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Can some confirm if AppleTV 3 is based on Snow Leopard?

Oct 30, 09 - 04:21 pm Comment from: Jubei

"And yet... It's impossible to talk about the Apple TV without asking the big question: Where is this relationship going?"

Nowhere but up Sparky.

Oct 30, 09 - 04:22 pm Comment from: MediaXYZ

So with this update, you can now do almost as much with an Apple TV as you can with a Mac Mini, except play/burn DVDs, surf the Internet, run applications, etc.

What is the point of Apple TV again?

- built-in wireless streaming
- HDMI port
- half the cost of a Mac Mini
- easier setup and use

There are now easy to add to "slots" for Hulu or other Internet services. This new interface is built for easy expansion of services. I believe we will see more of this first calendar quarter of 2010.

Oct 30, 09 - 04:51 pm Comment from: ecrabb

I'll just add to what Kramerica said:

- Almost ONE THIRD the cost of a Mini
- Designed to be used and viewed on a TV
- Designed to be used with only a remote control
- HDMI -and- component

Duh. They're different, for different things, with some overlap. Your question is like asking why anyone would need a $25,000 Honda Accord a $55,000 Lotus Elise will do more.

@currentinterest,
Good point. I hope you're right! As nice as AppleTV already is (I like mine a lot), it's ripe for even more functionality. It's an Apple product - it should be really great, not just nice!

the addition of a Hulu channel would be sweet.

oh ya, let us use the USB port for adding a second drive, kinda stupid we can't already.

Oct 30, 09 - 04:54 pm Comment from: MediaXYZ

A Mac Mini does built in wireless streaming, and is easy to set up, and plugs into just about any TV with the right adapter.

So the Apple TV is just a cheaper, feature poor Mac? You can't even attach TV tuners...

A mac minis resolution and aspect ratio are not designed for a tv. Apple tv is. Not to mention atv is $229, the cheapest mini is $599.

Oct 30, 09 - 05:00 pm Comment from: Big Al

Apple is playing the Apple TV game with The Studios having tied both of their hands behind their back.

The Studios are scared shitless of Apple's possible dominance of the living room. They would rather split it between Sony and Microsoft.

Bastards.

Oct 30, 09 - 05:04 pm Comment from: ecrabb

So the Apple TV is just a cheaper, feature poor Mac? You can't even attach TV tuners...
No! The AppleTV is no more a cheaper feature-poor Mac than an iPod touch is a smaller "feature-poor" Mac.

Instead, it's a purpose-designed device. It's for people who want a cheap, simple Apple-based solution to watch content from the iTunes store or stored on the the Mac they already have.

Capisce?

I love the Internet Radio addition, world radio without Satellite!!

Have any of the writeups of atv 3.0 shown any screen shots? I'm quite bored with reading descriptions of what it looks like.

@Mike,

I read on Twitter that the OS is still 10.4.7.

Oct 30, 09 - 07:11 pm Comment from: Connor MacBook

I think tv is fine as it is. I'm just waiting for a hardware upgrade cos I've held off so long already. In the meantime I'm gradually ripping my DVD collection using HandBrake's Universal preset for both iPhone/iPod and tv playback.

I hope Apple add 1080p support. I can't see them adding video streaming or DVR functions that will cannibalize their pay-per-download business model.

Wow! Are tech and electronics writers really that dumb and blind?

The world is moving away from physical content and going to the internet, whether Sony, Universal, Warner, etc., like it or not. If they want to remain relevant in the digital world they will have to get on board with the player that has the largest distribution service and on-stop shop on the planet. Content on your desktop. Content on your laptop. Content on your mobile device (including the soon-to-be-released tablie). Content on your big screen TV. Nobody has it covered from top-to-bottom with a one-stop point-of-sale (iTunes) like Apple.

Did they really think that the Apple TV was JUST a hobby??? Apple hasn't even really fully enabled the device yet and still nobody else comes close with a complete solution. How does one EASILY get their from their game console (X-Box, Playstation, Wii) to their laptop/desktop (Dell, Sony, Lenovo, etc.) to their mobile device (Samsung, Sony/Ericsson, G!, Pre, etc.) and get all of those devices talking to one another with no problems? How do you manage your content among these devices? You can't, unless you're Apple.

The endgame is near. All that's left is for these companies to decide if they want to continue to be a player in the new world or be a footnote to it. If the content companies decide that they'll withhold content from Apple to stop them or slow them down, Apple has enough cash now to buy one or two key companies and flood the market with bargain-basement content pricing if they have to and this will effectively force the others to join the game or go bankrupt.

Oct 30, 09 - 08:21 pm Comment from: NikonFox

Why the fk would you want to attach a tv tuner to an appletv?? You have one built into your tv!!!! You're the kind who whines like an literate ms follower.
I'm going to now bitch and whine to bluray player makers because I want it to play am radio, 8track cartidges, and have a tv tuner built in. Then I can be a naive whinner too

Oct 30, 09 - 08:29 pm Comment from: NikonFox

The only thing I would tweak with atv is have the ability to tranfer videos from iTunes and be able to remove the video from iTunes without deleting the copy from atv, since that will also remove it from atv. But I won't whine and cry because of that.

Oct 31, 09 - 12:02 am Comment from: ken1w

Apple has Apple TV marking time, with small improvements to keep existing customers happy, so that Apple can refine the underlying content distribution technology and content provider relationships. Then, when Steve Jobs and Apple believe the well-developed markets and available Internet bandwidth are ready to seriously transition away from physical media (discs), Apple will make a big move. The big data center in North Carolina will no doubt play a role. Apple's lack of support for Blu-ray is another indicator (Apple does not want to encourage something they want to supersede).

And when that day comes, I think everyone else will be scrabbling once again to counter whatever threat Apple is posing this time.

I would just love for TV to just not stutter when streaming a large iTunes library...a hardware update is the only thing that will seem to fix that, though...that's why a Mac Mini is so attractive...

Oct 31, 09 - 04:23 am Comment from: flappo

big al is correct

that's whats holding things up , not apple

greedy short sighted movie studios

Apple TV...the one produce from Apple I want to buy but do not see enough wow in it to do so.

Oct 31, 09 - 10:00 am Comment from: Melanie

Its pretty simple, you either have interest in Apple TV or you dont. That does'nt make it a bad product if your not interested. I love this device and with the update I have the internet radio on right now while I am doing chores around the house and its nice every once in a while to walk by that TV and see all my personal pictures scrolling by set as my screen saver.

Oct 31, 09 - 11:36 am Comment from: Cubert

Hmmmmm.....maybe Apple TV hardware upgrades soon?

I don't see why Internet radio is such a big deal...it's always been available. If you made a playlist with all your favorite radio stations in iTunes, then synced that list onto your aTV, viola! Instant internet radio on the TV. Been doing this for a while now.

Picture quality is either, as good or BETTER than Blu-ray. Can Apple claim this , or not?
Can you....sell , trade, give as a present downloads, or would that be ONLY with video disks?
Someone tell me, really can I download 4k * 2K video?
Is this really possible with a wireless download? It may be !
Can this be done?

Oct 31, 09 - 05:25 pm Comment from: MediaXYZ

The picture quality can only ever be as good as your TV. If you have a 1080p TV, then the best you can possibly achieve is video quality exactly the same as Blu-Ray, not better.

"A mac minis resolution and aspect ratio are not designed for a tv"

I'm not sure what the video card in the Mac Mini will support, but I play movies from it on my 46" LCD all the time at it looks quite good.

Nov 01, 09 - 02:02 pm Comment from: MediaXYZ

When I plugged my Mini intoy TV, it automatically adjusted the display output to match the maximum resolution of the TV.

Love the iPhone remote support. Works great! Still missing is the ability to easily find movies for rental. Currently there's no way to find out of a movie is available to rent until you navigate to the movie. There should be a Dedicated "rent" section.

Some responses to not-quite-right impressions:

@ MikeK - all shipping Macs have HDTV resolution-capable video cards (the macbooks can do 720, the others (including the mini) do 1080 and beyond.

@ cw - Unless they've got some kind of SERIOUSLY magic compression trick, AppleTV movie image quality is inferior to Blu-Ray discs. 5Mbps media from iTunes, 54Mbps (minimum) on Blu-Ray.

@ ken1w - I tend to agree with you. A limited-feature media appliance in 2009 is going to have a VERY small market. But sneaking it into a few homes while it preps the underpinnings of a much larger service offering allows them to launch the new service w/ immediate in-home demos available. But if that's what's happening here, it's the slowest play EVER...