Apple TV Gets Bad Rep. for Quality - Another Version Coming Soon?
After a lot of anticipation, the Apple TV has been available for purchase for almost two weeks now. I’ve been keeping my eye out for reviews because I was curious how it performs, and what people think of it. One of the first reviews to really catch my attention came from Peter Svensson from the Associated Press. The title of his article was enough to tell me that he was disappointed, but I was curious why.
He compares it to an iPod that sounds like a cassette player, and for $299, he says it falls short. Another problem he had was with the “teensy infrared remote that looks like a baby iPod.” In other words, you’ll probably spend more time searching for it than using it.
Overall, his biggest disappointment came with the quality of the content that was purchased on iTunes for viewing on the Apple TV considering the Apple TV essentially requires that users have a high definition TV with HDMI, DVI, or component video input. He says:
It’s surprising, then, that videos from Apple’s online iTunes store look horrible on an HDTV set. The movies and TV shows have the same nominal resolution as DVDs, but look much blurrier, approaching the look of standard-definition broadcast TV.
To make it worse, these barely watchable movies aren’t cheap. “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” costs $15 on iTunes, almost as much as the DVD. TV episodes are more reasonably priced, at $2 each.
It’s possible to convert home footage shot with high-definition video cameras to play on the Apple TV, but not in their native resolution, known as 1080i, so some quality is lost even there.
And the talk around the web is, if you go into an Apple store, the demo that they have set-up looks just as Svensson describes it.
On the plus side, he points out the great, easy to use, intuitive interface which Apple is known for.
It looks like one of Apple’s priorities needs to be making HD content available from iTunes to download so that the Apple TV experience is truly high definition.
In other Apple TV news, rumor has it (according to Gizmodo) that another Apple TV may be coming. They point to the Apple TV “Buy Me” page which now says “Select your AppleTV.” This option is typically shown and used only when there are multiple models of one product. Hmmm… what could Apple have up its sleeve?
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Tags: Hardware, Apple, Downloads, Microsoft, Screenshots
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I wonder if, like the AAC “upgrade” for 30 cents a song, they will offer some sort of HD upgrade for video content. That would be fantastic — and set an excellent precedent.
I am a little under-whelmed by the current status of the Apple TV. However, when I consider what this means (long term) I am completely floored. I mean, this little box (and the others to follow) could completely disrupt the cable industry. All those billions of dollars we pay to Comcast and Time Warner (etc.) may windup in Apple’s pockets.
I was doign some reaserch on the coming transition, and read Shelly Palmer’s explanation of “ver the top” delivery. When I consider it’s implications, which are huge — it’s pretty mind-blowing.
Martin
edit:
meant to link to the article:
http://advancedmediacommittee......op_fi.html
As Charlie White says: “Never buy anything 1.0.”
@Martin: The cable companies really seem to be falling behind when it comes to delivering media online…and I think that will ultimately be their downfall as you mentioned. Apple is bringing things from the Internet on to your TV, and with all of the great content popping up online there is no doubt that people will want their TV’s to be hooked up to a PC.
@pdedecker: I agree 100%! I can’t remember the last major device that I bought when it first came out, I guess it would be the original Xbox. If you just wait awhile after all the hype wears off you’ll end up with a better product that has less bugs and it will probably cost you less. Typically I wait at least 6 months to dip my hands in something new.
Apple TV and similar devices are going to open the door to indepenent content creators–video podcasters, indie fimmakers, etc. HungryFlix.com is already offering movie downloads for Apple TV. This is an exciting development. Big media better make the turn quickly.