Apple TV - "Take 2" Software Update Now Available

[aphex]

from Apple Insider

Apple on Tuesday quietly released its much-anticipated Apple TV "Take 2" software update, which introduces a brand new on-sreen interface and allows users to rent high definition movies directly from their widescreen TVs.

The update is available for existing Apple TV owners by selecting the "Check from update" menu option under the "Settings" menu. Once selected, the software requires approximately 6 minutes to download on a broadband connection and another 5 to 10 minutes to install. At this point, it appears as if the Apple TV runs through three separate update processes in which the Apple logo and update progress bar will appear, complete an update, and then dissapear three distinct times.

With iTunes Movie Rentals and the new Apple TV software update (AppleInsider's First Look), users will be able to just click a button on their remote to rent movies from a catalog of over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound, with no computer required.

DVD-quality iTunes Movie Rentals are $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases, and high definition versions are just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 and new releases at $4.99.

Once complete, the Apple TV software update will be made available as a free automatic download to all existing Apple TV customers, and will subsequently appear on all newly manufactured versions of the wireless set-top-box.

Apple TV, which includes the Apple Remote, is available for a suggested retail price of $229 for the 40GB model and $329 for the 160GB model (US and Canada). The device requires an 802.11g/n wireless network or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet networking, a broadband Internet connection and a high definition widescreen TV.

$199 for a refurb Apple TV isn't looking too bad right now...


UPDATE: iLounge says the HD Video is pretty good
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/02/13...tty-good-says-ilounge/

There's been some controversy about the HD video quality on the Apple TV, which we've covered before. Now that Take Two has dropped, iLounge has done the legwork to put together an excellent visual comparison. They compared four versions of Live Free and Die Hard: Blu-ray, Apple TV HD, Cable HD, and DVD.

The results were quite good for the Apple TV; while Blu-ray was the clear and expected winner, the Apple TV version outpaced the Cable HD version on several of the tests, particularly those testing compression artifacts. The upshot: "Because of its cleaner motion and audio, we felt that the Apple experience was better in both overall audio and video quality than the HD cable experience, and for most users, superior to renting a standard DVD as well." Check out their full article for many more comparison shots.

 

[randomlinh]

Yeah, not too bad. I've found a perfect use for the apple tv though, picture viewing for my mom. she rarely ever uses the computer, and never gets to really see our pictures since we don't print them. I'm trying to find a digital photo frame for her, but all the good ones are 200+ it seems. This might be a better alternative... but seems like such a waste of an apple tv, heh.

 

[DnetMHZ]

I just picked up an Apple TV this weekend. I was wondering when this update would come out.
So far I like it, I'm still in the process of encoding our DVD collection, streaming movies from a PC upstairs seems to work very well so far.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ
I just picked up an Apple TV this weekend. I was wondering when this update would come out.
So far I like it, I'm still in the process of encoding our DVD collection, streaming movies from a PC upstairs seems to work very well so far.

If they released a way to stream Sirius on it, I would buy it in a second...

 

[DnetMHZ]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ
I just picked up an Apple TV this weekend. I was wondering when this update would come out.
So far I like it, I'm still in the process of encoding our DVD collection, streaming movies from a PC upstairs seems to work very well so far.

If they released a way to stream Sirius on it, I would buy it in a second...

I know there is a hack to get firefox on it, maybe you could play the web stream through that.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ
I just picked up an Apple TV this weekend. I was wondering when this update would come out.
So far I like it, I'm still in the process of encoding our DVD collection, streaming movies from a PC upstairs seems to work very well so far.

If they released a way to stream Sirius on it, I would buy it in a second...

If they would just allow you to stream anything... or even just divx (which hopefully would inherently include xvid), they'd sell out (ok, at the least a hell of a lot more).

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ
I just picked up an Apple TV this weekend. I was wondering when this update would come out.
So far I like it, I'm still in the process of encoding our DVD collection, streaming movies from a PC upstairs seems to work very well so far.

If they released a way to stream Sirius on it, I would buy it in a second...

I know there is a hack to get firefox on it, maybe you could play the web stream through that.

Well, the web based sirius stream uses a windows media stream (.asx) from what I recall... Would that work?

 

[DnetMHZ]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ
I just picked up an Apple TV this weekend. I was wondering when this update would come out.
So far I like it, I'm still in the process of encoding our DVD collection, streaming movies from a PC upstairs seems to work very well so far.

If they released a way to stream Sirius on it, I would buy it in a second...

I know there is a hack to get firefox on it, maybe you could play the web stream through that.

Well, the web based sirius stream uses a windows media stream (.asx) from what I recall... Would that work?

It may be possible, I've never tried it my self. I believe some people also got VLC media player running on the Apple TV, that may be something to look at also.

Take a look here

http://www.appletvhacks.net/

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: DnetMHZ
I just picked up an Apple TV this weekend. I was wondering when this update would come out.
So far I like it, I'm still in the process of encoding our DVD collection, streaming movies from a PC upstairs seems to work very well so far.

If they released a way to stream Sirius on it, I would buy it in a second...

I know there is a hack to get firefox on it, maybe you could play the web stream through that.

Well, the web based sirius stream uses a windows media stream (.asx) from what I recall... Would that work?

It may be possible, I've never tried it my self. I believe some people also got VLC media player running on the Apple TV, that may be something to look at also.

Take a look here

http://www.appletvhacks.net/

Interesting, i'll have to look into it a bit more.. Thanks for the link!

 

[aphex]

Saw this on Tuaw

There's been some controversy about the HD video quality on the Apple TV, which we've covered before. Now that Take Two has dropped, iLounge has done the legwork to put together an excellent visual comparison. They compared four versions of Live Free and Die Hard: Blu-ray, Apple TV HD, Cable HD, and DVD.

The results were quite good for the Apple TV; while Blu-ray was the clear and expected winner, the Apple TV version outpaced the Cable HD version on several of the tests, particularly those testing compression artifacts. The upshot: "Because of its cleaner motion and audio, we felt that the Apple experience was better in both overall audio and video quality than the HD cable experience, and for most users, superior to renting a standard DVD as well." Check out their full article for many more comparison shots.

I'm actually surprised it looks better than HD Cable, as I've always felt HD Cable was pretty good quality.

 

[randomlinh]

hrm.. sounds promising. Actually, is there any way to push photos out to the Apple TV? Mainly so there's no need for a computer to be on. Or even dumping it on the Apple TV via USB.. that'd be neat.

 

[Pabster]

Yes, the HD video is pretty darn good. I'm loving it.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Pabster
Yes, the HD video is pretty darn good. I'm loving it.

Very cool... How quickly once you purchase can you begin watching the HD?

 

[DnetMHZ]

I will have to give this a try this weekend!

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
Yeah, not too bad. I've found a perfect use for the apple tv though, picture viewing for my mom. she rarely ever uses the computer, and never gets to really see our pictures since we don't print them. I'm trying to find a digital photo frame for her, but all the good ones are 200+ it seems. This might be a better alternative... but seems like such a waste of an apple tv, heh.

i got my parents one for christmas, they LOVE it. my mom can move pics from her email easily to the frame (it has a 9 in one or something card reader, we got her a card as well as the frame) so it's easy for them to use and update. with my kids and my brother and his wife expecting it's pretty nice for pics of the grandkids, especially since everything is digital these days.

to stay on topic:

i keep getting more and more tempted to pick one of these up, right now i'm using netflix, and it's cheaper in the long run, but better quality movies on demand (and not thru comcrap which apparently has 1/3 the necessary pipe for HD) and at a livable price...

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: aphex
Very cool... How quickly once you purchase can you begin watching the HD?

It's very quick for me, between 30 seconds and a minute. But I've got 20Mbit downstream.