The new Apple TV rental model isn't really price-competitive - Hulu's free for current-run TV, and Netflix is cheaper for older (not current season) TV or for movies. At least the old model let you keep the file to re-watch.
Hulu+ provides the full library for a lot of (primarily NBC right now) shows as well. For $10/month and a small media PC (Acer Revo R1600 in my case) my wife and I are able to watch more TV than we can reasonably handle. I love the service.
We've dropped our cable. We use a combination of streaming Netflix, Hulu, and Redbox for all of our entertainment needs. I just don't see where Apple TV provides any real advantage. Especially with XBox promising Hulu support early next year.
I've got basically the same setup. If AppleTV has got an advantage, it's in packing all these things into a neat, tiny package with a clean and simple UI. Standard procedure for Apple really, and it has worked for them in the past.
To me the question is whether they've let all these competing services catch on too much before throwing their hat back in. Virtually everyone who knows what AppleTV is/was is already aware of Hulu and Netflix. So they've got to do a really good job of improving the experience with these channels, or alternately target less tech-savvy people who aren't aware of these alternatives.
In my experience, anyone who wasn't raised with game consoles does not want to deal with them when trying to watch movies. My father would sooner drop a couple hundred bucks on a redundant DVD player than have to learn what "sign in to xbox live" means, or remember that the green button means go and the red one means go back.
Unfortunately Apple's new TV rental service doesn't seem to extend to the UK. It's a shame, as at £99 I was very happy to buy one until I realised how much less content we're getting compared to the US.
Disagree. The time and frustration of watching ads is worth more than 99 cents to me. Plus, Apple's selection is much better than Hulu's or Netflix's, and their resolution is 720p compared to the lower 480p quality on the other services. (Netflix in particular heavily compresses their video stream to the extent that it detracts from my experience sometimes.)
Netflix streams some content in 720p, and most compression issues are related to bandwidth and the preference for continuity of play rather than quality of play. If I'm rate-limiting anything I download, though, I don't have problems even with HD.
The average household watches 8 hours per day (http://is.gd/ePUvJ). Assuming 50% of that time is spent on 30 minute shows, that's 12 shows, or $12/day in AppleTV rentals... $360/month for ad-free viewing. Current Cable TV folks with a DVR are paying $100/month or so $3.30 per day... So this is a 300%+ premium for the joy of not having to skip commercials with a DVR and program the shows you want to record, plus the snazzy interface. That's a shitty deal for America.
However, it might be a GREAT deal for people who don't watch a lot of TV.
I'm not sure how price competitive it really needs to be. A HTPC is a non-starter for most people. The other limited function boxes out there not well known to most people. Gaming consoles are considerably more expensive. It seems like a good price point at $99 especially with the AirPlay stuff tying into iOS devices.
