Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Set Top Box (iBox) Rumors Revived?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Please explain to me how this will replace a VCR. And as for replacing a CD/DVD player, that's great as long as your computer is close to your entertainment center...
more fuel for the fire.
Actually, this statement is false. I just got my wife (hehe...) a couple of ReplayTV boxes. The stuff they say about never watching TV the same way again really is true. I really think we watch *more* TV now than we ever did.
Streaming shows from one ReplayTV box to another definitely is cool and works. But the *really, really, really* cool thing I like to show off is a little java (read: platform agnostic) application called DVarchive that lets me see all the shows on my two ReplayTV boxes AND lets me stream any show in the highest quality setting *wirelessly* to my PowerBook!!!
It is too cool, especially when I am sitting on the couch IN MY NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE! I can also download shows from the ReplayTV to my iMac and using DVarchive the iMac shows up in the ReplayTV network as another ReplayTV box to stream from!!!
So streaming most definitely works to and from Macs, and judging from what I have read in other message forums, it works better than on PCs. I guess it would suffice if I summed it up this way: On a Mac, it just works. It really seems like RTV was made for the Mac.
HERE is more information about DVarchive.
It would be great if Apple entered the DVR market, at least for us existing Mac users. I agree with the article that doing away with subscription fees (like Tivo and RTV) and having a box that basically is a digital version of the tried and true video tape recorder would be excellent. I also think a previous poster is correct in imagining the integration of Sherlock and possibly something like iCal. That would surely delight people!
See you guys at MacWorld!
Re: TiVo is barely surviving
For $250 plus another monthly subscription cost they might not be getting it, but Charter cable just started offering DVR boxes here for $9.99 a month, no up front cost. For that price they have been flying out the door apparently. I'm gonna go pick one up myself sooner or later.
That said, I'd still rather have an Apple-branded box in my entertainment center.
For $250 plus another monthly subscription cost they might not be getting it, but Charter cable just started offering DVR boxes here for $9.99 a month, no up front cost. For that price they have been flying out the door apparently. I'm gonna go pick one up myself sooner or later.
That said, I'd still rather have an Apple-branded box in my entertainment center.
I have only just discovered the RTV box and read that it was possible to archive the recorded shows to store on your home server. Is it really that easy to network all that lot together and stream over 802.11.g
If there is no Apple box I'm going to get a RTV shipped to the UK!
Simple. It's a "digital VCR." Record broadcast material onto a hard disk. No tapes. Therefore no VCR. Wait, you're not still renting movies on *tape* are you? =) As someone who has a PVR, I can tell you I can't remember the last time I used my VCR. However, I must say I find the lack of a program guide to be a very bad idea...
And I don't understand your comment about the proximity of the computer and the entertainment center, and how this relates to replacing a CD/DVD player... If you had read the [macosx.com] article, you would've seen the device has an optical drive.
So far MWSF news has been so ho hum, I kind of expected something sexier like this. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility. But I thought Jobs had been outspoken on this kind of thing being bad idea. Anyone remember this?
Look bleak??? Maybe at the moment, but once the PowerMacs are shipping with dual 2.4/2.6Ghz processors I'm sure we will see the iMac line move to G5s in all but the low-end model. The eMac I'm not so sure about, since it is geared towards the education market where a G4 can still handle the daily grind of email, word processing, and web surfing that is the fate of most college computers. But at some point Apple will cut Moto loose, and will be using only IBM chips. Whether that means all G5s (at 90nm or less), G5s/G6s or the rumored 'Gobi' altivec-enabled G3 remains to be seen.
A couple of points, but that is somewhat incorrect. I have two Replays (well three, but one is 4.5 years old). The two current ones (5516 and 5532) work great together. I also have a older G4 (867) that sits upstairs. I use to to archive shows from the Replays.
There is a program (runs under Java - dvarchive) that looks to the other Replays like another replay. I have a 500GB drive on it, that is quite handy.
The main thing missing is a way to import into DVarchive and therefore into the Replays. There is software, but it is not easy, and it often isn't successful.
That is the main problem with the ReplayTV/TiVo solution: they are *closed*. They don't support a common format like mp3. Yes, they support mpeg (mpeg2?) but it is VERY tempermental and the one solution is not plug and play.
What Apple needs is a unit like ReplayTV/TiVo except:
1. Quicktime support of standards - this is a KEY because then it allows inter-operability.
2. Something like iTunes for DVDs.
3. Apple's user interface design.
>convergance
Regarding Steve saying that they won't converge, in many ways he is correct. Here is what I think will happen:
* The VCR/PVR will be subsumed by the computer. Just like iTunes has completely subsumed my CD collection. The only time I listen to CDs is in the car because it is just easier than iTrip, unless it is a really long trip. If I had a dock in the car that might be different.
* People will only rarely watch TV on their computers. I still listen elsewhere to my iTunes collection, just via the iPod. Same for the computer. It doesn't mean you won't store your DVDs or record your shows onto the hard disk.
I use my Mac, and my two Replays over a Cat 6/1000T (although the Replays only run 100T) network. It is great. Wherever you are, you can pull up the shows you have on it.
Regarding Steve saying that they won't converge, in many ways he is correct. Here is what I think will happen:
* The VCR/PVR will be subsumed by the computer. Just like iTunes has completely subsumed my CD collection. The only time I listen to CDs is in the car because it is just easier than iTrip, unless it is a really long trip. If I had a dock in the car that might be different.
* People will only rarely watch TV on their computers. I still listen elsewhere to my iTunes collection, just via the iPod. Same for the computer. It doesn't mean you won't store your DVDs or record your shows onto the hard disk.
I use my Mac, and my two Replays over a Cat 6/1000T (although the Replays only run 100T) network. It is great. Wherever you are, you can pull up the shows you have on it.
Look at the link I provided above for more details. It is also fairly easy once you have a show downloaded to put it on a CD (VCD) or DVD, playable in any consumer DVD player.
Networking the two ReplayTVs that I have couldn't have been easier. I took the opportunity to upgrade my entire wireless network to 802.11g using Buffalo's WBR-G54 router/bridge/repeater. You can find my account of the whole process and a host of other ReplayTV information HERE.
Good luck, though you may run into problems with activating a RTV and getting channel guide info across the pond there.
I forgot to mention that DVArchive lets you VIEW video from the Replays on the Mac. I think it uses the regular video player.
I never do it though. I want to be on my couch or bed or someplace more comfortable.
So, the Replays aren't limited to streaming between units, it just needs an extra (FREE) piece of software.
If Replay improved their software to allow importing from DVD or Apple did it to co-exist with Replay (and TiVo) then that would be one solution.
One of the nice things that Replay has that TiVo doesn't is the 100T ethernet. It makes a big difference with video.
If Apple didn't have a charge for directories too, that would be good. With my two, they came with 3 years service, which isn't too bad, then it is $1/month thereafter. Pretty cheap, but since it is so cheap they should just get rid of it.
That's the beauty of it, you don't have to. I listen to music 10% of the time on my computer, mostly as background.
DVArchive lets you use the Mac as a storage server for your TVs that have ReplayTVs connected to them. You can also import your DVDs (as I said, it is NOT easy) into it. So, I have about 30 disks of old movies (home movies) going back to the 1930s of my grandparents, and once they are on-line, I can pull them up any time from any of the TVs. All by remote. No hunting the DVDs etc.
DVArchive also lets me share my iPhoto library (I haven't tried it yet, but it said it could - just lack of time) with the Replays. So, it can be a slide-show or whatever. I don't want to look at pics on my computer - I want to on my 50 inch Plasma. I want them out where the TVs are, not where the computer is. I want them handy like a photo album on the book shelf.
I don't want to watch TV on my computer, and I don't, but what I do, is to use the computer to enhance the use of the TV.
DVD and CD player is easily done if it has an optical drive. one thign is it could have
support to plug in VCRs
iMovie the VHS tapes ono the HD, and burn them onto a DVD.
that would be kickass!
It is a digital VCR - it records to a big hard disk (the Replay 5516 has a 160GB drive, the 5532 a 320GB drive).
The computer doesn't have to be near the TV. It just has to be near and ethernet jack or in AirPort Extreme range.
I have had one since 1999 and the old one was great although does show its age now. I now have two new ones that allow networking and it is even better. Particularly by tying in with my Mac via DVArchive.
A box near the TV is an enabling device for the computer being the digital hub. Kind of like the computer is the music hub here, with the iPod being the enabling device.
It sounds odd, but it really does change how you watch TV. I never watch TV live now (except sporting events sometimes). It records it and I watch when I want. Generally when I work out. I don't see commercials either with the quick skip button.
And for sports, if you want to see a replay of something, you hit a button and it jumps back 10 seconds (this is with live TV). You can jump back even more if you want. While watching it continuously records some (20-30 minutes?) of it so you can rewind 'live' TV. Kind of cool.
Exactly the point of a product like the rumored iBox. The computer would simply be hooked up to your TV and as easy to use as a regular old VCR.
Actually, I have a Windows PC hooked up to my giant front projection system (106" Picture) and use it to play DVDs, surf the internet (what a geek, I know), receive and watch HDTV and regular TV, and listen to my itunes library and FM radio. Though it works really really well, I am always saddened that my Mac can't do EVERYTHING like this HTPC can (Home Theater PC - not Microsloth's Media Center...ick). Some strides have been made, though, with digital optical audio out recently and the new version of SwitchResX.
I'm a big fan of convergence. I agree with a previous poster who said that maybe Steve Jobs shudders at the though of the Mac being married to a VCR or some other device...strung together is the picture I get. But maybe what Steve has planned out for us is that the Mac becomes or takes over the function of these devices allowing for new functionality in a "whole is greater than the sum of the parts" kind of way.
I won't hold my breath for MacWorld, but I really and sincerely hope that there is some developer out there (if not Apple itself) who is looking at Microsoft's Media Center and thinking that it can't help but be better on a Mac.
It is easy over ethernet. Very easy. Connecting it with DVArchive was also easy. I haven't tried 802.11g, but it shouldn't be hard since the Replay will just see it as an ethernet connection. I would be suprised if it even knew it wasn't talking over a wire.
Thanks for posting that forum link. Very interesting as I am considering Replay TV and going wireless (one bedroom condo, shouldn't be too hard).
I must say that that could be the ugliest, gaudiest site I have ever seen. It the administraotr color blind?
The "ReplayTV tools" (free) let you do that. BUT, they are command line, have a billion parameters and are certainly not 1.0 quality. I have tried it with them, but it is not Mac friendly yet. They acknowledge that all too, btw. What it needs to be is: stick a DVD in. Open the app. Select the DVD and be done.
I can find the link to them if you need it.
This is from the readme:
* Edit downloaded shows without reencoding; stream them with DVArchive
* Convert RTV files for use with DVD Authoring
* Convert RTV4K MPEGs for streaming to a RTV5K
* Convert MPEG-2 streams and stream to a RTV5K with DVArchive
ReplayTV tools are a collection of command line utilities to work with MPEG-2
streams for the ReplayTV 5000 series Personal Video Recorder. This document
also refers to another third party software package called "DVArchive" which
is a Java based application for downloading video from a ReplayTV and
streaming video back to one (along other things).
Re: Re: TiVo is barely surviving
Comcast is also supposed to be rolling out DVR cable boxes to its customers this year. As much as I LOVE my Tivo, I think they're going toi face some very stiff competition in the next 12 - 18 months.
The question is... with cable companies being able to saturate the market with their own DVRs, where does this supposed iBox fit in? And how well will it integrate with Windows machines and networks?
Comcast is also supposed to be rolling out DVR cable boxes to its customers this year. As much as I LOVE my Tivo, I think they're going toi face some very stiff competition in the next 12 - 18 months.
The question is... with cable companies being able to saturate the market with their own DVRs, where does this supposed iBox fit in? And how well will it integrate with Windows machines and networks?
Haha...if you register, you can change the white or orange on black to something a little more easy to read.
As far as wireless 802.11g goes, I felt bad recommending the Buffalo router over Apple's Airport Extreme, but the Airport cost over three times the Buffalo unit ($50 right now at CompUSA after rebates). And the Buffalo unit is completely compatible with the WDS bridging of the AEBS and additionally allows repeating and shared-bridging (bridge+AP function) AND has a built in 4 port switch in the back. Buffalo has always been a Mac supporter!
The ReplayTVs or Macs or whatever just see an ethernet connection. Very slick.