Film

Thoughts on the Apple TV

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So now the Apple TV only costs £99, am I about to buy one? Afraid not.

Long-time readers will know about my various abortive attempts to turn my spare Mac Mini into a media centre (which I’ve given up on – I just have Boxee running on my main desktop). The Apple TV was always interesting but the price tag meant I wasn’t so interested.

The new Apple TV is much cheaper, but it’s also a simpler device with no hard drive – or the means to connect an external hard drive (there’s a Micro-USB socket but it’s for ‘service and support’ only). So rather than being a media centre, it’s more a ‘media extender’ – it lets you view media stored elsewhere (on your computer or on a streaming service) on your television. If you want to watch a film you own, that film must be on another computer and that computer must be turned on and running iTunes.

Like the previous model, it does support HD but only at the lower rate of 720p, not 1080p which is what most decent HD televisions use; consequently any 1080p television will have to do some upscaling which may effect the sharpness of the picture; thus negating some of the benefits of HD. I suppose streaming 720p video requires less bandwidth than 1080p video but a 1080p option for content on your own network would be nice. HDMI support is welcome though.

One of the biggest new features is Netflix streaming. Alas, Netflix doesn’t yet operate in the UK, and Apple hasn’t signed up any similar services like Lovefilm, so we have to buy all of our content from the iTunes Store.

In fact, there’s no other region-specific services, despite the Apple TV now running on a similar operating system as the iPhone. An App Store for the Apple TV would be great, potentially allowing users to install apps specific to their country; Brits could install applications for the BBC iPlayer, 4oD and SeeSaw for example. In the US, Hulu could launch an app as well.

Then there’s the price. It’s certainly cheaper than the its predecessor, but £99 and €119 are much more than its $99 price tag in the US (who also get the Netflix features). While all Apple products cost a little more in Europe – even after sales taxes are taken into account – the new Apple TV costs 30% more. To give some perspective, the iPad Nano is only 15% more expensive after tax and is at a similar price point, and most of Apple’s desktop computers are under 10% more expensive. So European customers pay more than their US cousins, and get less.

And one final reason why I wouldn’t buy an Apple TV is that the Boxee Box is coming to Europe in November with pre-orders starting in the US now. The Boxee Box is twice as expensive as an Apple TV in the US – $199 – but it has a very large application library (including BBC iPlayer), 1080p HD, support for a wide range of codecs, USB ports, and and SD card slot. Still no internal hard drive but at least you can connect one. Of course, I’ll be a bit peeved if it goes on sale for £199…

The film queue

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On Saturday I moved house again, although this time the move should be a little more permanent. I’m now living in North-East Bradford, rather than in the western area around the university, in a refurbished Victorian stone-built terraced house with two other lads. It’s a nice house, although it does mean a longer walk to work.

Unfortunately we don’t yet have internet – that’s a story I’ll leave for another entry – so I’m using the opportunity to watch some of the films that I own on DVD which I haven’t seen before.

Thus far I have watched the remaining episodes of Torchwood Season 2 that I haven’t seen – previously I have watched the first 4 and last 4 episodes, but missed those in the middle of the series. This included the episodes ‘Adam’ and ‘Dead Man Walking’ which are quite important to the overall story arc – having watched these episodes now, the final episode makes more sense. I also watched Baseketball, a film starring the creators of South Park, which I enjoyed but would only recommend to those who enjoyed South Park or Team America. Otherwise you’ll find it puerile and immature.

On my list to watch next are:

  • The Dark is Rising – a film that Hari wanted to watch and that we rented from LoveFilm, but haven’t yet got around to watching
  • Nacho Libre – kids film starring Jack Black that I picked up cheaply in a sale
  • Hellboy – heard mixed reviews, some people say it’s great, others hated it
  • Robots – another kids film
  • The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – Thought the first film was very well done, but never managed to see this in the cinema.

Incidentally I posted a similar list this time last year – so a year later and I still haven’t seen Hellboy or Nacho Libre.

I also have various DVDs like The Simpsons Movie, Shrek the Third and most of the Matrix Trilogy which I have seen in the cinema but haven’t since watched on DVD. I’m going on holiday a week today and at the current rate we won’t have the internet installed by then, so I have another week of keeping myself busy.

Films that I own on DVD and haven’t yet watched

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Here’s a list of films that I’ve bought on DVD, but, so far, I haven’t actually watched:

  • Shrek 3
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  • Hellboy
  • Nacho Libre
  • Family Guy presents Blue Harvest

Of those, I haven’t even seen 3 of them at the cinema/on TV.

This is mostly a mental note to make sure that next time there’s nothing good on TV, I get around to actually watching these films – after all, I’ve paid money for them.

Films of 2007

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Back in April, I wrote a list of 8 films I was intending to see this year. Of those, I haven’t seen Hot Fuzz or 28 Weeks Later, though I should be getting the former to rent sometime soon, and I haven’t seen The Simpsons Movie because it isn’t out yet.

Yesterday Hari and I killed 2 birds with one stone and saw both Shrek the Third and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the same day (taking a break in between to go for dinner). Shrek 3 isn’t quite as good as 1 and 2 but it’s still a very good film, and Harry Potter 5 is as least as good as the first 4 films. The fact that this is the fifth film in a series and it doesn’t totally suck is a testament to J K Rowling’s writing and the directors/screenplay writers – pity the same can’t be said for films like Police Academy V…

Hari and I also went to see Wedding Daze (also known as The Pleasure of Your Company) a few weeks ago, mainly because we wanted to go on a date and that was all that was on at the cinema at the time that interested us, but actually it was quite enjoyable, if rather random.

There are, of course, other films that we’re considering going to see this year:

  • Transformers – I’ve heard some very mixed reviews of this film and so we may be renting it rather than going to see it in the cinema.
  • Ratatouille – Pixar make good films and the reviews suggest this is no exception, but alas us Brits have to wait until mid-October before this film is out here.
  • Stardust – saw the trailer for this before Shrek 3 yesterday and it looks pretty good, and it’s based on a Neil Gaiman novel.
  • Evan Almighty – I enjoyed Bruce Almighty so with a bit of luck this won’t disappoint. Again, the US gets this first, it’s not out here until August.
  • The Golden Compass – the film based on Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. Not out until December.

Films I am intending to see this year

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  1. Hot Fuzz – no, I haven’t see it yet.
  2. 28 Weeks Later… – the sequel to 28 Days Later.
  3. Sunshine – another Danny Boyle film which Gia has been involved in.
  4. Spiderman 3 – coming out this summer, at last.
  5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – which is out around my birthday.
  6. Shrek the Third – enjoyed the first two and has some interesting cameo voices.
  7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – because it’s Harry Potter. No David Tennant this time though.
  8. The Simpsons Movie – Not the biggest fan of The Simpsons (prefer Futurama/Family Guy) but should be good.

And next year we have The Chronic-what-cles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, which hopefully will be as good as the first one.

Side note: My British English spelling dictionary in Firefox does not recognise the word ‘movie’.

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