I've seen on avsforum... dish apparently has less compression artifacts than direct tv.

I'd like to see how either compares to fios]]>Feb 14th 2008 6:05AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 5:47PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 7:33PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
Seriously guys, wake up.

There's not the slightest indication that non a/v enthusiast people (by which I mean 'the vast majority of adult people') could care less about this to the degree some seem desperate to imagine that they do.]]>Feb 13th 2008 6:37PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 6:40PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 6:49PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
You seem to have a problem grasping rather simple concepts.

For instance my distinguishing between a personal interest in HDMs & HD TV etc etc and a sober & realistic comment on the general public's attitudes.

One is not exclusive of the other.

Wake up.

]]>Feb 13th 2008 7:49PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 11:59PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
Don't any of them have children? Do they have any idea how hard it can be to find the time to watch a 2-3 hour movie within 24 hours? And if you don't make it in time, too bad for you! What is the POINT of that?

In the meantime, I'm BD/HD-DVD (yes I've got both) all the way. Even a rental (through BBO or Netflix) you can keep and watch when you get a chance, not this "hurry up and watch!" nonsense.]]>Feb 13th 2008 6:57PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Having two young children myself, I can say that it really affects my viewing habits (thank God for DVRs).
I have a Vudu box now which I use for only those times I, or my wife, wants instant gratification but have kept my BBO rentals as my primary source for movies which I can watch at my convinience.






]]>Feb 13th 2008 7:27PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
I'll remember that image the next time I hear someone talking about HD downloads as the future. ]]>Feb 13th 2008 7:30PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
MP3's took off when rips were 128kbs and that is far below the quality of cd's.

As long as Apple make this easy and portable as mp3's are this will take off. I'm pretty sure they won't

How long did the movie take to download?

How did it subjectively appear?

The images on the web site made it look like you too the hd-dvd images and crushed out all of the black and highlight details. The street and the sky go white while the bus lacks detail. The flying debris appears fuzzier. Did you notice the details on night scenes? Did any seem abnormally dark? Did brights scenes such as Starscream in the sky appear washed out?

Does it use intelligent sampling on the stills,do the paused images show less compression and motion artifacts than the moving images?

]]>Feb 13th 2008 8:59PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
Subjectively, there are a few noticeable artifacts, but the details are easy to miss until you do an A/B comparison by switching inputs, but once you do it is noticeable.

Again, it's an easy decision for Video or Audiophiles, everyone else will decide based on the other factors.]]>Feb 13th 2008 10:37PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
Comparing a pure 1080p image to a 720p image upscaled to 1080p with never be a fair comparison. It would have been better to compare Apple TV and HD-DVD on a 720p TV.]]>Feb 13th 2008 9:24PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
On the other hand, I didn't buy a 3000 dollar TV so I could watch "HD" content that looks little better than a standard DVD. ]]>Feb 13th 2008 9:38PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 14th 2008 8:48AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 14th 2008 9:01AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 14th 2008 8:50AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 14th 2008 9:05AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/I used to have Bright House which is pretty much TWC (BHN just does the billing and service) and now I have FiOS (who we all know doesn't re-compress the signal). I can tell you the problem is not always the cable co, but the feed itself. Between local broadcasters multi-casting and cable feeds delivering low bit rate feeds so cable co's can fit three 1080i feeds on one 38Mbps QAM channel there is a better chance it will look bad then good.

That being said you have to remember when I say that the ATV looks better than cable, what I really mean is that the worst ATV looks better than the worst cable. Because I believe that a service is only as good as it's worst programming.

I have many times enjoyed HD movies on HD.net Movies that were easily as good as ATV movies, but as for HBO HD etc, I'd rather watch an upconverted DVD, then to watch that cropped, overcompressed crap with a poor excuse for DD 5.1 sound track.

NNTPgrip really explains it nicely a few posts down. With the ATV they can take their time and do multiple passes to get the most out of the 5Mbps maximum bitrate, but with cable it can go through an encoder a few times before it hits your house. ]]>Feb 14th 2008 9:15AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 10:03PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
Cable, encodes live. At the source, with all the slicing and dicing, overlays, etc. they keep the stuff at a very high bitrate or uncompressed and then re-encode or bitstrip if the codec supports that for distribution. This is live, and one-pass of course(how could it go back for another pass). They may compress only to the max they are allowed/allocated on the main distro sats, but then when directv or a cable co. picks it up they will either bitstrip it more or re-encode again before sending to you. Once again, live, and one pass.

So, all this talk of resolution vs. bitrate. I give you multi-pass processing vs. live single-pass. 5 Mbps Mpeg-4(pick a varient) from cable will never have anything on a 5 Mbps Mpeg-4 file that has been left to cook a while with a clean source, multiple passes, and time.]]>Feb 13th 2008 10:28PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 10:34PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 13th 2008 11:25PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
I'm pretty sure the HD DVD looks far better than the apple tv version, but for a comparison to be meaningful you have to get the exact same frame, if possible.]]>Feb 14th 2008 6:22AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
This will help me decide whether to go Apple TV or consider an Xbox360/PS3 for video streaming from my home network.

Please someone inform me, I've researched/google and it's hard to find this information.

kashif]]>Feb 14th 2008 8:05AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Feb 14th 2008 8:08AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
The biggest enemy to Hi Def media is an upscaled DVD and I don't see that changing anytime soon. ]]>Feb 14th 2008 9:05AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/2) It's a rental
3) Soon enough, you'll be able to pick a Blu Ray while doing your grocery shopping, or be abel to gift it, or buy a Gift Set, or a Colelctor edition.

I could also mention the sound, the easy sharing (discs), the portability, the impulse buy/rental (I feel like movie XX tonight, let's get it at the store), and countless others.


Those are only a few of the restrictions of VOD/DL. So I'll have to agree with the Author of the article. It's nice to have as an option, instead of Netflix (they're bound to have the same kind of feature soon)/rentals, to check up what you are thinking of buying on Blu Ray or watch what you -wouldn't - want to buy on disc.
Also could be a good option to get the TV show you missed/forgot to DVR.
That's about it, and it's nice to have :)]]>Feb 14th 2008 10:40AMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Also be sure to try the various new HDMI colorspace options added yesterday.
I would never expect it to be as good quality has a HD disk, but I am very very impressed with ATV and HD content.]]>Feb 14th 2008 12:02PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
I don't know what kind of TV you have, but my $6k plasma has a much better scaler than my $229 ATV.]]>Feb 14th 2008 12:03PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/]]>Feb 14th 2008 1:45PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/Many thanks!


]]>Feb 14th 2008 7:39PMhttp://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/13/sizing-up-apple-tvs-hd/
Most of us, however, aren't that picky. We just enjoy watching movies. If having Apple TV means I don't have to pay a cable company, satellite company, or Blockbuster video, then I'm all for it. It's GOOD ENOUGH for the average consumer who doesn't spend $6,000 on a television set.

Now, that leads to my next topic...

I'm dropping my DirecTV. They've done some things recently that don't please me, and I'm sick of paying them for their bad decisions. I'm switching to a setup with BASIC cable (just the locals, the public access, and a few others) and a combination of Apple TV, XBox 360 video marketplace, a Blu-Ray player (later) and streamed media from my computer.

I will be going ala carte with my viewing choices, and I won't be paying for a bajillion channels that I never watch. I'll just subscribe to the shows I want, and let them stream to a hard drive where I'll watch them at my leisure.

I know I'm not the only one going this way, and this is why I really wonder what's going with Apple TV and their lack of HD television offerings. I can get HD shows on my frickin' XBox 360, but not on Apple TV?!!?

What's up, Apple! GET IT IN GEAR! You're marketing a thing called Apple TV -- Note the "TV" part-- and you don't offer the latest in television show technologies? Why should I pay to download any of the network shows in SD when I can get them off my rabbit ears for free? The ONLY advantage I gain in network television shows from Apple TV is that I can use it like a DVR and watch when I want. If they offered these shows in HD, I'd subscribe to a few of them and give up my rabbit ears for good (they're a pain in the ass. I don't like fighting to pull in signals.)

WE NEED HD TV SHOWS FROM ITUNES. I don't know how to make this any more clear. This is a big loss on Apple's part, and they're ceding the battlefield to Microsoft and the XBox 360. Why should I get LOST in SD from iTunes when I can get it from XBox Live Marketplace in HD?

I'm still happy with the Apple TV's offerings, and look forward to grabbing mine later this season, but it would make a lot more sense if it were giving me all my TV shows in HD. It would make cable obsolete, in fact.]]>Feb 15th 2008 7:49PM