Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

Apple released the Apple TV this week, with the usual hype surrounding the launch of any Apple product. The Apple TV is Steve Jobs’ first attempt at moving video to the living room. At $299, the Apple TV is an expensive device for streaming video. Gizmodo made the inevitable comparison for the Apple TV with the Xbox 360.

In our head-to-head, we took Vista Ultimate and used a 360 as a Windows Media Extender. With this setup, we came to the conclusion that the hulking white box ekes out the slimmer, shorter Apple TV—unless you have a standard XP computer with Media Center, or copious amounts of Apple iTunes DRM’d content.

I think the Xbox 360 is just starting to tap its potential. One overlooked aspect of the 360 as a media center is the wide library of plugins available. For instance, through the Transcode 360 plugin, the Xbox 360 is able to stream Divx video, something the Apple TV is not capable of doing at all. Plugins allow the Xbox, when connected to a Vista computer, to constantly add new capabilities.

The Xbox 360 and a Vista computer make a formidable combination, especially with the release of digital cable tuners. The Apple TV would be attractive to anyone that purchases large amounts of video from iTunes.