Apple TV Take 2
Macworld is this week and though there have been several new products introduced there is at least one announcement that is worthy of pointing you to.
Last year, I did an experiment for a couple of months where I only watched downloaded content at home using a couple of Apple TV devices. I talked about it in these posts.
This week Apple announced a major upgrade for the Apple TV (for both new and existing customers). You can now access, movies, tv shows, podcasts, music, YouTube videos, flickr photos and more from an Apple TV…AND…you don’t have to use a computer. You can do it all from your TV.
Some of you might be saying “cool”… others “finally!”…and the rest of you might be saying “who cares?” Here’s why I think it can be important.
The move helps to propel the convergence of the Internet and television. This move makes it much easier and very cost effective for churches (or individuals) to deliver content to the living room. It is pretty much free to build and deliver a video and/or audio podcast of your church’s teaching. Now, someone with an Apple TV can browse to your podcast in iTunes and begin watching it from their television. Oh…and it doesn’t have to be a low-quality web video either….it can be in HD if you want.
Think small group video distribution, think missionaries, think house churches, think shut-ins, think just about anything you want to think…now, what do you think?
Visit 
Whatever the implications are, whatever ways it can be best used, I have a strong hunch that you all will be leading the way…
Right on Bobby, right on…
But does it have “repeat” function?
Clayton,
We will definitely be using it…but you are giving us too much credit.
Ben,
That is a great question and I won’t know the answer until the software update comes out in a couple of weeks. (unless someone else happens to know)
For the rest of you…what Ben is referring to is the odd fact that the Apple TV does not have a feature that allows you to set the a video that you are playing to repeat. It is a simple software feature that would make the Apple TV a lot better as a digital sign where you want the content to loop over and over again.
Bobby,
i love the fact that you are so passionate about using every available to reach people with technology.
So where do we go with this technology? That I’m not sure but I can tell you how my family uses it. We first got hooked up with Lifechurch through Andrew Statezny and the Hendersonville Campus. Only problem is, we live in South Florida. We have been avid internet watchers and truly love the full screen service we can watch through that great tool. We just had a baby a few months ago (congrats on yours as well) and have enjoyed the fact that as a family we can be a part of the Lifechurch.tv experience even at home.
I look forward to seeing you take the service for truly minimal cost and making it a beautiful HD podcast that will reach countless people who may never walk through any of your physical campus doors.
Now if only AppleTV could connect direct to your Internet Campus…
Maybe in AppleTV 3… we can dream…
it is funny how posts that deal with technology don’t have as many replies as others do…
Bobby, if you’d like a test subject for any of the ideas you’re cooking up, and for some reason need to test the north Florida region, drop your boy a line…
Clayton…I’ll be sure to let you know. We are actually working on a few things that would be good to test from different parts of the world (including north florida). I don’t think “north” should every be used with Florida though
Tallahassee is much more south Georgia than north Florida, to be sure…
Awesome!! Sounds like God is giving us one more opportunity . . .
We’d need Apple to realize that there are people in countries outside of the US that are interested in things like Apple TV, movie rentals, iPhones, etc etc before we can start thinking about using them.
Bobby:
Totally agree with you! I was thinking the same thing.
Also, these improvements open more doors for churches create some really cool digital signage with no wires.
Chris,
They won’t sell you an Apple TV in Canada? I know there are restrictions on the movie rentals…but can you buy a device?
Ryan,
HD from LCTV on the AppleTV is coming soon. What are you saying about the comments…our most commented posts (of all time) are actually tech posts
I agree on the integration of the Internet Campus interactivity…we’ll have to wait.
I’m very impressed with the Apple TV now. It had a slow start in life, but it’s beginning to become more and more wonderful.
So is this technology that could be used in a multi-site church setting?
Finally Apple is doing something with this. I have to say I love mine, I just wish there was a clever way to embed subtitles in the video file somehow, love this with kids trying to sleep, and when I’m feeling old, etc!
I agree it could be used for a plethora of uses. Imagine if you could afford to have one in every small group leader’s house… and set it to tune to the lesson podcast you set up each week… I could load the file on the private podcast and set them all up and voila!
I also cannot get over the no repeat function. I had one all wired up for digital signage (on a ladder, mounting behind a flatpanel tv) and realized it didn’t do that… I wasn’t happy! How can we request this? Surely it’s an easy software update (it’ll do this with audio if I’m not mistaken).
Blessings!
Corbett,
Could be depending on what you need. I should make it pretty easy to distribute messages directly to the playback device, but not in real-time. If you are a week behind…it would probably work great. If your campuses are all on the current week’s message, you would need a fairly beefy encoder to quickly encode the message on a Saturday night for Sunday type setup.
Larry,
Not sure how to make feature requests…I haven’t tried. You are right on the audio.
Hey Larry,
You can submit a feature request from this page.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/
thanks peter!
This is perfect for my church plant. It’s predominately a house church movement.
The main communication tool that we will be using is a short video clip that will be distributed at the beginning of the month. This video contains the ‘big idea’ that we will be wrestling with.
Example here.
http://art.renovochurch.org/2007/12/threads-love-others.html
Thanks for the heads up…
Peter,
Thanks.
Kez,
That’s great…the Apple TV should work great for your application
I agree this is one of the best things to come out of Macworld…
Bobby,
I love the fact that your church leverages technology in so many innovative ways. I also try to leverage technology in creative ways in the church I work at. On the other hand, the AppleTV is a good product but there are some other similar products that have been around for a while and have quite a bit more funtionality that you should look at.
http://www.popcornhour.com
http://www.tvix.co.kr/eng/
These are the 2 leaders in the industry for media streamers(tvix also just announced a new product that isn’t even on their site yet that offers BD support). You should really take a look at them and all the integration and formats they support.
Dave
The only thing I wish (which would convince me to buy it) is that Apple TV would allow you to play shows that stream on sites like ABC and NBC. I know it hurts the thought that Apple wants to sell those same shows, but AppleTV’s closed system just seems to hurt it in this regard. I don’t want to be locked into purchasing every show!
(not really related to your post, but I think this has great potential if it can go mainstream - until then, it will just be an accessory for some folks)
Dave,
Thanks for sharing those options with everyone. We have a couple of other set-top boxes in the lab and you are right that there are other options with more features, etc. The big plus that some others give us is the ability to customize the interface and develop applications for them.
As with just about anything that Apple makes…you can buy something for less that does more, but doesn’t look quite as pretty
The Apple TV still excites me because it has Apple’s marketing engine behind it and because the movie rental/iTunes store integration makes it an easier “sell” to our users. This goes to what Jon is saying about the product going mainstream.
To be fair though…we should probably do a set-top box (STB) round-up post.
Thanks so much.
Bobby - that is fantastic news!. I have just this last week accepted a position on the Gold Coast as a Senior Associate Pastor with the view of taking over in a 2 year period. I have also already been thinking how do we get in peoples homes from a mission perspective. I am using the Internet Campus via computer but our limited speed and connection in Australia is a real obstacle. Last stats were less than 30 % of Aussies had a ADSL connection. This could just be an answer. Will you then podast whole experiences for viewing?
You know they call Australia the lucky country, and that is so true till it comes to internet speed connection & new technology - then we refer back to our bible description -” the ends of the earth”
Thanks for the heads up you guys are serving the body more than your will ever realize..
Bless ya heaps
Kevin
This lines up with another idea that has been floated around. Using Nintendo’s Wii for Internet Campus viewing. As far as i know the only drawback with Wii’s Opera Browser is the older version of flash.
I guess the Wii doesnt compare with the possibilities for HD content that come along with the AppleTV.
When I read your post it excites me!
I emailed you about the vision I had and this falls right along those lines. Planting a church starting on the internet from the ground up.
Very cool!
Bobby:
I bought a bunch of new computer parts and they are spread out all over my office floor. I am trying to save money by buying the parts instead of buying ready made computers…escpecailly those expensive Apples.
Can you come over and put it together for me??? I hear you have a lot of experience doign this!
MM
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That’s pretty awesome. I hadn’t considered the whole podcast aspect of Apple TV… I’ve been looking for ways to distribute ministry-type video… good thinking!