I`m a Mac user and have two of them, an Imac and a Mac Book Pro

I dont want to buy and Apple Tv,

If I purchase an HD movie or series on iTunes, how do I watch it on my Home theater?

I have a 58 panasonic plasma, harman khardon amp

Can it be done? Will it see/hear in HD?
J

I`m a Mac user and have two of them, an Imac and a Mac Book Pro

I dont want to buy and Apple Tv,

If I purchase an HD movie or series on iTunes, how do I watch it on my Home theater?

I have a 58 panasonic plasma, harman khardon amp

Can it be done? Will it see/hear in HD?
J

You should be able to hook up your laptop or your iMac depending on what version to your TV using a DVI to DVI or a DVI to HDMI cable. Loading up the HD video in iTunes or Frontrow you should be able to watch HD just fine. As for the audio the HD encodes carry both an AC-3 track as well as an AAC stereo track. When playing on a Mac their doesn't appear to be anyway to get the AC-3 track out of the digital audio out, only the stereo track is played. DVD Player on the Mac has the option to pipe the AC-3 out the digital audio port, so hopefully one day it will be possible.

As for the AppleTV I have several of them and they really do make streaming HD content from your Mac or PC to your HD TV dirt simple.

thanks Max

I guess if Dolby True HD or linear pcm can't travel via SPDIF, then less they can travel through a Mono/stereo cable. I ask because the only output from my mac book pro is a mono plug, which at best can become stereo on the other end. So the best I can aspire I guess is connect this stereo end to my dolby surround amp and have it simulate surround effect.

Or.... connect the mac book pro via firewire to an external sound card, which I have, which has digital output (rca) and connect this to my amp.

I might give this a try one day.

Anyone bought a movie in HD from iTunes worth testing?
J

thanks Max

I guess if Dolby True HD or linear pcm can't travel via SPDIF, then less they can travel through a Mono/stereo cable. I ask because the only output from my mac book pro is a mono plug, which at best can become stereo on the other end. So the best I can aspire I guess is connect this stereo end to my dolby surround amp and have it simulate surround effect.

Or.... connect the mac book pro via firewire to an external sound card, which I have, which has digital output (rca) and connect this to my amp.

I might give this a try one day.

Anyone bought a movie in HD from iTunes worth testing?
J

Actually the audio out jack on a MacBook or an iMac is both an analog as well as a SDIF port. For the DVD Player application it will pipe the AC-3 stream from the DVD to the receiver if you have the pass through option enabled.

Unfortunately iTunes only sells HD TV shows right now. HD movies are only available to rent via the AppleTV.

AFAIK all HD movie download services are restricted to rental only, with the exception of the three Bourne movies, which could be purchased in HD on the Vudu last year.

I actually did this the other day. I have a MAC Book Pro and I bought a DVI to HDMI cable to play the video and I bought a cable that hooks into the headphone jack and then has the audio cable into the TV. Worked pretty well so now I am going to try hooking it up through the receiver then to the TV.

The guys at the Apple Store where pretty good about walking me through what was available as far as cabling.

learn something thank you.