Apple TV Has Arrived
Published by Josh Foster March 22nd, 2007 in Tech, Internet.
Apple is now shipping Apple TV, an easy to use and fun way to wirelessly play all your favorite iTunes content from your PC or Mac on your widescreen TV, including movies, TV shows, music, photos and podcasts. With Apple TV’s stunning new interface, anyone can quickly browse and view their entire collection of digital media from across the room using the simple and intuitive Apple Remote. Apple TV easily connects to almost all modern widescreen televisions.
“Apple TV is like a DVD player for the Internet age-providing an easy and fun way to play all your favorite iTunes content from your PC or Mac on your widescreen TV,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Apple TV allows you to wirelessly play your content from your PCs or Macs using your existing WiFi network as well as the newest and fastest version of WiFi-802.11n.”
The seamless integration of Apple TV and iTunes lets users choose from over 400 movies and 350 TV shows in near DVD quality; over four million songs; 5,000 music videos; 100,000 podcasts; and 20,000 audiobooks from the iTunes Store (http://www.itunes.com/). Users can also watch their favorite movie trailers right on their widescreen TV, listen to their favorite music on their home entertainment system, and view slideshows of their photo albums in high definition resolution. Apple TV makes it easy for users to explore their entire media collection with an easy to use and intuitive new interface. With the Apple Remote, consumers can easily browse through their favorite movies, TV shows, music and photos from up to 30 feet away.
Apple TV has a 40GB hard drive to store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each and is capable of delivering high-definition 720p output.* Apple TV is easy to connect to a broad range of widescreen TVs and home theater systems and comes standard with HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports. Using high-speed AirPort 802.11** wireless networking, Apple TV can auto-sync content from one computer or stream content from up to five additional computers right to your TV without any wires.***
Pricing & Availability
Apple TV, which includes the Apple Remote, will be available beginning this week from the Apple Store (), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $299 (US). Apple retail stores will also offer hands on workshops and demonstrations of Apple TV’s features.
Apple TV requires iTunes 7.1 or later running on a Mac with Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later, or a Windows PC with Windows XP Home/Professional (SP2).
An 802.11b/g/n wireless network using AirPort, AirPort Extreme or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet networking is required. Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple TV requires an enhanced definition or high-definition widescreen TV. iPod games will not play on Apple TV. The iTunes store is available in the US and select countries.
*Video playback based on 640×480 iTunes video content. Music capacity based on four minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding. Photo capacity based on Apple TV viewable photos transferred from iTunes. Actual capacity varies by content.
**Compatible with 802.11b/g/n. Based on an IEEE 802.11n draft specification.
***Wireless video streaming requires an 802.11g/n network.
Source: Apple
As a website developer- I am very interested in this product. I own both computer platforms,(PC and MAC) and own the new mac mini- this product does the same thing that mac TV does with the additional abillity to connect to the internet- I have it connected to my Sony 50″ wega- via RGB cable- I see the Mac TV will feature- the new hdmi connection that upverts the TV signal or component video and audio. It would be nice to be able to surf the the internet(Mac TV)with this product. Tom Durel
Dispite the media hype of this new apple hardware it would still have the same shortfall like its predecessors. The product would discriminate all other formatts except its own. you better off with other devices on the market. It would be no surprise when apple says that this hardware would ONLY record, play under apple formatt. With this in mind portablity of data to other devices other than apples would be a challenge.