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Making my way through the Apple TV Take 2 update I found much to like. It’s a gift to podcasters and our viewers and listeners. The movie rental experience is nearly perfect. Access to Flickr photos via Apple TV is nothing but fun.
The improvements are really, really nice, but with this update Apple accomplished something they’ll probably never promote. They created the closest thing I’ve seen to a grandmother computer, and by grandmother, I’m referring to the tech averse type.
Many, many of our parents and grandparents embraced computers and the Internet without skipping a beat, but some refuse to even try. As children of tech, we think about how much they would enjoy receiving photos and videos over the Internet, but the fear of the unknown is just too much for them to overcome.
Neal’s grandmother refuses to touch a computer, but when we sat up a Nintindo Wii in her living room, she had a blast playing baseball and bowling. I think, if we sat it up for her, she would just as easily understand how to use Apple TV. She can watch our videos and see our photos on her TV in a way that isn’t all that different than the way she gets The Price is Right.
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February 13th, 2008 at 2:09 am
I don’t know if it was the coffee or if you were just excited about the Apple TV, but you did seem a touch more supercharged on this one than usual.
Setup time for me was about ten minutes from starting the process to getting the new intro movie. I agree that it’s a shame that Apple TV has, nearly from the beginning, been given the short end of the marketing stick. It started out as the iPhone’s far less popular sibling at last year’s Macworld keynote, and has never moved from that shadow. I hope people listen to what you’re saying about this being an excellent new media receiver/player for those who won’t go near a traditional computer. To me, the Apple TV is a prime example of one of the things about personal technology that fascinates me most, the way that different people will use the same device in different ways. To me being able to directly download a podcast is the best new feature, for others it’s the rental capacity, and others will enjoy being able to access their friends’ and family’s Flickr photos on a big screen TV. I just wish Apple would work the marketing magic of which we know they’re capable to let people see all the different ways this device can be put to work.
February 13th, 2008 at 2:47 am
excellent episode. gotta grab an apple tv this week. i’m sold
February 13th, 2008 at 8:02 am
“if that explanation doesn’t work, I’ll hold up a zune” i haven’t laughed that hard in a long while. thanks. & it did stop me from tuning out this apple special.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:28 am
The apple TV does sound good. Has anyone set it up w/ a non-Apple wireless connection? I have both Macs and PCs in my house and have a Linksys 802.11 g router. I’m worried that the wireless speed will be to slow to download HD movies. I have broadband, that isn’t a worry. Any thoughts or experiences?
February 13th, 2008 at 10:33 am
The only speed that matters is your broadband speed. There are very few (read none) service provides (comcast,ATT,cox, etc) that give you a connection anywhere close to the speed with which your wireless router is(802.11g=54mb/s). Apple TV HD downloads are around 4 mb/s. If your broadband connection is more than 4mb/s you should be fine. Now this does not take into account how well your router works. I have issues with mine cutting out a lot. But speedwise you are in the clear. -Chris aka Speedy
February 13th, 2008 at 11:30 am
New viewer here. I think the show is great but I have one request…could you get Neal to put you on decaf? I have to watch many episodes twice to understand what you’re saying. Slow down a bit. Smell the silicone roses. :) (I didn’t know people could talk that fast in Texas…) Good job otherwise!
February 13th, 2008 at 11:34 am
OT – Hey, what’s up with the HP MediaSmart contest…if we have not heard, does that mean we haven’t won :^( I have only 5 days left on my HomeServer evaluation period!
February 13th, 2008 at 11:35 am
er, make that “silicon” roses. Doh!
February 13th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
AppleTV’s HD quality is a pretty damn poor alternative to Bluray or HD-DVD. 4mb/s compared to 48mb/s on Bluray just ain’t gonna cut it. Especially considering raw uncompressed HD is 3000mb/s. AppleTV is for people who think MP3s sound just as good as DVD-Audio/SACD and 1MegaPixel cameras on their cell phone do just as well as a Pro-End Digital SLR.
There is a big different between providing content at HD Resolutions and providing content at HD Quality. Providers like AppleTV are diluting the quality expectations of what HD truly can be. It is a major step forward in terms of convenience and I applaud the efforts to bring something like this to the masses. But it is a major step backwards in terms of quality.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I’m still not sold on the Apple TV. I simply want to point it to a network share and call it a day. But I did think exactly what you mentioned on easy picture viewing. I’m trying to figure out a decent way for my mom, who just doesn’t have the patience for messing with a computer, to view our photos. I just can’t swallow the $230 price tag for that sole purpose.
btw, VisualHub 1.31 (latest update) does Apple TV 5.1. But can’t you tell handbrake to just slap the AC3 5.1 sound to the video?
February 13th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
oh, and to be nit picky, Apple released Aperture 2.0. Aperture already exists ;)
February 14th, 2008 at 6:26 am
Apparently there are some movies only available on AppleTV and not in the normal iTunes store. I was going to rent the same movie you did “The Brave One” but it is just not available at all in the movies area. When even trying to search, it kept saying “nothing matches your search”.
I wonder if this is a mistake or they did this on purpose to get you to get the AppleTV.
February 14th, 2008 at 10:50 am
I can’t beleive you didn’t come up with some cool video for Valentines day! Everyone else did! :(
February 15th, 2008 at 7:11 am
I think there’s a connection between the speed of speech and the quantity of lipgloss – both were blinding this time around!
February 15th, 2008 at 8:09 am
The eStarling photo frames say “Made for Grandma” to me. The amazon reviews are mixed, though. A few of my friends and I have started converting old laptops to get the large frame with scripting ability. Much fun.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Looks like AC3 audio stream in M4V is included in latest SVN build of Handbrake, that’s great for AppleTV take 2 which now supports 5.1 Dolby Digital!