last100 - Latest Comments in When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?

Re: When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?

fesja — Thu, 24 May 2007 07:50:34 -0000

"the Airport Express, provides bit-perfect reproduction of lossless music files streamed form iTunes",

Mike, except if it's raining or windy..

Re: When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?

Mike W — Thu, 24 May 2007 07:36:46 -0000

I've had the Apple TV for about a month now and I agree with Jeremy that there is a lot of misinformation being circulated about this product. I live in the UK, so we don't have any movies or TV shows available for purchase on iTunes yet (the rumor is that Europe should have these available in November).

I am very impressed with the picture and sound quality, I don't understand why people are looking at stadard definition video on their HD TVs via Apple TV and then making an overall judement on picture quality. Try some HD podcasts if you want to see what The Apple TV is capable of.

As for the future - because the Apple TV runs OS X, all kinds of developments are possible. For example, I would love a visualizer a la iTunes that reacts to the music being played, this could be really nice on my 42 inch Plasma screen.

Re: When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?

Collin — Thu, 24 May 2007 03:47:37 -0000

Mark: you don't specify your setup for playing iTunes music over wifi, but the AppleTV's conceptual predecessor, the Airport Express, provides bit-perfect reproduction of lossless music files streamed form iTunes. See the Stereophile (high-end audio magazine) review where they confirm this: http://www.stereophile.com/...

I'm haven't seen whether AppleTV also provides bit-perfect digital out, but I don't see any reason why it couldn't. Certainly, iTunes does not do any lossy compression to stream over wifi. (I can't think of a reference offhand, but in the case of the Airport Express, I believe it does lossless compression to the Apple Lossless format before streaming it over wifi).

Re: When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?

Steve O'Hear (editor) — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:47:01 -0000

@l0rdr0ck

The AppleTV plug-in Loader does look promising. I'm waiting for a GUI installer for the whole lot, rather than having to SSH in etc. Then it matters less whether Apple officially let's in third party developers.

Re: When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?

Mark — Wed, 23 May 2007 15:57:46 -0000

Jeremy - I did not say unlistenable, I said horrible and compromised by audio standards. iTunes can store yoiur music uncompressed, but it does not say it will stream it uncrompressed. Are yoiu telling me that there is no compression as part of wifi protocals?

Re: When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?

Jeremy — Wed, 23 May 2007 13:08:50 -0000

There are an amazing amount of ill-informed comments here for such a small collection. :-)

- iTunes makes uncompressed music un-listenable just by transmitting it over wi-fi? ridiculous.
- a USB tuner for your computer will help you watch computer videos on your TV? how exactly?
- If the hacks were available people would buy Apple TV? well they are, so what?
- It will be a huge success even though it's "nothing special and (has) huge format limitations"? WTF?

It stands to reason that all the Apple TV hacks that are popular (and not illegal), will be incorporated into the device by Apple eventually. Why do you think they made it so easy to hack?

Re: When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?

l0rdr0ck — Wed, 23 May 2007 12:41:26 -0000

With the AppleTV Plugin Loader everything is coming together without Apple's support. A moderately motivated user can easily mod the AppleTV. I don't know that I want Apple "blessed" apps anymore. I am way happy with what the Awkward community has accomplished.

Re: When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?

myeasytv — Wed, 23 May 2007 12:24:24 -0000

Whenever it does I bet that apple TV will be a huge sucess although it will probably be nothing special and have huge format limitations (like ipod)

Re: When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?

Mark Schraad — Wed, 23 May 2007 12:16:48 -0000

It would be nice if they would open up the transport portion so that the compression was adjustable. The element that keeps me from purchasing an AppleTV is the horrible fidelity in the previous systems. Using iTunes to send music (stored in non compressed format) over wifi to my stereo is aweful. Even for basic low volume background music the quality of the sound is a huge compromise.

Re: When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?

Feldwebel Wolfenstool — Wed, 23 May 2007 11:41:26 -0000

Escape the Apple Reality Distortion Field....this thing is a piece-of-crap, since DAY ONE. Buy an ATI USB 2.0 TV tuner......AND SAVE YOUR MONEY.

Re: When will Steve Jobs open up the AppleTV?

Clicky — Wed, 23 May 2007 10:10:38 -0000

If these "hacks" were available to the everyday consumer Apple TV would be a no-brainer purchase.