The Tech Bench

It’s official, a premium Hulu service is coming in July.

Hulu Plus will stream HD content to your iPhone, Mac, iPad, TV and iPod Touch for $9.99/month. Both Wi-fi and 3G streaming will be supported. Other devices like the PS3, Xbox 360, TVs and blu-ray devices will support the new service soon.

The Hulu Plus subscription will include access to an expanded library of shows and movies. You can sign up here to request a preview invite.

[ Hulu Plus ]

I love my Apple TV.

I use it as my primary jukebox at home and think it’s the best way to rent movies (if they’re available.)

So besides having more new releases available for rent the same day they come out on DVD, what do we want to see in an updated Apple TV?

1. SATA Hard Drive Interface

The current Apple TV uses the older PATA 2.5″ hard drive interface which limits the capacity of the hard drive to 320GB. SATA 2.5″ hard drives (like the ones used in MacBooks) currently go up to 750GB with larger 1TB and bigger drives on the horizon.

2. 1080p HD Resolution

The current Apple TV has a max resolution of 720p, but most HD TVs nowadays can run at 1080p. Although the file size of 1080p video will be larger, hopefully so will the hard drives.

3. Boxee / Hulu / Netflix / DVR

When YouTube access got added to the Apple TV, everyone got excited about the possibilities of combining the Apple TV experience with other video services. Unfortunately, nothing else has been (officially) added. The content creators and content providers are still working out their differences. It’ll probably take some more consolidation in the industry before they all play nice together.

4. Extended Apple TV

Sonos is awesome and very expensive. Networked Apple TVs that allow media to be played across different rooms in the house would really be cool. Apple should buy Sonos and incorporate their software into iTunes.

5. Faster, Better Remote

The Remote app for the iPhone and iPod Touch is great except its way too slow to connect. The remote app should be instant on (like all other remotes) or just improve the remote that comes with the Apple TV. I’m all for simple and clean designs but my poor Apple TV remote is constantly being made fun of by the bigger remotes. While we’re at it, let’s switch to rf control and not have to point the remote at the Apple TV.

So there you have it. People love their Macs, but they also love sitting and starring at a TV. The Apple TV is great way to combine these two activities. Hopefully the next version of the Apple TV will continue to improve upon the experience.

AppleTV getting a new 320GB hard drive.
PATA hard drive interface is highlighted.

Introduced in Jan. 2007, the AppleTV is still going strong over 2 1/2 years later. While the hardware hasn’t seen any changes yet, the software has slowly but surely been getting better and better.

I’ve had mine since March 2007 and use it every day. Each software update has really improved the platform and the new Remote app interface is awesome. The QWERTY keyboard control makes searching so much easier.

Every time Apple releases a new AppleTV update, we see an increase in the number of AppleTVs in for hard drive upgrades. The 320GB is by far the most popular.

Outside of 1080p and a SATA interface (so we can put 500GB drives in) there’s not much hardware-wise I want to see in a new AppleTV. Most of what I want (more movies, better Hulu integration, and more audio options) can all be accomplished with new software.

Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait too long.

[ AppleTV Upgrades ]