For TV shows, I would love to have 720p, as that is the native resolution of my TV anyway. Currently I pretty much tell my Tivo what I want, and come back a few days later and watch it. This would seem to work great with iTune’s “buy the whole season and download when available” model—particularly if it could be made to do the downloads late at night or during the day when I am at work.

It’s less appealing for movies, as I tend to watch movies exactly once. The iTunes price point is not appealing compared to Netflix when you don’t care about keeping the movie. I’d love to have HD movies, but as long as a download costs considerably more than a rental in a similar resolution, it doesn’t work for me.

All that being said, the only thing keeping me from buying an AppleTV is the fact that I already have a Mac Mini connected to my home theater.

I simply won’t buy an ?tv until 24 is available in HD on the iTunes Store.

[…] Merlin Mann says: The problem, as many folks have discussed at length, is that the file size for HD movies, in particular, may be prohibitively large for the garden-variety home broadband user. […]

I regularly download 720p content with my Xbox 360, and while the wait is annoying, it’s well worth it for the content I get. If Apple could figure out a way to let me automatically download TV shows and podcasts in 720p while I’m at work, so I can watch them when I get home, that is a service I would use. As the iTunes store is, offering 480p video is just not enough. The TV shows, and especially the movies, are way too fuzzy to try to watch on a computer screen, or on an HD screen.

1080p video, while preeety (seriously, have you downloaded those Planet Earth torrents?), is not really required, and the download time is unacceptable for a show like Lost or a podcast.

I own an HD LCD TV, with a mac mini hooked up to it, so I have HD as an option, but I really don’t find myself needing HD content so badly that I’m going to want to pack hard drives full of it. I like the Netflix model as well, primarily because I can get stuff I want to see, watch it, and then send it away - no storage issues, no wondering whether I really wanted to have season 4 of “Blossom” forever). If I really, really want something forever, then I’ll buy it.

While I don’t really care for the subscription model for music services, I like it for TV and Movies. For music, I really like to listen to things over and over again, but for TV and movies this is typically not the case. For video stuff I really just want to watch it and move on to the next thing. You can put me in the column that would like a subscription download model with a cue, similar to Netflix’s DVD rental service. I would be more than happy to have one video leave as the other comes in, saving hard drive space. I imagine, within this model, you could also have a “buy” option for the times you come across something you really, really want.

Hey,

I would download HD content from iTunes store on a RENTAL plan. If I could RENT movies, just like my Blockbuster Online account, and put some in the Queue that could download after I turn in my other movie, and it could start streaming after a half hour or so of downloading then I would TOTALLY get HD from iTunes. Purchase model isn’t realistic in the movie industry. I watch a typical movie maybe once or twice if it’s really good, but after that it just gets old. If I buy a movie, that means it’s really good and I want to watch it over and over, but it’s rare that I actually buy a movie. Also, I don’t have the disk space to continually hold video content, so a rental model would limit you to the few gigs the movie you are currently watching takes up.

Thoughts anyone?

Hey Merlin,

I share your view on the potential benefits of the Apple TV for small independent producers. We’ve heard Alex Lindsey mention this on his podcasts. Our site, http://www.hungryflix.com, provides downloads of indie films. we are very excited that now with Apple TV we can move directly into the family room. No more fighting for a distribution deal to get one or two copies of the DVD in Blockbuster.

Here is a sample clip of moving content to Apple TV, click the play trailer button: http://www.hungryflix.com/view_media_movie.php?mid=479

Here in Ireland there’s one provider that provides 6Mb broadband at an anyway affordable price, but the problem is my monthy home bandwidth allowence is 40GB. I am subscribed to a lot of podcasts and I don’t want to get cut off, so HD downloads aren’t possible here for people like me.

I downloaded an HD episode of CSI to my Xbox 360 as a test a few months ago. It took around an hour and a half to download the episode. It looked really good, as good as over the air HD.

I don’t see myself buying much video from iTMS, between my Tivo and Netflix I get all of the TV shows & movies I want to see. That may change when Apple releases their widescreen iPod :).

I published a poll about that topic on my website: http://meckimac.com/drupal/node/33

The question was: How much would you pay for HD movies in the iTunes store?

The resulsts so far are quite interesting as it seems that people are not willing to spend more money for HD than for the current 480p movies…

It’s pretty clear that Apple are ‘skating to where the puck will be’ on HD. The upside is obvious, the downside is that a lot of people don’t have those TVs. The same downside applies to the download speed or the provision of HD via BitTorrent or whatever. That said, the world will get there.

The storage limitation being an easy one (for Apple at least) to fix. Has anyone actually tried to open one of these?

For me, I think movies and possibly screencasts are the two HD items I’d like. Perhaps some classic soccer matches that I’d want to own might be an exception. But video podcasts? TV shows? Not that bothered. When HD versions of both are commonplace fine, but otherwise…

One idea would be to download during the night while sleeping of download before leaving for work in the morning.

In some cities 6Mb dls is available at reasonable prices - and once downloaded, it could be transfered to removable storage for future viewing

I don’t know if any numbers are available, but people are “renting” hd movies on XBOX Live. I just don’t think this is that far away from becoming normal. The Departed is 6.7GB at 720p, representing 36% of the 20GB HD that comes with the pro system, and it is basically a temporary file. So after I’ve waited for the download, once I’ve watched the movie I delete the file and repeat.

Downloading really occupies the sweet spot between having to leave your house and having to wait for Netflix. For Netflix customers, moving to downloading is a no-brainer, whether it is with them or someone else, as long as the DRM isn’t too much of a down side. (I think Netflix may be shooting themselves in the foot with streaming instead of downloading) For people who don’t want to wait at all, they will have to get in the car.

I think the only speed bump for Apple TV is the syncing. You should be able to download directly to it.

Thanks for the thoughtful comments, everybody.

I think a lot of the chatter from media pundits over the last year (and mostly re: the ascendancy of YouTube) has posed a false dilemma about quality, size, and people’s expectations. Clearly — at least for computer-y nerds — this all varies to some extent based upon what it is they’re watching. EG: I’m fine to watch 5 minutes of frolicking kitties or “the 300 workout” on janky YouTube, but I really enjoy catching Battlestar Galactica reruns in full-on huge-ass HD. It spoils a person, I have to admit.

Video podcasts are a strange beast, though — esp. one like my own that occasionally will benefit from high res (esp. for screen demos), but which are sometimes just 1-camera interviews (and which many folks inform me could just as easily be audio-only).

But as far as the Apple TV goes, I think it’s jarring to watch a few consecutive high-res podcasts play, and then follow that up with a video that’s just iPod-sized. Seriously: it looks really bad in comparison (and I’m using my own show’s iPod version as the example here).

So, it makes me curious about whether the bar will get raised for what’s acceptable to an average user. Should be interesting to watch as our sophistication (read: “pickiness”) evolves. :-)

I don’t have an appleTV, and I am pretty sure that I am not going to be able to afford one for a while - I’m a full-time volunteer worker - I love the idea of HD, I wish it was a bit cheaper.

Although, Merlin you have ruined me for the ordinary. After watch your show on HD i was so disappointed to find that there are hardly any HD podcasts available.. Oh I wish there were more.

I have to agree with your thoughts towards HD podcasters, they will be the big beneficiaries I imagine

Where are we going to put all theses boxes they make us buy ?

I was actually surprised to find out that the Merlin Show isn’t already HD. I watched the last episode as the first video on my newly unboxed Apple TV and thought it looked great. I’m running on an old-school 1080i HDTV through component video so there’s some sort of scaling going on that would probably horrify me if I knew exactly what it was doing (downconverting to 540p and upconverting to 1080i for example). I’ll be excited to see the Merlin Show in 720p.

If they don’t release movies and TV shows in HD, I’m going to be pretty upset. The whole concept of watching $10 DRM-dripping sub-DVD quality movies on a $300 device is idiotic. I can buy DVDs for less money with higher resolution video, multi-channel audio, more extras, and play them back on a hundred different $30 DVD players.

I bought my Apple TV to stream music and iTunes TV shows to my big TV. I don’t pay for cable so I’m saving a bit of money there, but most people won’t cut off their cable connection just because they have Apple TV. For those folks, what is the advantage if not HD quality media? Oh yeah, and where’s the Dolby Digital sound? That will no doubt add quite a bit more to the download size but DVDs have had higher resolution video and six-channel audio seven years before Apple TV came out.

I want 720p video and six-channel Dolby Digital sound from both movies and TV shows before I’m really happy about my Apple TV. I know the download is big and I know the storage on the Apple TV is small but I can live with recycling content off the drive and I can live with an overnight download.

If they want to show me that the digital distribution model can work, they have to give me a superior product.

Thanks for the show, Merlin.

Assuming that people are buying TV shows and movies online with the desire to watch them immediatly, a theory I believe to be correct, you bring up a good point: Why are people willing to wait for Netflix but not for iTS downloads?

I think the reason is inherent in the medium. With the iTS you’re browsing and previewing content in a very advance web site, essentially. The web has all these expectations of immediate access. Type something into google and hit return I have immediate results. I think the same is true for video. If I’m clicking on something I probably want to watch it right now. With Netflix, though the browsing portion is done through a web interface, you always know in the back of your mind that the delivery of your queue is relying on the postal service, which isn’t synonymous with speed.

A person’s own photo slideshows, trailers from Apple.com, and video podcasters are going to be providing the HD content for awhile. Though considering the iTS has it’s Season Pass functionality I wouldn’t rule out HD TV Shows some time this year, as they’re designed to be downloaded as soon as they’re available, and the AppleTV can be configured to automatically sync those.

I won’t hold my breath though, I’ll just watch Merlin in 720p instead. Keeps my face colour away from blue, or so I hear.

Well, I calculated that with my 15000 kbit/s connection the 3.9 GB would be only about 40 minutes, so I would definitively buy an HD Movie. But then, I am living in Europe and I am just looking forward to having any movie at the iTS…

I definitely won’t be buying one. I’m happy to get an HD-DVR, record my favorite shows on a subscription basis in HD (including 1080i), and watch them in hi-def whenever I get around to it.

As for movies, I can get HD movies through Netflix, too. While I need yet another expensive device to do that, and I don’t own the movie when I rent it, I barely watch all the DVDs I own as it is. They just sit there, taking up space. They’d do the same thing on a hard drive, too, and I’d have to keep buying more storage as I bought more movies.

While I didn’t explore the video quality issue in my blog post last weekend - Video Killed the Podcast Star http://stephan.yellow-camp.com/2007/03/17/video-killed-the-podcast-star/ - I came to a similar conclusion. I believe Apple TV will be extremely important for burgeoning video podcast producers. New and interesting content that isn’t available already on TV - like most (all?) iTunes Store content - that would be enjoyable to have on the TV.

I’m actively working on (and using) my project, Cast Cluster, which turns YouTube videos and files from my local disk into Apple TV friendly podcasts… It’s nice to be able to toss a bunch of videos into a dir on my file system and have an RSS feed that updates itunes automatically…. or have an RSS feed update when my favorite users on YouTube make new posts.

here’s the project blog: http://castcluster.blogspot.com/

here’s the google code project: http://code.google.com/p/castcluster/

I am perfectly happy listening to Mp3s on a single Mono speaker (it’s a nice rich Tivoli speaker, but still). FM quality is fine, I don’t need more. I feel the same way about video, every one’s supposed to wan these amazing resolutions on huge screens, but iTunes TV shows on my 17 inch LCD are just fine with me. I think a lot of consumers just want to see good stories, and don’t get focussed on the quality of the image once it’s past a pretty low threshold.

[…] Merlin Mann says that HD video from the iTunes Store would require too much bandwidth for the average DSL subscriber. Perhaps, but then HD is the only application I can see driving the adoption of faster connections. My DSL is fast enough to stream 1080p, both at work and at home. If the content is there, the bandwidth will come. […]