By Aidan Malley
Published: 05:20 PM EST
Apple CEO Steve Jobs took to the D: All Things Digital conference stage with surprise news that his company's media hub would soon grab YouTube clips -- and unveiled a hard drive upgrade behind the scenes.
During his interview with the
Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg at the fifth annual D event, Jobs revealed that a software upgrade to the Apple TV would give access to YouTube videos through its Internet connection, demonstrating the function through a segment of "America's Got Talent."
Unlike the computer experience, however, owners wouldn't access the clips directly; instead, clips would be added manually by a team that hosts the videos in an Apple TV-ready form. YouTube account holders could then login to their accounts from the hub and either browse individual categories or search for themselves using only the Apple Remote.
Image quality, however, wasn't set to be one of the changes. Jobs noted that the conversion would be an as-is method rather than employ upscaling or other enhancements. "You get what you get," he said.
"Thousands" of videos will go live when the update appears in mid-June, but continuing work will see the entire YouTube catalog in Apple TV form sometime during the fall.
And addressing concerns that the stock Apple TV's 40GB hard drive was inadequate for avid media collectors, the California firm also announced a 160GB hard disk option for the device, which raises the overall price to $400.
The revision is expected to appear tomorrow through the company's online store.
