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Airport Express With Video?
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Something is definatly up with the october 12 anouncement, this, the video ipod, and the new pro machines. 8 more days!!!1
I hate waiting this long to hear product announcments! Rumor Sites should keep quiet until the night before the event, so we aren't losing a lot of sleep concering what Apple has up there sleeve.
Who agrees?
Who agrees?
A decently priced media center is my dream Apple product. Doubt I will ever see it but the hope is still alive.
Please iHome...
Please iHome...
This would rock as long as a Mac mini as a base level performing Mac could support this. Then every second person would want one to watch stuff on their TV without needing to wire their Mac up. Apple would sell millions of these things if they got the specs and price right.
Oh baby i would snatch one of these up in a second. I love the idea of streaming video and music. APPLE you have at least one guaranteed sale, i promise!
Something like this I would be happy to showoff when friends are over even i would find it "that" cool. I'm pretty picky on things I like alot.
Something like this I would be happy to showoff when friends are over even i would find it "that" cool. I'm pretty picky on things I like alot.
wireless video
A wireless video buss would be so friggin awesome... but thats a tough nut to crack. It would be great for isolating hardware (for security reasons) not to mention the ability to access the relatively massive power of a desktop unit wirelessly. Immagine a sleek "laptop" thats ultra-cool and ultra-light that can harness the power of large desktop units within range! I think some wireless standards would be up to the data transfer needs of most applications, with video data transfer being the only problem. Latency shouldn't be a problem. Computer clusters use standard networking equipment and get great performance.
Think about wireless input devices that work well... the only thing missing is wireless video. The possibilities seem endless to me, and it would be sweet if Apple was working on something like this!
A wireless video buss would be so friggin awesome... but thats a tough nut to crack. It would be great for isolating hardware (for security reasons) not to mention the ability to access the relatively massive power of a desktop unit wirelessly. Immagine a sleek "laptop" thats ultra-cool and ultra-light that can harness the power of large desktop units within range! I think some wireless standards would be up to the data transfer needs of most applications, with video data transfer being the only problem. Latency shouldn't be a problem. Computer clusters use standard networking equipment and get great performance.
Think about wireless input devices that work well... the only thing missing is wireless video. The possibilities seem endless to me, and it would be sweet if Apple was working on something like this!
powerbook911 said:
Why couldn't it be a tivo-like device that downloads and transfers to it. But it doesn't play until the download is complete.
Wouldn't it make sense if a video iPod is released that the dock for it, assuming it's not this device, be able to wirelessly connect to it?
...hey, why can't current music iPod docks do this with Airport Express?
...hey, why can't current music iPod docks do this with Airport Express?
MPEG4 is soon to be history.H264 will become better and better..
802.11N is on it's way..
Apple has always been the trend setter in media content..
iMedia..
iVideo...
Airmedia...
iMedia Store..
iNeedMeds....
802.11N is on it's way..
Apple has always been the trend setter in media content..
iMedia..
iVideo...
Airmedia...
iMedia Store..
iNeedMeds....
I think that streaming video would be really nifty. The only problem I see is a remote.
For instance, joe has his computer in the study on the 2nd floor of his house. His plasma TV is downstairs, how does he fix this? Video Airport, however, the only problem is how you change programs and browse videos without having the computer close by.
For instance, joe has his computer in the study on the 2nd floor of his house. His plasma TV is downstairs, how does he fix this? Video Airport, however, the only problem is how you change programs and browse videos without having the computer close by.
MrSugar said:
BINGO!!
With a central wireless iMedia device/Lan router..aka iTablet media device.
Ya, this is what I want. vPod would be next to useless, imo, but this coupled with an online movie store would be HUGE.
802.11g has enough bandwidth, especially at the short range/strong signal strength that this would be designed around, for MPEG4 based transmission. MPEG2 (DVD streams) could actually be done if my math is correct. I'm on a ton of NyQuil at the moment, though, so someone feel free to correct me.
If the DMCA wasn't the cruel reality, Apple could bundle a DVD ripper with iTunes and let you transcode DVDs to another format for playback this way. As it is, they will have to unofficially support this and base the product around an online movie store. A 2 hour DVD quality film can be done in 1gb with DiVX, less with H.264 if I'm not mistaken. Apple could also beat the rest of the market to the punch with an HD movie service using H.264... forget the HD DVD - BluRay wars... give me downloadable HD movies that I can play wirelessly to my TV or even just on my ACD*!
Although, I'm not sure if .11g would stream an HD level H.264 stream... the 1080i quality Serenity trailer came in at just under 1 megabyte a second, can .11g handle that with a close range transmission? My math says yes, but the NyQuil could be influencing that.
I'm not sure about H.264, but other MPEG4 codecs have hardware decoders that are cheap enough you can but a set top box that plays them back for like $75. I don't see any reason that Apple couldn't make a $150 device that did something similar with additional H.264 support. Put a little buffer in there, say 64mb, and this would be pretty reliable, I'd think.
*Note: I don't have an ACD, but my Dell LCD isn't bad... be a good reason for someone to buy a 23 or 30" ACD, though.
802.11g has enough bandwidth, especially at the short range/strong signal strength that this would be designed around, for MPEG4 based transmission. MPEG2 (DVD streams) could actually be done if my math is correct. I'm on a ton of NyQuil at the moment, though, so someone feel free to correct me.
If the DMCA wasn't the cruel reality, Apple could bundle a DVD ripper with iTunes and let you transcode DVDs to another format for playback this way. As it is, they will have to unofficially support this and base the product around an online movie store. A 2 hour DVD quality film can be done in 1gb with DiVX, less with H.264 if I'm not mistaken. Apple could also beat the rest of the market to the punch with an HD movie service using H.264... forget the HD DVD - BluRay wars... give me downloadable HD movies that I can play wirelessly to my TV or even just on my ACD*!
Although, I'm not sure if .11g would stream an HD level H.264 stream... the 1080i quality Serenity trailer came in at just under 1 megabyte a second, can .11g handle that with a close range transmission? My math says yes, but the NyQuil could be influencing that.
I'm not sure about H.264, but other MPEG4 codecs have hardware decoders that are cheap enough you can but a set top box that plays them back for like $75. I don't see any reason that Apple couldn't make a $150 device that did something similar with additional H.264 support. Put a little buffer in there, say 64mb, and this would be pretty reliable, I'd think.
*Note: I don't have an ACD, but my Dell LCD isn't bad... be a good reason for someone to buy a 23 or 30" ACD, though.
Apple's "location-free" IP TV
Haven't you all seen the "location free" tv that Sony introduced last year? Basically a flat panel display with 802.11G and a lithium battery. A base unit is connected to power, tv, DVD player and internet. It beams out video to the wireless panel. The cool thing is that you can travel with the flat panel. If it is within range of any wi-fi network you can watch your television channels from back home as it works over the Internet and always "finds" the IP address for the device. I saw one of these things at CES in January of 2004. They came out with them shortly after that. Not sure how well they have gone over. But definitely much potential. What if Apple did this one better with a tablet-like interface? Some kind of hard disc to record content? HDTV capable? I'd buy one. Then again, I buy everything Apple comes out with, even if I don't need it.
Haven't you all seen the "location free" tv that Sony introduced last year? Basically a flat panel display with 802.11G and a lithium battery. A base unit is connected to power, tv, DVD player and internet. It beams out video to the wireless panel. The cool thing is that you can travel with the flat panel. If it is within range of any wi-fi network you can watch your television channels from back home as it works over the Internet and always "finds" the IP address for the device. I saw one of these things at CES in January of 2004. They came out with them shortly after that. Not sure how well they have gone over. But definitely much potential. What if Apple did this one better with a tablet-like interface? Some kind of hard disc to record content? HDTV capable? I'd buy one. Then again, I buy everything Apple comes out with, even if I don't need it.
More indication of the idea that the personal computer is about to expand into the realm of the entertainment center. Your Apple will most likely replace your receiver as the heart of your entertainment center, it will hold all of your media and be able to send it out to multiple mediums throughout the house.
MS and a few other companies (Sony) are working on this idea as well. Though MS and Sony seem to favor making their gaming consoles work in this capacity.
Instead of separate input devices (DVD, VHS, RADIO) it will all come from the HD of a very capable computer that can replace all of these different functions. At the same time it will be able to mesh these different elements into new ones by being able to combine different aspects of each. Instead of buying DVDs or CDs, you may be able to just download them and stream the content as you would like.
What the future holds for the humble desktop is amazing, in more ways than it is already, it seems poised to become the CNS of a household.
MS and a few other companies (Sony) are working on this idea as well. Though MS and Sony seem to favor making their gaming consoles work in this capacity.
Instead of separate input devices (DVD, VHS, RADIO) it will all come from the HD of a very capable computer that can replace all of these different functions. At the same time it will be able to mesh these different elements into new ones by being able to combine different aspects of each. Instead of buying DVDs or CDs, you may be able to just download them and stream the content as you would like.
What the future holds for the humble desktop is amazing, in more ways than it is already, it seems poised to become the CNS of a household.
Once you get video streaming, you get a media center hub that connects to the PC, can browse photos, stream audio (with the itunes visualizations) and it's just freakkin awesome. Then...you get a wireless controller and use the comp as the player, and boom you have a wireless gaming system. I would totally buy one today, if it could do that
Okay...new crazy thought. the device has it's own basic GUI for browsing iPhoto and iTunes playlists so you don't have to be at the computer to stream them, and it's all controled via a remote with buttons that can change function.
/Dream
Okay...new crazy thought. the device has it's own basic GUI for browsing iPhoto and iTunes playlists so you don't have to be at the computer to stream them, and it's all controled via a remote with buttons that can change function.
/Dream
I don't want to rain on the parade too much but if a device like this doesn't have a remote, it's close to useless. And it need not be a difficult tablet like remote, it should be simple, just like the TiVo remote.
