By Jacqui Cheng | Published: January 09, 2007 - 04:52PM CT
Macworld wouldn't be Macworld without pestering Apple employees about new products and asking questions they don't like to answer. Some of our readers and staff had some questions about the newly-released (sorta) *Apple logo*TV (here on out referred to as the AppleTV). I asked a couple of employees who were manning the AppleTVs a few questions for y'all.
First, here's a pic of the back of the AppleTV:
Many of us assumed that the built-in USB 2.0 on the AppleTV was for external storage reasons. Why else would you need USB on it? You're not connecting a mouse and/or keyboard or any other oddball peripherals. It makes perfect sense.
Jacqui: Is the USB 2.0 for external storage?
Apple Employee: No. You cannot add external storage to the AppleTV. The USB port is there solely for service reasons.
Wow, that sucks a lot of ass. No external storage? Service purposes only? How long until some Japanese hacker breaks that one?
Read more questions and answers about the AppleTV. They're probably not what you want to hear. >>
I managed to mess around in the Settings menu of the AppleTV before the employee figured out what was going on. While Jade got a stern talking-to when he did so on a different unit, I got no such thing. The Apple employee simply assumed that I had accidentally stumbled my way there and had no idea where I was. He nicely guided me out of the Settings menu. lol girls r dumb.
While I was in the Settings menu, I noticed that the only setting listed in the Resolutions menu was 720p. Was this just showing me that option because it was hooked up to a high-def set, or was that really the only option?
Jacqui: Is this HDTV only? Does it just scale down if hooked up to a regular TV?
Apple Employee: Yes, HDTV only. Yes, it just scales down on a regular TV.
Jacqui: Can I buy directly from iTunes from the AppleTV?
Apple Employee: (Some crap about how you can stream lots of awesome stuff from iTunes on another Mac.) Oh, no; you can't buy directly from iTunes from your couch. You have to do it on another computer first and stream from it.
Wow, that sucks a lot of ass. Again. Part of the appeal to having the AppleTV in the first place is to use it from your couch as your main "media center." Remember, Apple wants to be in every living room. How the hell is this supposed to be in my living room if I have to get my butt up and download a movie to another computer first, and then stream it to the AppleTV? That was a real downer for me, and might even be a dealbreaker for me personally to buy it.
Jacqui: What about DivX support?
Apple Employee: The AppleTV will play anything that the iPod plays. The iPod doesn't support DivX, so neither does the AppleTV.
Shocking.
Jacqui: Can it open VIDEO_TS files? Like from ripped DVDs?
Apple Employee: The AppleTV will play anything that the iPod plays.
Are we beginning to see a pattern here?
Jacqui: So, no VIDEO_TS then.
Apple Employee: No.
A bystander took the opportunity to ask their own question.
Bystander: So is this supposed to be a TiVo replacement?
Apple Employee: Uh... they haven't announced anything like that. Yet.
Yet. We'll be watching, Apple! (Har har, pun intended)
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