Star Trek on the Apple TV

sounds good but what are the specs for buying HD movies on AppleTV? are they 1080p? 720p etc? they should really list this stuff...

I got the SD digital copy with a Blu Ray and thought it looked very good, but lacked itunes extras.

Michele, we don't actually have the option of purchasing HD movies here, but when we purchase HD tv shows, only the HD version is used on the tv, I assume movies are the same. The tv denotes HD with the HD logo along side the listing.

I'm not all that impressed with the HD quality of Star Trek on the Apple TV (unlike other HD movies I've purchased). It seems a little soft. Maybe I'm overanalyzing it though.

I watched the HD version of Star Trek on my ATV yesterday and it looked as good as any other HD video. I didn't see anything wrong with it. The quality of HD video varies from one video to the next in any case, not just from iTunes, but from every source. The HD version of the new Star Trek movie from the iTunes store is good quality. This was my first time to buy a video with the iTunes extra menu. The DVD-like menu for the movie was a nice touch.

The only annoying point for me was when the synced video started stuttering two-thirds of the way through the movie due to the general stability issues that plague my ATV.

Note to Apple: RELEASE A NEW MODEL WITH UPGRADED HARDWARE!

so the appletv definitely can't put out 1080p even with a software update right? bummer...thats gotta change if they want to keep up....it would be great though if they posted the resolution for each movie in the itunes store anyway, and on the appletv before you rent or buy...this is as relevant a spec as the other stuff they list...one reason i've rented from directv is they offer 1080p ondemand titles which are over the net (though they do take awhile to download)...

btw, i just saw the best HD quality i've seen lately with a youtube video explaining auto-tune with Weird Al...i can't believe its only 720p but if it is the upscaling must be amazing on this thing?? anyone know specs on this?

Yes the tv can output 1080i and 1080p, what it can't do is play 1080i and 1080p content, it has to upscale what it plays (720p/540p) to output at these higher resolutions.

so the appletv definitely can't put out 1080p even with a software update right?

I don't think it makes much difference from a practical standpoint. Most people can barely tell the difference between standard DVDs and HD, so the difference between between 720p and 1080p is more like the difference in thickness between two strands of hair. It sounds more relevant than it actually is.

capaho wrote:
Most people can barely tell the difference between standard DVDs and HD

most blind people i would assume ???

yeah i don't know about that...i've got blu-ray discs and can easily tell the difference between a 1080p blu-ray and 720 from an appletv...a lot of directv rentals now come in 1080i and 1080p options so it really is a relevant issue... once people get used to a certain standard its a hard sell when its anything less

Would have loved to watch HD Star Trek on Apple TV, but for some reason in Canada we still can't buy HD movies. We can rent HD, and buy HD TV shows...just no movie purchasing. Assuming a licensing issue.

But the Bluray is awesome and full 1080. 🙂

There's still a lot of people who don't understand the differences and an awful lot of misinformation given out with the aim of promoting a particular product.

itunes HD is roughly equivalent to broadcast HD, which is noticeably better than DVD but not significantly better, blu-ray is noticeably better than itunes/broadcast HD but not significantly better.

Blu-ray is having a difficult time justifying its price and format because while it is better quality the convenience and pricing of other HD formats outweigh the difference in quality for many consumers.

Care should be taken in simply comparing resolutions without considering the datarate or in some cases the compression type as well. Blu-ray is created at up to 40 Mbps, other formats are substantially lower. Comparing say 1080p to 720p at the same low datarate is likely to produce no difference or posibaly a better quality picture from the lower resolution format, since there is significantly less information per macroblock in the higher resolution format.