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Not bad for a "hobby".

(First?)

Did these analysts previously have trees in the way of their seeing the forest?

Be cool if also in the future we can stream content from the major networks as well, ABC, CBS, etc.
Missed Survivor? Watch through iTunes.

... So I'd really love that 160 gb drive in my Apple tv.. Anyone think that Apple will upgrade the current 40 gb drives for a fee?

I've been having fun with Joost lately.

I think OWC already offers a HD upgrade.

As for this "hobby" it might be an endrun around the cable companies.

I would rather pay for what I want to watch and when. I hate my cable bill, it's ridiculous for what I pay for how much I really watch it. Give me movies, give me sporting events on my time!

.......yeah, yeah, yeah, industry analysts said I'd always be an asshole and an idiot,too ...and they may have been right on those two counts .....they were either lucky or they called my mother but that's not analysis ..that's like calling Geraldo Rivera a journalist. Oh, yeah, speaking of Apple TV, nevermind.

That's exactly what I've said in earlier posts related to the Apple TV. I was floored when I subscribed to my first *video* podcast to watch through my Apple TV and thought about the potential for Apple to partner and offer an abundance of third party content. This stuff gets updated in the background like any regular audio podcast, only it can be HD video if you have enough space on your hard drive. And not just the usual suspects (network TV and movie studios) but also alternative and independent media sources. Try it today and check out the washingtonpost.com HD video podcast and see what I'm talking about: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/hd_podcast.xml

"On Demand" TV coming????

Wow!!!

If you thought people complained about the quality of Apple's video offerings played on their new HD displays, wait until they play the low-res crap found on You Tube!

I would love to see "Current TV" on AppleTV

Apple TV is not and probaly never will be about LIVE television. It's about PLAYBACK of digitized material -- from sources as divergent as your digital camera, the iTunes store, a DVD that you ripped with Handbrake, something you captured with eyeTV and converted, HD movie trailers streamed from the Apple website, YouTube clips streamed from the newly announced YouTube plug-in portal, or video podcast subscriptions -- all organized by the iTunes application on your Mac or PC. There have been 100 million iPods sold, and I would be confident that all of those owners have iTunes (and QuickTime) installed on their computers already. That's a huge market for the Apple TV.

The Apple TV is the *true* video iPod. Only it isn't portable, and the screen is what you have in your living room (BYOS). To drive the point home, Apple even sells it on its website in the "IPod Store" and made a point to visually enclose it in a box with the other iPods.

If you want to upgrade your Apple TV hard drive go to <http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/04/13/weaknees/index.php>

You can do it yourself or pay to have it done.

I have not had cable in 6 years and never thought I would download shows but the wife and I have gotten into Lost and Heros. We have watched DVD's of several other shows like Star Trek. It is so great watching TV without commercials and whenever we have the time. I see appleTV as an extention of that experience. I have a 21" Apple cinema but much better to watch in the comfort of the living room instead of gathering around the computer desk. Apple enhancing the content available for the appleTV makes it even more attractive.

Kinda makes the pudknucker from Fortune look like a total f#cktard now, don't it?

Why do these writers keep insisting AppleTV only plays content from the iTunes STORE??!! It plays ANY content, provided it is in the right format and is "hosted" by the iTunes software on the user's computer.

" Apple's strategy is brilliant. iTunes is to Apple what Windows is to MSFT. It's become the industry standard. iPod, iPhone and Apple TV are just the devises for easily accessing iTunes.
I'm I the only one who feels for the phone set makers who offer up a new design and brag about how many songs it holds?
Who cares if you can't use it easily with iTunes. Apple TV will get better and better and people will need it if they want to buy movies and TV show using iTunes."

I wrote that yesterday.

Additionally, the analyst raised the possibility that Apple could take in advertising revenue for content accessed through Apple TV

STFU, asshole.

Sorry, but Apple TV is L.O.S.E.R. Bought one and returned it the next day.

Boy do I NEVER want to listen to an analyst ever again. They can not see anything for the $$$ signs in front of their eyes.

"Additionally, the analyst raised the possibility that Apple could take in advertising revenue for content accessed through Apple TV, and he estimated that capturing just 5% of the DVD market could add 10 cents a share to Apple's annual earnings," Crum reports."

Buy the stocks I recommend, Buy, Buy, Buy. I need a new car. Sell, the stocks I recommend, Sell, Sell,Sell cause I need a new iPod video. ------ Such As- -oles.

PS, Did we ever hear from that lady that said to sell Apple cause it was going to tank any day now???? LOL

"And another one down, another one down, and another one bites the dust!!! "

en
MDN word "less" as in Less is More!!

"advertising revenue"? As in commercials? Here's one customer that'll lose them ... I sincerely hope they won't gp this way. I'd much rather pay upfront to see what I want than pay an ad tax on stuff I buy and get my movies screwed.

There's no talking to you fanatics. Some guy making his nut off of Apple stock going even further through the roof writes an 'analysis' that essentially cheerleads that on, and you all think he's a genius. A more braindead group I have never seen.

I own an AppleTV (yes, I too bought into the hype, so I condemn from experience), and while being able to play grainy YouTube videos will be a nifty trick, it's just one more gimmick on top of what essentially is a device built on gimmicks, some of which don't even work all that well (such as synching your iPhotos to it). It now sits most of the time, unplugged (cause the damn thing gets so hot when it's idling) and unused, until someone comes over and asks to see what it does. Its a great conversation piece at parties.

After much thought, I've realized that it just doesn't do enough to warrant it being the focal point of my video lifestyle. And the two main things I've found I would want from AppleTV, if it were to be said focus, is a way to play my huge DVD collection without wasting exorbiant amounts of time and CPU cycles ripping them, and a way to record TV shows. End of story.

I didn't think I'd care about that when I first got it, but the more I used it the more I wanted to record my own shows without the extra cost of iTunes, & the less I wanted the hassle of ripping DVDs. My collection is still getting bigger b/c DVDs cost less than stuff you buy from iTunes, have extras that iTunes vids have not, and even have a better picture. HD-DVD or BluRay will have all the same advantages (even cost) sooner or later with an even better picture. After a month or so I was left asking myself what the point of AppleTV & iTunes actually is, when other/better/cheaper alternatives are - and will be going into the future - so readily available?

DVR recording could be the thing that makes it all better though. An over the air TV DVR would be a great addition IMO. I have cable, but my roof antenna in NJ area gets over 15 channels. I probably watch half of them regularly, and about three or four 'cable only' stations regularly, each of the latter having only one or two shows each that I'm interested in (the over the air channels actually have more shows that I watch/per channel).

So basically, I look at it like this: If Apple sold the cable shows I watch (which they do, but since I have cable I won't buy them twice) AND at least gave me the option of recording stuff off the antenna (local & national) that I actually watch more often, I could finally drop the monthly extortion that is my cable bill and give the proceeds to them. As it stands now, I use my VCR to time shift and/or archive for both types of programming, continue paying for cable cause I really like those few shows, and Apple gets nothing.

I said it before & I'll say it again; AppleTV is a luxury toy. It does some neat stuff with music, but doesn't really occupy my 'video life'. The video streaming stuff AppleTV can do isn't nearly as engrossing to me as Apple seems to think it should be, and YouTube access isn't going to change that. They could have made it great. With just a disc player & a software app to do DVR (isn't Apple supposed to be this great software company? shouldn't be too hard ...) the thing could be everything I really want & use 24/7. And with those capabilities I'd be much more willing to buy individual shows off of iTunes. I'd use the cash saved from cable fees and it would still be cheaper for me. However, I want the flexibility of recording what I want when I want for stuff I don't have to pay for too. And so does everyone else I know. And since my video iPod plays iTS vids just finr and connect to the TV, and since DVRs are getting cheaper all the time, and since I still have an upscaling DVD player ... basically AppleTV has revealed itself to be a costly redundancy that's just wasting space and electricity in my home.

So in a way it's good to see so many of you fanatics. It means I'm probably gonna get a great price for my AppleTV when I put it up on eBay, and that will take quite a bit of the edge off the price of the DVR I get (hard drive or disc based - haven't made up my mind) from Sams with the proceeds. But the people running Apple should stop listening to you nuts. The rest of us unwashed just want them to stop trying so hard to reinvent the wheel on this one and just give the thing the basic abilities that people have come to expect from a video device over the last 30 years (recording), as well as an easy way to keep our DVD collections from collecting dust. And if HD is the future, then get that shit on iTunes ASAP.

@ AppleTV sucks..

"After much thought, I've realized that it just doesn't do enough to warrant it being the focal point of my video lifestyle. And the two main things I've found I would want from AppleTV, if it were to be said focus, is a way to play my huge DVD collection without wasting exorbiant amounts of time and CPU cycles ripping them, and a way to record TV shows. End of story."

Either a MS fanboy or someone who just does not have a clue.

Hmmm, buy a car and then be upset that it does not fly or provide a tv screen. Then complain on and on about it.

Hey, buy a DVD burner, they are cheap and will do everything you want. Period.

Or better yet, buy a Zune and tell us all how great it is to have DRM on everything. I still get a kick out of that thought. MS really messed up on that one.
en

As I said on an earlier thread, Apple TV is not and probaly never will be about LIVE television. It's about PLAYBACK of digitized material -- from sources as divergent as your digital camera, the iTunes store, a DVD that you ripped with Handbrake, something you captured with eyeTV and converted, HD movie trailers streamed from the Apple website, YouTube clips streamed from the newly announced YouTube plug-in portal, or video podcast subscriptions -- all organized by the iTunes application on your Mac or PC. It's not a DVR/TiVo, a cable box, or a DVD player, and it's not intended to replace those devices either (which can each be purchased for very little these days). There have been 100 million iPods sold, and I would be confident that all of those owners have iTunes (and QuickTime) installed on their computers already. That's a huge market for the Apple TV.

The Apple TV is the *true* video iPod. Only it isn't portable, and the screen is what you have in your living room (BYOScreen). To drive the point home, Apple even sells it on its website in the "IPod Store" and made a point to visually enclose it in a box with the other iPods.

Just this past November, while I was visiting my parents around Thanskgiving, my mother commented how nice it would be to view her vacation photos she had stored in iPhoto on her G4 iMac on the new 40" Sony Bravia flatsceen across the living room I had gotten my dad for his 70th birthday. This was just days before the iTV announcement. She didn't want to go through the trouble of making slide shows and burning DVDs, but just wanted a way to show friends and relatives her vacation photos. Guess what I'm getting her this year for her birthday?

What is it about people who obviously hate a product, then go into enemy territory and post rambling, pointless screeds about how much the product sucks? Uhm, guys? Do you think that we'd read your waste of space? Do you think that we care? Do you have some serious social adaption issues here?

@ en: "Either a MS fanboy or someone who just does not have a clue..."

Way to go - proving the original poster's point that Mac heads are all too closed minded to listen to a rational critique. Well done.

@ Aldebaran: "Just this past November ... my mother commented how nice it would be to view her vacation photos she had stored in iPhoto ... on the new 40" Sony Bravia flatsceen across the living room ... This was just days before the iTV announcement. She didn't want to go through the trouble of making slide shows and burning DVDs, but just wanted a way to show friends and relatives her vacation photos. Guess what I'm getting her this year for her birthday?"

As the poster above mentioned, it's wonky way of synching with iPhoto is one of the things most frustrating about AppleTV. And besides, exactly how much trouble is it to burn an iPhoto DVD?? If you had ever done it you would already know that it's one of the easiest things in the world to do. AppleTV will not improve this particular experience, beyond the 'gee whiz' factor of using Airport instead of a disc or two.

@ Busting: "What is it about people who obviously hate a product, then go into enemy territory and post rambling, pointless screeds about how much the product sucks? Uhm, guys? Do you think that we'd read your waste of space? Do you think that we care? Do you have some serious social adaption issues here?"

Umn guy ... maybe he's just relating his experience? Why does EVERYTHING have to be an 'us vs them' dialectic on this site? If it isn't Macs, it's politics. Talk about a sympton of a larger disease ....

Anyway, 'AppleTV Sucks' wrote a clear and largely valid critique - about AppleTV as well as the majority of posters on this site - and all you three can manage is the same tired old 'Rah Rah' crap without any critical thinking at all. I don't own one, but I know people who do and I've been reading all the more level-headed reviews I could find ... and basically that's why I don't own one. AppleTV IS sort of a toy at this point. A DVR would have gone a long way towards making it more useful and eliminating the clutter on my theater stand. And, while I realize it's an affront to the esthetic sense of some (though it didn't seem to make the Mini ugly at all) the inclusion of a DVD player would have been a good idea too. I mean, I would probably spend a year ripping my collection, and that's probably typical. Yes, I can still keep a DVD player 'on call', as well as a VCR or DVR ... but then why isn't Apple solving this 'unit bloat' problem for me? I want less crap, not more!

I'd love to get an AppleTV, but until it has more "TV" centered stuff, and less "Apple" centered stuff, in it - I pass.