Exclusive: Apple Plasma Displays to Rock MWSF (PowerPage.org)

[swingerofbirch]

To those saying that apple could only afford a crappy plasma at this price points, i know nothign about the topic, but i do know that with ipods they can offer them cheaper than say creative because of their volume of sales./ maybe they'll have razor thin margins and try to dominate the market...not apple's old sthyle but may be their new one?

 

[macidiot]

Any media center worth it's salt won't require you to use a mouse and keyboard. Think TiVo and its success, based in part on a very simple remote.

media center yes. But try writing an email or browsing. Its supposed to be a computer with all the functionality. Otherwise its just a dvr/dvd combo. And its a PITA typing on a tivo remote.

 

[d_saum]

That seems far more realistic to me. Apple is already in the LCD business, why get into plasma and why wed the CPU to the screen?

Plasma's typically start at around 42 inches, and normally LCD's get much above 30 inches (well at least not before CES...lol). And personally, I think its a GREAT idea to have the CPU in the screen. If you already own a flatscreen, buy the mac mini with the dvr built in, if you dont...BAM! Kill 2 birds with one stone!

 

[kaneda]

Crap

That whole powerpage thing is craP! finally, read it..

 

[FaasNat]

I don't like plasma TVs.....I think LCDs are better. And I don't see Apple getting into the TV business anytime soon.

Yeah, LCD TVs. One thing I don't like about plasma is the screen burn in. We've had a CRT monitor here at work get it from the login screen since there's no way to set a screensaver at that part.

 

[1984]

The numbers do work. The problem is that those cheap plasmas aren't very good. In fact, they are pretty awful. Your basically paying just to say you have a plasma that hangs on a wall.

Another reason why Apple would never use plasma... resolution. Those plasma displays have a resolution of only 1024x768 or in some cases a whopping 1366x768. Even on the $10,000 models. So you can forget about plasma. It's not going to happen.

 

[Sol]

Plasma with built in Airport

I think an Apple Plasma display should have Airport built in it, instead of a whole computer. This way something like Front Row could be used to browse through music, pictures and movies stored on any computer in the house.

 

[s10]

iPlasma

writing an email/browsing the web on a plasma screen? Not a good experience.
Better have a remote with a nice screen (think Nokia 770) to do just that and have the Plasma screen just for viewing TV

If they come out with a device like this, it wont be a full computer, just like the iPod.

 

[greenstork]

media center yes. But try writing an email or browsing. Its supposed to be a computer with all the functionality. Otherwise its just a dvr/dvd combo. And its a PITA typing on a tivo remote.

If Apple did come out with something like this, you can rest assured that they would revolutionize the interface, just like they did for the iPod. Minimal yet usable interfaces are Apple's speciality.

 

[sconnor99]

BS Apple would have announced these at CES, not a Mac only show

 

[mdavey]

BS Apple would have announced these at CES

Why? Apple doesn't even attend CES. Where was the iPod announced?

 

[Lacero]

Stevie Boy wants all the attention on himself at Macworld. He ain't going to want to share the spotlight with 2,500 other companies. CES is for n00bs. sorry Shard, but it's true.

Macworld is where it is at.

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​

 

[d.f]

And if someone could explain the cost argument to me as well...

There are also quite a few posts arguing that this theoretical Apple plasma device is too expensive. Now, without getting all buy.com/ebay/nerdish about it let's do a quick survey...

cheapest 42' plasma TV at circuit city.com- 1614.99
cheapest 42' plasma TV at Best Buy.com - 1424.99

cheapest 50' plasma TV at circuit city.com - 2999.99
cheapest 50' plasma TV at Best Buy.com - 2469.99

.

this is the problem. when has Apple ever entered the market with a product comparable to the cheapest of it's competitors..... those plasma's will be horrible to look at. doesn't sound like Apple to me. For any decent high end display (LCD or Plasma) you can double those prices. just look at what's being lauched at CES. it's all around the 3-5,000 $ mark.

 

[blakbyrd]

Stevie Boy wants all the attention on himself at Macworld. He ain't going to want to share the spotlight with 2,500 other companies. CES is for n00bs. sorry Shard, but it's true.

Macworld is where it is at.

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​

Yep. http://www.forbes.com/home/digitale...umer-electronics-show_cx_pk_0106cesdiary.html

 

[sluthy]

Quick question to all - suppose Apple does debut one in SF. Not a normal plasma, but the new SEP or whatever is supposed to be the best. It has full 1080p resolution and the Intel equivalent of a upgraded iMac jammed in behind it. How much would you be willing to pay for it? Would you pay it?

 

[burger011]

Anyone seen this?

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/cinascape.jpg

burger

 

[BenRoethig]

Integrated TV tuner in the next iMac is a possibilty. This super duper mac plasma screen thingy unlikely and a massive drain on the stock price!

Sounds exactly like something Steve Jobs would do.

 

[liquidh2o]

would be nice to see what Apple could design for a plasma TV, but the price points will keep them from competing with the low end, and I think people would rather go with known brand names (Sony/Samsung) for the higher end tvs'.

 

[hob]

Dunno if this has been posted, but it's quite funnny:

http://www.microsoft.com/events/executives/billgates.mspx (requires windows media player for mac os x)

Bill Gates trying to do a stevenote...

He starts by pointing out he was named "Person of the year"...

 

[Porchland]

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/cinascape.jpg

burger

Fake for any number of reasons. I'll go with: Apple capitalizes the "P" in AirPort.

 

[MarcelV]

You're forgetting CableCards. A few flat panels with built in DVRs are coming with them standard now.

You're correct. I didn't mention that one. CableCARD is just another standard to support, because not all cable companies are supporting this. And that was just my point. There is no one standard, or a standard that Apple can build and lobby for to be used. Unless Apple becomes a provider, there will not be a clean solution.

And what will the cable companies do when Apple becomes an IPTV provider? They are becoming instantly a direct competitor. I can see some 'dirty' games here, like frequently interrupting streaming or minimize bandwidth for streaming by the cable companies. And has DSL with 3MB tops for most of us in the US, enough capacity. Not for HD that's for sure. Not even HD utilizing h.264. But I just hope I will be proven wrong.

 

[MarcelV]

Another reason why Apple would never use plasma... resolution. Those plasma displays have a resolution of only 1024x768 or in some cases a whopping 1366x768....

And what's the resolution of 720p? And 480p? There is no difference between LCD and Plasma on HD resolutions.

 

[Goldfinger]

And what's the resolution of 720p? And 480p? There is no difference between LCD and Plasma on HD resolutions.

What do you mean with "there is no difference" ?
There are LCD tvs that offer the full 1920x1080 HD resolution. But Plasmas are limited to 1366x768, 1024x1024 or 1024x768 so 1080i/p content gets scaled down.

 

[MarcelV]

What do you mean with "there is no difference" ?
There are LCD tvs that offer the full 1920x1080 HD resolution. But Plasmas are limited to 1366x768, 1024x1024 or 1024x768 so 1080i/p content gets scaled down.

Most LCD tv's only support 720p. That's why I stated there is no difference. Most HD being distributed at this time, is what is called 'HD Lite'. Any OTA station that broadcast sub channels does not have full bandwidth for HD. One way to do this is cutting the bandwidth, which will cause more artifacts during motion. Other way to do it is to cut the horizontal resolution back to 1440 or 1280. Something DirecTV and Dish on some of their HD channels. (And Voom did too, when they were still in business) That means it is broadcast in 1280 x 1080 or 1440x1080. There are only a few 1080p displays out there on the market. Heck, the HD standard for broadcasting does not even include this as the bandwidth needed for full 1080p is not realistic and the gain is minimal.

1080p is NOT part of the HDTV standard. Only a native resolution of either 1,280 x 720 pixels (720 lines progressively scanned with a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio) or "1080i" (1920 x 1080), which represents a 16:9 widescreen image with 1920 pixels across each of 1080 interlaced scan lines are the only two High Definition formats defined by the HDTV standard

 

[Goldfinger]

Right, I thought you meant something completely different. Nevermind then, all cleared up.