The Apple TV isn't the only device in town that offers up movie rentals (in both standard and HD), but it is the one in the headlines this week (I wonder why). Steve noted during his keynote that many companies have tried to get online video in the livingroom and they have all failed, including Apple. Amongst the other companies named was Microsoft. As you may know folks can rent movies via the XBox Marketplace and watch them on their TV. Sounds like the new, improved Apple TV, doesn't it? Our good friends at Joystiq though so as well, and whipped up a chart comparing and contrasting the two offerings.
How does the Apple TV fare? Well, clearly the XBox 360 does a much better job at playing video games, but the Apple TV wins on the video front.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-17-2008 @ 4:09PM
GearsOfWar said...
I love my Xbox360 for games, but the fan and drive are so goddamn noisy I can't imagine it for watching movies. In fact, its distracting even for games. And yes, I have the latest Premium model, with the supposed improved drive and fan. Still really, really noisy.
Reply
1-17-2008 @ 4:19PM
fishbert said...
The biggest advantage the new Apple TV has over the Xbox (and even it's own first generation) is that every major studio has signed on to provide content. Having an expansive library will be the key to Apple TV's future success, and is why I believe it was the real star of the keynote.
Reply
1-17-2008 @ 4:30PM
james said...
Yeah, well, we'll see how many movies Apple gets. Right now they have less than a thousand total in their library, and that hasn't changed significantly in a while.
Reply
1-17-2008 @ 4:37PM
MacBookOwner said...
"Right now they have less than a thousand total in their library, and that hasn't changed significantly in a while."
You mean...from Tuesday?
1-17-2008 @ 4:33PM
Chris said...
I've watched plenty of rentals on my Xbox Live. They're OK, take a long time to download. The problem I have with it, and still have with Apple's announcement, is that f***ing 24-hour time limit to watch the movie after you've hit play. I'm a family man and life gets in the way of watching movies. I've lost 3 HD movies on Xbox Live because I had to stop watching half-way through for whatever reason and couldn't make it back within 24 hours. The movie industry is made up of total jerk-asses.
Reply
1-17-2008 @ 4:43PM
Falkirk said...
The chart reflects the old pricing. The Apple TV is re-priced from $299 to $229.
Also, while charts can be helpful, they can also mislead. Use a chart showing the features of almost any iteration of the iPod and it's current competitor and the competitor would look more impressive (except perhaps the Zune). But it's the ease of use and the convenience of iTunes that makes the iPod go. Similarly, it's not about the numbers with Movies rentals - it's about convenience and ease of use. If Apple can allow people to buy and watch a movie as an impulse - it'll clean up.
Reply
1-17-2008 @ 5:22PM
Dylan said...
I'm a huge fan of apple and it's products. I rented The Italian Job last night on iTunes to watch on my monitor, and although the service was really easy to use, and it is cheaper than going to Blockbuster to watch it, the fact that it takes around 2 hours (just guessing, when it started downloading and realized it was going to take awhile I went to watch another movie) makes it not very suitable for "on the impulse" movie renting.
I know that this isn't the fault of Apple, or anyone else really, and its because the internet is not as fast as it could be now, but I can't see the renting system working out to well at this point.
That said, I'm still going to use it every once in awhile. I have 30 days to watch this movie, and i'm sure I will get around to it.
1-17-2008 @ 5:30PM
Macroy said...
You can start watching the movie while it's still downloading, "within minutes" according to Dave Caolo:
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/16/renting-a-movie-in-itunes/
1-17-2008 @ 5:18PM
ac said...
If they're going to score Apple with a negative on the miscellany (games and such), then why don't they score Apple with a positive on the price? Surely the price is a factor worth scoring?
Reply
1-17-2008 @ 5:22PM
Fritz Laurel said...
The Xbox has beaten Apple TV up until now because of the utter disgraceful quality of the content (no HD, wtf?) on Apple TV. Now that there's something to see on Apple TV (HD, yay!) , it might pick up steam.
Then again, there's no way I'm putting down $229 for an Apple TV when I already have an Xbox and can get HD content through it. Or, maybe it's because I've only once bought something from Xbox Live, meaning it's not something I do much of anyway.
So, I doubt that this week's changes to Apple TV will have much impact on its success.
Cheers,
FL
Reply
1-17-2008 @ 8:23PM
R Mitchell said...
The obvious thing to do would be to put the Apple TV software on an updated Nintendo Wii with better storage space and 1080p video capabilities. Nintendo has shown no interest in getting into the video business and Apple is not good with games. It would be the perfect marriage. It would make the Wii an even bigger competitor for Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's XBox360 and would grow Apple's brand substantially.
Reply
1-17-2008 @ 9:15PM
Joseph said...
AppleTV is really slick, but you can't play AVI/Divx files on it. The Xbox360 does, and it streams content really nicely from my mac mini (with the help of Connect360). AppleTV is only good if you want to play in the itunes sandbox and nowhere else.
Reply
1-18-2008 @ 3:58AM
basscadet said...
true that, if one downloads torrents of old shows or new unreleased movies then a more versatile media player is needed and for my uses xbox wins there. It's a shame Apple doesn't upgrade those codecs and make AppleTv a truly all-playing media box...
Reply
1-18-2008 @ 12:54PM
Big Ben said...
Fare. You mean "How does the Apple TV fare?" Come on guys, this is easy stuff. Someone needs to read these before you post.
Reply