Apple TV

[Tog]

An Apple TV/On-demand device/Streamer?

 

With HDMI /USB /Optical but no storage - for $99 (probably £150 using Apple's exchange rate for us British bears) streams movies / pics and music

 

Will be interesting to see what is inside and if it makes as good music streamer as the old one.

 

As a webby side issue the html 5 live broadcast was superb quality and should nail down the Flash coffin lid nice and tight.

 

yours, off to buy a NaimUniti anyway, tog

 

[Erwin S]

Only a small amount more than the Apple Express. And control iTunes via the televison screen. Neat!

 

[Part-Time Audiophile]

I was right there with them ... and then he just killed me. What a shame.

 

I have a lot of Apple products in house, including 3 laptops, 1 desktop, 2 iPhones, 4 iPods & an (older) Apple TV. Streaming from any to any is, in a word, unusable. And that's using dot-11n throughout. Stutters, lags, drops. And the download speeds off my 20Mbps Comcast net connection? Wow. Downloads take hours. HOURS.

 

I'm hoping they're not going to eliminate the ability of the older units to locally store things, or restrict the ability of those units to buy, download, or sync. If so, out it goes.

 

Staggeringly bad move, IMO. Bizarre. Unreal. Incredible.

 

FAIL.

 

[Tog]

Got to admit I'm in the same position 2 imacs, 2 MBP's Ipad etc ...all linked by airports galore and although I do stream music and sometimes films I prefer to rely on stored content which itunes mostly keeps under control. Lately streaming audiophile content has become more hit and miss (especially when the microwave is on)

 

I suspect that the fact Mr Murdoch and FOX are on board indicates that they would prefer it if you didn't own the content, didn't control use of the content and most of all didn't share the content.

 

Me, I like to own and go

 

yours sceptically, tog

 

[Audio_ELF]

They said that you'll only be able to rent and not buy films/TV shows/etc. does anyone know if that includes general iTunes Store or just can only rent direct from the Apple TV.

 

Eloise

 

[nigel]

For now, I think it means that you will only be able to rent shows (not buy them) directly from the new Apple TV. Only Fox and ABC have signed up to the new rental terms, so you'll still be able to buy shows from the other networks using iTunes on your computer, then stream them to the new Apple TV.

 

Whether purchased shows will disappear completely in the future is something I suppose we will have to wait to find out.

 

[nigel]

At only $99, I've ordered one to see whether it's any better for AirPlay (was AirTunes) than my Airport Express.

 

[Codifus]

to me the main question is: will this new device let you play 24/96 audio natively bit perfect from iTunes?

 

Coupled with the fact that this new device is being introduced with Airplay (new version of airtunes), the new iTunes 10, and the fact that it has HDMI built in and can pass thru dolby 5.1 surround, all seem to suggest a much better bandwidth capability than the old AppleTV and Airport Express.

 

I wait patiently.

 

CD

 

[Tog]

I think the actual ATV unit will be OK in the same way that Sonos and AE are OK but they are not designed as audiophile components - especially at $99...

 

It is the source material that bothers me, rather the delivery method.

 

I'm more concerned that his Steveness seems to believe that none of us want to be bothered storing our content and prefer to stream rented material. I don't buy that argument and I don't think Jobs does either. If there is no stored content there is no piracy. I suspect the strategy is financial...

 

I love Apple stuff but Ping looks horrible - but then I hate Social Networking.

 

yours, in the cloud, tog

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Audio_ELF]

I'm more concerned that his Steveness seems to believe that none of us want to be bothered storing our content and prefer to stream rented material. I don't buy that argument and I don't think Jobs does either. If there is no stored content there is no piracy. I suspect the strategy is financial...

 

It remains to be seen, but I think the concept is no stored content on the Apple TV I don't think Apple are suggesting the you shouldn't store content within iTunes...

 

I agree Tog - I hate social networking too ... but then I'm a bit or a hermit!

 

Eloise

 

[bottlerocket]

I agree the intent is no stored content on the ATV, not because they don't want to sell content, but because they wanted to make a $99 device for the masses. Apple would obviously love to sell us all the music and video we want. The main decision was to remove the local storage and make the device no brainer cheap. It competes with other video streamer boxes and it is probably very clear to Apple that way more customers rent as opposed to buy video. To me its a shrewd move. The syncing is kind of a pain on the ATV. Why not get rid of the hard drive? You've got the choice of the Mini with a hard drive and HDMI or you've got a $99 streaming device integrated with your TV. It will be interesting to see the Remote upgrade with the new ATV. I think that will make it a lot more usable

 

[Paul R]

You can still purchase anything you want using iTunes on a computer, and of course, you can stream anything you can get into iTunes (music/video + photos, not iBooks or PDFS. to the new Apple TV.

 

I do not think this has so much to do with "owning the content" as it does with getting that magic $0.99 price point. Right now, and episode of _Lie To Me_ costs me $2.99, and I will most likely only watch it once. But since I paid for the darn thing, I will be make sure it is backed up, and it will forevermore take up storage space.

 

I certainly would not mind just paying a buck to watch the darn thing, commercial free, with HD sound and video. And of course, I can rent the thing and download it to my computer, iPad, or even my iPhone to watch.

 

-Paul

 

 

[Paul R]

Wow- you really have something setup wrong. I have a 10mbs connection here from Suddenlink, all shared using an Airport Extreme Base Station, and have zero trouble with anything streaming around the house.

 

That includes high def video (780p max) streaming from the main iTunes server upstairs to my laptop on the back porch. Or to an airport express ethernet connection attached to my blue ray player for NetFlix.

 

If you want to take it off line, I would be glad to help you trouble shoot that tangle you have over there. You can buy me a beer next time you are in Austin.

 

-Paul

 

 

[Part-Time Audiophile]

Paul, not sure who the "Network Issues" comment was directed at, but if it was me, then I think I might have had (still have?) some issues that I think (!) I just sorted out. I've had an all-Mac network for about 10 years now, and moved from B to G and recently (ok, in the last 3 years) to N.

 

For those not in the know, all devices must play at dot-11N to get dot-11N speeds. My last dot-11g device was swapped this year for a dot-11n compatible version, but I didn't change anything else. Like the 3 access point network, which was running a WDS network. My understanding is that WDS does not support dot-11n speeds ... so today I finally remembered (after reading this post) and migrated to the normal dot-11n network with the "extend this network" option ....

 

And nothing exploded. Which is always nice.

 

I think that means I'm good to go -- and perhaps this will solve my terrifically bad Apple TV performance ....

 

[Paul R]

Glad to hear that you have beaten that network into submission.

 

All Apple (wireless) networks are usually pretty easy to troubleshoot, as you have just demonstrated. (Congrats again!)

 

-Paul

 

 

 

[Soundproof]

Something's definitely wrong with your setup.

 

I have the following:

 

1. ReadyNAS server - connected to Airport Basestation which is connected to router

2. 3 different Airport Express Units

3. 1 MacBook, 1 MacBook Pro, 1 13" Alu Mac, 1 15" Alu Mac, 1 iMac, 1 Mac mini, 1 TimeCapsule

4. All connected to the same WiFi network (and with a back-up of Ethernet from Basestation to MacMini.)

 

I have experimented with having four different movies playing on Macs, fed from the NAS, while also playing music from the MacMini to my audio system, and from AE to two different other systems.

 

No glitches, stutters or problems.

 

I have a fast internet connection, the WiFi is set up according to the recommended procedure, and I live in an area with a lot of other WiFi networks.

 

I think you need to have another look at the manual.

 

[Part-Time Audiophile]

Like I said, we'll have to see if the latest change makes any difference with streaming.

 

[Bruce1]

Does anyone have an opinion about running 40ft of ethernet cable from an iMac to the AppleTV, then out via Toslink to a BADA? I'm looking for an improvement in music quality over my existing M2 Tech HiFace BNC-->40ft of S/PDIF cable to the Berkeley BNC input. I'm trying to find a good quality/price ratio for improved performance. Other possibilities include a new MacBook and Empirical Audio Pace Car2, but that is a very expensive solution. Thanks for weighing in on this.

Bruce

 

[Audio_ELF]

A BADA deserves the best of sources ... I'm guessing but wouldn't have thought the AppleTV (new or old) would be it. I would have thought you'd need a MacBook Pro (or MacMini) with a high quality USB (or FireWire) to SPDIF (or AES) converter to get the be best out of it - the new WaveLength WaveLink or Weiss INT202 probably (or Berkely's converter when it arrives).

 

Eloise

 

[Codifus]

......the weakness is in the device itself. The PaceCar2 is a great but expensive solution. Another option would be to pick a used Genesis Digital lens. I 've heard those devices do wonders for airport expresses/appletvs.

 

CD

 

[Bruce1]

You are absolutely right about the Berkeley needing (deserving) a better source. I have been looking for an interim low cost solution until the new wave of converters are out and have been reviewed. My current set up, HiFace to Berkeley via 40ft of Belden 1694 cable, is low cost ($225), but doesn't do the rest of the system justice. I'm thinking that I'll end up with a Mac Mini plus some converter, but wondered if the Apple TV might for $99 be a better interim than the HiFace. Patience is a virtue, but it is also in short supply with audiophiles.

 

[syganymede]

One of the small points in the tech specs is that the new Apple TV now supports ALAC and AIFF streaming to its optical output.

 

That's quite an upgrade for HiFi fans. Anyone who buys one could check this out and report here. Is it 16/44.1 only or 16/48 or, hopefully, 24/96?

 

[Audio_ELF]

The Apple TV always accepted ALAC files (and AIFF IIRC). Unfortunately only 16/44.1 and 16/48 were accepted - no high resolution audio.

 

Eloise

 

[bottlerocket]

Correct, I have the old Apple TV and it always supported and still supports streaming of ALAC and AIFF. Anything above 16/44.1 (or maybe it is 48), plays but it gets down-converted. This is also true of tracks played from the local hard drive.

The difference in the new one is there is no hard drive so you will always be streaming with the new ATV, where with the old ATV you could sync from Itunes and play from the local drive. The old ATV also supports streaming of photos from a Mac or syncing to local storage.

 

Also keep in mind the USB on both the new and old ATVs is not for audio out. It is just there for data transfer, though not really supported for even that.

 

 

 

[Bruce1]

Well, no transfer of 24/96 is pretty much a deal killer. Apple would seem to continue to ignore the audiophile community as a market. This is an unfortunate choice on their part, because with little cost or effort they could build a lot of goodwill and positive word-of-mouth. Plus, establishing a connection with audiophiles would improve their product development and increase cross-selling of Apple products. Sad.