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I ordered mine the day of the keynote (along with the new base station). Can't wait!

yea... this site has like 3 articles, and all of them are WAY out there.

Fake Alert!

Hmmm. Will have to see how true this is with time. If it's true, Apple has really garnered a good reputation amongst the unwashed.

Unless this baby can play Divx, Xvid etc....

Unless this baby can have a useful USB port with HDD expansion....

It's a dissapointment

Interesting.

Now what does this thing do again? Like so many others, I was so excited about the iPhone demo that I fast forwarded through the Apple TV Macworld demo. I think I get the concept of it in principle, but why is it SO popular. Do that many people have such a pent up desire to watch their iTunes video downloads on TV? Or, is their such a pent up desire to listen to your downloaded iTunes on your TV or stereo? I have been doing that for a long time with my Airport Express. Plus, I read that it was only HD compatible? What is the wow factor that is making people run out and get this?

I've seen the future and it "just works".

Apple controls the entertainment
Google controls the information
And Microsoft ... just fades into oblivion

It must be raining chairs in Redmond.

Billy Ash,

This device is for the average consumer, not the geeks like us. It need to just plug in and work.

As they say in engineering, Keep it simple stupid.

Myself, yeah I'll use a Mac connected to a TV to handle all the other video formats and special stuff I want to do. Being a geek I want all the options and variables to play with. The negative of that, my wife needs me to show her how to get to something with this setup. It's not easy yet.

I hope that this (the apple tv) is a step towards a movie rental model through iTunes. I would think once Apple signed more movie studios it would make sense. Netflix is starting this. Apple would kill them with the setup of iTunes and apple tv.

I guess there is a sucker born every minute. I want a real solution. One that involves streaming from a media server. Not one that requires that I be logged in to my Mac at all times and running iTunes. Give us a media server with QTSS built in Apple. Give us something like Xserve RAID for the home.

And for god sakes, fix iTunes. Its just stupid that my wife and I can't access the same location for music. If I import a CD, the music should show up on her library as well.

Come on. Maybe Apple developers should learn a thing or two about client/server software. Give iTunes a backend. It seems to me that Apple still designs apps with a single user in mind.

And one more thing, provide support for FLAC. Its quickly becoming the standard for lossless audio. Many artists are now providing their music in FLAC. Drop your proprietary lossless format Apple. Nobody uses it.

Re. the DivX / Xvid thing: has anyone been able to categorically confirm yet whether the Apple TV really won't play those file types. It seems to me that if QuickTime - and, by extension, iTunes - will play them (obviously via installing the necessary codecs), then the Apple TV should too. After all, it's just streaming the content from the base-computer, right?

I wonder how they will sell this to Europe. Some countries have music videos on iTunes, but smaller countries don't have any video content available (except some podcasts). I would buy this if it would replace my dvd player and stream all kind of video/music/picture content from my computer to my tv. Now it's too limited and I don't need another one-feature box under my tv.

Jeff, dude lay off of the caffeine. You don't have to have your computer on at all to watch content of of the AppleTV. That is the reason for the hard drive. You just sync what you haven't seen yet each time you go on your computer, just like you do your iPod.

What's really kinda goofy about Apple not including FLAC support in iTunes/iPod is that there's no IP costs to pay for FLAC and FLAC's libraries aren't even GPL code, but rather BSD license, so use of the code is no more restricted than the BSD code that's been incorporated in OS X since NeXTSTEP's infancy.

There's going to be a lot of disappointed people when they find out just how limited this thing is. The dedicated PC hooked up to my TV with BTV does much more, is more versatile and didn't cost much more.

Apple TV is a start but it has a long way to go.

I agree with Billy Ash.

Many of the basic crappy dvd players, including xbox, will play other formats. I don't believe TV should be so stripped down. But heck, as with everything else, this is version 1.0

It will be interesting to see what future versions will offer.

I initially placed an order for both Apple TV and the new Wireless Base Station. But I canceled the order (note: apple reps really worked hard at urging me to continue my order). I couldn't see buying the first version when it is so limited. I hope future versions will offer more diversity and use.

I ordered mine last week from my usual contact at Apple and he was saying that the sales of Apple TV were phenominal.

My quoted dispatch date is 28th Feb and a delivery date of 2nd March. These are the same despatch and delivery dates being quoted to my local reseller. That indicates to me that Apple are having trouble coping with order demand.

role on 2nd March

H

Jeff: You made a few valid points and then you lost me.

"Drop your proprietary lossless format Apple. Nobody uses it."

iTS sales: 2 billion and counting. Nobody has been busy.

I think Jeff has done a real good job in pointing out some of the stupid limitations of iTunes in general.

I have the same big gripe that all authorized computers on an iTunes account should automatically sync and have content "pushed" out by iTunes when you add something new.

Yeah Jeff is right Apple.

Make iTunes work so that everyone inthe world can access my library.

Make iTV so that it can control all my house functions in addition to my TV.

C'mon, apple, when are you going to come out with a Cappuchino maker/computer so that I don't have to get up off my fat ass when I want to spend my time bitching on MDN

"There's going to be a lot of disappointed people when they find out just how limited this thing is."

Flawed logic. That didn't stop many of them from being abused by the limitations and mediocrity of Microsoft. Beside, the screams of OGG VORBIS, FLAC and "WE WANT TO BUILD OUR OWN BOXEN" come from a vocal but extremely small geek minority.

"I wonder how they will sell this to Europe."

Dunno how, but looks like it is selling. Right now in Apple's Finnish online store Apple TV is fourth in sales behind the red nano, regular nanos and MacBook. And we don't get any movies or TV shows on iTS.

Yes, there are a lot of things I wish AppleTV has that it doesn't.

I would order one right now if I had the funds.

I understand it is for the general public and not ultra techies, but I do wish AppleTV did have a progressive scan upscaling DVD player in it.

My tv only has two hdmi ports and if the AppleTV played DVDs, I could save the need for more hdmi ports.

"I ordered mine last week from my usual contact at Apple and he was saying that the sales of Apple TV were phenominal."

Gee, imagine that, a salesman telling you that his product is really hot.

Apple TV does the exact same thing an ipod can do, it's the same media. For a small fee you can buy a plug to watch your ipod videos directly on your TV now! If there was a blueray or even a DVD option on the Apple TV then I would at least give it a shot. I am going to wait for version 2.0 I bought the Mac Book Pro when they were first release (I like it) but the second generation had almost double the capability as the first.

Same for the iPhone it looks sweet, AT&T;formerly Cingular sucks to high hell. I am sure that the second generation iPhone will be fantastic and I bet it's already in the works, I have been an early adopter all my life and too many times wishing I had waited for the next generation. So that's what I am going to start doing now...

Apple is a great and innovative company but lets put the new toys to the test before diving in head first.

Of course this is strictly my .02

Truth Decay: I believe he was referring to Apple Lossless format, not protected AAC.

"And for god sakes, fix iTunes. Its just stupid that my wife and I can't access the same location for music. If I import a CD, the music should show up on her library as well."

Jeff, it's not broken its just the default setup.You can have the same music library by changing the location of your music library to the shared folder on your Mac. This is done in "Preferences". Select the Advanced tab, the location is listed in "General".

Move the folder first of course.

I believe this method is listed on the iTunes support page at Apple.com

Critic;

What, haven't you been paying attention? AppleTV syncs with iTunes, so it does push out new stuff when you get it.

Unlike the iPod, this thing will be permanently attached to your computer via a network, so if you keep iTunes running, those items you subscribe to via iTunes should automatically sync to AppleTV. After all, should you suscribe to a season of, say, Desperate Housewives, whenever a new episode is available, iTunes should download it. Then, theoretically, AppleTV should download that new episode to it's hard drive.

Doesn't sound too hard, does it?

I've been considering this, but given some of the uncertainties about the abilities of the ATV I'm holding off for now.

For instance:

1) Right now, I use an Airport Express in my entertainment center to stream music AND act as an access point for my Xbox AND as a range extender. Will ATV do those last two,or will I be required to keep my AE in the rack?

2) Ability to play non-quicktime formats, like AVIs, WMV, etc.

3) I'd like to get one of the new Airport Extremes, but the cost of an Extreme plus ATV is getting close to that of a Mac Mini, which will do all the above, with the current limitation of being only .802g.

Me, I think I'm going to wait a bit and see what comes out. At least until Leopard comes out.

To Jeff an others,

Yep, I can understand your desire for Apple to support what you have already bought. Then a vision hit me:

Imagine a world where this company:
-- built products that connected with every audio/video format out there.
-- had products that allowed you to plug in any card from anywhere.
-- would let you get any media for free.

---Then it hit me. Microsoft already does that!!! If your geek enough:
you can plug any adapter card into your machine.
You can load any software for anyone.
you can find software that lets you rip protection from anything so everything can be free.

----- and the nightmare is that even BIllions and billions Microsoft just cannot seem to make every ones stuff work together reliabily. Yep you can try, but they can change software and hardware functioning faster than you can make updates.
Many, many little hardware and software companies, all doing their own thing and look where it got Microsoft. Software so stuck in the past that you can hardly move forward.

So, after some thought, I will accept ACC, and iTunes, and all the rest of Steve Jobs's restrictions cause, well, cause they are simple, and they just work. And life is too short to spend hours trying to get a 99 cent song for free.

JMHO.

N.

The first 100,000 appleTV orders represent those suckered in by the keynote address and by their own rabid enthusiasm to have the next great Apple thing. Geeks won't need it (they've already created better solutions for themselves), Tivo users will soon have similar funcionality through hacks, and most of the great unwashed won't even understand how they could use it.

Its funcionality is surprisingly limited. I find the concept interesting, but basically useless (but then I don't have any interest in buying low-resolution downloads - I'd rather have the physical DVD's with the extras than have to figure out how to keep all that downloaded media backed up).

Much as my Apple enthusiasm wants me to get one for the hell of it, I just can't find a reason for it. And I'll likely be in the same situation for the iPhone, frankly.

I agree in principle with Jeff, I guess, but some of the specifics seem ambiguous. I think overall iTunes is intentionally designed to be a single user device and to interface with one external device. Yes, that is how its designed, I don't think that's an accident. When Apple started this whole iTunes store thing it had to tread very carefully - It had to assure content providers that it would be very difficult to steal content from the iTMS, and at the same time provide some basic set of user rights to the consumer. On in all, not an enviable position to be in, but Appel took the leap the best possible way it could have been done and still remain in business over the long haul. That's where Apple has been up to now, so no, iTunes is not a buy-once-unlimited-sharing sort of purchasing experience, I don't think its rocket science to see why.

On the other hand, with the DRM thing (not just Apple's) at a high fever pitch, I think Apple is finally starting to see the beginnings of an opportunity to change the way iTunes inherently must work. I guess we'll see, but I'm pretty sure we're going to see the beginnings of some fundamental changes now.

My big hopes are that:
1) Apple TV will become a 2-way device, so that it can be either upstairs or downstairs and stream video to my computer from my DVR or from my computer to my tv.
2) I WANT TO BE ABLE TO BURN MY iTUNES PURCHASED MOVIES ONTO DVD - DAMMIT!

Peace be to you all.

Thanks, Connor. It was still a little too much bitching for me this early in the product lifecycle.

No worries. Yet again the geeks don't get it, but the masses who want an easy appliance will buy it in droves.

What? This is ridiculous. NOBODY wants AppleTV. It does absolutely NOTHING! Wirelessly streaming videos to your HDTV... and THAT'S IT? Nobody is going to drop $300 for such limited functionality. And it won't work with 80% of the televisions out there anyways. Ridiculous product. This product should be EOL'ed. Anybody purchasing it is just an "early adopter gadget freak" that has tons of extra cash to drop.

To Jeff....

> Turn on "library sharing" and all the authorized machine's libs show up in the source list....i see my wife's and my 2 kids music and they see some of mine (i don't share non-clean music). Got to be on the same network for this to work.

> I believe ITV takes this a step further and stores all the media you expose for sharing on its internal HD.

> I agree that this isn't a true media server....an advanced model with storage expandability is needed

My thoughts exactly. If there is any truth to this report, it has to be due to the phenomenon of Lord Steve P. T. Barnum Jobs lemmings filing into stores to pick up his latest package without even asking themselves: what will it do and why would I want it? He ought to double the price of the thing and see if it keeps selling. I bet it will. Truly amazing.

do yourself a favor and buy a refurbished mini. it does so much more. and you can stream/share libraries with that too. sync movie files when you go out to work. come home boom and watch it. and you could browse the web from your tv or pull up youtube vids on it.

only a few hundred more.

aTV aint worth it.

Let me clarify what I was saying about iTunes inability to share music. I just bought my wife an iPod for Christmas and wanted to set up iTunes on her login on my PowerMac. So I pointed her Library to the same location where I have all my music. So far no problem.

I imported another CD to iTunes from my login. Here's where the problem starts. I log in to my wife's side and the imported CD is no where to be found. I have to manually point to the location of the imported music and tell iTunes to add it to her library. There's the problem.

I want all of the music in my house to be stored in one location. I want iTunes to be smart enough to tell me that new music has been added and ask if I would like to add it to my library.

So right now, my wife is syncing her iPod from my login, but this prevents her from rating music herself.

Maybe if the recording industry drops their demands for DRM, somebody will write a good music library system one day. The same goes for video. iTunes is fine for a one user Mac, but it fails when two people want to have separate logins but access the same music.

You MacBill guys don't get it...

It was a huge step getting the family photo's and home movies off the bookshelves and onto the home computer/Ipod. No longer captive in physical albums or tapes we have actually started to view them. >>> now with apple tv we can easily display on our fancy new home theater set-up !

It ws a big step streaming our newly centralized mp3 library/playlists through the home theatre (which now includes the homes primary audio equipment) through apple's airport. >>> now with apple tv i can access easily through a tv interface vs using my laptop !

Podcasts were a big step...they are becoming more important to me as a source of info/education >>> now via the comfort of my home theatre ....nice !

My kids have bought a large number of TV shows (Life of Zac and Cody, etc) to ply on their Ipod and they still rent the same shows on DVD to wtch on the Home Theatre >>>> not anymore with apple tv !

This integrates very easily into my Home Theatre set-up. One HDMI cable to the AV amp, one ethernet cable to the home network, a few commands into the unified remote....and i'm done. Knowing Apple, i know all the syncing with the houses 2 PC's and 3 Mac's will be painless.

The inerface is easy enough for my wife and parents to use. (i couldn't get them to understand a Windows Home Media set-up I used to have connected)

>>>>this is about multiplying the value of the content you allready have through a very simple, inexpensive step

yeah, i agree with Home User

and i think MacBill might be Bill Gates

i mean, come on, apple tv isn't only about streaming HD movies....why be so biased

i've also heard through sources that it is selling big....beyond usual early adopter types (and many of these types would prefer using a mac mini with pvr anyway)

I would think that most of us here on this forum do not represent the average consumer that Apple will make its greatest amount of money on. Having seen the 3.5 minute clip, my grandmother can handle this menu and remote. Apple is continuing its ease of use plan at the beginning stages of this device and its lesser and more obvious button vision is the best way to do this, and especially considering the bandwidth is not really there yet in the average household to stream HD in order to make this device evolvutionary. I will purchase this device when iTunes goes HD, 80211n is widely available, and when the hard drive is at minimum 80gig. A 100 gig is minimum for what I do for any lengthy period of time, and also for Time Machine, assuming it can back up to its own partition on the same drive.

jive
noun, verb, jived, jiv·ing, adjective
–noun
1. swing music or early jazz.
2. the jargon associated with swing music and early jazz.
3. Slang. deceptive, exaggerated, or meaningless talk: Don't give me any of that jive!
–verb (used without object)
4. to play jive.
5. to dance to jive; jitterbug.
6. Slang. to engage in kidding, teasing, or exaggeration.
–verb (used with object)
7. Slang. to tease; fool; kid: Stop jiving me!
–adjective
8. Slang. insincere, pretentious, or deceptive.

jibe
–verb (used without object), jibed, jib·ing.
to be in harmony or accord; agree: The report does not quite jibe with the commissioner's observations.

Apple is providing an incredible amount of content via video Podcasts to TV's.

This is tremendously under analyzed, the impact of such a system. Will Apple Inc. become an entertainment network? Or will it remain an amateur community channel?

for anyone who has been buying lots of video/movies on iTunes (like my 17 year old son does) apple TV will be a simple upgrade so that they can watch on the big TV.

The fact that so many videos are being purchased already for viewing on a TV Screen should pretty much prove that the Apple TV will be successful.

Way better than keeping track of DVD's for me. Thats all it needs to do. it's a "DVD Player" for iTunes video. Just what the doctor ordered.

Don't underestimate the value of showing your photos on your TV. I currently have TiVo pulling my iPhoto library to my TV (so ATV has limited use for me) but I have to say I was surprised at how much that feature means to me.

Opening up the iPhoto library to the TV for ATV users sitting on their couch with a remote in their hand will be very pleasing indeed. It might not equate $300 (far from it), but they certainly won't be sending the units back en masse just based on the pleasure of music and photos and home movies on the new HD tele.

Anyone know how the margins for iTV compare with iPod?

I am disappointed in the Apple TV. I'll wait for version 2 when it has DVR and Dashboard. Imagine watching any show and pulling up your Dashboard WIdgets. ESPN scores, stocks, IMDB.

This site is a FAKE. It's full of BULLSHIT. Stop linking to it. Thanks.

At this time I just don't have a compelling reason to buy the Apple TV. I'm content to watch the video content I watch on my computer or iPod. If I really want to see it on my TV's bigger screen, I just use the iPod AV cable. Yeah, the picture quality isn't crystal clear HD, but it's pretty good all the same.

Now a compelling reason for me to actually plunk down $300 plus for an AppleTV would be access to an affordable download movie subscription service at 720p or higher. Add Dashboard access (as suggested above), and I'll race to the computer to place my order. Until then...I wait

Jeff interesting comments, email us a little more if you can.

Needs to have some converations here for experience macusers.

Can we start a Forum.