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Sony Seeking to Beat Apple in Revolutionizing Television

*LTD* said:
The "Apple implementation" usually tends to change the game, especially when it's about synergy between hardware+software.
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Apple just makes things better and they "just work!"

When I heard of Sony's attempt to "revolutionize TV" the first thought that came to mind was Walt Mossberg's comment on Google TV. LOL!

"found Google's entry into the living room "chaotic" and "complicated."

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...s_list_of_best_reviewed_products_of_2010.html
 
thenerdal said:
Let's use a better term. Innovative. Innovative doesn't have anything to do with sales.
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Nor does it have to be quality. Everything at Sharper Image is "innovative". Also mostly junk with low sales.
AlterEg0 said:
Here is the deal. I will pull the trigger on Sony's top-of-the-line 55' HX929 or the 65' by Christmas time. If Apple could make a television of identical or better picture quality with a better menu system or a replacement for the guide that provided by the Cable company, I would buy it provided the price was within a couple 100 bucks of the Sony price. I dont think that will happen, now or in the next few years.
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If you want better experience, get a projector for an actual big screen. Mine is on the low end for screen size, and it's twice the area of a 65". Or if you are actually into quality as you imply, look at Panasonic or Samsung plasmas in that size, better pic.

Oh, and try Tivo if you want to replace the guide and GUI. Very good choice for cable subscribers.
I get very high quality FIOS tv with hundreds of channels, dozens of HD channels for a monthly flat rate of $50. Can you tell me what Apple would provide over at above this at that price that would convince me to switch ?

I'd love to know.
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Well, that is the point. Any revolution in TV viewing would have to be in the delivery system. We'll see. All we have about Apple and TV is rumors and a comment in the biography of a deceased CEO.

You may wish to note that FIOS is anything but ubiquitous across the country. Many, many people in major cities do not have access to it, to say nothing of smaller towns. That doesn't qualify for much importance to the populace.
 
Wouldn't buy any of Sony's crap anyway, the single most unethical, arrogant tech company out there. (Rootkit CDs, Rootkit USB flash drives, hiding the PSN hack from customers, creation of a factitious film reviewer to give Columbia Pictures' movies good reviews, designed flawed laptop batteries that overheat).

I want nothing more than this company to fail and fail miserably, I hope in the future it'll be "Sony who?"
 
This is what a competitor should do instead of the "copying-and-suing" approach used by some companies.
 
Noctilux.95 said:
Samsung TV's> Sony
Apple iPod> Sony
Canon & Nikon DSLR's> Sony
Apple MacBook Air's/Pro's/iMac> Sony
Nintendo> Sony
VHS> Sony Beta

Son'y new banner should be "Following the leaders"
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You forgot one thing:

HD = Blue Ray = Sony

Where do you go for your HD copy of Avatar (or any other movie)? To Itunes or ANY Retailer selling True HD 1080P Blue Ray DVD's? hmm.... let me think...:rolleyes:

Blue Ray pwns high def. Get on it or get marginalized (ever wonder why OS X never exceeds 10% market share?)
 
Amarth said:
You forgot one thing:

HD = Blue Ray = Sony

Where do you go for your HD copy of Avatar (or any other movie)? To Itunes or ANY Retailer selling True HD 1080P Blue Ray DVD's? hmm.... let me think...:rolleyes:

Blue Ray pwns high def. Get on it or get marginalized (ever wonder why OS X never exceeds 10% market share?)
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Actually, on a global basis is around 5% market share. But you're right in asking the question.

Maybe the "bag of hurt" will be buried with the late turtlenecked overlord, and things will improve.

Or maybe not - Apple's stock seems to be caught in quite a downward spiral. I feel sorry for the folks who bought 4 weeks ago at $420....
 
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BJ.SoundWave360 said:
Sony, I remember as a pretty cool company. But, their time has passed. Compare the UI on the PS3 to the Xbox360 for instance. It's like they simply don't get it. Their new tv effort will probably be defined by proprietary memory sticks and ugly clunky UI.
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The biggest problem with Sony is that it has no public face. It also has a corporate culture of "one failure and you are out" thus it discourages risk taking.

When the iPhone came out, the technology was half the story. The other half was Apple shoving back to Wireless providers telling them to change their data and pricing policies. This is where Palm failed by being a bitch for the Wireless providers (non-standard headset connector, crippling WiFi so Skype could not work, etc. etc.) Verizon walked out on the launch of the first iPhone with AT&T (whom was desperate for market share) moving in. Verizon was blown away just how successful it was.

Apple is about the only company with enough PR and moxie to bring out a television that can dictate the cable providers to change their polices. My take is if something like that launches, DirecTV and other satellite TV providers I bet will bend over backwards for whatever networking Apple wants. Local cable TV subscriptions will nose dive and other terrestrial cable provides such as Comcast many start to creek allowing third party TAs.
 
Amarth said:
You forgot one thing:

HD = Blue Ray = Sony

Where do you go for your HD copy of Avatar (or any other movie)? To Itunes or ANY Retailer selling True HD 1080P Blue Ray DVD's? hmm.... let me think...:rolleyes:

Blue Ray pwns high def. Get on it or get marginalized (ever wonder why OS X never exceeds 10% market share?)
Click to expand...

Due to travel/work schedule I missed the first two episodes (no longer available to DVR) of Walking Dead season 2. Also, I am a late comer to the series. Purchased the episodes in HD on iTunes and watched the same night. I wonder when I would be able to get Season 2 on BD? Better yet, that would be cool if I could get the episodes I missed sent to me on BD. :rolleyes:
 
linux2mac said:
Due to travel/work schedule I missed the first two episodes (no longer available to DVR) of Walking Dead season 2. Also, I am a late comer to the series. Purchased the episodes in HD on iTunes and watched the same night. I wonder when I would be able to get Season 2 on BD? Better yet, that would be cool if I could get the episodes I missed sent to me on BD. :rolleyes:
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Well not everyone has unlimited internet or even a fast connection. :rolleyes:
 
The only thing that would make sense is for Apple to get into the satellite business. Satellite is almost instant, could also download iTunes and really would be a cloud for downloads at least.

I just don't see most people huddling around waiting for hours for a movie to download on the phone lines or through cell towers (!).

No reason not to have on-demand programming and ala carte subscriptions rather than huge packages of programs not watched.

Apple's interface with this would be vastly superior to what that sat companies offer now.

Apple could also offer expensive OLED screens and wireless home theater systems for those with some extra money.
 
adder7712 said:
Well in my country, anything above 1 mb/s is ludicrously priced. So it's much convenient to get a blue-ray...
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In some remote areas of the Rain Forest there is no electricity. How convenient would BD be for those folks?

At least this Rain Forest Chief made the smart choice by choosing an MBA in his tribe's fight to save the Amazon.

macbook-air-amazon-chief-almir.jpg
http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/31/macb...-choice-in-a-tribes-fight-to-save-the-amazon/
 
linux2mac said:
I wonder when I would be able to get Season 2 on BD? Better yet, that would be cool if I could get the episodes I missed sent to me on BD. :rolleyes:
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Like iTunes and Blu-Ray are mutually exclusive.

I'll never understand what some of the hardcore Apple folks hate Blu-Ray so much. Most of them will argue that they bought their Macs because they're the best...

"Oh, I have a screen LED backed LCD screen that displays at Beyond HD resoutions. A set of speakers that are absolutely TO DIE FOR. It's the reason why I buy Apple. I want quality. Quality I can't get anywhere else".

...but bring up the one format that can actually take advantage of that crisp, high res screen and awesome speakers you're sporting on your Mac?

"I HATE BLU-RAY! Why would I want to wait forever for my shows to come out on Blu-Ray, when I can get good enough to be passable quality through iTunes? Disc based media is DEAD!"?

You get the best, so you can watch good enough? Somewhere along the line, things went from deeply opinionated to cognitive dissonance.

My question is, instead of hating on Blu-Ray, why not just want them both? If you want to watch your shows now, well..you've got iTunes? But what if you want to collect a box set of these shows you can watch at any time? Wouldn't you want the option to be able to use Blu-Ray for that?

But no. That'd make too much sense. What with disc based media being dead and all. That one guy said as much, so I've got to cling to his opinion.

linux2mac said:
In some remote areas of the Rain Forest there is no electricity. How convenient would BD be for those folks?

At least this Rain Forest Chief made the smart choice by choosing an MBA in his tribe's fight to save the Amazon.
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How the hell is he supposed to charge up his MBA if he doesn't have electricity? If he at least had the option for Blu-Ray, he could enjoy a couple of movies before the battery dies.
 
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Renzatic said:
Like iTunes and Blu-Ray are mutually exclusive.

I'll never understand what some of the hardcore Apple folks hate Blu-Ray so much. Most of them will argue that they bought their Macs because they're the best...

"Oh, I have a screen LED backed LCD screen that displays at Beyond HD resoutions. A set of speakers that are absolutely TO DIE FOR. It's the reason why I buy Apple. I want quality. Quality I can't get anywhere else".

...but bring up the one format that can actually take advantage of that crisp, high res screen and awesome speakers you're sporting on your Mac?

"I HATE BLU-RAY! Why would I want to wait forever for my shows to come out on Blu-Ray, when I can get good enough to be passable quality through iTunes? Disc based media is DEAD!"?

You get the best, so you can watch good enough? Somewhere along the line, things went from deeply opinionated to cognitive dissonance.

My question is, instead of hating on Blu-Ray, why not just want them both? If you want to watch your shows now, well..you've got iTunes? But what if you want to collect a box set of these shows you can watch at any time? Wouldn't you want the option to be able to use Blu-Ray for that?

But no. That'd make too much sense. What with disc based media being dead and all. That one guy said as much, so I've got to cling to his opinion.
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I am a Linux guy. Bought my Macs due to OSX being *NIX system, not for BD.

I don't hate BD. Just watch it rarely. Almost owned my first BD set (Star Wars collection) but cancelled it due to George Lucas screwing that up.

Darth Vader will lose a little more of his dignity in Star Wars original trilogy Blu-rays. Listen for yourself!
http://io9.com/5835951/darth-vader-...original-trilogy-blu+rays-listen-for-yourself
 
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For audio and video lovers - there's no contest. It's blu-ray. Any and every streaming services that touts "HD" content is using HD in a pure marketing sense. Is it 1080P - sure. But that doesn't matter (alone). It's about bitrate.

I agree with the earlier poster. Some Apple enthusiasts who pride themselves on never settling - always wanting the best seem to take a back seat to quality and are ok with it when it comes to blu-ray just because the Mac doesn't support it.

Love my iMac, iPad, iPhone and Apple TV. But when I want to watch a good movie with amazing sound and picture - it's blu-ray all the way.

And I am sure many of you are perfectly "happy" with a degraded experience and will claim they don't see or hear any difference.
 
linux2mac said:
Due to travel/work schedule I missed the first two episodes (no longer available to DVR) of Walking Dead season 2. Also, I am a late comer to the series. Purchased the episodes in HD on iTunes and watched the same night. I wonder when I would be able to get Season 2 on BD? Better yet, that would be cool if I could get the episodes I missed sent to me on BD. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I basically live in Hotels as a result of my work. In my experience, Hotel Internet connections are not only ridiculously slow but also insanely overpriced. I am a fan of "Walking Dead" as well, but I am not a fool, waiting 5hrs, $20 later just to watch a TV show in mediocre quality.

In general, I dont think Disc's are done.

With every major ISP either having in place or planning on introducing limited Data plans / throttling, Cloud based home entertainment is DOA .

Do the math: A 2hr high def movie takes up what? 4,5GB? Whith a 10GB monthly limit and $10 per GB overage, how many movies, music and pictures are you going to enjoy. Mind you, paying for movies and music you already own. "it just works" - at least for Coorporate America!

Sorry, I got off topic.
 
iEvolution said:
Wouldn't buy any of Sony's crap anyway, the single most unethical, arrogant tech company out there. (Rootkit CDs, Rootkit USB flash drives, hiding the PSN hack from customers, creation of a factitious film reviewer to give Columbia Pictures' movies good reviews, designed flawed laptop batteries that overheat).

I want nothing more than this company to fail and fail miserably, I hope in the future it'll be "Sony who?"
Click to expand...


"arrogant tech company out there." - I think at the moment at least that crown goes to Apple.
 
Amarth said:
Do the math: A 2hr high def movie takes up what? 4,5GB?
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A two hour BD movie could be 45 GB, not 4.5 GB. Most are in the 25-35 GB range.

If you did a 10-1 compression increase, you could have a 1080p movie in 4 GB - but it would be hard to call it "high definition" even if technically it is 1080p.

But, of course, since horribly overcompressed 1080p and 720p is "technically" "high definition", online content providers are happy to sell you "high definition" content that's actually encoded at half the bitrate of a standard definition DVD.

In fact, the typical "HD" movie at Itunes is encoded at a total bitrate that's less than the audio bitrate of a BD movie.


AlterEg0 said:
"arrogant tech company out there." - I think at the moment at least that crown goes to Apple.
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Apple has owned that crown for decades. Perhaps MBA Tim will tone things down.
 
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iEvolution said:
Wouldn't buy any of Sony's crap anyway, the single most unethical, arrogant tech company out there. (Rootkit CDs, Rootkit USB flash drives, hiding the PSN hack from customers, creation of a factitious film reviewer to give Columbia Pictures' movies good reviews, designed flawed laptop batteries that overheat).

I want nothing more than this company to fail and fail miserably, I hope in the future it'll be "Sony who?"
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You're seriously going to bring up battery issues as compared to Apple? Really? The iPod Nano replacement program is still on the front page!
 
AidenShaw said:
Or maybe not - Apple's stock seems to be caught in quite a downward spiral. I feel sorry for the folks who bought 4 weeks ago at $420....
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It's been all over the place. The stock has ping ponged quite a bit, so it obviously wasn't a good time to buy if they were planning on simply flipping the stock. It was hovering around $360-370 for a long time. Buying just because something randomly shot up over a couple of days is just bad in general, when it could have been purchased lower as a long term investment assuming confidence in Apple's continued performance. Right now global factors are probably just making investors worried even though earnings are strong overall.
 
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