Apple Brings 1080p High Definition to New Apple TV

[Cristian_25H]

Apple today announced the new Apple TV featuring 1080p programming including iTunes movies and TV shows, Netflix, Vimeo, photos and more in HD. With iTunes in the Cloud, customers can purchase and play their favorite movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store and watch them instantly on their HD TV. The new Apple TV features a simpler, refined user interface making it easier than ever to access your purchased movies, TV shows and music with iTunes Match right from iCloud. With AirPlay, users can stream or mirror their favorite content from their iPad or iPhone 4S to Apple TV.

"People are going to love streaming movies and TV shows in 1080p with the new Apple TV, and photos look beautiful displayed at the maximum resolution of your TV," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "Apple TV is easier than ever to use with its new icon-based interface and the ability to access your purchased movies, TV shows and music right from iCloud."





Apple TV users can choose from an incredible selection of programming including over 15,000 movies and over 90,000 TV episodes on the iTunes Store. Apple TV also offers great content from Netflix's streaming catalog, live sports from MLB, NBA and NHL as well as Internet content from Vimeo, YouTube and Flickr.

With iCloud, you can buy movies and TV shows on Apple TV and watch them on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC. iCloud also stores photos and pushes them wirelessly to all your devices including your HD TV via Apple TV. iCloud provides an incredibly easy way to get instant access to all of your content, no matter which device is being used.

iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users can use AirPlay to stream music, photos and videos from their devices directly to their HD TV with Apple TV. iPhone 4S or iPad users can use AirPlay Mirroring to show the screen of their device right on their HD TV, allowing them to stream web pages, spreadsheets or even games.

Apple TV makes it easy to enjoy iTunes video, music and photo libraries from your computer right on your HD TV-and with iCloud you can instantly enjoy content that was purchased on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch as well. iTunes Match customers can now play their entire music library from iCloud-even songs they've imported from CDs. Users can also control Apple TV with their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch using the Remote app, available as a free download on the App Store (www.itunes.com/appstore).

Pricing & Availability

Apple TV will be available on Friday, March 16 for a suggested retail price of $99 (US) through the Apple online store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Apple TV requires iTunes 10.5 or later. Apple TV requires an 802.11g/n Wi-Fi network or Ethernet network, a broadband Internet connection and a HD TV capable of 1080p or 720p and an HDMI cable that is sold separately. iTunes movie and TV show availability varies by country. Second generation Apple TV users can install the new Apple TV user interface via a free software update, available today. Third generation Apple TV hardware is required to play 1080p video.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Freedom4556]

Is it just me, or does $99 seem really cheap for an Apple product that's basically a wifi iPad with no screen?

Is there a Windows Media Center-based equivalent for similar money? If so, I'd like to know, so I can recommend it to people. (HTPC buy-in is usually more like $200)

Also, biggest ticket item is 1080p? Welcome to 2012, Apple; where have you been the last five years?

 

[Dos101]

Is it just me, or does $99 seem really cheap for an Apple product that's basically a wifi iPad with no screen?

It's so cheap because it doesn't have any built-in storage as it connects to the iTunes Store (and apps) and to your shared iTunes library.

 

[Freedom4556]

It's so cheap because it doesn't have any built-in storage

Surely 64gb of thumbstick grade flash doesn't run $300

 

[Dos101]

Surely 64gb of thumbstick grade flash doesn't run $300

No but Apple marks up their products and has pretty good margins, to my understanding anyways. I remember a while back companies like Acer and Dell were complaining that they their margins were much less than Apple's, despite beating apple in price.

AppleTV is meant to connect your iTunes library to your TV, as well as support Airplay Mirroring for iPads and iPhones. I doubt they could sell it much higher than $100 and expect phenomenal sales, it's already considered a mediocre product to begin with.

 

[dorsetknob]

No doubt Apple will eventually try to market this as iTV,
which is going to give their patent and trademark legal department lots of work
and eventually its going to cost them a fortune because they are going to lose this one.
ITV is a Multimedia company in the uk (trademark reconised and protected worldwide).

and they have allready notified Apple that the itv trademark is and has been theirs for over 55 years. itv's first broadcast was on 22 September 1955.

Still i dont expect that will bother apple as they are quite used to riding legal roughshod over other companys.

http://www.razorianfly.com/2012/03/06/itv-entertainment-warns-apple-not-to-use-itv-trademark/
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/06...tention-with-warnings-over-unreleased-tv-set/
http://9to5mac.com/2012/03/06/us-ba...strikes-out-against-apple-over-itv-trademark/