What is the one thing Apple TV is missing?

Ok, maybe it's missing a few things, but the one thing that would make Apple TV a must buy for me, would be the inclusion of DVR functions. I don't always want to purchase a TV show, since I'm paying my Cable bill, I want my old VCR functionality, now I need another box. Now, Archos TV+ seems to do it. It records tv, has portable web functions too. It has almost the same form factor as the Apple TV. I could download the movies and copy them over. Well, maybe you should take a look, maybe it's the Apple TV replacement. Maybe not. Url: www.archos.com

                

iTunes, Apple TV - Buy now feature.

With Apple gaining seller rights to new release at the same time as DVD release dates; it's no wonder that it quietly added the "buy now" feature in Apple TV devices. Why would someone want to buy a movie for a proprietary set-top-box? I get the detachment to physical media. For one, it's a pain to store! Shelves lined with cases, mostly just collecting dust. Apple TV rental window made it easy to rent and watch movies with you Apple TV device, now you can buy and store them on the device. Let's hope they keep a purchase record in iTunes or allow a Time Capsule backup to safe gaurd your purchased media!

With Apple using a time-based DRM (digital right management) for rental video, how will they handle the digital content they sell you? Probably with a digital iTunes certificate that will allow you to transfer to your iPod or iPhone. Don't expect to be able to rip any DVD's. I'm sure you'll find a way to do the MP4 to DVD conversion and strip the DRM.

                

$100 off Refurbished Apple TV

Apple Certified Refurbished Apple TV
Refurbished Apple TV with 40GB drive
Mac + PC
Wi-Fi 802.11 wireless
40GB hard drive for up to 50 hours video
Apple Remote
Learn More
• Save 34% off the original price

Apple TV 40GB Apple TV turns your living room into an on-demand movie theater. After a free software update, with a few clicks of the remote, you can rent HD movies from the same place you watch them ? your widescreen TV.

                

Does one really need to Skype your Apple TV

If you really think that the device that is suppose to be your entertainment center and give you access to movie and tv downloads, as well as stream from your media center doesn't do enough. Then you might want to check out the Skype Apple TV plugin.

With the Plugin you'll be able to make VoIP calls through a USB headset, or send text messages with a USB Keyboard.

Now this is rumoured to no longer work after the up coming Take 2 update, which should be release by the end of next week if not sooner.

Demo Video available at Brandon-Holland.com

                

What to do! Find an old episode to watch.

Since the writer strike began, I really didn’t pay much attention, as it gets further into the New Year, I’m starting to understand why the general public is looking for a way to stream television shows of favorite episodes or shows that they hadn’t seen. Why! Because the re-runs on TV are too fresh, just been seen episodes.

I totally understand how people refuse to pay large amounts of money to download from iTunes or Unbox. One would think that if these companies set a monthly fee or a package deal on lets say per 10 episodes, credits lets say. Maybe more people would choose legal downloading over sharing systems.

I’m sure by now everyone’s Tivo needs a break; our wallets are starting to bleed. The TV re-runs are sending us into a coma! Its about time someone thinks that if you can get unlimited TV for a dollar amount with your cable company, maybe there needs to be a section on iTunes or Unbox that allows for controlled fresh content that we could pay a reasonable amount per month. If I watch 3 hours of TV a night on iTunes at approx $2 an hour, I’m looking at $6 a night $42 a week, excuse me… $168 a month (approx). I don’t pay that for cable…

Ok, so if I need a one off episode or movie, I might think about it!

                

Is it the Apple Time Capsule or a waste of time?

It's really up to you! You might find it a waste of money. It a welcomed idea for me.

Why?
The other day, I was sitting around chatting with a friend about how I wanted to put a large external drive mounted on my electrical panel and hook it up to my wifi router to make it accessible to the laptops in my house. The day after the Macworld keynote speech we sat there and kind of snickered about how the timing of the Time Capsule announcement was so close to our conversation.

Now what makes having a wifi enabled external drive so handy, for one thing, backups! I’ve had a few near misses the last few months with losing a large amount of photos. I guess it’s the things that can’t be replaced that are so important not to lose. So the Time Capsule is here! Its two models allow you to have 500GB or 1000GB available for backing up pictures, movie clips. The things that if you lost you would never be able to replace.

I was also thinking that the time capsule will some day make a great storage option for the apple TV. Both have N wifi wireless and Apple TV now pulls from multiple data sources. This makes the extra storage handy to use as a data stream source.
Even though a data copy software will be needed for the Microsoft OS, I’m still extremely happy about this! The announcement wasn't a WOW! Factor at Macworld this year, but its still a welcome tool for many, many people.

                

Which One? Take Two Apple TV or UNBOX Amazon

Apple TV and Take Two

I like the idea of Take Two and its integration with the Apple TV appliance, but then again using Tivo to Unbox is also a nice feature. Since both movie download services are set to go head to head for consumer spending in 2008, we will have to see what shakes out.

Take 2 – Apples new movie download service will be shipped out as part of the new Apple TV units as well as a downloadable client for PC and Mac users. With promises of over 100 titles and more to be added quickly it could make the Apple TV the video appliance everyone wants to own. Again I think that it’s going to depend on what price points Apple, The Movie and TV industry try to set for a digital copy. It’s also been stated that if you only use the Apple TV appliance and not the PC or Mac program to download the media, your media files will be stuck on the Apple TV appliance.

Apple Take Two Media Encoding: MP4

Unbox – Now Unbox right now is limited to the United States, the user billing page doesn’t accept a postal code as instructed and the provinces are missing from the drop down. I’m sure that if it takes off and to compete with Take Two, Unbox will roll out to the rest of the Amazon locations by the end of the year if not sooner.

Unbox, uses the WMV(Windows Media Video) file format and comes with Tivo Support.

So, what do you use, I guess it depends on $$, which is cheaper. What devices you own.

You can always convert from mp4 to dvd or wmv to dvd with video converters.

Apple TV with Take 2, will stream the video from any PC or Mac Video source, so it does make it appealing. Maybe when my current stack of DVD-r and my DIVx player breaks, I’ll look into these two options further.

                

ImToo DVD - Apple TV Converter - PC edition

Description:

ImTOO DVD to Apple TV Converter is powerful easy-to-use DVD to Apple TV Converter software which helps you convert DVD to Apple TV MP4 (MPEG-4) format and convert DVD to Apple TV audio formats MP3, AAC, WAV, put DVD on Apple TV with great quality and super fast converting speed! And the profile of Apple TV video has been improved to fit better for your TV playing.

Features:

1.Super fast converting speed - It supports multi-threading and batch conversion; fully support Intel® Pentium D Dual-Core Processor and AMD Athlon™ 64 X 2 Dual-Core Processor; Provide >200% converting speed, so fast beyond your imagination.

2.Convert DVD to Apple TV video format MP4 and put DVD on Apple TV, Apple TV converter.

3.Convert DVD to Apple TV audio formats MP3, AAC, WAV and put DVD on Apple TV, Apple TV converter.

4.ImTOO DVD to Apple TV converter software supports convert DVD to Apple TV by custom file size through setting video bitrate.

5.Sound normalization. Normalizes sound levels of DVD.

6.The DVD to Apple TV Converter allows you to select target subtitle and audio track.

7.The DVD to Apple TV Converter support preview. You can see the ripping progress in preview window.

8.You can select zoom method of output file to fit your television’s aspect.

9.You may choose to retrieve DVD info from the internet automatically or manually.

                

Apple TV - Taking out the middle man!

I do love the idea of Media Center and streaming video to your home theater system. In a way Apple TV is the Media Center and also is a streaming device!

If you want to pull files from your itunes or from your pc or mac you can stream it to your televsion. You can also save file directrly to the unit "taking out the middle man" and play it when ever you want.

It's a Media Center, a wireless streaming device, network storage unit!

Now that it has a 160GB drive, it's worth the price point upgrade from the 40GB model.


System Requirements
• Widescreen (16:9) enhanced definition or high definition television with an HDMI, DVI, or component video input
• Wired or wireless network
• iTunes 7.1 (available as a free download)
• Broadband Internet connection (fees may apply)
• Macintosh computer with Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later; or PC with Windows XP Home or Professional (SP2).

Media Spec Requirements

Video formats supported:

H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store):

VIDEO:
• up to 5 Mbps, Progressive Main Profile (CAVLC) with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution 1280x720 @ 24fps, 960x540 @ 30fps)
• iTunes Store purchased video, 320x240 or 640x480

MPEG-4:
• up to 3 Mbps, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution 720x432 @ 30 fps)

Audio
• Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps); protected AAC (from iTunes store); MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps); MP3 VBR; Apple Lossless; AIFF; WAV

It means that MP4 encoded content will be near DVD quality. You can convert Divx\Avi ACC encoded files to MP4 720x432 with the cucusoft Apple TV converter bundle.