What is the point of iTV??

I watch my itunes downloads by connecting the ipod to the TV using the dock. What does an iTV device get me? Isnt it a media server which only serves up iTunes stuff?

It's "Apple TV" (actually, "{apple icon} TV"), and you can learn all about it at store.apple.com.

cath462 said:

It's "Apple TV" (actually, "{apple icon} TV"),

Click to expand...

LMAO

Well, for one thing, much better video quality (Try running an HD movie from your iPod) - this thing is going to output HD digital signal on HDMI cables plus optical sound (i.e. DD5.1 / DTS etc...)
No need to have an iPod
Movies on tap (copied to your Mac / PC hard drive)
All your music library on tap and accessible using the TV - much better than popping over for a quick peek at the iPod in the dock and playing with the menus til you find what you want.
I guess it'll stream Internet Radio as that's in iTunes but not on the 'Pod

I noticed it mentions that it'll use a broadband connection... what for? Direct downloading of movies bypassing the iTunes host server?
Wonder if games will come out for it from the iTunes store...

I don't understand it fully yet either, but from the description, it would appear that on the surface, it's been done before. The set-top box has been a gleam in the eye of many a computer company. Phillips, Commodore, Microsoft, Gateway, you name it - it's been done - and it's never been a big hit. People want to compute on a computer, not on their TV. I can imagine that Apple's set top box would have a much better UI, connectivity and ability to display HD content. But I have a feeling that it just won't have enough of a "killer app" to make enough people (aside from Apple zealots) seriously consider adding yet another box to their entertainment centers - particularly when you can stream content from a PC/Mac using a variety of other (read: cheaper) solutions.

cwa107 said:

I don't understand it fully yet either, but from the description, it would appear that on the surface, it's been done before. The set-top box has been a gleam in the eye of many a computer company. Phillips, Commodore, Microsoft, Gateway, you name it - it's been done - and it's never been a big hit. People want to compute on a computer, not on their TV. I can imagine that Apple's set top box would have a much better UI, connectivity and ability to display HD content. But I have a feeling that it just won't have enough of a "killer app" to make enough people (aside from Apple zealots) seriously consider adding yet another box to their entertainment centers - particularly when you can stream content from a PC/Mac using a variety of other (read: cheaper) solutions.

Click to expand...

Yeah. At first blush it sounds great, but then you start wondering about compatibility issues and that like (IE, will it work only with iTunes and Apple proprietary formats). There are also some rumblings about the Home Server thing from MS and Dell is set to begin shiping computers with Vista's new media center functionality that supports directly connecting digital cable for PVR use, so it's going to have some additional competition than it allready has.

Now someone with a big iTunes library of music and video (my neice for instance), this thing would be great, but for someone like me that doesn't buy from iTunes at all, maybe not so much.

No PVR (TiVo), no disc drive (DVD/Blue-ray/HD-DVD)...all it does is stream media for $299. And it requires a widescreen TV @ 1080i (EDTV or HDTV)...I can't use it on ANY of my TVs. I'll stick with my modded Xbox, thanks.

Well PVR capability may be possible - there's a USB on the back so one of the elgato products may be workable with it, the 40gb internal drive would give a fair amount of space for this kinda thing. I think if Apple keep it open enough to be extended by vendors (any thoughts on it also using the embedded OS X from the iPhone?) it could turn out to be very flexible.
I'm not convinced it needs a 1080i display, I read it's maximum was 720p somewhere on the Apple site I think, however wide screen does seem to be a must-have.
I look forward to more info before placing an order just yet.

Jem said:

Well PVR capability may be possible - there's a USB on the back so one of the elgato products may be workable with it, the 40gb internal drive would give a fair amount of space for this kinda thing. I think if Apple keep it open enough to be extended by vendors (any thoughts on it also using the embedded OS X from the iPhone?) it could turn out to be very flexible.
I'm not convinced it needs a 1080i display, I read it's maximum was 720p somewhere on the Apple site I think, however wide screen does seem to be a must-have.
I look forward to more info before placing an order just yet.

Click to expand...

I almost commented on DVR being a somewhat compelling feature, but if you own one, you know that 40GB is nothing for a DVR. It's less than 40 hours of standard TV. HDTV program would be a fraction of that.

That said, I highly doubt PVR capabilities will be touted as a feature (if at all). At least not until they put a decent drive in it (200GB+).

I own one! I've had a TiVo for years (one of the few in the UK) and it's got a 40GB drive on it. From time to time, especially around Christmas when lots of movies are on, it gets full but mostly it's ok at that level - 22 hours in best quality, 40 in standard quality I think is the spec.

Given that TiVo is compressing to MPEG-2 and this uses up significantly more space than a straight MPEG-4 compression I would've thought 40GB would now be capable of storing at least twice that of decent quality TV. As you say though, HDTV wouldn't be possible on that amount.

But hey if it's got a USB port there's nothing to stop you expanding storage as well. Why put anything more than a minimum in the base model - I don't want to pay for 200GB of hard disk space if I'm not personally gonna use it as a PVR but for those who do perhaps they can plug on storage.

Also, if you've recorded TV shows MAYBE it's going to be possible to send these back to your Mac and burn out the shows from there meaning you don't need to keep as much on the drive.

Lots of possibilities depending on how "Open" the architecture is.

and when will we know so the 40gig is to record your favorite game or show? on tv then put it on Your Mac?

I wish I knew the answer to that one... the only thing holding me up placing an order is not knowing how capable the unit is going to be - if it does ONLY stream iTunes content I'd be very disappointed as my KiSS DVD Player already does that for me (not very well, but it does manage it from time to time if I've fed the hamsters and oiled their little wheel, bless!) but hopefully it'll do a whole load more.

I see there's a broadband connection. 2 things here - firstly if this is for iTunes store purchases surely they should be placed on the iTunes server hard drive, not the appleTV box (as iTunes is seen as the hub). If not, then I guess a TV guide could be retrievable over this connection, reinforcing the potential of PVR capabilities (along with firmware upgrades etc...)

For me, the PVR is the killer, without it this device is just useless to me. It's just as easy for me to connect my Macbook to my TV to watch content as to stream it with this thing.

Now if it had a PVR included and could replace my current one, then it might be something.

But honestly, $299 for a glorified Airport Express that can play video and has a tiny hard drive is a little overpriced for what it is.

cath462 said:

It's "Apple TV" (actually, "{apple icon} TV"),

Click to expand...

Option>>Shift>>>K tv, in lowercase letters. tv.

ensyed said:

I watch my itunes downloads by connecting the ipod to the TV using the dock. What does an iTV device get me? Isnt it a media server which only serves up iTunes stuff?

Click to expand...

The AppleTV is for households where lots of people want to watch lots of content on their TVs without tracking down iPods, or trying to figure out who's computer has the show they want to watch.

While your iPod could certainly accomplish the same task (albeit at a lower quality), and while my Mac Mini server currently does most of these things already (it's hooked up to my home theater, and home network)...it does a great job for those who don't use these two methods.

I think it's a great step forward. I hope Apple soon integrates TV recording, and more advanced features...

sounds a little pippen-ish to me. in some aspects ahead of it's time, in others behind.

i'll echo the sentiment, without the ability to record ala tivo or any given cable/satilite companies dvr option, it's pointless (for me).

it may find a niche audience, but for now, with a lot of regular folk still squeemish about dvr and still recording to *gasp* tape, this is going to be a hard sell, especially at the price. and once services like comcast's "on demand" grow even more drastically (it's already excellent), it's going to be hard for a lot of people to switch.

now add that and make it go send signal in the other direction... emulate a slingbox and act as a dvr. then apple may persuade me to buy more than just their computers.

Roll on an in depth review of its capabilities ... I think there's a lot of people sitting on the fence at the moment over this one and if Apple would just make it clear exactly what the box is capable of, what expansion possibility it has, etc etc then they may suddenly find they have a whole new pile of pre-orders flooding in....

Alternatively, maybe there is nothing more to tell!

Besides the HDMI output for the HD TV's it does have Component video out also and I am sure that will work with some lesser sets. I am not sure myself if I will get one or not at this point as I have a Core Duo mini with Plextor PVR and it will do most everything the TV will do. Time will tell though. I also hope they later incorperate a PRV in the TV.

I've revised my expectations and now hope it's useless

Based on having just noticed it's analogue output is only component progressive and my 8 year old widescreen TV only accepts RGB (and interlaced) signals and has no HDMI port.

It'll still work on my projector but I can't see that going down well at home

Hmmm... maybe time to start talking up a new TV set...

I was discussing PVR with a mate last night and was thinking that if the eyeTV (or similar) was plugged into your Mac and running as a PVR, as long as it was placing recorded programs automatically into iTunes then they'd all be available on the eyeTV anyway.

I can't quite understand what the hard drive is for - the Apple store kinda makes it a bit like an iPod and you can sync down movies, photos and music BUT it also says that the appleTV can stream just as well, so why would you ever want to actually hold content on the box itself?

My dream: Putting all my existing DVDs (movies and tv shows), my CDs, my photos, home movies, plus the music and video content I buy from iTunes, as well as my favorite podcasts on a media device such as the HP Media Vault.

Then I want to be able to access my media vault using my desktop (I have a PC and an iMac) and my laptop (PowerBook G4, Ti) as well as stream content to my HDTV using the Apple TV device.

Am I able to do this and do I need Apple TV? I currently use DISHNetwork with DVR for my regular TV and don't want to give that up either.

What a dream.