4 March 2009
The Americans would not have noticed this. There is a new feature of Apple TV 2.3.1 that is of interest to iTunes users outside the US: ratings badges.
Ratings have always worked on the Apple TV for parental controls, allowing parents to prevent youngsters from watching certain content, but until now there were never proper badges to reflect the ratings of another country. Early on, the Apple TV would look at the rating, e.g. MA15+, and write it out in the system font. Later, this disappeared for ratings that didn’t match US ones, namely G and PG.
Now there are proper ratings for all Australian movie and TV ratings. The US G and PG are still substituted, and the Australian ratings are nothing more than the text of the code in a box, but they are now represented on screen. I would have preferred the proper symbols though.
Leave a Comment » | 
Apple TV, Movie Rentals, Movies, TV Shows, iTunes Store | 
Permalink
Posted by tunegardener
14 August 2008
Six weeks after the introduction of TV shows to the Australian iTunes store, movies (both buy and rent) have appeared. I was eager to get home and experience the movie section of the iTunes Store on my Apple TV but there was nothing in the Movies menu other than Trailers and My Movies. I did everything I could think of: I restarted, checked for updates and changed to a different country’s iTunes Store and then back to Australia. None of this gave me the extra menu items. I rang AppleCare and they said that this support will come in the form of a software update, due soon. Until then, I have to use the less-comfortable (have to sit up in a chair) and less-glamorous iTunes approach. Here’s the first movie I’ve ever downloaded from iTunes:
That’s going to take some time, and I don’t have a lousy connection. I’ll be interested to see just how long it takes. I’m also keen to dissect the file in Lostify to learn all its tagging secrets.
So finally Apple TV is vindicated in Australia with not only a massive $120-$130 discount as of today, but also movies in iTunes. The price drop says two things to me: 1) a bid for market penetration, backed by a real reason to use the device and 2) update sooner rather than later. Over the last two years, January has been “Apple TV Season”, but I now suspect that the next model may debut during iPod season next month.
Leave a Comment » | 
Apple TV, Movie Rentals, Movies, iTunes, iTunes Store | Tagged: John Woo, Paycheck | 
Permalink
Posted by tunegardener
10 July 2008
The Remote application for iPhone/Touch got me to thinking: what if there were an Apple TV update? I just checked and I’m downloading it as I write. I’m anticipating support for Remote and possibly ratings icons for countries other than the US in the Movies and TV Shows menus.
Update: Yes, Remote support is included, as well as MobileMe photo support, replacing .Mac. It’s version 2.1.
What puzzles me is no Australian TV and movie rating icons. We’ve got TV shows now, so it doesn’t make sense.
So just a small update but the Remote is going to be cool.
Leave a Comment » | 
Apple TV, Apps, Touch, iPhone | 
Permalink
Posted by tunegardener
25 June 2008
Oh. My. God. People, I’m shaking. TV shows just came to the Australian iTunes Store! I feel a vast relief wash over me as I’ve been waiting for this for some time. There’s not a big selection, but that doesn’t matter. What is important is that we’ve arrived. The catalogue will burgeon. Movies will follow, then rentals. Apple TV is now in the game.
I’m pleased to see local content like Summer Heights High (which I will buy), Sleek Geeks and We Can Be Heroes, but possibly this had to happen because it was easier to license than foreign shows. Still, it’s appropriate that we get a largish ratio of local to foreign content.
I’m pleased with the pricing too. $2.99AUS for a single episode seems all right to me, and the collected seasons are priced a little below that of the DVD equivalent. Higher quality and extra content aside, buying these shows on iTunes for a little less than DVD and not having to rip and prepare the content looks inviting. I can’t wait to watch my new iTunes TV show!
It’s not the end of DVD-ripping for me, but iTunes will now be a part of my TV-show-purchasing regimen.
What a great day!
Leave a Comment » | Apple TV, TV Shows, TV Shows, iTunes, iTunes Store | Tagged: Sleek Geeks, Summer Heights High, We Can Be Heroes | Permalink
Posted by tunegardener
27 May 2008
(Click to enlarge)
This is a video tape. Great Southern Land by Icehouse, never released on DVD. What’s a collector to do? It wasn’t that hard to rip, as long as you’ve got the tools.
Firstly, a friend of mine (because his VHS deck was stereo, and mine is mono), ripped it for me by connecting the deck to his EyeTV. He then recorded in real time, producing an EyeTV file that was 720 x 576 (PAL). I then used EyeTV to rip to iPod (640 x 480, 1500kbps H.264/128kbps AAC). This gave me one long iPod file. I used QuickTime Player Pro to cut out the separate videos, tagged each with Lostify and dragged them into iTunes.
The result? Pretty crappy video on Apple TV and the computer. Looks okay on iPod. I’m not overly concerned about the quality because there’s nothing you can do about it. The good thing is that I can now enjoy this content again without endangering my tape through wear and tear.
This process took me back to the ’80s and the positively archaic video technology of the time. DVD truly is a quantum leap forward in quality and usability. Luckily, that’s the only tape I needed to rip. The only other VHS I own is the original Star Wars Special Edition widescreen set from 1997, and there’s no way I’ll ever play it again. It’s purely a collector’s item now.
Leave a Comment » | Apple TV, Lostify, Music Video, QuickTime Player, Ripping, Video, Video Tape, iPod, iTunes | Tagged: Great Southern Land, Icehouse, Star Wars Special Edition | Permalink
Posted by tunegardener
5 May 2008
If you read my post regarding my woes with upgrading Apple TV, you may have been put off on doing so yourself. Well, I rang Apple (I bought AppleCare for this privilege) and it was good to find out that I was in the minority with regard to video choking, which was my biggest issue. The suggested remedy was to restore, then upgrade again. Apparently, 1.0 (or whatever shipped with the Apple TV) is stored in a partition and is not overwritten by later versions, so that’s why mine was restoring to 1.0.
I did this and it appears to have resolved the choking issue, plus a similar issue with audio choking when syncing was being done concurrently.
Leave a Comment » | Apple TV, Upgrading | Permalink
Posted by tunegardener
5 April 2008
I was excited about this possibility when 2.0 came around but could not buy anything from the iTunes Store. I would get to the point where the Apple TV should be buying the item and I would get an error saying the iTunes Store could not be contacted. I gave up after strenuous effort.
It turns out that 2.0.1 appears to have fixed it and I’m now the proud owner of this Goldfrapp track. I think I’ll be spreading my purchases among my computers, iPod Touch and my beloved Apple TV, just for fun.
Leave a Comment » | Apple TV, iTunes Store | Tagged: Fly Me Away, Goldfrapp | Permalink
Posted by tunegardener
5 April 2008
Do you pause a video while playing just to see how much time has elapsed or how much time is remaining? I just noticed with 2.0.1, if you click the up button while playing, it displays the progress bar with the aforementioned times without interrupting playback. Small but nice enhancement.
Of course, I would prefer that the up and down buttons would change volume because my stereo remote is huge. I know why it doesn’t, though: it would require a variable line-out and volume is supposed to handled by the amp.
Update: I should have mentioned that if you’ve encoded your video with chapters using Handbrake, this tip will allow you to see the chapter titles, in addition to the times. It’s a small feature that DVD can’t match.
1 Comment | Apple TV, Handbrake | Permalink
Posted by tunegardener
3 April 2008
I am aware that many users don’t sync for days or weeks. I recommend to these users that they sync more frequently. Personally, due to the daily changes to my iTunes library (mostly new podcasts), I sync daily, or to be precise, twice daily.
I run three iPods each day. My “road” iPod is a 3rd-Gen Nano, which is my main podcast iPod, so it has every unplayed podcast and the rest is filled by the last-added music and unplayed audiobooks. I have all my music on a 160Gb Classic that I use to store absolutely everything music-wise (no podcasts and the only video is music video) and I play anything I want from this at work. Finally, I have a 16Gb Touch that I use for the video and sometimes internet activity.
First sync occurs when I get home from work. I run all three through the process, then force a sync on the Apple TV to remove any played podcasts from it. I then play content on the Apple TV during the evening. I don’t use my iPods at home. At the end of the evening, all three iPods are synced again to pick up any changes that occurred during the night (new podcasts, removal of played podcasts, music with altered tags and artwork, new music and video, etc.). In this way all the iPods are always ready with the right content, charged and ready to go.
Too many times have I seen iPodders run out of juice during the day, have content that they’ve played over and over until they’re sick of it and with out-of-date iPods. Frequent syncing is the answer!
5 Comments | Apple TV, Media Types, iPhone, iPod | Permalink
Posted by tunegardener
