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Dismissing the Apple TV Objections

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We'll just assume you have 20/20 vision and go from there. Now to calculate how far you should sit from your TV from maximum 1080p enjoyment. That number is 1.8 multiplied by your screen size. Hence, if you're rocking a 42 inch 1080p rig you need to sit a maximum of 76 inches away from your set. That's 6 feet four inches. There's a good chance you're sitting farther away than that and if you are you would be just as well off with a 720p set up.

I'm sorry, but I just don't believe this is true. I can clearly tell the difference between 1080p and 720p on my 60" Sony, and I am sitting about 14 feet away. The fact is that Apple has positioned themselves at the top of the technology ladder. By doing so, they have created expectations in the consumer market. 1080p is the standard for high end video broadcast, and the lack of it on the new box is a deal breaker for me. Luckily, I have a mac mini as my HTPC, so the new iTV had basically no chance in finding a spot in my home theatre system anyway. ;D
 
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Outside of a few pay satellite channels which are compressed 1080p and Bit Torrent sites
and the obvious Blu-Ray just where is it that people are getting 1080p material to use on
a TV and as far as watching 1080p in my opinion on anything smaller than a 40 incher is
not being able to take full advantage of the higher resolution.
 
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My objection is the cost of shows and movies on iTunes. It's simply crazy to spend more for less. At those TV show rental prices, I'd expect to OWN it, not just have the right to watch it within a narrow time frame. Movies also cost more than Blu-Rays do. And I can re-sell Blu-Rays if I lose interest. I'd go all-in if the prices were more reasonable, but that continues to be a deal-breaker for me.
 
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I'm sorry, but I just don't believe this is true. I can clearly tell the difference between 1080p and 720p on my 60" Sony, and I am sitting about 14 feet away.

Yes I agree you could see this difference. Some people can. And for the videophiles out there such as yourself it seems the new TV is not for you. But for others such as myself 720p-1080p is like meh to me. I just don't like the idea of renting the files.

So the TV is excellent at what it does. But we both just want things it does not do. So it seems you and I will probably not be getting the new TV.
 
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I'm sorry, but I just don't believe this is true. I can clearly tell the difference between 1080p and 720p on my 60" Sony, and I am sitting about 14 feet away. The fact is that Apple has positioned themselves at the top of the technology ladder. By doing so, they have created expectations in the consumer market. 1080p is the standard for high end video broadcast, and the lack of it on the new box is a deal breaker for me. Luckily, I have a mac mini as my HTPC, so the new iTV had basically no chance in finding a spot in my home theatre system anyway. ;D

No one is broadcasting video in 1080p. 1080i in some cases, yes, but by and large it's 720p. And 720p is arguably better than 1080i because it's not interlaced. You are only going to get 1080p content off Blu-Rays.

EDIT: I stand corrected on that. Some satellite providers do provide some channels in 1080p. Emphasis on "some channels". Dish Network only does VOD using 1080p. Same seems to be true for DirectTV.
 
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As an ATV and a large screen HD TV owner I just don't see this as an issue....
 
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I'm sorry, but I just don't believe this is true. I can clearly tell the difference between 1080p and 720p on my 60" Sony, and I am sitting about 14 feet away. The fact is that Apple has positioned themselves at the top of the technology ladder. By doing so, they have created expectations in the consumer market. 1080p is the standard for high end video broadcast, and the lack of it on the new box is a deal breaker for me. Luckily, I have a mac mini as my HTPC, so the new iTV had basically no chance in finding a spot in my home theatre system anyway. ;D

I somewhat agree with your post. That is, only with the distance argument. I have an HP DLP projector in our home theater room that does 720p/1080p at 120 inches diagonally. 1080p movies/games look SWEET on it, but 720's look just as awesome, especially with the HD-DVD player on the 360, and the 360 itself. I will give credit to the projector because it automatically up-scales the images and blends pixel spaces together. The distance between the screen and sitting area ranges from about 12 feet and 19 feet. At 19', the distance is perfect. While at 12', the fine detail is a bit more noticeable, but it's clearly due to the fact that you are sitting so close to it.

As with any regular flat-screen tv, the farther you are from it, the better the screen image appears. It's better to test this with non-hd movies or tv shows because you know how bad it is. My 32" toshiba is 1080p, but when I turn it to local channels, I have to sit away from it so the low quality(because I'm used to watching hd shows on it) stuff looks better.

my HTR has had a lot of hard work put into it to make it what it is now, and I can't wait to try the new ATV out.

By the way, there is NO true single HD standard. Every field regarding HD video content has it's own HD preferences. The first HD standard was done in the 80's with 720lines as it's choice. If you were to look at the whole world's average choice for HD standards, 720p/1080i would easily be the winner because of it's various advantages over 1080p. just saying...
 
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No one is broadcasting video in 1080p. 1080i in some cases, yes, but by and large it's 720p. And 720p is arguably better than 1080i because it's not interlaced. You are only going to get 1080p content off Blu-Rays.

EDIT: I stand corrected on that. Some satellite providers do provide some channels in 1080p. Emphasis on "some channels". Dish Network only does VOD using 1080p. Same seems to be true for DirectTV.

There may not be any cable, satellite, or OTA providers for 1080p content, but that doesn't mean that there isn't video of this quality all over the Internet. I am sure that everyone knows about the bit torrent sites, but there are plenty of other sources out there for this content. I personally have hours and hours of video in 1080, and that is the format I want to watch it in.

As for the majority of you that think the prices are a little high for streaming tv shows and movies, I totally agree.
 
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There may not be any cable, satellite, or OTA providers for 1080p content, but that doesn't mean that there isn't video of this quality all over the Internet. I am sure that everyone knows about the bit torrent sites, but there are plenty of other sources out there for this content. I personally have hours and hours of video in 1080, and that is the format I want to watch it in.

Well see now this is the problem. Firstly, you are comparing Apple's legal service to pirated content and saying the pirated content has set a "broadcast" standard of 1080p. That's just silly. Secondly, you are insisting you can see the difference between 720p and 1080p on your TV at your viewing distance, but you are not making fair comparisons. All that 720p content is mighty highly compressed to save bandwidth. The 1080p content you are acquiring is probably compressed, but may be so to varying degrees. You can't in any fairness say you can see the diff between 720p and 1080p when you are comparing them from different sources using different transcoding software with different levels of lossy compression.

If I download a show vs watching the same show on my DVR, the DVR version looks a fair bit better. Both are 720p, just one has been downsized in a lossy manner. A high quality 1080p rip looks better on my TV than a low quality 720p rip, and my TV is 720p. You certainly can't compare a downloadable 720p version to the source 1080p version of a video fairly because the 720p version is a lossy transcode of the 1080p version. And whatever these 1080p versions are that you are getting… they may be lossy compared to the source, but the 720p is almost certainly more lossy. If you had a 720p version of your TV sitting next to yours playing the identical video, I'd wager you couldn't tell the difference.

Additionally, while Apple's 720p offerings will be lossy compared to the Blu-Ray equivalent, they are probably getting their copies made from the source material (which is much higher than even 1080p) and using very high end software. Their 720p videos will look a whole lot better than any 720p you could download that some schmuck made at home.
 
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Well see now this is the problem. Firstly, you are comparing Apple's legal service to pirated content and saying the pirated content has set a "broadcast" standard of 1080p. That's just silly. Secondly, you are insisting you can see the difference between 720p and 1080p on your TV at your viewing distance, but you are not making fair comparisons. All that 720p content is mighty highly compressed to save bandwidth. The 1080p content you are acquiring is probably compressed, but may be so to varying degrees. You can't in any fairness say you can see the diff between 720p and 1080p when you are comparing them from different sources using different transcoding software with different levels of lossy compression.

If I download a show vs watching the same show on my DVR, the DVR version looks a fair bit better. Both are 720p, just one has been downsized in a lossy manner. A high quality 1080p rip looks better on my TV than a low quality 720p rip, and my TV is 720p. You certainly can't compare a downloadable 720p version to the source 1080p version of a video fairly because the 720p version is a lossy transcode of the 1080p version. And whatever these 1080p versions are that you are getting… they may be lossy compared to the source, but the 720p is almost certainly more lossy. If you had a 720p version of your TV sitting next to yours playing the identical video, I'd wager you couldn't tell the difference.

Additionally, while Apple's 720p offerings will be lossy compared to the Blu-Ray equivalent, they are probably getting their copies made from the source material (which is much higher than even 1080p) and using very high end software. Their 720p videos will look a whole lot better than any 720p you could download that some schmuck made at home.

I second this post.
 
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I take it for what it is... a cheap way to rent iTunes content to you on your television. No more or less. Apple doesn't sell 1080 content, so it would seem logical that they won't support it on ATV until they start selling it. Once that happens, it will be a "feature" and not something "you don't really need".
 

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