30 Days of AppleTV – Day 11


As I continue to watch through Season 2 of the The Office (new episodes of Lost, 30 Rock, Earl, Scrubs and more are coming in next few days, so I’ll soon have something else to talk about for those of you sick of hearing about The Office) I have noticed an inconsistency with the video quality.

For example, the Season 2 episode “The Secret” looks really pixelated when played on my AppleTV, and the first 5 Episodes of Season 2 are in 4 x 3 – where the rest of the season appears to be in widescreen. This is something that Apple REALLY needs to fix.

My hope is that, when HD content comes to iTunes I’ll be able to upgrade this season of the The Office to HD with a consistent look and encoding rate. I would imagine that EMI/Apple experiment is for more than just music…on the pricing side anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a two tiered price model for DVD quality and HD quality content in iTunes in the near future…

On the Podcasting side of things, I got a chance to watch a lot of my favorite Podcasts yesterday. Here’s a quick rundown of the shows with direct links to the large format iTunes subscription pages…

Tech Podcasts –

Geekbrief TV – The first few pre-AppleTV release episodes I watched on my AppleTV were pixelated and blurry, but it seems like Cali and Neil have optimized the large format version of their show to work perfectly witht the AppleTV. The new episodes look beautiful, and I love watching this podcast.

Diggnation – Previous weeks episodes have been in 4 x 3, but the most current one made the switch to widescreen. It looks as good as a show about two guys sitting on a couch talking could look. Now that we can watch it on our television my wife is even getting into the show.

DL.TV – The most TechTV-like Podcast out there, DL.TV fills a void in my television life that I have been missing since that terrible day that I heard about the G4-Tech TV merger. One thing I have noticed since watching it on a big screen is that I miss the larger scope of the old Screen Savers set…but I love this show.

Cranky Geeks – I’ve been a fan of Dvorak’s ranting for years now. So I digg this show about geeks yelling at each other.

Comedy

Goodnight Burbank – This is a pretty funny show that shows us what happens on an evening news program when they cut to the video feeds…it’s worth a look.

Onion News Network – This, majorly offensive, news break is probably the funniest thing being produced on the web (or anywhere else) right now.


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

3 Comments

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  1. Thanks for the podcast links. I love my Apple TV and my biggest surprise is the podcast feature. It’s great to see these on my big screen, even when the quality is sub-par. I’m amazed at the video quality of some of them.
    It’s as better than what I’m getting on my standard def cable. Can’t wait for more HD.