I was originally thinking that there would be maybe two readers here who would have any interest in reading about the trials and tribulations of my home theater/Apple TV setup, but then — as I thought more — I figured, what could it hurt? Don’t click through unless you know what a TOSlink cable is. You’ve been warned.
The first item reminded me of a post Danny made on his blog about the then-yet-to-be-announced movie rental feature coming to the iTunes Store and the Apple TV. His contention was (and I assume still is) that a 24-hour viewing window is not long enough for a digital download. I tend to agree.
That said, Leah and I watched our first digital rental the other night while Ava was at Gramary’s. The movie was an HD version of 30 Days Of Night, which Leah had expressed occasional interest in over the last couple months. Like most films in the genre, it was sometimes scary but mostly stupid. For me, the real point of the experience was seeing how well the rental process went.
I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Once the download had made it to the 3% mark, I was prompted to begin viewing it. Really? Why, I know when I rip a DVD to my server, the high-quality file usually ends up being north of 2.5GB. And that’s not even HD. Surely any attempt to start watching this movie with only 3% of it in the bank would result in stutters or outright stalls after only a couple minutes.
But no. To my astonishment (and relief; Leah doesn’t suffer technical glitches gladly), the movie played all the way through without the slightest hitch in video or audio. Cool. That $5.99, while way too much to spend for 30 Days Of Night, was easily justified to discover the true state of online movie downloads. Now to cancel that Netflix membership.
Misc. note #1: The iPod Touch battery life is disappointing. To be expected, I guess, when carrying around a little widescreen TV like that.
Misc. note $2: The amp I’m using to supply signal to the two speakers in the living room doesn’t have a digital transport. This blows for the following reason: The Apple TV audio connects to my Marantz receiver via an optical (TOSlink) cable, which makes for very crisp, well defined sound from media like, say, an HD movie. The lack of digital out from the receiver (not to mention the aforementioned lack of digital input on the external amp) means that any music that comes from the ATV can’t be played in the living room.
Enter SLiMP3. It pulls music from the same place the Apple TV does, but it’s connected to the Marantz via composite cables. Downside is that everything isn’t possible from one place. Upside is that I can play different audio in the TV room and the living room, should the occasion ever present itself.