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A/V Streaming to Replace AirTunes in Next Airport Express (RELIABLE SOURCE)

It seems our friend heres rumor is starting to become more and more true, which is awesome. 🙂 No more wires to watch my DivX anime fansubs on my TV! Can take it wherever I wanna watch around the house. F***in SWEET DUDE! 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
 
Reanimation_LP said:
It seems our friend heres rumor is starting to become more and more true, which is awesome. 🙂 No more wires to watch my DivX anime fansubs on my TV! Can take it wherever I wanna watch around the house. F***in SWEET DUDE! 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
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I bet Apple would get around playing all types of video because of compression technologies. I'm betting that all video that would be streamed oved AirPort ExpressAV would have to be in Quicktime H.264. I guess you'd have to convert your DivX files into .MOV
 
ipedro said:
I bet Apple would get around playing all types of video because of compression technologies. I'm betting that all video that would be streamed oved AirPort ExpressAV would have to be in Quicktime H.264. I guess you'd have to convert your DivX files into .MOV
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If Apple had a movie-server for your ExpressAV, the chip in the ExpressAV could be far simpler. They'd need to transcode your signal to their standard on the fly, and decode at the AV. I guess they could send it in whatever format they wanted.

A movie-server style service makes sense, as it's how iTunes does it now (iTunes controls the Airport-Express). And yet, Steve Jobs said he didn't want to tie up the home computer to have a TV work. Hmmm. I'm more willing to base probabilities on Apple's past product (iTunes+Express) than Steve's comments 🙂
 
Further information is available regarding the AirPort Express AV launch and its repercussions: The AirPort Extreme Base Station is on it's way to becoming discontinued.

Apple's new strategy is to make a WiFi component that is easily transportable. If a user requires further distance, a second AirPort Express will extend the range (it does this now).

I suspect Apple's vision is to have an AirPort Express in every room of the house where there is a tv. This negates the reason d'être of the AirPort Extreme.
From a central location, you can stream Audio/Video to any part of the house or using a PowerBook or iBook or potentialy a Wi-Fi iPod, you could wander wirelessly around the house streaming music and video to the room where you are.
 
You can already stream video using Airport Express

You guys should really check out El Gato's EyeHome. I haven't seen a demo of it in person--so i can't vouch for the quality--but EyeHome supports MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, and DIVX at 480p, which is DVD quality. Maybe they'll add H.264 support in the near future. (I imagine they use a pretty standard decoding hardware you find in DVD players that support DIVX and VCDs. So H.264 support will have to wait until hardware decoders for it becomes affordable.)

In addition to video, EyeHome receives iTunes and iPhoto streams. The nice thing about EyeHome is that you can control what you stream from your Mac using an IR remote. The downside, of course, is that you need two pieces of hardware to make this work:

mac <--> airport express <--> eyehome --> TV
(user controls eyehome via a remote)

My guess is that if Apple adds S-video to airport express, it'll still be just a one-way system:

mac --> airport express --> TV
(user controls the mac)

I assume iTunes will be THE interface for both audio and video (and probably photo). The recent discovery of video capabilities in iTunes 4.8 supports this possibility. Yes, the pieces are finally starting to come together. Maybe we'll even see iTunes 5.0 released with support for purchasing videos through the iTMS. So, to wrap up, we can expect the following:

1. Airport Express 2.0 with S-video out
2. iTunes update
3. iTunes Video Store (a bit of a reach)
4. AirTunes remote (also a bit of a reach)
5. Apple DVR (my pipe dream)

It'd be nice if Apple provides the complete solution, and not just bits and pieces. Macs + CD burners + iPods + iTunes + iTMS is the complete solution for listening, ripping, buying, and carrying music. It'd be nice if Apple released something like that for video content.
 
The 30 songs coupon expires the day before D: All Things Digital Conference. Last year, Steve Jobs announced the first AirPort Express at this conference.


TERMS & CONDITIONS
To qualify for a coupon, you must purchase the AirPort Express Base Station (Part number B9762LL/A) via the U.S. iTunes Music Store in conjunction with the U.S. Apple Online Store from May 2, 2005, to May 23, 2005.
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I'm assuming that with AE's being nearly sold out everywhere and the 30 free songs coupon expiring the day before the conference, it's becoming pretty obvious that a new replacement AirPort Express will be launched on Tuesday, May 24.
 
Noooo! Just yesterday I ordered an Airport Express. I would be really disappointed if if it arrived and then a couple days later they came out with an A/V version.
 
killuminati said:
Noooo! Just yesterday I ordered an Airport Express. I would be really disappointed if if it arrived and then a couple days later they came out with an A/V version.
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Cancel it! Cancel it!
 
If this has been mentioned, I'm sorry.

Keep in mind that now it looks like Macs will ship with Airport cards built-in, which lends creedance to the possibilty of streaming video. People wouldn't want to stream video and then learn they need an airport card. Hacing it built-in solves this problem
 
Well has this gone all over and back! Just to add my 1/2 bit (I'm not near credible for 2!) I'd like to think it'll be iPhoto Slideshow player on your TV, and then with a remote scroll your playlists, etc on your TV. The Salling Clicker for BT Phones can do this very easily, so maybe they'll put BT on it as well for a BT remote that will work locally with the AE...if it was BT with your computer in a far reaching part of the house, the range might not be sufficient.

Oh yeah, I totally vote for Pedro! I'm actually going to Big J's Drive In this weekend! (It's where Kip and Rico ate a few times while discussing the new product and Lafawnduh)
 
I called 4 popular Apple stores. All of them were sold out of AirPort Express units! I asked each one when they could expect to have them in stock. One said in a couple of weeks, the other 3 mentioned the online promotion where you get 30 songs, suggesting I should buy it at the online Apple store. Looks like Apple is giving Apple Stores instructions to forward customers to the online store to finish the remaining stock of 1st generation AE's.

I'll bet the house that we'll get a new AirPort Express ... AV or not next Tuesday! 😀
 
It would be really cool if you could use it to stream as a second monitor... That be wicked fun. Run it as an extended desktop or mirror of the current desktop.
 
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=951


Updated AirPort Base Stations

According to sources, the company is expected to introduce updates to both its AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express products in the coming months.

While specifics are lacking, sources said the new base stations would sport minor component and software revisions while continuing to support the current AirPort Extreme Card.

One hot, but unconfirmed, rumor is that Apple may be considering the addition of a standard optical audio out port to its AirPort Express product. The current version ships with a 3.5mm mini-Audio jack for analog or optical digital sound, but requires that users purchase a $40 kit to tap the optical interface.
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sakasune said:
So, I guess this wasn't true after all...
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maybe some new products will be announced tomorrow cuz steve wanted to spend the whole keynote talking about intel. Idno, just an idea
 
killuminati said:
maybe some new products will be announced tomorrow cuz steve wanted to spend the whole keynote talking about intel. Idno, just an idea
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my post above from appleinsider said the new airport express with an optical out. i trust them more than ipedro, but never the less we must wait and see.
 
I just noticed that the shipping time has gone to 1-3 days now... i dont know if that means much but i think the times just changed today
 
I'm thinking if they still release an A/V Airport, it might be until Quicktime 7 for Windows is no longer a preview. I don't remember for sure, but wasn't iTunes released for Windows, then the Airport Express came out? So, if the new A/V Airport supports H.264, Apple might want Quicktime for Windows to be final first.

Just a thought...
 
sakasune said:
I'm thinking if they still release an A/V Airport, it might be until Quicktime 7 for Windows is no longer a preview. I don't remember for sure, but wasn't iTunes released for Windows, then the Airport Express came out? So, if the new A/V Airport supports H.264, Apple might want Quicktime for Windows to be final first.

Just a thought...
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Have you looked at the system requirements to decode H.264? I highly doubt, any networking device is going to have that much processing power, and be priced reasonabley.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/ichat/
 
Any networked device that will decode H.264 will use a specialized ASIC that will decode in hardware. Considering that all next-gen high def players (HD-DVD or Blu-ray) are going to have hardware decoding, these chips won't be expensive for very long after the introduction of the next-gen players.
 
So it looks like we won't be seeing this for a while. Now that you've been mostly disproved, care to share your "sources" pedro?

Oh, WAIT!!!!

My Magic 8 ball says the Mactels are to be released next tuesday! Confirmed by my most recent fortune cookie!
 
Where's Pedro

Hey, wasn't pedro suppossed to meet us back here after the keynote. I'm here. Where's Pedro. Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that he was wrong, that his sources mislead him, or... [brace yourself]... he was lying?

I think it's a great idea, but you can all remove the wool now.
 
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