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'iTV' Availability: Late January/Early February?

shelterpaw said:
Did you switch to a dish or just say goodbye to TV all together?
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I said goodbye to Cable TV altogether. Two weeks ago I purchased a SONY Grand WEGA 50" HDTV and a Terk HD antenna and both have worked together wonderfully. I am welcoming the iTV into my heart and home the moment Steve announces it's for sale. I want to be a part of the digital-choice tv ala carte revolution! And I'm wicked excited about it too! :D

Unfortunately for Comcast (and I probably shouldn't say this), they forgot to cap off my cable so I'm still getting all my digital and HD channels for free. So I'm not hurting too bad. But once the iTV is released I could care less about the free cable. I've already said goodbye and I'm not planning on ever looking back. :cool:
 
As long as iTV allows for proper streaming of my legally ripped DVDs onto my LCD set, I am all for it...300 bucks are nothing compared to whatever hassle I will save in terms of boring disc swapping in my Sony DVD player...bring it on APPLE!
 
apple is so smart, they know that no matter how good the UI or remote, doing anything more than selecting/play/pause/next from the couch is a PITA. while all these other media companies spend countless dollars coming up with DOA remotes and complex onscreen GUIs, apple knows that people are going to hate that.

just like itunes/ipod the heavy lifting will be done from a UI that is perfect for that sort of thing -- your computer.

brilliant.
 
Scaled down version of Mac OS X on the iTV sounds interesting, I wonder what capabilities it will have!?
However, I have just thrown out my TV and will only be using my 20" ACD and an EyeTV, which is on the way, connected to my PowerMac, so I guess the iTV is not for me anyway.
 
bbabics said:
I said goodbye to Cable TV altogether. Two weeks ago I purchased a SONY Grand WEGA 50" HDTV and a Terk HD antenna and both have worked together wonderfully. I am welcoming the iTV into my heart and home the moment Steve announces it's for sale. I want to be a part of the digital-choice tv ala carte revolution! And I'm wicked excited about it too! :D

Unfortunately for Comcast (and I probably shouldn't say this), they forgot to cap off my cable so I'm still getting all my digital and HD channels for free. So I'm not hurting too bad. But once the iTV is released I could care less about the free cable. I've already said goodbye and I'm not planning on ever looking back. :cool:
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I'll have to look into that antenna. I only have Comcast internet because DSL is not offered in my area. Comcast only offers digital cable TV in my area and I don't watch enough TV to justify the cost. They let you have analog for free so, I'm analog now for now.

I completely agree that ala carte is the way to go.
 
bbabics said:
Unfortunately for Comcast (and I probably shouldn't say this), they forgot to cap off my cable so I'm still getting all my digital and HD channels for free. So I'm not hurting too bad. But once the iTV is released I could care less about the free cable. I've already said goodbye and I'm not planning on ever looking back. :cool:
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Happened to me at my last residence, I'm (somewhat guiltily) going to attempt the same thing next semester.
 
So if they use any Mac as a server for iTV, which with 802.11n is pretty cool, and you can put one in pretty much any room for the price...

...has anyone thought about disc longevity?

If all your iTVs are accessing your HD on your server Mac constantly how is the HD in there going to hold up? My guess is not very well.

Somebody correct me if I am wrong here but are current HDs really up for the task?
 
shelterpaw said:
I'll have to look into that antenna. I only have Comcast internet because DSL is not offered in my area. Comcast only offers digital cable TV in my area and I don't watch enough TV to justify the cost. They let you have analog for free so, I'm analog now for now.

I completely agree that ala carte is the way to go.
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I kept my Internet with Comcast because they're service is really good. When I told them I was canceling my TV service with them they had no problem informing me that my $40 internet service would be upped to $60 a month. So once I gave back the boxes and all my Comcast channels (both digital & HD) still worked I had no problem paying the extra $20. From what I understand, it's pretty common for them to not cap off your TV service because it interferes with their internet service.

Like you, my wife and I watch mostly network TV, so we had no problem saying goodbye to paying for all the other channels because Comcast said we had to.

Oh, and the Terk HD Antenna works perfectly too. We still get about 25-30 channels with about a dozen or more of those being in HD. I think it's worth checking out. The antenna sells for about $80 at Best Buy but with some shopping around on the net I found it for $25. If you want I'll give the link. Let me know. ;)

Good Luck!
 
bbabics said:
I said goodbye to Cable TV altogether. Two weeks ago I purchased a SONY Grand WEGA 50" HDTV and a Terk HD antenna and both have worked together wonderfully. I am welcoming the iTV into my heart and home the moment Steve announces it's for sale. I want to be a part of the digital-choice tv ala carte revolution! And I'm wicked excited about it too! :D
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I bought a nice Terk HD antenna and then realized that it doesn't work in the basement. Yay for forethought.

I'm too lazy to wire one up to the roof. Bleh.
 
Diatribe said:
Somebody correct me if I am wrong here but are current HDs really up for the task?
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Sure they are. Many of use have been watching TV through HDDs for years through our PVRs, my DirecTiVos are constantly recording the satellite stream throughout the day and get a fair amount of use for playback as well.

B
 
Macula said:
..."quality assurance-related concerns stemming strictly from the gadget's operating system software"...

Yeah, right... How about "we only have Disney movies for sale at the moment, no other distribution label will agree to provide us with content, and therefore the iTunes movie store sucks and renders iTV little more than a useless box"?

I truly hope this is a software issue being worked out rather than a lack of industry interest in providing iTunes-downloadable movies. Otherwise Jobs and his movie dreams may be in for an abrupt landing.
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couldn't agree more. i am very excited about the iTV, but its success will be content driven. they will need greater distribution access. the movie industry should be more accepting towards Apple seeing how well they have protected music while selling a ton of it.

personally, i could get by watching photoshop tv and dl.tv podcasts with it as better alternatives are made available, but it is the maintstream population that is going to decide the success of iTV.
 
Mogenshu said:
Since its a software problem, i'd be glad to take the PoS now and have a software update 2 weeks later :D
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You say that now, but realize that it may not be that simple. The hardware may not be designed to be upgraded at whim - i.e. you may not be able to add patches very easily. I don't know why this would be the case, but it is a possibility...
 
bbabics said:
I kept my Internet with Comcast because they're service is really good. When I told them I was canceling my TV service with them they had no problem informing me that my $40 internet service would be upped to $60 a month. So once I gave back the boxes and all my Comcast channels (both digital & HD) still worked I had no problem paying the extra $20. From what I understand, it's pretty common for them to not cap off your TV service because it interferes with their internet service.
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Well I guess I'm lucky because they kept my internet the same price, which is $45 a month. :rolleyes:

Cheers!
 
dernhelm said:
Migrate the iPod+Phone to OS/X lite, and build the iTV using it, and you've got a platform that a lot of vendors would like to get their hands on. They may never make OS/X available to the PC user buying masses, but OS/X lite could be a different story.
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In theory this sounds great, but wouldn't it create similar problems to licensing the OS for other PC vendors?
 
balamw said:
Sure they are. Many of use have been watching TV through HDDs for years through our PVRs, my DirecTiVos are constantly recording the satellite stream throughout the day and get a fair amount of use for playback as well.

B
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Cool. Didn't know that they were that resilient.

Then I guess I am even more excited over the iTV announcement. Before I would have needed a Mac mini in every room, now I only need 1 server Mac and then just iTVs.
 
a456 said:
In theory this sounds great, but wouldn't it create similar problems to licensing the OS for other PC vendors?
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Much less so since an embedded OS is not meant to run on random hardware. Think Windows CE not XP.

Diatribe said:
Cool. Didn't know that they were that resilient.

Then I guess I am even more excited over the iTV announcement. Before I would have needed a Mac mini in every room, now I only need 1 server Mac and then just iTVs.
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It's actually quite surprising how much you can do with an HDD. With many PVRs you can record two programs simultaneously and view one at the same time so the HDD's sustained bandwidth must be more than 3x that required for a single stream.

B
 
shelterpaw said:
Well I guess I'm lucky because they kept my internet the same price, which is $45 a month. :rolleyes:

Cheers!
Click to expand...

That's probably because you still have your analog cable service. If you cancel that they'll probably up it. :( But hey, maybe they won't. :eek:

If you're interested in that antenna you can check it out at Amazon for about $20+. Here's the link with NEW antennas. If that doesn't work you can search Amazon for "Terk Technology HDTVi VHF/UHF HDTV Indoor Antenna ".

Good Luck!
 
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notjustjay said:
Can't be any worse than 24/7 serving up of web pages, like many existing servers have been asked to do for years...
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In very few instances is serving web pages as demanding as constant streaming use. Much of the time static content can be cached in RAM. Plus if it is more demanding, the load is usually spread over many devices in a SAN and is much more than a consumer HDD.

B
 
as of today, i am not certain HD distribution is altogether feasible. The bandwidth required (and hence cost) for that is substantial. People with DVRs know how much space HD eats up. I would love to get some 1080p content for my new TV, but I'm not holding my breath. Maybe something between DVD & HD quality is a more reasonable expectation for the time being.
 
I suspect a complete rethinking of the #1 consumer device -- breathtakingly elegant, simple and powerful -- in the spirit of the iPod.

Say hello to iTV. This puppy will bring together the best of Tivo, Dolby digital surround sound, iDVD and big plasma display technology into a clean white buttonless free-standing appliance, controlled by an iPalm remote or any Mac -- all based on QT6. Via Firewire you can synch your iBook and take "Enterprise" and "West Wing" with you. Cool feature: family videoconferencing with other iTV users.

Sony electronics, optional wireless Harmon Kardon surround.

Hey, I'm just making this up....but it COULD happen....

Gregg McVicar
MacDreamer since 1984

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON 01-02-2002, 02:54 PM
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Amazing this guy is like a macstradamus-he predicted this released exactly 5 years ago
 
cynerjist said:
as of today, i am not certain HD distribution is altogether feasible. The bandwidth required (and hence cost) for that is substantial. People with DVRs know how much space HD eats up. I would love to get some 1080p content for my new TV, but I'm not holding my breath. Maybe something between DVD & HD quality is a more reasonable expectation for the time being.
Click to expand...

Mmm, it might not be too unreasonable for Apple to start off offering 720p. A 2 hour movie at 720P in H.264 is on the order of 5-6 gigs, right? I've been thinking a lot about it too, and I think one of the ballsiest things Apple could try to do right now is to offer an iTV / iTS solution using H.264 as an alternative to HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Strike now while neither one has really reached high levels of support. 720p isn't "perfect," but it will appeal to the vast majority of HD homes that have 720p and not 1080p hardware. And of course they can always move up easily to 1080p when they're ready.
 
mkrishnan said:
Mmm, it might not be too unreasonable for Apple to start off offering 720p. A 2 hour movie at 720P in H.264 is on the order of 5-6 gigs, right? I've been thinking a lot about it too, and I think one of the ballsiest things Apple could try to do right now is to offer an iTV / iTS solution using H.264 as an alternative to HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Strike now while neither one has really reached high levels of support. 720p isn't "perfect," but it will appeal to the vast majority of HD homes that have 720p and not 1080p hardware. And of course they can always move up easily to 1080p when they're ready.
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now that i think about you are on to something. they really cannot compromise at all, like i errantly thought in my post. they are going to have to pick some kind of standard (480p, 720p, etc) for the TV to display it, right? 720p would be a great choice.
 
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