iTunes Movies... and New Media Device?

[HecubusPro]

I'm really hoping for merom in mbp's and mb's. The wait has been killing me.

Same here. I really want a new C2D MBP, but since all of this info about the iMac, movie store, nano, etc. has been taking the spotlight, the C2D laptop information has come to a near stop.

Will we now be forced to wait longer than September. I still doubt it, but the quiet on this front the past week has been alarming to me.

 

[peharri]

OH PLEEASE let it be the phone...i need a new one now!!!

God I hope not. If Apple announces a phone, and I have shares, I'll sell them. Apple Phone = Apple Irrelevance.

Anyway, I think too much of the focus is on the technical details of this mysterious Airport Express box. I'm wondering if Apple's "Big New Thing" isn't so much the gadgets, but the notion of entertainment moving from being something you have shovelled to you from your cable/satellite guy, to a true a la carte system, delivered via the Internet.

What's interesting about the rumours are that they point at products and services that build an infrastructure for something, not products that are particularly interesting by themselves. I can stream media to TVs already (albeit with cables.) I can buy movies, hell, the pr0n industry has pretty much pioneered in this realm and made the concept provable. Less controvertially, there have been attempts to sell movies online serveral times over the last few years. These are all products that already exist.

Apple's products may well actually turn this into a general collection of concepts into a major new drive, in much the same way as DVDs have changed the way we watch TV, and DVRs, and, indeed, twenty-thirty years ago, cable and satellite did.

It'll be interesting to see if they succeed. Don't be surprised if most of the coverage after the event is negative. The real test will be in the coming years.

 

[jettredmont]

Airport Extreme name?

So, any bets on the new name for Airport Extreme?

My bets:

Airport Super K-Rad
Airport Gnarly Waves
Airport Excellent
Airport 3: Direct to Video!

 

[JGowan]

I honestly don't buy very many movies at all, because I rarely watch a movie twice. I do like to rent them though, and anything that made that more convenient would be great.

NetFlix! I've received 25 movies since the first one shipped July 24th! Incredible turnaround time! I'm on the 3-@-a-time plan. Honestly, if you don't want to watch more than once, just join Netflix! I'm glad I did.

 

[damienvfx]

Better not have commercials on the movies

If I am forced to watch ANY commercials on the iTunes movie downloads, then I'll never use it, ever. Bad enough I spend $10 to go to a theater to have the same mazda zoom zoom zoom/coke and a smile crap every time.

 

[50548]

It's Showtime. Obvious reference to movies. What do (consumers) want? What does apple like to sell? HARDWARE. Steve will introduce some sort of on-line movie service. I have no idea what it will be, other than different from other options. To me, the on-line movie store is not a bit sexy.

What will be sexy are the other three devices he will introduce that will use that service...

1) True Video iPod. With some sort of wireless transfer method. There is no point in on-line service (for apple) if it ain't mobile.

2) The Apple Movie Machine, probably looking a lot like a Mini, to interface wirelessly to your computer with your TV seamlessly, using an improved Front Row. It will have DVR capability and ability to work with streamed high quality video from iTunes movie store.

3) 23" iMac with a TV tuner, and the ability to pickup streamed movies from the ITunes movie store, and built-in DVR capacity upon which to view those nice movies.

Indeed it is. Microsoft is simply DEAD after 12th of September...Apple is finally gonna reach the status of market leader in media and computers...this is gonna be mindblowing.

 

[brepublican]

If I am forced to watch ANY commercials on the iTunes movie downloads, then I'll never use it, ever. Bad enough I spend $10 to go to a theater to have the same mazda zoom zoom zoom/coke and a smile crap every time.

Took the words right out of my mouth. I dont see Apple going this route, though I do understand that it can represent a substantial stream of revenue. I think that the Media store will simply act to fuel demand for a media device, much like the iTMS - iPod setup, from which Apple doesnt make a lot of money (Music Store)

 

[jettredmont]

I'd be surprised if Apple did anything with TV tuners.

With the variety of TV services that people have (analog cable, digital cable, satellite TV, Verizon's TV over fiber, terrestrial HDTV), coming up with a device that can tune most folks TV doesn't sound easy, even for Apple.

This is a situation dying for a solution. Oh, yeah, there already is one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CableCARD

 

[milo]

If I am forced to watch ANY commercials on the iTunes movie downloads, then I'll never use it, ever. Bad enough I spend $10 to go to a theater to have the same mazda zoom zoom zoom/coke and a smile crap every time.

Why would they do commercials? Commercials only make sense if they give you content for free. Has anyone done home viewing of movies for a fee and still included commercials (other than movie trailers)?

 

[balamw]

Why would they do commercials? Commercials only make sense if they give you content for free. Has anyone done home viewing of movies for a fee and still included commercials (other than movie trailers)?

As damienvfx suggestes there are plenty of commercials beyond trailers when you go out to the movies these days, which can easily be a $50+ affair, so why expect to be ad-free...

There have also been some ads (albeit more like trailers) tacked on th the end of some shows I have bought on iTMS.

B

 

[dongmin]

If I am forced to watch ANY commercials on the iTunes movie downloads, then I'll never use it, ever. Bad enough I spend $10 to go to a theater to have the same mazda zoom zoom zoom/coke and a smile crap every time.

None of iTMS's current video content has any commercials. Why would you expect anything different for features?

 

[milo]

As damienvfx suggestes there are plenty of commercials beyond trailers when you go out to the movies these days, which can easily be a $50+ affair, so why expect to be ad-free...

There have also been some ads (albeit more like trailers) tacked on th the end of some shows I have bought on iTMS.

But as I said, for HOME viewing, is there a precedent for ads?

What ads have you seen on iTunes shows? Were they for other shows, or for other products?

 

[balamw]

None of iTMS's current video content has any commercials. Why would you expect anything different for features?

I beg to differ. Various episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse I have bought have had ads/trailers for other Playhouse Disney shows (Little Einsteins, Higglytown Heroes) tacked on to the end of the show. I just checked my iPod and they added two minutes of ads to then end of a 24 minute show.

EDIT: FWIW I know that it's not Apple who put the ads there, it's Disney, but that doesn't change the fact that the files took 8% longer to download and are 8% larger on my HDD because they included 2 minutes of ads in each episode I bought for $2 and they don't offer a season pass.

B

 

[cadillaccactus]

But as I said, for HOME viewing, is there a precedent for ads?

certainly not if you own the content. cds don't have ads, but radio does.

 

[milo]

certainly not if you own the content. cds don't have ads, but radio does.

And DVD's don't have ads even if you rent them (other than trailers, which is pretty standard).

 

[TheManOfSilver]

It's Showtime. Obvious reference to movies. What do (consumers) want? What does apple like to sell? HARDWARE. Steve will introduce some sort of on-line movie service. I have no idea what it will be, other than different from other options. To me, the on-line movie store is not a bit sexy.

What will be sexy are the other three devices he will introduce that will use that service...

1) True Video iPod. With some sort of wireless transfer method. There is no point in on-line service (for apple) if it ain't mobile.

2) The Apple Movie Machine, probably looking a lot like a Mini, to interface wirelessly to your computer with your TV seamlessly, using an improved Front Row. It will have DVR capability and ability to work with streamed high quality video from iTunes movie store.

3) 23" iMac with a TV tuner, and the ability to pickup streamed movies from the ITunes movie store, and built-in DVR capacity upon which to view those nice movies.

I can skip the Video iPod for now, but I'm seriously hoping for exactly what you have for #2 and #3. I'm due for a return to the mac (I've been stuck in a PC-only world for school for the past few years) and my DVD player went belly-up last month, and I've been delaying replacing it, preferring to get a DVD-burner with HD. If Apple comes out with the big iMac and Living room wonder next week, I'll be upgrading just as soon as Leopard comes preinstalled (although the movie machine might come first).

 

[HecubusPro]

Indeed it is. Microsoft is simply DEAD after 12th of September...Apple is finally gonna reach the status of market leader in media and computers...this is gonna be mindblowing.

How long after September 12th? Certainly not anytime in the forseeable future. I wouldn't even dare to speculate on such a reversal of fortune for a company like Microsoft.

Personally, I wouldn't want Apple to be that big. It's easier to lose sight of quality when your userbase is pretty much the entire world. That's not to say Apple wouldn't do it better than Microsoft, but since Apple's install base has grown, so has the problems with their products. Of course, that's just simple numbers (of which I really suck .) Perhaps the percentage has always been the same, but on the surface, it doesn't seem like that is the case. There are a lot of people complaining about random shut-downs on their macbooks.

 

[balamw]

And DVD's don't have ads even if you rent them (other than trailers, which is pretty standard).

The recent Peter Jackson version of King Kong had a "special feature" that was little else but an ad for the VW Touareg. This kind of prouct-placement/cross-marketing is becoming more prevalent, and plenty of Disney movies I have bought recently come with inserts in the DVD case that are ads for minivans, junk food, books, etc... etc...

B

 

[APPLENEWBIE]

Indeed it is. Microsoft is simply DEAD after 12th of September...Apple is finally gonna reach the status of market leader in media and computers...this is gonna be mindblowing.

I think MS might just survive, since they have 95% of the PC market, a big hunk of the game console market, some pretty good peripherals (mice/keyboards) and the world beating (for better or worse) office suite... I'm not getting out my shovel just yet.

 

[JGowan]

I've seen some posts about transferring "that much data" in disbelief. I calculate that a two hour movie will no more about 450MB. I hope it is, of course. This is based on a 1-hr episode of Lost is about 200MB. I fudge in 50MB for the fact that each Lost episode never is EXACTLY 1 hour.

I can transfer that size (450MB) from my ReplayTV wirelessly to my PowerBook in less than a half hour with my Airport Extreme Basestation.

So... I see no problem. Perhaps the show will be delayed a little but not more than a few minutes

 

[milo]

I've seen some posts about transferring "that much data" in disbelief. I calculate that a two hour movie will no more about 450MB. I hope it is, of course. This is based on a 1-hr episode of Lost is about 200MB. I fudge in 50MB for the fact that each Lost episode never is EXACTLY 1 hour.

I can transfer that size (450MB) from my ReplayTV wirelessly to my PowerBook in less than a half hour with my Airport Extreme Basestation.

So... I see no problem. Perhaps the show will be delayed a little but not more than a few minutes

Lost runs about 42 minutes, so more like 600 meg. And you're assuming they'll ship movies at 320x240, which I doubt. If they up the quality to anything approaching DVD, file sizes will go way up. But I still think a well implemented wireless solution should be able to keep up, people are doing it already.

 

[balamw]

This is based on a 1-hr episode of Lost is about 200MB.

You're assuming that the resolution (and thus bitrate) will remain the same. I hope this isn't the case since 320x240 is fine for TV, but for movies I'd like at least 720x480 (DVD quality) or 1280x720 (720p) which means 4-9x as many bits.

You get some advantage from the codec, so a 4x file can only be 2x as big, but pretty soon you're talking about gigs of data.

B

 

[macfan881]

my predictions for the 12

Video airport express with 8021n
Aiport Basestation 8021n
6 and 10 gig nanos
23 inch imac
maybe 120 gig ipod video
Disney movies for download with all of pixar movies being availble at launch and special preorder for cars

one more thing.... new mac core 2 duo versions of both macbooks and mac mini

 

[Apple Corps]

HecubusPro:

"C2D laptop information has come to a near stop"

Based on all of our POOR experience it is obvious that little real information on the Merom based MBP exists. I do not want to admit to all of the time I have wasted on this decision / upgrade. A new notebook is needed within a week - I can not bring myself to by a Yonah since I've waited this long - but............

Now - the next Tuesday (hahahahahahahahahaha) - 9/12 - then what

 

[poppe]

HecubusPro:

"C2D laptop information has come to a near stop"

Based on all of our POOR experience it is obvious that little real information on the Merom based MBP exists. I do not want to admit to all of the time I have wasted on this decision / upgrade. A new notebook is needed within a week - I can not bring myself to by a Yonah since I've waited this long - but............

Now - the next Tuesday (hahahahahahahahahaha) - 9/12 - then what

I've heard speculation of fricken october... So much for us all waiting if it doesnt come out next week...