Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

[RonV]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

The magic of VUDU is stronger than then Apple Flavored KoolAid

[HeadHodge]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

I think the proper term coined by the community was "Door Stop".

I tried it today, and it really does work as a door stop!!

Guess it was a hidden feature. Easter Egg maybe?

Anyways, thanks, I now have 2 uses for ATV!

[NA9D]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

Beware of Jon (NA9D) if he tells you to drink some koolaid.....

Huh? I think my posts about the glaring weaknesses and deficiencies of the ATV make me anything but a koolaid drinker or server.

I've been accused of being biased towards Vudu. So I suppose I could be called a Vudu koolaid assistant.

[RonV]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

I tried it today, and it really does work as a door stop!!

Guess it was a hidden feature. Easter Egg maybe?

Anyways, thanks, I now have 2 uses for ATV!

Well as Alton Brown always says on Good Eats. Don't buy a uni-tasker.

[HeadHodge]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

Well as Alton Brown always says on Good Eats. Don't buy a uni-tasker.

You mean like my stainless steel apple corer I bought 10 years ago?

Because that makes a good paper weight too. But wait a minute, tht's a good thought, never tried it as a door stop!

[MaxH]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

I've had it for about a year now or almost a year. It's a good paperweight for sure. I am very disappointed with the photo display capability which is why I bought it. It does neat slideshows, but that's about it. You can't rotate or zoom on photos and you can't simply browse your photo library. They have to be viewed in slideshows. I'm hoping that will change...

Geez, don't you have some obsolete, out-of-production DVR that can do photos? I know my ReplayTVs use our pix from Hawaii as their screensaver now.

[NA9D]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

Geez, don't you have some obsolete, out-of-production DVR that can do photos? I know my ReplayTVs use our pix from Hawaii as their screensaver now.

Let's see - I have 3 of those plus two more in storage. I also have two out of production, obsolete Roku Photobridges that in some ways do a better job with photo display than the AppleTV (the AppleTV does a better job a slideshows and cool transitions but it does a worse job in just photo display).

[RonV]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

Isn't there 3rd party software for the Photobridges? I remember reading something like that on either the Wired blogs or Engadget.

[NA9D]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

Isn't there 3rd party software for the Photobridges? I remember reading something like that on either the Wired blogs or Engadget.

Oh yeah, it runs a variant of Linux and has had a number of third party software. If it wasn't for the third party software it would be about as useless as the AppleTV! There's a media player called MPlay which can play your DVD ISO or VideoTS files, there's a Squeezebox emulator called SlimRoku, there's flickr photo viewers, VNC clients, etc. If Roku would only release the core firmware to the public, even more cool stuff could be done as there are some bugs still in the firmware and it wasn't fully developed to its full capabilities...

[skeeterfood]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

How does Apple Tv achieve what the VUDU box does?
This listing of I guess VUDUs main patent is quite long but talks about the prcoess for the video downloading.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...ranz&RS=miranz

The PDF version of the patent available on this Google patents page has some really pretty diagrams explaining how the whole system works.

[skeeterfood]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

I noticed the patent was issued to Marquee, Inc. and with a bit of searching I came up with this:

From BuisnessWeek Investing

VUDU, Inc. was formerly known as Marquee, Inc. Prior to that Marquee, Inc. was known as Vvond.

[NA9D]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

I noticed the patent was issued to Marquee, Inc. and with a bit of searching I came up with this:

From BuisnessWeek Investing

Yup. Smart guy you are.

[skeeterfood]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

Thanks

I think that's the most times I've ever seen a company change names before actually releasing a product. In this case though, I think they were all worthwhile improvements.

Vudu has a nice ring to it and it has the currently hip quality of sounding good when verbified as in "I just Vudued a great new movie last night!" just like Google, Tivo, etc.

I don't think Vvond or Marquee when verbified to Vvonded or Marqueeed (3 e's or 2?) would have worked nearly as well.

[NA9D]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

Try being an Alpha/Beta tester with all those name/URL changes!

I kinda liked Marquee but it was too boring I guess. I was mixed to negative on the name Vudu when it was first picked, but I've come around. It certainly works when verbified!

[Nded]

Re: Apple TV take 2: 100 hd titles today

A funny thought just occured to me.

1) Apple TV hasn't been able to deliver on their HD promise.

2) Apple TV SD content is all at 480 resolution ( http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html )

3) On the same spec page ATV announces HD content in 720 resolution - possibly on component connection (this has not been delivered/verified)

4) Vudu does not have anything above 480 resolution on the component output due to content owners requiring HDMI connection for higher resolution.

Hypothesis - Could it be that the reason ATV hasn't been able to deliver 2.0 software and HD content is because the studios are saying NO to their component connection?

I can't see why they'd let Apple get by with it, and not allow Vudu to do it.