Ever since AppleTV shipped a few weeks ago, reports of hacks, un-hacks, and opinions of downgraded HD, have been circulating. Some of the comments from consumers regarding the hacks range from, “Why would I want to spend $300 for something I need to hack to get it the way I want?” to, “This is exactly what my home theater was missing”

One of the bigger stories surrounding AppleTV is the record time hack made on its operating system so it can now run a full version of OS X. The guys over at AppleTVHacks have posted a step by step on how-to on turning the media hub into a cheaper Mac mini, but with only 256MB of RAM you probably will only use the modified AppleTV as it was intended, only with a few more apps than before. The TV hacks don’t stop there, you can also boot from that USB “service port only” as well. Apple disabled the port in the software but that didn’t stop others from enabling it.

There have been some accusations that Apple has removed these new hacks through the internet connection to make sure your AppleTV is being used “correctly”. These accusations and rumors are just that, since hacks are not 100% fool proof anyway and who really thinks Apple (anti-DRM) would be big brother all of a sudden.

Some other questions regarding these hacks have been on different ends of the spectrum. For example, why should the consumer spend $300 for a machine that needs to be hacked to do anything useful? If you really wanted to run OS X applications with a keyboard and mouse in your home theater, wouldn’t it be more sensible to buy a Mac mini? Is Apple killing off high-end audio and home theater?

All of these are good questions but the last one I had to ponder on for a bit. The low resolutions available for download on iTunes and the audio quality are generally not what home theater enthusiasts are about. They prefer the 1080i/p and lossless sound options available with the latest advancement in HD technology, but is Apple going to eventually kill off the higher end market because of the way they market the iPod and now the AppleTV?

Maybe Apple is just getting started, it could be that they are going to expand on what they have created or let us do the “hacking” for them so we, the consumer, can decide what we want and how we want it. That could be why Apple has been so successful with the iPod, even though there are better technologies available it doesn’t mean the consumer is ready to buy into them just yet. I’m sure if we give it a few more years, we could be raving about the HD AppleTV next.

B.Greenway

The newest addition to the Apple family is finally being shipped today to those that thought ahead and pre-ordered. The media hub Apple TV, which was unveiled in January, was originally scheduled to be released at the end of February but had a few delays pushing the availability back till mid-March. For those of us that did not plan ahead, you can pay the $299 through Apple’s online store and should be able to receive your Apple TV within 3 to 5 business days.

Here are some of the specs:

Intel processor
40GB hard drive for storing content locally
Up to 50 hours of videos3, 9000 songs4, 25,000 pictures5, or a combination of each
HDMI (video and audio)
Component video
TOSLINK optical audio
Analog RCA stereo audio
10/100 BASE-T Ethernet
USB 2.0 (for service and diagnostics)
802.11n wireless networking*(compatible with 802.11a/b/g)
Built-in IR receiver (works with included Apple Remote)

Video formats supported: H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): 640 by 480, 30 fps, LC version of Baseline Profile; 320 by 240, 30 fps, Baseline profile up to Level 1.3; 1280 by 720, 24 fps, Progressive Main Profile. MPEG-4: 640 by 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile. Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps); protected AAC (from iTunes store); MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps); MP3 VBR; Apple Lossless; AIFF; WAV.

But what good are specs without user reviews! Oh Apple what would I have to do to receive an Apple TV for evaluation purposes? I draw the line at washing cars.

B.Greenway

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

Having already conquered music downloads in the U.S (and abroad) I suppose it was just a matter of time before Apple offered movies via iTunes. Apple did just that today and while I’d like to get excited over the premise of streaming movies from my desktop to the mini, I cant say as the idea of “near DVD quality” really excites me, especially when I have HDTV sources on-tap.

No I cant say as 640×480 has me ready to box up all my physical media just yet but the big announcement of the show (as far as I’m concerned) could have much bigger implications. Apple’s iTV set-top box with 802.11(?) wireless networking, USB2, ethernet, HDMI connector, component video and digital audio outputs could signal even higher resolutions for movies from iTunes, or perhaps something even more compelling.

The iTV set-top box would seem to indicate Apple is taking a wiser, dare I say safer path to the digital living room forgoing the very un-consumer-friendly, HTPC route. While I would have preferred a max-mini I can definitely see the logic with a move like this.

B.Greenway

Rumors of an impending update to iTunes for movie support just gained a bit of steam with an invitation to select members of the media to attend a special event, scheduled for September 12.

Obviously the invitation doesn’t spell out any specifics on what will be presented but the header image of the flyer might be telling as to the presentations subject matter.

The invitation displays a white Apple logo with the words “It’s Showtime” underneath. A dark gradient background descends from black to navy, with crisscrossing white rays evocative of the spotlights often used to draw attention to Hollywood movie premieres.

Interesting stuff, while I can’t say as I’m totally disinterested in full-length movies from Apple (especially if they look as good as the 480p movie trailers) I cant help but wonder if something along the lines of a beefed up mini to go along with this announcement isn’t in the works as well. You know my line, time will tell.

B.Greenway

I ran across an interesting post over at AVS Forum, “Squished Squirre” has written up a script he calls “DVD Assist” that’s said to “allow Front Row to seamlessly play VIDEO_TS folders from inside of Front Row”

This is a little Applescript applet I put together to allow Front Row to seemlessly play VIDEO_TS folders from inside of Front Row. Please read the docs that come with it.

There is still a lot more that can be done, but I think this fleshes out the idea pretty well.

I don’t have a good place to host this, so I’ll put it on rapidshare.de to start with.

Version 1.3.1: Download Here

Hopefully no one will have problems figuring out how to download from rapidshare. Scroll down the page, and click the “free” button. Then you have to wait a few seconds and then you can click the download link.

Let me know what you think of this, and what improvements could be made.

My system is in a bit of a shambles at the moment due to some new additions, so I can’t test this one out just yet. If any of you folks happen to try this please share your impressions with us.

B.Greenway

Those of you with Power PC mini’s might be interested to know that yet another USB to digital audio interface has surfaced. This particular model (the Evergreen DN-SCM81) is optical out only but that might be just what the doctor ordered for those of us who still haven’t upgraded to the Intel mini’s with SPDIF out’s

Here’s the kicker, According to Engadget it retails for 2,980 Yen. (roughly $26) At that price, if I was still in the market for a USB to digital adaptor I might give it a whirl sight unseen. If any of you folks happen to try one of these be sure and give us your feedback.

B.Greenway

Think Secret is reporting that Apple may announce movie rentals through the iTunes Music Store at the WWDC on August 7th, that’s right rentals. It seems as if even Apple can’t convince the movie studios to give up on this Divx‘esque idea of files that expire after a certain time or number of viewings.

If Apple expects me to rent movies via iTunes, all I can say is that the price better be extremely competitive with NetFlix. I can rent HD DVD’s from NetFlix and don’t intend on canceling a service with that option any time soon.

Now I don’t want to paint iMovies.. in a negative light before we even have all the details, for all I know Apple may be able to 480p movie rentals for $1.99 each, if this winds up something along those lines then more power to them.

However if movies via iTunes pans out to be something along the lines of $2.99 or higher for low-resolution versions of films I could just as easily get elsewhere, then I’ll do just that.

Source: ThinkSecret

B.Greenway

Quick update on my front-end du jour, distantDVD. Tom over at VisualUnderground has released distantDVD version 0.06b that includes: Support for native display resolutions of; 1360×768, 1280×1024, 1280×720, 1024×768 and 800×600.

In addition to the wider range of supported native resolutions, distantdvd-006b now supports for MP4 and MKV files for highdef media and material bought from the iTunes web store.

Native 1024×768 support is a big plus for you plasma owners. Check it out at VisualUnderground.

B.Greenway

I nearly titled this post ‘MediaCentral updated to 2.0 and equinux loses a potential customer’ but as of today equinux again offers version 1.2.1 of MediaCentral for download, why is this important?

Long story short MediaCentral 2.0 (now $29.95) only offers a 5 minute demo of the software and overwrites your previous version. Once I realized this I of course immediately tried to find my 1.2.1.dmg but to no avail.

equinux didn’t have the older version available for download over the weekend so I was stuck with the proposition of paying $29.95 for something that I (1) didn’t know was worth the upgrade and (2) had no way of verifying all the functions mentioned, actually worked.

I find it a bit disconcerting that no warning of the 5 minute “demo” was mentioned before my files were overwritten, but that’s neither here nor there.

For those of you that go ahead and pay-to-play for version 2.0, please give us your thoughts, apparently they updated several functions. In the mean time I’ll carry on enjoying distantDVD.

B.Greenway