A lot of people are gunning for the Apple TV. Not just in the comments section of this blog. Apparently the quality is crap and doesn't do justice to your HD TV - this is kinda strange as Apple hasn't of yet released any Hi-Def content for it - but this doesn't stop tons of critics saying how crap it looks when you get up close and really examine it! As if that is how all TV is watched.

I remember when CDs came out and the Audiophiles were complaining that it didn't match up to perfect vinyl. Unfortunately audiophiles can't support the music industry single handed and so CDs came to pass. Now we have digital downloads and people are complaining that the quality of the sounds doesn't match CD. Some of this is being addressed with higher bit rates but to be honest the fans actually listen to the music and don't really care about the sound quality... above a certain level.

I remember back in the day - part of my background is in sound recording - when we first had access to a sampling system in the early 80's that one of my mates hand wrapped a circuit board for an Apple II - that we were not impressed with the sound quality when we threw it through our studio desk and speakers - it sounded like a cassette recording! It wasn't until Dave explained that that was his only audio source that we pulled out our studio mike and started taking samples of our own that we realised just how high quality this little wire wrapped board was.

The point is that judging the output of the Apple TV based on currently available material is not really fair. OK Apple should have had some cool material to show off this baby - but they didn't - thus making it quite a simple target to hit with FUD.

Apparently the XBOX 360 is the machine with which to watch videos on your TV screen. Or so people keep telling me. Of course the XBOX has tons of DRM laden Hi-Def that you can rent but that isn't the point. I have both devices and I have to say that the XBOX makes a lousy TV device. I'll tell you for why. Advertisements.

The whole point of a box like the Apple TV is that YOU decide what to watch when. Press a few clicks on the remote control and you are watching the TV programme / movie that you want. NO advertisements. On the XBOX you get banner ads all over the screens you navigate through urging you to buy or download content for your beloved XBOX.

But I think Microsoft must be kind of worried about the Apple TV based on the vehemence of the material hitting the web at the moment about how fantastic the XBOX is compared to it. And how the XBOX is gonna have new codecs and more hard disk space and now a qwerty keyboard and how great it is provided you pony up the subscription to XBOX live and keep giving Microsoft money.

I think Microsoft are absolutely determined to strangle this baby at birth - they for one do NOT want the Apple TV to be what it is - the iPod for the television. And so I think we'll see quite a bit of this kind of FUD over the next few months as this is probably quite a high priority in Redmond. Which is a shame in that they really should be putting the work into fixing Vista. You know, making it more secure and not allowing old virus concepts such as the ANI cursor bug to return and bite them on the bum.