What's next for the Apple TV?

It just doesn't feel right...

The newly released Apple TV just feels empty and yet promises so much.

With the revelation that the Apple TV is built on iOS, has the same A4 processor as in the iPad and has 8GB of local storage, it's obvious that Apple has big plans for the shiny hockey puck device.

The question is not so much what (content delivered via apps), but when?

Why start shipping a device now, when it's so obviously capable of so much more?

Now that one iteration of Google TV has a proper launch date, and a price - Logitech Revue to be launched at the end of October - $299 - (Excuse me? How much?), Apple really need to come clean with the future plans for the Apple TV and stop messing about with this hobby malarky.

My gut feeling is that they'll be in a position to announce something much sooner than people are expecting, even before Christmas.

Here is some wild and unsubstantiated speculation:

September 2010

Apple needed to get the Apple TV launched as soon as possible to establish the supply chain and get the product to market a good three months before Christmas. With the price point, they would be confident that they'd sell a load to existing Apple customers and manage the delivery of the Apple TV as a two stage process - base functionality to early adopters and and an enhanced version for the mass market when the supporting services and additional features were in place.

September 1st - The new iPod range is introduced along with the Apple TV.  In an unusual move, they preview iOS 4.1 (for launch a week of two later) but also demonstrate iOS 4.2, bringing multitasking to the iPad and significantly for the Apple TV, Airplay

iOS 4.2 is not scheduled for release until November but the announcement is made well in advance of the release building up anticipation with iOS device users. At this point, it's not fully finished so they can only display a minimal demo. It's enough to demonstrate that the potential of the technology is huge.

iTunes 10 is introduced and AirTunes is rebranded as AirPlay

October 2010

The Apple TV is launched. No apps but the device is received well despite some minor irritations, all of which can be fixed with a firmware upgrade. As expected, the new Apple TV acts as an AirPlay device out of the box but only supporting Audio for now.

October 18th 2010 - Apple's Quarterly Earnings report - Expected to show huge numbers for both iPhone 4 and iPad sales. Stock price will be boosted significantly but Apple will be looking for a double whammy effect,  following up the earnings announcement with another big announcement.

W/c October 25th or w/c November 1st - Press are invited to a special Town Hall meeting at Apple Campus when iOS 4.2 will be formally announced and released. This time it's the full AirPlay demo with video streamed from iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads to the Apple TV.

As well as the Apple branded products there are also some announcements of third party enabled AirPlay devices as indicated by the BridgeCo partnership

Steve will put up a keynote slide of the new Sony Remote and have a chuckle.

As well as the AirPlay features, Apple also announce the availability of some bespoke apps for the Apple TV but no Apple TV app store. These bespoke apps are custom made apps made in conjunction with delivery partners, engineered in the same way that NetFlix integration has been customised for the Apple TV.  No mention is made of specific future apps but more are in development with strategic partners. No indication of an Apple TV SDK as of yet.

As a long shot, it's possible Apple may announce a couple of games for the Apple TV. Designed as full TV screen games, these may rely on iOS devices to act as a remote control using seamless Home Sharing to connect the iOS devices to the Apple TV.

We may even see some mention of FaceTime but I'm not sure if Apple would go down the route of promoting an external video camera attached via the Micro USB port - that may be stretching things a bit to far!

November 2010

Apple TV is updated with the new version of the firmware enabling the bespoke content delivery apps embedded in the Apple TV menu. The firmware update is a free download. Included is a new Games entry on the main menu allowing you purchase a limited number of games.

As I say, wild and unsubstantiated speculation, but would anyone still fancy that $299 Logitech box if this actually happened?

Apple TV Fail!

Just putting the final touches to this week's ScreenCastsOnline show, which is due out for publication tomorrow.

The catalyst for the show was the new Apple TV which I received on Monday, although the show also covers other aspects of the Apple iTunes ecosystem such as iTunes 10, AirPlay and the new Remote App for iOS.

As I needed to capture the screen of the Apple TV for the show, the Apple TV has been on my desk since it arrived, connected to my Mac Pro via a Matrox MX02 Mini capture box, which allows me to take high quality video captures via the HDMI  port straight into FInal Cut Pro.

It works a treat and the output is superb with beautiful high resolution video for the show.

What I hadn't done as yet is to connect the Apple TV to my HD TV, until this morning that is.

I have a Sony KDF-E50A12U HD rear projection HD TV. Not exactly state of the art compared to today's models, but it does a fine job with great picture quality. Only a single HDMI input however,  but I have a HDMI switcher for up to 4 HDMI connected devices. Currently connected to the TV area Mac mini which allows me to output in 1080pi or 720p with or without overscan, as well as  a first generation Apple TV which again, allows me to output in 1080i or 720p.

Both devices work fine on the Sony HDTV and have done so since I installed them.

So I connected the new Apple TV expecting nothing less that a smooth ride and a quick installation.

When the device started, I got a "ghosted" image as the machine started up and when fully started, the "ghosted' image remains. It's basically a fuzzy image with what looks like two screens overlaid on top of each other. You can see the menus etc, but it's barely readable and completely unwatchable.

I wasn't unduly concerned as the original Apple TV did that also, when I first got it. The solution on the original Apple TV was to go into the Settings menu and the select the correct TV Resolution, namely 720p 50Hz. The "ghosting" was due to the fact that the device was outputting at 720p 60Hz, which my TV didn't like.

Switch it to 50Hz and the picture was fine.

So, with the new Apple TV displaying the same symptoms, I dove into the Settings menu to switch it to 720p 50Hz

And I looked....

and I looked...

and I looked...

Nope, nowhere to be seen?

Even under the Audio & Video options, there is no option to change the TV resolution.

Strange?

So I looked again..... Nope!

WTF!

So, straining my eyes to read the serial number on the bottom of the device, I called AppleCare.

After a 15 minute conversation, they said they'd get back to me.

They just did - with the rather startling news that you can't change the TV resolution on the current version of the Apple TV.

WTF!

So my shiny new Apple TV won't work on a HDTV that happily supports the Mac Mini and the old Apple TV? Really?  Even though the new Apple TV spec states:

Compatible with high-definition TVs with HDMI and capable of 720p 60/50Hz,²including popular models from these manufacturers: Hitachi, JVC, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sony, Sharp, Toshiba

A quick trawl of the Apple support groups shows a high number of people with display problems similar to mine but they think it's a HDMI cable problem but I think it's a 50Hz/60Hz issue.

What a mess!

Apple need to resolve this pronto, especially for us out here in the UK where 720p/50Hz is fairly widespread.  I can't believe that they didn't include an option to manually change the resolutions as they did on the 1st Gen Apple TV.

My gut feeling is that Apple will fix this in the next firmware release as it seems that this must be a feature that has been omitted in error.

Let's just hope it happens sooner rather than later.

Apple TV Preview and Unboxing

OK, so there are loads of unboxing videos of the Apple TV - why should I be any different ;-)

So here is my unboxing video and an invitation to watch the full ScreenCastsOnline Apple TV show on Friday!

Enjoy

Apple TV - 8GB Local Storage - Oh my!

Well despite Apple not mentioning the amount of local storage on the new Apple TV we know know just what's in this little baby. iFixit have done their usual fabulous job of tearing down the new device and made some interesting discoveries.

What is this? A Samsung K9LCG08U1M 8GB NAND Flash chip?

Why, yes it is. It's the same part we found during the iPad teardown! This is a pretty remarkable amount of storage for a $99 device.

So the Apple TV does have a decent amount of internal storage - a whopping 8GB. Not only that, but it also has an empty memory slot next to the existing 8GB that could indicate an option for a 16GB version of higher.

As the device is intended to be a streaming device only, the local storage must only be for one thing and that that's the local installation of iOS applications.

Not yet, but Apple only have to flip a switch and we could have apps on our Apple TVs

OK, it's probably a bit more than that, including some changes to the iOS SDK, but at least the hardware platform is in place.

The iFixit teardown also brought up some other interesting points:

• It includes the exact same A4 chip as found in the iPad (but not in the iPhone)
• It has 256MB of RAM as found in the iPad
• It has the same 802.11n Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM chip as found in the iPad
• It's very power efficient and should run cool to the touch (just like the iPad)
• The logic board appears to have some pin outs on the logic board that matches the size of a dock connector? Something for the future or maybe the logic board is to be used in a different device.

In all, a lot of power for a low price.

It will be interesting to see how Apple ramps up the functionality of the Apple TV over time with the introduction of new features and services.

We've barely seen a fraction of what they have planned for the Apple TV.

By the way, I've revised the results of my predications for the new Apple TV in the blog post I published the day before the announcement.  In it, I said:

8 or 16GB local storage for Apps and Games

I think I'm going to say I nailed that particular prediction ;-)