Apple TV: 3 Months Later
Jun 5, 2008 Just Plain Awesomeness, Technology
It has been several months now since I purchased an AppleTV. I have had a lot of time to love it, get mad at it, and really get to know it, and I wanted to share my thoughts on the device and how it has changed the way I partake in media.
Movie Rentals
Every week, iTunes offers a $.99 rental. This is a standard definition movie that is usually at least a few years old, but so far they have served up some pretty classic movies. I have rented A Fish Called Wanda, Escape from Alcatraz, The Usual Suspects, and a few others. For $.99, it’s hard to beat that deal.
The HD rentals look great on a 30 inch HDTV, as do the standard definition ones. An extra buck gets you 720p video on your rental. For me, that’s worth it. A new release HD rental will run you 5 bucks, but you don’t have to leave the house, and the download pretty fast. Usually a few seconds after starting a download of a standard definition movie, it’s ready to watch.
There really is no reason to go to blockbuster now. The time restrictions are not an issue. When I start a movie, I finish the same day, so 24 hours to finish watching it is not an issue.
Movies I Own
I have a few hundred DVD’s, and have them all ripped to an external hard drive. In iTunes, I have selected a bunch of them to sync over to the AppleTV so they can be watched sans computer. But even still, with iTunes up and running, every single non-synced movie is viewable via streaming.
When streaming, it usually starts playing almost instantly. That being said, the movies copied to the AppleTV hard drive are the ones I plan on watching sometime soon.
Movie Purchases
I have only purchased a few movies through iTunes. The ones I have purchased (Mission to Mars and The Hunted) have been $9.99 each (as are all of the “library” titles), which isn’t so bad. The downside here is that you are not getting any special features with the movie. For most movies, I don’t really care about those.
The quality is *almost* dvd quality. Honestly though, the movies look just fine. Maybe on a 60-inch tv you would notice some pixelation, but Apple seems to have that under control.
Video Podcasts
Many video podcasts are available in HD, so what I do here is subscribe to both the iPod version AND the HD version. I sync the HD version to the AppleTV, so I can watch it either at home or on the go using my iPod. And trust me, Diggnation and The Totally Rad Show both look great in HD on a TV.
Music
Personally, I don’t have any music copied to the AppleTV. I have it stream since the files are so small. The only time I listen to music through the AppleTV is if I am cleaning my house (so hardly ever really).
Annoyances
Luckily, there aren’t many. I would say that the main one is that sometimes the AppleTV will just “disappear” from iTunes. This seems to happen right in the middle of a movie I am streaming from my computer, so it causes it to just stop.
Other than that, there are no other major annoyances.
Overall
It has been at least 3 months since I watched a dvd in my dvd player. Besides watching TV using DirecTV, the AppleTV is my primary source of entertainment. It’s hard to imagine going back to watching dvd discs, especially now that I have access to them at my fingertips.
If you are even the least bit thinking about getting an AppleTV, I would highly reccommend it. It is rediculously easy to use, and it will change the way you watch movies at home.
Tags: apple, apple tv, appletv, Movies, Music, podcasts, Technology, TV
Rumor: Apple to release multitouch keyboard for Apple TV
May 19, 2008 Just Plain Awesomeness, Technology, apple
I love my AppleTV. It has really changed the way I watch movies. In fact, I haven’t used an actual dvd to watch a movie in months. Why would I? I have instant access to all of my movies through an AWESOME interface on my tv.
The AppleTV comes with a little remote, which works great. But, even greater than that would be if this rumor is true. Check out these pictures:
These are just artist renditions of what it could look like, but it is still cool nonetheless. From the CrunchGear article:
The multitouch pad would be totally programmable, and would be able to function as anything from a simple number pad to an iPod-like click wheel to a whatever-else-you-have-in-mind. That’s the rumor, at least.
Even though it’s pretty big compared to a standard remote, you would be able to do a lot with it. I hope this rumor turns out to be true!
CrunchGear (via Digg)
Apple TV Take 2: a mini-review
Mar 18, 2008 TV, Technology
I have been using the AppleTV now for a few weeks, and I have to say that it has really changed the way I watch movies/podcasts. For those of you that don’t know, the Apple TV is a device that hooks up to your TV and streams any music, movies, tv shows, and podcasts that you have in iTunes. You can also copy the various media types to the Apple TV so it will work without the computer on, but streaming seems to work fine, even with HD content.
I have a couple of hundred DVD’s that I have copied to my computer and imported into iTunes, and now I can watch them all without having to use the physical DVD disc. Instead, I select it from a list of all of my movies on the beautiful Apple TV interface, and it automatically starts playing, either streamed or directly from the Apple TV hard drive.
Also, iTunes now has movie rentals. I have rented a few, and they look great, especially the HD movies. It is a buck more, but you get 720p video downloaded straight from iTunes to the Apple TV, no computer needed.
Finally, video podcasts are watchable on the Apple TV. I have subscribed to the HD versions of several of them since I can watch them on the tv now. Diggnation has never looked so great.
So check it out: Apple TV
Tags: apple tv, appletv, itunes, mac, macbook, pc, streaming, video
