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Apple Reveals More About iTV, Including New Name: Apple TV

Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 at 12:35 PM - by

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, promising "We're going to make some history today," also revealed more information about the set-top box known as iTV, which was first introduced last fall. Now named AppleTV, the device will wirelessly stream movies, TV shows, music, and photos from a computer to a TV, with support for the 802.11b/g/n flavors of wireless networking. Apple will ship the device next month with a US$299 price tag.

Additional details about the device include built-in USB 2.0 and Ethernet ports, as well as HDMI, component video, and analog audio outputs. It's capable of driving 720p video and can store up to 50 hours of video on its 40GB hard drive. It uses an Intel processor and was designed for use with widescreen TVs. It can auto-sync content from one computer and stream content from up to five machines.

Mr. Jobs ran through a demonstration of the device, showing a new tab in iTunes that includes AppleTV controls and explaining how AppleTV's built-in screensaver pulls pictures from a computer. AppleTV's main menu includes controls for managing movies, TV shows, podcasts, pictures, music, and other content.

We'll update this article with more information as it becomes available.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jan 09, 2007 2:51 pm

Seriously the AppleTV needs to be true Hi-Def of 1080p to be a TiVO killer, 780p is not enough. As soon as it is I will order one for sure!

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:33 pm

To get true HD from a TIVO you need to spend $800!

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:42 pm

To be a TiVo killer, it would have to actually record TV. It does not. Bummer.

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mahuti said:

member since 09 Jan 2003 with 377 posts, TMO Staff, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:46 pm

No freakin DVR? What's the point? Oh, to watch stuff you've downloaded on iTunes. Eh.... I'll just buy DVDs, for less, and run them through the DVD Player I already have... along with running audio & pictures through my Tivo, which I'll continue needing since there's NO DVR!!! Boneheaded move, IMHO.

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2088 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:48 pm

mahuti wrote:
No freakin DVR? What's the point? Oh, to watch stuff you've downloaded on iTunes. Eh.... I'll just buy DVDs, for less, and run them through the DVD Player I already have... along with running audio & pictures through my Tivo, which I'll continue needing since there's NO DVR!!! Boneheaded move, IMHO.

Ever heard of EyeTV? It works as a DVR with a Mac and can load TV shows, etc., into iTunes. There are others, as well, that will pick up digital cable, HD programming, etc.

I wouldn't have TiVo. Instead, I have a HD recorder with a 160 GB HD. It can store about 72 hours of DVD-quality video. It's better for my purposes than a TiVo because 1) I can burn DVDs with it and 2) I don't pay anything more to use it.

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mahuti said:

member since 09 Jan 2003 with 377 posts, TMO Staff, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:35 am

Heard of one? I just bought one. I had another capture card before too... but a few years ago, it would have been painful indeed to sneak the computer stored video onto my tv. Now... with the eyetv, I COULD then buy this apple deal and hook it all together, but man.. the Tivo is so damn good at what it does, that I'm really hesitant to get rid of it. But, like you say, it'd be great to dump the monthly fees. Plus, if I had 2 of the apple tvs, I could simply stream to multiple TVs in my house, rather than having to have multiple Tivos.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:42 am

Oh, and the killer app... Tivo's snapback feature... I'm sure that this doesn't have that option. When you fast forward through commercials, it's great to let up off of the fast forward button and have the playhead jump back a few seconds. I can't imagine that this will support that type of feature. After you've used that feature, you realize, it really is Tivo's killer app.

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2088 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:26 pm

Guest wrote:
Oh, and the killer app... Tivo's snapback feature... I'm sure that this doesn't have that option. When you fast forward through commercials, it's great to let up off of the fast forward button and have the playhead jump back a few seconds. I can't imagine that this will support that type of feature. After you've used that feature, you realize, it really is Tivo's killer app.

Two points:

1) Why not? It's probably not patented. There are all sorts of skip and pause features on my DVR/DVD recorder. It does about everything a TiVo can, except with respect to the listings--plus, it burns DVDs without any more processing.

2) "Killer app"? You must be kidding. That's somewhere 'way below the noise level. You like it--fine. Don't ever get anything that doesn't have it, even if that other device does 84 times what yours does at 1% of the price. For most people, there are probably a lot more important features.

Here's a great example: some years back, PIP was touted as the "killer feature." Notice how often it's advertised, today? Essentially never, though some TVs have it. Most people would never use it, assuming that they would take the time to learn how to use it. Only a few sports fanatics seem to care.

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