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

I really don't think this'll happen. I've read all the comments Rolo made on AI and I just don't see it happening. It's a leap too big for Apple. The pictures of the screen in the lift are convincing, but it looks like the Apple logo is at the top, not the bottom like a Cinema Display, and it doesn't look like an Sir Ive design job.

I can see it happening one day, but not yet.

PS. I have a hat on standby incase I have to eat it on Tuesday :)
 
Lunja said:
It's a leap too big for Apple.
Click to expand...

See, that's where you're wrong. Apple NEEDS to take a big leap.

Read this story. http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=120123

The market expectation is well beyond the Mac fan base expectation. We want to hear about Intel notebooks and desktops and maybe some iPod products ... to people who've put hundreds of thousands of the dollars on the line, that's last year's news, it's all been factored into the Apple stock price.

To keep this amazing stock price momentum going, Apple doesn't need an incremental improvement in computing or a slightly better iPod ... they need the next Macintosh, the next iPod, something big and groundbreaking.

So is it going to be full HDTV systems? I have no idea. But Apple has to do something big and Steve Jobs knows this. But forget the rumors of the past week and just connect the dots.

Go back and read three years worth of rumors about Apple set top boxes. Think about Rendezvous and .mac and all the ways Apple has been moving towards integration ... then consider the sudden shift last year to the Intel platform. You think that's all about IBM's slow deliveries and Intel's power consumption? Please.

What the Intel move was about was preventing a head-to-head confrontation Apple couldn't win. Apple was moving towards it's own flavor of consumer electronics integration, then got a look at what Intel was doing with Viiv and figured it was smarter to switch than to fight.

And so Apple cut a deal with Intel -- a really good deal, one that includes becoming the showcase provider of Viiv-enabled systems. Does that mean Apple has to sell its own HDTV? No ... but at the very least, it would mean providing a form of OS X to CE manufacturers to use in these Viiv enabled systems.

So if you're a long-time Apple fanatic, what do you think is more likely -- 1) Apple surrendering the HDTV/consumer electronics marketplace to Microsoft 2) Apple licensing OS-X as part of Viiv to compete with the Windows Media systems or 3) Apple jumping head first into this market and selling their own top-to-bottom, platinum Viiv solutions?

Given what market analysts are saying about Apple's stock price, Apple's new relationship with Intel, widely-accepted rumors that a set-top box is on the way and the absence of any other big, groundbreaking rumors in what needs to be a monster MacWorld to keep the stock flying, I'm inclined to believe that O'Grady (at least partially) has it right.
 
Lunja said:
The pictures of the screen in the lift are convincing, but it looks like the Apple logo is at the top, not the bottom like a Cinema Display, and it doesn't look like an Sir Ive design job.
Click to expand...
:D
 
one thing i will say....

hob said:
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"...
Click to expand...

i HATE windows software.....but have you seen how much money Billy boy has donated to charity recently...? fair play, the guy knows his family, or should i say dynasty, is set up for generations to come and he's done the right thing. so, i'd agree about his recent 'Person of the Year' award.
 
MarcelV said:
...CableCARD is just another standard to support, because not all cable companies are supporting this...
Click to expand...

CableCard is an FCC mandate. All cable companies providing digital cable had to provide CableCard 1.0 (downstream) as of July 1, 2003. CableCard 2.0 (mutilstream) is yet to be adopted. You can't do PPV, OnDemand or interactive guides with CableCard 1.0

Call your cable company-- most operators are unaware that the cards are available (or with my provider, Comcast- that they even exist). Eventually you'll get bumped to someone at your cable company that knows what they are and can provide one to you.

I would hope that Apple would include CableCard. Not only is it built into the upcoming Series 3 TiVo (2 CableCard 1.0 slots and one CableCard 2.0 Multistream slot built in!), it is also now being included in many Plasma and LCD sets. Windows Media Center will be getting CableCard support with Longhorn.

If you have a TiVo and a cablebox you know what a IR hack it is to change channels. I'd also like less components on the table. Just a Big TV that does it all. CableCard support would clean the component mess up.
 
Just found this on Applenova...

http://www.clickstarinc.com/

very high quality movie too, H.264 ?? ...and that little arrow graphic does look quite familiar! Intel Viiv too, if you leave the video run to the end..
 

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seperate them

curmi said:
This rumour seems very unlikely. I mean Apple has no experience in Plasma TVs. You don't just go out and buy some plasma component and stick it in a case - at least if you want to have the best plasma out there.

Apple would need to compete with Pioneer's 50" plasmas say - arguably the best plasma TVs around. They've put years of research in to these things to get blacker blacks, less reflective surfaces etc. It seems very unlikely that Apple could just go "Here's a plasma we've just built" and get anyone to take them serious.

Unless it isn't going to be the best plasma you can buy (which goes against their usual quality ideals). Or they are buying Pioneers and re-badging them. :)
Click to expand...


I was just shopping around for a new TV and came upon something very interesting. Pioneer and another company, I forget who, have started seperating the guts of the TV and the display. What if the plan is to do something similar? Release just the large display along with a souped up Mac Mini, that way when the time comes and the Mini gets out-dated, you can just upgrade that and not incur the additional expense of the display.

EDIT: Also, since it'll probably be intel, able to run windows or at least darwine, and have an optical drive, you may not even need a seperate game console like a playstation or xbox, it could really be the all in one box.
 
plasma versus LCD

I have no desire to feed any pissing contest about what is better but I have seen some things here posted about plasmas, compared to the LCDs that are just wrong. And this comes from someone with a total of two TVs in his home, both LCD.

LCD technology, at present, is inferior to plasma in terms of overal picture quality (comparing good LCD to good plasma). The blacks in LCD are, in general, terrible. It's the nature of the technology. Now there are a few advances on the horizon which may enable LCD to compete, on a picture quality level, with plasma, but right now, to put it simply, it ain't much of a contest.

That said, LCD has many advantages. As I said, I own two of them that aren't hooked to computer and all four macs in the house have LCD displays.

As for plasma itself, it's actually decent technology. If you discount the crap (visit Costco or most of the mass marketers to see what I mean) the picture on better plasmas is amazing. The screen is bright and detailed. Overall color and tone is accurate and plasma doesn't suffer from the reaction time issues that many LCDs labour under.

As for the longevity of plasma, they should, in theory, last as long as your CRT TV. It's really very similar technology in some ways. So the idea that plasmas "go bad" at some fantastic rate is hoakum brewed by local "consumer reporters" geared to get the attention of the viewers that just don't know any better (and are oh so thankful to have been warned off that dangerous technology). We'll see in five years or so what the lifespan of a plasma display is as about that time the first generation will be old enough to make some judgments about it.

As for the topic, the biggest downside to any TV with a computer inside of it, as some have mentioned, obselescence. Most consumers expect a TV to last ten years, at least. Most computers are considered, by the consumer, to be out of date within five. This disparity will make the sale of a "computer-TV" more difficult.
 
well pointed out :)

Peace said:
Those designed arrows in the movie are Windows Media Edition.As a matter of fact the whole interface is WME.
Click to expand...

Sorry about that then guys :)

...it's still the first time i've seen Viiv advertised tho, good quality and fast to load to!

i must have been thinking about this arrow:
 

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chicagdan said:
See, that's where you're wrong. Apple NEEDS to take a big leap.

Read this story. http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=120123

The market expectation is well beyond the Mac fan base expectation. We want to hear about Intel notebooks and desktops and maybe some iPod products ... to people who've put hundreds of thousands of the dollars on the line, that's last year's news, it's all been factored into the Apple stock price.

To keep this amazing stock price momentum going, Apple doesn't need an incremental improvement in computing or a slightly better iPod ... they need the next Macintosh, the next iPod, something big and groundbreaking.

So is it going to be full HDTV systems? I have no idea. But Apple has to do something big and Steve Jobs knows this. But forget the rumors of the past week and just connect the dots.

Go back and read three years worth of rumors about Apple set top boxes. Think about Rendezvous and .mac and all the ways Apple has been moving towards integration ... then consider the sudden shift last year to the Intel platform. You think that's all about IBM's slow deliveries and Intel's power consumption? Please.

What the Intel move was about was preventing a head-to-head confrontation Apple couldn't win. Apple was moving towards it's own flavor of consumer electronics integration, then got a look at what Intel was doing with Viiv and figured it was smarter to switch than to fight.

And so Apple cut a deal with Intel -- a really good deal, one that includes becoming the showcase provider of Viiv-enabled systems. Does that mean Apple has to sell its own HDTV? No ... but at the very least, it would mean providing a form of OS X to CE manufacturers to use in these Viiv enabled systems.

So if you're a long-time Apple fanatic, what do you think is more likely -- 1) Apple surrendering the HDTV/consumer electronics marketplace to Microsoft 2) Apple licensing OS-X as part of Viiv to compete with the Windows Media systems or 3) Apple jumping head first into this market and selling their own top-to-bottom, platinum Viiv solutions?

Given what market analysts are saying about Apple's stock price, Apple's new relationship with Intel, widely-accepted rumors that a set-top box is on the way and the absence of any other big, groundbreaking rumors in what needs to be a monster MacWorld to keep the stock flying, I'm inclined to believe that O'Grady (at least partially) has it right.
Click to expand...

Now, I'm not saying you're wrong but Apple has never developed a business model by which they license OS X. Apple has always, since its inception, produced produced fully integrated systems that include both software and hardware components. They have always insisted on very tight controls over the industrial design, which is the part of the reason why they have such a strong brand. To license OS X for use in a media center would be to move away from their core strengths and put them in direct competition with Microsoft. I'll probably get flamed for this but Microsoft's greatest strength is selling licensed software, they perhaps do it better than anyone else.
 
ccrandall77 said:
I'd much rather have a separate set-top box with cable card, fat HDD, etc. than an all-in-one TV/HTPC... esp since I just bought a 32" Aquos and 42" Samsung plasma for my new condo.

And by the way, for those arguing about the LCD vs. Plasma... I prefer my 32" Aquos to the 42" Samsung by far.... I almost wish I hadn't bought the plasma and just got one of the 45" Aquos sets that do 1080p.
Click to expand...

1080p is nice. :cool: I have a Mitsubishi 52" 1080p DLP. Unfortunately, until there is native media in 1080p, such as HD-DVD or Blu-Ray(even that's up to debate), everything gets up/down converted to the native resolution of the monitor anyways and the majority of HD broadcasts are 720p anyway with the exception of about three 1080i broadcasters. :( I personally think progressive is the way to go and have seen 720p monitors produce better motion than 1080i monitors.
 
Just tell me if you feel this is irrellevant

this was also in the video from Clickstar.com, also pointed out on AppleNova... does anyone the white "set top box" under the screen? ? could that part of the video be CGI'd


Is posting from other forums bad/frowned upon ??
 

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greenstork said:
Now, I'm not saying you're wrong but Apple has never developed a business model by which they license OS X. Apple has always, since its inception, produced produced fully integrated systems that include both software and hardware components. They have always insisted on very tight controls over the industrial design, which is the part of the reason why they have such a strong brand. To license OS X for use in a media center would be to move away from their core strengths and put them in direct competition with Microsoft. I'll probably get flamed for this but Microsoft's greatest strength is selling licensed software, they perhaps do it better than anyone else.
Click to expand...

I agree with all of this ... that's the point I was making ... that given the option of ceeding the territory to MS, licensing OS X or diving in head first, Apple was most likely to go with option 3. That's why the HDTV rumor isn't so far fetched, it may be a DEFENSIVE choice they have to make ... after all, if Media Center with ViiV turns out to be popular and Windows Media is the only option, Apple could be screwed.
 
dannyallen34 said:
That wouldn't explain Apple's Powermac in the HD-DVD booth at CES.

Apple will need to support both in their editing software or else they could loose some potential customers who need HD-DVD.
Click to expand...

What you say may well indeed prove true but as a member of the
Blu-ray Disc Association, you'd think they would promote Blu-ray in any new computer advertising over HD-DVD, if they had to choose only one to feature.
 
AdamZ said:
Folks listen!! Many of us have been following Mac rumors for years now and I specifically remember this from 2003. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/46254/ This was a streamed Apple analysis meeting where Steve jobs was asked a number of questions, but makes a
Click to expand...

But what if this has nothing (or little) to do with TV/computing convergence? What if, yes, the TV runs a version of OS-X, but not under the assumption that you'll sit on the couch and work on a spreadsheet, but will instead link up to your computers so that you can listen to music on a stereo, watch movies on a HDTV?

That being the case, it won't matter that the processor will be a bit outdated in a couple years ... it will still be fine for the limited extended-computer purpose.

Look at more recent Jobs quotes -- people don't want to watch TV on their computers. Exactly. If Apple wants to get into the media business, making it work means putting media into Hi-Fi systems and onto big TVs. How do they do this? Beats me, but Jobs' previous quotes disprove nothing.
 
Apple ANALYST MEETING 2003

Folks listen!! THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN Many of us have been following Mac rumors for years now and I specifically remember this from 2003. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/46254/ Q: TVs and Computers? This was a streamed Apple analysis meeting where Steve jobs was asked a number of questions, but makes a REALLY funny joke and continues to talk about this product and even the future Television shows on iTunes. Jobs rarely spoke about the future, and this was so cool back then to hear him speak his opinion.

Does anyone have a recording of the audio stream??? There was a lot more he spoke on it, but I can't find a detailed transcript of the conference call!! Great to see three years later everything coming into play!!!!
 
greenstork said:
What you say may well indeed prove true but as a member of the
Blu-ray Disc Association, you'd think they would promote Blu-ray in any new computer advertising over HD-DVD, if they had to choose only one to feature.
Click to expand...

I think you have a good point. I think once the Intel Macs start rolling out with HDMI, Apple will start promoting and integrating Blu-Ray... HD-DVD tech is an extension to existing DVD tech, so I'd guess it's "cheaper" for Apple in the near-term and Sony's been sitting on its hands with respect to getting the finalized software specs of Blu-Ray out to developers. I also think Apple's being pragmatic and doesn't want to paint itself into a corner so early in this new format battle, especially with all of the home media stuff at stake.
 
firebox said:
this was also in the video from Clickstar.com, also pointed out on AppleNova... does anyone the white "set top box" under the screen? ? could that part of the video be CGI'd


Is posting from other forums bad/frowned upon ??
Click to expand...

That box looks a lot like the one introduced by panasonic( I think ) at CES.
 
A Video Wall of LCD Displays?

Have you ever seen a VideoWall-- a series of Displays stacked together-- say 9 displays stacked as a 3x3 cube or 12 displays stacked as a 4x3 cube.

These displays are controlled individually and each can show seperate content-- kinda' a picture & picture & picture.

But they can be combined where each shows a tile of a single content.

At first, the tiles (frames of each display) are distracting. But after a few minutes, the eye compensates and you hardly notice the tiles.

Here's what I am wondering:

1) Could this approach be economically used with HDTV-- where you could roll-your-own screen size from 1 to n displays?

2) Would this be more economical using currently-available LCD displays such the ones whe now have in iBooks & PBooks?

3) Could the LCD technology be improved to where the display edgse were no-bleed or virtually frameless? This would mitigate the tiling. Another way might be to borrow the Phillips (I think) concept-- where the frame takes on the color of the picture at each edge of the display. I believe Apple has patents in this area.

Say I want the following VideoWalls using 12,,13, 17, 20, 23, or 30 inch displays:

Small: a single LCD Display

Medium: 4x3 Tiled LCD Displays

Large; 16x9 Tiled LCD Displays

Mondo Grande: n x n Tiled Displays in HDTV ratio

Specialty: Any application-specific configuration that makes sense

If this could be done stylishly and economically it would have several advantages:

1) You could start small/inexpensive and grow as your needs/wallet allow;

2) If a tile fails, it could be easily/economically replaced.

3) If a tile fails the rest of the VideoWall could be electronically and/or physically reconfigured in an instant-- with little or no interruption in the viewing.

4) You could watch n different channels/shows at the same time -- say sports (Olympics, Playoffs: replays), Stock Market Displays, VideoCams, Security Monitoring & zoom in an any one (or more) of them.

5) Real-time Before/During/After cause and effect display for certain applications such as video editing.

6) As your needs change (or if you move) you can reconfigure any or all of your video walls to use more/fewer/larger/better/less-expensive displays-- the ultimate hand-me-down (or up):

take that 16 x 9 x 17" in the family room amd make two 4 x 3 x 17" for the kids rooms (and get a new 20 x 15 x 23" for the Family room.

7) Each member of the family can be doing his own thing with section(s) of the video wall and wireless control & headpones: movies, TV games (including multiplayer), VideoCams. Web surfing, Studying, creating, eCommerce, etc.

Thoughts?

Dick Applebaum
 
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