04-15-2007, 11:28 PM
When people say they saw something on the AppleTV that "looks bad," I positively guarantee they are watching something that was a) ripped at the old "ipod quality" of 320x240 from the iTMS (they have NOT changed over all or even most of their video stuff to the higher quality yet), OR they got it off the net where it was misripped by PC amateurs.
Download something like the remastered Star Trek episodes from iTMS and I *assure* you they look WONDERFUL. They're not quite DVD-quality and they don't look their best if you've left your TV all stretched out or at the wrong native res, but they look fine if you're not a moron with no idea how to use your HDTV.
I don't watch a lot of TV but I do watch a lot of video. I'm seriously thinking about the ATV because I find that more and more of the stuff I want to watch -- even if it IS at lower quality -- is on the web. Rare interviews, offbeat programs, short films, documentaries, etc. I also have TONS of photos that look GREAT on my HDTV. And I'd like to use the HDTV and it's decent stereo hookup to be my focal point for streaming music. And I'd like to have some control over what people can watch when, for example, we have young guests in the house (no random cable channels!).
For all these reasons, an AppleTV is appealing. I'm not concerned about buying a version 1.0 so much because if they really did do a complete revamp that was 100% better, I'd just sell/give the original ATV to someone who would make better use of it.
I think a LOT of parents might find the idea of 40GB (or more) of pre-programmed storage of kid-friendly movies/TV etc. that can be summoned on demand without tying up their computer and with ZERO risk of damaging the original DVDs *very* appealing. And that's just ANOTHER good use for the thing.
Currently I spend a fair amount of time converting European TV stuff I collect into DVDs to take into the next room and watch on the HDTV. If it could stream ... man that would save me a CRAPLOAD of time, but I don't think most of the files are in MPEG4 format yet. Maybe if the "hacks" to make ATV run other formats were a bit better integrated ...
Download something like the remastered Star Trek episodes from iTMS and I *assure* you they look WONDERFUL. They're not quite DVD-quality and they don't look their best if you've left your TV all stretched out or at the wrong native res, but they look fine if you're not a moron with no idea how to use your HDTV.
I don't watch a lot of TV but I do watch a lot of video. I'm seriously thinking about the ATV because I find that more and more of the stuff I want to watch -- even if it IS at lower quality -- is on the web. Rare interviews, offbeat programs, short films, documentaries, etc. I also have TONS of photos that look GREAT on my HDTV. And I'd like to use the HDTV and it's decent stereo hookup to be my focal point for streaming music. And I'd like to have some control over what people can watch when, for example, we have young guests in the house (no random cable channels!).
For all these reasons, an AppleTV is appealing. I'm not concerned about buying a version 1.0 so much because if they really did do a complete revamp that was 100% better, I'd just sell/give the original ATV to someone who would make better use of it.
I think a LOT of parents might find the idea of 40GB (or more) of pre-programmed storage of kid-friendly movies/TV etc. that can be summoned on demand without tying up their computer and with ZERO risk of damaging the original DVDs *very* appealing. And that's just ANOTHER good use for the thing.
Currently I spend a fair amount of time converting European TV stuff I collect into DVDs to take into the next room and watch on the HDTV. If it could stream ... man that would save me a CRAPLOAD of time, but I don't think most of the files are in MPEG4 format yet. Maybe if the "hacks" to make ATV run other formats were a bit better integrated ...