Webware

AppleTV has a rich history of getting hacked for the sake of adding extra utility. Contained within its small confines is a reasonably powerful computer that's capable of running Mac OS X (albeit slowly). The problem is that despite this power, the system software is tied to iTunes and its sister store for movies, music, and TV shows. This hinders it from competing with devices like mini-PCs and game machines that offer a huge variety of media playback, including DVDs and Blu-ray movies.

To help solve this, Boxee founder and CEO Avner Ronen has published instructions on how to get his company's media center software to run on the AppleTV. This system requires the use of developer Scott Davilla's ATVUSB-Creator, a Mac-only application that lets you create special programs that boot off a USB thumbdrive. The application comes with simple tools for putting SSH, Xbox Media Center for Mac, and its Boxee derivative on a drive with just a few clicks.

Once installed on the AppleTV, you can enjoy the same Boxee experience that's currently available on Macs and PCs running Linux. This includes being able to play Web video from multiple sources, and DivX- and Xvid-encoded content through your network--all without having to use any special transcoding software. You're also able to switch back to the Apple TV interface without having to make any massive changes to the way the system runs.

Within the next two months the software will be updated to play videos off of Hulu, meaning AppleTV owners who run the hack will be able to watch full-length TV shows (with ads) without having to purchase them from Apple's proprietary storefront. The company is also trying to get Netflix's freshly improved Watch Now streaming service running too.

Boxee is currently in private beta and limited to Mac and Linux users. We've been told that it's coming for PC users within the next month, with plans to open it up to everyone come next year's Consumer Electronics Show.

Once installed, you can run Boxee right off the AppleTV's source list.

(Credit: Boxee)

Related: Hands-on with Boxee: A gorgeous social-media viewer

The straightforward interface of the Roku Netflix Player

(Credit: CNET)

The Netflix box is finally a reality.

The Netflix Player by Roku is the first product that allows subscribers to have movies and TV shows from the service's Instant Viewing feature (aka "Watch Now") to be streamed directly to their TV screen. Previously, Instant Viewing was available only to Windows PC users through the Internet Explorer browser. With the release of the Netflix Player, subscribers need only have a wired or wireless broadband connection to access the entire Instant Viewing catalog through their TV. The full review--with hands-on video--is available at CNET Reviews. But for those who prefer to cut right to the chase, here's the short and sweet version:

TiVo Desktop Plus 2.6 software lets you view Web videos on your TV--but they need to be downloaded to a PC first.

(Credit: Slashgear)

TiVo has added the ability to view downloadable Web videos on the company's DVRs, making good on its announcement at January's Consumer Electronics Show. The update will allow Web videos such as video podcasts to be downloaded with the same Season Pass functionality used by TiVo viewers to record their favorite TV shows. But don't expect to just punch in a URL or an RSS feed into the TiVo remote. Videos must first be downloaded to your PC's hard drive, after which they'll be transferred to your TiVo via your home network. That's a departure from Amazon Unbox videos, the Rhapsody subscription music service, and TiVo's forthcoming YouTube service, all of which are accessible online straight through TiVo's onscreen interface without the need to have a PC running elsewhere in the home. (By contrast, the Apple TV can pull down PC-free video podcasts, so long as they're indexed on the iTunes Store.)

The Web video functionality requires TiVo's Desktop Plus 2.6 software, available for download today ($25 for new users, or a free upgrade for users of the existing software). For now, it's a Windows-only solution, though TiVo says that the company is continuing "to work with Roxio on delivering equivalent functionality on the Mac platform." With any luck, perhaps the new Desktop Plus software will also swat those TiVoToGo bugs that have been afflicting some TiVo users for the past several months.

YouTube will be available on Series3 TiVos later this year

(Credit: CNET)

YouTube videos will be coming to high-end TiVo DVRs soon. In a brief announcement, TiVo said that YouTube video access would be available on the company's latest TiVo HD and TiVo Series3 models "later this year." (Owners of older Series2 TiVos look to be out of luck.) On-screen access to YouTube videos joins a host of other Internet-delivered entertainment options on TiVo, including Amazon Unbox video rentals, Rhapsody's subscription music service, access to Photobucket and Picasa photo galleries, TiVoCast Web videos, podcasts, and Internet radio. While ancillary to TiVo's primary mission of recording and playing back TV shows, the inclusion of such Web-friendly features helps the company delineate its products from the wide range of "free" DVRs that are available from local cable operators. (Disclaimer: CNET is one of several content partners that provides videos to TiVo's TiVoCast service.)

As for YouTube, its appearance on TiVo may be the first of many new venues. The TiVo news was timed to coincide with YouTube's announcement that it's expanding its APIs to allow third parties more direct access to the service. That said, YouTube is already available on quite a few home and mobile gadgets. Aside from the high-profile Apple TV, you can also find YouTube on your TV with the Netgear Digital Entertainer HD--as well as any product with a full-function (Flash-enabled) Web browser, such as the Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3. In the handheld world, the once unique YouTube offering on the iPhone has since been joined by phones from Helio and the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. Also, the new Skyfire browser promises to bring YouTube (and any other Flash video site) to a wide range of Windows Mobile phones.

Having played with YouTube on some of these devices, we'll say this: Yes, it's cool to have access to YouTube on your TV or on your phone--but you may actually come away a bit disappointed in the end. Because YouTube has such a social component--sharing cool or funny videos with your friends--the experience can often be a bit isolating when viewed on a device without ready access to your e-mail, instant messaging, or social network of choice. You know the feeling: a million channels to watch, and nothin's on.

(Credit: Apple Inc.)

I've had a love/hate relationship with Apple TV since its release. Despite yesterday's price cut, the addition of the movie rental service, and computer-free content acquisition for things like Podcasts and music tracks, to me it's still not a necessary living-room entertainment device. The big deal-killer for me is still the closed system, which, for a modern-day streaming device, continues to act as if certain file formats don't exist, despite the competition's (including Microsoft) beginning to accept them with open arms.

However, the one thing that does interest me and gets me actually wanting one in my living room is the inclusion of highly specialized Web-based services. The most notable addition to come yesterday? Another big Silicon Valley service: Flickr.

So now we've got four Web-based services doing their thing on the Apple TV, including YouTube, which Apple added to the device in late June, Mac picture galleries, and movie trailers from Apple's popular QuickTime site. All of these got me thinking: what other Web-enabled services would go well with the Apple TV? Short of an Apple TV SDK that would let developers build in some new functionality to the device, surely there's room for more. I've put together a list of five services I'd like to see make their way onto the Apple TV that I think would actually work, given the relatively limited remote control and a lack of a keyboard.

1. RSS reader
While an RSS reader might be a borderline Web browser (which will likely never make its way anywhere close to the Apple TV), its use for some easy reading makes a lot of sense. As we've seen with Google's Wii-optimized version of its Reader product, living room RSS can be as easy as pie with a four-way directional pad and two control buttons, which the Apple TV remote just happens to have.

2. Weather
Weather on your TV is immensely helpful, and given the inclusion of the weather widget as standard on the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and on OS X since version 10.4, it would make sense to put a larger, more extensive version of the weather app on the Apple TV for folks who want to give the forecast a quick check without turning on their computer or navigating the crummy menus of their set-top cable box.

3. Stocks
Yet another widget that would be nice to have as a larger, more informative widget for wide-screen TVs. Since most ticker symbols can be looked up with three or four letters, a keyboard would be unnecessary to input your favorite companies. Along with weather, this one seems like a no-brainer.

(Credit: Joost )

4. Joost
Joost may be a software service, but the Apple TV has plenty of horsepower to drive it. It'll likely never happen, but given the amount of quality content that's on there, it would make a nice addition to the lineup of podcasts both audio and video that Apple's making available with the latest software update.

5. Internet radio (Shoutcast, Pandora, Last.fm, etc.)
Like Joost (above), Internet radio would make an excellent streaming extension to some of the downloadable content found via iTunes. Heck, it's already a part of the software iteration of iTunes--how hard would it be to stick those streams in there?

Got any of your own? Leave them in the comments.

The download took a little over 5 minutes.

(Credit: CNET)

This morning, Apple announced that YouTube videos are currently available on the Apple TV and will also be on the upcoming iPhone when it's released. We fired up our Apple TV this morning, downloaded and installed the update, then took it for a spin.

The download itself took at least 5 minutes once we hit "Download Update" from the Settings menu. Once the download finished, it had to install the update and restart, which took another few minutes. Once the main menu screen loaded, the new "YouTube" option was available.

Once you've updated, YouTube is on the main menu...

(Credit: CNET)

...and you can go to the YouTube section.

(Credit: CNET)

As you might expect, the interface is pretty slick. ... Read more

(Credit: Apple.com)

At D5, Walt Mossberg interviewed Steve Jobs. A lot of interesting talk about the business, but at the end, Jobs dropped some real news on us:

"Wouldn't it be great if you could see YouTube in your living room?" he asked. In mid-June, Apple TV will get a new menu item: YouTube.

Interactivity (search, in particular), uses a TiVo-like letter grid, which is slower than a real keyboard (hey, maybe you'll be able to use your iPhone as a remote?), but when you need to locate the latest robot dances, it does the job.

Other video sources may come later, Jobs allowed.

Last week, word got out that adventurous developers had created their own AppleTV plug-in (among others) for playing YouTube videos; the plug-in is called "A Series of Tubes."

Apple.com has already been updated with a Quicktime demo of the new plug-in.

One of our biggest complaints with the Apple TV was the dearth of HD video content. The product is capable of streaming 720p high-definition video, but to date, all of the movies and TV shows at Apple's iTunes Store are encoded at a "near DVD" resolution of 480p. But HD content has finally arrived on iTunes--and it's free. The Washington Post announced today that its online HD video podcast--which is shot in 720p high-definition--will now be available through iTunes.

We downloaded the two most recent episodes of the podcast--Edwards Family Values as well as Contamination and a Crusade--to evaluate the video quality. Overall, it was a big step up from previous iTunes fare, but critical viewers will find it falls short of HD broadcasts and even most DVDs. When viewed on a 42-inch Panasonic plasma TV, the improved resolution was evident on the images of John Edwards speaking to an auditorium full of students, but false contouring and solarization artifacts were easy to pick out in the background (white walls were a prime culprit). Close-ups of Edwards' face also exhibited some swimming pixels. Likewise, the depth of field offered was good, but not comparable to what you'd find on an HD broadcast (let alone a Blu-ray or HD DVD movie).

The problem here isn't resolution but bitrate--4,061Kbps with a mono soundtrack. That's a big improvement over the 1,516Kbps encoding found on a purchased episode of The Office, but merely 40 percent of the 10Mb capacity found on a standard-definition DVD. (Apple TV maxes out at 5Mbps, or about 5,000Kbps.) Of course, the better video quality comes at the expense of file size: the Edwards video was a mere 8.5 minutes long, but the file was a rather meaty 250MB--the same size as the aforementioned 21-minute episode of The Office. In addition to the increased download time, the large file size and bitrate affects streaming performance as well. Live streaming from an 802.11g laptop to the Apple TV (via an 802.11n Belkin N1 router) did produce the occasional buffering hiccup--the source PC would need to be wired or upgraded to 11n wireless to guarantee smooth streaming--but once we synced to the Apple TV's hard drive, play was perfect.

Of course, iTunes and the Apple TV were always capable of HD streaming, but the big news here is that the HD content is available through the iTunes Store. (Previously, you needed to download the HD file--say, a high-definition trailer at Apple's Quicktime site--and then manually import it into iTunes.) Video podcasts are a nice first step, and the fact that they're free is always welcome. But we're hopeful this is a trial balloon that will signal the availability of high-definition movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store in the not too distant future.

Note: Since originally published, this blog post has been updated with hands-on analysis of the HD video performance on Apple TV.

It's really impossible to follow any tech blog these days without hearing something about Joost, formerly known as "The Venice Project," the mysterious online video start-up from the same minds that brought us Skype and Kazaa. There's been a lot of speculation, a lot of hype (usually involving the phrase "YouTube killer"), and a lot of hush-hush. That's because Joost, as I learned upon signing up for the private beta test, has a very strict non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Consequently, it's been difficult for me to address some of the more pointed questions that you all asked when I put out an open call for Joost-related inquiries. But I'm going to try to give you all an idea of what Joost really is, based on the kinds of questions that readers asked.

First of all, I'm going to have to apologize to those of you who had highly technical inquiries: because of the NDA, I'm not going to be able to answer anything that specific. There was a lot of interest in how Joost is shaped by its peer-to-peer model, and whether or not that's a viable model for watching online video. My vague answer to that is yes. Even in its beta version, Joost's videos load with an impressive speed and smoothness that can probably be attributed to that P2P structure. The quality certainly isn't HD, but again, I think it's too early to make real calls on what it'll be like in a full version.

Now I'll move on to my intentionally ambiguous answer to what everyone is wondering: Is it a legitimate contender to the "YouTube killer" title? My answer is no. I honestly don't think that Joost is trying to compete with YouTube's extensive database of amateur karaoke stars and cats in scuba suits. YouTube is for the low-budget, the quirky, and the out-there--where viral stars are made. Joost doesn't seem to have much interest in that, or in hosting personal video blog channels (another question we received). What I see this turning into is a competitor for stuff like TiVo, the forthcoming Apple TV, and other services that are bridging the gap between TV and broadband by transporting on-demand and live TV content to the Internet and Web video content to the home television. Joost, with its slick console and channel functions, is clearly meant for professional content. Sorry, cat lovers.

In fact, I would not be surprised at all if the manufacturers of Internet-TV connectivity devices--TiVo, Sling, or even Nintendo's Wii--take an interest in collaborating with Joost to get a hold of the interface and its functions.

But if there's one thing we've learned from the new Internet, it's that slick design will only take you so far. What really makes a piece of webware is the content and community: just look at MySpace, which has overwhelming popularity despite a seriously thumbs-down design. In order to make it off the ground once it leaves its private beta, Joost is going to have to have some impressive content deals with major TV networks as well as community features that are going to allow for legitimate interactivity. It's got great promise, and great minds behind it, but Joost is by no means a surefire hit.