As is my duty as your humble reporter, I downloaded iTunes 7 and purchased a movie from the iTunes Store. I decided on an older favorite from the library, so it set me back $9.99 plus tax (of course there’s tax – this is Maine, after all). The movie took (as advertised) about 30 minutes to download on my powerful 3 Mbps GWI DSL connection. A couple of minutes into the download I double-clicked the file in iTunes and the movie started right up. Although I didn’t sit there through the movie’s entire 135 minutes, I am convinced I could’ve watched it right through without interruption as it downloaded.

iTunes movies have a “screen size” of 640 by 480 pixels. Therefore, the picture covered roughly one-half of my 1280 x 854 PowerBook screen. Not bad. Selecting the full-screen view resulted in a very nice, but not quite DVD-quality, picture.

Next, I downloaded the movie onto my video-capable iPod. The iPod’s small screen is only adequate for planes, trains, and automobile viewing. The real fun began, however, when I connected the iPod to my 53-inch Sony projection TV via Apple’s optional $19 A/V cable. It’s an older model TV, not high-definition, and has the traditional 4:3 format (not widescreen). The picture on the TV was excellent, due to the iTunes movie’s 640 x 480 size.

So, how do you bypass the iPod and get the movies from iTunes onto your TV? Last week Apple did something really unusual – they previewed a product that won’t be available until after the first of the year.

They call it (for now) “iTV”. It’s a small box (about six inches square and two inches tall) that is a bridge between the computer and the TV.

How do it work? iTV contains physical connections to just about any TV. HDMI for high-definition. Component video for older high-quality TVs. RCA (red, white, and yellow) for that kitchen TV. Digital and analog audio.

But how do you get the content from the computer to the TV? Wirelessly, of course (or through the iTV’s included “terrestrial” Ethernet port).

Once the connections are made, you control your viewing options through the TV, using Apple’s simple remote control and a software interface similar to the current Front Row media viewer.

Again, iTV (or whatever they decide to call it) will be available in the first quarter of 2007 and will retail for $299.

© 2006 Peter F. Zimowski