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

[fixyourthinking]

MacTV

Eventhough it wasn't under Jobs watch ... no one expected Apple to release the MacTV ... not only did it depart from the norm with a built in TV tuner, but it was black ...

Can anyone comment that 2006 is also an anniversary year too ... isn't it Apple's 30th year in business?

 

[fixyourthinking]

This is one piece that many people don't seem to get, maybe because the "plasma" name sounds futuristic or something. Plasma displays use pretty much the same technology as the old CRTs or fluorescent lamps. It's just a giant array of itty bitty single-pixel tubes, and each of those little tubes is exciting gases and making phosphors glow exactly as has been done for a century or so.

Good, true information ... and burn in of a sort can also happen on LCDs as well ... you don't want a CNN news ticker or a CNBC stock ticker running on any display for very long.

 

[Machead III]

I probably wouldn't buy one for half that price. No doubt it would be good, but who the hell would spend over $1250 for a living room device?!

 

[firebox]

My thoughts....

If this really is an Airport(ed) Apple TV it will be big! ....If it comes with a 10" Apple tablet to control it with, it will be massive!

Airport would mean access to everything on your home wifi network, all your Powerbooks, Lacie's, iMacs, iPods...the lot, you could effectively control and access everything else, from everything else...Haven't centain companies, i couldn't name them, but the kind you see in Cribs, been trying to do this for a very long time at a very high price!?

I think Apple is really trying to capture the home market at the moment, and the timing could not better. With everything as it is, to get a properly intergrated home media solution that reaches throughout the house, costs a lot of money, if people are already using Apple hardware - iPods, Powerbooks, iMacs etc. something like this, with or without a computer in the same unit (different models???), that could unify them all...would be a very cool solution.

The rumored Video capable Airport also makes me think along these lines..

 

[Nepenthe]

OK. To Point out.

I like Macrumors.com ... great insider news ..

BUT THIS IS BULL ...

First of all .... A PLASMA SCREEN I CRAP FOR STILL IMAGES

//Andy

And second of all?

Come on! It's just a rumor of a component in a rumored device! Relax. If rumors (such as this one) and their threads make you " " then maybe you shouldn't read them.

=

Regards,
-TC

 

[angelwatt]

CHECK MATE

yea that's exactly the response i'd expect from your kind which is why i stopped discussing things toward your responses. some people here are trying to have real discussions, not flaunting their ego.

 

[asphalt-proof]

There's a thread at Appleinsider that's saying similar things, though this dude Rolo saying they aren't really just plasma screen, they're like living room sized iMacs. Check it out at:

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59881

Living room sized iMacs make much more sense. Plasma, iirc, eat up a lot of power and are more prone to burn-in. A 42" iMac would be so sweet on so many different levels that I dare not hope. THe pain of disappointment on Tuesday (if they don't show) would require copious amounts of Oxycodine to alleviate.

 

[hifi4sale]

Below is my breakdown of why I disagree:

>>That has very much to do with the image processor rather than the screen - just look at Sony's Bravia range of LCDs vs plasmas from a year ago. As for sharpness, LCDs and plasmas with the same resolution should be as sharp as each other.
True, but with current generation LCDs it isn't really a practical issue but on paper it is worse.
Depends on the display. Some LCDs have wider viewing angles - once again the Bravia line is a good example.
To be honest I don't know which typically has a brighter screen, but it isn't really going to be an issue until the screen gets old as most people don't run their screens on full brightness anyway.

>>Couldn't comment but I would have thought they would be similar enough that the average consumer would be able to tell.

Anybody with two eyes can see the difference. In my office, our two most popular lines are the Bravia and Pioneer/Pioneer Elite products. If price were no object, the Pioneer wins hands down, it's not even close. That being said we still sell alot of Bravia due to its lower price.

>>I believe the are manufactured to Sony's specifications in Samsung factories. In addition, Sony no longer has a plasma TV line.

Incorrect! Sony still sells a fair amount of plasma TV's in their professio
nal/commercial division.

 

[iZoom P5]

If nothing else, this might be true because it has been denied by Apple in the past. Look at their past track record recently:

"No sub $500 headless Mac" -----------------------> Mac Mini
"No cheap, flash based iPods ----------------------> iPod Shuffle
"We're not going to Intel" --------------------------> WWDC 2005
"No color flash based iPods-------------------------> iPod Nano
"The iPod is not ready for video"-------------------> 5G iPod
"TV is not to merge with the computer"------------> ????

I think it's ironic that when Apple say they don't have plans for something, they release it in shortly after, but when they actually promise something (3GHz G5s; PowerBook G5) they can't deliver. And the only reason that happened was because they relied on someone other than Apple (IBM) to deliver the goods.

 

[osprey76]

I would definitely not buy this. Two words: burn in! Plasma screens are very sensitive to static images. If you left your desktop up for 30 minutes at a time, you'll have a nice ghost of your Dock permanently etched on the screen.

Besides, plasma's use so much power. Makes operating a CRT look cheap.

 

[Tussen69]

not in a milion years (happy edition)

And second of all?

Come on! It's just a rumor of a component in a rumored device! Relax. If rumors (such as this one) and their threads make you " " then maybe you shouldn't read them.

=

Regards,
-TC

I am not mad at all ... OK maybe my statement was to HARD but my point is that that a plasma is not a good alternative .. tought I said that a LCD might be more likely ....

I like the idea with a apple hdtv .. if it will be one .. I will be one to buy one for shore ... like probelly milion of outhers ..

apple make great stuff and I cant realy understand the idea behind a plasma .... but LCD .. then we are talking about something ...

and to state once again ... I´m not angry at all

 

[iris_failsafe]

Actually I think this could be true. Remember the story about Final Cut Extreme and the 4K ultra high res display that has over 11M pixels. Could Apple have the iDisplay and the PowerDisplay and they are part of a bigger strategy.

And remember Apple chose Intel partly because off al these extra products that they make. And Intel lured Apple because they were left out by MIcrosoft and they obviously see that Apple has the better product

 

[JeromeOD]

erm...

I probably wouldn't buy one for half that price. No doubt it would be good, but who the hell would spend over $1250 for a living room device?!

you are kidding, yes? All over the UK, thousands of people are buying bog-standard plasmas as their main TV. In the Hi-Fi shop I used to work in, in a normal british town, my old boss told me before christmas "the only thing people are buying nowadays is Plasmas, Bose and iPods". The shops are festooned with LCDs and Plasmas, loads of them over £1k. I would spend a great deal more than £1k on my next projector for a start.

 

[Peace]

Think this over folks...

WHY did Apple make the iMac with Front Row and remote no less?

And why not make it a 42" LCD ?

For a community that's supposed to "think different" some here sure are closed minded.

 

[ncbill]

so why does everyone think this has to use a LCD (too expensive for the 42"/50" sizes rumored) or plasma instead of a SED like the Appleinsider dude said?

SED is the up and coming technology, and should be cheaper to build than either LCD or plasma displays.

 

[AP_piano295]

I have herd that plasmas have an issue with maintaining quality as their life goes on. The first time you turn it on you get the best picture and as time goes on the picture slowly deteriorates. I would like it if apple had waited for something like the new crt displays being developed.

 

[Goldfinger]

I, for one, hope that they are not forgetting the European market. If they were to make a TV or set top box it would have to be DVB-C compatible, Irdeto compatible (or all the other decoders, CableCard isn't used in Europe). Including a tuner could prove to be pretty hard. Unless they completely ignore Europe. I have no idea about TV technologies in Asia so I can't really comment on that.

If they were to sell a cable box than for the love of god let it have SCART with RGB connections and not only a digital output like DVI or HDMI. Most TVs sold here are still without any form of digital connections and 99% of the installed TVs today have SCART with RGB (our version of Component YUV). If you want digital connections you need to poney up 2k for an LCD or Plasma. HD CRT televisions are not available here. And most people are not ready to poney up 2k+ for a TV. Even a lot of LCD tvs here have no digital inputs.

Same goes for the so called Apple Plasma/LCD tv. It HAS to have an analogue tuner. Digital standards and content are just starting to come to life on mainland Europe (the UK already has some experience with Sky Digital). Also note that there is zero HDTV content in Europe right now.

If they were to sell a set top box with SCART and Irdeto DVB-C compatible than they have a customer right here. If they don't then I don't think they'll find too much customers in Europe.

 

[d.f]

it's the mac mini.....

just another 2 pennies to throw in:

this all points to the mac mini (or rebranded compact product). the big screen on the wall is the 'vision', but Apple wont get involved the display itself. for all the reasons already posted. Flat screen tech isn't quite perfect yet. read any LCD / Plasma forum and do a search for 'dead pixels / screen burn / lack of connectivity'. yes SED looks great, but it isn't going into mass production (70,000 per month) till well into 2006. don't tell me Apple has beaten the companies that have researched and developed this tech for many years.

back on track: they'll leave the display to the other companies (for now) to work out the tech. While the mac mini offers all the connectivity and expandability to meet the home theatre / digital hub requirements.

look at all the CES coverage, nearly every CE company has offered a DRV / mac mini like device to be THE one box solution for games, tv, film, music, etc.

all Apple have to do is repackage the mac mini (or new device) with a slick Front Row 2 (as simple as the iPod interface for the general public) and it has another hit on it's hand.

also, if they make the device UWB enabled (i thiink that's what it's called) then the slew of forthcoming UWB enabled hubs and Hard Drives will mean the the small form factor doesn't lack storage capabitlites (a big part of the one box solution).

 

[ejl10]

Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I kind of like the idea of sitting on my couch watching the game, and popping up iChat to video call my folks using my TV's built-in iSight during commercials (or while paused). Sure, the Jetsons had a dedicated device for video chatting, but I don't see why it couldn't be part of a simple living room hub device.

The only thing - with a screen that big and pricey, I'd want to make sure the components were upgradeable. I don't want to have to buy a whole new plasma in 2 years just because the video card is too slow.

 

[d.f]

so why does everyone think this has to use a LCD (too expensive for the 42"/50" sizes rumored) or plasma instead of a SED like the Appleinsider dude said?

SED is the up and coming technology, and should be cheaper to build than either LCD or plasma displays.

SED is NOT cheap. it's not even in mass production yet. i doubt it will be commercially available globally until 2007.

 

[Lacero]

SED is NOT cheap. it's not even in mass production yet. i doubt it will be commercially available globally until 2007.

Makes sense to me. Steve Jobs announces immediate availability of SED displays at Macworld 2006 with shipping in the second half of 2007.

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​

 

[Project]

Hmm, if this IS what people think it is, and that there is a Mac Mini for the front room, do you think that this will be available to Windows iTunes/iPod users? It makes sense in the same way iTunes for Windows did. Windows users can use Airtunes so im sure it could work this way. Otherwise, you create a stumbling block by wanting people to buy the Mini DVR and a Mac.

 

[Peace]

Hmm, if this IS what people think it is, and that there is a Mac Mini for the front room, do you think that this will be available to Windows iTunes/iPod users? It makes sense in the same way iTunes for Windows did. Windows users can use Airtunes so im sure it could work this way. Otherwise, you create a stumbling block by wanting people to buy the Mini DVR and a Mac.

Windows users have the Windows Media Edition..

 

[chicagdan]

If you don't like plasmas, don't buy one. I'm sure Apple will be selling a set-top-box-only version of this product too that allows you to bring your own TV. That's the new Mac Mini.

Now, the only thing holding me back from buying this Mac Mini Media is integration -- how can this device possibly be integrated with the HDTV cable-company-supplied DVR I have right now? That Moto DVR has firewire and can be linked already to a Mac to record HD programming, but the Mac acts as a passive device, just receiving data from the DVR and copying it to the hard drive.

And since my TV has only one HDMI in slot (as do most), how am I going to deal with two HDTV devices? What we really need is an inexpensive HDMI switching receiver that will allow me to use both today and grow in the future so that, soon, I can plug in a BlueRay DVD, PS/3, HD-DVR and Apple branded set top box at the same time. Right now I think I'd have to pay $2K to get such a box and I won't be doing that.

 

[soosy]

Aggressive pricing for Apple if true.

I've been looking into HDTVs lately. A 50" Plasma for $3299 is pretty aggressive pricing. Look at Best Buy and Circuit City and the typical MSRP for a 50" Plasma is $3999 (though they are currently 10% off). There are budget displays that are cheaper though, so this could be a feasible Apple price point if they are rebranding the big name parts just like a Vizio (LG glass) or a Maxent (Panasonic glass) is doing.

Combining a plasma with a computer doesn't make sense price-wise or feature-wise... a big screen plasma is primarily for viewing video, not computing in your living room. But combine the plasma with an embedded streaming video airport, with a Front Row interface and it makes sense. Lots of HDTVs already have compact flash slots for viewing photos off of....

I'm not sure a product like this from Apple would make as much sense without HDTV videos being available from iTMS. So far, we've only gotten 320x240ish sizes. Is iTMS ready to go HDTV? Is broadband fast enough for HDTV streaming?