RSSApple Debuts Apple TV
By Ed Oswald | Published January 9, 2007, 12:42 PM
AT MACWORLD Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the lid off of its "iTV" project, renaming it Apple TV. Being billed as a "way to enjoy your media on a bigscreen TV," the unit would feature 720p HD video, a 40 GB hard drive, and component and RCA hookups.
Inside, the feature set is impressive: 802.11 b/g/n wireless connectivity, USB 2.0 inputs, and HDMI connections. The unit would run on a Intel CPU and allow auto-synchronization from one PC, although content could be streamed from up to five machines. The synchronization process would act much like the iPod does, Jobs said.
"We think this is pretty cool," he said of the device during the keynote.
Like iTunes, users would be able to stream movie trailers to the device and watch Internet video. The organization features would work much like the Coverflow option recently added to the iTunes software.
Video streamed from the device would be compatible with 720p HDTVs, allowing for a high-definition experience. The video looked much better than just streaming it from a MacBook alone, attendees commented. For television shows, episode summaries would appear on screen when the content is played.
In any case, the unit would pretty much act as an iPod for the television, with the capabilities to view, photos, videos, and listen to movies directly from the living room.
The unit would retail for $299, and begin shipping in February. Orders can be placed immediately.
1080P is absolutely here. The thing I don't understand about this product is that they are marketing so that you may "Watch you downloaded iTunes videos on your widescreen display". How in the world, even on a 480p EDTV set (lowest widescreen I've seen) could you play a max of 380 x 240 and have it viewable?? most widescreen sets are at least 720p. A television of that resolution playing an iTunes movie will look like CRAP!!! and at $11 a movie? what idiot would buy into that. Go buy the DVD, rip it down for your iPod, then watch the 480 dvd on your 720 set with up conversion on your player. Man people are stupid. How does Apple even THINK this is a good device? Do they really thing their market are idiots? Obviously they do...
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|It looks like my Media Center and extender. Oh, Steve have you lost your creative touch? This is the second set of Apple announcements that he has hyped and showed us essential clones of existing products. I was embarrassed for him when he announced the Apple virtual desktop program as ground-breaking.
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|Uh huh...
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|Not much better then my 360, and my 360 does more
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|If it doesn't support 1080p (with backwards compatibility for 1080i AND 720p both) then its completely useless. Way to go Apple for screwing up an otherwise great product.
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|Do you have a true 1080 capable television service in your area? If so I'd love to move there.
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|Thats not the point!
Games and Movies can already be run on 1080P.
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|But aren't.
1080p isn't here yet - despite all the hype.
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|Go to costco, about 80% of the TVs they show there are 1080i
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|My Comcast cable TV service does broadcast programs in 1080i currently. I have my Motorola DCT6200 cable box connected via DVI to an HD LCD monitor with a native resolution of 1900x1200 that can accept HDCP encrypted 1080p and 1080i signals. TV service that broadcasts programming in 1080p is probably not that far off.
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|Exactly. While 1080p signals from any source are relatively rare, I don't want my entertainment devices to become obsolete as fast as my computer components.
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|Its probably the 720p signal unconverted to 1080i. I am a Comcast customer in Massachusetts and I can tell you that the signal I'm getting is not 1080i. On my 50 inch plasma, 1080i looks only slightly better than 720p and if you stand closely you can notice some blockiness. My box is connected via a DVI to HDMI cable. If I hookup my Xbox 360 to the same tv via component, it looks perfect. I believe comcast compresses their HD signal far too much. Its not like I'm in a low bandwidth area either as I am able to get 6mbps internet via a cable modem.
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