Ipod Touch / Iphone

[soloz2]

I might give netflix another try. Last time I couldn't find shit I wanted to watch. Or maybe it's just me.

they've added quite a bit to the watch instantly area in the last couple months and they've been making deals to get more content in the next couple months.

[tyrion]

Smeggy, I think the first 4 seasons of MI-5 are instant watch on Netflix. It's a great series.

[bhd812]

Sept 1st Apple is having a press meeting for their iPod line like every year, not sure who here didn't know so I posting it incase. Heavy rumors about the iPod touch, nano, and Apple tv. I'm hoping they update the classic with a larger drive but who knows...they might kill the classic this year.

[emelius]

Dual SIM iPhone 4 case gives your multiple personality disorder a new lease on life -- Engadget

i like it...

[soloz2]

I'm looking forward to a new iTV, and how it might compare to a HTPC or the upcoming boxee box. I'll likely be selling my Xbox360 soon as I really only use it for Netflix instant streaming and an iTV with Netflix and Hulu+ for $99 might be the ticket I'm looking for, especially if it streams all my lossless music

[blessingx]

I thought it was a week away?

[Hopstretch]

Ping is a lame name for a music network. Not to mention that it's already taken.

New iPod touch looks great though. As Steve (almost) brought himself to note, it's now basically a fully-featured iPhone without any carrier bullshit.

[HeadphoneAddict]

I'm looking forward to a new iTV, and how it might compare to a HTPC or the upcoming boxee box. I'll likely be selling my Xbox360 soon as I really only use it for Netflix instant streaming and an iTV with Netflix and Hulu+ for $99 might be the ticket I'm looking for, especially if it streams all my lossless music

In an upcoming update, being able to stream movies and shows or music from an iPhone, iPad or Touch will be nice. I hate that it looks like I'll have to go to iOS 4.1 or 4.2 to get that, and lose my jailbreak.

The thing I like about the current Apple TV is that I can pick and choose what content the kids have access to with it, by only transferring those programs over to it's internal hard drive. Before I order one I need to know how to control which videos are available on the iTV, so that only some TV Shows and Movies in the library are available to viewers. I don't want to be limited only to parental controls based on MPAA or TV ratings, because not all of our videos are rated.

I also feel that it should have had some internal storage, even 16Gb of flash memory, or at least a way to plug in an external hard drive to expand it. That's not a deal breaker, since I leave the iMac with iTunes library running all the time, but it would definitely be appreciated.

[grawk]

You can just turn on parental controls, and set ratings...

[HeadphoneAddict]

You can just turn on parental controls, and set ratings...

Not as easy as I would like. I have about 100 ripped DVD movies in my library, and I cannot set them as rated-R, or PG-13, etc... Same with other small videos that I found online that may be NSFW. And there are a couple of rated R iTunes movie downloads they can watch, but the rest are off limits. So, how do you set or change ratings on these movies?

I also have a couple of music albums labeled as "explicit" which really aren't bad, and blocking "explicit" prevents them from playing any of those songs. This is a little easier to solve because I know I could burn the songs to CD and re-import them, which is a pain. What I might do is move my 160Gb ATV from my bedroom, to put in the family room where the 30Gb ATV died last month. Then I could buy the new iTV for my bedroom where they don't watch TV.

[n_maher]

So many snarky comments, so little time.

No way to play external media makes the aTV worthless to me. Great, you made it super small and sleek and missed the boat on, you know, about half of what a media device should be. I know, I know, buy a mac mini too, eff that, my PS3 does just fine thanks and can still handle the occasional spinning disc.

[HeadphoneAddict]

So many snarky comments, so little time.

No way to play external media makes the aTV worthless to me. Great, you made it super small and sleek and missed the boat on, you know, about half of what a media device should be. I know, I know, buy a mac mini too, eff that, my PS3 does just fine thanks and can still handle the occasional spinning disc.

I wish they could have added a USB 2.0 port to connect a hard drive or optical drive. I like that you can add Netflix to a non-networked TV with this, but Roku has had that for a while.

And I don't appreciate them removing the component video and analog audio output. I just discovered that I can't use the new device in my family room. I'm still using a 42" Sony rear-projection HDTV with a DVI port and several component inputs from 2004. I don't have an available optical input on my 2004 vintage Denon HTR either (using the 2 digital inputs for DVD and cable TV). http://www.usa.denon.com/avr1804_productsheet.pdf

At least they offer a cheap way to transport audio and video to your TV and stereo system from your iTunes library, where the Airport Express only does audio.

[Dusty Chalk]

No way to play external media...

Wait, whut? I totally missed that. They've essentially created a streaming device, and that's it? That's a completely different device.

And yes, I have no need for it.

[soloz2]

I wish they could have added a USB 2.0 port to connect a hard drive or optical drive. I like that you can add Netflix to a non-networked TV with this, but Roku has had that for a while.

And I don't appreciate them removing the component video and analog audio output. I just discovered that I can't use the new device in my family room. I'm still using a 42" Sony rear-projection HDTV with a DVI port and several component inputs from 2004. I don't have an available optical input on my 2004 vintage Denon HTR either (using the 2 digital inputs for DVD and cable TV). http://www.usa.denon.com/avr1804_productsheet.pdf

At least they offer a cheap way to transport audio and video to your TV and stereo system from your iTunes library, where the Airport Express only does audio.

Do you have HDMI on your receiver? My TV is one of the earlier LCDs and it has VGA or DVI so I use a HDMI to DVI cable and have my receiver handle all audio and video switching.

[grawk]

Not as easy as I would like. I have about 100 ripped DVD movies in my library, and I cannot set them as rated-R, or PG-13, etc... Same with other small videos that I found online that may be NSFW. And there are a couple of rated R iTunes movie downloads they can watch, but the rest are off limits. So, how do you set or change ratings on these movies?

I also have a couple of music albums labeled as "explicit" which really aren't bad, and blocking "explicit" prevents them from playing any of those songs. This is a little easier to solve because I know I could burn the songs to CD and re-import them, which is a pain. What I might do is move my 160Gb ATV from my bedroom, to put in the family room where the 30Gb ATV died last month. Then I could buy the new iTV for my bedroom where they don't watch TV.

There are tag editting software packages. For example, metax and max will edit video and audio tags on the mac. Set the ratings, remove explicit, etc. It's really not that tricky, just requires software. MetaX is part of my dvd-ripping routine. Handbrake to MetaX to iTunes.

I'd bet Doug's apple scripts has something, too.

As to the "no external media", yah, it's a streaming device. You can use external media, it just has to be in itunes, and be attached to your computer, not to your tv.

[Nebby]

Do you have HDMI on your receiver? My TV is one of the earlier LCDs and it has VGA or DVI so I use a HDMI to DVI cable and have my receiver handle all audio and video switching.

From the product sheet, that'd be a no; only component/composite/s-video inputs/outputs on the receiver.

[Salt Peanuts]

To further differentiate from iPhone, the new Touch's camera is only 960 x 720 for still photos. So now it's an iPhone w/ crappier camera without a contract.

[MoonShine]

I will give 4.1 a go on my 3G as soon as it comes out.

Seems like my 3G is getting laggier by the day.

[episiarch]

i would say it's less about differentiating and more about fitting a camera into a tiny space.

Agreed. iPhone 4 teardown photos show the camera is way too thick to go in the Touch. Same with the 3GS's camera. It's unfortunate, but understandable.

[Smeggy]

They could always stop trying to make the damn thing 0.00004mm thinner, shove the bigger camera in there and fill the rest of the space with moar battery. Getting rid of the stupid curved back would help too, they should unify on the iPhone 4 case and give me the 20 hour video playback I want. And make it $200 for the 64gig version... And a free nano touch.

[Grahame]

And a pony?

[Dusty Chalk]

Unicorn.

[Grahame]

Ah, the Magical Apple Pony.

[HeadphoneAddict]

There are tag editting software packages. For example, metax and max will edit video and audio tags on the mac. Set the ratings, remove explicit, etc. It's really not that tricky, just requires software. MetaX is part of my dvd-ripping routine. Handbrake to MetaX to iTunes.

I'd bet Doug's apple scripts has something, too.

Thanks! I will check that out.

As to the "no external media", yah, it's a streaming device. You can use external media, it just has to be in itunes, and be attached to your computer, not to your tv.

Another ploy by Apple to sell more computers? If we didn't have an iMac that stays on all the time with iTunes and TwonkyServer running, I'd be looking for a Mac mini instead of the new Apple TV. I was ready for it to have a small amount of storage like an iPhone or Touch, but no storage at all surprised me. It's like a glorified Airport Express for video instead of just audio, but without the router or print server functions.

[grawk]

It has storage, I'm sure, just not for storing media long term.