Ruralocity Blog

In the interest of trying out the new Apple TV features we rented Michael Clayton a couple of nights ago. We’re finally getting around to watching it tonight. It’s paused while B. takes a call, so I’ll go ahead and report.

It’s pretty easy to find a movie using the built-in navigator. On some movies you have the option to view the high definition version for an extra buck (which we did). At that point it accesses your Apple Store/iTunes account to make the transaction. Apparently, the first time you do this you have to connect to the iTunes Store on a computer to verify the change to your account. I’m not sure what change I made but I think it was when I told Apple TV to remember my password. Anyway, after I verified the change I went back to Apple TV and repeated my choice to download the HD version.

At that point, downloading starts. I have no idea how long it took to download, but after about four or five minutes it was ready to start streaming. If I rent this way again I might try this option to see how well it works–on this Thursday, though, we went to bed instead.

Fast forward to this evening: We queued the movie up and began playback. The HD version’s picture and sound are both great. The picture quality is 720p, which is the same for most (all?) HD television (Blu Ray is technically much higher quality, at 1080p). The sound is 5.1 stereo, giving my surround sound system a workout. Playback has been flawless.

Again, I’m doubtful that we’ll make regular use of this feature but I must admit it’s nice to have. It’s very easy to use–just be ready to jump to a computer to confirm your account the first time.

I’m still in love with Apple TV, especially the built-in podcast directory included in Take 2. But is there a way to force it to refresh, or to specify a refresh rate, or at least know how often it find new episodes of feeds? I was checking on a show (in this case, Mahalo Daily) and didn’t get an update all week. Then last night I checked and had episodes ready from Monday through Wednesday. I’ve seen this behavior in other feeds as well. What gives?

I’ve been putting the Apple TV through the paces the last couple of days. This evening I queued up the music collection from my iMac in the other room, turned on shuffle mode, and streamed away. This is a great way to rediscover your music collection, and makes it easy to put some background music on while you, say, work on homework.

My favorite feature, though, is podcasts. My history with podcasts has been hit and miss. I’ve had trouble getting into them in the past because of either quality issues or, more usually, I didn’t want to be tied to a computer to view them (I do listen to some audio podcasts on my iPod, though, while mowing the lawn).

Before the Take 2 version of the Apple TV system software was released a few days ago, you had to use iTunes on a Mac or PC to download podcasts, then either sync or stream them to the Apple TV. This isn’t complicated, and would probably be the route to take if you have podcasts to listen to or view for a class or clips you want to hold onto for the long term (like, I have the entire Tiki Bar series on my iMac’s hard drive). With Take 2, though, you can browse and search iTunes’ podcast directory directly on your TV. This makes podcast consumption more like channel surfing. The upside of this is I’ve found some interesting things to watch or listen to I probably wouldn’t have found via previous channels.

My favorite so far is Play Value (you can watch online, if you want, without an Apple TV). Play Value is a show that talks about the history of the video game industry in a format similar to the I Love the 80s series on VH1. The production quality is high–the video itself is in 720p high definition, and the experts, who provide commentary on the topics such as the rise and fall of Atari or the torrid backstory behind Tetris making its way outside the Iron Curtain, are actually a little more believable as “experts” than, say, the B-list celebrities VH1 trots out for Top 100 Songs of the 90s. Definitely worth a view.

What’s this have to do with instructional technology? There’s quite a bit of content an instructor could find and assign, out there in podcast form, that the instructor could assign or make available as support material. I remember when I was a kid and films and slides (and, eventually, VHS tapes) had to be ordered in advance, a member of the AV club had to wheel in a projector on a cart, and we sat waiting for the film to snap or smolder in the intricate gears of the projector. Downloadable media such as podcasts is the AV club of the 2000s. Take a look around, you may be surprised at what you’ll find.

I bought an Apple TV last week and got it hooked up over the weekend. I haven’t purchased movies through iTunes for it, and probably never will, but have been streaming the heck out of my music collection. I’m also looking forward to some of the features coming in the “Take 2″ version of the Apple TV software.

Last night I started looking at the high definition podcasts available through iTunes. There’s some neat stuff there–my favorite Tiki Bar TV is there in glorious 720p, as are about a half dozen others I’ve subscribed to but have yet to check out. This has gotten me thinking again about using podcasts in online video delivery–would people get more out of education via online video if they could sit in a comfortable chair or couch and watch it on a normal-sized television, rather than at a desk in a small window on a computer? I’ve got some work coming up involving online video and will play with this more.