No Apple TV Refresh at Next Week's Media Event?

[skellener]

well apple will NEVER open it up. They designed the ATV to be used with iTunes. If they opened it up to Boxee, Hulu, etc. people would have no reason to pay for shows and some movies on iTunes. By keeping it closed, they are forcing people to use and purchase media through iTunes, which makes apple money!

I agree 100%. I didn't say they would do it. I guess it keeps the hackers busy!

 

[curmi]

Interesting thing with the AppleTV, if they had implemented commonly used codecs and stuff, especially for video, they would have sold sh*tloads.

Imagine if Apple in 2001 had released the iPod, but it didn't play mp3 files (that everyone had at the time). Instead, it played only protected AAC files. The iPod most likely would have been a failure.

The Apple TV can't (by default) play the huge number of AVI files that others have been collecting for years - without re-encoding. As a result, it will never be a success. Apple may have understood what consumers wanted in audio, but they don't understand consumer video. Or they do, but they think they will make more money selling videos than producing a real media player. Who knows - I don't own a billion dollar company, so I probably don't know what I'm talking about. 🙂

 

[AidenShaw]

I use exactly 0MB of my ATV's Hard Drive.

... I use exactly 2 TB of my TiVo HD's hard drive 😛

Different strokes....

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

... I use exactly 2 TB of my TiVo HD's hard drive 😛

Different strokes....

completely different, you can record shows with a tivo, show me what exactly you need to store on your apple tv?

Having say a 1tb hdd on your imac for media, and then a 1tb hdd in your apple tv is just redundant. Why keep 2,3, or 4 copies of your media when you can very simply stream it?

 

[adbe]

Imagine if Apple in 2001 had released the iPod, but it didn't play mp3 files (that everyone had at the time). Instead, it played only protected AAC files. The iPod most likely would have been a failure.

Different time, and probably a different market.

The mp3 scene of the late 90s was driven by geeks. The iPod gave them, if not exactly a new way to enjoy those songs on the go, at the least a slicker and more stylish way to do so.

As people seem to go to great pains to point out, the ATV doesn't do anything that an XBox, or PS3 can't do, and certainly nothing that a small form factor PC/Mac can't do. Geeks aren't going to be the target market here. Consequently Apple need to build a market with with the kinds of people who would never even consider a PS3 or an XBox.

Personally I have no need of an XBox, or a PS3, and even with the price drops, the units look ugly, and don't have a user interface that my wife could be bothered with. The AppleTV is a valid choice then for me. For my parents, if they even considered a streaming device at all, which is really Apple's major problem, the ATV is the best choice on the market (by a very narrow margin) for them.

I think there are a few too many 18-24 year olds here who need to try looking beyond their own needs.

Apple can make a success of the ATV, and if they get rolled, it isn't going to be because of the PS3, it'll be because Netflix or Amazon put something far more compelling out there, or TiVo regains some serious share. These are the brands that most consumers recognize, and understand. This is where Apple needs to be playing.

 

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A400 Safari/528.16)

That statement doesn't make it conclusive either way. AppleTV is a music related device.

 

[AidenShaw]

Why keep 2,3, or 4 copies of your media when you can very simply stream it?

As was pointed out earlier - any solution that requires keeping a 200 watt server running 24x7 to feed a 20 watt endpoint is broken.

Do Mom and Dad, or the college, or the landlord pay your electric bills? People who pay their own utilities are more concerned about this issue.

 

[skellener]

Apple can make a success of the ATV, and if they get rolled, it isn't going to be because of the PS3, it'll be because Netflix or Amazon put something far more compelling out there, or TiVo regains some serious share.

Netflix is doing it right. Netflix everywhere. You can still get your DVD's in the mail (with no late fees or 24hr restrictions to worry about) as well as a ton of instant titles on your desktop, your laptop, your XBOX 360, your TiVo, now even some TV's have it. All for $8.99 a month. Talk about a compelling model!

 

[wjanoch]

AppleTV, lots of options

I already have a PS3, and would love to see Apple do one better with an Apple Gaming Console. BluRay drive, BlueTooth controllers (and kb & mouse), HDMI & display port, and all of it compatible with every other current Mac.

Add to that the option of using your iPod Touch or iPhone as additional controllers, with completely game determined options, yeah, we could see some extreme innovations here.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

As was pointed out earlier - any solution that requires keeping a 200 watt server running 24x7 to feed a 20 watt endpoint is broken.

Do Mom and Dad, or the college, or the landlord pay your electric bills? People who pay their own utilities are more concerned about this issue.

You can leave it in sleep mode until you need to use it too, and time is also worth money, i'm sure you would spend more time duplicating hard drives to put media in 4 or 5 different bedrooms than you would to run one media server. Not to mention, most people already have at least one computer on in their house at all times. It's not like you are going to be spending a fortune on it

 

[Tilpots]

Noo! I don't want DVR. Or a Tuner. Or Bluray. I want media from either my computer or the internet to play on my TV. For this ATV is great. It could be a lot better. But it is still great.

Also, it has HDMI, what are you talking about?

I don't like all this complaining about ATV's lack of old technologies. It can't record TV. It can't change the channels for me. It can't play DVDs or Bluray. ATV has nothing to do with broadcast TV or cable or physical media. It is for playing media files and streaming things off the internet. The problem is that Apple has fallen far short of revolutionizing the TV and Movie markets the way it did for music.
No more physical media! No more cable! Internet only!

Way to dream big. I bet you like your sandwiches without the meat, vegetables and spreads. Nothing but the bread for you big boy!🙄

You will never see a DVR branded from Apple. It will never happen. That is not their model. You purchase and download from iTunes. None of that silly "recording" technology...that's sooo last century. 🙂

You will never see a music device from a computer company. Never. Won't ever happen. Period.🙄

well apple will NEVER open it up. They designed the ATV to be used with iTunes. If they opened it up to Boxee, Hulu, etc. people would have no reason to pay for shows and some movies on iTunes. By keeping it closed, they are forcing people to use and purchase media through iTunes, which makes apple money!

Please...

But they don't want to do that. Apple knows people want codec support, but apple would rather you buy content from iTunes, so they are going to cripple the device. You also have to think that the majority of people still don't really know much about computers. Some people can only use word and access the internet, these are the kinds of people Apple is targeting. The apple tv is not meant to be used by nerdy gadget lovers who want to do all sorts of fancy ripping and streaming of hd content. I would say that at least 85% of computer owners wouldn't even understand how to convert between different codecs, so they aren't going to be ripping and playing their own dvds.

Stop...

completely different, you can record shows with a tivo, show me what exactly you need to store on your apple tv?

Having say a 1tb hdd on your imac for media, and then a 1tb hdd in your apple tv is just redundant. Why keep 2,3, or 4 copies of your media when you can very simply stream it?

Spouting Nonsense! Please. With Sugar on top.

For those who don't want new features on the AppleTV, I have one question... Are you out of your minds? Devices are supposed to gain features over time. Please stop advocating for the status quo.

 

[supmango]

No apple TV update may still mean a new product to replace the functionality of the apple TV. Who knows what that might be.

 

[gkarris]

apple tv - 40GB- $229 - plays stuff from my mac... which I could do my just connecting my mac to my tv anyways.

playstation 3 - 120GB - $299. Plays video games, blu-ray, dvd, cd, divx, xvid, wifi, bluetooth, can stream media from your mac (music, videos, photos), has a web browser and 1080p hdmi output.

seriously, why would anybody buy an apple tv?

Watch all the stuff I got for free or bought from iTunes? 😱

IMHO, I think we're going to see some new price points:

40 Gig AppleTV - $149 (clearance)
80 Gig AppleTV - $199
160 Gig AppleTV - $249

For all the new subscription-based and free-with-Ads programming... 😉

 

[adbe]

You can leave it in sleep mode until you need to use it too, and time is also worth money, i'm sure you would spend more time duplicating hard drives to put media in 4 or 5 different bedrooms than you would to run one media server

Yeah, but why do I need 130W of desktop PC doing that when a 15W low power device can do the same job.

Quite besides that, I have a desktop PC to actually work on. Why do I want it churning away streaming media to the TV when I'm trying to use it to something useful.

This is not a hard concept, surely?

Not to mention, most people already have at least one computer on in their house at all times.

I don't know *anyone* other than 20 year old geeks who leave PCs turned on all the time. Hell most Windows users don't even sleep their machines, they just shut them off entirely.

 

[adbe]

Netflix is doing it right. Netflix everywhere. You can still get your DVD's in the mail (with no late fees or 24hr restrictions to worry about) as well as a ton of instant titles on your desktop, your laptop, your XBOX 360, your TiVo, now even some TV's have it. All for $8.99 a month. Talk about a compelling model!

Yup. That's where Apple needs to be able to compete, and aggressively. That said, for me, I dislike signing up for monthly contracts, so that's why I still don't have a Netflix account, and why I used the DTV switch on to finally flip DirecTV and Comcast the bird.

On balance I might actually spend more on iTunes rentals than I would with a monthly account, but I'm just picky like that.

 

[adbe]

For those who don't want new features on the AppleTV, I have one question... Are you out of your minds? Devices are supposed to gain features over time. Please stop advocating for the status quo.

I'm not sure I've seen anyone advocate no new features. I think you're tilting at windmills here.

 

[Tilpots]

I'm not sure I've seen anyone advocate no new features. I think you're tilting at windmills here.

Read the quotes.

 

[skellener]

Yup. That's where Apple needs to be able to compete, and aggressively. That said, for me, I dislike signing up for monthly contracts, so that's why I still don't have a Netflix account, and why I used the DTV switch on to finally flip DirecTV and Comcast the bird.

On balance I might actually spend more on iTunes rentals than I would with a monthly account, but I'm just picky like that.

I'll be ditching DirecTV myself in Feb. But a monthly fee of only $8.99 is too good to resist.

 

[scroto]

If streaming media from your computer is what you want to do then I just buy a Tvix 6500a or similar device. They can play just about any format with up to 1080p resolution including Bluray rips. It also has room for an internal hard drive of your choice (up to 2TB). The ATV is garbage in comparison, I can't beleive people are actually getting excited about it.

 

[adbe]

Read the quotes.

Well I'm certainly not about to churn through the whole thread again, so I'll take your word for it. From memory though I can only recall a few people saying the device didn't 'need' a refresh, which is not the same as saying it shouldn't 'get' a refresh.

The ATV is just fine for me as-is (I wouldn't have bought one otherwise). I personally think its major failings are in the surrounding ecosystem (iTunes, and AEBS). I wouldn't argue against a spec bump though.

Actually, if Apple were going to change anything (other than 1080p, drive size, and thermal footprint), I wish they'd fix their HDMI implementation.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

Way to dream big. I bet you like your sandwiches without the meat, vegetables and spreads. Nothing but the bread for you big boy!🙄



You will never see a music device from a computer company. Never. Won't ever happen. Period.🙄



Please...



Stop...



Spouting Nonsense! Please. With Sugar on top.

For those who don't want new features on the AppleTV, I have one question... Are you out of your minds? Devices are supposed to gain features over time. Please stop advocating for the status quo.

You are a edit, nobody ever said they didn't want new features. Everyone I'm sure would love support for everything under the sun, but quite simply, it will NOT happen. Why would apple allow you to access Hulu or netflix on your apple tv. If you could access Hulu, apple would no longer sell tv shows inside itunes. If apple let you stream netflix movies, their itunes store would take a hit. Why would apple give you access to free content when they want you to pay for their content through iTunes. You are a moron if you think that apple will open up and allow the ATV to play hulu or similar.

 

[gugy]

The people who do not understand the complaints about the lack of storage of TV need to get the concept that lot's of people do not want to have their Mac on at all times in order to stream media to their TVs, lots of people have laptops and if they take out of their homes, people who stay cannot watch content and also some folks do have many issues with the quality/reliability of the streaming due their homes configuration.

I am all for a USB/firewire support for external drives, so you can have all the files locally or maybe a possible AEBS/Time Capsule - iTunes server solution. Anything that free myself from my Mac. I have at least 900gig of media files and that size keeps going up due HD files.

I hope Apple is listening and moving AppleTV beyond a hobby into a serious concept for a media hub.

 

[Tilpots]

Well I'm certainly not about to churn through the whole thread again, so I'll take your word for it. From memory though I can only recall a few people saying the device didn't 'need' a refresh, which is not the same as saying it shouldn't 'get' a refresh.

The ATV is just fine for me as-is (I wouldn't have bought one otherwise). I personally think its major failings are in the surrounding ecosystem (iTunes, and AEBS). I wouldn't argue against a spec bump though.

Actually, if Apple were going to change anything (other than 1080p, drive size, and thermal footprint), I wish they'd fix their HDMI implementation.

I was referring to the quotes I quoted in the post you quoted.😛

The AppleTV being locked into iTunes is its biggest shortcoming. Imagine an iPod that could only play iTunes purchased music. It would never be close to where it is today.

The AppleTV needs to be the best media playing hardware available on the market, with things like 1080p capabilities, DVR, and Apps. That's what will make it sell. By locking it to iTunes, they're handicapping it's potential. By opening it up, iTMS stands to gain quite a bit, just like the iPod did for it. For Apple, selling somebody else's TV show doesn't make them any money, but selling the hardware it plays on does. Make the hardware and let the content creators fend for themselves.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

Yeah, but why do I need 130W of desktop PC doing that when a 15W low power device can do the same job.

Quite besides that, I have a desktop PC to actually work on. Why do I want it churning away streaming media to the TV when I'm trying to use it to something useful.

This is not a hard concept, surely?



I don't know *anyone* other than 20 year old geeks who leave PCs turned on all the time. Hell most Windows users don't even sleep their machines, they just shut them off entirely.

Well i don't know where you hang out, but almost no one I know turns their machines off. A computer doesn't consume that much power when it is in sleep mode. Also, a mac mini uses a max continuous 85w of power. This is going to be running at full tilt, which it would not be if it were just streaming media. Also unless you are doing very intensive tasks your computer isn't going to take a performance hit by streaming.

The fact is, home media servers are becoming ever more popular. As wireless technology becomes more readily available, and tech prices in general drop, more people get into it.

Imagine you were a family of 4, with 3 bedrooms, a family room, and a tv in your basement. Now lets say that you have a measly 1 tb of media (pics, hd videos, music, etc.) What sounds more cost effective to you, buying a 1tb storage drive for each room (5 total) or buying 1 1tb hdd and running a media server and streaming the media to any room in the house that you want to. Not to mention, say you get a new dvd and rip it to your computer. If you wanted each hard drive to have the dvd you would have to copy it which is time consuming. If you stream the media you rip it once and anyone can access it.

 

[Tilpots]

You are a dumbass, nobody ever said they didn't want new features. Everyone I'm sure would love support for everything under the sun, but quite simply, it will NOT happen. Why would apple allow you to access Hulu or netflix on your apple tv. If you could access Hulu, apple would no longer sell tv shows inside itunes. If apple let you stream netflix movies, their itunes store would take a hit. Why would apple give you access to free content when they want you to pay for their content through iTunes. You are a moron if you think that apple will open up and allow the ATV to play hulu or similar.

What idiot pays for something that is free? (I'm not talking about those folks collecting their favorite shows) The major networks are allowing free viewing of their TV shows OTA and on the internet. Why in the world would you want to pay for a device then pay for content that's already FREE? It makes no sense. Apple's in it for the hardware and not the content. Get it straight.