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Apple With Modest Expectations for 'iTV' and TV Show Rentals?

Lepton said:
I expect the new AppleTV will have video in and out, so you could hook it between your cable box and the TV, and that it would pass through the video. I also expect that it you can run current iPad apps on your TV. But the kicker is I expect that new apps will be able to overlay their output on top of the TV output, so you could make widget apps, like weather, stock or sports tickers, and so on.

As a software developer, I'm very interested in this possibility. What kind of apps would you like to see overlaid upon live TV?
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My Lg 1080p LCD has built in widgets and built in Nerflix. Why pay for a iTv box when you can get these sets from fry's for under 600?
 
I agree with Steve! He is simply smart enough to understand the situation and the red tape involved.

I think Apple is doing EVERYTHING they can in spite of the crappy situation. I also think that this new iTV will be MUCH more successful than the current Apple TV has, but will it totally change TV and movies? No! It will get that change going though for sure! A few years from now when Apple makes an all in one connected TV things will be in a better situation because of this new iTV coming and they will be able to take things to a totally new level! 😀

P.S. I love my current Apple TV and anyone that learns about it is very impressed. The problem is nobody knows about it. But now with this new one it will take all of that PLUS the leverage of iOS, the App Store, and a synergy of interaction between all the iOS devices and it will be MUCH bigger! 😎
 
weespeed said:
My Lg 1080p LCD has built in widgets and built in Nerflix. Why pay for a iTv box when you can get these sets from fry's for under 600?
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If the iTV brings with it all the nice features of the current :apple:TV, there's plenty of goodies to make it worth your consideration in conjunction with your Internet enabled TV. Principally, it connects your iTunes media- all of it- to your big(gest) screen device and probably your best audio equipment and best speakers. If you don't have much in iTunes, and if you can pretty much get everything you like from Netflix and the widgets, there's not much in it for you. But if you have anything in iTunes that you would like to flow to your TV/stereo/best speakers, $99 for :apple:TV-like functionality could be a tremendous partner for that kind of setup.

I've posted plenty in this thread about desires for the next-gen. But I can say the current one is pretty great- even at $229. I'd be pretty happy if a new version of it was released with just 1080p hardware and nothing else. However, if we are going to get an iTV (hopefully 1080p capable) with enough open flexibility for software (apps) and maybe third-party hardware (maybe, please, a normal USB port or two), then I think there's a lot there for only $99.

If not <Apple>, how about taking :apple:TV's software UI and making it the new front row? Then, I'll probably just buy a Mac Mini and use that.
 
Wow, lots and lots of discussion around this...

My AppleTV burned out a few months ago - I really miss it. I used to watch all my iTunes content on the "big screen" and make all my purchases on it - which syncs back to my PC server.

I'd rather browse the iTunes store on my couch - like XBox Live, and the Nintendo and Sony Stores, rather than on my MacBook...
 
Because Apple wants to sell a lot of hardware. They claim that's what it's all about- selling lots of hardware. Build in 1080p and they sell iTVs to the camp that thinks "720p is good enough" AND the camp that says "1080p or bust".

Gimp it (again!) with only 720p, and you appeal to only one of those camps, which is exactly what we have now. The current :apple:TV is limited to a weak incarnation 720p and the sales are so poor that it quickly went from the fourth leg of the table to "hobby". If Apple wants the new one to continue to be a poor selling "hobby", they hamstring it at 720p- just like a 2006 incarnation. If they want to sell a lot of hardware, they address what is probably the #1 (or at least top 3) identified shortcoming of the current incarnation.

There's always new stuff to build into the next generation. They don't have to leave something like that out so that there's something to sell in version 2 (or is that 3 or 4?). Apple is a pretty smart company. I'm sure they can build it in and then come up with something next year to make the next version more desirable. It's worked for 10 years on iPods, often by just adding a little more storage, making them a little bit thinner, etc.

Myself, this is what I most care about in terms of what will differ it from the :apple:TV I have. If the new one arrives with only the same 720p the current one has, I probably don't buy it. On the other hand, if iTV shows up as exactly the same box, software, etc that we have now- only with 1080p chipset inside- at even the same price it's offered now... I buy it day 1.
 
JAT said:
This IS the next model, per rumor. That's the point.
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Nah, we're not thinking different enough, and missing the built-in obsolescence MO of Apple. THIS is the first model of the next generation of *TV product. They'll get us to buy it all over again in 8-12 months when they add 1080i, then again in another 6 months for 1080P, then stereo after that.

And we'll LIKE IT.
🙄
 
Perhaps for a certain subset of "we".

I took my first step today, probably a year late. Switching to nearly free VOIP, dropping the home phone. Next is a higher-speed broadband so I can drop sat TV. Right now streaming is miserable here.
 
JAT said:
Perhaps for a certain subset of "we".

I took my first step today, probably a year late. Switching to nearly free VOIP, dropping the home phone. Next is a higher-speed broadband so I can drop sat TV. Right now streaming is miserable here.
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For what it's worth, I just checked the bitrate on my Comcast HD channels.

Comedy Central (Daily Show, Colbert) is about 12 Mbps (2.8 GB for 30 mins). "60 Minutes" broadcasts at about 14 Mbps (6.3 GB for 60 mins).

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" is 17.4 Mbps (7.9 GB for 60 mins).

I hope that you can find a big pipe for a little price! 🙂

(Of course, Comcast is using MPEG-2, so you'd gain some headroom if you have MPEG-4 streams....)
 
Stella said:
Why would Apple or any company want to future proof? There's no money in that - they'll support higher resolution in the next model.
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To actually make sales ? Futureproof is the wrong term. 1080p is the past. They should at least presentproof it by supporting 1080p hardware if not content.

Seriously, Apple needs to wake up or get out of the market all together. AppleTV just isn't working.
 
AidenShaw said:
For what it's worth, I just checked the bitrate on my Comcast HD channels.

Comedy Central (Daily Show, Colbert) is about 12 Mbps (2.8 GB for 30 mins). "60 Minutes" broadcasts at about 14 Mbps (6.3 GB for 60 mins).

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" is 17.4 Mbps (7.9 GB for 60 mins).

I hope that you can find a big pipe for a little price! 🙂

(Of course, Comcast is using MPEG-2, so you'd gain some headroom if you have MPEG-4 streams....)
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I don't think multimegabyte streaming in the tens would be possible unless you have 5 fibre connections to your house.

Slingshot and Telecom offer all you can eat plans for $80+ even then Telecoms has "Fair Use" (Speed limited depending on the current load) and Slingshot has a limit of 10k customers.
 
MorphingDragon said:
I don't think multimegabyte streaming in the tens would be possible unless you have 5 fibre connections to your house.

Slingshot and Telecom offer all you can eat plans for $80+ even then Telecoms has "Fair Use" (Speed limited depending on the current load) and Slingshot has a limit of 10k customers.
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It's tens of megabits (little "b") - but you're still right for most of the US.

My neighbourhood is being wired for U-Verse right now, but that has a max of 24 Mbps - probably much too tight to depend on streaming 18 Mbps sustained (simply to match the existing cable, let alone compete with BD).

Some of the Nordic and Asian countries, though, have 100 Mbps or more to each home. Oh, that would almost make "the cloud" usable - at least for backups
 
AidenShaw said:
It's tens of megabits (little "b") - but you're still right for most of the US.

My neighbourhood is being wired for U-Verse right now, but that has a max of 24 Mbps - probably much too tight to depend on streaming 18 Mbps sustained (simply to match the existing cable, let alone compete with BD).

Some of the Nordic and Asian countries, though, have 100 Mbps or more to each home. Oh, that would almost make "the cloud" usable - at least for backups
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Multimegabits is at least 1 megabyte. 😛

Your neighbour can rest assured that his 24Mbps connection will never run at 100%. 😀
 
AidenShaw said:
For what it's worth, I just checked the bitrate on my Comcast HD channels.

Comedy Central (Daily Show, Colbert) is about 12 Mbps (2.8 GB for 30 mins). "60 Minutes" broadcasts at about 14 Mbps (6.3 GB for 60 mins).

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" is 17.4 Mbps (7.9 GB for 60 mins).

I hope that you can find a big pipe for a little price! 🙂

(Of course, Comcast is using MPEG-2, so you'd gain some headroom if you have MPEG-4 streams....)
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Well my whole village is the biggest optic fibre network in Europe. We get 200 Mbps for ~40 US dollars and no caps whatsoever. Local cable company in a town of 10 000 people has plans 50 Mbps at ~20 US dollars and no caps of any kind.

For all i care streaming is a GO.
 
Žalgiris;10931935 said:
Well my whole village is the biggest optic fibre network in Europe. We get 200 Mbps for ~40 US dollars and no caps whatsoever. Local cable company in a town of 10 000 people has plans 50 Mbps at ~20 US dollars and no caps of any kind.

For all i care streaming is a GO.
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Because 10k people is such a big incentive for companies to make streaming their main business model.

All I can say is, be the early adopters while the rest of us wait for our crotchy governments to do something about our lackluster internet connection... I seriously want to move to Japan or America.
 
NebulaClash said:
It's not an attitude problem on Steve's part, it's the reality of the network business. They do NOT want to cooperate with Steve for they fear he will become a chokehold on their business. So the networks will resist and dither away more months and years while BitTorrent nullifies any argument they want to make about Apple.

The movie and TV business is where the music business was in the late 90s. Whether they wake up in time to avoid the fate of the music companies is open to question. They still have their broadcast (TV) and theatrical (movies) model that brings in money, but the home market is ramping up fast and they need to get on the truck that is barreling down the highway or else be left behind.

They could do a lot worse than cooperate with Steve and give people a reasonable alternative to BitTorrent.
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Great Post!
 
Jobs is realistic. Not many people are going to cut themselves off from the world, watching old downloaded media in the dark on little tiny screens.

I'll bet not one in a hundred people have any clue as to what the existing ATV actually does.
 
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