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The new Apple TV

jeremy.king

jeremy.king

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 23, 2002
5,479
1
Holly Springs, NC
Given all the rumors, I'll add my own unoriginal speculation.

Apple TV will no longer be just a hardware device, it will become the latest entry into the world of IPTV. Hook it up to your network wirelessly ("something in the air") and have both TV programming and iTunes content to choose from. I think it could be a good alternative to Cable/Dish assuming it will do HD and is priced reasonably.

Thoughts?

I heard all the craze at CES was IPTV and OLED and given Apple's track record of entering early to market, could this be what's in the air?
 
At least here in the US, I believe IPTV is mostly a closed system. AT&T has their U-verse IPTV system and I believe the other telcos are working on similar systems to combat cable and satellite providers.

Also, I am not sure how open IPTV systems are in terms of just connecting a device (as CableCard allows with cable systems). One might very well be required to use the telco's box to receive and decrypt IPTV which means it could not be added to the :apple:tv.

Now, there is the "rival" Internet Television initiative, but bandwidth could very well be an issue there since you're sharing the pipe with all other internet traffic as opposed to the dedicated transmission paths used in IPTV.
 
Before I started hacking around the AppleTV using awkward, nito, etc. I took at face value everybody's claims that Apple restricted the ATV's network access to iTunes in order to drive everybody to iTunes for content purchasing.

That may have been part of their thinking... but in general, I now believe they limited the AppleTV's functionality in order to guarantee the quality of the user experience. Once you tell people they can "simply" mount a network drive (choose your poison: AFP, SMB, NFS/Windows?!) and play the content on it (choose more poison: MP3, FLAC, AIFF, MPEG1/2/3/4, DIVX, MKV)... well, that's going to be a really hard user doc to write and a harder support call to solve. Given what I've been through to enable the "basic" (ha) functionality I require, I can't imagine it will be easier for them to make AppleTV more useful on the network w/o giving out free Linux classes with every purchase... :p
 
Your typical CableModem connection ain't fast enough to handle IPTV let alone a DSL connection.
 
ccortez said:
I now believe they limited the AppleTV's functionality in order to guarantee the quality of the user experience.
Click to expand...

Bingo.

Especially the experience for the "non-technical user". People who like the idea of iTunes, but not the idea of connecting a Windows PC or Macintosh to their television.

This is what I feel the folks who are calling for an :apple:tv with a DVR and Blu-Ray and full video/audio codec support are missing. They want a cheaper Mac Mini HPTC with all the dongles contained inside. They already know OS X so installing and configuring TV scheduling and DVR applications and maintaining the whole environment is child's play to them. If it blows up, they know how to reboot OS X and then re-launch all the apps. They're happy to hack the software to provide more functionality. Applying fixes and patches is something they can do blindfolded.

Those people are very different from the target market of the :apple:tv. One of the reasons the :apple:tv has been so slow to update is because Apple doesn't want to "change things" and "confuse" those people.
 
gkarris said:
Interesting, as IPTV around here is AT&T, and they are the iPhone providers...
Click to expand...

Didn't think of this angle. Some sort of partnership???

trip1ex said:
Your typical CableModem connection ain't fast enough to handle IPTV let alone a DSL connection.
Click to expand...

I think that may rule out HD, at least til fiber in the home becomes common. But SD seems possible with the scalabilty of H.264.
 
CWallace said:
Those people are very different from the target market of the :apple:tv. One of the reasons the :apple:tv has been so slow to update is because Apple doesn't want to "change things" and "confuse" those people.
Click to expand...

I'm beginning to think that's an excuse. I'd love to build a simple product with no real feature depth to speak of and have everyone make excuses for its lack of functionality so I don't have to.
 
SthrnCmfrtr said:
I'm beginning to think that's an excuse. I'd love to build a simple product with no real feature depth to speak of and have everyone make excuses for its lack of functionality so I don't have to.
Click to expand...

If Apple did not offer the Mac Mini, I'd agree with you.

But a Mac Mini will do anything an :apple:tv will (and far more). It just won't be as simple or elegant.
 
Yes, but we would also like to be able to get the shows we watch via OTA/cable/sat in HD from the iTunes Store in HD. :)

And it looks like Steve may just have delivered it with the AppleTV Take 2...
 
Well we did indeed get a new :apple:tv...

HD content and Dolby Digital 5.1.
Rent directly from the :apple:tv - no Mac required. HD for $4.99 with 100 rentals.
 
As cool as this is, Netflix is still a better deal. Why rent by the unit? Apple needs to have a monthly subscription. I suppose the movie studios dictated that, though. To me it's no different than cable on-demand which I don't use either (because of price).
 
peeaanuut said:
I am on limited internet here at work. is it a new box or is it a software update for the old box? *crossing fingers for software update*
Click to expand...

UPDATE - It is a free software update. :D

And the price dropped $70 on the base unit - $229.

Available within two weeks.
 
There better be a firmware upgrade for existing Apple TV owners or my Apple TV that I got for Christmas will be smashed with a large axe!

Edit:
10:00 am The new Apple TV is a free software update.
Click to expand...

Pheeew! :D
 
Cooknn said:
As cool as this is, Netflix is still a better deal. Why rent by the unit? Apple needs to have a monthly subscription. I suppose the movie studios dictated that, though. To me it's no different than cable on-demand which I don't use either (because of price).
Click to expand...

it depends on your usage. This is dating myself a little bit, but I remember when AOl started offering unlimited access for a flat fee. But you could still do the hourly rate if you wanted. Well by that time i was down to using AOL only for e-mail. So dialing in, getting e-mail only for the month worked out to about maybe an hour. So I only payed $4 or whatever it was instead of 20. If I only rent 1 or 2 movies a month, single payment is better than a subscription for me.
 
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