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Apple TV should include DVD player

T

teamturbo

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 30, 2007
34
0
Just a thought, but think about it. Every house hold consumer with a TV has a DVD player. Apple should focus more on an item that delivers everything in one set.

The Apple TV would be excellent if it had a High-Def DVD or Blue Ray disk reader along with its hard drive and wireless capabilities while maintaining a reasonably low price. I know Blue Ray can be fairly expensive at the moment, but some drives cost as little as $150 bucks and up to $600. Not sure how much High-Def DVD is, but Apple TV would be an awesome product with these additions. Hell, even a base model with a standard DVD player would be satisfying to me. Just a beautiful Apple TV replacing the ugly junk on the shelf.

Anyone have any thoughts?
 
Boy, Laser Disc!

Count Me In. Oh yea and set it up so I don't have to get up from the couch to flip the disc to get to the other side.

8-Track too?

Tracer
 
just out of curiosity, does anyone remember?

some patent apple filed for laptop disc drives? the disk lifted up from under the keyboard or something. Kinda like an old discman under the keyboard.
anyway, I thought that idea might somehow be applicable to the apple tv, not making it too much bigger
A
 
An AppleTV with a DVD player is a Mac mini. And a Mac mini with Leopard is a better AppleTV than an AppleTV.

(Especially with the new FrontRow)
 
While that is true, selling the general public to put a full computer into their home theatre mix is a harder sell than most think. It has to be sellable to the common man. Look how the windows media center doesnt sell all that well on it own. Only when its forced on the people will they buy it as part of a package. And still most people dont hook it up to their TV.

I totally agree that the Mini is a better overall package, but I am a computer guy. Its just not going to catch on with the general public as a Home Theatre add on.
 
Apple TV should include DVD player

ATV 2.0 necessities;

- AM radio
- hotplate for cooking stuff (wait a minute- it already has this...)
- cassette player
- Pong game with paddles.

Now THAT's what I'm talking about.
 
Yeah Front Row is really impressive now.

Makes me want to replace Apple TV with the low end mini. Furthermore, much more power is there with the mini than an Apple TV has.

I don't know where the road is heading. Of course, the cost of apple tv is a big benefit. Plus, it works with televisions so much easier than a mac mini. macs connected to my TV overscan.
 
You guys can say what you will, but I personally agree with the poster. Steve Jobs is all about the "years of high def" and how every person now has a widescreen HDTV in their living rooms... Yet, when we wish to watch a movie on our blown out HDTV's costing us thousands of dollars, we have to settle for standard DVD quality (480p) at the very best? Hell, the movies that Apple sells look terrible if you have even a decent eye... You guys make fun on the poster, but you really think that the video quality of the aTV is good enough for today's day and age. ATV, the current one now, was a product of 5 years ago, when everyone used DVDs, and high def really wasn't an issue. So ripping your DVDs and playing them on standard def tv's would produce great look quality. Today, I want crystal clear picture, I want high bitrates, I WANT HD! And god damnit, the ATV, the way it is now, just can't do it. So this is why I am not buying one. But thats not why I started this reply. It's because all people make fun of the poster for reasoning why an HDDVD or Blu Ray should be put into ATV... In today's day and age, Apple is all about being a step ahead of the game, take for example the iphone and ipod touch, and even its operating system. Yet, you look at a product like the ATV and its stuck in past, 5 years ago. My 2 cents, but I know, they are the RIGHT two cents, no matter what anybody else may say...
 
powerbook911 said:
Yeah Front Row is really impressive now.

Makes me want to replace Apple TV with the low end mini. Furthermore, much more power is there with the mini than an Apple TV has.

I don't know where the road is heading. Of course, the cost of apple tv is a big benefit. Plus, it works with televisions so much easier than a mac mini. macs connected to my TV overscan.
Click to expand...

I feel the same. Especially since I realized that with a Mac mini I could play my HD video (My EyeTV recordings of UniversalHD's Back to the Future 1-3.) without having to hack my AppleTV.

I'll probably sell my AppleTV to my brother or something. Get myself a Mac mini with the next update.

Unless Apple releases a software update for the AppleTV that allows playback of 1080/720 sized videos without stuttering. Which I can't really see. Also, my MacBook loads the files much faster.

Makes me wonder what the future of the AppleTV really is.
 
Blazer5913 said:
[another useless rant]
Click to expand...

Despite the fact you are right, you're completely missing the point of the :apple:TV. It was meant to drive additional revenue from content downloads from the iTunes store. If they put an optical drive in it, they are encouraging you to buy/rent from somewhere else, so where's the value for Apple? Also, now that HD-DVD players have hit the magical $100 price point, Apple shouldn't even bother trying to compete in that space.

Your energy is much better spent pressing Apple to upgrade their content quality to 1080i/p (or 720p at a minimum) and get going with the movie rental downloads rather than trying to explain why we are all wrong for mocking the OP.
 
However, I've heard people complaining about how the streaming of music works with Front Row in Leopard. Could this be the factor in preventing us from moving to the Mac Mini from Leopard? They say it breaks up a lot or something???
 
No it doesn't

I think you are missing the point of the Apple TV. Its way to get content from your Mac or PC to your TV. Why include a drive when every Mac or PC has one??? What is the point of it? If you are using it to ENCODE your DVDs to the Apple TV then it will be sooooo slow. It's only a Pentium M processor running at 1 Ghz. If you are using it to PLAY dvds then why use the Apple TV at all???

The Apple TV is already to expensive for Apple to build. (google it). Adding a DVD will only increase the cost. If you want a DVD player then buy one. They are only $50 and unlike the Aple TV, INCLUDE SURROUND SOUND.

My 2c
:p
 
I'd like a good revision to the ATV line. I'd love to want one, but theres nothing there for me. No RGB scart output? That's so weak Apple. Plus the drastic requirement of more features - streaming radio, iPod connectivity (unless it's already there), iTunes store frontend (at least for Podcasts), connectability with an EyeTV product for TV viewing and recording.

Right now it's just a frontend for media on another Apple Computer. Which is great. But I'd like some content generation plz.
 
kingjr3 said:
Despite the fact you are right, you're completely missing the point of the :apple:TV. It was meant to drive additional revenue from content downloads from the iTunes store. If they put an optical drive in it, they are encouraging you to buy/rent from somewhere else, so where's the value for Apple?
Click to expand...

Well, here's the deal: There are millions of people who have DVD's. There are millions of people who are buying devices to play back those discs. The market for devices that play back iTunes-content is ALOT smaller.

If Apple put a DVD-player in to AppleTV, it would be the ultimate trojan horse. People want to buy DVD-player, so they could buy an AppleTV. And they could use it to play back their DVD's. But they would also notice that they could use it to play back iTunes-content. Those people might not have iTunes-movies at that point, but now they woild have a valid reason to boy some.

And your logic is upside-down. iPod has shown us that ITMS is not meant to earn profits to Apple directly, it's purpose is to drive sales of iPods. Same thing would apply to movies. The purpose of AppleTV is not to drive sales of iTunes-movies, the purpose of iTunes-movies is to drive sales of AppleTV's.
 
I would not have bought my AppleTV if it included a DVD drive; it's bad enough I had to get one with a hard drive (I stream everything). I think to include a DVD drive would be to miss the entire point of the AppleTV itself. It is meant to be a conduit for bringing iTunes to your living room and nothing more.
 
Evangelion said:
The purpose of AppleTV is not to drive sales of iTunes-movies, the purpose of iTunes-movies is to drive sales of AppleTV's.
Click to expand...

Exactly, which is why more AppleTVs aren't selling: the movies section of the iTMS pales in comparison to the music offerings. At a time when we are starting to move increasingly towards HD, iTMS movies are lower quality than standard DVD. And they are expensive for what you get. I buy almost all of my DVDs used from the local video rental shop or on massive sale at retailers and pay on the order of $5-$8 apiece. Why would I pay $9.99 for a download that's not as good? Until Apple can offer movies at higher quality (HD would be great, but I understand the infrastructure limitations), come up with a viable rental scheme, put a bit more oomph into the AppleTV, or some other "hooks" to make it catchy and interesting to the common consumer, it will continue to be a hobbyists toy.

As for putting an optical drive in the AppleTV, I could care less. I have an upscaling DVD player now that works very well. I think one of the draws of the AppleTV is that it satisfies the needs of the short attention span media consumer: fire up a movie that you've seen (own) already, get bored, switch to another movie, maybe stream some music, watch YouTube videos, look at your photos, etc. I just don't see the point of putting a single-disc optical drive in a device that's meant to allow you to stream/play all of your media needs. Adding a DVD player will a) just make it a more expensive DVD-playing alternative to the common customer (meaning they will just go buy a cheaper stand-alone player), and b) add little of value to the type of person apt to purchase an AppleTV in the first place. The people who tend to buy them are the people who are into ripping/encoding DVDs, obsessive about the organization of their iTunes library, etc. Adding an HD optical drive is too costly at this time.

I think the AppleTV will take off in popularity eventually. Right now, however, there are too many problems that need to be sorted out first. The HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray war, whether 720p is "true HD" or just good enough, 1080i vs. 1080p, bandwidth for internet delivery of content, DRM schemes, 5.1 surround sound, you name it. Compared to the concerns and know-how of the average consumer (think your parents, for example), AppleTV and similar devices are still pretty cutting edge. So no wonder it hasn't really taken off.

All of this said, I have the cash waiting to buy one as soon as I can get a sense of how likely they are to be updated in the near future.
 
Evangelion said:
If Apple put a DVD-player in to AppleTV, it would be the ultimate trojan horse.
Click to expand...

Another MR user once said: a $300 solution to a $30 problem.

Evangelion said:
The purpose of AppleTV is not to drive sales of iTunes-movies, the purpose of iTunes-movies is to drive sales of AppleTV's.
Click to expand...

Allow me to clarify.

Apple, Inc. sells :apple:TV banking on the fact that most customers will then buy (more?) movies from iTMS giving Apple residual profits from additional movies sales. It's well known that the profit margin on the :apple:TV is small and that Apple uses the device as a way to get more users to buy content from iTMS.
 
kingjr3 said:
Another MR user once said: a $300 solution to a $30 problem.
Click to expand...

Not really. Consumers would see that ATV offers more than normal DVD-player does. And while you CAN get DVD-player cheaply, better players cost more than $30. And it's still a question of having two devices as opposed to having just one. I would love to replace my DVD-player with ATV. But I can't. If I could replace DVD-player with ATV, ATV would be a lot more appealing product. But as things are right now, it's a product that would add complexity to my setup.

Apple, Inc. sells :apple:TV banking on the fact that most customers will then buy (more?) movies from iTMS giving Apple residual profits from additional movies sales.
Click to expand...

That is not the case with iPods and music from iTunes, what makes you think that situation is totally reversed as far as movies and ATV is concerned? Fact of the matter is that ITMS more or less breaks even. ITMS is not about making money for Apple, it's about driving sales of their hardware.

It's well known that the profit margin on the :apple:TV is small and that Apple uses the device as a way to get more users to buy content from iTMS.
Click to expand...

The profit-margin on ATV might be smallish for Apple, but it's still A LOT bigger than the margins are in ITMS.

And are the margins on ATS really that small?
 
Subiklim said:
I think all iPods should have CD drives. I mean, I have a ton of CDs, why shouldn't I be able to play them easily on my new player without encoding them?!
Click to expand...

Well, the thing is that CD-player in iPod would compromise the form-factor. It's supposed to be as portable as possible. ATV does not have that limitation. They COULD make the device a bit bigger without sacrificing anything.

And encoding CD's is simple. Hell, you can do it inside iTunes with next to zero effort! That is not the case with DVD's. I should know, I'm in the process of encoding my DVD's. I can do maybe 2 DVD's a day, and I can't do it in iTunes.

And fact remains that mp3-files and the like have largely supplanted CD's for many users. But that is not the case with DVD's. DVD's are still the king of the hill by a large margin.
 
I think it's the meaning op :apple:Tv that you rip all your dvd's to your Mac or Pc and stream all your content from there, it's easier than everytime taking your dvd, for the lazy ones... if they would add an Dvd player it wouldn't be the whole concept of the :apple:Tv, it would be a DVD player one of the hundred with streaming capabilities..
 
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