Macworld: 'Apple TV' coming to a living room near you
Apple on Tuesday premiered Apple TV — its official name for iTV — an easy to use device for the wireless playback of iTunes content on big-screen living room television sets.
Apple said the new set-top media hub will easily connect to almost all modern widescreen televisions, and will be shipping in February for $299.
"Apple TV is like a DVD player for the 21st century — you connect it to your entertainment system just like a DVD player, but it plays digital content you get from the Internet rather than DVDs you get from a physical store," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. "Apple TV plays the same iTunes content that users enjoy on their computers and iPods, so now they can even watch part of a movie in their living room, and watch the rest later on their iPod."
Apple TV will ship with a 40GB hard drive to store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each and is capable of delivering high-definition 720p output.
Apple said the device is easy to connect to a broad range of widescreen TVs and home theater systems and comes standard with HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports.
Using high-speed AirPort 802.11 wireless networking, Apple TV will auto-sync content from one computer or stream content from up to five additional computers right to a users' TV without any wires.
The seamless integration of Apple TV and iTunes lets users choose from over 250 feature-length movies and 350 TV shows in near DVD quality; four million songs, 5,000 music videos, 100,000 podcasts and 20,000 audiobooks.
Users can enjoy their favorite music on a home entertainment system and view slideshows of their photo albums on a widescreen TV simultaneously.
Apple TV also makes it easy for users to explore their entire media collection from up to 30 feet away with an easy to use and intuitive new interface that include the Apple Remote.
Pricing & Availability
Apple TV, which includes the Apple Remote, will be shipping in February through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $299.
Apple TV requires iTunes 7 or later running on a Mac with Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later, or a Windows PC with Windows XP Home/Professional (SP2). An 802.11b/g/n wireless network using AirPort, AirPort Extreme or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet networking required. Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple TV requires an enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen TV. iPod games will not play on Apple TV.
95 Comments
This seems pretty cool, I need more info on what it can play before I know if it has any use in my home though, I'm the only tech savy one.
720p and no Widget support.
I'll wait for rev. 2.1.
I'm non-plussed by the appletv. I wasn't impressed when it was announced in September, and I'm still not impressed. It is simply a YAB (yet-another-box to crowd my already crowded AV center).
Here's what it gives me:
Here's what it doesn't give me:
All that said, I think a future version of AppleTV could be a killer device, but it needs to be more integrated into the living room (as in working with my Mac is cool, but I should also be able to do more without leaving the couch). Further, there is really no excuse for it not including DVR functionality. It's like WTF were they thinking???
Oh, and about the cost; I have this feeling that the streaming ability of it won't be that great on an 802.11g network, that's why they added the hard drive with the syncing, so if you do have multiple macs and want to do the live streaming from a non-synched mac, I have a feeling you'll almost need to buy a new Airport Extreme (of course this last statement is admittedly pure conjecture, but I have a strong feeling about it....)
I think that it is a good first attempt, but to get me to buy they need:
- purchace controls from the TV itself, not the computer
- rentals
- 720p movies and TV shows from iTunes store
The funny thing is, this thing is available for pre-order on the Canadian Apple store now too... But it's not possible to purchase any commercial video content on the Canadian iTunes store. No TV shows, no movies, nothing.
What exactly can a Canadian customer do with it?