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'iTunes Replay' On-Demand Video Coming?

Rojo said:
Streaming sounds good in theory, but I've yet to be 100% satisfied with any kind of streaming I've done in the past. I don't want to be listening to music, or watching shows, with any kind of pauses or hiccups - even if it's for a fraction of a second. Stuff like that drives me crazy, and really takes me out of my entertainment experience. When they can get something like this to be completely flawless in execution, then I'll get very excited about it...
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Yes this is one of my concerns. This happens a lot with youtube videos, particularly in poor reception areas. And I can't imagine it being any different coming from the cloud could it?

Other thing is battery life. I'm surprised no one has brought this up yet. Videos itself use up enough battery life, but streaming an ENTIRE movie from the internet would KILL your battery. I can honestly say I don't have a clue how this 'cloud' thing works, so maybe it is much more of a non-issue... But I know if I were to watch youtube videos for 2 hours my battery would be shot...
 
In theory, this could replace the need for a DVR inside of AppleTV.

However, it would still be difficult to justify paying a monthly fee on top of Cable for on-demand streaming...especially with cable already offering it.

Now...if Apple could make some sort of deal with a cable company to replace those annoying DVR digital cable boxes with an AppleTV, then we'd be onto something.
 
MacRumors said:
AppleInsider notes that while Amazon's Video on Demand and Netflix's Instant Watch services provide similar functionality, DRM requirements imposed by content owners have resulted in certain limitations on playback ability, generally requiring an Internet browser. Apple, however, has already integrated DRM tools into its devices, which would allow for a more flexible viewing experience for users.
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This statement is pretty much wrong. I can watch Netflix or Amazon streaming video on my television, thanks to my Tivo HD (at no additional fee I might add). XBox 360 owners can do the same thing - or you can spend $100 on a Roku box that is sold for this specific use.

The protocol being used is web-based; but that's not even close to the same thing as "requiring an Internet browser". Apple's not really offering anything that's new - it's just new to AppleTV owners. That's not a bad thing; but it's not some wonderful new feature Apple has dreamed up.

Now, I'm not 100% sold on the current state of affairs regarding video streaming - but that's another issue entirely, and one where Apple will face the same hurdles Netflix, Amazon, and others are currently dealing with.
 
"In particular, devices with limited storage capacity, such as the iPhone/iPod touch and Apple TV, could benefit from this service, removing the need to sync with a host computer to load desired video files and circumventing storage capacity constraints of the portable devices."

So if the iPhone/iPod touch and Apple TV have "limited" capacity, where is this unlimited capacity device and where can I get my hands on it?
 
If this is true, MY GOD, IT'S GOING TO BE HUGE SPACESAVER FOR MY iPod touch, iPhone, and my MacBook.

Let's hope they announce this at this year's Fall iPod event.
 
zama36 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)



Don't know of an ISP that is currently capping like you described but if it were happening Netflix on Xbox wouldn't be as successful as it is.
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Bandwidth caps exist, Comcast has a 250Gb per month one for example, Time Warner in some areas have just started capping at a ridiculous 5Gb a month if you subscribe to their cheapest service ($30 a month for 768kbps, which in itself is quite ridiculously overpriced). However for now most people aren't hitting caps. As more and more stuff goes towards streaming online, its going to become more of an issue however. Sooner or later streaming content providers (such as Apple), consumers and cable companies are going to start butting heads pretty hard about bandwidth caps.
 
Michael CM1 said:
"So if the iPhone/iPod touch and Apple TV have "limited" capacity, where is this unlimited capacity device and where can I get my hands on it?
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Clearly they're talking about the limited storage capacity of mobile devices when compared to what we may have on the desktop side.

IE, my 40 gig AppleTV and 16 gig iPhone compared to my ~ 5TB that I have available on my Mac Pro.
 
I wouldn't want to pay a monthly fee for something like this, but it does sound like a good idea and it is a new feature I would welcome.
 
Westside guy said:
This statement is pretty much wrong. I can watch Netflix or Amazon streaming video on my television, thanks to my Tivo HD (at no additional fee I might add). XBox 360 owners can do the same thing - or you can spend $100 on a Roku box that is sold for this specific use.
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Agreed, and the AppleInsider article points that out...I just didn't feel it was necessary to repeat all of it. :) Those companies have struck deals with certain vendors to allow their services to be viewed on them, but Apple's integrated experience and control over so many products able to view video content makes things more flexible for users.
 
WildCowboy said:
Agreed, and the AppleInsider article points that out...I just didn't feel it was necessary to repeat all of it. :) Those companies have struck deals with certain vendors to allow their services to be viewed on them, but Apple's integrated experience and control over so many products able to view video content makes things more flexible for users.
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You mean less flexible... Unless you're using all Apple all the time.:D
 
I suppose this is another reason why they would discontinue the iPod classic.
This better have a short buffer time, it takes a lot longer than I would like for music on Simplify Media for the iPod touch to buffer.
 
I haven't joined up with the "subscription mentality" yet. I like owning a copy of the things I've purchased, and having it under my control. Having media stored in the cloud sounds nifty but it's no longer under your control. A network outage, a server outage, bandwidth congestion, or traveling out of network range, and your ability to access that data is compromised. Plus it seems like a complete waste of network bandwidth to be constantly downloading the same media when it can be sitting in the palm of your hand all the time. And a monthly fee would be out of the question.
 
The Apple TV is a piece of crap. Apple needs to fix the many, many bugs that still exist in the Apple TV firmware and software before they start announcing new services and features. Just take a look at the ATV forum on the Apple site, it's full of messages by ATV owners who are having to wait 10-20 hours for content to be downloaded before they can play it. It's been going on for 2 months now. As usual, Apple ignores them.

Don't buy an Apple TV. It's not worth the money at all.
 
a rebuttal...

dwd3885 said:
Interesting. But I don't see a point to pay for something when i'm doing just fine now without paying for a subscription, regardless of the perks. Another monthly payment for something? Please..
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i don't know about you but i would gladly get rid of my cable box and move online completely and to be able to watch any show instantly instead of having to worry about if my dvr is recording and if i have enough space (especially if it is cheaper). it wouldn't be adding something. it would actually get rid of a few things.
 
a rebuttal...

Eric S. said:
I haven't joined up with the "subscription mentality" yet. I like owning a copy of the things I've purchased, and having it under my control. Having media stored in the cloud sounds nifty but it's no longer under your control. A network outage, a server outage, bandwidth congestion, or traveling out of network range, and your ability to access that data is compromised. Plus it seems like a complete waste of network bandwidth to be constantly downloading the same media when it can be sitting in the palm of your hand all the time. And a monthly fee would be out of the question.
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what if they eventually did something like offer shows with ads free (pay without ads)? with the exception of paid channels like hbo, cinemax, etc. with replay included.

maybe your in an unlucky area or something but i never have connection problems. if can't access the internet, it would be only because the power has gone out. if you use cable, a good portion of your online access goes to the channels themseves and phones (if you have triple play) since they are over the same line.

with itunes, how often do you ever see their servers go down? itunes is one of the few places on the net that rarely has network issues considering how much traffic they get
 
str1f3 said:
maybe your in an unlucky area or something but i never have connection problems. if can't access the internet, it would be only because the power has gone out.
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I do live in an area where the power goes out a lot. In the winter there are high winds and rain and frequent power outages lasting from a few minutes to a few hours, and on rare occasions a few days (just over a year ago downed trees caused the power to be out for five days). Yeah, at those times TVs and desktop computers are also unavailable (unless one decides to buy a gasoline-powered generator) but at least my iPods keep working.

if you use cable, a good portion of your online access goes to the channels themseves and phones (if you have triple play) since they are over the same line.
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I do have cable (Comcast), and I have had both equipment and service problems at times. And sometimes when power is still on at my house, it is off somewhere in the cable system.

with itunes, how often do you ever see their servers go down?
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The MobileMe servers go down more often than my personal iTunes server. ;)

itunes is one of the few places on the net that rarely has network issues considering how much traffic they get
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But what would they be like if everything was streaming all the time? There would be a gigantic increase of network traffic.
 
I'd still rather see an Apple home media server that combines a server version of iTunes (can stream to iTunes clients on macs/pcs/ATVs/iphone/ipods), data redundancy and probably a built-in n router(that can also bridge). That way ou can choose to pay a little bit per month for the ability to have your purchases stored in the cloud (still with the ability of download-to-keep if you have the storage), or a large one-off payment for a home media server where you use your own bandwidth to stream to your devices.
 
Mad Mac Maniac said:
Yes this is one of my concerns. This happens a lot with youtube videos, particularly in poor reception areas. And I can't imagine it being any different coming from the cloud could it?

Other thing is battery life. I'm surprised no one has brought this up yet. Videos itself use up enough battery life, but streaming an ENTIRE movie from the internet would KILL your battery. I can honestly say I don't have a clue how this 'cloud' thing works, so maybe it is much more of a non-issue... But I know if I were to watch youtube videos for 2 hours my battery would be shot...
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Yeah, that's true. That argument alone makes it near-impossible for Apple to introduce a service like this. I'm fine with capacity. Instead, why not introduce 32Gb to the iPhone line & improve on battery? :)
 
Simplify Media?

Simplify media allows me to do all this, with music anyway. plus i can stream all my friend's itunes collections... bet Apple doesn't provide that feature.

so of course Apple applies for a patent... for a product they HAVEN'T produced, but that another company HAS produced. awesome.
 
this sounds nice. i really don't see this happening, but i guess you never know. i do see apple allowing users to stream stuff from the computer to the iphone though
 
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