Apple TV Junkie

List Of HD Titles Removed From Apple TV

Eddie V. — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:08:08 +0000

What better way to celebrate Independence Day then to list the HD rental titles which have been taken from us by the studios over the last few weeks. Here they are, just in case you wanted to rent one over this holiday weekend.

Arthur
Daddy Day Camp
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights
Focus
Heartbreak Kid
House of Wax
Live Free or Die Hard
Rush Hour 3
Saw IV
Stardust
The Game Plan
The Matrix
The Simpsons
Things We Lost in the Fire

Hulu Streaming Maybe Coming To Netflix’s Roku Box

Eddie V. — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:36:59 +0000

This is a bit of yesterdays news but Gizmodo is reporting that there are rumors that a Flash enabled browser may enable the Roku box to stream Hulu, YouTube and various other individual network sites. Of course Gizmodo goes on to say that this could be the feature which sets the Roku apart from the Apple TV. I’m not sure that even now Roku is in Apple TV’s league. With the Apple TV offering HD content, YouTube content, TV Shows, Podcasts and photo streaming, I think the Roku has a ways to go before they find a set of features to match let along set it apart from Apple TV. What do you think?

Read the entire article over at Gizmodo.

Two More Movies Added To The HD List

Eddie V. — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:18:03 +0000

Two more movies were added to the HD rental list last night. We get The Chronicles of Riddick (Unrated Version) and Magic in the Water.

Just In Time For The 4th, Independence Day Now Available As HD Rental

Eddie V. — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:54:51 +0000

Oh those patriotic studios. Just in time for the 4th, Independence Day becomes available as an HD rental. Along with ID we also get Halls of Montezuma and Love and A Bullet as HD rentals.

The Eye And Meet The Spartans Now Available As HD Rentals

Eddie V. — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:24:07 +0000

The Eye and Meet The Spartans are now available to rent in HD on your Apple TV.

Meet The Spartans is available in a Unrated and PG-13 versions.

This Weeks New Poll - Who’s Going To Comic-Con?

Eddie V. — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:53:51 +0000

We thought we would go in a little lighter direction this week with the poll and seeing that most of you are probably movie geeks like us, we thought this would be a great poll to run. If you’ve ever been to Comic-Con you know what a movie geeks dream it is. A few of us ATV Junkies will be there and I personally will be there covering most of it. So we want to know if plan on attending. Let us know and take the poll on the right.

We would also like to thank everyone who participated in last weeks poll. It looks like most of the 260+ people who took the poll rent 1-3 movies a week.

Apple Adds DC Comics Animation Category To iTunes

Eddie V. — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:49:02 +0000

I know this isn’t HD news, but with The Dark Knight right around the corner and Comic-Con coming to town in a few weeks, this gets me pumped. Apple has added a DC Comics animation category to the TV Shows section of the iTunes Store. You’ll find shows from Batman Beyond to the original Max Fleischer Superman cartoons.

Speaking of HD content, when are we going to get HD TV Shows on Apple TV? I would think customers would start to expect this come next year when even broadcast TV turns to an HD Digital standard.

12 New Additions To The HD Rental List

Eddie V. — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:24:21 +0000

We have twelve new additions to the HD rental list tonight, all are catalog titles except one. We have, Bad Girls, Bingo, Ghoulies II, Hang ‘Em High, Lethal Weapon 4, Ocean’s 11 (1960), Sixteen Candles, The Philadelphia Story, The Wrong Man, Twilight Zone: The Movie, and Nowhere to Run.

The one new non-catalog HD title is Get Smart’s Bruce and Lloyd:Out of Control. This seems to be a spin off of the just released theatrical version of Get Smart.

WarGames is the $.99 Movie Of The Week

Eddie V. — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:17:06 +0000

WarGames is the $.99 movie of the week for the week of July 1st.

Vantage Point, Drillbit Taylor and Meet the Browns Now Available As New Purchase Titles

Eddie V. — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:14:01 +0000

Vantage Point, Drillbit Taylor and Meet The Browns are now available to purchase either through the iTunes Movie Store or Apple TV.

As for renting these titles, Drillbit Taylor will be available on July 30th and Vantage Point on July 31st. There is no rental date for Meet the Browns.

Download before DVD? Maybe

Keith Foster — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:16:23 +0000

The New York Times is reporting that Sony will allow owners of a Internet-enabled Bravia (The Bravia Internet link) to download Hancock before the DVD hits. Should Apple try to move into this space? I mean Jobs kind of oversees Disney/Pixar and they just released a big hit over the weekend. 1 + 1 = Apple TV sales in my book; still the Wall-E DVD and Blu Ray will outsell any downloads, but an early rental would be nice. What I still can’t understand is Sony, they worked so hard to kill HD-DVD but yet are trying to push DL content to the PS3 and Bravia. That seems kind of counterintuitive to me why push for a new format (Blu Ray) that you already want to push out with downloads.

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New Rental/Purchase Titles To Look For This Week

Eddie V. — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:31:42 +0000

The iTunes Movie Store is definitely making this part a little easier by adding the rental date for most new release titles. Below is a list of possible new rental or purchase titles to look for on Apple TV this week.

Available For Rent In July
~~The Eye (Rental Release Date 7-02-08)~~
~~Meet the Spartans (Rental Release Date 7-02-08)~~
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Rental Release Date 7-16-08)
InBruges (Rental Release Date 7-23-08)
Definitely, Maybe (Rental Release Date 7-23-08)
The Other Boleyn Girl (Rental Release Date 7-25-08)

This Weeks Possible July Purchase Titles
Vantage Point (7-1-08)
Drillbit Taylor (7-1-08)
Meet The Browns (7-1-08)
My Blueberry Nights (7-1-08)

Available For Rent In August
The Spiderwick Chronicles (Rental Release Date 8-06-08)

MobileMe Update For Apple TV Just Around The Corner

Eddie V. — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:44:31 +0000

Via MacRumors, reports are coming in from .Mac users that their MobileMe email address is now active. This appears to be hit and miss as my .Mac email address is currently not working under the MobileMe domain. But if Apple is beginning to flip the switch on MobileMe us Apple TV users should expect an update any day now. This update will basically swap the name of .Mac for MobileMe in the photo gallery portion of the Apple TV interface as the functionality of syncing images seems to remain the same. Here’s to hoping that Apple decides to slip in a new feature or two when this update hits.

Your Apple TV Rental Experience

Eddie V. — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:26:58 +0000

Now that movie rentals have been around for the better part of four months on Apple TV, what has your rental experience been like? What do you think of the overall quality of the picture? Are some movies better encoded then others? Has the sound quality been everything you thought it would be? What have your download times been like? Share your experiences with everyone over at the Rental Experience section of the new ATVJ Forums.

3 More HD Rental Additions For The Weekend

Eddie V. — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:05:43 +0000

Apple is having a heck of an end of the week for adding HD rental titles. The three new additions include Against All Odds, Erin Brockovich and The Fugitive.

iTunes Remote Control App Coming for iPhone and iPod Touch….Could An Apple TV Version Be Far Behind?

Eddie V. — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:34:53 +0000

Apple TV and iPhone/iPod Touch users may get their wish after all. MacRumors is reporting that within a Read Me of a pre-release version of iTunes 7.7 we get a hint at a previously unannounced iPhone/iPod Touch app. The Read Me states, “Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home — a free download from the App Store.” If an iTunes Remote app is coming, could one for the Apple TV be far behind?

Read the entire post over at MacRumors.

Untraceable Now Available As HD Rental - Brings Along 16 New HD Rental Titles!

Eddie V. — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:25:37 +0000

Yes, you read that right, we get in total 17 new HD rental titles tonight. They include Untraceable, I Am Legend (Alternate Ending), An American in Paris, Buddy, Nightmare Man, Ordinary People, Pale Rider, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Presumed Innocent, Strangers on a Train, Lethal Weapon, Space Jam, Stage Fright, The Entrance, The Master of Disguise, The Principal and Uncle Buck.

Blu-ray Discs To Overtake Standard-Disc Sales By 2012

Eddie V. — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:01:56 +0000

In a report out this week by the Entertainment Merchants Association, estimates are that by 2012 Blu-ray discs will overtake standard-disc sales. Apparently the EMA believes that Blu-ray sales will surge to $9.5 billion by then. What’s this have to do with the Apple TV you say?

I’ve always been a firm believer in that whoever controls the content will win or lead this new format war. I believe that customers want content, as big a selection as possible, and as easy to get at as possible. The reason I bring this up is because I happened to hear recently, from someone in the know about all things Blu-ray, that it took Blu-ray 15 months to gain the number of HD titles that Apple TV has gained in 5 months. I believe this gain comes from the obvious fact that Apple doesn’t have to take the time to produce a disc or the extra content which comes from producing a disc. Aside from getting permission from the studios to sell the titles, they or the studios simply have to digitize the movie and drop it into their database. As the Apple TV gains momentum, and if this surge in content continues, I believe our “little box that could” has an excellent chance of being at the top in the end.

Oh Blu-ray, you may have won the traditional media battle, but the digital war has just begun.

Best Windows DVD “Backup” App

Eddie V. — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:14:20 +0000

As a Mac user I’m familiar with all of the popular DVD “Backup” tools, such as Handbrake or Visualhub. So the question I posed over in the ATVJ forum is, what are the best Window apps for backing up DVD’s? If you have a favorite head on over to the forum and let’s hear what you use.

Blu-ray Versions of 10,000 BC Come With iTunes Digital Download

Eddie V. — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:26:14 +0000

Warner Home Video joins Twentieth Century Fox in offering, at least in one case, an iTunes Digital Download on the Blu-ray disc version of 10,000 BC. According to iLounge what’s slightly different with the Warner version of the digital download is that the digital copy will be offered as a download rather then an on disc file.

Head over to iLounge to read the entire article.