Comments on: Apple TV shipping now in the USA

By: Cian K

Cian K — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 22:24:16 +0000

if i’ve just bought a fancy new piece of kit, the last thing i wanna do is immediately have to open up screws. it should play divx as standard, but it doesnt because apple know that divx is the warez standard.

By: Cian K

Cian K — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 23:40:37 +0000

If it cant even play divX, its not even worth thinking about.

By: rev

rev — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 05:56:58 +0000

“Its for those who prefer stylish crap and are willing to pay for it, but remain totally ignorant to technology.”

what the hell? did you go get a physics degree to better understand electromagnetism before watching a VHS tape? why should watching video be hard?

the lack of flexibility and narrow video format is exactly why people (not here) would be interested in it. not everyone wants to hack source or solder points to get video working. and this isn’t a set-top box, its a connector between your entertainment system and you main computer. a video ipod with wifi and HDMI.

and yes it can do non-Apple Store video in H.264/MPEG-4. limiting it means not having to deal with the jumble of encodes that rippers spew. no having to deal with morons complaining their ancient kazaa’d indeo porn can’t play.

basically, it’s something you can send to your mom and not have to spend hours doing customer support for.

and no, not a fanboy. had a silent linux box doing this for quite a while, but computers are my living. if people dropped the “must be complicated to be worthy” attitude then Apple and Microsoft wouldn’t be able to make so much money off those with better things to do with their time.

By: aussie

aussie — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:42:45 +0000

Its also available here for $450 Australian.

I rather get something like the following with a 250GB HDD for the same price! (Well, here in Australia it is).

Mvix MX-760HD
http://www.mvixusa.com/product.php?product=mx760&page=specs
(Its Linux-based and there is the source code, so you can hack and modify it if you wish…If you check the specs, it utterly craps on Apple TV in terms of the video formats it supports).

The lack of flexibility and the narrow video format support of the Apple TV, isn’t gonna bode well for the general PC community. Then again, its not aimed at us, is it? Its for those who prefer stylish crap and are willing to pay for it, but remain totally ignorant to technology. (ie: “Looks are everything” + “easy to use” crowd).

Thanks, but no thanks.

By: suhccab

suhccab — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 23:19:38 +0000

TVIX is not an apple but a cherry on the cake

By: JS

JS — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:15:37 +0000

*uck Fagple!

that sums it up quite nicely i think.

By: Huh?

Huh? — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:07:14 +0000

Wait, You pay 300 bucks so you can shop at their store? What does this thing actually do? Like many things Apple, I just don’t see the point other than they get money for something I wouldn’t use much. My el-cheapo mp3 player is 1000 times more user friendly than my kid’s Nano, My PC seems to do everything my friend’s iBook does, plus games (I won’t even mention they had 1-button mice, I gues they are too advanced for me?!?), and now this…thing? I’m just dying to see what the iPhone does.

By: muppeteer

muppeteer — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:27:50 +0000

can’t do anything above 720p

By: Hillarie

Hillarie — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:41:54 +0000

I just heard on the news you can also play home movies..so wouldn’t you be able to convert movies not from apple into a similar format, then put them onto your itunes, and send them over….if it could do that it would be not entirely useless….

By: Skeev

Skeev — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:36:41 +0000

If it was the only thing out there and pcs didn’t exist it would be cool….but there are option out there now..

Try the advance Media Player hardrive enclosure now called the playtime media player one of the best and cheapest out there right now. £65 and bung a hard drive in it. details on request

By: Hillarie

Hillarie — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:36:37 +0000

Is it for sure that it will only play videos from Apple Store??

By: Stone

Stone — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:00:44 +0000

pointless, 10 years too late. They’ll try to sell any rubbish nowdays..

By: Dr_Love

Dr_Love — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:56:55 +0000

ehhh.. i can see this not even entering EU market. Not that interesting, i think.

By: Gedalia

Gedalia — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:56:34 +0000

Its all hype over nothing.

I’ve been using XBMC for years on my Xbox which does everything this apple thing can do and more. XMBC lets you watch what ever you want in loads of different formats and this mac box wont let you watch divx or xvid, only video bought from the apple store?

Waste of cash but it will sell well because there are so many apple fan boys out there that buy anything apple release.