Apple iTV

8T8

Apple revealed their streaming media player (no PVR features) nice looking bit of kit but I wonder what it plays. I have a sinking feeling it will probably only stream content from iTunes.

Apple have there own peculiar implementations of MPEG4-ASP (XviD) and MPEG4-AVC (H.264) so anything not encoded to their standards probably wont play which is a shame if this unit has hardware decoding chips it is probably more capable that Apple allow it to be (hacked firmware drool!).

Alleged 3D accelerated interface is also present maybe the rumours of NVIDIA GoForce (cell phone 3D chips) being used by Apple are whats inside these units as the GoForce can do assisted video decoding as well.

I wonder about the name as well Apple surely cant get away with iTV with the ITV broadcaster in the UK.

subway

typical apple stuff imo.
crippled by propritary software etc.

just a guess, but you install install itunes 10 on your pc/mac and connect this thing to it.
it then uses your itunes account to access tv, movie and music.
im sure it will play non apple encoded files, like ipod and mp3, but its basically a tv out card and an itunes overlay.
perhaps comparable to a mce extender? but without the tv playback, and dvd playback, and xbox 360 games?

pricing would have to be 50% of a 360,
otherwise microsoft might have it handy when vista ships and they can start marketing 360 as a super duper version of apples box.

Tom Dunne

8T8 wrote:

Apple revealed their streaming media player (no PVR features) nice looking bit of kit but I wonder what it plays. I have a sinking feeling it will probably only stream content from iTunes.

The omission of PVR features is down to marketing - they are trying to sell you TV and films, so why should they let you record your own, for free?

It will be interesting to see what formats it plays, but don't be surpried if it is iTunes only. Missed opportunity, IMHO.

8T8

Yeah I know Apple have no PVR features even though they market their products like Frontrow against things like MCE, it is clever marketing as they can cut features like on the remote and not have to deal with the fragmented TV space.

Very likely iTunes only it seems, iTunes/QuickTime are not directshow compatible so that's a pretty big problem right there.

Also Apples H.264 decoder profile does not support the H.264 high profile last time I checked so unless a QuickTime 7.5/8 shows up adding that then it's not looking to good.

Pity it's a nice device ideal just for content playback only. Hopefully someone will hack it and unlock some goodness :cool:

Urban Weigl

I wouldn't draw too many conclusions until this thing is actually in people's hands. Depending on the implementation and feature set, it could be the best thing since sliced bread, or it could be so-so.

Apple has a pretty good track record implementing things in a way that they "just work". We will have to wait and see on this one.

rogue-entity

8T8 wrote:

Very likely iTunes only it seems, iTunes/QuickTime are not directshow compatible so that's a pretty big problem right there.

Also Apples H.264 decoder profile does not support the H.264 high profile last time I checked so unless a QuickTime 7.5/8 shows up adding that then it's not looking to good.

1. DirectShow is proprietary Microsoft technology, why should Quicktime be compatible with it. You wont see MCE Extenders becoming compatible with Quicktime. Both of these two companies want to push their respective formats, and I hate to break it to the MS fans, but Apples formats (AAC, H.264 etc) are far superior to WindowsMedia.

2. Quicktime can playback MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and "normal" MPEG-4. It cannot playback DivX without a componant plugin though. I dont know if it can play Xvid without the aid of plugins or not. That may not be saying much, but MPEG-4 AVC at 640x480 is of sufficient quality to work well on standard definition TV for HD you just up the resolution. But, it would be nice if Quicktime's next version would support some of the higher profiles of MPEG-4.