Chris Pirillo » appletv http://chris.pirillo.com News and Reviews! Geek, Internet Entrepreneur, Hardware Addict, Software Junkie, Book Author, Once TV Show Host, Technology Enthusiast, Shameless Self-Promoter, Tech Conference Coordinator, Early Adopter, Idea Evangelist, Tech Support Blogger, Bootstrapper, Media Personality, Technology Consultant, Thicker Quicker Picker Upper. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:06:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 © chris@pirillo.com () chris@pirillo.com() Geek, Internet Entrepreneur, Hardware Addict, Software Junkie, Book Author, Once TV Show Host, Technology Enthusiast, Shameless Self-Promoter, Tech Conference Coordinator, Early Adopter, Idea Evangelist, Tech Support Blogger, Bootstrapper, Media Personality, Technology Consultant, Thicker Quicker Picker Upper. chris@pirillo.com No no http://chris.pirillo.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpgChris Pirillohttp://chris.pirillo.com 144 144 Am I the Only One Who Doesn’t Feel Like They are Missing Out on Anything by Not Owning an Apple TV? They are not that Interesting!http://chris.pirillo.com/am-i-the-only-one-who-doesnt-feel-like-they-are-missing-out-on-anything-by-not-owning-an-apple-tv-they-are-not-that-interesting/ http://chris.pirillo.com/am-i-the-only-one-who-doesnt-feel-like-they-are-missing-out-on-anything-by-not-owning-an-apple-tv-they-are-not-that-interesting/#comments Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:05:31 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/?p=12405 Am I the Only One Who Doesn’t Feel Like They are Missing Out on Anything by Not Owning an Apple TV? They are not that Interesting! is a post from Chris Pirillo

I recently wrote a blog post talking about the Apple TV. I just don’t get what all the fuss is about. There are very few updates, and virtually no awesome features. There’s no WOW factor involved. I had to get some other opinions on this matter. It’s not just me… right? What do you think… love it or hate it? Take it or leave it? Buy it or skip it?

some people buy it to put boxee on it. – Alfredo

nope, you’re not. – Carlos Ayala

I have no need for it. – Rochelle

I want an AppleTV and YES I would definitely put Boxee on it asap – Susan Beebe

I’m waiting for Boxee for windows – Chacha102

I have a mac mini connected to the tv. I dont see the need for an Apple tv as well. – Simon Wicks

I’ve never understood the need for the AppleTV, although it might be interesting for the Hackability Factor(TM). – Tyson Key

I don’t know it’s full potential yet. – Josh Haley

Is it 1080p yet? If not, wake me when it is. I’d prefer a Mac Mini or the similar Dell for doing this though. – Alex Scoble

@simon I never thought of plugging my minimac to my tv set, good stuff – xavier vespa

not the only one. – .LAG

Nope, Apple TV is still max 720…extremely uber lame. No thanks. – Alex Scoble

@xavier – DVI – HDMI cable, and you get HD video, just need a second cable for the audio. Works a treat, got one off the refurb store just to do this with. – Simon Wicks

I don’t have an Apple TV, whatever that is. – Morton Fox

Morton, it’s Apple’s weaksauce attempt at a DVR. – Alex Scoble

Haha. Don’t buy it! – "Joefy"

@simon thanks! – xavier vespa

I didn’t find Boxee that interesting. AppleTV would be much more interesting if paired with a DVR (with CableCard or satellite decoder) and analog inputs. Until then (yeah I know it will never happen), I’ll stick to a full-fledged Mac. – Logical Extremes

I love my Apple TV. You need to own one to see why they are handy. I own two, in addition to two TiVos, a Media Center PC with 4 CableCARD tuners, etc. Apple TV fits right in, and is great at what it does. – Andru Edwards

]]> Am I the Only One Who Doesn’t Feel Like They are Missing Out on Anything by Not Owning an Apple TV? They are not that Interesting! is a post from Chris Pirillo

I recently wrote a blog post talking about the Apple TV. I just don’t get what all the fuss is about. There are very few updates, and virtually no awesome features. There’s no WOW factor involved. I had to get some other opinions on this matter. It’s not just me… right? What do you think… love it or hate it? Take it or leave it? Buy it or skip it?

some people buy it to put boxee on it. – Alfredo

nope, you’re not. – Carlos Ayala

I have no need for it. – Rochelle

I want an AppleTV and YES I would definitely put Boxee on it asap – Susan Beebe

I’m waiting for Boxee for windows – Chacha102

I have a mac mini connected to the tv. I dont see the need for an Apple tv as well. – Simon Wicks

I’ve never understood the need for the AppleTV, although it might be interesting for the Hackability Factor(TM). – Tyson Key

I don’t know it’s full potential yet. – Josh Haley

Is it 1080p yet? If not, wake me when it is. I’d prefer a Mac Mini or the similar Dell for doing this though. – Alex Scoble

@simon I never thought of plugging my minimac to my tv set, good stuff – xavier vespa

not the only one. – .LAG

Nope, Apple TV is still max 720…extremely uber lame. No thanks. – Alex Scoble

@xavier – DVI – HDMI cable, and you get HD video, just need a second cable for the audio. Works a treat, got one off the refurb store just to do this with. – Simon Wicks

I don’t have an Apple TV, whatever that is. – Morton Fox

Morton, it’s Apple’s weaksauce attempt at a DVR. – Alex Scoble

Haha. Don’t buy it! – "Joefy"

@simon thanks! – xavier vespa

I didn’t find Boxee that interesting. AppleTV would be much more interesting if paired with a DVR (with CableCard or satellite decoder) and analog inputs. Until then (yeah I know it will never happen), I’ll stick to a full-fledged Mac. – Logical Extremes

I love my Apple TV. You need to own one to see why they are handy. I own two, in addition to two TiVos, a Media Center PC with 4 CableCARD tuners, etc. Apple TV fits right in, and is great at what it does. – Andru Edwards

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/am-i-the-only-one-who-doesnt-feel-like-they-are-missing-out-on-anything-by-not-owning-an-apple-tv-they-are-not-that-interesting/feed/ 1 What are the Implications of using Video Services?http://chris.pirillo.com/what-are-the-implications-of-using-video-services/ http://chris.pirillo.com/what-are-the-implications-of-using-video-services/#comments Tue, 06 May 2008 06:54:46 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/05/05/what-are-the-implications-of-using-video-services/ What are the Implications of using Video Services? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

How do you guys out there watch tv these days? Do you still watch it on an actual television set? Do you watch it through the Internet? More to the point… how do you watch video? I have a question here that was sent to me in an email. That’s why I’m bringing this up. “What is the social and political impact of services such as iTunes and Adobe Media Player?”

Up until recently, we didn’t have much of a choice as to how we watch our content. There’s really no choice for a lot of the programming out there now, with a television. Then again, with content that comes through something like iTunes or Adobe Media Player, is much broader. These ideas are changing the way we access content, and the way those content services exist now and into the future.

Comcast has a service that we love, called “On Demand”. We like being able to watch movies together. So, we’ll pay a small amount of money to rent the movie. With a service like AppleTV, we could download that same movie a bit cheaper. We could also use the video content services on our Xbox 360. So which one do we use to watch that one piece of media? You might argue that you could just use a DVR. But have you ever tried to use a DVR that was designed by someone other than the person who is trying to control the entire experience? It’s a painful experience, to say the least.

We have a choice. Does it matter how we get to our content and information. There’s a huge debate about the value of a connection point. I would hope that in the future, I have the opportunity to just go between any device I choose. Imagine having competing services in the home. Why does it matter which provider I have to use? I should be the one in control… not the big companies. Period. End of story.

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

]]> What are the Implications of using Video Services? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

How do you guys out there watch tv these days? Do you still watch it on an actual television set? Do you watch it through the Internet? More to the point… how do you watch video? I have a question here that was sent to me in an email. That’s why I’m bringing this up. “What is the social and political impact of services such as iTunes and Adobe Media Player?”

Up until recently, we didn’t have much of a choice as to how we watch our content. There’s really no choice for a lot of the programming out there now, with a television. Then again, with content that comes through something like iTunes or Adobe Media Player, is much broader. These ideas are changing the way we access content, and the way those content services exist now and into the future.

Comcast has a service that we love, called “On Demand”. We like being able to watch movies together. So, we’ll pay a small amount of money to rent the movie. With a service like AppleTV, we could download that same movie a bit cheaper. We could also use the video content services on our Xbox 360. So which one do we use to watch that one piece of media? You might argue that you could just use a DVR. But have you ever tried to use a DVR that was designed by someone other than the person who is trying to control the entire experience? It’s a painful experience, to say the least.

We have a choice. Does it matter how we get to our content and information. There’s a huge debate about the value of a connection point. I would hope that in the future, I have the opportunity to just go between any device I choose. Imagine having competing services in the home. Why does it matter which provider I have to use? I should be the one in control… not the big companies. Period. End of story.

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/what-are-the-implications-of-using-video-services/feed/ 84 AppleTVhttp://chris.pirillo.com/appletv/ http://chris.pirillo.com/appletv/#comments Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:06:41 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/03/11/appletv/ AppleTV is a post from Chris Pirillo

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With all the chatter about the AppleTV, it’s interesting to hear someone’s opinions on why you should NOT rush out to buy one. Dubfrog from our Live Community sent in this Top Five list of reasons not to buy AppleTV. What IS AppleTV, you ask? Apple TV lets you rent movies, buy TV shows and music, and view your .Mac and Flickr photos from the best seat in the house… yours.

  • You have a fifth-generation iPod with video and a $20 bill in your pocket. If you have a full-sized iPod with a video screen, you’re in luck: a lot of AppleTVs functionality is already sitting inside your iPod. It’s waiting to be used with literally any TV you own. All you need is a $15-20 iPod AV Cable from one of more than ten vendors, and you can play music, photos, and videos directly from your iPod, with up to 80 Gigs of storage space. Counterpoint: You’ll have to give up AppleTVs on-TV menuing and use the iPod’s screen to select content.
  • You don’t have a high-definition TV, or don’t use one as your primary set. Apple mandates that you have a widescreen television capable of at least 480P resolution, which means that you’ll almost certainly need to have a high-definition set in order to even use AppleTV. If you don’t have one of these TVs, or don’t keep it in a room where you most often watch videos, AppleTV might not be right for you.
  • You have a large movie collection that isn’t in one of AppleTVs two supported formats. For years, video files have been popularized in all sorts of file formats – DiVX, MPEG-2, WMV, and various types of AVIs. AppleTV won’t play most of them, and it won’t play your DVDs, either. Assuming you live in a country where DVD ripping is legal – take one step back, American readers – you’ll most likely need to use special conversion tools and spend a couple of hours per DVD you want to convert into an AppleTV-optimized file. Do you really want to invest that time in this format? Counterpoint: The latest AppleTV variant on Apple’s H.264 video format offers nice, high resolutions, so maybe it’s the right time to start converting your movies – unless you need 5.1-channel surround sound.
  • You’re budgeting for another Apple purchase, like a Mac mini. With the $499 iPhone, new iPods, and full-fledged computers like the $599 Mac mini out there… you have plenty of other ways to spend your cash on Apple products. Many readers think the similarly wireless-ready, more powerful Mac mini offers a much better value for home AV users – it certainly offers more hard drive space and the ability to play back any video you may have, including digital files in any format. Counterpoint: Unless you’re planning to buy a 30GB iPod, nothing Apple’s releasing is going to be much less than a $299 AppleTV, and you’ll have to shell out a lot more for one of those fancy Mac minis.
  • You want to hold out for a version with higher resolution or more hard disk space. If it’s a good Apple product, the company always releases a better one later… and if it’s a bad product, it quietly disappears from store shelves. Even if you don’t like the current AppleTV, you’ll have to concede that an updated version is likely to eventually follow, with enough horsepower to support even better video quality, and/or store more content. As nice as the first-generation iPod was, most people would laugh at paying $399 today for its 5GB disk drive. Counterpoint: Apple could update some of Apple TV’s features in firmware, or release inexpensive add-ons to enhance its capabilities. Who’d be laughing then?

Hi Chris, I’ve been subscribed to your Youtube channel for a few months, and had just watched your AppleTV video. You brought up watching Youtube videos on the AppleTV, and how Ponzi would rather watch the videos on her TV. The Wii’s Opera browser actually works very well with Youtube videos, so you could watch full-screen videos on your TV without buying a fancy apple product. It may be just a web browser, but a few people overlook their ability to watch videos from the internet on a screen bigger than their monitor.

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

]]> AppleTV is a post from Chris Pirillo

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

With all the chatter about the AppleTV, it’s interesting to hear someone’s opinions on why you should NOT rush out to buy one. Dubfrog from our Live Community sent in this Top Five list of reasons not to buy AppleTV. What IS AppleTV, you ask? Apple TV lets you rent movies, buy TV shows and music, and view your .Mac and Flickr photos from the best seat in the house… yours.

  • You have a fifth-generation iPod with video and a $20 bill in your pocket. If you have a full-sized iPod with a video screen, you’re in luck: a lot of AppleTVs functionality is already sitting inside your iPod. It’s waiting to be used with literally any TV you own. All you need is a $15-20 iPod AV Cable from one of more than ten vendors, and you can play music, photos, and videos directly from your iPod, with up to 80 Gigs of storage space. Counterpoint: You’ll have to give up AppleTVs on-TV menuing and use the iPod’s screen to select content.
  • You don’t have a high-definition TV, or don’t use one as your primary set. Apple mandates that you have a widescreen television capable of at least 480P resolution, which means that you’ll almost certainly need to have a high-definition set in order to even use AppleTV. If you don’t have one of these TVs, or don’t keep it in a room where you most often watch videos, AppleTV might not be right for you.
  • You have a large movie collection that isn’t in one of AppleTVs two supported formats. For years, video files have been popularized in all sorts of file formats – DiVX, MPEG-2, WMV, and various types of AVIs. AppleTV won’t play most of them, and it won’t play your DVDs, either. Assuming you live in a country where DVD ripping is legal – take one step back, American readers – you’ll most likely need to use special conversion tools and spend a couple of hours per DVD you want to convert into an AppleTV-optimized file. Do you really want to invest that time in this format? Counterpoint: The latest AppleTV variant on Apple’s H.264 video format offers nice, high resolutions, so maybe it’s the right time to start converting your movies – unless you need 5.1-channel surround sound.
  • You’re budgeting for another Apple purchase, like a Mac mini. With the $499 iPhone, new iPods, and full-fledged computers like the $599 Mac mini out there… you have plenty of other ways to spend your cash on Apple products. Many readers think the similarly wireless-ready, more powerful Mac mini offers a much better value for home AV users – it certainly offers more hard drive space and the ability to play back any video you may have, including digital files in any format. Counterpoint: Unless you’re planning to buy a 30GB iPod, nothing Apple’s releasing is going to be much less than a $299 AppleTV, and you’ll have to shell out a lot more for one of those fancy Mac minis.
  • You want to hold out for a version with higher resolution or more hard disk space. If it’s a good Apple product, the company always releases a better one later… and if it’s a bad product, it quietly disappears from store shelves. Even if you don’t like the current AppleTV, you’ll have to concede that an updated version is likely to eventually follow, with enough horsepower to support even better video quality, and/or store more content. As nice as the first-generation iPod was, most people would laugh at paying $399 today for its 5GB disk drive. Counterpoint: Apple could update some of Apple TV’s features in firmware, or release inexpensive add-ons to enhance its capabilities. Who’d be laughing then?

Hi Chris, I’ve been subscribed to your Youtube channel for a few months, and had just watched your AppleTV video. You brought up watching Youtube videos on the AppleTV, and how Ponzi would rather watch the videos on her TV. The Wii’s Opera browser actually works very well with Youtube videos, so you could watch full-screen videos on your TV without buying a fancy apple product. It may be just a web browser, but a few people overlook their ability to watch videos from the internet on a screen bigger than their monitor.

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

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