When the Apple TV came out, given the specs, I figured that some kind of HD content to watch on it was just around the corner. But as it turns out, it didn't happen.
Then v2 came out a week or two ago, and you could finally rent movies in HD, with full Dolby Digital 5.1. So this afternoon I decided to rent something to try it out. I was never that keen on seeing the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, but figured for completeness I would eventually. So I kissed my $4.99 goodbye, and gave it a shot.
There was a pause of about 20 seconds before it had enough downloaded to start, but there it was, in full 720p and 5.1 surround. Regardless of whether or not I'd like the movie, this fundamentally changes the way I see movies.
For the record, the movie has dozens of betrayals and plot twists, and is frankly kind of stupid for that reason. Not even Johnny Depp's gay-drunk-pirate shtick was that interesting.
I think the pricing is a little on the high side, but when you figure it's minimum $12 to see a movie in the theater, I guess it's not terrible. I can see some minor difference in quality from 720p to the full 1080p that you get out of HD DVD (or at this point Blu-Ray, if I ever get one), but the difference is minor. It's still much better quality than a standard def DVD. And that's what it's going to be regardless, because the Apple TV's limitation is 720/24p.
Overall, it's a pretty sweet product. Since I wasn't getting my money's worth from Netflix (not to mention their online views are nothing short of hideous), this works pretty well for the two or three movies a month I might want to rent.
Netflix's online views were awesome for about the first two weeks I had my account, except for the fact that the selection was rather limited. Then they opened it up to everyone and quality went to crap. The only time I can get decent quality is weekday mornings when I don't have to go into work. Evenings and weekends are terrible, with blocky and very dark pictures, but the selection has improved a tad.