Another Look at Apple TV

Jonny Evans of MacWorld UK asks “Is the Apple TV an essential purchase now that you can buy and rent films?” His observation is that Apple’s media streaming device becomes more and more appealing to UK users, especially now, “with the introduction of TV and film downloads accessible through iTunes.”

As most readers already know, the Apple TV allows you to play content from the iTunes library through an HD TV. “It has its own hard drive and can sync content from one nominated computer while being capable of streaming media from collections held on up to four more. Additional features include YouTube access and the capacity to browse image libraries on .Mac/MobileMe and Flickr. The Apple TV also lets you buy music, subscribe to podcasts, and buy and rent films and TV shows from iTunes using the Apple Remote, the device and your TV – no computer is required.”

Purchasing and renting films is quite simple. It can be accomplished either through iTunes on your Mac or PC, but in order to get the widescreen format, it is necessary to buy content through the Apple TV. However, Evans suggests that it should be possible to purchase a film on your Mac and transfer it to the Apple TV. Still, he acknowledges, “picture quality is superb, especially when you opt for the HD versions (well, it’s not full-quality HD but 720p, so it’s neo-HD, at least).”

It is easy to find films. Using the remote, you simply navigate available content on-screen. Once you rent a film, you have thirty days to begin watching it. Once you begin watching the film, you have 48 hours to finish. Evans complains about the prices which the film studios have insisted upon, in their eagerness to protect DVD sales. It is true that rentals start for much less in the U.S. For the Apple TV to really take off in the UK, the prices of the films need to drop.

Evans also suggests improvement to the protection of Apple TV content. Apple TV has a USB port, but can’t be connected to an external hard drive to extend storage and back up. He offers a solution, “Perhaps Apple could introduce Apple TV support within Time Capsule, so the multimedia system could make automated backups.”

So, Mr. Evans, is the Apple TV essential? Not yet, he says, but getting closer and closer with each software update. And for now, it is a great product which is beautiful, sleek and liberating. Which isn’t so bad. Min specs for the Apple TV: Mac/PC, iTunes 7.6 or later, wireless network (video streaming requires 802.11g or n), or 10/100BASE-T Ethernet network, widescreen TV capable of 1080p/1080i 60/50Hz, 720p 60/50Hz, 576p 50Hz (PAL format), or 480p 60Hz resolutions.

iTunes Movies Coming to the UK and Canada

Dan Sabbagh of the TimesOnline is citing “studio sources” as saying that Apple will soon announce the availability of feature films through the UK iTunes download service. Four major studios involved in this deal are said to be Disney, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, and Time Warner. The report says that films from these four studios will be available for both rent and outright purchase, though an exact launch date has yet to be finalized. Smaller studios, including independents MGM and Lions Gate are expected to soon sign similar deals.

Sabbagh writes that this will be the first time Hollywood films will be available to Britons. Canada is also expected to be covered by the new agreement.

Movie studio executives believe that it is possible to increase revenues through downloading because there is evidence from the United States that extra promotion and the availability of films on multiple platforms boost interest.

The exact date of the availability of this service is not yet finalised; the schedule is up to the studios themselves. As for pricing, it is assumed that similar to the U.S. costs, the studios will make films available for rental at costs compatible with movie rental for video on demand, and for sales, compatible with DVD sales prices. Sabbagh writes “Exact pricing details were not available last night, but studio sources said that they “would not want to undercut DVD prices”. That would imply prices ranging anywhere from £6 to £25.

A Perfect Time for Apple TV

With movies coming to iTunes UK, you can rent the videos through iTunes and download the movie to your computer, sync it to your iPod or iPhone, or you can rent through your Apple TV and watch it on your home TV screen.

If you don’t already have an Apple TV, it might be a perfect time to consider buying one. With the addition of movie rentals, the Apple TV becomes an even greater asset to your
home media center. It’s been possible to buy TV shows and music directly through Apple TV, as well as watch You Tube videos, screen your own photos or those of friends, or show your own video podcasts or family films. But now, with the click of the remote, you can browse movies, select, rent and enjoy films without leaving home. And you can do all this without the need of a PC.

The redesigned Apple TV interface is easy to navigate, allowing you to use your Apple TV remote to browse through the various offerings. Apple TV displays a “movie poster” of every rental; and when you find a movie that interests you, click on it to see a detail screen which provides a plot summary, a list of cast and crew. This click will also bring up a menu of similar movies that other viewers rented so that you can browse them as well.

Further details, such as the exact pricing, the rental period and viewing period of the movie rentals, will be reported here once they become available.

The New Apple TV: “A True Multi-Media Device”

Ryan Fass of Computerworld offers a two page review of what he calls “the new-and-better Apple TV” which is now an entertainment device in its own right, rather than a computer accessory.

Fass says that he found the menu structure in the original Apple TV “almost brilliant in its simplicity”, and this “take 2″ on the device only improves on the same. “Like the original Apple TV, Apple TV Take 2 includes and relies on Apple’s standard remote, the same one that Apple ships with current Mac models. The remote carries through that ease-of-use theme: It features only six buttons (up, down, right, left, pause/play/select, and menu). Apple has certainly figured out how to limit the confusion often associated with remote control devices.”

Users can now easily search and buy content including music, TV shows and movie rentals from the iTunes store directly from the Apple TV. Fass finds this “one of the most exciting new features”, with direct integration to the iTunes Store which makes it effortless to find and play the content you want.

Fass adds, “The integration of the iTunes Podcast directory is also well done. The Apple TV’s new ability to not only browse and subscribe to podcasts directly from your television, but also to browse and listen to individual episodes without having to subscribe to the entire series, is a major boon. It reminds me of the way we browse on-demand cable content or YouTube. For anyone who has yet to become a podcast aficionado, the Apple TV Take 2 stands to change their mind by making podcasts more like other forms of entertainment - and less like a subscription-based service.”

Fass says he’s been a fan of the Apple TV since the initial release, and now even more. “This is a device for multimedia content of all kinds and from sources ranging from purchases and rentals from iTunes to home photos and movies.” His one wish? More memory. His conclusion, however? “I have to say that the new Apple TV has more than lived up to my early expectations and truly blew away my previous experiences.” He states that Apple “has transformed it into both a spectacular entertainment device in its own right as well as an even better nexus of technology and entertainment.”

Happy Birthday, Steve Jobs!

In honor of what we are told is his 53rd birthday, Ian Betteridge of Technovia offers an article celebrating the last dozen years of the life Steve Jobs. Why the last dozen years? Because Mr. Betteridge is looking back to December 20, 1996, the day Steve Jobs returned to Apple.

Betteridge writes, “You’ve brought Apple a long way since then. In August of your first year back, there was the release of the original iMac - the machine that, in more ways than one, saved Apple. Gil Amelio later emailed me to claim that he, not you, had initiated the programme that ended up with the iMac - but even if he did, it was your baby in a lot of ways, baring all the hallmarks of Apple product design that we’ve come to recognise in the years after.”

For Mr. Betteridge, the first and most important thing Steve Jobs did upon his return to Apple was to re-emphasise the centrality of design in the development of products.
“While Apple’s industrial design had always been well ahead of the competition in looks, far too many of Apple’s products prior to your return bore the hallmarks of what they call “lipstick on a pig”: products which were driven by technology, with designers expected to add magic pixie dust to products that were delivered to them at the end of the product development cycle. What you did was move industrial design to the centre of the product development process in a way which, I think, no one else does - certainly not as well as Apple.”

Apple does this, Betteridge suggests, by avoiding the position of technology leader. Instead, they wait, while other companies adopt new technologies. “You wait until a technology is mature enough so that it can be used in exemplary, leading-edge industrial design. The best example of this is the iPod. There were hard drive-based MP3 players well before the iPod, but you waited until hard drives were small enough to create something that was easily portable, the size of a pack of cards instead of a paperback book.”

That’s not always the case, actually. There have been products, like the Apple TV, which has been delivered to the public, more or less as a beta, while Apple continued to work towards its perfection. The most important point, however, that Betteridge makes, is the centrality of industrial design to the product development of Apple equipment. This is the hallmark of Apple since the return of Steve Jobs, but it is coupled with something that Mr. Betteridge fails to note in his article: unfailing high-quality. In a statement from this past August, Mr. Jobs speaks to that point, “We can’t ship junk. There are thresholds we can’t cross because of who we are. The difference is, we don’t offer stripped-down, lousy products.” It is quality, Mr. Betteridge, that is the hallmark of the Jobs-run Apple, Inc.
Design, yes. Innovation, yes. But quality, first and foremost.

So, Happy Birthday, Mr. Jobs. Thank you for all you bring to our world.

Apple TV “Take Two”: Definitely Worth the Upgrade

Ted Landau of MacObserver reviews Apple’s improved Apple TV and says “It so transforms your old Apple TV, it is almost as if you sold the old model and purchased a new one. And it’s free. There’s virtually no downside here.” This, of course, is for those who had already purchased the original Apple TV. What about those who are making up their minds to take the plunge? Landau waxes enthusiastic, and talks about his three favorite features, the third of which may be of special interest with UK video rentals and the newly-available BBC programming.

The podcasts are Landau’s “#1 favorite new feature”. Although it is easy to download podcasts to your iTunes library and play them on your Mac or iPod, Landau finds that he rarely does this, “I rarely want to take the time to sit down and listen for an extended time. With Apple TV Take Two, however, I can easily listen to podcasts “from my living room TV, allowing me to (for example) prepare and eat dinner while the podcast plays in the background.” For Landau, this is a much more convenient way to find and enjoy the variety of podcasts Apple makes available. “As a bonus, you can play it without having to download it. This means that, once you are done listening, you don’t even have to remember to delete it from the Apple TV.” Writing as one who frequently finds my iTunes account clogged with podcasts, I can agree that this is a helpful feature.

The .Mac and Flickr photos feature is another Landau enjoys. “I had already been using Apple TV “Take One” to display photos from my iPhoto Library. With Take Two, I can now play slide shows from .Mac Web Gallery and Flickr accounts.” Although he says it doesn’t do much for him, playing his own photos at home, “… it’s a great way to view other people’s photos-or even to show your own photos when you are at someone else’s house (if that someone else has an Apple TV and is willing to put up with watching your vacation slideshow!).”

The third feature Landau likes is the HD movie rental feature, allowing you to rent directly from the Apple-TV connected TV. “Unless you already own a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player, and prefer having physical discs, Apple TV is currently the best way to rent HD content for your television. With “Take Two,” you can even play theatrical movie trailers in HD.” This feature may be especially interesting now that there is word of the BBC-Apple agreement. Arnold Kim of MacRumors reports the announcement: “BBC Worldwide brings iTunes users in the UK the best of British TV programmes from the BBC. Our programmes are exciting, compelling, passionate, provocative, bold, unpredictable and moving, and include some of the best comedy — Little Britain, The Catherine Tate Show and Two Pints of Lager & a Packet of Crisps — and a fantastic selection of contemporary drama, including Torchwood, Spooks and Life on Mars, all available to download now. New titles will be added regularly, including top-quality documentary series and brand-new drama and comedy.” Programmes are priced at £1.89 per episode, with more being added regularly.

After some delay, there is little doubt that Apple is now moving quickly to expand its offerings to UK customers in a way that will make the Apple TV an indispensable media player.

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