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The Future of Apple TV - Not a Box

J

jgp

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 13, 2003
33
0
The Apple TV currently sucks for an endless number of reasons. But my other Apple products shine! What the Apple TV should be is not a box at all, but a system which makes the TVs in your home simply external monitors. My computer does everything I want my Apple TV to do. I just want to be able to see it in my living room with surround sound and a simple interface for accessing media and the web. I would gladly pay Apple three or four hundred dollars for a wireless HDMI transceiver that would attach to my TV and work with a variety of remotes. The computer side (which could work on a PC or Mac) would an elegant 'Applerific' interface and hardware for controlling the external TV monitors. Please Apple make this happen!

Anyone else think this is a good idea?
 
jgp said:
The Apple TV currently sucks for an endless number of reasons.
Click to expand...
First off, I disagree with this statement. The AppleTV does many things quite well. Just because it doesn’t do everything you want it to do does not mean it sucks.

jgp said:
My computer does everything I want my Apple TV to do. I just want to be able to see it in my living room with surround sound and a simple interface for accessing media and the web. I would gladly pay Apple three or four hundred dollars for a wireless HDMI transceiver that would attach to my TV and work with a variety of remotes.
Click to expand...
Maybe you haven’t made your desires clear, but how is this significantly different from what the AppleTV does?

And if it's not a “box”, what is it?
 
I was wondering that too. My apple tv (with atv flash installed) houses movies on an attached hd to the ATV and I get the movies in 5.1 surround sound. Video quality is the same as a dvd and I also have downloaded from itunes some TV series episodes that I can play via the ATV on my Sony Bravia 52" TV and its in a nice small box that is unobtrusive in my home theater along with my blu-ray player and HD cable box.

I am so pleased I have 2 of these machines. The other on is in the master bedroom.
 
The AppleTV can get media 3 ways from your computers:
1) Sync - Copy media from one computer to the ATV
2) Pull - Stream media; originates at the ATV
3) Push - Stream media; originates at the Computer. This works like AirTunes, and is controlled through iTunes.

As far as I know, Push only works with music, but if it were ever expanded to include video, that's what you're wanting to do.

Or maybe I'm just misunderstanding you and you really want a MacMini hooked up to your TV... :confused:
 
What I am saying is that the Apple TV should not be a box with storage or a display processor. All it should be is a way for me to communicate with my computer and display my media at the the proper resolution for my particular TV. No need to sync, no need for Blu-ray, or DVD. That can be at the computer. I can get rid of all the junk that is at the TV stand, and just use the TV for what is should be...a monitor.
 
jgp said:
What I am saying is that the Apple TV should not be a box with storage or a display processor. All it should be is a way for me to communicate with my computer and display my media at the the proper resolution for my particular TV. No need to sync, no need for Blu-ray, or DVD. That can be at the computer. I can get rid of all the junk that is at the TV stand, and just use the TV for what is should be...a monitor.
Click to expand...

HP tried that several times and failed. It was called the MediaSmart TV and had built-in Windows Media Center Extender support (network DVR, etc) along with HP's own built-in software for viewing content from UPNP devices and the web.

Sony is currently trying this with some of their Bravia HDTVs that have the XMB interface and Internet Video Link.

I'm sure other HDTV manufacturers are doing similar things.

The problem with these devices is that they've traditionally been more expensive than their non-network enabled counterparts and the user interfaces are horrible.

If you think Apple is going to partner with Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Vizio, etc to build Front Row/Apple TV-like capabilities into the actual set, you're crazy.

It's not going to happen. Their not a platform company and it's not in their DNA. All of a sudden Apple would become responsible for trying to manage their software across multiple HDTV platforms including software updates (for DRM changes, etc).

Microsoft has tried for years to pull this off with Windows Media Center, a platform that's been available to these manufacturers for years, and haven't been able to do it.

The best you can hope for is for Apple to extend the "AirPort Speakers" functionality to support video on the Apple TV. Maybe we'll get an updated AirPort Express that supports video-out. There were rumors to that effect several years ago.

https://www.macrumors.com/2005/10/04/airport-express-with-video/
 
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