Author Topic: iTunes 7 released (Read 2438 times)

55starchief · « **Reply #25 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:24:54 am »

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

In a unique sneak preview, Apple demonstrated its forthcoming set-top device, currently dubbed iTV. The device is about half the size of a Mac mini and features USB, ethernet, 802.11 wireless, HDMI, optical audio, and RCA connectors.

The iTV will connect to a television and allow content to be delivered through a Front Row-like interface. Content will be streamed from other computers (Mac or PC) in the house that are storing it.

iTV will cost $299 when it goes on sale in the first quarter of 2007.

if i hadnt spent all my money on a lexicon RT10 DVD player with SDI output i would have gone for one of these

fully networkable and with a 500gb HD thats 40 DVD's accessable

http://www.pixelmagicsystems.com/products/media_players/hd_mediabox.htm

My Mac Mini is used for nothing more than a Jukebox and a file server which is a waste really

FUBAR · « **Reply #26 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:27:23 am »

Quoting: 55starchief

40 DVD's

Thats not a Lot! i'd fill that in a second...

55starchief · « **Reply #27 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:28:36 am »

Quoting: FUBAR

Thats not a Lot! i'd fill that in a second...

yeah but the devices are networkable and you can access any file from any device so 3 of them gives you a terabite

FUBAR · « **Reply #28 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:36:08 am »

2 would be 1TB TBH, but how much are they??

For one of those to be viable for me anyway it would need to be at least 2TB and at 160 films i'd fill that too. and then what happens if it goes wrong... you lose all your films

FUBAR · « **Reply #29 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:37:40 am »

And with the new HD Blu-ray and HDDVD formats you'd get even less films on there surely...

55starchief · « **Reply #30 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:45:07 am »

Quoting: FUBAR

For one of those to be viable for me anyway it would need to be at least 2TB and at 160 films i'd fill that too. and then what happens if it goes wrong... you lose all your films

you still have the DVD's mate, it just means you could take that box to a mates house plug it in and have access to all your music,pictures and films.

prices are £280 plus the HD

55starchief · « **Reply #31 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:46:38 am »

Quoting: FUBAR

And with the new HD Blu-ray and HDDVD formats you'd get even less films on there surely...

dont even bother looking at those formats. The only HD player is a toshiba and they loose money on everyone they sell as its a loss leader. Also unless you have a LCD or Plasma that can play 1080p its a waste of money

FUBAR · « **Reply #32 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:47:48 am »

At some point in the future when they make ones with a nice number and TB in the stats that will be something i'll look into, but untill then na, the films can stay on Discs.

HardRockCamaro · « **Reply #33 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:49:31 am »

Yes but DVD compression is old school mpeg2.

I have all my music in iTunes. All of it.
I also have all my DVDs, I simply rip the DVD to the Mac using the H.264 codec (which Apple are pushing which gives me a file almost indistinguishable from a DVD (and is at DVD res) and consumes around 1.2GB.
All these movies are in my iTunes.

I have 500GB of internal storage which cost about £120 and that's plenty for my music (about 15GB) and my 150 movies (about 180GB).

All my music and photos sync to my 60GB iPod as do my favourite 25 films. (and there's still loads of space left).

But everything in on my Mac.

Using Front Row (the media centre software) and a DVI->HDMI cable I can pick and watch all my movies on my big tv, as well as my phoots and listen to my music.
That's because my big tv and Mac are within a few metres of each other.

When I move that won't be the case.
No problem, I will buy that £199 Apple iTV box and it will stream all that from the Mac to the living room. It just means my Mac has to be always on, which it is anwyays.

Oh, and as I do have a fair bit of time I suppose invested in all this, my Mac backs up to an external 500GB firewire drive every night. A complete, bootable mirror of the machine.

FUBAR · « **Reply #34 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:50:27 am »

Quoting: 55starchief

Also unless you have a LCD or Plasma that can play 1080p its a waste of money

Yeah I totally appreciate that, thats why i'm not bothered about HDTV at the moment, I don't have Sky, Can't afford a decent (as you say 1080p) Panel TV and have loads of "normal" DVDs.
Give it 10 years I will have upgraded by then!

55starchief · « **Reply #35 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:54:05 am »

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

Using Front Row (the media centre software) and a DVI->HDMI cable I can pick and watch all my movies on my big tv, as well as my phoots and listen to my music.
That's because my big tv and Mac are within a few metres of each other.

thats basically what my mini does, dvi out of the mini into my plasma enhancer then out to a HDMI splitter box one cable to my infocus projector and the other to my samsung LCD only difference is i dont have my DVD's on the mini as ther lexicon would slaughter any output the mac could manage

55starchief · « **Reply #36 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:55:17 am »

Quoting: FUBAR

Yeah I totally appreciate that, thats why i'm not bothered about HDTV at the moment, I don't have Sky, Can't afford a decent (as you say 1080p) Panel TV and have loads of "normal" DVDs.
Give it 10 years I will have upgraded by then!

Sky HD is only 720p mate and i dont have a HD box but watch all sky channels in 720p as it gets upsampled with the scaler i have in my system

HardRockCamaro · « **Reply #37 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:57:33 am »

Oh my Tosh SD9000 DVD player has amazing output, but as I've said before, I will sacrifice ultimate quality for excellent quality if it comes with convenience.
Plus as I have a video iPod, if I get a new film and go round to a mates I can simply plug it into their tv and we can watch it.

FUBAR · « **Reply #38 on:** September 14, 2006, 12:15:04 pm »

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

and my 150 movies (about 180GB).

Ok, maybe i've miscalculated the amount of space needed for Films... from what Graeme said I thought 40 filled 500GB

FUBAR · « **Reply #39 on:** September 14, 2006, 12:26:07 pm »

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

I simply rip the DVD to the Mac using the H.264 codec

Just been reading about that and thats pretty impressive too, hows that done then...

HardRockCamaro · « **Reply #40 on:** September 14, 2006, 01:08:23 pm »

I use a porgramme called Handbrake.

Insert DVD disc, select the movie part of the DVD (don't care about extras) which is obviously the bit that's some 1hr30mins plus, select full res and max 2Mbps butrate and choose H264 codec. About 40mins later job done.
Drag resulting file from desktop into iTunes window.

I actually set it to just rip from the disc (which takes about 20mins) and feed it about 10 one by one. Then I let it encode overnight as my machine is pretty old (2002). In the morning I just drag them onto iTunes.
A modern Mac (all of which are now dual core) would do it in a fraction of the time.

There are no doubt simlar programmes for the PC (just look for ones which prepare movies for the iPod video which uses mpeg4 and H264) and you could drag the resulting file into the Win version of iTunes.

55starchief · « **Reply #41 on:** September 14, 2006, 01:19:43 pm »

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

A modern Mac (all of which are now dual core) would do it in a fraction of the time.

Yup just looking at the 15" mac book pro hmm $1999 maybe next year when im in the usa my powerbook will be 3 years old then

Incursus · « **Reply #42 on:** September 14, 2006, 01:39:06 pm »

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

As for burning an mp3 playlist to CD, do you mean make a playlist of mp3s and burn a data cd that contains mp3s instead of an audio cd?
If so you can do that, just go into preferences -> Advanced -> Burning and change the CD type from audio to mp3.

Figured it out moment after typing the question

Incursus · « **Reply #43 on:** September 14, 2006, 01:48:16 pm »

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

Just about? Really? I'd say it's miles ahead.

Spose the more I think about about it they wider the gap becomes

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

Plus smart playlists.

I tend to listen to my "top 100 most played" and ""added in the last 30 days" and "100 last played" playlists.

I play random myself but justified to least played

55starchief · « **Reply #44 on:** September 14, 2006, 09:16:37 pm »

Ok have just updated the mini as well and looks like they solved the visulizer issue as well. Not sure how many other users had a problem but everytime i went to full screen visualizer it tried to output 1080p onto the display i was using causing a screen crash in both the LCD and the projector but all working great with the new version

HardRockCamaro · « **Reply #45 on:** September 14, 2006, 09:48:50 pm »

Quoting: 55starchief

Yup just looking at the 15" mac book pro hmm $1999 maybe next year when im in the usa my powerbook will be 3 years old then

GHC (Gordon Harwood Computers) have a limited number of revA 15" MacBook Pro's at £899+VAT

55starchief · « **Reply #46 on:** September 14, 2006, 09:57:38 pm »

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

£899+VAT

Just cant justify the expense at the moment

also they still have slow HD's 5400rpm come on guys get with the program my powerbook has a travelstar 7200 after the original failed just outside of a year

FUBAR · « **Reply #47 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:15:41 pm »

Quoting: 55starchief

also they still have slow HD's 5400rpm

Cuh!! get with the times!

Quoting: 55starchief

after the original failed just outside of a year

Gotta love that reliability!! hehehehehe

Titsy · « **Reply #48 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:17:03 pm »

Quoting: FUBAR

Quoting: 55starchief
also they still have slow HD's 5400rpm

Cuh!! get with the times!

Quoting: 55starchief
after the original failed just outside of a year

Gotta love that reliability!! hehehehehe

You beat me to it....

FUBAR · « **Reply #49 on:** September 14, 2006, 10:19:24 pm »

Quoting: Titsy

You beat me to it....