Will iTV be useless without an HDTV?

[iMeowbot]

I had a feeling there was a way round it.

A component-to-composite converter costs about the same as the iTV.

There is a little more in iTV compatibility issues over at tidbits.

 

[balamw]

The iTV has conponent video outputs. It would be easy to make a cable that combines this the make "composite video". It's not a big deal.

Yup this has been my thought as well, Apple tends to be a minimalist in the connectors on the back and add connectivity though dongles.

Which is why I find it a bit surprising they're including component outputs on this instead of just putting on a VGA adapter and providing a $5 VGA to component cable.

The other option is that they will have a less capable/cheaper version with SDTV hookups.

A component-to-composite converter costs about the same as the iTV.

Yeah, but that's not the only way they could do it. Perhaps the if you only hook up to the red component RCA jack it switches over to composite. Or it could be software selectable.

B

 

[Roy Hobbs]

This is the first Apple product I just don't get. Having this would basically be the same as having the iPod only play iTMS bought songs... who would buy that?
Why not spend $200 more and get a Mac mini that can actually play everything?

Who says you can only play purchased items with iTV??

 

[slackersonly]

You know, you're right. $299 is within my price range, but if I have $299 to spend, why should I mind spending a total of $1200 when all it would need is standard hookups to work with the TV I've already got.

{Sarcastic voice off}

I think you are missing the point of what I was saying. I wasnt referring to you individually or the earlier poster who mentions his parents. Why should Apple shoot so low? I believe that Apple is targeting the iTV towards the market segment that will never ask the question "Why do I need to by an HDTV". Let another company develop a add-on to remedy this problem.
If you dont want to adopt HDTV, that is your choice. I dont think you should expect Apple to design product for you niche though.

 

[mkubal]

iTV has me befuddled like many of you, but probably for different reasons. The only reason I would consider buying it would be if it delivered HD content (in addition to SD). Frankly, I don't see that happening. File sizes would be huge and then they have to be streamed which could get ugly with a bit of interference (using wireless). Where am I going to get HD content? HD-DVD? Blu-Ray? I can't rip those (yet?). I don't want to be buying a 10 terabyte RAID to store my HD content. (Although I probably would if there was HD content to be stored.)

There's no way I'm buying TV shows at $1.99 a pop to stream over iTV when I can watch them in SD from my TiVo or HD from my Cable Co. DVR for free. By "free" I mean it's paid for so it wouldn't require further payment.

There's also no way I'm paying $10+ for a movie that I can buy and rip myself at higher quality without DRM. And even then I don't need to stream it. I have the DVD and DVD player.

One use I could think of (for me) might be home made content. Like HD home movies. You know, the ones that you haven't been able to deliver to your HDTV without the HD-cam or computer physically attached. The ones that very few people actually have.

Yep, this one's got me scratching my head.

 

[balamw]

I believe that Apple is targeting the iTV towards the market segment that will never ask the question "Why do I need to by an HDTV".

I concur, and the real question in my mind is what do they have up their sleeves that makes this market segment a reasonable target for this product?!?

There's no way I'm buying TV shows at $1.99 a pop to stream over iTV when I can watch them in SD from my TiVo or HD from my Cable Co. DVR for free.

I've bought quite a few $1.99 programs for my kids from iTMS just to get them off my PVR, so I can record other things I want to watch.

B

 

[mkubal]

I've bought quite a few $1.99 programs for my kids from iTMS just to get them off my PVR, so I can record other things I want to watch.

B

Ha! I think you just made me reconsider ever having children. I can't be expected to pay $2 for every episode of Barney they like. Do they think I'm made of money or something. Geez!

 

[Mac+1]

This is an easy one.

Apple will sell adaptors for the iTV when released. Basically they are aiming at the higher end of the market, HDMI for those with such sets and Component Video for older equipment. Many Cinema kits that handle video as well as sound have component video.

Expect the adaptors to range from 4.99 to 12.99 depending on the type needed. Typical adaptors will be Composite Video, S-Video and RGB (like 9 pin monitor cables).

 

[hikeNM]

I think you are missing the point of what I was saying. I wasnt referring to you individually or the earlier poster who mentions his parents. Why should Apple shoot so low? I believe that Apple is targeting the iTV towards the market segment that will never ask the question "Why do I need to by an HDTV". Let another company develop a add-on to remedy this problem.
If you dont want to adopt HDTV, that is your choice. I dont think you should expect Apple to design product for you niche though.

Maybe so. I guess I need a disclaimer from Apple telling me when the product was designed for me and, therefore, get excited. Or I guess I should just read the requirements and decide from there! lol

 

[balamw]

Ha! I think you just made me reconsider ever having children. I can't be expected to pay $2 for every episode of Barney they like. Do they think I'm made of money or something. Geez!

LOL. Trust me, having a few episodes of their favorite shows on my iPod has made it easy to get them to sit down and tolerate long waits at the doctor's office or other similar situations where if left completely to their own devices they would find a way to tear the place down.

The Steve is right. Where the typical adult might watch a movie once or twice in a lifetime, kids will gladly watch the same show over and over and over and over ....

B

 

[nutmac]

I think iTV in itself is an attractive solution for those wanting to bring computer media contents (music, photo, video) to home theater, particularly since increasing number of Mac/Windows users have WiFi network and/or Cat5 network at home. The question is just how flexible iTV will be, especially in regards to codecs QuickTime does not support natively (e.g., DiVX/XViD, WMV/WMA, Real). There are some rumors that QuickTime will add support for DiVX/XViD, so iTV may support one of the most popular video formats at least.

As for SDTV vs. HDTV, every single Macs can connect to analog displays (S-video, composite video) using Apple's $29 adapter. iTV will too.

Your purchase decision may become complicated if you have the budget to compare it against Mac mini. Although Mac mini costs twice as much, it does a whole lot more... Internet browsing, DVD playback, local contents (instead of fetching through local network). That said, Mac mini will requires additional purchases to become fully usable (1 GB RAM, wireless keyboard and mouse for coffee table/sofa usage, and possibly DVI-to-HDMI cable), so if additional capabilities aren't need, iTV is still an attractive buy.

There are lots of details we do not yet know, such as the USB port which may be able to accommodate external hard disk and/or connect to iPod, openness of the platform, and perhaps few secret sauces to make it more compelling still (e.g., Dashboard widgets, iPod games, FrontRow-style implementation of Safari).

 

[NorCalLights]

if anyone of you actually have realised how hard S-video stinks, I think you would reconsider.

Why does S-Video stink? I thought it went something like:

composite << s-video << component

And I haven't seen all that much difference between s-video and component on my SDTV. I guess HD might be a different story...

 

[qtip919]

This is the first Apple product I just don't get. Having this would basically be the same as having the iPod only play iTMS bought songs... who would buy that?
Why not spend $200 more and get a Mac mini that can actually play everything?

AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!!

I still dont understand this product. It makes no sense to me why this would cost 300 dollars to produce. This thing is a glorified 802.11n hub with TV-Out. No one, and I am saying NO ONE outside of the geeks on this forum (myself included) will be buying this product.

Most people are already reeling over the coming Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD war that hasnt even hit us yet.

This thing just marginalizes so many possible TV viewing options.

I love that the demo showed this sitting on top of a Comcast DVR...oh, and what in the world is that USB hub for Mr JOBS!!!! (my bet: play content from an ipod video)

 

[balamw]

I still dont understand this product. It makes no sense to me why this would cost 300 dollars to produce. This thing is a glorified 802.11n hub with TV-Out.

Methinks you don't understand price vs. cost and the horsepower required for HD Tv Out. For Apple to sell it for a $299 price, it must cost them about $150 to make.

For comparison:

A Blu Ray standalone player is $699+
An HD-DVD player is $249+
An Airport Extreme is $249

Note that a DirecTV HD receiver can be had for $99 (but since a $10/month subscription is required to use it, the cost of the hardwar is subsidized).

B

 

[Diatribe]

Methinks you don't understand price vs. cost and the horsepower required for HD Tv Out. For Apple to sell it for a $299 price, it must cost them about $150 to make.

For comparison:

A Blu Ray standalone player is $699+
An HD-DVD player is $249+
An Airport Extreme is $249

Note that a DirecTV HD receiver can be had for $99 (but since a $10/month subscription is required to use it, the cost of the hardwar is subsidized).

B

But Apple doesn't sell HD content nor will you be able to watch your DVDs over it, which is why you'll still need a DVD player. So basically it is what he said an airport express with HD TV out (the only reason for that being the encryption possibility not the HD possibility)

 

[balamw]

But Apple doesn't sell HD content nor will you be able to watch your DVDs over it, which is why you'll still need a DVD player. So basically it is what he said an airport express with HD TV out (the only reason for that being the encryption possibility not the HD possibility)

Despite Iger's recent comments, the Incredibles trailer was demonstrated in HD on the iTV at the sneak peek. I presume you think that means it'll only support trailers? Also, if the HD out was about encryption, it wouldn't have the component output, only HDMI. The component output, by its very nature is unencrypted.

We don't have all the details about this thing, and won't until the next non-sneaky view. By then we'll have a better feeling of if this product makes sense or not.

I continue to believe, despite the current lack of content, that this device is designed for HD and ultimately to compete with the devices I mentioned.

B

 

[hikeNM]

For me, the big selling point is being able to stream content from iPhoto directly to the TV. We spend as much time looking at pics on our TV as we do anything else, and taking out the middle man(our iPod) would be great.

Although I'm assuming this product will allow me to look at my iPhoto library. I'm hoping it will be like Front Row for my TV, using a remote computer!

 

[Diatribe]

Despite Iger's recent comments, the Incredibles trailer was demonstrated in HD on the iTV at the sneak peek. I presume you think that means it'll only support trailers? Also, if the HD out was about encryption, it wouldn't have the component output, only HDMI. The component output, by its very nature is unencrypted.

We don't have all the details about this thing, and won't until the next non-sneaky view. By then we'll have a better feeling of if this product makes sense or not.

I continue to believe, despite the current lack of content, that this device is designed for HD and ultimately to compete with the devices I mentioned.

B

Not for the two reasons I mentioned:

- Lack of HD space
- Lack of bandwidth

 

[balamw]

- Lack of HD space

Ultimately, we just don't know.

Bob Iger certainly seems to think there's an HDD in there. Maybe they've just got a 30 GB 1.8" drive (wonder where they might get one of those?) in there as a buffer to offset both of your limitations, yet not store your video library on there permanently.

(FWIW I've personally seen 720p rips in H.264 at ~ 3-4 Mbps that don't look half bad, certainly much better than 640x480. 802.11g or even b with a buffer should be able to keep up with that).

B

 

[Diatribe]

Ultimately, we just don't know.

Bob Iger certainly seems to think there's an HDD in there. Maybe they've just got a 30 GB 1.8" drive (wonder where they might get one of those?) in there as a buffer to offset both of your limitations, yet not store your video library on there permanently.

(FWIW I've personally seen 720p rips in H.264 at ~ 3-4 Mbps that don't look half bad, certainly much better than 640x480. 802.11g or even b with a buffer should be able to keep up with that).

B

Both my problems are ultimately limitations that will be overcome but by nothing Apple can do about it.

- HD space to keep your bought HD movies is only there in a 3.5" HD form factor and is still expensive at high capacities.
- Bandwidth does still not download of HD res movies in a reasonable amount of time (at least not in the US)