Comments on: Question of the Day: AppleTV with Blu-ray?

By: ian

ian — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:09:11 +0000

blu-ray would be nice, but really adds little and undermines the core concept. I can live with 720p too. Hardware wise the machine does it’s job well.

The real problem is that the software has been forgotten. It’s smooth, but VERY limited. What the appletv needs is an app-store. Strange that the iPhone was released at around the same time, and pioneered the concept, while the TV – which is just begging for its own store has been forgotten.

The jailbreak software for the TV demonstrates it can do cool things, without undermining its core set-top box role, but the official software is old and boring.

By: Rhett

Rhett — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:03:08 +0000

I agree that HD digital downloads are the way to go however I feel that there will always be those people like me who like having a hard copy of their movies and music. Plus, if we go only to downloads it will eliminate buying used copies which is something I do often. YES I would buy a Apple TV or Mini if they put a Blu-Ray drive in them, in fact… That’s what I’m waiting for. I hope it comes sooner than never.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:04:49 +0000

Well, I already own an Apple TV. What I would actually like them to do is add streaming media support, for things like Hulu. I rent ten times as many movies via online download/streaming as I do physical disks at this point. And those are only because of the movies being unavailable for online rental.

However, if it would make more people buy one, and make Apple stop ignoring it, then hey, I’d love it if they added one.

I don’t see this happening without upgrading the output abilities from 720p to 1080p though.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:16:05 +0000

I am fairly resistant to subscription, but I have to agree with the netflix Twitter comments and postings here. I think it comes down to making things easy. Part of this is interface, part is cost. Netflix requires no second thought to give a movie a look. If you’re going to spend some money on it, it needs a bit more thought. For those comfortable buying iTunes movies, I can see this being a decent Trojan horse to get more people in the door. I am happy with the progress being made in allowing easier consumption of media: netflix streaming, TiVo video podcast downloads… Something has to be done to allow easier transfer between devices. I think this hurts the industry.

By: Jon the Heretic

Jon the Heretic — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:50:55 +0000

I use streaming a lot and it is a nice convenience, but it is not true HD. I bought a 1080p HD TV to watch things in HD, not just highly compressed “720p” with paltry audio options. In contrast, Blu ray is what HD was meant to be, and the stuff you can stream neither looks nor sounds comparable.

Given how inadequate the U.S. broadband infrastructure is for true HD, it is pure wishful thinking pronouncing physical media dead. U.S. bandwidth is overpriced and pitifully slow compared to Japan or South Korea. The U.S. is truly backwards when it comes to IT infrastructure.

I reserve buying discs for movies that I want to own, and if I am going to spend cash, I want it to be BD. I am really looking forward to buying LOTR on Blu ray. The rest I rent via Netflix, which is the killer deal out there: BD for when it matters, streaming for where it doesn’t.

I also would limit my pronouncements of physical media being dead til you can reliably stream video in a moving vehicle going across country. I have kids. Physical media rules for trips, and here DVD is good enough—but streaming is a long way off. Kids can watch the same movie again and again; renting the same thing over is nuts. Much cheaper to buy a copy. I am looking someday for a digital jukebox for trips, but right now, DVDs + cheapo DVD players are vastly cheaper for my two kids, and when it does happen, streaming won’t be in the picture–it will be rips from DVD on that jukebox. Downloads are riddled with DRM and who needs it.

By: DamianP

DamianP — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:38:58 +0000

I have no desire to be stuck in the Apple ecosystem (I actually own an AppleTV). Yes you can do the XBMC/Boxee hack (and I have this on my AppleTV) but I personally don’t like the idea of having to buy a product (of which I would expect Apple to price on the high side) that needs to be hacked in order to get functionality out of it. If that is the case I would rather get a small ion based HTPC and have complete control over.

I agree that physical media is dying but it is still a nice option to have. Sometimes you buy a dvd/BR disk and actually want to watch it the moment you get it and not have to wait for it to be ripped/processed.

By: chip

chip — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:21:45 +0000

Here’s what i think… no!

By: John

John — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:50:43 +0000

I agree with the other posters, physical media is dying if not mostly dead. Any improvements to the aTV or Mac Mini have to be substantial without driving the price way up. BD doesn’t help that. I suspect that it’s getting harder to compete in the movie download space too with all the competitors coming out with their own devices Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc. EeeBox is a substantially better option, cheaper, well built, well supported, and more flexible than Apple’s current offerings.