You can do that with a DV convertor any way, and no has said any thing yet
I have clips from DVD's on my Mac, that i recorded with my formac studio TVR
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Apple Set Top Box (iBox) Rumors Revived?
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You can do that with a DV convertor any way, and no has said any thing yet
I have clips from DVD's on my Mac, that i recorded with my formac studio TVR
Another Idea:
What if you could connect a iSight to it, and set up a web cam, and/or use it as a video confracing tool, perfect for family's to talk to each other, for free!
What if you could connect a iSight to it, and set up a web cam, and/or use it as a video confracing tool, perfect for family's to talk to each other, for free!
I had received an email from Costco last month with a link to a Panasonic Tivo device with a DVD-R drive in it for $800. Oddly enough I have been unable to find it at Costco.com since then. I was excited to see this though. The first time I saw the Tivo, I said I would get it as soon as it had a DVD-R drive. Apple...bring it on!!
If you check google.
iBox is the same name that John , the creator of the recent g4 mac clones and his low cost laptop.
Also, his design is quite close to the 'artist renditions' on mac osx claims....
Perhaps the rumors are that Apple has decided to stop threatening to sue John at www.2khappyware.com and will allow him to produce his low priced mac clones.
Wired Magazine has also written on this guy.
http://www.macosx.com/content/article.php?cid=55
http://www.2khappyware.com/ibox/
So, I don't know. The pictures to me are quite similar.
I thing people are just blowing smoke around.
I do know this, there has been more speculation and rumors regarding this MW Expo then ever. I hope we are not dissapointed,, although I doubt this could happen
On the contrary, if an iBox does come out. I will be buying one. If a mini iPod is released rest assured I will be buying.. If a new cube comes out,, yup im buying.. Cinema Displays,, I dont have enough money. But if a mac tablet comes out as well.. ok... credit cards are handy!
iBox is the same name that John , the creator of the recent g4 mac clones and his low cost laptop.
Also, his design is quite close to the 'artist renditions' on mac osx claims....
Perhaps the rumors are that Apple has decided to stop threatening to sue John at www.2khappyware.com and will allow him to produce his low priced mac clones.
Wired Magazine has also written on this guy.
http://www.macosx.com/content/article.php?cid=55
http://www.2khappyware.com/ibox/
So, I don't know. The pictures to me are quite similar.
I thing people are just blowing smoke around.
I do know this, there has been more speculation and rumors regarding this MW Expo then ever. I hope we are not dissapointed,, although I doubt this could happen
On the contrary, if an iBox does come out. I will be buying one. If a mini iPod is released rest assured I will be buying.. If a new cube comes out,, yup im buying.. Cinema Displays,, I dont have enough money. But if a mac tablet comes out as well.. ok... credit cards are handy!
Why does the MacOSX.com "review" seem to know so much about this "ibox" and not even have the picture to prove it? It would be cool if Apple would come out with this, but completely impractical for 97% of most folks...
Now give me a thinner iPod with a color screen and 20+ hour battery life and I'll be impressed
Now give me a thinner iPod with a color screen and 20+ hour battery life and I'll be impressed
Do you think this isn't possible today already? Not to start a flame war or anything, but there are free tools out there for Macs and PCs that can make bit for bit copies of DVDs. At the very least, it is a trivial matter to copy a DVD to your hard drive and watch it from the hard drive at your leisure. The tools are already made available to then demultiplex (demux) and re-encode the MPEG2 video and AC3 audio files to DVD. That is, if you don't want to just copy the whole DVD bit for bit.
Ugh. Browsing or reading text of any kind on a standard definition TV is horrid. What this would require would be a HDTV display and a source capable of 1:1 pixel mapping to the native resolution of the HDTV (minimum 1280 x 720).
BTW, specifying this kind of custom resolution is now possible on the Mac with SwitchResX.
Re: TiVo is barely surviving
I think Apple's proven themselves with the iPod and iTunes. The iPod changed the mp3 market and iTunes created a legal market for music downloads. Just because the current DVR market isn't alive doesn't mean it isn't ripe for the picking. The DVD player market is just starting to boom finally out pacing VCR sales in most, if not all, age brackets. This is the key I think. Apple doesn't need to pitch it as a DVR. To the average Jow Blow they could call it a super DVD player. I keep a VCR on one of the TV's at home just in case I want to record a TV show I might miss. It sits right next to the DVD player and my DirecTv box. I would love to be able to ditch the DVD player (to another room) and the VCR so all I had was this Apple DVR machine. Play itunes/ipod - great! Play the special movies I created of my daughters birthday for family w/o having to burn a DVD - would love it!
The TiVo market sucks because of the subscription. I love the idea of it but I just don't want to pay a re-curring subscription fee (hmmm, didn't Steve say that is way the $0.99 with iTunes, something about market research). I think the sub fee, more than anything else, is why the TiVo hasn't done well. Does it make sense? No, a DirecTv Tivo runs $100-$150 (depending on sales) plus a sub fee. This "ibox" runs twice as much (supposed pricing) at least! But pyschologically, I can justify the one-time expense. To see a month-to-month reminder makes me doubt each time and brings back that good 'ol buyers remorse. Plus, it seems like every one wants you to just add a simple $5-$10/month for their widget. It all adds up.
Logically, Apple could do something like this. The margins are there assuming the $150 Tivo vs a $350-$500 ibox sounds like a "normal" Apple margin range. I also think a it makes sense in the overall digital hub strategy. Realistically, I don't think they will come out with one any months soon just because of Murphy's law. I would be happy and buy one with 3/4 of the features mentioned. Thus, since I want it, Murphy ain't going to let it happen.
I think Apple's proven themselves with the iPod and iTunes. The iPod changed the mp3 market and iTunes created a legal market for music downloads. Just because the current DVR market isn't alive doesn't mean it isn't ripe for the picking. The DVD player market is just starting to boom finally out pacing VCR sales in most, if not all, age brackets. This is the key I think. Apple doesn't need to pitch it as a DVR. To the average Jow Blow they could call it a super DVD player. I keep a VCR on one of the TV's at home just in case I want to record a TV show I might miss. It sits right next to the DVD player and my DirecTv box. I would love to be able to ditch the DVD player (to another room) and the VCR so all I had was this Apple DVR machine. Play itunes/ipod - great! Play the special movies I created of my daughters birthday for family w/o having to burn a DVD - would love it!
The TiVo market sucks because of the subscription. I love the idea of it but I just don't want to pay a re-curring subscription fee (hmmm, didn't Steve say that is way the $0.99 with iTunes, something about market research). I think the sub fee, more than anything else, is why the TiVo hasn't done well. Does it make sense? No, a DirecTv Tivo runs $100-$150 (depending on sales) plus a sub fee. This "ibox" runs twice as much (supposed pricing) at least! But pyschologically, I can justify the one-time expense. To see a month-to-month reminder makes me doubt each time and brings back that good 'ol buyers remorse. Plus, it seems like every one wants you to just add a simple $5-$10/month for their widget. It all adds up.
Logically, Apple could do something like this. The margins are there assuming the $150 Tivo vs a $350-$500 ibox sounds like a "normal" Apple margin range. I also think a it makes sense in the overall digital hub strategy. Realistically, I don't think they will come out with one any months soon just because of Murphy's law. I would be happy and buy one with 3/4 of the features mentioned. Thus, since I want it, Murphy ain't going to let it happen.
TiVo2 or Linksys Media Adapter?
Well, the Linksys Media Adapter doesn't support the Mac, but it's basically this, only without a CD drive.
An Apple set-top box with the ability to view iPhoto libraries, listen to iTunes libraries, and maybe even view videos (new iApp for video collections?) would be great. No optical drive necessary, but a DVD-ROM drive so you can play DVDs, or iPhoto-created photo discs or iTunes-created music discs would be cool.
Finally, a remote control standard, with bluetooth so you can use the standard Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mouse would be awesome. Of course, it has to have AirPort Extreme as it's method of talking to your Macs, and it should use Rendezvous to find them. Lastly, since you've got everything else already, why not add in Safari, so you can browse the web?
(I already use my PowerBook this way. In fact, I'm writing this message while viewing it on my TV.) iChatAV is 'perfect' when video chatting with someone on your TV screen, and your iSight sitting right on top of your center channel speaker..... Ooh, yet another use of the iBox!! (P.S. I've used iChat AV's video chat over a 56k modem, and it was acceptable.)
Well, the Linksys Media Adapter doesn't support the Mac, but it's basically this, only without a CD drive.
An Apple set-top box with the ability to view iPhoto libraries, listen to iTunes libraries, and maybe even view videos (new iApp for video collections?) would be great. No optical drive necessary, but a DVD-ROM drive so you can play DVDs, or iPhoto-created photo discs or iTunes-created music discs would be cool.
Finally, a remote control standard, with bluetooth so you can use the standard Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mouse would be awesome. Of course, it has to have AirPort Extreme as it's method of talking to your Macs, and it should use Rendezvous to find them. Lastly, since you've got everything else already, why not add in Safari, so you can browse the web?
(I already use my PowerBook this way. In fact, I'm writing this message while viewing it on my TV.) iChatAV is 'perfect' when video chatting with someone on your TV screen, and your iSight sitting right on top of your center channel speaker..... Ooh, yet another use of the iBox!! (P.S. I've used iChat AV's video chat over a 56k modem, and it was acceptable.)
I like this rumor and hope it is true. What is clear however is that Apple are going to need to bring out other AAC/Fairplay compatible hardware or allow other players to license if they are going to successfully defend their market share. The iPod is great but not matter how good the device people are going to want to play their legally DL'd tunes elsewhere without having to re-rip.
I also want mine iBox
Hello, and Best Wishes to all for 2004
I live in France and we doesn't have Tivo like in Europe i think.. So I greatly appreciate if this rumors come true, but I think that it is too great to be true for a near release...
Titanium
Hello, and Best Wishes to all for 2004
I live in France and we doesn't have Tivo like in Europe i think.. So I greatly appreciate if this rumors come true, but I think that it is too great to be true for a near release...
Titanium
It's simple like you might say Mac OS X is simple, but it is by no means easy as pie. You can't just sit down and do what you want to do if you have no experience with it. For a person who takes 20 minutes to figure out how to make their VCR record something at a certain time, it seems simple from then on, yet no one has a clue. That remote has a lot of buttons... ouch, my brain hurts.
Optical Audio
I have a feeling that the black removable square they spoke of (for RAM, they thought) could be optical audio. if it had this ability, I would consider it, as would many audio professionals. The implications of having optical and surround sound information recordable with video in realtime are interesting though the amounts of storage considerable. Promising news, look forward to more. And I wanna know if this mystery iApp is audio, dammit.
I have a feeling that the black removable square they spoke of (for RAM, they thought) could be optical audio. if it had this ability, I would consider it, as would many audio professionals. The implications of having optical and surround sound information recordable with video in realtime are interesting though the amounts of storage considerable. Promising news, look forward to more. And I wanna know if this mystery iApp is audio, dammit.
Re: Re: TiVo is barely surviving
I have DirectTV (TIVO/Sat Receiver-in-one) (the only way to do Tivo, btw) and I purchased the subscription up front for ~$150 several years ago. If buying it up front is still an option it's the way to go over a monthly plan--buy it once and then forget it.
The remote in the artist's rendition reminds me of a Bose remote. Another brilliant Tivo feature is the remote--I call it the 'peanut'. Of all the remotes I've palmed (and there have been many) the Tivo remote wins for best form, function and comfort.
Perhaps, instead of replacing a Tivo, this 'iBox' will allow you to stream media content (photos, video, music) to your TV and (if you've got a Tivo) allow you to stream content to/from Tivo to your computer. I find Tivo easy to use but its UI and program management model could be improved. Bringing that control under an 'iApplication' and/or iCal would be cool. Also, it would be nice to be able to archive Tivo media to your HD/backup device or burn it.
I have DirectTV (TIVO/Sat Receiver-in-one) (the only way to do Tivo, btw) and I purchased the subscription up front for ~$150 several years ago. If buying it up front is still an option it's the way to go over a monthly plan--buy it once and then forget it.
The remote in the artist's rendition reminds me of a Bose remote. Another brilliant Tivo feature is the remote--I call it the 'peanut'. Of all the remotes I've palmed (and there have been many) the Tivo remote wins for best form, function and comfort.
Perhaps, instead of replacing a Tivo, this 'iBox' will allow you to stream media content (photos, video, music) to your TV and (if you've got a Tivo) allow you to stream content to/from Tivo to your computer. I find Tivo easy to use but its UI and program management model could be improved. Bringing that control under an 'iApplication' and/or iCal would be cool. Also, it would be nice to be able to archive Tivo media to your HD/backup device or burn it.
I look at that artists render and can't imagine its an apple design (look at the controls on the remote for a start..I'd expect more ipod like wheel for a start) but I can see two/three good reasons why they would make one of these/
First of all there is the ITMS. Having a low cose box interface with the tv and hifi, that is a iTunes store client would open up the market for those people that only want to play music on their existing stereo and don't want to pay the cost or preceived complexity of a PC (or Mac).
Second is Movies. Theres been talk of renting or buying movies for a while since the ITMS. The tech is there in Quicktime but there is no device or application currently t odo this right. A movie store doesn't seem to fit into DVD Player or Quicktime player very well, nor iTunes without a name change (unlikely). Steve Jobs has always aid people want to watch TV on the tv, not a computer. Well having a box plugged into the tv that connects to the Movie Store and downloads what you want to watch would put the content right where it belongs. It could then intergrate with the digital hub to allow for greater functioanlity like further storage space, backups etc. I could see Jobs giving a speach about how m$ want people to put tv onto their computer and how bad that that idea is, but then say, 'well we've just done it right' Then not only will the Mac platform have the missing spoke of the hub, but do it better. Of course the box would have to intergrate with a windows network too, to open up the 95% of the market that doesnt own a mac, but it would work better on a Mac. And of course post iPod, people would accept a Apple box in thier home I would think.
I would be suprised if they don't add Tivo functionality to it as part of .Mac, maybe as an added extra and also standalone.
If done right this could be huge, not that it means this rumour is true.
First of all there is the ITMS. Having a low cose box interface with the tv and hifi, that is a iTunes store client would open up the market for those people that only want to play music on their existing stereo and don't want to pay the cost or preceived complexity of a PC (or Mac).
Second is Movies. Theres been talk of renting or buying movies for a while since the ITMS. The tech is there in Quicktime but there is no device or application currently t odo this right. A movie store doesn't seem to fit into DVD Player or Quicktime player very well, nor iTunes without a name change (unlikely). Steve Jobs has always aid people want to watch TV on the tv, not a computer. Well having a box plugged into the tv that connects to the Movie Store and downloads what you want to watch would put the content right where it belongs. It could then intergrate with the digital hub to allow for greater functioanlity like further storage space, backups etc. I could see Jobs giving a speach about how m$ want people to put tv onto their computer and how bad that that idea is, but then say, 'well we've just done it right' Then not only will the Mac platform have the missing spoke of the hub, but do it better. Of course the box would have to intergrate with a windows network too, to open up the 95% of the market that doesnt own a mac, but it would work better on a Mac. And of course post iPod, people would accept a Apple box in thier home I would think.
I would be suprised if they don't add Tivo functionality to it as part of .Mac, maybe as an added extra and also standalone.
If done right this could be huge, not that it means this rumour is true.
Re: Re: Re: TiVo is barely surviving
I also have the DirecTV-Tivo and agree that it is the only way to go. Having 2 DSS tunners in one box so you can watch a live satelite feed while it records off the other is nice, but once you start getting a few things programmed, being able to record two shows at the same time becomes very nice. (As with most Tivo users, I almost never watch live TV any more, it's too anoying to not be able to fast forward past the commercials!)
IMO, a DVR without dual DSS or Digital Cable tuners is a waste of my time. In case you are not aware, the DirecTV Tivos, unlike the standalone ones, do not take analog AV input - for this reason, they also do not have MPEG-2 compressors on board. They directly record the MPEG-2 comressed signal from the satelite channel onto the hard drive. This means you have shows that were professionaly compressed all of the time - IMO it's a much cleaner picture than that of the stand-along boxes with cheap, consumer quality MPEG-2 chips in them. [edit] BTW, this is the only way to watch Pay-Per-View or Premium chanel movies with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound -- it preserves the 5.1 signal on the hard drive. I may be mistaken, but I don't believe any stand alone DVR offers digital audio inputs to record that signal.[/edit]
This sticky point with this is that DirecTV is very anal about that stream getting pirated, so the Tivo scrambles it as it saves it. Without some pretty adept hacking, extracting that stream onto your Mac/PC and getting it unscrambled is near imposible. (See www.dealdatabase.com/forums for how to do it) In fact, with the series 2 DirectTV Tivo's they've encrypted the Linux kernel to make it even harder to do.
As for the subscription fee, I basically pay for the 2nd DSS tuner in the Tivo, $4.95 a month, just as I would for a 2nd DirectTV tuner in another room. I don't have a problem with it, really. The advanced features Tivo gives (Wishlist searching, auto-suggestion recording and season passes) are worth it - not to mention the 2 tuner abilities I mentioned above. They no longer offer the "lifetime" subscription on DirectTV Tivo, BTW.
I think that as long as DirecTV (and it's content suppliers like HBO and the like) is worried about piracy, you'll not see any supported ReplayTV-like streaming from a DirecTV-Tivo box.
PS: The Tivo, "Peanut" remote is awesome - I thought I'd hate it, but it has become my main remote - replacing my Sony 2-Way, LCD panel reciever remote. It's very ergonomicaly laid out - it "just works".
I also have the DirecTV-Tivo and agree that it is the only way to go. Having 2 DSS tunners in one box so you can watch a live satelite feed while it records off the other is nice, but once you start getting a few things programmed, being able to record two shows at the same time becomes very nice. (As with most Tivo users, I almost never watch live TV any more, it's too anoying to not be able to fast forward past the commercials!)
IMO, a DVR without dual DSS or Digital Cable tuners is a waste of my time. In case you are not aware, the DirecTV Tivos, unlike the standalone ones, do not take analog AV input - for this reason, they also do not have MPEG-2 compressors on board. They directly record the MPEG-2 comressed signal from the satelite channel onto the hard drive. This means you have shows that were professionaly compressed all of the time - IMO it's a much cleaner picture than that of the stand-along boxes with cheap, consumer quality MPEG-2 chips in them. [edit] BTW, this is the only way to watch Pay-Per-View or Premium chanel movies with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound -- it preserves the 5.1 signal on the hard drive. I may be mistaken, but I don't believe any stand alone DVR offers digital audio inputs to record that signal.[/edit]
This sticky point with this is that DirecTV is very anal about that stream getting pirated, so the Tivo scrambles it as it saves it. Without some pretty adept hacking, extracting that stream onto your Mac/PC and getting it unscrambled is near imposible. (See www.dealdatabase.com/forums for how to do it) In fact, with the series 2 DirectTV Tivo's they've encrypted the Linux kernel to make it even harder to do.
As for the subscription fee, I basically pay for the 2nd DSS tuner in the Tivo, $4.95 a month, just as I would for a 2nd DirectTV tuner in another room. I don't have a problem with it, really. The advanced features Tivo gives (Wishlist searching, auto-suggestion recording and season passes) are worth it - not to mention the 2 tuner abilities I mentioned above. They no longer offer the "lifetime" subscription on DirectTV Tivo, BTW.
I think that as long as DirecTV (and it's content suppliers like HBO and the like) is worried about piracy, you'll not see any supported ReplayTV-like streaming from a DirecTV-Tivo box.
PS: The Tivo, "Peanut" remote is awesome - I thought I'd hate it, but it has become my main remote - replacing my Sony 2-Way, LCD panel reciever remote. It's very ergonomicaly laid out - it "just works".
Would be great
I believe this iBox called system would be great and very important for Apple's strategy to get back some of the 95% Windows Users. The iPod was the first gadget that can be used by windows users as well. Actually Apple even made the best app for windows ever written (iTunes Music Store). Just to show how iPod works on windows users I can tell you that three of best friends, windows users infact, recently bought an iPod. And two of them already bought an iMac or PowerBook. The iBox could show all the people out there how easy and good the Mac is so they loose their fear of switching and become mac users as well.
I believe this iBox called system would be great and very important for Apple's strategy to get back some of the 95% Windows Users. The iPod was the first gadget that can be used by windows users as well. Actually Apple even made the best app for windows ever written (iTunes Music Store). Just to show how iPod works on windows users I can tell you that three of best friends, windows users infact, recently bought an iPod. And two of them already bought an iMac or PowerBook. The iBox could show all the people out there how easy and good the Mac is so they loose their fear of switching and become mac users as well.
Re: Re: Re: Re: TiVo is barely surviving
It would be phenomenal to have HD recording too particularly for HDNet. ;-)
Don't think we'll see it next week, but as long as we are designing what we want...
It would be phenomenal to have HD recording too particularly for HDNet. ;-)
Don't think we'll see it next week, but as long as we are designing what we want...
As groundbreaking as the ipod
The ipod is the walkman of the 21st century - I have never bought one because I listen to music in the home and an ipod doesn't serve me well (I know you can plug it in etc but it doesn't have a proper remote etc). This mystery product is the one I've been waiting for. It allows me to ditch the cd but still have my hifi setup in my front room.
The market for music systems is bigger than the portable market so I can't understand people saying this is a mistake for apple to venture into. For me the price is right for only a music replay and storage system (comparable to the ipod). However the larger form factor allows integration of tv services (iphoto, imovie streams, tivo style recording) so it would be logical for these to be included.
I hope apple tackles the international market by putting tv tuners on pci cards to allow peripheral manufacturers to produce region specific tuners (dsat, digital terrestrial, analogue etc).
I hope this ibox rumor is true - my cd collection is waiting for this
The ipod is the walkman of the 21st century - I have never bought one because I listen to music in the home and an ipod doesn't serve me well (I know you can plug it in etc but it doesn't have a proper remote etc). This mystery product is the one I've been waiting for. It allows me to ditch the cd but still have my hifi setup in my front room.
The market for music systems is bigger than the portable market so I can't understand people saying this is a mistake for apple to venture into. For me the price is right for only a music replay and storage system (comparable to the ipod). However the larger form factor allows integration of tv services (iphoto, imovie streams, tivo style recording) so it would be logical for these to be included.
I hope apple tackles the international market by putting tv tuners on pci cards to allow peripheral manufacturers to produce region specific tuners (dsat, digital terrestrial, analogue etc).
I hope this ibox rumor is true - my cd collection is waiting for this
