iLounge pit the Apple TV Take Two against three major players in the movie rental space—Blu-ray, HD Cable and DVD—and the not-quite-so-surprising results are in. In terms of quality, the Blu-ray disc, with its true 1080p resolution and surround sound capabilities, was the best of the bunch, beating the other three by a margin as wide as the breadth of the Nile.
Apple, not to be left too far behind, did come in second in this 21st century race. “Because of its cleaner motion and audio, we felt that the Apple experience was better in both overall audio and video quality than the HD cable experience, and for most users, superior to renting a standard DVD as well.”
While the Apple TV is only capable of 720p, the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and 60fps frame rate result in better quality when compared to the 1080i, 30 fps HD cable rentals with horribly compressed sound and the upscaled DVD.
iLounge notes that while Apple’s extremely limited selection (seventy-five high definition titles at the time of writing) and comparatively higher price weigh against it, nothing beats the Apple TV when it comes to ease of use and convenience.
Of course, you do have to shell out $229 to begin with, but considering all the other stuff you get with it that the other services don’t provide (free podcasts and photo slideshows from Flickr accounts, music and TV shows), that doesn’t sound like a bad deal to us.
Comments, criticisms, funny jokes? They’re all welcome.
Rented "Live Free or Die Hard" last night. Rented the HD version. Looked great on my 720p LCD tv and loved the 5.1 audio! Very easy to do and the movie was ready to watch very, very quickly. Knowing that I never return videos back to the store on time and always end up with a late fee, I don't mind paying more for the rental. Of course I wish it was cheaper, lasted at least 48 hours (with two small kids, life gets in the way) and was able to rent TV shows.
I have ditched cable/satellite and now have only OTA HD and Apple TV! At least until I've saved enough to pay for my Apple TV.
Actually, v2 has 1080p capability, if your TV can handle it.