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Macworld2009: tv Predictions

What Predictions do you have for tv at the 2009 Macworld keynote?

  • Total voters
    190
  • Poll closed .
ipedro

ipedro

macrumors 603
Original poster
Nov 30, 2004
6,396
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Toronto, ON
Macworld 2009 is coming up and tv has had a segment in every keynote since iTV was announced.

What realistic predictions – not requests – can we make for tv at the 2009 Macworld keynote address?
 
Let's just hope ATV is mentioned (in a positive way) during the keynote.

It's on more life support than the Mac Mini...
 
I imagine 3.0 being unveiled.

Main new features:
1. iPhone integration
2. App menu

1. I can see further iPhone integration beyond the Remote app coming to tv.

tv could become a media extender like the Slingbox. It is always on and always connected. It wouldn't be a long shot to imagine this kind of integration available soon. It would continue to promote integration within the iTunes ecosystem, thus broadening its attractiveness to new users and loyalty amongst existing users.

2. Apps for tv.
We'll see some ideas borrowed from Boxee such as more web modules joining YouTUBE and Flickr. The easiest and most Apple like way to accomplish this would be via widgets or apps. Create an App menu on the main screen where one can access RSS feeds, news and weather apps, etc.

The iPhone App store model can be quite applicable to tv and vastly broaden its usefulness.
 
It would be pretty cool if they just made it hard driveless. You can stream movies from your computer, or let us hook up an external hard drive to it allowing for huge amounts of storage. Then they could sell it for $149.
 
nick9191 said:
It would be pretty cool if they just made it hard driveless. You can stream movies from your computer, or let us hook up an external hard drive to it allowing for huge amounts of storage. Then they could sell it for $149.
Click to expand...

That would make it more affordable but would kill the strategy unveiled with Take 2: Self contained media device. When 2.0 was revealed, it revolved around being able to use the device without a computer, making it appeal to those seeking a more traditional TV box experience, without relying on a computer in another room.

Many people have notebooks as their main and only computer. An HDDless tv wouldn't appeal to them.
 
I think we'll definitely see a hardware upgrade of sorts - even if it's just a silent upgrade to SATA drives. A hard drive bump is likely as it must be getting hard (=expensive) to source 40 Gb PATA drives.

I don't think we'll see 3.0 so soon - probably 2.5

What I really wish for in a software update is a custom version of itunes that builds on the airtunes streaming introduced in 2.3 so now if you have more than one ATV they can stream videos to each other (eg TV shows stored on the first and films on the second ATV) and finally allow us to stream from shares without needing a computer running itunes turned on all the time! A better remote app for the iphone/touch that popped up a soft keyboard when needed would help with entering network addresses. Also, I think sling-type internet broadcasting has already been mentioned.
 
kiranmk2 said:
I think we'll definitely see a hardware upgrade of sorts - even if it's just a silent upgrade to SATA drives. A hard drive bump is likely as it must be getting hard (=expensive) to source 40 Gb PATA drives.

I don't think we'll see 3.0 so soon - probably 2.5

What I really wish for in a software update is a custom version of itunes that builds on the airtunes streaming introduced in 2.3 so now if you have more than one ATV they can stream videos to each other (eg TV shows stored on the first and films on the second ATV) and finally allow us to stream from shares without needing a computer running itunes turned on all the time! A better remote app for the iphone/touch that popped up a soft keyboard when needed would help with entering network addresses. Also, I think sling-type internet broadcasting has already been mentioned.
Click to expand...

Those are some very sensible predictions. I think the HDD upgrade is likely within the next 3 months, but probably not announced at Macworld.
 
Hardware....

Possible 500GB or 1TB internal drive?

Video inputs added... PVR?

This would be :apple:TV right now it should be called :apple:mediaplayer... not as catchy but it is what it is....

I have been holding off buying :apple:TV for soooooo long now, simply because it doesnt beat my xbox360 for functionality.. beats the crap outta it for interface even with the new xbox experience, but looks dont count for everything.
 
anim8or said:
Hardware....

Possible 500GB or 1TB internal drive?

Video inputs added... PVR?

This would be :apple:TV right now it should be called :apple:mediaplayer... not as catchy but it is what it is....

I have been holding off buying :apple:TV for soooooo long now, simply because it doesnt beat my xbox360 for functionality.. beats the crap outta it for interface even with the new xbox experience, but looks dont count for everything.
Click to expand...

This is why prediction threads always turn to wish lists. Oh well.

Let's try to stick to realistic predictions based on current Apple trends and roadmaps.

The PVR horse has been beaten to death. There's very little chance that it will ever make it into tv because it goes against the iTunes model.
 
There's probably a reason Sam's Club was closing them out... I couldn't figure it out, they still had a dozen TVs running the AppleTV promo loop.
 
ipedro said:
The PVR horse has been beaten to death. There's very little chance that it will ever make it into tv because it goes against the iTunes model.
Click to expand...

However, it doesn't go against some very interesting patents that Apple has in their pockets.

If there's a hardware change, it'll be to SATA drives. If there is a storage bump, it'll be to 160/250 (2.5" SATA). Prices should remain the same or go back to their original places:

$299: 160GB
$399: 250GB
 
Tallest Skil said:
However, it doesn't go against some very interesting patents that Apple has in their pockets.

If there's a hardware change, it'll be to SATA drives. If there is a storage bump, it'll be to 160/250 (2.5" SATA). Prices should remain the same or go back to their original places:

$299: 160GB
$399: 250GB
Click to expand...

I agree that Apple may be working on "Just in case" technology and patenting their ideas, but the way the ship is sailing, Apple is working towards replacing – not complementing – the live TV model with an internet streaming model. They've done it very successfully with iTunes, they just need to improve on the tv itself to make it more attractive to mainstream users.

I think that your storage bumps are sensible predictions. 40GB is too low for the HD future that Apple is aiming for.
 
Hopefully a hardware ala hard drive increase and a switch over to sata. On the software side, I really don't know. My system is running great and I really don't have any issues with it.
 
I would really like to see Apple open up that USB port to allow for hard drive expansion or for somebody like Elgato to port their USB tuner and software to it.

Otherwise, I think we'll only see hard drive upgrades and maybe some announcements with better cooperation from movie studios.
 
I predict...
- 160GB & 240GB.
- Maybe the possibility of them doing what they did with the iPod classic by merging both dropping the 160GB and dropping the 40GB.
- Take 3 - maybe buit in Safari
- SDK
- App Store
- Ability to plug in iPod to play media off of it/
- The possibility of a DVD or Blue Ray drive, although, that is probably not going to happen.
 
CyberBob859 said:
I would really like to see Apple open up that USB port to allow for hard drive expansion or for somebody like Elgato to port their USB tuner and software to it.

Otherwise, I think we'll only see hard drive upgrades and maybe some announcements with better cooperation from movie studios.
Click to expand...

The reason why I don't think that will happen is because you can't sync an external hard drive with iTunes.
Maybe you will be allowed to wirelessly connect to Time Capsule or Apple could possibly make software you can put on you external hard drive to sync it to iTunes.
 
drichards said:
You can move your iTunes library to an external hard drive though... and span it between multiple drives if you really like...
Click to expand...

Yes, you can have you iTunes stuff on your external hard drive but you can't sync you external hard drive you iTunes as if it where an iPod, Apple TV, or iPhone.
 
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