Apple TV Gets Jailbroken, Can Kind Of Do 1080p

[nexus9113]

And when I said they didn't lower the price by much I was stating in reference to the general media player market in current gen tech (not talking about $30 DVD players).

 

[Usersname]

Anyone care to see how the internet and their browses would perform if there were no GIF, PNG JPEG formats? Most of you buy data-reduced music exclusively now and don't complain about the data loss. The ear is harder to fool than the eye.

Apple has chosen the size that fits.

 

[Vladislaus]

If the playback stutters at 1080p then I don't see the point in enabling it.

 

[megamanx00]

Meh

 

[cyprod]

just a comment about something that's annoying me. There is no device made by apple called "iTV". There never will be either. For further information as to why, please see www.itv.com and read up on their view of selling their brand to apple. It's called Apple TV. And it's an utterly worthless device as my xbox 360 will offer all it does, plus more with the release of the updated zune market place.

 

[mj4358]

[citation][nom]matt87_50[/nom]gah, thats what I'm saying! why should you have to jailbreak it!!! it might be ok if Apple were cool with you doing it. BUT THEY'RE NOT! they have tried to make it illegal!! why in God's name would I support behaviour like that by giving them money? thats what I was trying to say with my last comment:anyone who tries to justify Apple, or an Apple product, based on the fact that you can do stuff with the product they specifically say you can't, IS DOING IT WRONG!its like saying "I really like soccer because you can kick people with studded shoes" yes, technically it does present the opportunity, but it is completely against the rules!now yes, from a purely practical standpoint, you can definitely argue that with jail breaking, some of apple's products, like this, are a good buy (as long as you take into account complications with warranty that may arise ect). but know in doing so, you are pledging your support to a company that is actively seeking to TAKE AWAY many of the features that make it so....sorry for the rant...[/citation]
[citation][nom]matt87_50[/nom]gah, thats what I'm saying! why should you have to jailbreak it!!! it might be ok if Apple were cool with you doing it. BUT THEY'RE NOT! they have tried to make it illegal!! why in God's name would I support behaviour like that by giving them money? thats what I was trying to say with my last comment:anyone who tries to justify Apple, or an Apple product, based on the fact that you can do stuff with the product they specifically say you can't, IS DOING IT WRONG!its like saying "I really like soccer because you can kick people with studded shoes" yes, technically it does present the opportunity, but it is completely against the rules!now yes, from a purely practical standpoint, you can definitely argue that with jail breaking, some of apple's products, like this, are a good buy (as long as you take into account complications with warranty that may arise ect). but know in doing so, you are pledging your support to a company that is actively seeking to TAKE AWAY many of the features that make it so....sorry for the rant...[/citation]


I fail to see the point in Hacking the device. Why not go and buy a Roku or WD media device or a Popcorn Media Hour. Apple Tv was made for people who don't really care about geewhiz features. All this complaining over Apple being closed....thats why we have competition made buy those listed above. Go buy that! Stop with this incessant whining about limitations when you probably wouldn't buy a Apple Tv anyway.

 

[dman3k]

Plenty of 1080p capable media output devices under $100 in the market.

iTV if competitively priced should only cost at most $60. But who's kidding here? Apple customer base are loaded with people who have zero clue about technology.

Do what Steve Jobs wants you to do - Motto of the Church of Steve Jobs.

You aren't free till Steve Jobs sets the definition of freedom to make you "free."

 

[HavoCnMe]

Apple TV = TheyFail

 

[hellwig]

While Apple is probably leaving some room for feature growth in the next hardware update ... New Apple TV owners on the MacRumors forums have discovered that the device is able to play 1080p content (natively, on the stock firmware) but output is capped at 720p.

So rather than create the best Apple TV product they can right now, and "innovate" something new later, they're intentionally capping the device at 720P so that a year or two from now, when fans are clamoring for a new Apple TV, Apple can just re-release the exact same hardware with 1080P uncapped, and list 1080P support as an "improvement"? Way to go Apple.

Kinda like how they can enable backgrounds and multitasking on the new iOS and call it an improvement when A) competitors (but not Microsoft) already allow this and B) all iPhone owners were saying they didn't need multitasking anyway, so its fine that it didn't support it.

Apple's convincing people they don't need 1080P, that is, until Apple can sell them the same device a second time with 1080P support.

 

[orionantares]

[citation][nom]nottheking[/nom]I'm wondering if, perhaps, the reason why 1080p is so stuttery (and possibly why Apple locked it off in the Apple TV) is because the CPU might be too weak to handle 1080p consistently? [/citation]

Here's a question: what is Roku using in their boxes that are able to do 1080p?

 

[guardianangel42]

[citation][nom]supertrek32[/nom]I'm not a huge fan of apple, but at the same time I don't like seeing anti-apple zealots bash a company for doing something right.That means the processor/gpu/hardware can't handle 1080p satisfactorily. Just because there's compatibility does not mean the feature is being "blocked off" for the sake of holding something back. It's blocked because the device really can't handle it. Just because one piece of hardware in it can support it doesn't mean the device as a whole can.My old Pentium 4 computer had the ability to play 1080p. It stuttered horribly and the A/V went out of sync, but it could technically play 1080p. Now would I - or rather, should I - go on ebay and sell it claiming it can play 1080p? Hell no. I technically didn't lie, but it's still BS.Apple's doing the right thing here. They could have gone around claiming it can handle 1080p when it really couldn't. Instead the chose the high ground and didn't try to trick their customers.[/citation]

Not necessarily. While it may be the hardware, it may also be the software. proper software can really impact performance, and the opposite is true.

 

[nottheking]

[citation][nom]orionantares[/nom]Here's a question: what is Roku using in their boxes that are able to do 1080p?[/citation]
Sadly, I don't quite know the EXACT specifications, as they seem almost Nintendo-like with them, but a little digging revealed that the CPU it uses is a an NXP PNX8935. It's based on the MIPS architecture, rather than ARM; generally, MIPS is more potent per-clock than ARM, but has a slightly worse performance-per-watt figure.

In total, the PNX8935 contains not just a conventional CPU, but also both a dedicated DSP for audio, and a dedicated SIMD array for decoding video. In other words, it's a chip specifically designed for the task, (kind of like a mini-Cell Broadband Engine) rather than a low-power smartphone CPU appropriated for non-smartphone use.

I don't know what clock speed it runs at on the Roku XD, but I'd guess the 720p-only Roku HD has it clocked at 320 MHz; this is the speed NXP reports that it's clocked at in their "STB 225" development kit; (which handles 720p but not 1080p) the Roku appears to be based largely on the STB 225. Overall, for media playback operations, I'd consider the PNX8935 probably twice as potent as the A4 setup, clock-for-clock. (oh, and for RAM, the Roku uses 256MB of DDR1 as well, but it clocks at 400 MHz instead of 333)

 

[azcoyote]

I hope someone figures out how to load an alternate OS.
That would be cool... Create a little box we can build custom apps for to load Hulu, Netflix, and a few others and I would be done...

Any chance this thing will open and run PlayOn TV?

 

[Guest]

Isn't 1080p kind of a must have feature for something like this?

 

[tayb]

[citation][nom]matt87_50[/nom]gah, thats what I'm saying! why should you have to jailbreak it!!! it might be ok if Apple were cool with you doing it. BUT THEY'RE NOT! they have tried to make it illegal!! why in God's name would I support behaviour like that by giving them money? thats what I was trying to say with my last comment:anyone who tries to justify Apple, or an Apple product, based on the fact that you can do stuff with the product they specifically say you can't, IS DOING IT WRONG!its like saying "I really like soccer because you can kick people with studded shoes" yes, technically it does present the opportunity, but it is completely against the rules!now yes, from a purely practical standpoint, you can definitely argue that with jail breaking, some of apple's products, like this, are a good buy (as long as you take into account complications with warranty that may arise ect). but know in doing so, you are pledging your support to a company that is actively seeking to TAKE AWAY many of the features that make it so....sorry for the rant...[/citation]

Who cares if Apple doesn't like it. There is absolutely nothing they can do about it. Even if it WAS illegal (it's not) there still wouldn't be anything they could do about it.

Your analogy is horrible. It would be more like buying a sports car knowing that you can drive well over the speed limit. Doing so is not in the specifications of the vehicle and it isn't allowed but I still buy a sports car so that I can do it. People will still buy an iTV because of what it can do, not what Apple wants it to do. Your logic does not explain why you would refuse to purchase this product.

By the way, in response to your 'voiding the warranty' comment. How would Apple know that you jailbroke the device. I've had warranty work done on a jailbroken iPhone... while it was still jailbroken. And on the chance that I was scared of someone finding out I jail broke it I could *GASP* reset the phone to factory and THEN bring it in. There literally is ZERO RISK.

Keep coming up with the nonsense, I'll keep shooting it down.

 

[theroguex]

Oh, is that what companies (*coughApplecough*) are calling it now? 'Leaving room for feature growth?' I thought it was just 'not turning on features that were already included so they can charge for them later.'