The Apple TV was the first out of the gate at today’s Macworld and it’s by far the most thing I’m excited about. The device is a media streaming device as well as a media player that syncs your library from another machine on it’s own hard drive, very similar to how an iPod syncs.
I’m interested in a few things: How well it will stream content on a G network since I rather get out the network cable again then buy an N router, The quality of the playback and I’m extremely interested in their HD plans since it’s only supporting 640 720 with H.264 right now.
Video formats supported: H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): 640 by 480, 30 fps, LC version of Baseline Profile; 320 by 240, 30 fps, Baseline profile up to Level 1.3; 1280 by 720, 24 fps, Progressive Main Profile. MPEG-4: 640 by 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile
Maybe it’s just a typo since the iPod says the same thing but fully supports 720 MPEG4 rips of DVDs.
I’d expect Apple to start supporting HD soon, they’ll need to with the 360 moving to HD IPTV and HD TV being such a hit. So I guess we will just have to stay tuned for an HD showtime announcement later this year.
It looks like my plan to replace cable with the Apple TV is going to have to wait. Without HD there’s no point yet, I can just stick with hooking up my iPod up to the TV. The device is shipping February and my already placed order might just be canceled in the coming weeks.
