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My vision of the complete :apple:TV

M

msavwah

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 5, 2010
394
1
Oahu
Throw in a decent gfx card
250/500gb storage
App store
iPhones and iPods as game controllers
Ipads as interactive remotes and second displays
All in full HD and 5.1 surround

Movies, games, interactive tv and internet apps, music
like nothing ever before seen

I think that would lock down the living room nicely
 
Why so much disk space?

I would go for:

A4 SoC
Broadcom Crystal or similar h.264 hardware decoder
64GB tops (would be happy with 16GB)
iPhoneOS
iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad as game controller/remote
Wireless N/gigabit ethernet/hdmi/optical audio out

£99/$99

This would make it more than a hobby for Apple.
 
steviem said:
Why so much disk space?

I would go for:

A4 SoC
Broadcom Crystal or similar h.264 hardware decoder
64GB tops (would be happy with 16GB)
iPhoneOS
iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad as game controller/remote
Wireless N/gigabit ethernet/hdmi/optical audio out

£99/$99

This would make it more than a hobby for Apple.
Click to expand...

Why on Earth would you think its a good idea to drop from the existing 160gig capacity to less than half???!!!

You would be happy with 16gb?

This is the Apple TV you are talking about!!!!!!!
 
Because I would prefer all media to be stored on my mac and stream from there.

I would also like to reduce power usage and price. 128GB or 256GB SSDs are too expensive to keep it at a reasonable price point.

The only reason I'd be happy with 16GB would be for the storage of applications.
 
dual apple A4 chips
1080p
2-3 hdmi 1.4 (3D downloads from itunes & youtube) (to also power separate displays so one could be in the living room another in the kitchen etc)
1tb 2.5" HDD
Wireless N
gigabit ethernet
Couple USB and an optical
iplayer/vimeo/youtube/netflix etc integration
apple TV app store
More codec support (perien)
internet
iPhone/iTouch/iPad can be used as a remote control and media browser to queue up shows maybe even allow multiple authorised devises to add to the queue

prices £250

but alas these are just dreams and unlikely to come to fruition.
 
1TB HD at the very least. I hate having to fire up my macbook, wire it to an external drive and then stream to the ATV. Wires all over the place, and its a damn pain in the ass. Its the simplest but biggest upgrade Apple could do for the ATV but they steadfastly refuse to do it. I'm glad Google are competing with the ATV. Infact I may even go with what they have to offer.
 
MacBoobsPro said:
1TB HD at the very least. I hate having to fire up my macbook, wire it to an external drive and then stream to the ATV.
Click to expand...
I have to agree for a couple reasons:

1. Those of us that primarily use laptops ( and from apple's sales numbers laptops are the largest increase for apple in the market, so must be a few folks using them ) its a pita.

2. For all of you whining about 1080p playback, throwing a reliable network for streaming into the equation is only gonna make things more difficult.

3. While I very well may be delusional, it seems to me that with that kind of storage space on hand the atv could be the actual hub of the media experience as opposed to the computer. I mean it can already purchase anything from itms. It can sync those purchases back to the computer. It is hardly a half step for it to be able to sync content out to an iPhone/iPod/iPad as well. Quite obviously streaming the same content to said devices would be the next half step. Especially given their relatively small storage space. Don't read this as suggesting that using the computer as the iTunes Media server be walled off. But I am suggesting another option that is available setup wise. What does this offer? It offers the apple ecosystem to folks that do not have or don't want to use a computer to manage their media. Suddenly Grandma and Grandpa enter the market. Lets face it ... A bunch of Computer Handbrake geeks does not a wide market make. Otoh as I said ... I am probably delusional ...
 
What you are all missing is :-
A hard drive door so you can just slot in what ever size drive you want....
The OS should be on a chip...
 
Good idea. Of course, since it's a piece of AV equipment where super-small size is not that big of a deal, how about making the box a little bigger and giving us 2-4 slots of full size 3.5" SATA hard drives? That would allow a great deal of on-board storage as well as the potential for it to be the centralized iTunes media server for the computers in the household.

Or if a new :apple:TV must be thinner and/or smaller, how about use the OS X network underpinnings inside so that storage can be any size via NAS? That could yield a cheaper :apple:TV with unlimited storage for those interested.

And normalize the USB port so that others can expand the platform in ways that Apple chooses not to go natively.
 
My prior delusion did not necessitate it be built in hdd space. An external hdd capability makes sense to be sure.
 
I don't get this thing lately where people seem to want the least storage possible. If you want to stream, then stream. Having more space won't make it harder to stream.

As far as flash vs hard drive ... for the Apple TV, the advantages of flash memory are very minor. It's not cost-effective.
 
wombat888 said:
I don't get this thing lately where people seem to want the least storage possible. If you want to stream, then stream. Having more space won't make it harder to stream.

As far as flash vs hard drive ... for the Apple TV, the advantages of flash memory are very minor. It's not cost-effective.
Click to expand...

Attempting to make the Apple TV the storage hub with a built in hard drive large enough to handle that duty is prohibitively expensive relative to the overall price it would need to be to be successful. Even a 1TB drive costs almost $100 or more. The storage itself would be half the cost of the device! I would much rather a larger percentage of the cost be in other more important things like a better processor, graphics card, and software to do the things we want the AppleTV to do that it can't currently now.

More storage space doesn't enhance anything or add any new capabilities. All it does is add more space which is something which can be done by other means such as a local NAS, externally attached hard drive, or streaming online from the new datacenter they're building.

A lot of people think for the ATV to really sell to the masses it would have to be in the $99-$149 range. You can pretty much forget about that with having a large hard drive built in.
 
newagemac said:
Attempting to make the Apple TV the storage hub with a built in hard drive large enough to handle that duty is prohibitively expensive relative to the overall price it would need to be to be successful. Even a 1TB drive costs almost $100 or more. The storage itself would be half the cost of the device! I would much rather a larger percentage of the cost be in other more important things like a better processor, graphics card, and software to do the things we want the AppleTV to do that it can't currently now.

More storage space doesn't enhance anything or add any new capabilities. All it does is add more space which is something which can be done by other means such as a local NAS, externally attached hard drive, or streaming online from the new datacenter they're building.

A lot of people think for the ATV to really sell to the masses it would have to be in the $99-$149 range. You can pretty much forget about that with having a large hard drive built in.
Click to expand...



the $100 price tag on 1tb drive is A) the consumer retail price, wholesale in the volumes apple would want would cut that cost drastically. and B) with 3tb drives out later this year that will cause the price to drop again dramatically on 1tb drives especially now there making there way into the 2.5" form factor as well as the 3.5" form factor.

with apple now making there own chips that also means that overall component costs will be lower as they could make the processors and graphics etc in house and they already have staff to do the software so thats been paid or already.

requiring a local nas or external drive for storage is something apple just wouldn't do. they like there products to look clean and uncluttered which is what i like them for. so to have to have an extra box just to store the media is silly. have it as an option though to expand internal storage i think would be fine.

as for streaming from there new datacenter all the content instead of having it download and stored on the atv would cut the market for the device a lot as a lot of the world doesnt have breakneck speeds for broadband to be able to stream HD content. there are people still on dialup and a larg majority who dont get speeds over 2mb which would mean that if someone was surfing the internet or on youtube you couldnt use your atv to stream media from the datacenter in america

as for pricing apple could (as they have the reserve cash) sell the box as a loss if they at the same time as releasing a new atv revamped and expanded there online itunes store etc as they could bank on making up the difference in movie and tv rentals etc
 
Why not have both?

$99 Apple TV: A4 SoC, 802.11n, 16 GB HDD.

Basically, the cheapest iPad, with no screen or battery or sensors.

Then, $299 or $399 version with 1 TB HDD.

I have Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n in my house, and use my PC as a media server...streaming works wonderfully to my PS3 and iPad, I'd buy a $99 ATV.
 
robin1989 said:
the $100 price tag on 1tb drive is A) the consumer retail price, wholesale in the volumes apple would want would cut that cost drastically. and B) with 3tb drives out later this year that will cause the price to drop again dramatically on 1tb drives especially now there making there way into the 2.5" form factor as well as the 3.5" form factor.

with apple now making there own chips that also means that overall component costs will be lower as they could make the processors and graphics etc in house and they already have staff to do the software so thats been paid or already.

requiring a local nas or external drive for storage is something apple just wouldn't do. they like there products to look clean and uncluttered which is what i like them for. so to have to have an extra box just to store the media is silly. have it as an option though to expand internal storage i think would be fine.
Click to expand...


Apple of all companies is not going to buy hard drives at wholesale and then sell them to you at that wholesale price. You'll still be paying basically retail price for any hard drive the ATV comes with. For instance, look at the difference in price between different sized drives in the iphone, ipad, and ipod lines. When nothing else changes but the storage size, you still pay retail price on the difference. Or just try adding a larger hard drive to a macbook and see if you'll be paying wholesale prices or not on the upgrade.

The reality is the hard drive is a large percentage of the price of the device and needlessly so.

You can't do something about making it handle HD video better without using more expensive components and software development. To think you could bump up the hard drive as well and keep the price down is just unreasonable. It has to be cheaper than what it is already to appeal to the masses and I can't see anything else that can be cut back or cut out entirely to make that $99-$149 price happen.

As for an external hard drive or NAS being "required" in that scenario that simply is not so. Many people with ATVs just stream everything from their Mac anyway right now so it is not required. With the option of streaming from the new datacenter you might not even need a Mac to sync with let alone an internal hard drive.

In fact, you would have the OPTION of adding your own local hard drive space whether externally attached or through NAS but it certainly wouldn't have to be required.
 
gaming center

I think there is big potential for the next apple TV to become a gaming center. I don't really understand how they'll manage it with no buttons unless it is Wii-Like.
But think about controllers for a second, if you have a lot of games that encourage social gaming then all of your friends will need an iPod touch or iPhone to join in the game. All those teenagers and college kids who for some reason or another don't already have one will really want to buy one so they can join in the fun. Besides, would you rather purchase an additional Wii controller for your Wii or pick up another iPod Touch or upgrade your iPhone and use the older one as a controller, awesome!
I don't think it is going to happen but it would be sweet.
 
Looks like Apple is thinking along the same lines as what I was saying! Can't wait for the new Apple TV!
 
Must be able to stream media from a NAS without the need for another machine running itunes.
 
msavwah said:
Throw in a decent gfx card
250/500gb storage
App store
iPhones and iPods as game controllers
Ipads as interactive remotes and second displays
All in full HD and 5.1 surround
Click to expand...

I would ditch the storage and add a USB for that. I hate the sound of the drive in my ATV, and if it was reduced to having flash for buffering and the OS I would consider that a major improvement. I can buy a _silent_ external of any size I want.

I would also like AirDisk support, like the MBAir. That way I can put a DVD into my machine upstairs, and stream it to the ATV. It would also be nice to directly support the MBAir's external DVD, via USB.

Here's a larger list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Maury_Markowitz/Sandbox
 
steviem said:
Because I would prefer all media to be stored on my mac and stream from there.

I would also like to reduce power usage and price.
Click to expand...

Uhh, color me skeptical. Now your ATV requires _two_ boxes, costing much more and drawing much more power.

Maury
 
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