Forgive me as I have another moment that many of you probably had months, even years, ago.Earlier this week it was my first taste of Disney+, which you couldn't have had years ago, as it hasn't been around for a year yet. But tonight it was Apple TV, which has been around years, but in the format we know it now for only about three.
Yeah I used Apple TV earlier this week when I used Disney+, and yeah, one of its main expected values to us would be as a conduit to that streaming service. But I didn't realize the probably more useful value of it, to me and my own viewing habits, until tonight.
For any number of years now -- as few as eight or as many as a dozen -- I have been utilizing iTunes as a primary source for renting movies. Some small number of those I intended to watch on an Apple device -- an iPad, or when it worked, my old iPod. A slightly larger number were to be watched directly on my laptop, through the iTunes application itself.
But the vast majority have been intended to be watched with my computer plugged in to a proper TV by HDMI cable.
This has not always been a smooth arrangement. As I wrote about extensively most recently in this post, my HDMI setup has been plagued with difficulties over the years. If the HDMI connection itself is not acting up, then sometimes the streaming of the video is held captive by the pathetic processing speed of my computer. At the lowest level of inconvenience, there's making sure the laptop screen is pointing away from you, so you aren't seeing two screens at once -- the adjustment of which sometimes meddles with the HDMI connection. It's a tedious business.
No more.
As Apple TV connects directly to my iTunes account, anything I purchase on my computer is suddenly available on the TV itself. I know I sound like some kind of grandfather here, but the simplicity of it just blows my mind. Just press a couple buttons on the adorable little Apple remote (again with the grandfather tone) and you're watching that movie.
In fact, it was the appearance of Capone, the only movie I happen to have rented from iTunes right now, on my Apple TV menu that told me everything had worked as I'd hoped. Tom Hardy's ugly mug was beautiful to me in that moment.
Why mightn't it have worked?
Because I am still practicing a wee bit of chicanery when it comes to Apple -- chicanery they allow, but which feels like it could disappear at any moment, if any new devices becomes aware of the chicanery.
Namely, I still connect to my American version of iTunes. Have been doing so since moving here in 2013. Continue to do so with peril, with worry that it all may just go away at any moment.
The reason it's important for me to keep doing this is it allows me access to many movies way before they come to Australia. In fact, in the extreme case, I can get the movie for a 99-cent rental even before it's hit Australian cinemas. Not something I want to give up.
Yet every time I register a new device, as was the case here, I worry it'll all go belly up. I mean, I had to basically lie by saying my region was the U.S. rather than Australia. And that is the region of my iTunes account, so it's not really a lie. But by giving this device access to my wireless, I thought it might detect I was not in the U.S. and start sparking and smoking. I disallowed the activation of location services, which may have been the key to keeping my setup as it's always been.
Truth is, I'm not sure if Apple really cares if you are connecting to a different iTunes store from the country where you are currently located. Take the example of the diplomat who is sent overseas for a year. Is that person really meant to link up to iTunes in Saudi Arabia while he or she is there? Do they even have iTunes in Saudi Arabia?
So I guess setting up Apple TV confirmed what I thought I knew, though it was still an occasion for holding my breath.
Was Capone the perfect movie to test out this new functionality?
Hell no! It's really bad! Hardy's makeup is shitty and his performance is comical. He should get the award for most acting. Josh Trank, a director I do not like, who made a movie I do not like (Chronicle) and then got fired from a Star Wars movie (I haven't seen Fantastic Four), has made another turd. He's not talented.
But I don't care. I rent movies for 99 cents not because I expect them to be masterpieces, but because at worst, they fill out the bottom section of my annual rankings. Capone accomplishes that just fine.
And now, if I want to see a good or a terrible movie through iTunes, it's easy as clicking a button.
I just rented two more, and can't wait to watch the next.
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