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Why don't iMac's have built in TV Tuners??

A

anastasis

macrumors member
Original poster
It seems like the logical thing to have built in since they are pushing the iMac as a central hub for music, video and photos. Add a TV Tuner and I will be all over it.... then we can use it as a DVR and all that good stuff.
 
Apple is a global brand.

What kind of tuner would work well for an international market?

VHF or UHF? PAL or NTSC? Digital or analogue? Hi-def or not and which flavour?

Far better to leave it to 3rd-party manufacturers, I think.
 
Blue Velvet said:
Apple is a global brand.

What kind of tuner would work well for an international market?

VHF or UHF? PAL or NTSC? Digital or analogue? Hi-def or not and which flavour?

Far better to leave it to 3rd-party manufacturers, I think.
Click to expand...
Making excuses for Apple?, they should have a TV IN as a option on Powermacs and iMacs. Jobs is very antiTV . You can get a tv tuner for a pc for $30.00. Tv is part of the media center wether Jobs wants to admit it or not. Sometimes you get tired of reading. I would much rather have a cable hook up for my iMac then a......isight. 🙂 Why shouldnt we be able to use our Monitors as Tv monitors?
 
Cant they just make a removable tv tuner, so when you go on holiday to a different country of move abroad you can change the tuner and not the mac?

Apple should be elagato
 
i saw a nice usb2 one on the apple edu store uk the other day, that's about the size of a usb pen drive.

just get one of them.

the whole reason, methinks, is because they're selling tv downloads, and PVR/tv tuners might put a damper on that.
 
If they added one and didn't make it optional, I whouldn't even consider an iMac anymore. The tuner whould make the iMac a lot more expensive in the long run, here and in many other countries, thanks to additional taxes.

Maybe not a problem if you already have a TV, but not all do, or want one.
 
bigandy said:
i saw a nice usb2 one on the apple edu store uk the other day, that's about the size of a usb pen drive.

just get one of them.

the whole reason, methinks, is because they're selling tv downloads, and PVR/tv tuners might put a damper on that.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that's it, why would someone buy a tv show when they can hook up their tv and record it for free? I think the reason Apple isn't doing the whole tuner thing is because they want to change tv by making it digital, through the iTMS.
 
Well there have been 2 Macs that had tuners, but that was then.

I think it has a lot to do with content delivery (buy iTMS vs. record with TV tuner vs. buy DVD). Each has pros and cons depending on when you want the content and how computer savy you are.

Here is another opinion...
Apple’s Media Center PC End Around
 
Dont Hurt Me said:
Making excuses for Apple?
Click to expand...

Not at all. There's no such thing as a cheap universal TV card that would work in every country where Apple sells Macs -- that is my point.

So then you need localised options which makes manufacturing more difficult in order to accommodate all the types of TV signals that exist in these markets.

Just in the UK alone we have terrestial analogue, terrestial digital, satellite digital, cable digital... HD is just around the corner here but many people couldn't care less about it and as far as I know, it's not the same system that you get in the US.

Furthermore, put a TV card in the iMac or PowerMac in the UK and many other EU countries and the purchaser is stung with the cost of a TV licence if they don't have one already.

Anyway, I would wager that the bulk of PowerMacs go to professionals who would have no interest in watching TV on their Macs while they're doing their work and if they do, there's plenty of expansion possibilities within the PM.

I can't see what the big deal is... it's only a minority of people who are interested in watching TV on a computer -- most people would rather chill on the sofa in front of a bigger screen with the family or friends.
 
Has anyone ever tried the EyeTV units? I just got a few from a friend who wants me to sell them off for him, and hooked it up to our desktop mac in the living room. It's awesome! I totally agree that the TV thing should somehow be solved, or at least Apple should cash in on this media.

The EyeTV USB I hooked up does an awesome job and you can record, fast forward, rewind, schedule, etc. In fact I just tried out the free Titan TV webbased scheduling/planning/viewing service with it and it works without a hitch.

Maybe Elgato can produce the box's cheaper than Apple, but Apple should try to either hook up with that or integrate something.

(ps, if anyone wants one of these usb units, you can PM me as I have two left... I'm going to keep one for myself, mwahahaha)
 
In my opinion Sony is Apple's closest competitor. Almost all Sony VAIO desktops have Gigapocket, which is simply Sony's name for a built in TV tuner/DVR. I don't see why Apple desktops can't.
 
I think it would be a little bit ridiculous to enter this complex market all in one media event. They released a fair amount of stuff as it is. I think it would probably be a little too much of a business risk for them. I agree that they should put a TV tuner in there, and there's no doubt in my mind that they won't.
 
finalcoolman said:
In my opinion Sony is Apple's closest competitor. Almost all Sony VAIO desktops have Gigapocket, which is simply Sony's name for a built in TV tuner/DVR. I don't see why Apple desktops can't.
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Actually, that is not true. Almost all Sony don't have tuners. Gigapocket is not a tuner, it is TV recording software. But even if it were true, you ignore the fact that Sony loses money on its PCs. Is that what you want for Apple?
 
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