Filed under: Accessories, Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Multimedia, Video, Apple TV
Apple TV: What happens now?
As Steve Sande has reported, Apple has discontinued the 40 GB Apple TV unit, and dropped the 160 GB unit U.S. $100.00. The large capacity set top box now sells for $229.00, the price that the now-eliminated 40 GB unit used to sell for.Apple has continuously referred to the Apple TV unit as a 'hobby', perhaps a way to explain less than stellar sales figures. It's way overdue for some kind of update and new features; perhaps an 'all you can eat' rental program similar to the Netflix model.
At the same time, the Apple TV service has had plenty of issues: everything from failures to authenticate users, to (for the last few days) an inability to browse the HD rentals beyond titles starting with the letter 'B.'
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster had recently predicted that Apple would drop the 40 GB unit and lower the price of the remaining 160 GB unit, a prediction that turned out to be spot on. Munster has also predicted Apple would add DVR capabilities to the device.
Now, if only Apple would let that mysterious USB port on the back of the Apple TV allow more storage, and fix the service glitches, a lot of people would celebrate.
Some price adjustments for rentals would also be welcome. It is cheaper to rent Blu-ray titles at Blockbuster overnight then get the same title from Apple. Yes, you have to go get it, but the picture quality is better on the Blu-ray disk.
It's hard to figure out exactly where Apple should go with this device. I don't find the YouTube content compelling on a hi-def screen. Rentals are fine, but severely limited by the MPAA rules that only let me keep the rental for 24 hours. We're starting to see YouTube and Netflix being built into both TV sets and some new DVD/Blu-ray players, which will further diminish the Apple TV value. Hopefully Apple is up to something, or the 'hobby' will remain a half-baked idea that never took off.
Thanks to Jeremy for the the tip.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
SuperNumberOne Podcast said 1:06PM on 9-14-2009
It needs some sort of integrated hulu (ala boxee) capabilities straight out of the box. That feature would be a game changer for apple tv's usefulness to the average consumer.
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LGgeek said 1:21PM on 9-14-2009
Apple needs to make this a true media hub rather than a add on afterthought of itunes.
7egend said 3:38PM on 9-14-2009
I would like to see a fusion of the Apple TV and the Mac Mini, maybe call it Mac TV, or Mac mini HT, just make the mac mini a little bit chunkier, add a slot for an additional hard drive (1 drive for the OS and Apps, 1 HD for media storage ), give us an adapter in the box for mini displayport to HDMI, give us a Blu-Ray option for this thing, I know licensing fees are horrible, but I am sure the sells alone for this sort of device would cover them. Keep the USB port overload on the back of this device like on the mini for additional storage drives. package a remote, wireless keyboard and wireless mouse standard with it, and create an App for the iPhone/iPod Touch to control this thing from the couch for those of us who get a kick out of the iTunes remote app.
Upgrade Front Row to be a full fledged media center, and make the Mac TV/Mac mini HT boot directly into Front Row, of course you can exit out of it and OS X will be on there.
I see so much potential for something like this, on one side you have Apple TV, it has everything that the mac mini doesn't have, and on the other side the mac mini has everything that the Apple TV doesn't, the two of these together in one machine would be perfect.
As for pricing, I would price it at $1,200+tax with a 2.13Ghz core 2 Duo, 4GB of Ram, 9400m, and all the other things i mentioned included in the box.
Just my 2 cents though. By no means am I an Apple engineer, i just know what I would like.
Alan G said 4:37PM on 9-14-2009
@7egend
I agree with everything you said, except the price point. I think that if it can be kept in the $250-$350 price range, it would fly off the shelf. I know that's wanting a lot, but people would take a chance at the price range.
Fanfoot said 4:38PM on 9-14-2009
Agree completely. Flash (and Move codec) support plus a minimal web browser would be h-u-g-e. Its the obvious thing this product needs. Adding DVR support would be a nightmare--cablecards and SDV and On Demand (Java etc) and certification, and that would only handle North American cable (no AT&T, no Verizon, no Satellite, etc). If Apple thinks Blu-Ray is a "world of hurt" they ain't seen nothing yet. Whereas streaming video support, including their favorite--the new quicktime support--would be a big deal and shouldn't be that hard for them.
Obviously the big deal is you don't really want to use the web browser for this stuff, meaning you've got to build a custom front end for each site--Hulu, ABC, TV.com, MLB, ESPN etc. And some of these properties (Hulu esp) apparently don't want you to do this. But this should be the sort of thing Apple is good at now--negotiating this sort of deal with big media.
Other than that I just want more content. There is still LOTS of stuff that doesn't come out until AGES after the DVD, and LOTS that isn't available for Rent (the only thing I'll consider for movies) for way too long.
Fanfoot said 6:47PM on 9-14-2009
@7egend: Sorry, but I personally have no use for something like this. A full computer costing $1,200? No thanks. If you think the Apple TV is unsuccessful now, trying increasing the price four fold and see what happens.
Rob said 1:14PM on 9-14-2009
Are you sure it is still a 24 hour movie rental period in the US?
In Canada, it is a 48 hour movie rental period. Thank you Apple and MPAA!!
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Gari N. Corp said 10:55AM on 9-15-2009
The US rental window is indeed 24 hours, though I'd note that the 24 hours period starts when you start playing the movie, not when you first rent it. I think you have a month to play the movie. Which is good, because downloading an HD movie takes time (about what it would take to, um, walk to the video store and back), and starting watching movies while they're still downloading is rather glitchy.
BeyondtheTech said 1:13PM on 9-14-2009
Funny how I just posted a big request on the previous blog entry regarding the Apple TV (see here: http://www.tuaw.com/2009/09/14/apple-tv-gains-hard-disk-capacity-loses-weighty-price/2#commentform).
I'm about to buy a small Atom-based nettop PC just so I can Skype from the TV in the living room and video chat with friends and relatives across the globe.
I'm more than certain the AppleTV could handle that, among displaying the weather, stocks, and time. As they say on SNL, "FIX IT!"
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michaelbushnell said 1:14PM on 9-14-2009
I got an Apple TV last year, and have to say that I'm disappointed. It worked as advertised for a while, but then it got to the point where it would take 10-12 hrs to download one movie. I have tried, without success, everything I can think of to get it to work. This includes formatting, restarting, running the network diagnostic tool, etc. I did a test one day where I downloaded the same movie on my iMac and the ATV. The iMac downloaded the film in about an hour. The ATV downloaded in about 10.5. Half-baked is being generous when describing the ATV. Hopefully they will get it fixed soon because the idea is great. It is the execution that is lacking.
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Ant said 1:18PM on 9-14-2009
I used aTV Flash to add a 1 TB external drive which works very well. The Apple TV Boots to the USB Drive so it sync as it would with the internal drive. I do note that browsing the external drive can be slow at times but once you get where you want to go movies play just fine. I would like to see a 2 TB model so I don't have to attach a peripheral device and also make syncs one sided so my 250 GB MacBook Pro doesn't have to hold all of the synched media content
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Casey said 1:22PM on 9-14-2009
I've been holding out on an ATV and holding out. I've heard the ups and downs of the device and I'm still somewhat tempted. I wish they would just bump it up a 3/4" in height and ad a Blu-Ray player and keep it the ORIGINAL price and I would be sold. It would totally cut into there store sales, but hopefully the bump up in price would make up for it. Heck... you can get a PS3 for $299 now and game with it. (I know - I know, two totally different beasts, but still!)
I am glad they totally dropped the 40gig version... that storage space was somewhat ridiculous, especially when you can get thumbdrives that are 8-10 gigs in size. :)
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kidTruant said 1:26PM on 9-14-2009
I'd like to see 1080p instead of 720... add to that an "all you can eat" plan and let me download a movie twice for the same price (in case I can't watch it in one 24-hour period) or bump it up to 48 hours. As it is, I use my XBox for Netflix, but would love one integrated home media server (preferably made by Apple) that will be true HD and connected to my home stereo. This way I can play an iTunes library or a movie from the same device.
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Alex Johnson said 1:44PM on 9-14-2009
I love my appleTV. Would love to see some updates though. I have a G5 tower that I use as a server. All of our digital media is stored on it. The AppleTV only syncs the photos to it. Everything else streams from the G5 over the network, even the HD content. I sometimes purchase stuff on the AppleTV, but mostly just on the server (or my laptop and let the server download it).
We mainly use the appletv to view tv shows and dvds that I have converted into digital files on the main TV. When you own 700 DVD's you quickly run out of room to store them in your living room, so as I convert them, they get put in a box and stored in the basement, and then we watch the movie on the TV with the AppleTV.
One thing I did notice at the online apple store is that there are NO refurbished AppleTV's available, and in the navigation column on the left, the AppleTV link is greyed out. Doesn't this usually mean that either an update is coming, or something is discontinued?
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bward74 said 1:46PM on 9-14-2009
"(for the last few days) an inability to browse the HD rentals beyond titles starting with the letter 'B.'"
As I said on the other post, this issue is also there when viewing "All" of a particular Genre. Comedy only lists up to titles starting with the letter 'C' for example. Needs fixing ASAP if Apple want the sales/rentals.
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RCook said 2:33PM on 9-14-2009
I was going to get an aTV but after reading about the limitations I ended up getting a Mac Mini instead running Boxee. I have Boxee set to start at boot and I control it using either my Harmony remote or the Boxee app on my iPhone. All my content is stored on a CentOS linux box in the basement which I've got a BASH script that will automatically rip a DVD when inserted and convert it using HandBrake to a .mp4.
Once Boxee gets better music playing abilities it will be perfect, until then iTunes works well.
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Stephen said 2:40PM on 9-14-2009
I think the biggest problem with Apple TV at the moment is pricing of TV shows at $1.99 per show. My daughters watch TV for an average of an hour per day. When we had Apple TV, that quickly translated into $4 per day spent on TV shows (even more if you want HD at $2.99 per show). That quickly adds up to almost $30 per week and more than $100 per month, just for their daily dose of a couple of shows. That's before movie rentals at the weekend, and before my wife or I even think about watching anything. An average month easily becomes a $200 bill, which is ridiculously high compared to just about any other model for TV service you can think of (I know that you're 'buying' the shows on Apple TV, rather than just renting access to them as per cable, but really who cares about that unless you want to watch the same shows over and over?). Added to which, sporting events and live news are not available at all. We now pay Verizon less than $100 per month for unlimited content, including on-demand and HD etc., plus of course sports and news. There's also a wider choice of movies to rent on Verizon. So without subscription and live programming/DVR capabilities, this thing is just never going to take off with the average, mainstream consumer who looks at this in comparison with the cost of other TV services like cable and thinks "why would I pay at least double for something I'm already getting, with less available programming, in addition to shelling out $200 for the device?". Fine, it's a hobby product for hobby people, but of course Apple can't and won't fund a hobby forever.
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deadwing said 3:20PM on 9-14-2009
People still use the stock AppleTV software? I assumed everyone just hacked theirs to run XBMC or Boxee and was done with it. That's what I've done with mine, and it's fantastic.
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aplen22 said 2:55PM on 9-14-2009
Dear Apple,
Start and subscription based service for both unlimited movies and tv and i'll cancel my satellite. Go ahead...I dare you to try. Until then, i will only continue to rent movies from you. Your on the cusp of an epic win or an epic fail of a device...your choice!
From,
Long Time Apple TV Customer
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jwfnla said 3:02PM on 9-14-2009
Though buggy, it's still my favorite way to rent a movie. I think that portends a good future for the little fella.
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