AppleTV and the iPhone
So I’ve been watching the keynote (along with many of you I assume) and I’m more than a bit awestruck here, AppleTV the iPhone; its obvious Apple is moving way beyond personal computers as evident by dropping the “Computers” from the companies formal name.
As utterly cool as the iPhone is I’m actually more impressed at the breadth of products announced today, the iPhone extends Apple’s reach from the desktop to everyday devices like cell phones, while AppleTV may very well bridge the gap between traditional home theater PC’s and stand-alone consumer electronic devices.
Kudos to Apple for continuing to innovate and refine existing products or should I say redefine existing products. The one thing I didn’t catch from the keynote is whether Apple plans to up the resolution of their video files to match AppleTV’s 720p maximum resolution, either way the hardware is in place, let’s just hope the media catches up.
B.Greenway
January 10th, 2007 at 3:21 am
A Mini hacked to run FrontRow beats the AppleTV hands down. It is more expensive, but does much more:
Download Bittorrent shows
Play video in MANY formants, not just iTunes acceptable ones.
Play DVDs
Record DVDs, CDs from iTunes content
Surf and view video sites like YouTube
Add iSight camera for video phone.
Expandable hard drive.
Apple desktop widgets for weather, stocks, web feeds.
Like the Apple TV it will play downloaded iTunes movies, view trailers.
The only reason to get an AppleTV is for the lower price.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Anybody know if this new AppleTV will work with the Elgato EyeTV 500 HDTV recorder?
The AppleTV has storage space, but I’m not clear on if it is a standalone Mac with its own OS X. Is it just a media streamer with local storage?
January 10th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
I kinda wonder if the AppleTV will support Video_TS media ripped from a DVD. if so it’s a no brainer, if not, well c’est la vie.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:49 am
It doesn’t bother you at all that the Apple TV basically only caters to people that use iTunes to purchase their video content?
February 13th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
I agree with “Mike” — the mac mini is a much better solution hands down, but the market of PC users using iTunes will allow for the market of Apple TV users to grow and the ease of plug and play makes it a little more attractive as a device — if you will — in a home entertainment environment. Basically you can sit down with remote-in-hand and let the show begin. Versus, sit down grab your bluetooth keyboard and mouse, start launching applications or front row, and then the show can begin. I personally like the mac mini HTPC concept… it only needs the Apple TV interface/application on it.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:54 am
With all the updates coming out for the iphone, does apple tv auto updates with it or do you have to do a separate update.