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Apple TV Begins Shipping

By BetaNews Staff, BetaNews

March 21, 2007, 10:37 AM

Apple said Wednesday that it had begun shipments of its Apple TV product, aimed at solidifying its hold on the digital entertainment industry, and expanding its presence into the living room. The device was originally scheduled for release last month, but the company said development had taken longer than expected and pushed the release back in late February.

The device acts as a link between iTunes on the computer and a user's big-screen television by using a preexisting Wi-Fi network. For faster transfer, the device would use 802.11n technology. It includes a 40GB hard drive to store the information locally to the device, negating the need to download it before each viewing.

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By domino360

posted Mar 22, 2007 - 1:17 AM

If you have a standard 27 inch TV, then this new device is perfect. But, anything bigger than that will make the movies from iTunes look blurry.
I think iTV is a great device that needs more features for the larger audience.

Score: 0

By Niro

posted Mar 21, 2007 - 9:43 PM

Huh...my xbox 360 already does everything this thing can do. Oh yea my 360 also play games.

Score: 0

By bobthegoat2001

posted Mar 23, 2007 - 12:54 AM

Plus my Xbox is HD!

Score: 0

By mshulman

posted Mar 22, 2007 - 11:12 AM

That's weird... mine can too!

Score: 0

By terminalx

posted Mar 21, 2007 - 5:13 PM

Personally I am looking forward to the I-rack and the I-ran :)

Score: 0

By cap737

posted Mar 22, 2007 - 5:05 PM

I heard those were bombed out!

Score: 0

By bsf

posted Mar 21, 2007 - 6:48 PM

I-rack looked quite tough on that video lol

Score: 0

By Vantorax

posted Mar 21, 2007 - 2:58 PM

Ironically enough, you can't watch TV with Apple TV. Plus it has no volume control. All it is is a media player. There's cheaper out there... D-Link DSM-320 or DSM-520 comes to mind.

Score: 0

By ds0934

posted Mar 21, 2007 - 2:43 PM

Let the fun begin! I can't wait to see what effect this has on Dell, HP, and MS. I hope it sparks some competition and cooler goodies.

Score: 0

By terminalx

edited Mar 21, 2007 - 5:16 PM

competition? rofl...just because it says apple on it doesn't make it gold...this product seems fairly useless and overpriced..maybe a better clarification of the product could be in order...

Score: 0

By Hellcat_M

posted Mar 21, 2007 - 3:24 PM

Since you can't watch TV on it, it won't have any effect. If Apple comes up with a real media center then we'll talk, this here is nothing special.

Score: 0

By cap737

posted Mar 22, 2007 - 5:10 PM

Your TV can already tune to cable tv!! Why would you want to watch tv throught the appletv when you can already do it on your tv?!? You can look at your iPhoto library, your itunes library and the movies you downloaded...why tv??

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Mar 22, 2007 - 5:53 PM

uhh...

Did you miss this whole HTPC thing going on? Ya know, where your home-built system can blow any TiVo unit out of the water(recording, time-shifting, etc)?

Might as well ask why anyone would want a TiVo or a DVR.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Mar 21, 2007 - 4:31 PM

I'm confused by the uselessness of this as well.

Can't Mac users simply plug in an ATI card with TV-out and be done with it?

Sure, it's not wireless, but Mac's have the perk of actually looking halfway decent next to a TV, a perk most PC's do not share.

Score: 0

By dzjepp

posted Mar 21, 2007 - 2:43 PM

What does it look like? Please don't tell me it looks like the thumbnail image... *snicker

Score: 0

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