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Apple TV moves in

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The cost of Qwest's fastest (7 megabit) DSL service was looking pretty good to me, and I thought I'd have some fun with that bandwidth by getting an Apple TV and seeing what I could do with it.

For the moment, one of the biggest attractions (to me) was the ability to rent videos on a pay-as-you-go basis, and without tying up one of my computers. Locally, Blockbuster doesn't have a clue when they will get Blu-Ray in the stores, Hollywood Video closed it's big library store, and the #1 shop in town doesn't offer any HD programs at all.

Current selection on iTunes Music Store USA is 300-something titles which puts it about on par with a good supermarket selection. 70+ titles are available in high-definition, and some of those titles don't seem to be available in any other high-def format (Year Of The Dog et al). You have 29 days to watch the movie, and once you start playing it, you have 24 hours to finish it.

I haven't begun watching movies yet: I started downloading "Transformers" in HD at 3:15 in the afternoon, and the download was complete sometime around 9 hours later, but I had turned in by that time. "Napoleon Dynamite" in standard def is downloading much faster--looks like it will be about a 1-hour process: Fast enough that I could probably start watching the movie after the first couple of minutes.

At the moment, Apple TV looks like a pretty good idea with a few expected rough edges and there's lots of untapped potential for it to become more of a general-purpose portal device.

Follow Ups:

Watch out Blockbuster & Netflix... - GtShelby350 10:58:07 02/19/08 (0)
Apple TV should make these guys nervous, especially once it gains a foothold and begins offering a huge library of titles.

I purchased an Apple TV specifically because of this rental feature, and I haven't been disappointed. I love the fact that I don't have to go to the local rental store, or wait for my next Netflix to come in the mail. Sure their library is limited right now... but it's only been up for like a week... I'm sure as more and more people buy this piece, more and more titles will be available for rental.

One thing to remember though... these HD downloads are significantly bigger files than their SD equivalent... we're talking a few hundred megs compared to a few gigs... so even with high speed internet you won't be able to stream HD just yet (if it takes 9 hours to download a 90 min movie... it'll never get far enough ahead). Soooo... if it's an impromptu movie night with the wifey you seek... save the dollar and stream an SD movie...

Another nice point on Apple TV... 1080P output! I have yet to see how well it up-converts SD, but I have Pirates 3 (SD) in my iTunes and I plan to watch it thru the new Apple TV to see how it fares... If it's impressive enough I may stop buying DVDs all together!
Keep us posted Plus on a similar note-do you have comcast where you are? - Jack G 16:10:48 02/17/08 (3)
I'm curious how appleTV works out.
Comcast is working on serious downloads/VOD, including 100Mbps highspeed, and 1000 HD movies this year (yea, we'll see).
Jack
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- RE: Keep us posted Plus on a similar note-do you have comcast where you are? - 4season 13:37:06 02/18/08 (2)
  While I didn't have the HD DVD to compare with, "Transformers" in high definition as downloaded from iTunes Music Store does look good, and "Napoleon Dynamite" in standard-def looked okay. I felt that the speed of the high-def download was held back less by Qwest's DSL than by Apple's servers, but both movies played flawlessly, no hassles at all.
  
  A cheap 100 megabit connection with fast servers to back it up would be really awesome. But the moment I need to use a full-blown computer for downloading or playing my movies, I lose interest.
  - RE: Keep us posted Plus on a similar note-do you have comcast where you are? - Jack G 06:03:06 02/19/08 (1)
    > > > A cheap 100 megabit connection with fast servers to back it up would be really awesome. But the moment I need to use a full-blown computer for downloading or playing my movies, I lose interest. < < <
    
    I'm *guessing*, that one would just need one of Comcast's DVRs (possibly a new one) to get the movies. I hate to think what it would cost.
    Jack
    - Yes, Comcast is readily available to me - 4season 07:06:50 02/19/08 (0)
      To date, "up to 9 megabits" is as much as they offer though, and there are limits to what I'm willing to pay per month. Besides, I'm finding that I kind of like Apple TV and will probably continue using it as my main internet portal, followed by the Wii, which I like for news and world weather.

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