ATV to the world
The introduction of a new ATV must be in context to the existing, broader market and where it is headed. It will succeed or fail in how well competing with anything else that presents media on any screen you have.
Consider the Samsung 55" LED HDTV for instance:
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-UN55C...ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=tv&qid=1275943715&sr=1-3
Right out of the box it offers access to eBay, RallyCast, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Yahoo! Weather, Yahoo! News, USA Today Sports, not to mention Amazon video on demand, etc.
Amazon is a good example, as at least in video a direct competitor to iTunes. Movies and other video content can be rented or purchased, downloaded or retained on Amazon's servers. Thus cloud computing. And not a device to buy, figure out, or plug in; it is included and simple to use. One shouldn't overlook the simplicity factor, and that many customers may opt for the easiest solution over technically best.
With iTunes and Hulu I've grown accustomed to watching what I want when I want. With iTunes one has a built-in DVR of sorts. But it is not as simple or adept as that offered via cable or satellite providers. One reason conventional television remains king may be in no more than ease, in that one program flows into the next as seamlessly, and as simple to choose among them. Such as Hulu are better at having what you want right now, with thus far far fewer commercials, but otherwise simply are not as easy to use. In short, and this applies to everyone, media remains very fragmented, certainly not all together, and ease of access various considerably.
VUDU is also built into a number of HDTVs and BlueRay players. Or available as a low-cost stand-alone box. iTunes competes with them as well. VUDU does offer full 1080p. There are of course bandwidth requirements, but all providers bump up against this. Most basic DSL connections are sufficient for streaming SD content, anything more will require an urban address and better connection. Enough people capable and willing and bitching to their ISP's and something might happen.
I've read this MacBook is not capable of dealing with 1080p media. News to me, and maybe true. But whether that or ISP's with a 20th century mentality, no reason not to offer and promote such capability. This is a chicken and egg story, with the happy ending for those looking to the future rather than some present technical limitations. If waiting for everyone to catch up at once, iTunes and other online services would still be in a holding pattern.
As before, it would make sense for the capability of local storage. As it stands, one may not always have a proper connection, or any connection at all. Cloud computing only works with reliable high bandwidth connections. And some may just prefer to have and control their files. It can easily work either way. Anyone having purchased any number of movies via iTunes will shortly have realized the limitations of 160GB of storage on the present ATV. So it will not matter if a new ATV only offers 16GB for buffering; any media files should obviously reside elsewhere, if for no other reason than backup redundancy. This implies streaming to the device, or a USB or better connection to external drives.
VUDU offers a good case in point of a good complement of various input/output options. Apple is known for dropping certain standards before people thought they were ready, then proved correct. But if forsaking some legacy functionality, they must still provide necessary options for proper video and audio.
If a new ATV retails for $99, great. A truly capable one might sell for appreciably more. Figure this: if $99, and retaining wi-fi, adding 1TB of external storage could cost only $99 more. That is appreciably more than 160GB presently offered at $229. If Apple is smart this will be a seamless plug and play scenario whether one wishes local storage or streaming, or from the cloud.
As for streaming, I've had good results streaming media via wi-fi from a TC to this MacBook. Even Apple's HD media at 720p. The Samsung HDTV mentioned is capable of wireless DLNA. Meaning in principle that one needn't deal with mini-DVI ports and cables, and that on your computer can be seamlessly mirrored to the HDTV big screen.
No idea how this affects Hulu and others, but the implications should be clear. All content providers are justly concerned with copyright protection and being properly paid. They are also operating in a world and market increasingly online and synced, expecting anything to be available at the press of a button. Movies from iTunes with DRM will play on external drives, still linked to iTunes. There are other scenarios possible, but if rightly concerned with piracy, nevertheless any content provider making it difficult to access their wares on any device or screen of the customers choosing will shortly find themselves quite out of the picture. The ability to do this easily will be expected.
Netflix might as easily have an app on the new ATV as any iPad. Their online content is minuscule compared to iTunes. There is simply no comparison, and Netflix would have to seriously step up its game to compete head to head in such a market.
From Apple's standpoint they probably needn't be as concerned with a Netflix or Amazon, or with a VUDU or Google, or even if providers such as ABC wish to be intransigent. All are potential competitors. From the standpoint of the ultimate user, the customer, the wish and expectation is for a simple, enjoyable experience. The provider that can combine as many of these disparate pieces together into an understandable whole with the least hassle and best price should prevail. iTunes already combines many of the elements. Apple shines in innovation and attractive interfaces. There is no reason they cannot do this.
The new ATV should not only be highly capable and simple to use, but look forward to where this market is heading: what you want, when you want, where you want. Otherwise DOA on arrival.
(if true)
TV. Is that the gist of your stance? If so, I'll eat my hat if that actually comes to pass
