Why no DVD player in Apple TV?

pinsrw said:

2. It doesn't have a DVD player, so we can't play any of our numerous preexisting DVDs not anything that we get at the library for $2.

Why does Apple hobble Apple TV in this way?

Click to expand...

Because Apple doesn't see optical media in the future. All it sees is digital downloads. It's probably along the same lines as to why there are no Blu-ray drives in Macs yet.

Sort of defeats the purpose of iTunes, don't you think?

I know, right? and why isn't there a CD player on iPods? It's ridiculous.

iowamensan said:

I know, right? and why isn't there a CD player on iPods? It's ridiculous.

Click to expand...

LOL this was so funny!!!

Who uses DVD/CDs anymore?? Just one more thing to break really. IMO, Apple wants to minimalize the copyright issues, since someone can obviously JailBreak it and then rip DVDs to their TV. There are ways to get it on there, but you could just pay a few dollars and have the movie on there.....

Why give users DVDs to scratch when Apple can keep them in the "cloud" scratchfree!

Apple wants you to buy content from iTunes

OllyW said:

Loads of people. DVDs still outsell digital downloads by a huge margin.

I agree with everyone else though, there's never going to be an optical disc player built into the Apple TV.

Click to expand...

To be honest, that is not completely true on new releases, I guess we are just at the tipping point

Hankcah said:

Who uses DVD/CDs anymore?? Just one more thing to break really. IMO, Apple wants to minimalize the copyright issues, since someone can obviously JailBreak it and then rip DVDs to their TV. There are ways to get it on there, but you could just pay a few dollars and have the movie on there.....

Why give users DVDs to scratch when Apple can keep them in the "cloud" scratchfree!

Click to expand...

Speak for yourself, in our hosehold we STILL regularly buy dvds. In our opinion it's not dead yet.

OP: Do yourself a favor and put the money you were going to spend on a DVD player towards a new Apple TV instead. Then, take your existing DVDs and rip and encode them. Yes, it might take a while depending on the speed of your computer and the size of your movie collection, but you only have to do it once. Then you can stream whatever you want with the press of a few buttons.

As for watching YouTube videos on the computer, just hook up a laptop to your tv. That's if you have a laptop. If not, and if you really want a DVD player, a keyboard input, etc., get yourself a Mac mini and connect it to you tv.

But let's be realistic here. There's no compelling reason why Apple should put a DVD player in its Apple TV device, other than the fact that you want one. Some people still watch VHS (my neighbor, for example, who has a HUGE movie collection on tape), but that doesn't mean the Apple TV needs to come with a VCR deck. The technology is old. In the case of the DVD it isn't quite dead yet, but it's most definitely heading in that direction. Whether or not digital downloads win out over Blu-ray is still up in the air, but the DVD is on life support at this point. Just accept it.

OllyW said:

Nowhere near yet.

Click to expand...

Not sure what you are talking about but 2 weeks ago there was news that Digital and Streaming sales of new released movies surpass the actual DVD sales, they said this is mostly due to the fact that the movies are available on Cable PPV and Streaming few days and in some cases weeks before actual media release.

If i find the article I'll link it

pinsrw said:

People,

Recently we were shopping for a DVD player and we wanted something that offered more, because we often watch YouTube videos -- more than we watch regular TV at this point -- and it's not easy to watch them on our TV. The process of getting a video from YouTube to the TV is laborious: Download flv, convert to mp4 using ffmpeg, burn DVD using iDVD. For a 30 minute video it can take an hour.

The idea that Apple TV would allow us to bypass that and show YouTube on the TV directly was enticing. Unfortunately for some reason Apple has hobbled Apple TV in two ways:

1. It doesn't permit an external keyboard, so we can't browse YouTube easily at all.
2. It doesn't have a DVD player, so we can't play any of our numerous preexisting DVDs not anything that we get at the library for $2.

Why does Apple hobble Apple TV in this way?

Click to expand...

dude DVD players are so late 90's and early 2000's!

Itunes, netflix, hulu, youtube and apps!

Get with the times my friend!

I would be happy with a DVD sharing / streaming feature where you put the DVD in an iMac / Laptop and the Apple TV can play from there.

pinsrw said:

So what should I do, throw out my DVD collection to help out old Apple? Am I not supposed to have free will anymore?

Click to expand...

No, all you need to do if you want to play DVD's is buy some equipment that plays them. There are plenty out there. If Apple don't want to support DVDs on a piece of kit then that is their choice. Nobody is making you buy it.

I still buy DVD as long as the price is right...BestBuy seems to be trying to phase out the DVD by making new releases the same price on BluRay as DVD...for example, Iron Man 2 this week was $18 on DVD or BluRay. But since I watch most movies I am interested in in theaters, I usually wait till the dvd copy goes on sale.

I typically don't buy a lot of movies though as I use Netflix for streaming plus the DVD I send back and forth.

But really, can't you just buy a DVD player from WalMart for like $9.99 now? Honestly if Apple put a dvd player in the Apple TV people would have been complaining about how it uses such an old technology.

What would be cool is if Apple TV could use drive sharing like in Mac OS. So I can put a DVD or CD into my mac mini in another room and stream it to the Apple TV. But that probably won't happen as it would make it simpler to view physical media on the Apple TV, taking away from digital sales.

pinsrw said:

So what should I do, throw out my DVD collection to help out old Apple? Am I not supposed to have free will anymore?

Click to expand...

you have free will. don't buy an apple tv.

pinsrw said:

So in other words, because Apple can't profit from rentals of DVDs at libraries and kiosks and video stores, it's selling a product that doesn't support them. Isn't that kind of insane? I mean the definition of psychosis is detachment from reality and interacting with an imaginary world. The idea that humans will conform to Apple's imaginary world in which DVDs don't exist is really nuts. I wonder if Steve Jobs signed off on this policy.

Click to expand...

I can understand someone wanting Apple to come out with a product that perfectly meets their needs. Personally, I want Apple to come out with a Super AppleTV that has a 2TB SSD, blu-ray, multi-stream cablecard slots, DVR functionality, plays any audio/video format, has an App store, and has a monthly all-you-can-consume flat rate of $30. Or I would even settle for any combination of these features. Of course considering the laws of reality, we know this will never happen.

Now, given your request, it is definitely possible to add a DVD player, but that is not the product that they wanted to make. Are you saying that Apple should be required to do it, just because it is possible and because you want/need it? In my mind it seems a bit "Nazi-Tastic" for any individual group or agency to be able to require a company to add any specific functionality. Apple can determine what product they bring to market, and if people don't like it, they won't buy it. And it will die out. Simple as that.

All in all, if it's not the right product for you, then opt for something else.

pinsrw said:

I agree but it's their choice to make an inferior product. It's another instance of business people being the biggest impediment to commerce. If they can't completely control the consumer they aren't happy. They're like Stalin without the death camps. They're like RIAA without the lawsuits.

Click to expand...

Really? I mean, really? Steve Jobs not putting a DVD player in the Apple TV makes him a megalomaniac trying to control your life?

Here's your solution: buy a cheap DVD player and stop complaining.

pinsrw said:

1. It doesn't permit an external keyboard, so we can't browse YouTube easily at all.
2. It doesn't have a DVD player, so we can't play any of our numerous preexisting DVDs not anything that we get at the library for $2.

Why does Apple hobble Apple TV in this way?

Click to expand...

Wife and I use the remote for the ipad, iphone or ipod as external keyboard for browsing you tube.

Doesn't need a DVD player. I use handbrake to convert the dvd's to itunes format and then play through Apple TV. Apple didn't hobble the Apple TV at all. Works just great the way it is.