Apple ’s announcement at Macworld Expo of its young bent - top loge , the Apple TV , was n’t really unexpected ; after all , the company had already give everyone a preview back in September , when it carried the code - name of iTV . But almost four month after we become our first glimpse , we ’ve learned a bit more about the $ 299 gadget — due in February — that Apple stand for to bridge over the gap between your Mac ’s library of digital content and the sofa in your life way .
What We Knew
But first , a recap : Apple TV is a small twist ( 7.7 column inch square and 1.1 inches gamy ) that ’s destined for your living elbow room . It attaches to a widescreen digital TV and , optionally , a dwelling house theater audio system . After you ’ve hooked up an Apple goggle box and wrick on on your TV hardening , you ’ll see a menu of option that are similar to those you ’d find on an iPod or in Apple ’s Front wrangle software for the Mac .
In accession to connecting to your goggle box , the Apple boob tube connects to your household meshing , most commonly via 802.11 wireless networking . ( Yes , the twist has an Ethernet embrasure on the back as well , if your meshing is wired rather than wireless . ) Once that ’s done , Apple TV can act as a span between your computer — which has a hard drive satisfy with moving picture , television receiver show , medicine , and photos — and your TV set .
You moderate the Apple TV by using an Apple Remote to pilot through an iPod - style port — graze a list of music , movies , TV display , and photos . The expectant difference with Apple TV , though , is that you ’re seeing all of this big than life on your TV blind instead of a tiny iPod display . Apple TV also gives you access to iTunes movie laggard and 30 - second trailer of pop iTunes songs .
And just as Apple said back in September , to expend the Apple television you ’ll involve a widescreen TV with digital or component stimulant . It does n’t have to be an HDTV set , but it does need to be at least an “ enhanced definition ” exhibit ( capable of displaying at 480p , or 480 lines of progressive - scan resolution ) .
Apple TV ’s port will be intimate to anyone who ’s used an iPod or Front Row .
What we learned
Beyond its new name — remember , even back in September , Apple was stressing that iTV was just a code name — the biggest piece of newfangled data we received about the Apple TV involves memory infinite . We now know there ’s a 40 GB hard drive inside the gadget . Back in September , we ruminate that the Apple TV might only have a small amount of depot blank space and would be forced to stream all audio and video data over its web connection ; the included hard drive changes things well .
You laden data onto the Apple TV ’s knockout drive by synchronise it with a reckoner ( Mac or PC ) run iTunes . An Apple TV on your local net will seem in your iTunes reference list , very much like an iPod does now when it ’s connected . flick on the Apple TV icon , and you ’ll be able to configure synchronicity features — again , just like the iPod . iTunes then mechanically copy picture , television shows , music , photos , and other data onto the Apple TV via your home internet . ( Apple estimates that the hard driving is big enough to hold about 50 hours of picture and tv set appearance , or 9,000 call , or 25,000 pictures . )
If you ’ve got more than one calculator in your theater , do n’t vex — while Apple telly will only link up up with one copy of iTunes for store information on its hard drive , it can tie in to up to five other computing machine and pelt datum from them ( including motion-picture show , TV show , and music ) . The only dispute is that it wo n’t hive away information from those computers on its hard parkway — it just plays ’em and blank out ’em . ( And Apple TV ca n’t link to iTunes library without expressed permit — as Apple television set attempt to connect , it display a PIN computer code on the TV covert ; you ’ve got to type that code into iTunes before it will permit Apple TV to link . )
Apple ’s Macworld Expo declaration of Apple TV also gave us greater details about just what video formats the little corner will play . Unsurprisingly , it ’s very much like the same kind of telecasting that the iPod flirt : H.264 and MPEG-4 videos with dimensions up to 640 - by-480 pixels ( the very dimensions of all the video in the iTunes Store ) . But it ’ll also play high - definition content at 1,280 - by-720 pixels , or 720p in HDTV nomenclature . ( Apple TV supports both 720p and 1080i HDTVs , but ca n’t spiel videos at 1080i resolution . )
Other titbit we ’ve memorize admit the fact that Apple TV is powered by an ( unspecified ) Intel CPU , and supports 802.11 wireless networking admit bread and butter for the ultra - fast draft 802.11n specification .
What we don’t know
Although Apple TV is coming into focus , we ’ve still got a mess of question . Perhaps the biggest one is this : At a time when Internet TV overhaul such asYouTubehave become massively popular , is it possible that Apple could release an Internet - link up telly product that did n’t have the power to browse YouTube and similar inspection and repair ? Apple ’s never demonstrated such a potentiality , although it has shown off Apple TV ’s ability to browse and view movie prevue stream fromApple.com , and presumptively browsing a site such as YouTube would work likewise .
Then there are questions about filing cabinet format . The Internet is litter with video cognitive content that does n’t appear in goodly MPEG-4 bundle . In accession to YouTube , there are file encode with Divx , Xvid , WMA , MPEG-2 , and other codecs ; and live video streams in Windows Media and genuine format . If Apple TV does n’t support many ( or any ) of these formats , it will be unable to play a vast clod of the video message uncommitted out on the Net . Would n’t it be bully if AppleTV was capable to toy back Major League Baseball ’s hot MLB.tv streams ( which are presently uncommitted only in Windows Media and substantial formats ) , or CNN ’s Pipeline ( Windows Media ) , or Apple panel member Al Gore ’s Current.tv ( Flash video ) ?
This is not to say that brave programmers wo n’t receive way to shift , convert , and transcode TV into Apple goggle box - favorable data format — but even the most elegant workaround is still not quite as unspoiled as build - in It - Just - work simpleness .
The effective news is , even if Apple idiot box does n’t have the ability to see such picture properly now , that does n’t have in mind that it could n’t bestow those abilities later . Under Apple TV ’s Extras menu is a spectacular Update Software dictation — advise quite understandably that Apple TV is a vernal dog that can be teach numerous fresh conjuration . What fox those are is up to Apple .
There ’ one final mystery about Apple TV , and it ’s located justly on its stern : among the video recording and networking ports is a individual USB port wine . Apple has n’t said a word about what that USB connector is for . We ’ve sire some hypothesis : perchance it ’ll countenance you to extra outside storage via a USB grueling drive , or to directly connect your iPod , or perchance even add on a high - definition DVD histrion . Or peradventure it ’ll be good for nothing . Until February , when we all get our hand on the first Apple TV models , all we can do is guess .
