Apple Movie Junkie » apple tv

Michael Moore’s Slacker Uprising Now Available For Free

Eddie V. — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:19:42 +0000

Update – As site visitor Rick-O pointed out in the comments, Slacker Uprising is now available in the iTunes Store and in HD on the Apple TV as a free download.

Michael Moore’s newest film, Slacker Uprising, is now available to watch for free online at http://slackeruprising.com. The movie also available on Lycos, downloadable via Hypernia, on DVD via Amazon,~~coming soon iTunes!~~ iTunes and in HD on the Apple TV.

The following is a synopsis of the movie straight from the site.

“Slacker Uprising” takes place in the wake of “Fahrenheit 9/11,” during the run-up to the 2004 election, as I traveled for 42 days across America, visiting 62 cities in a failed attempt to remove George W. Bush from office. My goal was to help turn out a record number of young voters and others who had never voted before.

Wether you agree with Michael Moore’s politics or not, it’s nice to see someone bypassing the studio route and releasing a movie directly to the people.

Daily HD Rental Update 8-10-08

Eddie V. — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:03:15 +0000

Below is the list of new HD Rentals that have been added to Apple TV.

One new title for today and it’s the documentary Shine a Light about the Rolling Stones by Martin Scorsese.

Shine a Light

Head on over to the HD Rentals page to see this weeks entire list of new titles.

Daily SD Rental Update 8-12-08

Sergio G. — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:48:32 +0000

Below is the list of SD Rentals that have been added and/or removed from iTunes as of 8-12-08.

What an excellent day for a rental. The Exorcist is among 9 New Releases for today. Click on the (MORE) link below for today’s full list.

SD Rentals New Releases

Action & Adventure
Code Of Silence

Classics
Ben Hur (1959)

Drama
Million Dollar Baby
Requiem for a Dream (Director’s Cut)
The Exorcist

Music
The American Mall

Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Screamers

Thriller
Blood Work
The Wrong Man

SD Rentals Removals
~~Sleuth~~

Remember, you can view a trailer for any movie you’re interested in renting by simply click on a movie title. Enjoy!

Important Note: To view the latest New Release for the week, please visit the SD Rentals page.

Daily SD Rental Update 8-11-08

Sergio G. — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:17:44 +0000

Below is the list of SD Rentals that have been added and/or removed from iTunes as of 8-11-08.

We got a pretty good selection to start the week. For starters, you can’t go wrong with a couple of old classics like Ocean’s 11 (1960) and Casablanca. Here’s lookin’ at the rest of the list kid. Just click on the (MORE) link for today’s full list.

SD Rentals New Releases

Action & Adventure
Back to Bataan
Batman
Charro!
Corvette Summer
Destination Tokyo
Dirty Harry
Eraser
Grind
Ocean’s 11 (1960)
Three Kings
Troy (Director’s Cut)

Classics
Double Trouble
Easy to Wed
Forever Darling
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Comedy
Spies Like Us

Documentary
So Goes the Nation

Drama
All the President’s Men
Empire of the Sun
Flying Leathernecks
Greased Lightning
Natural Born Killers

Horror
fear dot com

Independent
Big Bad Love

Kids & Family
Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring

Romance
Casablanca

Sci-Fi & Fantasy
The Matrix Reloaded

SD Rentals Removals
No Country for Old Men
P3K: Pinocchio 3000

Remember, you can view a trailer for any movie you’re interested in renting by simply click on a movie title. Enjoy!

Important Note: To view the latest New Release for the week, please visit the SD Rentals page.

No Apple TV at the WWDC

Keith Foster — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:17:40 +0000

CrunchGear has an excellent article on the absents of the Apple TV at this year WWDC. I agree with the author that we should not count the Apple TV out just yet. However lets also face one fact; for now the only way to rent HD is to do it from the ATv. It makes me wonder, will Apple release the software to all mac users? There are plenty of people who use a Mac Mini in a home theater setup, and giving them access to rent would no doubt increase the number of people who rent and buy movies. I for one would love to see it more users means more support not only from Apple but Hollywood. Full Story on CrunchGear

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VUDU Support Forum Members Ask: Why Does ATV Offer More HD New Releases?

Eddie V. — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:47:56 +0000

We received a tip from site member CJ about a post over at the VUDU Support Forum asking why the Apple TV offers more HD new releases. Apparently VUDU users also have a bone to pick with the studios and how they distribute movies. So don’t feel so bad Apple TV users about the selection of HD movies you have to choose from. It could be worse, you could be using a VUDU.

Update On Apple TV Rental Problems

Eddie V. — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:02:20 +0000

This is a follow up to my previous post about having issues with renting movies through Apple TV. For what it’s worth, my problem was eventually solved when Apple refunded my money, but it seems as though this problem goes a little deeper. What you are about to read is a posted comment from site member CHASH. It seems to deal with the typical problem everyone is having, but this time he gets Apple Support to reveal some interesting information about why movies may be disappearing.

” I have a rather disturbing update on this issue… Here’s the background:

I first attempted to rent the title, “Volcano” in HD. Upon authorizing
the rental, AppleTV tried to talk to the iTunes Store which resulted in
a, “Cannot contact iTunes Store”. Thereafter, each time I attempted to
get it to download from the Settings menu, I got, “Unable to check for
downloads”… Foolishly, I then tried to rent another movie that I
hadn’t seen, “U.S. Marshalls”, with the exact same result. I waited for 12
hours, 24 and then 48 — no change. So, I contacted AppleCare this
morning…

OK, so here’s the final result:

AppleCare level 1 support went through all the obvious stuff. They then
talked to the iTunes Store who reported that the movies in question
had been removed from iTunes all together. They then dumped the movies
from my queue and issued a refund. As an aside, the reason the iTunes
Store rep gave for having removed the movies from iTunes was because they
didn’t get rented enough. This is obviously bogus since they had just
been added to the database just a day or so prior.

Anyway, here is where the disturbing part comes in… Level 1 sent me
to level 2 since he was concerned that movies appear on AppleTV that are
actually not available – should not happen. Level 2 said that the
movies are not available and that they appear on AppleTV as artifacts of
sorts. That is, the AppleTV database gets synchronized from the iTunes
Store, and it may be overnight before they fail to appear on the device.
Now, I told him that this has the makings of a major problem, since I
rented the movies last Thursday and they still to this day appear on
AppleTV for rent. And, if I go to the iTunes Store on my Mac, sure enough
the movies are nowhere to be found. And to prove my point to Level 2, I
again rented, “U.S. Marshalls” in HD and got the very same symptom,
whereas the iTunes Store group had to dump my queue one more time…

The question is, this chasm between the databases — how big
(time-wise) is it? In this case, it is at least five (5) days and counting. And
the problem is exacerbated by the iTunes Store (or the content
providers) perchant for playing musical chairs with these movie files. This is
not at all good for our customer experience… ”

Just another element to take into consideration when wondering why
movies disappear. All though I would LOVE to know who the hell is renting
up Police Academy 3 in HD and keeping that title around?

4 New HD Titles Tonight Including Lars And The Real Girl

Eddie V. — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:29:26 +0000

4 new HD titles were added to Apple TV tonight including Lars and the Real Girl, Pitch Black, The Good Night and Waking Ned Divine.

Apple TV Movie Rental Video Formats – Does This Hold True For Purchased Movie Also?

Eddie V. — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:40:34 +0000

According to Apple’s support page on Rental Video Formats the resolution for Standard Definition movies is 720 x up to 480 pixels. If you rented the same movie directly from the iTunes Store the resolution would be 640 x up to 480 pixels. Now, I have yet to purchase a movie through Apple TV. Really there hasn’t been a title worth if for me. All though I am looking forward to next week when Indiana Jones is released on DVD, but I digress. My question is, does the 720 x up to 480 pixel resolution hold true for purchase titles also? Has anyone Purchased a movie through the Apple TV and noticed an improvement in quality over a purchase through the iTunes Store. My guess is this is why there wasn’t some huge dump of all the titles into the Apple TV from the iTunes Store, because they needed to be re-digitized for the higher resolution. Opinions? Thoughts? I’m curious. If this is true, and the quality is improved, then this may persuade me to purchase a title for two.

3 New HD Titles Tonight Including Reservation Road

Eddie V. — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:44:38 +0000

Reservation Road was a DVD release the same week as There Will Be Blood, so I hope to see that title turn Rental and hopefully HD soon. The other two HD titles released were Heartbreak Ridge and The Taking of Palham One Two Three.

ATVJ Gets Mentioned As An Apple TV Resource At Peachpit.com

Eddie V. — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:37:57 +0000

Peachpit Press provides an excerpt from their book The Apple TV Pocket Guide at www.peachpit.com. When you reach page five of the book excerpt online, Buy and Rent Media Using the Apple TV, Apple TV Junkie is mentioned as a resource which tracks all the new movies and TV shows that are available on the Apple TV. Now, any press is good press for ATVJ, but I can’t claim that we have ever tracked new TV shows to this point. But we would like to thank Peachpit for the mention and we’ll have to look for the book to see if we made it to print.

In One Day Apple Trades Away Transformers and POTC In HD For Minor League HD Titles

Eddie V. — Sat, 03 May 2008 05:38:51 +0000

We lose Transformers completely and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End to the Purchase Only list for the following HD jems: The 24 Hour Woman, Conspiracy, Kickboxer 3: The Art of War, The Magnificent Seven Ride!, Steep and My Kid Could Paint That.

Along with Transformers and POTC, earlier in the week Ratatouille mysteriously disappeared from the HD rental list, only to become a purchase only title. I hope this isn’t a trend for Apple as an attempt to drive people to purchase A List titles to please the studios or pad their “purchase” sales numbers when it comes time to brag about how successful this new “purchase” venture is.

Appleinsider Claims iTunes Movies Sold At Loss

Eddie V. — Sat, 03 May 2008 01:44:03 +0000

Citing a Wall Street Journal article, Appleinsider claims that Apple is selling movies above wholesale cost out of frustration with the lackluster performance of it’s video service. Read the entire post here.

Sales of Blu-Ray Players Slowing….Apple TV Now’s Your Chance

Eddie V. — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:13:58 +0000

The New York Times online has an article about slowing Blu-Ray sales. Apparently upconverting standard DVD players are the problem. Do we see a crack opening for Apple TV. Read more.