As much as we love the ability to jailbreak and add support for XMBC to our AppleTV 2G, it'd be much easier if Apple would just implement the changes we've been asking for natively, allowing customers to get more value out of their boxes, and changing the whole way we view the living room experience.
Add Apps Already: One of the biggest perks of Boxee over AppleTV is the ability to install separate apps that boost functionality and give individuals a sense of ownership over their boxes. Apple has the power to implement such an App store, not to mention all the creative potential by combining iPhones and iPads as wireless controllers.
Nix the Rental-Only Model: If there's one thing Netflix has proven successful, it's that people don't mind paying for content. As long as it's cheap, reliable, and reasonable, people will go for it. Charging $3-5 per movie is not my idea of fun, and I'm pretty sure most of us can agree that a flat rate for subscription beats throwing down for content that you ultimately have no ownership over.
Add Better Subtitles Support: For those of us who direct our own short films or rip Blu-ray movies, subtitles can make or break the home theater experience. Even though there are ways to hardcode them into video files, the support for soft-embedded subtitles is quirky and difficult to work on the system (unless you use a program like iSubtitle).
Allow More Video Formats: One of the biggest draws of Boxee, PlayOn, and other alternative streaming approaches is the ability to keep one version of a video and use it on any system at any time. That said, we believe the problem of modern day piracy draws on just that; people want full control of their content and when/where they access it.7.1 Channel Surround Sound: It boggles our mind that a company would include HDMI, but have it restrict output to a mere 2.1 channels (even if the streaming file has the support for it). If Apple wishes to stay ahead of the game, they should keep up with standards (unlike the iPad 2G's terribly inferior camera). Correction, it's mainly the files that have a restriction on the sound output. AppleTV supports 5.1 surround sound passthrough by default. Apologies for the mistake!
Have a change you'd wish to see on the AppleTV 2G? Share your thoughts below!
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My #1 request is Hulu support.
I'd also like to be able to turn the thing off with a button on the remote. I don't like that I have to go back to the main menu, then nav to the "sleep now" option.
...And some sort of text input via keyboard, laptop, or ipod.
According to the Wikipedia page about the AppleTV, it supports up to 7.1 channels over HDMI (and optical), but you need program material that has the right audio. Most iTunes video files are being encoded with 2 channel dolby-surround-encoded audio.
I do find it odd that the AppleTV doesn't support soft-subs because QuickTime does, and quite well. You can also force iTunes itself to display subtitles or closed captioning when it's available via the preferences.
I theorize that you don't see soft-subs often because the material being produced doesn't include them, and most companies are unwilling to make the investment to produce closed-captions.
@pgkelley I second the keyboard input option! Boxee has it, so I don't see why Apple can't pull it off!
We use ours for TV shows and movies, but also for music (we have it hooked up to speakers and both of our computers' itunes librairies.)
That said, I think you should be able to surf the whole internet (not just YouTube, etc.) I'd love to be able to livestream my local NPR station (and other radio stations), Pandora, etc.
The functionality is oddly limited. The apps thing hadn't really occurred to me... They seem most useful on my iPhone because they're designed for mobile use. What kind of apps would significantly improve functionality? I don't really know what you mean by giving me a better sense of ownership...
A few things. I think Apple will ad app functionality within the next year. As far as rental vs purchase, you can purchase movies & TV shows via iTunes. Since the Apple TV 2 has no storage, there is no reason to let you buy from it.
The Apple TV does support Dolby Digital 5.1 via HDMI and it does support soft subtitles. For the subtitles they need to be embedded into the mp4 file. THe problem with DVD (not Blu-Ray) is that the subtitles are actually a video layer and not a text file. You can generally find the srt files on-line. As far as embedding them, I use isubtitle and it works great.
I don't think Apple will ever change format support. It doesn't help their business model.
@pgkelly The Apple TV will automatically go to sleep after 20 minutes of inactivity. You change the length of time in the settings. Also, you can use the remote app for the iPod touch/iPhone/iPad as a text entry device.
@benfest.. don't cry for Hulu support. Apps support = Hulu support. There will be issues raised due to Apple's subscription pricing for content providers.
Apple TV supports soft subtitles. Check out iSubtitles from www.bitfield.se to add soft subtitles to your movies. It is up to the content providers to support subtitles.
No need to ditch Netflix. I thought there was a 28 day delay before new releases make it to Netflix. This gives DVD purchases and rentals an advantage. Let's give customers the option to choose and keep rentals and purchases. I would like to see an iTunes subscription model (however, I expect it would have the same 28 day restriction imposed by the studios). I'll leave it up to Apple to price.
Apple TV does support Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Apple TV will pass DD 5.1 though to your equipment if it supports it. Check the specs at www.apple.com/appletv.
I too would like improved codec support. What next? Apple support HW decoding of these codecs? Unlikely. I think h.264 is a great codec. I create all my content with this. If you must, maybe you need to consider transcoding your content to h.264 and you'll benefit from HW based decoding.
Missing from the list is support for streaming media from a NAS. As w consumer more and more media, our storage requirements increase. Storing media on your computer running iTunes is not a reliable option. Many people have proper NAS devices with redundant and reliable storage. Support streaming of content from a NAS without the need for an intermediary computer running iTunes.
While we're talking about storage... how about the ability to re-download video content from iTunes if I lose the file? This reduces my reliance on storing and backing up media and increases my confidence to purchase more.
Part of Steve Jobs' genius is that he's created a model where he can make money off of other people's hard work. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of hard work put into the hardware, but they sell the atv cheaply because they know they will make money off of people renting or buying music and videos to play on it.
being able to freely stream off of and surf the internet does not fit into their model for making money off this device.
Soft coded subtitles is so easy. Just drag and drop an srt file in Subler. Done!
All I want is the ability to read from NAS. that's the only reason I have XBMC installed :(
@pgkelley & @ekoshyun -- if you download the free "Remote" app to your iPad or iPhone (or, i'm assuming, iPod-touch) you can use it for much easier text-input. It's not a perfect interface, but streets ahead of the moronic native AppleTV text interface.
It's a little inconvenient to have to launch iTunes in order to access computer content, but not a deal breaker. It just seems like there should be a way to do this in the background without having to actually launch the app.
You can use a bluetooth keyboard or ipad or other ios device for a keyboard.
The only good thing about the boxee is the apps, but those are some pretty small, poor, and limited apps.
It has Netflix so they Nixing the rental model would be like killing a feature, I thought this article was about adding features.
Subtitles are supported, as long as you have them in the file.
Yes it would be easier to handle more file types, but for a truely organized system you should have everything encoded the same, with some small exceptions. The codec that the apple tv is the best for streaming, It is a streaming device.
@kaz: Reports suggest parts in the Apple TV cost $64. Cost of the first generation Apple TV were reported to be closer to the retail price. Despite the lower cost, I expect their margins are higher with the new Apple TV. Even the Roku player was $99 when it first launched. The lower price tag is a response to increased competition. It doesn't appear Apple is subsidizing the purchase of Apple TVs while content can still be purchased or played on other devices (including PCs running iTunes).
@iBog: but if you compare it to the markup on their laptops.. I still maintain their model is to make more on media than the hardware.
@funstraw: I don't understand how different encodings make your system less organized? I have different encodings for my videos in Boxee, and they all show up just the same in the menu...
kaz, Sorry I was generalizing, I try not to go on to long. When you are doing the encoding if you have one recipe, everything goes a little smoother, but then you have a few issues with noise and deinterlacing, etc, I had to rerip 10% of my media. Then if everything is from one recipe and something looks off you have a better idea of which ingredient didn't work and why as opposed to "Is the framerate off?" or "some parts look blocky"
Also by having all one type of file you know that if one of your files play how you want it to, then they should all play. And if for some reason you need to convert the file to a different format it should be able to apply to all, which can make the whole transcode smoother. By having avi's, mov's, mp4's, m4v's etc. It is likely that you will need to come up with different recipes per filetype and figure out why some files work with a recipe and some don't. I could go on...
The counterpoint is that all the boxes should just play all the media, but the reality is, not any box plays all the media. You will have hiccups. m4v, mp4 and avi's should be the three minimum standards formats that play on every box.
@funstraw: makes sense. thanks for the reply!
@iBog & chirho: Can you use the multiple-library method to set up a separate iTunes library on your NAS and then stream from there? I was planning to try that route with my 1st-gen ATV.
My NAS runs an iTunes client so I was thinking I could set up a library on the NAS and then set that to stream to the ATV.
Any ideas?