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Apple announces iTV as AppleTV, out in Feb.

Last month, someone emailed me something that I posted here, claiming an Apple/TiVo relationship. It got picked up widely, but today at Macworld, Steve Jobs announced "AppleTV" formally without mentioning TiVo.

I never mentioned a second email I got from "the insider" which was basically "Apple is going to take over and own Pay-Per-View on your TV with this device." Seeing the device today, with a hard drive and storage for five downloaded 720p movies and music/movie streaming capabilities from five other computers, I tend to think that second prediction is right on. Ever since iTunes started offering movies, the next logical step was how to get it on your TV instead of your computer (I use a Denon iPod dock that transmits video and works well). With iTV, Apple finally gets your media into your living room. Here are the specs on it:

• usb2, ethernet, wifi (802.11 b, g, and n), HDMI and component
• 40Gb hard drive
• up to 720p video from iTunes
• auto sync content from 1 PC
• stream content from 5 additional PCs
• Use itunes to sync movies from Mac to iTV - place what movies you want on iTV's local store
• Does Video, Pictures, and Music
• $299

It's supposed to be on sale today and shipping next month after the keynote is over (store will be inundated for a few hours I bet). I'm gonna pick one up today if I can and post a full review next month after I've had it for a week or so.

by Matt Haughey January 9, 2007 in News

Comments

I would rather get the 720p movies on a disc format at this time than have something that will only let me store 5, requiring me to buy more of these $299 units to store more. That 40GB drive won't cut it. Drives are cheap and they should at least allow me to hotswap the drive for a 400GB drive. Now, the ability to store 50 movies, I would pay $399 for that.

Posted by: Ernie Oporto at Jan 9, 2007 11:20:32 AM

Well, you can store unlimited movies on your computer. It's just the remote hard drive in your home theater center that can only hold five movies.

Hopefully someone figures out the streaming protocol of the iTV and we can also figure out how to stream random divx and xvid movies on it as well.

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Jan 9, 2007 11:34:01 AM

Like Eric I noticed a lot of people are getting hung up on the 5 movies. Apple need to jump on this immediately. They need to stress that your PC/Mac will be your movie storage device that that the AppleTv is to watch the movies not store them.
I still don't know if I would buy one of these. I am really looking for an "all you can eat' solution like netflix. I would pay $40 per month for all the HD movies you can download. They can put a '3 at time' cap. Keep as long as you want. etc, I am just not that interested in 'buying' movies I will only watch once.

Posted by: Wendell at Jan 9, 2007 1:01:36 PM

While I'm pulling for Apple, I just have to think that Microsoft's solution doesn't have the advantage. Microsoft is already offering direct-to-tv on-demand, plus it now will be running IPTV with (unconfirmed) reports that it will also act as a DVR box, I'm sure with hard drive upgrades available. That covers both on-demand and live-tv needs, in high-def... I just don't see why I would need this product.

Posted by: Steve at Jan 9, 2007 1:17:29 PM

There's a USB interface on this thing that has no announced purpose yet. Surely, with a software update, this could be used for an external hard drive (like on the new AirPort Extreme), or a TV tuner, etc.

Posted by: Andy at Jan 9, 2007 1:46:06 PM

Apple's tech specs for TV compatibility say "Enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen TVs capable of 1080i 60/50Hz, 720p 60/50Hz, 576p 50Hz (PAL format), or 480p 60Hz".

Notice anything missing? What happened to 480i, which is still the only format supported by the vast majority of TV sets?

If you buy a movie from iTMS, apparently you'll still have to use your iPod to watch it on TV - unless you run a sports bar, a casino, an electronics store, a tech review web site, or some other enterprise with a budget for multi-thousand-dollar monitors.

Posted by: Jesse at Jan 10, 2007 12:01:09 AM

This is not a Tivo replacement. If you want to actually watch movies and TV shows you would have to purchase them from iTunes. Who wants to purchase movies and shows that you are only going to watch once. I am still sticking with plain old DVDs and CDs if I do want to own it. That way I am not restricted how I play them.

Posted by: Chad at Jan 10, 2007 6:11:57 AM

Jesse, if you look at the back of the device, it doesn't have any non HD connections. They only offer Component and HDMI and specifically said it is for "Widescreen TVs" which I take to mean 480p only or higher (no old CRT support).

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Jan 10, 2007 7:16:49 AM

I am genuinely interested in buying one of these but I am not sure if it would work with my TV. I have a brand new Sharp 27" flat screen CRT television that I bought a few months ago. It has component video inputs on the back and a built in ATSC tuner. Does this mean that I can use AppleTV with my tv ?

Thanks !

Posted by: Nitin Madnani at Jan 10, 2007 12:09:48 PM

Nitin, if your tv is 16:9 widescreen and can do HDTV, it'll work.

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Jan 10, 2007 12:25:08 PM

Matt, component video is a non-HD connection when used at 480i.

I think Apple's making a huge mistake with this box for two reasons: first, only 11% of American households have HDTV, so Apple TV is off-limits to 9 out of 10 consumers.

Second, Xbox Media Center does everything Apple TV does and more (internet radio, YouTube, AVIs and DVDs from a network share) for one-third the price.

Posted by: Jesse at Jan 10, 2007 5:28:14 PM

Yeah, Jesse, this is definitely xbmc for non-technical people (and movies/shows cost two or three bucks each).

Apple is essentially bringing the same exact feature set to the masses.

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Jan 10, 2007 8:30:39 PM

I wish Tivo would partner with Pandora. Its way cool. I'd even pay a monthly charge to use it.

[p.s. if you haven't tried it on the web--its free there. create personalized channels with only the music you like, but still find things you haven't heard before]

Posted by: Glenn at Jan 12, 2007 6:25:36 PM

You guys are wrong. This is not a xbmc. XBMC does not have HDMI and that is the main reason why the XBMC community is looking for the next appliance such as this. Maybe XBMC could be hacked on to this, or maybe not. If iTV can't stream AVI, MPG, ISO....and so on, then this would not be worth it. So, someone needs to helps us to tell us if iTV can stream the DIVX and XVID videos we all downloaded from Bit Torrent.

Posted by: dogk1cker at Mar 5, 2007 12:42:49 PM

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