Apple TV Extreme

[philoscoffee]

What do you guys think about the possibility of combining the features of Apple TV and AirPort Extreme/Time Capsule into a single product? I see no technical reasons why this couldn't be done, and even with a slightly higher price point than the existing Apple TV, the resulting combo would make a great media/home networking hub.

Just think: audiovisual connectivity, wireless hub, over the air backups via Time Machine plus (potentially, at least) real-time remote streaming to your iPhone/iPod touch over the web. I know I'd buy one!

More thoughts on my blog at:
http://www.keithwilson.org.uk/technology/blog/Entries/2009/3/15_Wireless_heaven.html

 

[kolax]

Would mean you'd have to have your internet coming through where your TV set is - not everyone has it that way. Plus you'd have to have two hard drives - one for Time Machine and one for the Apple TV.

An iTunes Server would be good. The Apple TV would still be a required component though.

 

[Jigga Beef]

But why would they make 1 product when they can make 2! The more apple products they offer the more they will sell, due to fan boys or middle aged women that think because they have an apple computer, the internet will be faster with an Apple Router.

A salesmen at the apple store once sold my friends mom and appletv and i am not sure what his salespitch was because she does not have movies, music or even photos on her iMac, so that guy some how sold her a product that she doesn't need, which i find impressive.

 

[Cave Man]

1. Heat.
2. Fan (to dissipate heat).
3. Competition for bandwidth.
4. Poor HD streaming performance.

 

[philoscoffee]

I don't see why heat would necessarily be more of an issue than it is with the existing Apple TV. Backup and streaming are not particularly CPU intensive, and any performance issues could be handled via bandwidth throttling, although HD playback might present some challenges. In the worst case scenario, backup could be restricted to an attached USB drive, rather than the internal one, although I'm sure this isn't anything that couldn't be dealt with some minor tweaks to the existing design and components.

Of course, if you don't have a suitable ethernet connection handy then the unit could still be used with a wireless base station like AirPort Extreme/Express as per the current model. The benefit to Apple of bundling both functions into the same unit, however, is that it would make Apple TV a more attractive proposition for anyone in the market for a high speed wireless router or backup device. This in turn would help to expand the Apple TV user base, boosting video rentals, etc. For not much more than the cost of existing Time Capsule you would effectively be getting full audio and video connectivity plus almost everything that the AirPort Extreme currently does.

 

[Fonzijr1964]

sling box covers that streaming for you BTW

 

[jaw04005]

This idea of an Apple TV, Time Capsule, iTunes Server and AirPort Extreme combination has been been debated to death on the Apple TV and AirPort sub-forums.

You're asking Apple to cannibilize two current products (Time Capsule and Apple TV) and the possibility of a future product (iTunes Server).

Personally, I don't think it's ever going to happen. Not everyone has their Internet coming directly into the same location as their TV, so the audience for this product would already be limited. There is also a much stronger possibility of data loss, as current Time Capsule and Apple TV owners have iTunes data stored in at least two and possibly three locations (Mac with iTunes running, Time Capsule and Apple TV).

I do think iTunes will get the ability to easily transfer content automatically to other Macs or PCs at some point, as that's only natural.

We may see some type of backup plan where you pay a one-time fee or on a yearly basis to redownload your iTunes purchased content from Apple's servers. Even this idea is dubious, as Apple already lets you redownload your iTunes purchased content once per year (via a non-public policy) in case of hard drive failure.

 

[Cave Man]

I don't see why heat would necessarily be more of an issue than it is with the existing Apple TV.

The current ATV uses a notebook drive (5v line) and is already hot as heck. If you put in a desktop drive it's going to become scorching hot.

Backup and streaming are not particularly CPU intensive, and any performance issues could be handled via bandwidth throttling, although HD playback might present some challenges.

Playback 720p content on the ATV is already pushing it and it uses the GeForce 7300 to do so. Asking it to do more concurrently is going to cause problems with playback and generate additional heat.

In the worst case scenario, backup could be restricted to an attached USB drive, rather than the internal one,

But now you're changing your device (and in a way that deviates from the concept of the ATV).

Of course, if you don't have a suitable ethernet connection handy then the unit could still be used with a wireless base station like AirPort Extreme/Express as per the current model.

My AEBSn is hot, too. Not as hot as the ATV, but still hot. And it's made mostly of plastic. The ATV's aluminum chassis is what helps it dissipate its heat and a combo device would require some other form of cooling (likely a fan, and that means noise).

The benefit to Apple of bundling both functions into the same unit, however, is that it would make Apple TV a more attractive proposition for anyone in the market for a high speed wireless router or backup device. This in turn would help to expand the Apple TV user base, boosting video rentals, etc. For not much more than the cost of existing Time Capsule you would effectively be getting full audio and video connectivity plus almost everything that the AirPort Extreme currently does.

I think most of this statement is opinion without substantive evidence to support it.

 

[phrehdd]

What do you guys think about the possibility of combining the features of Apple TV and AirPort Extreme/Time Capsule into a single product? I see no technical reasons why this couldn't be done, and even with a slightly higher price point than the existing Apple TV, the resulting combo would make a great media/home networking hub.

Just think: audiovisual connectivity, wireless hub, over the air backups via Time Machine plus (potentially, at least) real-time remote streaming to your iPhone/iPod touch over the web. I know I'd buy one!

More thoughts on my blog at:
http://www.keithwilson.org.uk/technology/blog/Entries/2009/3/15_Wireless_heaven.html

I think it is called a MAC MINI.

Pretty much the Mac Mini can handle anything the ATV can sans iTunes rentals. As Caveman has advocated many times, you can use PLEX for playback of movie/tv files. DVDs archives play wonderfully, 1080p media can usually play reasonably well, 720p plays very well and so on. Given the Mac Mini has USB and Firewire, you have space to make your backups, attached storage of media etc. If you need the addition of router ability, simply buy a cheap 4-8 port router and use it in combo with the Mini.

I think the ATV is a neat box but for several, it has too many limitations even when hacked. Pity Apple isn't remaining competitive in this area and is inviting so much competition that dilutes the effort of many to get that near "all_in_one" solution.

As for me, I use Mac, PS3, Tivo HD and 37" 720 LCD along with a 50" plasma (1080p).

Just a side note unrelated - If Sony really wanted the PS3 to be a universal system that plays blu rays and files, they would have opened up their system to handle mkv and at minimum - VC-1 m2ts based files. The PS3 when it does work does a far better job than ATV and Mac Mini when it comes to M2TS H.264 / straight mpeg playback. It too cannot handle above AC3 which further proves that all of these solutions have challenges.

My next move is either a Mac Mini 2.26 upgraded with RAM and a bigger faster drive engaging Plex or am going to build a linux box with XMBC. I have no problem switching between applications for best playback (XMBC for movies/tv files) and another for music etc.

cheers

- Phrehdd