Filed under: Apple TV
Apple TV 'T2' HD video is pretty good, says iLounge
There's been some controversy about the HD video quality on the Apple TV, which we've covered before. Now that Take Two has dropped, iLounge has done the legwork to put together an excellent visual comparison. They compared four versions of Live Free and Die Hard: Blu-ray, Apple TV HD, Cable HD, and DVD. The results were quite good for the Apple TV; while Blu-ray was the clear and expected winner, the Apple TV version outpaced the Cable HD version on several of the tests, particularly those testing compression artifacts. The upshot: "Because of its cleaner motion and audio, we felt that the Apple experience was better in both overall audio and video quality than the HD cable experience, and for most users, superior to renting a standard DVD as well." Check out their full article for many more comparison shots.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ian said 6:40PM on 2-13-2008
The Apple TV looks great to me, and I was all set to be disappointed. Amazingly poor showing from cable. It goes to show how bandwidth-starved cable and satellite providers are.
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Jay B said 6:47PM on 2-13-2008
I'm impressed. I thought it was going to get ripped on not being able to compare to Blu-ray but to the average person I think it's really going to hold its own in terms of image quality.
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Quix said 7:25PM on 2-13-2008
All my reasons for not buying an Apple TV have faded away with this update. Time to buy!
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Matt said 7:31PM on 2-13-2008
Cable HD is known to be of poor quality. OTA HD is what they should have compared. (It's free too).
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JohnPQ said 8:38PM on 2-13-2008
I don't know what iLounge is smoking, but DirecTV HD, regular upscaled DVDs, and OTA blow away the stuff on my Apple TV. Yes, that includes the new HD rentals. They are probably just pumping up the Apple TV for another revenue stream on their website. Which has become so filled with ads over the last few years, that I barely even bother anymore.
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Matt said 3:26AM on 2-14-2008
Cable HD is notoriously bad, which is what they were showing.
Jeremy Horwitz said 9:49PM on 2-13-2008
JohnPQ: Of course, I wouldn't expect that you'd actually bother to read the article that was linked above (oh no, ads, your virgin eyes), but let me set a couple of things straight here.
(1) We specifically compared the Apple TV's HD movie rental service to the exact same movie from an HD on-demand movie service, as well as Blu-Ray and DVD, to let people see how the versions compared. The images and motion we saw disproved the theory that pure resolution was the primary factor in whether one video looked better than another. Screenshots included in the article speak for themselves.
(2) We never, and I repeat never, pump up anything as a "revenue stream." I've said it before and I'll say it again: iLounge editorial is completely and totally separate from our business side and advertising. Neither I nor any member of my editorial staff gets paid by the hit, by the ad, or by any metric of hype. We couldn't have any less financial incentive as whether any specific product we cover succeeds or fails. And frankly, I personally don't care whether you buy an Apple TV or not. As I've said in our just-published review, this isn't a device we'd recommend to all of our readers, or even most of them.
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david said 8:03AM on 2-16-2008
i think it was a great review. good job. and if i ever buy another tv again (i've been without for almost two years now and i dont really miss it, most of my media is pure digital with some dvds kicking around at this point) the apple tv would fit my needs almost perfectly. thanks!