Apple Movie Junkie

Long time no post. Things have been getting progressively quiet around here lately. Posts have been becoming few and far between. Life has a funny way of changing when you least expect it. But as things are stabilizing again I think it’s time to get back to all things Apple entertainment related.

First and foremost, expect more quick fire posts, similar to what John Gruber does at Daring Fireball, if your familiar with his stuff. Expect more tweets if you follow us on twitter. Expect a more consistent release of posts regarding new movies added to the iTunes Store. With rumors ramping up about this supposed new Apple TV, and Apple’s cloud based service, expect more thoughts on those subjects. We’re also open to suggestions from our readers on what you all want to see covered.

And last but not least is Cinemira. We still believe Cinemira is the most convenient way to find movies in the iTunes Store from the web. We just need help in spreading the word. We have a few updates up our sleeve for Cinemira, and if all goes well a proper solution for at least iPad users.

Ultimately we are doing this for all our fellow Apple Movie and TV Junkies. Until Apple decides to stop offering video content, we’ll be here to cover it.

Dear Site Visitors,

To say this outage has been an embarrassment would be an understatement. Yes this is a beta service which we charge no fee to use, but it’s still a bothersome problem for all concerned non the less. Whats the point of offering a service when it’s not reliable. Chalk this up to one more learning experience for a small team.

In the mean time, until we can get Cinemira fully armed and operational again I will be posting updates old school until that is no longer needed.

Again sorry for the inconvenience.

Let me preface this artlice by warning everyone upfront not to upgrade to Apple TV 3.0.

I can’t even claim to have used Apple TV 3.0 so why should I be such an alarmist? Not surprisingly, installing any Apple TV update will wipe out non-Apple features you may have installed like Boxee. The Apple TV without Boxee is just pointless. I suspect many Apple TV junkies rely on Boxee for fundamental media player functionality like the ability to stream from ubiquitous network attached storage (NAS) devices (a must for even modest media libraries) or support fo additional video codecs like DivX.

After reading all the underwhelming reviews of Apple TV 3.0 the most visible of changes is in the user interface. According to reports on the Boxee community forum this new UI appears to be causing problems with the Launcher menu items required for Boxee. Until a new ATV patch stick is available, when you upgrade to Apple TV 3.0 you cannot reinstall Boxee.

Its been over 2.5 years and the Apple TV still doesn’t support streaming from a NAS or additional codecs like DivX. Apple, when are you going to open the platform up for third-party developers to fill the gaps? Updates like Apple TV 3.0 only serves to irritate and frustrate Apple TV junkies as their beloved Apple TV suffers a long slow death into obsurity.

We can only hold solice in the fact that Apple TV junkies are a resourceful group of people determined not to give up. They’ll find a way to update Launcher so Boxee can live, yet again, on our Apple TVs. It’s too bad this coincides with the highly anticipated November release of a new version of Boxee. Regardleas, expect Boxee to continue to impress while ressurecting the Apple TV once again.

You can get the official description here at Apple.com, you can get screen shots and reviews here, and here, but at ATVJ you’re going to get one users reaction….mine.

Lets begin with my overall reaction after using the 3.0 update for a few hours, and it’s one of being underwhelmed. Let’s start with the most obvious change, the interface. I feel as though Apple took a step backwards at the very least concerning aesthetics. For a company which prides itself on UI and UX excellence they must of thrown the interns on the Apple TV interface redo project. From a usability standpoint the new UI is probably easier to use, for instance moving the “My” menu selections to the top was a welcomed change, but I think Apple can take a few lessons about creative media player UI design from the creators of Boxee, Flex, and even Microsoft and the Zune Store.

Fine, so the interface isn’t all that, surely the new features make up for that right? Ehh, iTunes LP/Extras and Internet Radio, with Internet Radio not necessarily even being a new feature to the Apple TV. I suppose that if you were one of the lucky ones to have been chosen as iTunes LP/Extra upgrade worthy, or the 3.0 update inspired you to purchase an album or movie with the extra content, then the update was worth it. I on the other hand am still waiting for my notice to upgrade my version of Iron Man to view the extra content on my HD TV, so I will withhold judgement on that upgraded feature. Then there is Internet Radio. As I said before, this was available in the previous version of the Apple TV software by creating a playlist in iTunes, adding radio stations, and then syncing. It’s just a little easier to access now.

That pretty much sums up this 3.0 update for me. As I’ve read throughout the day, 3.0 just doesn’t feel worthy of the point update. Of course we are talking about the Apple TV, where any update is practically worthy of a party. I think Apple has larger plans for the Apple TV in some form or another, but I think their focus is elsewhere right now, which is why they keep the Apple TV limping along. So what do you think? Could Apple have rolled this out with a 2.5 update and left room for something bigger at 3.0? Lets hear what you have to say Apple TV Junkies of the world.

It’s been about 4 months, June 24th to be exact, since Apple last updated the Apple TV. The iPod & iPhone got their love about a month ago, and the rest of the Mac line up pretty much got theirs this past Tuesday. So why no Apple TV update you ask? I have no idea. Is Apple ready to drop the ax on its hobby media center? I don’t think so, let me tell you why.
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By putting Apple TV HD content on the back burner this past week it gave me a little more time to spend with the new iTunes 9. After all the goal of ATVJ is to discover new HD content in the iTunes Store, either TV or Movie, and list it in an easy to read manner for you all. This brings me to the point of this post. Have the changes to the iTunes Store in version 9 actually made it harder to discover new content? And has the iTunes Store become to big for iTunes?
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