AppleTV vs. Cable

Question

AppleTV vs. Cable

I've been thinking of getting rid of my cable and replacing it with an AppleTV. Since all of the regular "over the air" networks have better HD quality than the same channels on cable (due to Comcast's over-compressing the HD channels), and we really only watch a handful of "cable" programs, it doesn't really seem worth it to shell out $75 bucks a month (pretty much the cheapest we can get HD cable) to the cable company. It makes more sense just to pay the $2 per episode on iTunes of the programs that we do watch.

However, I'm having trouble locating information on what resolution TV programs on iTunes/AppleTV are. I know the movies are only 720p, but since that's the best we can get from cable anyways, it's really not that big of a deal. I'd be happy if the TV shows that are HD on cable are 720p on the AppleTV.

So, does anyone know what the resolution of TV shows on iTunes/AppleTV are?

Thanks.

17" G4 iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Apr 2, 2008 7:50 AM

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Answer 1

Sybil M

Level 2

162 points

Apr 2, 2008 7:57 AM in response to George Krueger

I believe my TV was showing that latest shows of LOST are 480p... I will verify when I get home and repost if anything different.

FYI: We've been considering doing the same too. We get HD via DirecTV. The signal's great but it's very finicky. Especially since we live in the woods. I would much rather subscribe to the few shows we watch on cable and then watch the rest via HD Antenna. Does anyone know of a way to record shows via antenna into iTunes?

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Answer 2

Apr 2, 2008 8:27 AM in response to Sybil M

Elgato makes a number of products that will record from antenna. I use the HybridTV (I think that's the name). It just plugs into a USB port, antenna plugs into it ($10 antenna from RadioShack). I get the digital and analog channels. The Elgato software will convert for ATV or iPod (it does take a while). I've been very happy with the product.

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Answer 3

Apr 2, 2008 9:49 AM in response to George Krueger

That's exactly what we've done, ditched the cable box for an AppleTV and I think that's exactly what Steve wants you to do too! We get free over the air HD ( http://www.checkhd.com), and enjoy a host of free video podcasts. Truthfully, I miss a few of my favorite cable channels (History, DiscoveryHD, etc.), but when you look at what you pay for cable per month, those $$'s cover the cost of an AppleTV and a fair amount of iTunes TV show purchases pretty quick.

TV shows purchased from iTunes are not HD. They are ~480p.

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Answer 4

Apr 2, 2008 10:20 AM in response to Greg Hart

480p huh? Well, that's the same as a DVD I guess. And our TV does a decent job of up-converting.

But, do the shows that are widescreen actually display full (anamorphic) widescreen (on a 16:9 tv)? Or are they black barred on the top and sides?

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Answer 5

Apr 2, 2008 10:22 AM in response to George Krueger

Sorry, I have a follow-up to the original question. (That's why I had to flag it back to "not answered".)

Message was edited by: George Krueger

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Answer 6

Sybil M

Level 2

162 points

Apr 2, 2008 10:33 AM in response to George Krueger

it all depends on the episode. The first 2 1/2 seasons of LOST are in full screen and the more recent ones are in widescreen.

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Answer 7

Apr 2, 2008 10:43 AM in response to Sybil M

So it will fill the screen on a widescreen TV?

In general, how good do the TV shows look?

Message was edited by: George Krueger

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Answer 8

Fletsch

Level 1

100 points

Apr 2, 2008 11:11 AM in response to George Krueger

I think you may be disappointed. It depends a bit on your TV. I have a 42 inch, 720p Pioneer (720p was fine because the ony way to watch 1080p is Blu-Ray and that's born dead) it upscales nicely form standard TV. 480p TV shows from ATV look OK. But it seems to vary: LOST is very good, Dexter was truly awful. If yuo are sued to watching the TV shows in HD, this wont do.

My view: the TV shows are perfectly viewable but need to get better quality, they are nowhere near as good as watching them on standard TV. The reason is that they are designed to be viewable on iPods, hence the low resolution. I fear therefore that the TV show quality will not change anytime soon.

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Answer 9

Sybil M

Level 2

162 points

Apr 2, 2008 11:25 AM in response to Sybil M

I have a 1080i Polaroid 40" and not very picky when it comes to quality unless it's THAT bad. I started purchasing LOST from the very beginning for my iPod. When I would play them on my iMac, I was disappointed and resolved to watching them only on my iPod. That being said, I've been catching up on the old episodes (to put our new ATV to good use during the hiatus) and I've been pleasantly surprised. The older episodes look just fine on my TV (much better than they look on my iMac). Of course not as good as the more recent episodes that are formated for the iPhone and/or ATV. Hey...ANYTHING is better without commercials!!!

Then again, LOST is our only experience because I deleted our Psych and House episodes long before we got our ATV 😟 .

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Answer 10

Apr 2, 2008 11:49 AM in response to George Krueger

Well, I just hope Apple starts offering TV shows in HD soon (at least 720p, anyways), because I really want to ditch cable!

Thanks for the input. It looks like I have some deciding to do as to whether I want to keep paying for HD.

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Answer 11

Fletsch

Level 1

100 points

Apr 2, 2008 2:33 PM in response to George Krueger

The movies in HD (and even the ones in SD) plus everything else the ATV has is worth it alone. And the SD TV shows are really not THAT bad, they are perfectly viewable (better than on a MAC), but it does depend on how well your TV upscales (I am lucky, the Pio is best in class).

Once you get ATV you wont watch regular TV anymore.

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Answer 12

umutko

Level 1

20 points

Apr 2, 2008 2:51 PM in response to George Krueger

I started watching Dexter on itunes, I bought 3 episodes. I don't think they were widescreen and I know they were not HD. They could be 480p which is still not that good anyway. The quality is ok, but once you get used to watching everything HD, it is kinda disappointing. Also, after I watched the second episode, I ran into the same show on ABC or CBS HD as a re-run. And it looked a lot better obviously, I started watching it as if I was watching a new show. :)) So if you are picky, you will not be very happy with the quality of some of the TV shows. I assume there are some HD tv shows on itunes which I have not purchased yet.

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Answer 13

buckster

Level 4

2,831 points

Apr 3, 2008 11:29 AM in response to George Krueger

I have no cable and no dish and no terrestrial broadcast. And no ads, since I watch everything on AppleTV.

HD vs 480p is well worth it for me since I don't have to watch ads.

Imagine if watching [insert your favorite show] only took a continuous 40 minutes instead of 1hr 15mins cos you're watching without ad breaks. It's awesome.

b.

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Answer 14

Apr 3, 2008 3:49 PM in response to buckster

The truth is that tv shows vary in quality. I'm in the UK and have bought quite a few of the BBC shows, they are pretty good even at SD (ipod) resolution whereas some of the music videos on itunes encoded at the same resolution are dreadful. C4 have just added some shows to itunes and whilst they are vastly better than the music videos I refer to, they aren't quite as good as the shows from the BBC.

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