I was a doubter…

Got one and love it.

The technology and easy of use is spectacular.

It is cheap enough to buy one even if you were opposed.

Real surprise value to me was the ease of watching some of my favorite video podcast on big screen.

Apple software and ease of install is amazing.

Bubblegum is right, all media will be served via the Net, and why can’t you stream stuff you get from places other than iTunes, if it supports a format then it supports a format, convert it.

For those of you who do not like the idea of Apple Tv. Don’t buy it. It’s that simple.

Apple is adding more content to their iTunes store all the time. I personally have yet to buy anything from the iTunes store yet since i get most of my content for free, but eventually you’ll be able to purchase ANY movie from their store at less than what you can purchase from a store. So, when you want to buy SpiderMan 3 a few months after the movie is released when it comes out on video you’ll be able to download it that day or shortly thereafter and not have to stand in line and wait to purchase it for $25.

If the quality of the Apple TV is good and the movie playback is smooth, then there is no reason why anyone who uses technology today shouldn’t want this or another product like it. And you’ll also be able to put MOST of your content you already have in iTunes and play it over the Apple TV. This is protected and unprotected content alike. Eventually Apple plans on opening up its content support, but to be able to do that it needs to make sure the new programming will work properly, unlike Microsoft products which are rushed out into the market place and just suck ass until 10 years later. IF you notice, Apple always seems to be a step ahead of Microsoft.

I guess that’s enough ranting.

What Apple needs to do, is give iTunes a “DVD” ripping ability.

Eg: Rip a DVD into iTunes movie format, the same way it does with CD’s. Maybe it will feature in Leopard. I hope so, because I love the idea of Apple TV. I want one, but I won’t be able to watch all the anime I have anymore or my star strek series.

The problem lies with movie rentals though, somehow they will need to invent a way, so you can’t just hire a movie and rip it into iTunes. So this feature may never arrive, and only movies from iTunes store will be availabe. Which is a bummer! (-_-)

It needs a DVD playback function. badly

thinkart, the slingbox does exactly the OPPOSITE of what the appletv does.

The SB sends content to your computers anywhere. The appletv sends content from your computers to your TV.

Richard Prince wrote:

No, I have to pay Apple iTunes to play their extremely limited pop-culture crap (it is just the same terrible TV that people have been screaming about infesting the mindless imagination of youth) with embedded DRM virus and there is NOTHING on iTunes woth watching!! There is no History Channel, no National Geographic, no decent entertainment programming the PBS Jazz or Civil War series (and I am not suggesting these are the best, just that what Apple offers is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH worse!!!)

Why buy this SH*T?? I see no upside…

What makes you think that only stuff you bought at the iTunes store works with the appletv?

DRM doesn’t “infest programs”, it wraps content. If you don’t know the difference between an application and content, then maybe there’s no use rebutting.

I own an iPod. Do you? Does every song you have on your iPod come from the iTunes store? Most of mine comes from CDs I ripped into iTunes.

Tunes which will play through my home theater system via the appletv, along with a nice display of the metadata (album artwork, track info, etc) on my tv.

SLING CATCHER! i am a huge apple fan–supporting every “new thing”…the cube…the titanium g4 powerbook(a huge step forward 6yrs ago)….the ipod….the quad-core(yum!). anywho…i am afraid to say it, but i think that the makers of the Slingbox are going to win this battle. anyone doubting the apple tv and its limitations, but wanting to stream all their content to their home theater or tv should take a peek. they are offering much more and no limits!

Hi Richard,
I’ve converted all my DVD movies and TV Shows into itunes format and thus will have access to all my media with a touch of the button. I’m extremely excited about that. I also have elgato’s eyetv dvr hooked up to my mac and that automatically converts what i record and places it into Itunes for watching on AppleTV. I don’t think the Itunes store is that bad either. They have quite a few shows that i love, I just bought the season pass of “24″ and that will automatically download those episodes to my itunes and will be ready to watch in Apple TV. I think it’s an awesome product myself.

Hi Richard, Why? In a nutshell 720p trailer playback. I already have a DVR so I wouldn’t be using it for that and I certainly have no plans to purchase movies from the apple store. My old Mac mini just doesn’t have the horsepower to handle HD files, it may not be everyone’s bag but every now and then we just like to queue up a bunch of new movie trailers and watch them (i.e. when nothing else is on).

I don’t get it… Why?

This technology completely ties the hands of the consumer. Apple is quickly becoming the most anti-consumer company in the country. Give the consumer tools, don’t load them with DRM infested programs, don’t stick them with formats that cannot be shared, read, and played.

TiVO is much better. Why can’t I time-shift record a program off the TV and replay it when I want to watch it. The simplistic technology of 25 years ago — the VCR — gave me this simple capability.

No, I have to pay Apple iTunes to play their extremely limited pop-culture crap (it is just the same terrible TV that people have been screaming about infesting the mindless imagination of youth) with embedded DRM virus and there is NOTHING on iTunes woth watching!! There is no History Channel, no National Geographic, no decent entertainment programming the PBS Jazz or Civil War series (and I am not suggesting these are the best, just that what Apple offers is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH worse!!!)

Why buy this SH*T?? I see no upside…

I can stream from my XP laptop as well as my media center PC to my 360. Media Player 11 allows streaming of pics, video, and music from any XP PC to the television through a 360. Plus I can play a bunch of clips that Media Center wouldn’t recognize. Still, it’s limited in my case since it’s only viral videos that I’m streaming this way. Beyond that video consists of DVDs, and downloaded media such as movies and TV series.

Kalroy

Philly, during the keynote Job’s specifically mentioned 720p several times but the tech specs page for AppleTV mentions 1080i.

As 720p is listed under video and 1080i is listed under compatibility, it likely means that 720p is highest supported video decoding while the hardware itself will output at 1080i. Either way it looks like you’re covered though.

–edit—Kevin beat me to it

It says on the tech specs that it outputs to 1080i.

I was thinking of getting this because I need something to stream my movie collection from my Mac, and I don’t want to get a Media Center PC and the Xbox 360 has a limited capability.

But I do have a few questions that I don’t know if you know anything about, Can it upscale to 1080i? My CRT TV doesn’t support 720p. Also, from all the screenshots and videos of it, it seems that it’s very reminiscent of Front Row interface and since it’s running from iTunes, whether you can categorize the movie outside of the genre.