[People_Eater]

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You convert. Just make a big batch and let it run overnight or while you're at work, it's a piece of cake and will use way less hard drive space. I don't get the big deal about playing VOB files, it seems like the equivalent of ripping all your CD's to wav for your ipod/itunes.

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No, it's very different. When converting to MP3 or AAC instead of WAV, you just lose a little bit of quality. You don't lose features.
But if you convert a DVD, you totally lose the interactive features of a DVD. No ability to turn subtitles on and off. No ability to choose the audio or video stream. No special features, like extra content or slideshows. And, I believe in the case of the (Apple logo) TV, no 5.1 surround sound.

[People_Eater]

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If I have to put all of these files in iTunes, where I already have 80GB of music, I'm going to need a MUCH bigger hard drive in my iMac.

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"Being in iTunes" means the file is referenced by the iTunes database. The file itself does not need to be in any particular place. Just set the iTunes preferences to not copy the file to the iTunes library folder. It's pretty much the first thing I do with every new Mac - change the iTunes "copy to library" preference to prevent people filling it with gunk.

[Maclectic]

Not to be too repetitive, but having just come back from MacWorld SF '07, I figured I'd throw in my 2 cents.
The AppleTV is not very impressive at all. It seems over-priced and under featured. I was wow'd by the iPhone as an elegant, powerful, revolutionary, if slightly over-priced product that will be a must-have for many early adopters and power users. The AppleTV was just sort of a box that separates the Front Row experience from the Mac and doesn't do it terrible impressively.
They didn't have much good content to show of AppleTV either. I was hard-pressed to find 16:9 or HD content on their demo units and the SD quality stuff sorta looked like crap on the nice flat-screens they had.
The limitation of getting video content from iTunes seems like a huge limitation considering the limited content available from iTMS. The capability of this box seems very narrow and will probably only appeal to the most ignorant Mac-o-philes and not to any of the video-philes. If it were $200 or less, I might recommend it, but for $300 it seems like at least $100 wasted.
If Apple had been at least remotely smart, they would have sold a $400 version with an Airport Extreme base-station built-in and then it might have justified the higher price, but the way it is, it should have been named AppleiTMSVideo, since it doesn't really support enough TV to deserve the generic name of TV. You can't stream cable, over-the-air-HD, or satellite, so it's just another limited set-top box to clutter your home entertainment center.
Anyway, it would be nice to hear what other MacWorld show-goers thought.

- Maclectic

[Machound]

People_Eater, you make some excellent points. This (Apple logo) TV device won't play any of our family's 1080i Sony HC3 camcorder home videos. They're all in HDV (MPEG2) native format. I don't want to have to transcode all that 1080i video just to play it on AppleTV.
Will (Apple logo) TV play AVCHD video from Sony's SR1, UX1, UX5 or UX7 camcorders, or Panasonic's HD cams??? I think that's very doubtful, since Macs can't play AVCHD.
I'm sad to see a product like this failing to capture the imagination of the Mac faithful. But if (Apple logo) TV doesn't do what we need, why should we buy one?
Apple, you seem to be scoring a big zero for our family's needs. This product seems to be designed around Apple's needs, not our needs. That's likely to be a significant mistake... similar to pricing the Mac Cube too high for its market.

[tchaten]

So what video formats does this play?
I like to rip my DVDs on MPG 4 with really high bit rates and the audio using AC3 so I can keep the surround sound.
These are avi containers so thus iTunes won't read them, and I need to use VLC, so would I assume these would not work either.
It would be great if Apple partnered with VLC to create a system that would play anything quite literally!

[extreme343GS]

cummon just a good DVD drive in the apple TV would have done the job.i mean,with all the DVD's at home.what am i going to do with that? burn them all into the computer 1 by 1 and then syn.so every time i want to play a movie i got to get up & start burning & after that ATV has to SYN with my MAC/PC??
by the time i can watch the movie i have got to go to college.
its way to expenseive compare to what it does.
btw:

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TV compatibility
* Enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen TVs capable of 1080i 60/50Hz, 720p 60/50Hz, 576p 50Hz (PAL format), or 480p 60Hz

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got that from:
apple TV specs
but right now i see it as a failure.hope apple learns from it mistakes.

[cato42]

HEADLINE: Steve Jobs Announces appleTV
At today's Macworld conference keynote address in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the imminent release of a new hardware device called appleTV. Although a full description of the device was lacking (the vast majority of the talk was devoted to the features of Apple's new iPhone), and complete details arent' forthcoming from Apple's website, it appears that the device will function almost solely as a conduit for video from an individual's computer (using Apple's proprietary iTunes software) to an attached television. It will not provide broadcast recording capability, nor will it be able to stream many of the video formats used by other systems. Immediately after the announcement, web forums were crowded with enthused bloggers, but now the accompanying activity is primarily head-scratching, and the soundtrack is that of a big "Thud".
As one attendee put it after considering the new device, "It does some of what could already be done better and faster by other means, but with more restrictions. But it is a little cheaper, so I guess that's a plus." Most other address attendees declined to comment, many already intent on joining the growing demonstrations about Apple's decision to lock their new iPhone into use on the Cingular network. Local stores sold out of torches and pitchforks within minutes of the conclusion of Jobs' talk.
The Macworld conference runs through the rest of the week. No further major announcements are scheduled, but a special session on "Damage Control" has been added for tomorrow, for Apple executives and board members only.

[radnuf]

I use plain vanilla DRMed DVDs and like them. The movie companies can put all the region or copy protection they want on those DVD disks. They make great movie lending copies among friends and family because they work on all our DVD players and they are filled with outtakes, commentary, and subtitles/languages.
So, I'd like Steve to explain to me again why I would want an Apple TV box.
What do I have to do to store the movies from Apple? Can I share the movies from Apple? Will the movies from Apple work on my current equipment? After I buy everything Steve wants, will I still be able to support the local theater for those all important nights out?
What does Apple TV do? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[xray01]

Very nice offering, but for me I'll wait for the next iteration of AppleTV hopefully with 1080i or even 1080p resolution and the ability to record TV (a la TiVo).

[scotts13]

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You have no ability to record anything, or play any existing media. What's it FOR?

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Um...playing existing media. It will play any movie in the right formats, not just stuff you buy from iTunes. You can rip dvd's, record on your computer, or download videos from other sources.

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Rip DVD's - How? aren't they copy protected, with DMCA making that illegal?
Record on your computer - What, like home movies? Who uses their computer for that? I use a camcorder.
Download video from other sources - Licensed movies from iTunes only; as for unlicensed stuff, who needs blurry 15-second YouTube dreck on their TV?
It doesn't play either high definition format, or DVD's, or record off the air like TiVo, or do ANYTHING other than let me watch iTunes stuff on my TV.

[ccurtisny]

I was in the camp of wanting one right out of the gate, but I've since rethought that after taking a closer look at the specs. This thing is obviously geared and marketed toward those of us that have a video enabled ipod, considering its minimal format support (the ipod can only display what, 2 formats?). It would be nice if it read other formats but that isn't a deal breaker for me. One of the deal breakers for me is its lack of a DVR function, especially at this price point. I'm better off getting apple's ipod video connection kit for $200 less, since it will pretty much do most of the same thing.
The other problem I have with it is that it doesn't support 1080 (i or p) which I think is odd for several reasons. First - tv manufactures are mostly releasing tv's with 1080p now, or at the minimum 1080i. There are still a few 720p sets and projectors out there, but they are a minority. Heck, Apple's cheapest computer monitor is higher resolution than 720p. Second - Apple made a hugh push in getting even its consumer video applications HD ready, as iMovie will even do 1080i. As someone mentioned before- those people that actually have 1080i HD camcorders can't even watch their edited movies at full resolution using the (Apple Logo) TV. That said - why put an HDMI output on the back, as at this resolution I doubt there would be any difference between that and the component cables.
And as far as audio goes, lack of at least Dolby Digital 5.1 is pretty shocking, although the Dolby Surround which is encoded into the movies and shows in the ITMS sounds pretty good if you run it through a good Dobly Pro Logic II receiver. But to put a digital/toslink audio connection in it? What's the point if the audio isn't digital to begin with.
It is my hope that they address some of this with Apple TV v2.0, or at the minimum someone like Miglia or ElGato Eyetv come out with a new widget that adds at least an aftermarket add-on. I'm sure they are looking at integrating at least the format issues as we all sit here and complain about the DVR functions. In reality, I doubt Apple will put a DVR into this device for fear of cannibalizing ITMS video sales.
Oh, and I didn't get the impression that you have to BUY your videos from the ITMS, only that it will play them. It sounds to me that as long as ITMS can manage/support the files, than the Apple TV will see it...

[BJWanlund]

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I use Quicktime Pro with the MPEG-2 component and Flip4Mac WMP codec to convert my files to H.264 MPEG-4. It's nice to have all my videos in the same format.

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Is there some way of getting, like, a free demo of QT Pro? I want to try it out before I blow $30 on it.
I wanted to say something else, too: About the "wireless syncing" thing, with an actual HD in the final product, I was screaming that this WASN'T the case when Steve debuted it at the It's Showtime event. Apparently a lot of you are screaming that it IS the case. I am very, very happy with Apple right now. I don't want to have to store EVERY SINGLE FREAKING MOVIE AND TV SHOW on my Macbook regular. I'd kinda like the hard disk space to be freer. Now, with AppleTV, I can!! I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. Now I can (maybe) buy Windows XP and run Windows on my MacBook! I kinda would like to divide my HD space between OSX and Windows 50-50.
BJ

[Ronald_Schoedel]

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Recording over the air HDTV broadcasts consumes up to 9 GB of disk space per hour. So I don't want to spend time converting at all. I would just like to be able to play the videos in their original file format.

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I do believe you just answered your own question as to why this unit will not play the native file format. Can you imagine trying to stream NINE GIGABYTES AN HOUR LIVE wirelessly? I think that even under ideal network circumstances that would be difficult if not impossible to achieve.
Ronald Schoedel

[Plan_K]

I have a plain vanilla Airport Base Station (not Extreme) purchased way back in 2002. I strongly get the sense that I will need to upgrade to a new AirPort Extreme Base Station to get Apple TV to work for me, at least to be able to play video. Specs indicate you need 802.11g or 802.11n for video streaming.
Since I only have 802.11b, I won't be able to stream video, right?
But I also have an Airport Express, 802.11g, that I use for AirTunes. If I get Apple TV, I can stream iTunes through that and will no longer need that Airport Express. So could I use the Airport Express as my main base station and be able to use that 802.11g network to get video streaming to the Apple TV?
I also have a 9-year-old tube TV. Apple specs say I need a widescreen TV for Apple TV. Surely, with the proper cables, my non-widescreen 4:3 ratio old-school TV will work with Apple TV? Won't it?