DISQUS

I'd like to install boxee on my already-hacked Apple TV, which is currently running version 2.1 of the Apple TV software, with nitotv, perian, et al working just fine.

I'm guessing there's a boxee.app executable directory I can copy to the appropriate location on my Apple TV, and maybe a few other files that need to go in other places, and then it will just run, right? I don't want to use a patchstick and possibly blow away all my other working apple TV apps.

Is there a distribution of boxee available for folk like me?

"Also not true. For film-based sources, 1080i60 can be deinterlaced to a true (not interpolated) 1080p24 image."

That sounds good, and is a fairly easy process. Hopefully all the 1080p monitors out there will have such pulldown removal in hardware (as I'm sure do the HD DVD players). However, I'd be very surprised if the vertical resolution of the film image isn't deliberately degraded a during the telecine or encoding process so it doens't flicker on interlaced displays. Even so I'd expect film converted to 1080i60 to at least hold more horizontal information than 720, and for this detail to be apparent --assuming that the consumer's output device can actually display the additional horizontal resolution. The consumer DLP 1080 HD monitors that are going to sell like hotcakes this year use micromirror arrays that are 960x1080 native resolution and use "wobbulation" to draw 1920 horizontal pixels. I don't expect this to hold the detail as well as that which would be produced by a real 1920x1080 array. It'd be interesting to compare 1280x720 and 1920x1080 images produced on these 960x1080 sensor driven sets. In any case, point taken, with caveats.

"And for video-based sources, 1080i60 can be deinterlaced to a true 1080p30 image. Both of these are very much superior to a 720p24 image."

I agree in theory, but it's a little more complicated than that. 1080i wins in terms of horizontal resolution(*), but its vertical resolution is not necessarily any better even after the most perfect deinterlacing process because the vertical resolution of each set of fields was deliberately lowered in camera to reduce interlace flicker. Progressive images also degrade less from mpeg-2 compression (a common broadcast, satellite, and cable format) than interlaced ones (also true for h264?). And if we're discussing video-based sources, I wonder if 720p24 is nearly as common as 720p60 for video acquisition. But yours is a fair comparison if the appleTV only can output 720p24, other devices on the market play 720p60, and 720p60 videos are available for playback on those devices.

"And converting 720p60 video to 720p24 requires 3:2 pulldown, which introduces the same motion artifacts as are present in 1080i60, only larger."

True, but I'd guess not very relevant for most videos currently available online. The movies people buy in the iTMS and watch on their 720 playback devices and 720-capable monitors will all be 720p24, not 720p60, hence no motion artifacts (unless 720 capable monitors only run at a multiple of 60Hz and can't do multiples of 24Hz). I'd agree that people who want to watch more 720p60 sports videos and other material originating in 720 would be better served by a player that can output 720p60 than one that has to convert the video to 720p24. If the XBox 360 with media extender plays 720p60, that's another mark in its favor for such videos.

There are so many compromises built into the HD capture, transmission/distribution, and display pipeline that the resolution advantage of 1080i formats over 720p is exaggerated in practice (at the current time), and the appleTV unit would likely not be the weakest link in one's HD-viewing chain. But the v1 appleTV in offering only 720p does seem less than future-proof.

Enough hair-splitting on my part. The point I'm trying and failing to make is: Scoble thinks the appleTV is "dead on arrival" due to the lack of 1080 support. I think the lack of 1080 support is a true but not deal-breaking deficiency, that the device has other, bigger deficiencies, that it won't meet my needs, but I also think there might be a market for it and it may work well for that market segment. My disagreement extends mostly to the idea that the product deserves the DOA moniker.

-Z

* (few if any HD cameras commonly used for broadcast actually have 1920x1080 sensors, some commonly-used telecine devices are not truly 1920x1080, and most HD tape recording formats also use a lower horizontal resolution--both these caveats likely also apply to the 720 formats, I'm not sure to what degree --there may be more broadcast cameras that shoot full-res 720 and formats that record it, or there may not)

You're right of course. It is a deficiency, especially for people who have or are considering the purchase of 1080i monitors. I was just picking nits by pointing out that for watching movies, I'd choose 720p (esp. 720p24) over 1080i. For this reason I don't think the lack of 1080 support is a complete disaster, but it is a minor one.

There are other, bigger deficiencies I see to the unit. The appleTV looks to be designed for a single purpose --to play media purchased in the iTMS on the user's TV. The fact that it doesn't do much else is an issue for those of us who have other needs or like our devices flexible and complex. appleTV is just the Airport Express for video.

Here are some details on the device's limitations:
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/...

Then again, when the Airport Express launched I was similarly dismissive of its built-in limitations, and after recently seeing and using one at a friend's have entertained the thought of purchasing one. Even though I know there are devices out there with twice the features, or that I could hack together a linux box out of old parts for free and do all the same things with some scripting at both ends, the simplicity and form factor of the Airport Express wins out (the limiting factor for me on that one is the price).

Here's some decent info on 1080p:
http://editorials.teamxbox.com/xbox/1544/The-Fa...

I think it's fair to complain that the appleTV doesn't do 1080p at launch, and it's also fair to note that the XBox360 also launched without 1080p and gained this ability later in a software update. 1080i is a non-issue for me, as I'd prefer 720p for progressive content, though 1080p would kick ass when paired with a nice 1080p monitor (if you've got an older 1080 set, it is 1080i not 1080p). 'Course, it's all a non-issue for me right now as I don't have any HD content to watch at the moment and am living in a country where VCDs are still in circulation :)

Speaking of 720p, it'd be amazing if the XBox360 supported 720p60. Now that would be fluid motion (anyone ever see a Showscan demo?).

I'm amused that somehow Al Gore ended up in this discussion. Can someone please try to tie other relevant politicians like Nixon, Zachary Taylor, Hillary, and Hubert Humphrey into this thread?

One could also chastize such commenters by saying "KNOW YOUR VENUE". This is after all, Scoble's blog and no one else's. If he writes posts that I find interesting or that make me think, I'll keep reading even if I disagree on some points (and in case it wasn't clear, I'm not convinced that global climate change is a hoax).

I think reasonable people will stick around regardless where they fall on the political spectrum -- the majority of Scoble's posts are related to technology, not politically divisive issues.

Two Apple Fanboy points about the appleTV:

1. For watching movies shot on film, 720p will be superior to 1080i unless you're a big fan of either interlacing artifacts or reduced resolution due to deinterlacing. 1080p would be superior, it's a newer standard though and not supported by nearly as much hardware.

2. The reason Apple announced the iTV (now AppleTV) when they announced the sale of movies in the iTMS many moons ago was because customers and analysts would be more likely to think the purchase of such content is a good idea if they have a good way to play back said content on a TV set. Apple is now delivering on that promise. It's not necessarily a device meant to be the best ever HD media player, but merely a simple conduit connecting people's iTunes libraries and their TV. I suspect the iTV will be convenient enough to be successful in that regard. To criticize the device for not being the absolute best media player is fair, but ignore's its purpose for existence.


Three Apple Fanboy comments about the iPhone:

1. PalmOne always seems to launch their phones exclusive to one carrier, it doesn't mean they aren't available at other carriers a couple of months later. People who gripe that the iPhone is Cingular-only should take heart, I'm sure a CDMA model for Sprint users is in the wings. The Cingular model will also likely be unlocked in short order, and should then work with any GSM provider.

2. $499 for a 4Gb phone with 2 year contract doesn't seem bad when compared to Cingular's $399 for a 128Mb Treo 750 with 2 year contract. How much more is the additional memory, a high-res screen, and built-in WiFi worth?

3. The iPhone looks pretty sweet.


Two non-Apple Fanboy comments about the iPhone:

1. The lack of tactical feedback on the iPhone could be a detriment for typing text. I'll reserve judgment until I've actually tried one. I do like the fact that I can feel my Treo 650s buttons beneath my fingers while typing. To be fair, there are so many buttons on the thing that it's practically impossible to do anything accurately without looking at the screen.

2. No iPhone memory expansion slot? Must I fill up the internal memory with big videos?

I have a feeling people would be a little less skeptical about global warming if it wasn't popularly known as "global warming". The climate models predict that some areas of the planet will actually get cooler, others warmer, but the overall temperature will go up.

Global average temperatures tend to track with the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere now is higher than it has been in recorded history and rising, the record being 300,000 years worth of molecules trapped in miles of ice in Antarctica and other places. The changes due to natural events, such as volcanic eruptions, can be seen in these ice cores, and the changes due to human activity eclipse 'em.

I think computer geeks tend to be more libertarian than the general population, and the call of "keep your laws off my energy consumption" motivates us to be more accepting of skeptical viewpoints that come from scientists funded by oil companies than the views of anyone, even if it's the bulk of mainstream scientists, who think that something needs to be done and fast. More legislation to fix a problem whose existence is in dispute is not appealing. But talk to any scientist who isn't funded by big oil or a right-wing think tank and who isn't talking outside their field of actual expertise, and you'll find not just the consensus that a certain pulp novelist finds distasteful, but some very convincing arguments.

It's really not worth expending this much anger over the issue. There are obviously more people than ever before, there's obviously more energy use than ever before, and there are obviously going to be consequences. The fact that scientists are figuring out just what actually happens when we liberate all that carbon into the atmosphere should be no surprise to anyone.