Macworld Banner? Reviewing the iTV

[brsboarder]

I´m confused, when was the last time steve blew our minds? Ipod nano, just a revamped ipod, same with the ipod video, simply getting up with the times, all other mp3 players at the time were able to do the same things. The move to intel? the same thing, joining the bandwagon of dell etc who placed their money correctly. So, I think we need an incredible itv and at least 1 of the two ipod true video or phone. Otherwise, its just the same stuff

 

[MajorMacRant]

But you're missing the point. Your Mac is the Media Center. iTV is simple a device to allow all your media on your Mac to be displayed. The last thing Apple is going to do is build the iTV into another computer when we all have our Macs already. Keep the iTV as simple as possible to wirelessly display all your content on the TV.

I started out a proponent of the "add a DVR to the iTV" concept, but I've since come over to your way of thinking. I do want to see the iTV be "platform neutral", however -- capable of working well on both Windows and Mac platforms. The key, I think, is iTunes. I believe the iTV will take whatever iTunes will feed it, on whatever platform. If you can get it into iTunes, you can use it.

I own an HP Media Center PC -- first PC I've ever owned, in fact. I needed it to be work compatible (purchased a few weeks before the Intel Mac announcements -- so much for my sense of timing), so I decided if I'm gonna buy a PC, it may as well be kept busy the 99 percent of the time when I'm working on my Mac instead. It is not a bad little DVR platform. MyTVtoGo software plugin for Media Center brings this content to iTunes for me. I'm counting on iTV to bridge the gap to the TV set.

I think Apple will do the iTV right -- out-of-the-box operational and trouble-free. This was not my experience with the Linksys Media Center Extender I bought. It never worked once. (Man, I should have sold that last week on eBay. After Tuesday, who on Earth would want one?)

The trick will be to expand what iTunes will do, especially on the Windows side of things. The iTunes podcast subscription model and the iPod Games are great "proofs of concept" that iTunes can be a delivery system for just about anything. If Apple could partner (for example) with Google to bring YouTube's content to your home TV via iTV and to your pocket via the iPod, it could be a pretty sweet deal. An independent on-demand video service with original content would be even better. Apple's massive iPod market share makes that a possibility.

 

[liberty4all]

Apple Missed HANA Compatibility! (The High-Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance)

How in the world did Apple miss the boat on HANA (The High-Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance) compatibility -- Apple, the company that invented FireWire even!! HANA is one of the next big things in AV/HD integration -- how could Apple overlook this?

See:
http://www.hanaalliance.org/

 

[sjk]

Will it replace or augment my Airport Express? In other words, could I create a wireless network with only an iTV?

That's still unknown until the final product specifications are announced.

 

[natejohnstone@g]

Apple too late?

Oh, as if the D-Link system I already posted wasn't enough, here's the new SlighCatcher, just announced;
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9672057-1.html?tag=cnetfd.mt

It's basically iTV for less than $200.

We'll see which is better. I'm not a fanboy who'll spend an extra $100 just because there's an apple on it, so iTV will have to sell me that it's better than the rest.

 

[MacinDoc]

The iTV will come with software to give it Tivo-like function, so you can record TV content to your Mac and later stream it to your TV. Or you can stream content from iTunes.

Perhaps the configuration of the box will also be altered to allow docking of your iPod Video (remember, Apple is about vertical integration). Remember the rumored Mac Mini with built-in dock? Maybe that was actually the iTV.

Of course, this is just rumor and speculation, and any resemblance to to the truth is pure coincidence...