ReelSmart.com » Apple TV

Tube 2.7 Brings Placeshifting via iChat to the Mac

Stephen Antonucci — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:49:29 +0000

equinux has released The Tube 2.7, a free update to its Mac TV software that adds live-streaming of content via iChat. Place-shifting, allows users to share what they are watching with friends using iChat Theater allowing the receiving person to even record the show. Users can create TubeToGo web gallery that makes an instant podcast of their recordings. They then can subscribe to the podcast of their recordings on the Apple TV in the living room, on a Mac or PC that is running iTunes or other applications. Time-shifting features like pause and rewind as well as information about the show via the electronic program guide (EPG) are available. Users can watch their recordings via Safari on an iPhone or iPod touch where they can also remotely manage and schedule recordings. The Tube 2.7 software, which requires Mac OS X 10.4, works with its TubeStick Hybrid device ($130), a USB 2.0-based TV receiver that includes two receivers for watching digital over-the-air HDTV or digital (Clear QAM) and analog cable TV.

Buy Movies with your Apple TV

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:02:18 +0000

Apple announced that several movie studios will now be releasing digital versions of their movies for sale on the same day as the DVD. Now Apple TV users have the option of buying movies directly from the Apple TV, under a new section called "Top Sellers." Before today you could only rent movies from Apple TV.

Apple TV 2.02 Update Arrives

Stephen Antonucci — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:52:46 +0000

Apple has released 2.0.2 update for Apple TV today, but since I am at NAB I will not get to check it out until I am back at home.

NAB: Blackmagic Intros Video Recorder

Stephen Antonucci — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:33:16 +0000

Blackmagic Design has introduced new Video Recorder device that retails for $119, When I saw it, I said yes I need to buy this, The Video Recorder is a USB 2.0-based video capture device that records video files in H.264 format, for playback on the iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, YouTube and Web. Offering two versions — an analog unit for consumers, priced at $119, and an SDI-equipped version that will retail for $299. Both are expected to be released in mid-July. The consumer-grade Video Recorder features analog component, NTSC, PAL and S-Video input. The device is about the size of a USB thumbdrive, and includes Blackmagic software to help manage the capture of video, scaling it to the target output device and cropping of video edges to help get rid of analog blanking, VHS switching marks and timecode artifacts. The Serial Digital Interface (SDI) version is designed for video pros interested in ingesting standard definition video in H.264 format. It includes an RS-422 interface to manage broadcast deck control. Users with this version of the device can also use the software to enter in and out points for the deck they are capturing from. Reminding me of Elgato's Turbo H264 device looks like an extremely easy way to get analog footage (or digital if you op for the SDI version) ready for the digital world. Software that is included is simple and even allows for sizing and cropping.

Walt Mossberg’s Take on Broadband & Video

Stephen Antonucci — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:30:48 +0000

WSJ Tech Guy, Walt Mossberg's take on the state of broadband. I found this interesting, especially the points of the Apple TV and what he says about a 3G iPhone going 3G in 60 days (around 6:53 in). I could not to agree more.

Apple TV Update 2.0.1 Available

Stephen Antonucci — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 02:25:45 +0000

This made my day. Apple has released version 2.0.1 of the Apple TV software. All I could say when a saw this was thank god! The Apple TV 2.0 update known as Take 2, launched in February was fantastic as it completely transformed Apple' set top box adding substantially new functionality to the Apple TV including Movie rentals in HD with surround sound. The 2.0 update was not all good however as been subject to random lockups and a very slow menu system and scrolling was sometimes terrible. Apple TV version 2.0.1 hopefully can provide the needed bug fixes. The update is available as a free download from the device’s General settings menu under Update Software. I have immediately updated both of our Apple TVs and in the short time I have used it, I already see improvements. Updates takes about 2 minutes to download and another 5 minutes or so to install. Well worth it. Thank you Apple.

So Where is the Apple TV SDK? My Two Cents

Stephen Antonucci — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:35:54 +0000

The iPhone SDK (software development kit) is taking up a lot of space on websites all over the blogosphere and rightfully so. This fantastically successful device is on the verge of being truly "insanely great" to take another more famous Steve's quote. In all the news on the iPhone SDK that will open up the iPhone to thousands of third-party apps, I have to wonder if Apple will even bring an SDK for the Apple TV? Where is the Apple TV's App Store? Imagine the apps we could have running on an "open" Apple TV. DVR, SlingPlayer, TiVo, sms, chat, RSS, social networking, games, home automation, alarm clocks, remote desktop, security, video conferencing... Bluetooth add-ons like keyboards and mice. Maybe this would be the right approach to bringing what Jobs called a "hobby" into yet another "insanely great" and very successful product for Apple. There are no really open set top boxes on the market. With Apple TV running OS X the developers would flock to it. If Apple wanted to get into the living room further what better way? None of this gets in the way of Movie rentals and gives loads of people another reason to buy an "open" Apple TV with all these added capabilities. What are your thoughts? Take our poll on the left.

Apple Shareholder Meeting 2008

Stephen Antonucci — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:52:28 +0000

ComputerWorld's Seth Weintraub has compiled some notes from today's Apple shareholder meeting that are quite interesting. On the iPhone:

It won't have Flash for the forseeable future (as I reported earlier)
There will be lots of applications this summer based on the SDK
The SDK will bring gaming to the iPhone/iPod touch
When asked if there be an iPhone blogging application? Jobs said "build one using the SDK"
They still plan to sell 10 million in 2008.
Apple plans to offer the iPhone in both China and India ... but declined to say when
Unlocked iPhones are a good thing - it shows demand
There was opportunity in business for the iPhone

Regarding the company:

At the meeting, investors passed a shareholder proposal urging the company to allow investors to have an advisory vote each year on executive compensation

Apple has no plans to buy back stock

Tim Cook, Apple COO - reiterated that they passed Dell to become number one in Higher Education laptop sales.

Investors voted down another shareholder proposal for Apple to deepen its commitment to limiting its environmental impact by creating a special board committee on sustainability.

Corporate responsibility - Apple delivered a code of conduct to all of its first tier vendors that it enforces vigorously. Apple has dropped relationships due to vendors not adhering to these. It plans to expand this to lower tier vendors

A successor to Steve Jobs? After joking that he hoped there wouldn't be a party if he was hit by a bus, Jobs said the board has put a lot of thought into the issue. His job is to make sure that anyone on the company's executive team could potentially succeed him, he said. 'We've got really good leadership at the company," Jobs said. If Steve were to leave in the near term, COO Tim cook seems like the obvious successor. Gaming:

Reiterated Windows games released by EA for the Mac using Transgaming's Cider
Apple gives game developers much needed support - World of Warcraft for instance
iPhone/iPod Touch games with SDK would be out soon
Has no plans to take on Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo in gaming

Apple Retail:

Apple now has 15,000 retail store employees with an 80% retention year over year. Jobs noted that employees don't just have retail jobs, but have career paths as Creatives and Geniuses.

AppleTV:

Apple has missed the 1000 rental movies by March 1st as promised by Jobs. This was blamed the licensing complexities at the studios. Apple said they will get there.

To read more go over to ComputerWorld's Seth Weintraub post.

Airfoil Updated for Apple TV AirTunes

Stephen Antonucci — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:25:32 +0000

Rogue Amoeba has released Airfoil 3.1 adds support for transmitting audio to the Apple TV utilizing its new AirTunes feature. This updates contains improvements to Airfoil Speaker, enhanced DVD support in the Airfoil Video Player, full compatibility with Front Row, and many other minor fixes and improvements.

HandBrake 0.92 Arrives for Leopard

Stephen Antonucci — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:51:43 +0000

Handbrake 0.92 is a new version of the great open source DVD ripper and convertor. HandBrake 0.9.2 incorporates many major and exciting changes—including full support for the AppleTV Take 2 and the latest iPhone/iPod Touch firmware. This release is only compatible with Mac OS X Leopard, 10.5 that supports Dolby Digital 5.1 (AC3) sound in MP4 files, for a true DVD experience on the Apple TV and in Perian.

My Apple TV Wish List

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:41:53 +0000

I have owned two Apple TVs since they first became available. Sometimes it is hard being an early adopter of any device os technology. Many times you end up being the "beta" tester for a device or gadget that never gets to version two. The Apple TV has been useful to our household since we adopted them. But the Apple TV was not totally living up to its potential. I thought when Apple gets around to updating this device, it might mean buying a new one. Well that has turned out not to be the case. The recent update for the Apple TV coined "Take Two" was worth the wait. After an update which took about 12 minutes, it was getting a whole new unit. As good an update as the Apple "Take Two" is, as with everything in life it does not make the Apple TV perfect. So I have created my "wish" list. This is the list of what I hope Apple could or even better yet would add to "Take Three." Extend The Rental Time The terms for renting a movie is you have 30 days to start watching it. Once you start watching the rental you can watch it as many times as you like, pause, stop, rewind, or fast forward for 24 hours. After the rental expires, it disappears, like the tape on the old Mission Impossible show (but without the smoke). Apple has done a pretty good job of not allowing the digital rights management (DRM) to get in the way of the users enjoyment. For instance, as long as you start watching the movie before the expiration time, you can watch, pause and even rewind it to the beginning. The movie does not instantly stop working leaving you with a half watched flick. This works the same way on the Apple TV, iTunes or an iPod. For example, I have started a rented movie that only had a few minutes left and was still able to watch an entire two hour movie and even pause it for a bathroom break. It even allows you to rewind it to the beginning and start it again. Rental times for movies would be much more useful to busy families if the time to watch the rental was extended from 24 to 48 hours however. If they are allowing you 30 days to store the rental before starting to watch. It does not seem unreasonable to allow a bit longer period to actually view the movie. Subscription Model Apple might consider adding a subscription model for renting movies after they have added more content. Maybe paying $10 per month and having three or four rentals per month with more lenient rental times. This would allow them to go head-to-head with Netflix and Blockbuster. The Apple TV has a great convenience factor, but the cost and of course the selection does not yet compete with Netflix or Blockbuster. So it is either walking to the mailbox or using your Apple Remote, it's up to you. Sure you have to buy an Apple TV ($225 from Amazon), but if you also have to buy a Blu-ray player if you want to watch HD movies from the disc rental guys. TV Shows in HD HD is a compelling medium these days. Cable, satellite, and telco TV offerings are all pushing this. Apple TV's HD rental movies with surround sound are pretty good quality and compete well against VOD from the other providers. So who about allowing TV shows to be "rented" in HD and 5.1 dolby digital surround sound just like the movie offerings. Apple does not offer TV shows for rent. At the usual $1.99 per episode, rentals are not a necessity, but would still be nice since the Apple TV has no recording features. Especially if they are available in HD with surround audio. Multi-Room Viewing I own two Apple TVs - one in the family room and one in the master bedroom. It would be awesome if I could rent an HD movie on the Apple TV in my family room and watch it in my bedroom if I choose. Right now rented movies can not even be seen on the other Apple TV. Content in iTunes running on any computer connected to your home network can be played on any Apple TV. Movies rented via iTunes can be "moved" to an Apple TV, iPod or iPhone for viewing, but not the other way around. The upside for Apple is they might sell more Apple TVs. iChat AV and Widgets Adding iChat AV and some Dashboard type widgets would be a nice touch. Being able to use the Apple TV to video conference and check the weather, traffic or stocks would make it an even more desirable. This could be acheived easier than you might think. The Apple TV has one unused USB port that may be able to be used for connecting a camera. Could a new iSight return? How about adding Bluetooth so we can add one of those Apple wireless keyboard as an option. While you are at it how about a modified Safari browser?

VisualHub 1.31 adds Surround Sound for Apple TV

Stephen Antonucci — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:17:38 +0000

VisualHub $23.32, one of my favorite Mac compression apps, has an update 1.3.1 that adds support for 5.1 Surround Sound on the just-released Apple TV "Take 2." The release notes also claim some speed improvements. VisualHub 1.31 is a free upgrade for registered users.

Review: Apple TV Take 2 Update

Stephen Antonucci — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:47:37 +0000

Apple TV has now received a major software update that Apple is calling Apple TV Take 2. I updated two Apple TVs last night. One in our Family Room that is connected to a Sony 50 inch 1080P Rear Projection HDTV and the other in our Master Bedroom that is connected to a Sony 40 inch 1080P LCD flat screen HDTV. The new Apple TV is very cool and had a few pleasant surprises for me. This update makes the Apple TV more of a stand-alone set top box (STB) that no longer relies on a computer to sync or stream from to play content. You can now Rent standard definition or high definition movies and buy TV Shows directly from the iTunes Store without the aid of iTunes running on your computer. Podcasts (audio or video) can be chosen and played directly on the Apple TV for a more IPTV experience. I am sure this the product Apple wanted to deliver originally. Updating the Software Updating both Apple TVs was simple and only took about 12-15 minutes. My Apple TV is connected to my home network via ethernet, but wireless users should have no problems. I just navigated to Settings on the Apple TV menu, choose Update Software, and pressed the Apple Remote’s Play/Pause button. The Apple TV showed an available update and I choose Download Now. The download was quite fast on my FiOS Internet connection only about 2 minutes. Next I choose to Update Now and the update proceeded with several restarts. This process took about 10 minutes or so. Once the update was complete I was greeted with the Apple TV’s new opening animation and then the new interface. New Interface I have to say the UI is very nice, replacing the old Apple TV that was first class that still exists mostly as OS X Leopard’s Front Row. I like the new interface a lot. Very easy to navigate and understand. All the navigation now takes place essentially within a box with two columns that is layer and floats above the rest of the Apple TV interface. On the left side of the box is Movies, TV Shows, Music, Podcasts, Photos, YouTube, and Settings which are the main categories. The right side choices are subcategories on the left side. For example, if you’ have Movies selected, the right side will display from the top - Rented Movies (if you have rented a movie on the Apple TV), Top Movies, Genres, All HD, Search, Trailers, My Movies, and Shared Movies. The new interface has lots of subtle improvements over the older interface, like aiding navigation by adding numbers and breaking TV shows up into seasons. Rent Movies The Apple TV can still be either synced or have content streamed from a computer running iTunes (Windows PCs or Macs). But being able to rent movies in HD quality with 5.1 surround sound is probably what you are most interested in. After the update I went to Movies -> All HD and picked the HD version of Transformers to rent, which we thought would be a great test for video and especially surround sound audio. The rentals cost $3.99 for standard definition (SD) and $4.99 for high definition (HD) for newer movies and $2.99 (SD) and $3.99 (HD) for older library titles. The terms are that you have 30 days to watch the rental and once you start watching the rental you can watch it as many times as you want in a 24 hour period. If you rent a movie directly from the Apple TV you can not transfer it to a different device (at least not at this time). Since the current iPods is not capable playing back HD, this is not too much of a limitation. Note however, movies rented using iTunes on a computer (these are only SD) can be "moved" to an Apple TV to view. Movies for rent are available from major movie studios, including Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony, along with Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, New Line and Lions Gate. You can preview a movies trailer before purchase. Some movies even have an HD trailer in the HD trailer section. If you’ve already rented the movie you picked, the Apple TV will ask if you’re sure you want to rent it again. The first time you use your Apple TV to purchase or rent something, you will be prompted for your Apple ID and password (same ones you use with iTunes on your desktop). If you have your Apple TV synced with a computer running iTunes you may be asked for just the password. After entering the information on the Apple TV, you will be asked the option to save this information so you don’t have to enter it again (this can be deleted later within the iTunes Store area in General settings by choosing the Sign Out command). You can also use Parental controls to limit purchases and protect certain types of content from being played. You do not have to wait until the entire rental movie downloads to watch it. I was able to start watching Transformers in about 10 minutes after placing the order. Apple TV tells you as soon as you can begin watching it. Once a rental is ready to watch, a Rented Movies entry appears in the main interface when you select the Movies category. HD and 5.1 Quality OK to what you probably most want to know. How is the HD rental's video and audio? Well it looks very good. The quality of the video on my Sony 50 inch 1080P HDTV appeared better than an unconverted DVD and as good as anything I get from my Verizon FiOS TV connection. The 5.1 surround sound was fabulous, especially on Transformers which is a good flick by the way. My setup for audio in our Family Room is a Sony STR-DG1000 Home Theater surround sound receiver with Polk speakers all around and a Yamaha subwoofer. Playing the rented Transformers movie, my Sony receiver's blue light indicating Dolby Digital Audio lit up and the sound was better than anything I have ever heard from the Apple TV and some DVDs for that matter. Looks like my trips to the video store may be over. As long as Apple can maintain a good selection of movies, as they promised I will become the ultimate couch potato and order with my remote. Sure FiOS TV offers VOD, but they still no not offer HD content in my area and the interface on the FiOS TV is in no way as cool as the Apple TV. Also there is no way to move rentals to a portable device like an iPod or iPhone (rented from iTunes on a computer). TV Shows TV shows can not be rented but they can now be purchased directly on the Apple TV now. Adding a TV show to Favorites allows you to easily find them in the new Favorites area. TV shows can be previewed before purchase. TV shows can be viewed with a minute or two after purchasing it. Purchased TV shows as well as music and music videos are automatically synced back to the computer you’ve designated to sync your Apple TV with without any user intervention. Music Purchasing music and music videos from the iTunes Store directly with your Apple TV is easy. You can purchase single tracks or albums. Some tracks are available only when purchasing the entire album. This is the same as when you use iTunes on your computer. Podcasts One my new favorite features of the new Apple TV update is the way it now allows you to pick a free podcast to watch (or listen to) directly on the Apple TV and watch it almost immediately. Finding a podcast is very easy and searchable. Choose Podcasts on the main interface and the right side shows Favorites, Top Podcasts, Genres, Providers (1UP, ABC News, PodShow or NPR, for example), Search, My Podcasts, and Shared Podcasts. Choose the one you want to watch and you can "Add to Favorites" so finding it next time is a snap. Press play and you are watching it fast. You can still download it if you wish. This makes the Apple TV more like a true IPTV box. As a frequent viewer of several podcasts this is fantastic. No longer do I have to subscribe on my Mac running iTunes to view these on my HDTV. By the way there are more and more HD podcasts available and this feature on the Apple TV will help this effort as podcasters can get what is equivalent to a channel into your home. YouTube Like before the update. you can view YouTube videos. The Apple TV makes it easy to find videos as Featured, Most Viewed, Most Recent, Top Rated, or choose History, Search, and your Log In options. Photos One of my favorite features of the Apple TV was being able to view my digital photos on a large screen HDTV. Thsi update has made big improvements in this regard. While you can still view photos synced to your Apple TV, you now have the option to view photos streamed from .Mac Photo Web Galleries and Flickr contacts. It test this and it worked flawlessly. You simply add the .Mac or Flickr account information which is quick and easy. A Few Surprises Two things in the Apple TV update that surprised me was that the Apple TV can now be used with Airtunes and that there is now a 1080P video choice in the video settings. Computers running iTunes have long had the ability to "stream" audio from your computers iTunes Library and iTunes Internet radio to remote speakers using an Airport Express. I have several of these Airport Express units connected around our home - one connected to the Bose radio in the living room, powered speakers in the kitchen, our sound system in the family room, etc. As of the software update on the Apple TVs, they now also show up in the list of available speakers in iTunes! When using this connection to play music from your iTunes Library your Apple TV will also display the album art and give you a status of where it is at in the track. The Apple TV has settings to allow or disallow this use or password protect it located within the Audio settings. This is a nice surprise and may give you some insight of yet another way Apple is planning on getting into your living room. I was also surprised to see a 1080P video choice in the Apple TV video settings. The older software only offered 720P or 1080i as well as some others. Not that this means a whole lot but worth mentioning. Wish List Apple does not offer TV shows for rent. This would be nice. At the usual $1.99 per episode, rentals are not a necessity, but would still be nice since the Apple TV has no recording features. Rental times for movies would be much more useful to busy families if the time to watch the rental was extended from 24 hours to 48. Or maybe a re-rental 50% discount might be a happy medium. Apple might consider adding a subscription model for renting movies after they have added more content. This would allow them to go head-to-head with Netflix and Blockbuster. Overall this is a fantastic update to the Apple TV and shows that Apple is listening to its customers. If you held back on buying an Apple TV, this update along with the $70 price cut may make you reconsider. The Apple TV (40GB HD) costs $225 from Amazon which is cheaper than an iPod classic. The Apple TV requires a widescreen (16 x 9) enhanced-definition or high-definition television with an HDMI, DVI, or component video input port, a wired or wireless network. an iTunes Store account, and a broadband Internet connection. See the guided tour and the details on features on the Apple site.Apple TV has now received a major software update that Apple is calling Apple TV Take 2. I updated two Apple TVs last night. One in our Family Room that is connected to a Sony 50 inch 1080P Rear Projection HDTV and the other in our Master Bedroom that is connected to a Sony 40 inch 1080P LCD flat screen HDTV. The new Apple TV is very cool and had a few pleasant surprises for me. This update makes the Apple TV more of a stand-alone set top box (STB) that no longer relies on a computer to sync or stream from to play content. You can now Rent standard definition or high definition movies and buy TV Shows directly from the iTunes Store without the aid of iTunes running on your computer. Podcasts (audio or video) can be chosen and played directly on the Apple TV for a more IPTV experience. I am sure this the product Apple wanted to deliver originally. Updating the Software Updating both Apple TVs was simple and only took about 12-15 minutes. My Apple TV is connected to my home network via ethernet, but wireless users should have no problems. I just navigated to Settings on the Apple TV menu, choose Update Software, and pressed the Apple Remote’s Play/Pause button. The Apple TV showed an available update and I choose Download Now. The download was quite fast on my FiOS Internet connection only about 2 minutes. Next I choose to Update Now and the update proceeded with several restarts. This process took about 10 minutes or so. Once the update was complete I was greeted with the Apple TV’s new opening animation and then the new interface. New Interface I have to say the UI is very nice, replacing the old Apple TV that was first class that still exists mostly as OS X Leopard’s Front Row. I like the new interface a lot. Very easy to navigate and understand. All the navigation now takes place essentially within a box with two columns that is layer and floats above the rest of the Apple TV interface. On the left side of the box is Movies, TV Shows, Music, Podcasts, Photos, YouTube, and Settings which are the main categories. The right side choices are subcategories on the left side. For example, if you’ have Movies selected, the right side will display from the top - Rented Movies (if you have rented a movie on the Apple TV), Top Movies, Genres, All HD, Search, Trailers, My Movies, and Shared Movies. The new interface has lots of subtle improvements over the older interface, like aiding navigation by adding numbers and breaking TV shows up into seasons. Rent Movies The Apple TV can still be either synced or have content streamed from a computer running iTunes (Windows PCs or Macs). But being able to rent movies in HD quality with 5.1 surround sound is probably what you are most interested in. After the update I went to Movies -> All HD and picked the HD version of Transformers to rent, which we thought would be a great test for video and especially surround sound audio. The rentals cost $3.99 for standard definition (SD) and $4.99 for high definition (HD) for newer movies and $2.99 (SD) and $3.99 (HD) for older library titles. The terms are that you have 30 days to watch the rental and once you start watching the rental you can watch it as many times as you want in a 24 hour period. If you rent a movie directly from the Apple TV you can not transfer it to a different device (at least not at this time). Since the current iPods is not capable playing back HD, this is not too much of a limitation. Note however, movies rented using iTunes on a computer (these are only SD) can be "moved" to an Apple TV to view. Movies for rent are available from major movie studios, including Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony, along with Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, New Line and Lions Gate. You can preview a movies trailer before purchase. Some movies even have an HD trailer in the HD trailer section. The first time you use your Apple TV to purchase or rent something, you will be prompted for your Apple ID and password (same ones you use with iTunes on your desktop). If you have your Apple TV synced with a computer running iTunes you may be asked for just the password. After entering the information on the Apple TV, you will be asked the option to save this information so you don’t have to enter it again (this can be deleted later within the iTunes Store area in General settings by choosing the Sign Out command). You can also use Parental controls to limit purchases and protect certain types of content from being played. You do not have to wait until the entire rental movie downloads to watch it. I was able to start watching Transformers in about 10 minutes after placing the order. Apple TV tells you as soon as you can begin watching it. Once a rental is ready to watch, a Rented Movies entry appears in the main interface when you select the Movies category. HD and 5.1 Quality OK to what you probably most want to know. How is the HD rental's video and audio? Well it looks very good. The quality of the video on my Sony 50 inch 1080P HDTV appeared better than an unconverted DVD and as good as anything I get from my Verizon FiOS TV connection. The 5.1 surround sound was fabulous, especially on Transformers which is a good flick by the way. My setup for audio in our Family Room is a Sony STR-DG1000 Home Theater surround sound receiver with Polk speakers all around and a Yamaha subwoofer. Playing the rented Transformers movie, my Sony receiver's blue light indicating Dolby Digital Audio lit up and the sound was better than anything I have ever heard from the Apple TV and some DVDs for that matter. Looks like my trips to the video store may be over. As long as Apple can maintain a good selection of movies, as they promised I will become the ultimate couch potato and order with my remote. Sure FiOS TV offers VOD, but they still no not offer HD content in my area and the interface on the FiOS TV is in no way as cool as the Apple TV. Also there is no way to move rentals to a portable device like an iPod or iPhone (rented from iTunes on a computer). TV Shows TV shows can not be rented but they can now be purchased directly on the Apple TV now. Adding a TV show to Favorites allows you to easily find them in the new Favorites area. TV shows can be previewed before purchase. TV shows can be viewed with a minute or two after purchasing it. Purchased TV shows as well as music and music videos are automatically synced back to the computer you’ve designated to sync your Apple TV with without any user intervention. Music Purchasing music and music videos from the iTunes Store directly with your Apple TV is easy. You can purchase single tracks or albums. Some tracks are available only when purchasing the entire album. This is the same as when you use iTunes on your computer. Podcasts One my new favorite features of the new Apple TV update is the way it now allows you to pick a free podcast to watch (or listen to) directly on the Apple TV and watch it almost immediately. Finding a podcast is very easy and searchable. Choose Podcasts on the main interface and the right side shows Favorites, Top Podcasts, Genres, Providers (1UP, ABC News, PodShow or NPR, for example), Search, My Podcasts, and Shared Podcasts. Choose the one you want to watch and you can "Add to Favorites" so finding it next time is a snap. Press play and you are watching it fast. You can still download it if you wish. This makes the Apple TV more like a true IPTV box. As a frequent viewer of several podcasts this is fantastic. No longer do I have to subscribe on my Mac running iTunes to view these on my HDTV. By the way there are more and more HD podcasts available and this feature on the Apple TV will help this effort as podcasters can get what is equivalent to a channel into your home. YouTube Like before the update. you can view YouTube videos. The Apple TV makes it easy to find videos as Featured, Most Viewed, Most Recent, Top Rated, or choose History, Search, and your Log In options. Photos One of my favorite features of the Apple TV was being able to view my digital photos on a large screen HDTV. Thsi update has made big improvements in this regard. While you can still view photos synced to your Apple TV, you now have the option to view photos streamed from .Mac Photo Web Galleries and Flickr contacts. It test this and it worked flawlessly. You simply add the .Mac or Flickr account information which is quick and easy. A Few Surprises Two things in the Apple TV update that surprised me was that the Apple TV can now be used with Airtunes and that there is now a 1080P video choice in the video settings. Computers running iTunes have long had the ability to "stream" audio from your computers iTunes Library and iTunes Internet radio to remote speakers using an Airport Express. I have several of these Airport Express units connected around our home - one connected to the Bose radio in the living room, powered speakers in the kitchen, our sound system in the family room, etc. As of the software update on the Apple TVs, they now also show up in the list of available speakers in iTunes! When using this connection to play music from your iTunes Library your Apple TV will also display the album art and give you a status of where it is at in the track. The Apple TV has settings to allow or disallow this use or password protect it located within the Audio settings. This is a nice surprise and may give you some insight of yet another way Apple is planning on getting into your living room. I was also surprised to see a 1080P video choice in the Apple TV video settings. The older software only offered 720P or 1080i as well as some others. Not that this means a whole lot but worth mentioning. Wish List Apple does not offer TV shows for rent. This would be nice. At the usual $1.99 per episode, rentals are not a necessity, but would still be nice since the Apple TV has no recording features. Rental times for movies would be much more useful to busy families if the time to watch the rental was extended from 24 hours to 48. Or maybe a re-rental 50% discount might be a happy medium. Apple might consider adding a subscription model for renting movies after they have added more content. This would allow them to go head-to-head with Netflix and Blockbuster. Overall this is a fantastic update to the Apple TV and shows that Apple is listening to its customers. If you held back on buying an Apple TV, this update along with the $70 price cut may make you reconsider. The Apple TV (40GB HD) costs $225 from Amazon which is cheaper than an iPod classic. The Apple TV requires a widescreen (16 x 9) enhanced-definition or high-definition television with an HDMI, DVI, or component video input port, a wired or wireless network. an iTunes Store account, and a broadband Internet connection. See the guided tour and the details on features on the Apple site.

Apple Updates .Mac Web Gallery

Stephen Antonucci — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:55:30 +0000

Apple has enhanced .Mac Web Gallery with some new features. Many require that you running the latest version of iPhoto ’08 and iMovie ’08. Web Gallery is now integrated with the latest update of the Apple TV that now allows viewing any .Mac member’s public photos and movies right on your widescreen television. You can also view Flickr accounts. Other new features are:

Full-size JPEG downloads. Using iPhoto ’08 7.1.2, you can now choose to let visitors download your full-size JPEGs (highest resolution), or images optimized for 16-by-20-inch prints (smaller file size).
Standalone photo albums. Also using iPhoto ’08 7.1.2, you can publish standalone albums that do not appear on your Web Gallery home page. These are ideal for sharing photos intended for a select audience.
Password-protected movies. Using iMovie ’08 7.1.1, you can now require visitors to enter a password to view or download specific movies from your Web Gallery.
Web Gallery subscriptions. Visitors can now subscribe to your entire Web Gallery with a single RSS feed. The feed is updated any time new photos or movies are added, so subscribers can stay up to date automatically.
Aperture support. Aperture 2.0 users can now publish directly to .Mac Web Gallery. You get all the publishing features of iPhoto ’08, plus an option to allow visitors to download your original RAW files.

Delayed Apple TV Take 2 Update is Here

Stephen Antonucci — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:37:50 +0000

Several websites are reporting that the update for Apple TV that is coined "Take 2" is now available. Apple TV Take 2 makes the Apple TV more like a stand-alone set top box that features an updated UI as well as:

HD and Standard Definition movie rentals
Direct purchases from the iTunes Store
Flickr/.Mac Photo Viewing
View iTunes Podcasts directly

This update is free to all Apple TV owners. I hope to get this going on my two Apple TVs at home later today.

Many Apple TV Patents Filed

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:23:54 +0000

MacNN has a post on 47 patent applications made by Apple to the US Patent & Trademark Office discussing much more functionality for the Apple TV.

Apple TV Software Update Delayed

Stephen Antonucci — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:45:53 +0000

Apple has announced that the free Apple TV software update enabling movie rentals is not quite finished and will now be available in another week or two. This highly anticipated update will allow the Apple TV to work more like a "stand-alone" set top box and give users the ability to "rent" movies from iTunes in standard and HD quality directly from the iTunes Store without the need of a computer.

Safari Add-on Downloads and Converts Video for iPod

Stephen Antonucci — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:28:45 +0000

Convert videos from the Internet to your Mac / iPod / iPhone / AppleTV automatically. CosmoPod €6.90 or $10.20 US (5-day free trial available) is a Safari add-on that helps you download and convert Flash, DivX, WMV and Real Media videos from the Internet to your Mac / iPod / iPhone / AppleTV automatically. CosmoPod is almost universal. It will work on most sites broadcasting video content. CosmoPod lounges in Safari's address bar and activates whenever a video is detected on the website you're on. In a single click, the video is downloaded and converted to a friendly video format, and added to your iTunes Library so it's ready for your next iPod / iPhone / AppleTV sync.

iTunes Movie Rentals and the Analog Hole

Stephen Antonucci — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:54:38 +0000

Apple's new iTunes Movie Rental service allows you rent movies in standard definition (640-by-480 almost DVD quality) and watch them on your Mac or Windows PC, as well on the iPod Classic, 3G iPod nano, iPod touch or iPhone. You must have the latest software installed on your iPod or iPhone. When you rent a movie you have 30 days to start watching. Once you start watching the movie you can watch for up to 24 hours as many times as you like. Once the 24 hour period is up the movie file will disappear from your hard drive. Prices for library titles (older movies) are $2.99 with newer titles costing $3.99.

HD Movie rentals (720P) will be available in February on the Apple TV only. Apple has announced the Apple TV will receive a major software update in the next week or so to allow rentals while cutting the price of the unit to $229. Once the Apple TV software is updated you will be able to rent movies in standard definition or HD directly from your Apple TV without the need of a computer. Most of the HD movies for rent will include 5.1 Dolby surround sound and will cost $3.99 for library titles and $4.99 for newer titles, just a dollar more than the standard definition versions. As of this writing no rented movies can be played on the Apple TV until it receives the expected software update.

As I said earlier only the current iPods can play rented movies. This leaves out the 5G and 5.5G iPod video. This is most probably due to the copy protection scheme (DRM) Apple has come up with for rented content. Apparently the older iPods lack the needed technology to play back this copy protected content.

When renting movies that you want to watch on your computer, iPod or iPhone you select it in the iTunes Store Movie section and pick "RENT MOVIE" on your computer using iTunes. You do not have to wait until the entire file is downloaded to start watching it. It will play within 30 seconds to a minute or two on most modern broadband connections. When the download begins you will see a new category on the left side of iTunes called "Rented Movies" appear.

Apple allows you to "move" your rental to your iPod or iPhone. You can watch part of it on the computer move it to your iPod or iPhone and pick it up where you left off, if you like. In order to move the movie to your portable device you must connect your iPod or iPhone to iTunes (sync). Select your device on the left, go to the Movie tab where you will see a new section that allows you to move the rental to your device. Click the "Move" button next to the movie and then click the "Apply" button at the bottom. You can only move it to one device at a time.

You must be connected to the Internet to transfer a rented movie. Once "moved" to your iPod it is no longer available in iTunes as it is "moved" not copied. Moving the rental usually only takes a few minutes. Once the file is finished syncing to your iPod or iPhone you can eject your device and watch the movie. You will find it in the new Rental menu under Video.

You can move it back to iTunes and another iPod or iPhone if you like within the time frame of the rental. Just move the Movie Rental back to iTunes and then move it to another compatible device.

Analog Hole The current iPods and iPhone have the ability to play video on a TV as long as you have an Apple-authorized, authentication chip-equipped accessory or cable. Many older third-party add-ons will not allow video out on the newer iPods or iPhone as they lack this chip. Apple sells new $49 cables to allow for video out. They make composite and component versions. Also Apple Universal Docks allow for video out using S-Video out. I have both the Apple Composite AV Cable and an older Apple Universal Dock that has S-VHS out. Now this leads me to the "analog hole" discussion.

For years copy protection schemes (DRM) have suffered from what is known as the "analog hole" as a way to copy video and audio. The Apple DRM used on the new iTunes Movie Rentals is no different. After renting a movie from iTunes Store I "moved" it to an iPod Classic and was able to play out video and audio from my iPod to my Sony flat screen HDTV without any issues using both the Apple Composite AV Cable and an older Apple Universal Dock.

I tested this playback from my iPod using the Apple Universal Dock with S-Video and RCA audio directly into a Panasonic DVD-R deck and successfully recorded the movie. It made a acceptable recording from the standard definition movie. One problem was I realized was the movie I tested was a little over 2 hours long and my DVD-R stopped at its two hour setting a bit short. I could have chosen a longer record time but quality would have surely suffered a bit.

Next, I decided to test recording my iPod from the Apple Universal Dock with S-Video and RCA audio directly into my Elgato EyeTV 200 (older model) that is connected to my Mac mini. I set the EyeTV software to record at the high quality DVD setting. The EyeTV can export recordings to H.264 video that is Apple TV, iPod or iPhone compatible. This achieved a very decent watchable recording.

Of course recording these standard definition movies is time consuming (must be recorded in real time) and a pain, not to mention taking up lots of hard drive space and that's the point. Apple has priced the rentals to match most video rental stores and even though DVDs are easily ripped, most people either don't know how or don't bother. The only real way to curb piracy is to compete with it.

HD video does not usually suffer from the "analog hole" problem. As the only real way to display HD video is via HDMI which has copy protection built-in or component (RGB). There are really no readily available component recorders that can record this HD signal. Set top boxes that support HD video and sport composite or S-Video outputs can only output standard definition video from these ports. The Apple TV has only HDMI and component video outputs.

Apple has put together a great alternative to driving to the video store or waiting for discs to come in the mail. By signing up every major Hollywood studio I suspect the selection will be pretty decent in time. Apple is promising Movie Rentals after only 30 days of DVD release for most flicks. The pricing is compelling and it is hard to beat renting HD quality movies with surround sound from your couch when the Apple TV joins the rental party in a few weeks. These HD movies will be 720P and are less than Blu-ray's 1080P resolution, but will be quite great looking anyway.

I agree with Steve Jobs when he says "people want to own their music and rent movies." Apple is betting big on this reasoning. Sony's Blu-ray may win in the format war against HD-DVD, without the help of Apple as they have yet to support Blu-ray by making it available in any Mac. But services like Apple's iTunes Movie Rentals may actually slow the sale of these still pretty expensive high definition disc players. The only way to combat HD downloads is to see $99 Blu-ray players and plenty of rental movies available for them. As most households with home theatre probably have broadband, Sony may find themselves behind Apple repeating what had to be an iPod nightmare for them all over again.

EyeTV 3 Released for Mac

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:08:42 +0000

Elgato has announced EyeTV 3, a major software upgrade to its popular television PVR software for the Mac, as well as updates for its EyeTV Hybrid and EyeTV 250 Plus television receivers. EyeTV along with compatible hardware transforms your Mac into a personal video recorder. Bringing you some TiVO-like that include editing out unwanted commercials and compressing the video for many devices such as Apple TV, iPods, PSPs, and iPhones. EyeTV 3 has a new, iTunes-inspired interface, with a customizable sidebar and Cover Flow mode for viewing EyeTV recordings. Users can create Smart Playlists for organizing recordings, as well as Smart Guides for automatically searching for and recording TV shows. The new EyeTV Sharing feature allows users to share their libraries with other EyeTV users on the same network. Also added is the On Screen Menu, a semi-transparent floating options menu for watching and recording TV, which can be controlled from either a mouse or remote control. EyeTV 3 also includes enhanced Wi-Fi access for viewing recordings on devices across the network, an enhanced editor for precise video trimming, new automatic TV episode management, and more. EyeTV 3 is now available from Elgato's Online Shop for $79.95. Users who purchased EyeTV 2 on or after December 1st, 2007, are eligible for a free upgrade, while earlier EyeTV 2 purchasers can upgrade for $39.95. I just upgraded tonight so look for a more detailed review soon.

Fox and Apple Show Off iTunes Digital Copy

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:43:34 +0000

Apple and Twentieth Century Fox have introduced iTunes Digital Copy which are specially configured DVD movies with the ability to copy the movie to iTunes, for playback on the Mac, Windows PCs, iPods, the iPhone, and the Apple TV. The way this works is users are prompted to enter a unique code into iTunes that they can find in the movie's packaging. iTunes then copies the movie into the user's iTunes library to allow viewing the movie immediately, no more ripping and compressing! Each DVD will only transfer its iTunes Digital Copy to one iTunes library as it does use DRM. The first disc to feature this technology is "Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest," a parody of Star Wars featuring the popular cartoon family seen in the "Family Guy" TV show on Fox Television.

iTunes Movie Rentals Arrive

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:33:43 +0000

Updating iTunes to 7.6 will bring you the ability to now "rent" movies from all the major movie studios, including Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony, along with Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, New Line and Lions Gate. Movie rentals will be priced at $3.99 for new releases and $2.99 for older films. High Definition (HD) movies will be downloadable only via Apple TV and will cost $4.99 for new releases and $3.99 for older films. iTunes Movie Rentals uses DRM (Digital Rights Management) that of course does not allow copying or burning. After downloading a rented movie you have up to 30 days to start watching the movie. Once you begin watching, you have 24 hours to watch the film as many times as you want. You do not however need to download the entire file to start watching it, users with modern Internet connections will be able to begin watching rentals within 30 seconds of initiating the rental download. Movies can be watched on your Mac, PC, all current iPods, the iPhone or with an Apple TV. Movies can also be transferred between these devices allowing you to start watching a rented movie on your computer and moving it to your iPod to finish watching it on the portable device. By the end of February will contain over 1,000 movies. Movies will become available for rental on iTunes 30 days after they are released on DVD. Apple TV rentals are downloaded in a "near-DVD quality" format compatible with Macs, PCs, iPods, and iPhones. High-definition rentals are full 720p films with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and can only be viewed on an Apple TV and a HDTV. Apple may be entering a segment in the industry where it will face some competition, but they have the advantage of having millions of compatible devices and loyal users of iTunes.

Apple TV Stands Alone Price Drops

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:03:07 +0000

One of my favorite announcements from Steve Jobs Keynote was the news about the Apple TV (what Jobs called Take 2) and the new iTunes with video rentals. I have sitting out with the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray high definition DVD format war and have not bought either. I have been happy enough with my upscaling DVD players on our HD TVs. Just as it seemed that Blu-ray may be soon headed toward the winners circle, I was thinking, OK maybe I will buy a Blu-ray player. Well Apple has changed my plans of giving Sony any of my money (at least for awhile). I own two Apple TVs and love them. With Apple Take 2, I see no immediate need for any high definition DVD player. Apple is bringing HD rentals to the Apple TV and has untethered it from a computer. No longer will you have to use iTunes on your computer to purchase content or download and watch podcasts. With the price drop Apple has announced the Apple TV entry-level 40GB model is now $229, while the 160GB version now costs $329, a $70 price reduction for both. New and improved Apple TV software will be available in about two weeks as a free update to existing Apple TV devices. Apple TV was designed to be an accessory for iTunes and your computer when first released. Now it is a "stand alone" entertainment set top box. While it will still synchronize content with your computer, no computer is required to operate it. Once it's connected to your television and your computer network, you can rent movies directly on your widescreen TV, using Apple's new iTunes Movie Rentals feature, navigating using the Apple TV's remote. iTunes Movie Rentals cost $4.99 for new high-definition releases, $3.99 for older high-definition films and new standard-definition releases, and $2.99 for older standard-definition releases. The HD movies will feature 720p playback with many (but not all) available with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Standard-definition movies are DVD quality. The Apple TV can also display photos from online photo-sharing site Flickr as well as Apple's .Mac photo-sharing site. Since my plan for a Blu-ray player was to mainly be able to rent HD movies, I see Apple TV as all I need for now. Apple's managed to get the support of all the major movie studios, including Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony, along with Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, New Line and Lions Gate. In no time at all I think I might find a better selection with my Apple TV remote from the couch, than my local Blockbuster. After downloading a movie rental you have up to 30 days to start watching the movie. Once you begin watching, you have 24 hours to watch the film as many times as you want. Playback is possible within a few minutes of ordering the flick on most modern broadband connections. This announcement made my day! Watch the guided tour video.

Happy New Year - MacWorld Cometh!

Stephen Antonucci — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:15:18 +0000

Now that we are in the new year and the holidays are over I am looking forward to the MacWorld Keynote San Francisco on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 scheduled from 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM PST. Should be an exciting year for Apple and anyone who uses their products. Above is a video from GearLive that supposed shows the newest iPhone Firmware that is about to be released. Looks cool if it is real. Expect Firmware updates for the iPhone and the iPod touch soon. There are stories floating around (from excellent sources) that Apple may be finally giving the Apple TV a boost with iTunes offering movie rentals. Several news sources have reported Fox and Disney will be among the studios offering rentals with Apple. Sounds great. I will be looking for a MacWorld announcement with possible Apple TV updates to coincide. Record TV? Location shift like Slingbox? Reports have been rampant around the net about a new MacBook that is super thin, maybe even a tablet Mac. We will have to wait and see. But if you need to get your hands on a Mac tablet one is now shipping from Axiotron. This modified MacBook was shown at the last MacWorld and apparently can now be had for about $2,290.00. Wouldn't it be a bit weird if Apple intros one themselves at the Keynote? MacWorld should bring us some new Cinema Displays I would guess as they are in desperate need of an update. We probably will not see a newer iPhone until mid-year. Maybe one with 3G support. The most anticipated iPhone announcement will certainly be a true SDK for the iPhone so developers can bring the iPhone using masses all those great apps they have been developing. I am hoping for some Blu-ray support on the Mac platform. An email client for the iPod touch and some added PDA type functions. Anyway, Microsoft will be showing and soon shipping the new Mac Office 2008 and I will be doing a wait and see to decide if I want to upgrade. With CES (January 7-10, Las Vegas) and NAB (April 11 - 17, Las Vegas) also coming it should be an exciting year!

Flash-based TV Site mimics Apple TV, Joost, and Babelgum

Stephen Antonucci — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:51:27 +0000

Site designer Paul Yanez has also created web versions of Joost, Babelgum and now the Apple TV using Flash in a mashup. The Flash based interface feels quite a lot like the "real" applications. The "Not" Apple TV interface includes YouTube, Google Video, Pornotube and others. Just like Apple TV, the site is unable to interact or record live TV. Worth a peak. No software to install and no box to buy! How about a SlingPlayer site?

Welcome iPhone and New iTunes 7.3

Stephen Antonucci — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:00:27 +0000

Welcome to the very anticipated day for gadget lovers. Today is iPhone day and Apple has dedicated the entire front page of Apple.com to the iPhone. The long lines are forming across the country to be one of the first to "snag" an iPhone. As expected iTunes 7.3 has been released this morning. This updated version allows for iPhone compatibility, activation and at least one other nice feature. iTunes 7.3 also has added the ability to "stream" photos to the Apple TV. This is a feature I have been waiting for. I never liked that I had to "sync" photos from just on computer to see them on an Apple TV. Tip: Make sure you click on the Apple TV(s) on the left side column in iTunes. Then go to the Photo tab at top. Here you must choose to share your photos with the Apple TV. Now you will see a new Photo category on your Apple TV and you can view any Album you like without syncing. Seems custom ringtones may be coming to the iPhone soon as there seems to be a "plus ringtone" image file inside the iTunes 7.3 package. Maybe in a future update?

Movie rentals coming to iTunes?

Stephen Antonucci — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:40:08 +0000

According to several websites, Apple is said to be currently in talks with several major Hollywood studios regarding the launch of an iTunes-based online movie rental service. This was first to be reported by the Financial Times. The rentals are said to be priced at $2.99 for a 30-day rental, and would incorporate DRM (digital rights management) that prevents the movies from being copied. You may be allowed transfer the movie to at least an Apple TV or iPod. This would put iTunes in more direct competition against cable companies and anyone else offering VOD (video-on-demand). No comment from Apple yet. Maybe we will find out more today at Steve Jobs WWDC Keynote, but don't hold your breath.

EMI Videos Coming to YouTube DRM-free

Stephen Antonucci — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:12:32 +0000

EMI and YouTube have agreed to a deal that will make EMI music videos available free of charge, and EMI music can now be featured in user-generated footage. YouTube has now inked deals with all four of the major music labels after signing an agreement with EMI today. EMI, is the first major label to allow its catalog without DRM (digital rights management). Hope they look good on my Apple TV!

160GB Apple TV Now Shipping, YouTube Coming Soon

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 31 May 2007 18:32:52 +0000

Apple is now offering two versions of the Apple TV: the original 40GB model for $299, and a new 160GB model for $399, which is shipping in 1-2 business days. I already own two Apple TVs, one with the original 40GB hard drive that is even covered by the $49 AppleCare and I recently purchased a 160GB model from PowerMax at $499, covered under a warranty from PowerMax, not Apple. Guess I paid a premium for not waiting a bit longer. This should make things interesting for those 3rd party services that can sell you pre-upgraded Apple TVs, DIY kits or overnight upgrades. By the way, I love the Apple TV, it has changed the way we watch TV at our house. Adding the EyeTV has made it really great. In case you missed it YouTube is coming to the Apple TV in mid-June via a free software update. According to Apple Vice President of Worldwide Mac Hardware Marketing David Moody, Google is re-encoding all YouTube videos to H.264, a codec that Apple TV supports. All new videos will be converted to H.264 as they are uploaded, but it will take until fall to convert the older back catalog.

YouTube Coming to Apple TV

Stephen Antonucci — Wed, 30 May 2007 21:20:14 +0000

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said YouTube will soon be coming to the Apple TV via a software update in mid-June. Google's YouTube will be offered in the Apple TV main menu. Using the Apple Remote users can browse, find and watch free videos from YouTube. Thousands of the most current and popular YouTube videos will be available at launch in mid-June, with YouTube adding thousands more each week until the full YouTube catalog is available this fall. Users will be able to navigate through YouTube’s categories and members can also log-in to their YouTube accounts on Apple TV. In addition to YouTube support, Apple is offering a new build-to-order option for Apple TV. The new configuration adds a 160GB hard drive — four times the current storage for up to 200 hours of video, 36,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each. Apple TV costs $299 or $399 for the 160GB model.

Elgato Turbo.264 H.264 encoder for iPod, PSP, Apple TV Review

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:48:11 +0000

UK website RegHardware, has a nice review of the new Elgato Turbo.264 USB hardware H.264 encoder for the Mac. I received my Turbo.264 and have encoded some video with it on a Intel Mac mini and an iMac G5 and have had similar results as the testing shown on the RegHardware site. It makes a nice add-on for anyone that uses the Elgato EyeTV to record TV shows for the iPod or Apple TV use and still want to make DVDs out of some of the recordings. Elgato’s Turbo.264 is a USB device (30mm x 85mm x 12mm) that provides hardware-accelerated encoding of video to H.264 MP4 files with the included software or with many Mac applications that offer QuickTime export. For $99.95 U.S. the Turbo.264 can be a well worth expense for time-saved for some of us that encode a lot of video for the Apple TV, iPods or Sony PSP. You will need Mac OS X 10.4 on a G4, G5, or Intel Mac with a built-in USB 2.0 port to use this device.

Sling Your Apple TV

Stephen Antonucci — Sun, 06 May 2007 04:13:40 +0000

Two products I really like are Sling Media's Slingbox and the new Apple TV. Boy, I was in geek heaven when Sling Media recently updated their SlingPlayer software allowing both of my favorite devices to work together. I could not wait to get this up and running. I purchased Sling Media's HD Connect cable to add to my Slingbox Pro so I could connect the Apple TV. I have had a Slingbox Pro for quite awhile now, first using it with analog cable using the built-in tuner by simply connecting a RF cable to the Slingbox. Then I upgraded to Verizon's FiOS TV and was happy to see that my Slingbox Pro could easily connect to the FiOS Motorola STB (set top box). I just connected an S-Video and RCA audio cables to the Slingbox Pro and placed the included IR sensor in front of the FiOS Motorola STB. Now I have added my Apple TV to this setup.

FiOS TV and EyeTV PVR Happy Together

Stephen Antonucci — Tue, 01 May 2007 02:51:09 +0000

I am a long time user of Elgato's EyeTV PVR (personal video recorder) for the Mac. For quite a long time I was using my EyeTV 200 with analog cable TV, allowing me to record, archive to DVD, export to my iPod, and watch my recordings on the TVs in my home. I often used to remote program my EyeTV from the Titian TV website from work to record programs for me at home. Switching to FiOS TV, which is basically no different from digital cable and satellite TV, leaves you having to deal with a set top box (STB). When I had analog cable TV, I simply used the included analog TV tuner built right into the EyeTV 200 hardware box connected with an RG6 cable. Well this is no longer an option with my new FiOS TV install. Well EyeTV lives again in our home and we are a happy bunch.

SlingPlayer for Mac Reaches 1.0 Supports Apple TV

Stephen Antonucci — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:03:14 +0000

Sling Media announced the immediate availability of SlingPlayer for Mac Version 1.0, a software client for Slingbox customers who want to view their Cable TV, Satellite TV, Over-the-Air or Apple TV on their Mac. The look of SlingPlayer for Mac, Version 1.0 is a bit different from the beta I have been using, featuring a more Mac-like interface that has photo-realistic remote controls. SlingPlayer has the ability to program favorite channels with a full range of viewing modes including a full screen modes. I am very excited to see that Sling Media has added support for Apple TV with the Slingbox PRO. You will need to add the Slingbox HD Connect Cable for Slingbox Pro ( HD200-100 ) to stream and control an Apple TV. I have already placed an order for the $49 option to add my Apple TV along-side FiOS TV to my Slingbox Pro. Slingbox also supports any infrared Mac desktop or laptop (need $19 Apple AV adapter) or iPod in a Universal Dock.

Updated HandBrake Now Available

Stephen Antonucci — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 14:56:46 +0000

Getting your DVDs onto your iPod, Apple TV and your PS3 just got easier. HandBrake 0.8.5b1 was just released now supporting the AppleTV and PS3. HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 converter, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows. Handbrake now features surround sound, chapter markers and more (see screenshots). For a complete list of HandBrake changes see this PDF. This version of Handbrake marks the re-fork of MediaFork and Handbrake together again. The Handbrake folks provide a user guide and documentation here.

Apple Emails Video Podcasters

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 20:10:37 +0000

Apple has sent out an e-mail the iTunes video podcasters recommending that they increase the resolution of their video blogs. Apple is recommending that those podcasters still using 320x240 videos upgrade up to 640x480 or 640x360. Now that the Apple TV is in the mix podcasters need format their video for more than iPod-only viewing. Be cool if Apple creates a "high-quality" section in iTunes just for Apple TV users.

WeaKnees is Offering an Apple TV Upgrade Kit

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:25:41 +0000

WeaKnees is now shipping an Apple TV upgrade kit with a Seagate hard drive replacement for $199 US. According to WeaKnees, the installation process only takes a few minutes and then the AppleTV will re-synchronize with your iTunes to download all of your music, videos, and photos. The hard drive is fully prepared by WeaKnees, customers simply use the included tools and instructions to remove the existing drive and install the new one.

Apple TV Ad Now Online in HD

Stephen Antonucci — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:17:55 +0000

Apple has posted the company's new television ad for Apple TV in various sizes and qualities: Small, Medium, Large, and HD. The newest Apple ad features a scene with Jack Black from the "School of Rock" movie with the voice over, "It's on your computer," as the camera zooms out to reveal the scene playing on an Apple iMac and concludes with the Apple TV with "And, now, it's on your TV." The TV they feature connected to the Apple TV looks like a Sony KDL-40XBR2 40″ Bravia XBR 1080p LCD HDTV Flat Panel, the same one I have in my bedroom! See the ad here: http://www.apple.com/appletv/ads/.

Sling Media Working on Apple TV Support

Stephen Antonucci — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 16:18:56 +0000

Sling Media, maker of the SlingBox, has confirmed that it is working on making the streaming device compatible with the Apple TV. This feature would allow the combination of the Apple TV and a SlingBox to stream any media in a user’s iTunes library across the internet, and more importantly to any phone supported by the SlingPlayer software — including Windows Mobile, Palm OS, and Symbian devices. “It is definitely something we will support,” said Brian Jaquet, a Sling Media spokesman. I can't wait! Two of my favorite devices may soon be working together.

Washington Post Now Offering HD Podcasts via iTunes

Stephen Antonucci — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:10:29 +0000

The award-winning news and information site, washingtonpost.com, is now offering free high-definition (HD) podcasts via the iTunes store. This video content can be viewed on HD television via the Apple TV and computer screens. All washingtonpost.com videos are shot with high-definition cameras, and the series available on iTunes is coded to play in 720p especially for the Apple TV.

TechRestore Offering Apple TV HD Upgrades

Stephen Antonucci — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:51:56 +0000

TechRestore have started offering Apple TV owners a service for upgrading their hard drives drives overnight. The upgrades ranges from 60GB -160GB, and pricing includes all parts and installation:

• 60GB Storage Upgrade: $99.99 • 80GB Storage Upgrade: $149.99 • 100GB Storage Upgrade: $169.99 • 120GB Storage Upgrade: $179.99 • 160GB Storage Upgrade: $219.99

Customers can choose to self-ship or use the overnight door-to-door pickup option. Once TechRestore receives the Apple TV, its technicians will install the storage upgrade within 24 hours and send the unit back overnight. Keep in mind that, as with all hard drives, storage capacities are estimates and are typically lower after formatting. But even the 60GB option would be a big increase over the stock drive’s 32GB of space.

Apple TV: iTunes for the Living Room

Stephen Antonucci — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 14:04:50 +0000

I got my hands on the Apple TV as my unit arrived on March 22. Unpacking and hook up in our family room was simple and easy. The Apple TV has component video, HDMI, RCA audio, and digital audio outputs only. So your TV needs to have the correct inputs to work with the Apple TV. Most newer TVs will have these inputs. Apple recommends a 16:9 HDTV as the Apple TV can display in 720P and 1080i. You can use a square 4:3 TV if it has at least component video inputs, but I doubt this would be optimal. You must have iTunes 7.1 running on at least one computer in the house (Windows XP or Mac 10.3.9 or higher). Apple TV does little without iTunes. I would call the Apple TV, "an iPod for your TV." Apple TV allows you to enjoy music, music videos, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, podcasts, and pictures from your iPhoto library (Mac with iPhoto 4.03 or higher) or Adobe Photoshop Album or Elements (Windows).

Best Buy Makes Apple TV Deal

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:48:58 +0000

Best Buy has managed to swing an exclusive deal with Apple. They are the only retailer to be offering the Apple TV for the next two weeks, outside of Apple's own retail stores. So if do not have a Apple Store near you, head over to a Best Buy.

ReelBean Video Converter and Pro Player

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:44:44 +0000

ReelBean 2.9, a movie converter and player application for Mac OS X has added an Apple TV export option for converting videos to play through the Apple TV. ReelBean converts videos to various formats which include iPod, Apple TV, MPEG-4, H.264, QuickTime, AVI, and others. The software also allows users to extract individual tracks -- video and audio -- to separate files for editing. A scene selection drawer complements a video transparency slider, alongside a playback speed controller and the ability to start a video from the last point played when previously opened. Most of the features in ReelBean 2.9 are available for free, requiring Mac OS X 10.4 or later. The pro features are accessible via a $15 license. I have not tried ReelBean, but I do like the name.

VisualHub Adds Apple TV Support

Stephen Antonucci — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:30:11 +0000

VisualHub, one of my favorite media conversion utilities, has just been updated to include support for Apple TV conversions. According to the developer, high definition video can be converted for the Apple TV up to 10 times faster than QuickTime Pro. The utility also does full resolution encodes of DVDs. VisualHub 1.2.3 is a free update to registered users and costs $23.32 for new users. I have had one of my Macs converting a bunch of movie files into iTunes using its "batch" processing feature so I can watch them with my Apple TV that has just arrived a day early!

WSJ: Mossberg Reviews Apple TV “simple and elegant”

Stephen Antonucci — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 20:06:45 +0000

Walt Mossberg and co-author Katherine Boehret both from the Wall Street Journal, reviews the Apple TV. They point out that all you need to use an Apple TV is a newer TV to connect it to and a Windows PC or Mac with the free iTunes. Apple TV is a "pleasure to use," "simple and elegant" according to Mossberg.

Join the Apple TV Party Without Buying One

Stephen Antonucci — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 23:35:41 +0000

Sure the Apple TV is now shipping with orders to start arriving by March 23. But what if you don't have $299 to buy one? The Apple TV sports component video and HDMI outputs only and is optimized for 16 X 9 screens. What if you do not have a newer TV to connect an Apple TV yet? Does this mean that you can't join the Apple TV party? The answer is no. If you have a Mac in the house, what about connecting it to your older TV. The Mac mini is the perfect form factor, but actually almost any Mac can be used. Adding Front Row and an Apple Remote to an older Mac cam also be done by most anybody. I thought I would post the links to "how to" articles I have written on this site for related stories on connecting your Mac and putting Front Row on your older Mac.