I think i've cracked it! What I predict rumored iTV will be!

No it'll be a Samsung 9000 series with an atv superglued to the back

You are probably right in some parts, but you are probably very far off the mark. Otherwise this could have been done ages ago.

There will be HDMI input (you just cant have a TV without it.) Or more likey, WiDi input.

iPhone/iPod/Mac remote controlling, or a remote bundles with TV.

Ultra thin, ultra sharp.

Fun to speculate.

alot of what you said is nice to haves and other are simply short sighted.

No tv manufacturer will develop a TV set which you cant use with consoles (bye bye ps3, 360, wii etc), cant plug into an external 5.1, 7.1 digital surround sound system etc you already own, cant connect to any other of your existing equipment you own.

Oh and as you cant use a dvd/BR player you can no longer play any of your existing discs you bought over the years and have to pay Apple again for the privilege to watch them over the web!

As much as I'd like to reduce the volume of cables behind my home entertainment system, its not going to be possible until either all these existing technologies become redundant in a cost affective way, or we can simply replace the cables with a wifi alternative, without ditching the equipment itself.

Soz.

samxool said:

Ok, here is how i think apple will revolutionize the tv industry.
I honestly think I am not far off the mark at all.
For a start, it will have 4k resolution.
It will destroy the resolution of any other tv available.
Plus its the resolution that films are filmed at, so there is no degredation, plus no reason for resolution to go higher.
But if not, then i guess for now 1080p will have to suffice.
But that in itself is not the reason why it will be magical and revolutionary.
The reason is this...

People are always complaining about all the cables cluttering up and looking untidy behind the tv.
With the new apple iTV, there will be 1 cable.
And 1 cable only.
the power cable.
And that is it!
Everything else will be wireless.
The iTunes store will be massively upgraded to include latest tv shows.
You will be able to access the internet and itunes via built in wifi.
But the biggest thing?
Guess how many video/audio inputs this tv will have?
thats right, none!
Nope, not even 1 single hdmi connection.
The reason?
You quite simply won't need any!
No need for aerial socket (though i may compromise on this) as if what you want to watch you can't access via itunes or built in app, you can stream online from the networks website anyways.
No need for a seperate apple tv (or roku or whatever else) as its built into the tv, including new apple tv app store!
No need for blu ray/dvd player. iTunes extensive back catalogue, including 1080p content has now rendered blu ray completely obsolete.
No need for surround sound, as the base of the tv will include a sound bar to simulate surround sound.
Optional wireless speakers for real surround sound are extra.

No need for games console.
Why? You won't need to!
Who needs an xbox or ps3 when you can play awesome games like angry birds or infinity blade straight from built in app store on your tv!!

No need for satelitte/cable tv boxes as stated before.
Oh and you will be able to stream video, audio, photos, etc from your mac, iphone, ipad, etc onto your tv.

Plus the biggy? No adverts.
Thats right, you pay for the shows you want to watch on ad hoc basis, or pay an all-you-can-eat monthly subscription.
Either way, no adverts will be forced your way, finally breaking the back of the corrupt advertising agencies!

Apple iTV. It's the future!

Click to expand...

Currently gaming is nowhere near the quality of console...so they need to step it up!

I could see the set only having a power cable, but there would/could be a WiDi "hub" that has all of the additional HDMI ports. This could easily be mounted in a cabinet with the rest of the audio/video equipment.

samxool said:

Ok, here is how i think apple will revolutionize the tv industry.
I honestly think I am not far off the mark at all.

Click to expand...

I think you're very far off the mark. The Apple TV won't revolutionize on hardware, it will revolutionize on experience -- like everything else Apple makes.

The AppleTV will be first and foremost an iTunes tv. It will be an Internet content TV above all else. Turning it on will by default load your iTunes content, not the coaxial input like every other tv on the market.

Apple will attempt to change the existing paradigm of sitting in front of a tv and being fed scheduled content (mostly reruns) along with endless commercials. Apple disrupts paradigms. Instead of channel based, it will be Show based. You don't switch the channel to Fox to watch the Family Guy. You favourite the "Family Guy" and it becomes available on your home screen. Your collection of favourite shows are displayed the second you turn on your AppleTV. A notification badge will tell you if a new episode has become available.

The existing AppleTV is already capable of this although your tv shows are currently buried under your iCloud menu. What Apple has been missing is live feeds for sports and news. All other content doesn't need to be live. For this, I believe Apple will open their TV to live broadcasters like ESPN and CNN which will deliver apps with their live content.

Apple also disrupts old relics standards of technology (i.e. floppy disk, serial and DVI ports, optical drives). I'm convinced that Apple might drop the tuner and probably the coaxial input altogether. Industry standard HDMI will be the only way -- other than WiFi, AirPlay -- to get content on to the TV. Cable box, video game console and optical disk makers won't disagree, though Apple will make a convincing argument that you won't need those boxes because an AppleTV with an iPad will take care of those requirements for you. Apple will kill coaxial and RCA inputs.

4K is plausible but unlikely. Apple is only now upgrading iTunes to 1080p and I think most will be satisfied with that resolution. Apple might have the buying leverage to make 4K panels affordable (new retina display MacBooks and iMac will lead the way) but there is no 4K content available, specially in the format that Apple will be using. I think they'll start off with a 1080p panel.

While Apple will sell this TV on the user experience, of course it will be beautiful and of course it will be different. Rumors of Apple making a buyout offer for Loewe go well with their announcement of the glass panel transparent tv:



Hmm.

samxool said:

Ok, here is how i think apple will revolutionize the tv industry.

Click to expand...

Ok. This is a rumor site, so I'm game.

I honestly think I am not far off the mark at all.
For a start, it will have 4k resolution.
It will destroy the resolution of any other tv available.

Click to expand...

LOL, um...No. Besides the fact that a 4k resolution TV would cost upwards of $5,000... there is no content available to the typical consumer that would take advantage of that high resolution.

TV shows and TV stations are still complaining about the switch to digital and HD. Most HD channels only broadcast in 720. What you are talking about has vast implications for content providers and carriers. Apple is not a player in the TV/movie/broadcast industry (at all). They have no pull to make something like this happen.

But if not, then i guess for now 1080p will have to suffice.
But that in itself is not the reason why it will be magical and revolutionary.
The reason is this...

People are always complaining about all the cables cluttering up and looking untidy behind the tv.
With the new apple iTV, there will be 1 cable.
And 1 cable only.
the power cable.
And that is it!
Everything else will be wireless.

Click to expand...

No. There are wireless solutions already available and the majority of home routers (wireless G and below) do a poor job of broadcasting high bit rate video without a TON of latency. Also, put one in every living room and you will have SNR problems. Wires are the way to go. The best solution would be for a single cable that carried data/video/audio and whatever else to the TV. Power will still have to be separate due to existing tech and building codes.

The iTunes store will be massively upgraded to include latest tv shows.
You will be able to access the internet and itunes via built in wifi.
But the biggest thing?
Guess how many video/audio inputs this tv will have?
thats right, none!
Nope, not even 1 single hdmi connection.
The reason?
You quite simply won't need any!
No need for aerial socket (though i may compromise on this) as if what you want to watch you can't access via itunes or built in app, you can stream online from the networks website anyways.
No need for a seperate apple tv (or roku or whatever else) as its built into the tv, including new apple tv app store!
No need for blu ray/dvd player. iTunes extensive back catalogue, including 1080p content has now rendered blu ray completely obsolete.
No need for surround sound, as the base of the tv will include a sound bar to simulate surround sound.
Optional wireless speakers for real surround sound are extra.

No need for games console.
Why? You won't need to!
Who needs an xbox or ps3 when you can play awesome games like angry birds or infinity blade straight from built in app store on your tv!!

No need for satelitte/cable tv boxes as stated before.
Oh and you will be able to stream video, audio, photos, etc from your mac, iphone, ipad, etc onto your tv.

Plus the biggy? No adverts.
Thats right, you pay for the shows you want to watch on ad hoc basis, or pay an all-you-can-eat monthly subscription.
Either way, no adverts will be forced your way, finally breaking the back of the corrupt advertising agencies!

Apple iTV. It's the future!

Click to expand...

Though I do expect that itunes will expand their offerings, i think that the 'revolutionary' aspect of Apple TV will have to come from its interface.

The only thing I cannot currently do with my cable box is easily find whatever show(s) or movies that i want to watch in less than 20 seconds.

My guess is that Apple TV will just unify broadcast, on demand rental, DVR, and streaming/download into a single box. I don't see it being a huge gaming platform. Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are far better at that and even they are having problems lately.

When Steve Jobs says he finally cracked the idea to revolutionize the TV industry, I don't think he had building an Apple TV at its centre.

The way Apple can conquer the TV industry is to convince just one major cable company to drop their cable boxes and UI and give away AppleTVs to their customers instead. Apple would control the UI replacing the cable box UI you see when you turn on your TV and that particular cable company would gain a major differentiator from other cable companies. Just like the iPhone exclusive for AT&T, whoever made this deal with Apple would have a big leg up against the competition for the next few years.

This would put AppleTV's in millions of homes. What Steve Jobs says Apple and other struggle with is selling a box to consumers who are already given a free box with their cable service. Giving away AppleTV's instead would take down that barrier.

Cable companies working with Apple would sell packages of network content (i.e. NBC's shows) instead of channels and Apple would take a cut.

ipedro said:

snip ...

Cable companies working with Apple would sell packages of network content (i.e. NBC's shows) instead of channels and Apple would take a cut.

Click to expand...

The problem with this scenario is that Comcast doesn't own the rights to the content (well, perhaps this is a bad example since Comcast owns NBC). The point is that while Comcast may want to sell you a package of ABC/Disney shows, they don't have that right. ABC/Disney would have to negotiate the rights to allow this. Now, multiply this by the number of content owners there are ... and you'll see that it can get quite cumbersome.

That's a pretty long post for such a bad prediction.

All you've done is describe iTunes 11.

Yeah, um 4k, but all wireless. You do realize that even streaming 1080HD puts a mightly toll on most wireless networks.

Streaming 4K content is about a decade away.

Gav2k said:

No it'll be a Samsung 9000 series with an atv superglued to the back

Click to expand...

I prefer crazy glue, which by the way is made from crazy horse.

I'd imagine a big problem is the content. Thers no way in hell I'm paying $2 per episode per show. Thursday night would cost me like $40/month! Thy'll have to allow the shows for free, but with commercials. Of course we could fast forward through the,, but....

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I still want a la carte from my cable provider. I hate scrolling through 700 channels to see the ten channels that I ever actually watch. There's two other channels I want but they're part of a "package" that I refuse to pay for because I don't want the other 20 channels in it.

The cable/dvr boxes are so ****** out dated. It's pathetic technology and looks like crap.

I've been cable free for 5 years now and it keeps getting better and making more sense.

I used to pay roughly $100 a month for my cable package with HD, DVR rental and On-Demand movies.

Most of what I watched could be divided into:

- Live news (CNN or local news left on all day in the background)
- My favourite sitcoms which were almost always re-runs of episodes I had already watched
- Serial tv shows that I'd actually sit down to watch at prime time
- Movies

Let's go backwards:

- Movies: Usually the good ones would have to be rented on Pay Per View (On Demand channels) which were the same or more than iTunes movie rentals so let's call it even.

- Serial tv shows: I followed 2 or 3. Each had an episode a week. On iTunes, each would be $2 per week. That's $8 per month. $16 for 2 or $24 for all 3 shows. Keep in mind that these serials would take a break for several months mid season or at the end of the season so some months I would be paying but the shows wouldn't be on.

- Favourite sitcoms: Seinfeld and How I Met Your Mother. I liked watching these as easy consumption TV. Most of the time they were re-runs. On iTunes n entire season of How I Met Your Mother is $35 or $8 per month (4 episodes per month). Over time, I've built my own re-run tv channel. I've bought seasons of other sitcoms (Big Bang Theory, Friends, etc) so I'll play one and leave it playing while I do my stuff around the house.

- News: CNN.com has always been free and they have a live feed of video on most of the time. My local news station has a live stream of what they play on cable and I've taken a liking for Al Jazeera for international news and their app plays the same feed you'd pay for on cable tv.

So as you see, if you add that up, it was $100 for cable and on iTunes it's $40 for the stuff that I actually watched. Not only am I way ahead on price, with iTunes, I get to keep the shows I buy.

I understand that optically, many people will see buying a la carte is expensive even though they pay more for cable per month (it's an invisible price you're used to having on your credit card or as part of your cable/internet bill) so Apple could probably work out packages where you pay $50 per month and get to watch all you can watch, but like cable, you don't keep the shows you watch.

On the other side of things, many content providers are being proactive and releasing apps with all their shows for free. Here in Canada for example, CTV, CityTV and Global all have apps where you can watch the shows they play for free. You have 15 second ads every 15 minutes or so. With AirPlay, this works perfectly. If Apple releases an API for apps on AppleTV, this platform is going to fly.

EDIT: I know I didn't mention sports. I'm not a huge sports fan but I do enjoy a good game of ice hockey or soccer but I think that watching a game is much more exciting in person or at a sports bar. Nonetheless, for those who do want to watch sports at home, you can buy online packages or apps to watch an entire season on your computer, iPad or smart phone, all of which can stream to the AppleTV and the latest iOS update has brought all but the NFL directly into the AppleTV home menu. With Mountain Lion, you'll be able to stream any content you can get on your computer to your AppleTV via AirPlay.

That's ambitious.