Why Hasn't Apple TV Exploded In Popularity?

[quid squid]

i think it also has to do with the fact that the normal everyday person knows nothing about converting their existing dvds. look at how many people here are asking how to convert their dvds with handbreak. and when people think of itunes, they think of music, not movies. the movie rentals are more of a side feature.

i think appleTV still has a long way to go before it catches on. they definitely need to market it better, but they really can't market it saying that you can rip your dvds and play them through itunes since it is technically illegal. they're gonna need to come up with some other marketing plan or rely solely on their rental system or add more features (DVR or something)

 

[Tilpots]

It hasn't caught on because:

No TV Tuner
No DVR
No DVD/Blu Ray Player
No 1080p support
No Live TV

The Live TV one is not Apple's fault, but the other ones are.

These are the reasons I do not and will not own one. If you disagree with me, please don't use the "iTunes ecosystem" argument, or tell me that you understand Apple's philosophy. These arguments are BS.

One box to rule them all. That's what the TV needs in order to be widely consumed.

 

[ipedro]

I don't have an iPhone or an iPod. I do have a 52"LCD 1080 TV connected to Dish Network where I can order all the latest movies if I choose. I have a Blue Ray DVD player and rent films from the local shop nearby. For the life of me, I can see no reason to buy Apple TV. I don't want to watch TV on my computer (iMac 20").

It hasn't caught on because:

No TV Tuner
No DVR
No DVD/Blu Ray Player
No 1080p support
No Live TV

These two post demonstrates why TV hasn't hit mainstream yet: people just don't get the concept.

They're too embedded in the old ways of watching TV, recording what you want to see again later and buying DVDs for video that you want to keep in a collection.

Gaelic: TV does not connect to your 20" iMac. You plug it in to your 52"LCD. You can cancel your Dish Network subscription and instead rent and buy only the content you want to watch on TV. I did.

If you already have a well managed collection of media on iTunes, TV will bring it effortlessly to your big screen.

TV is ahead of its time, just as iPod was when it first was released. People thought iPod was cool but it was expensive and they were probably waiting for it to have a CD player and a radio recorder feature.

Give it some time and this à la carte method of watching media will become ubiquitous.

In the meantime, Apple is smart to maintain TV as a hobby so that it's immune from reports of its failure and predictions of its imminent demise. After all its just a hobby.

 

[nfrankli]

In my opinion its just that the AppleTV isn't a big improvement on most peoples current entertainment options.

1. Movies, most people use DVD rentals from Netflix. AppleTV has an upfront cost, isn't better quality, rentals aren't cheaper. It's only nice if you go through the trouble to rip your movies to your computer. If that whole ripping process was integrated into iTunes, like it is for CDs then I think it might take off a bit more. But there is NO way the movie studios would stand for that.

2. TV shows. Most people already have DVR (at least those who might think about AppleTV). So why pay for TV shows when you can just record them? It isn't a bad way to catch up on old seasons, but Netflix (which many already have) does a good job there.

3. Music. I guess most people don't listen to music on their main TV/home entertainment system. Or at least not enough to buy an AppleTV. Personally I think this is its best feature. I never get into my CD cabinet anymore and will probably just hide it away in a closet sometime soon.

4. Photos. Like music, I think this is a feature on AppleTV where it outshines the competition. It's great to show pictures to the grandparents, w/o having to take them to a computer.

I've tried to sell AppleTV to my friends and family but haven't found any takers even after demonstrating how great it is. I think its worth the money but I guess they're happy with what they have

 

[reidjr]

I don't have an iPhone or an iPod. I do have a 52"LCD 1080 TV connected to Dish Network where I can order all the latest movies if I choose. I have a Blue Ray DVD player and rent films from the local shop nearby. For the life of me, I can see no reason to buy Apple TV. I don't want to watch TV on my computer (iMac 20").

1)The apple tv hooks up to your tv not your computer.
2)Apple tv not only offers new but classic moves as well.
3)You can buy movies and there right on atv ready any time.
4)As a rule with ppv-ondemand you have 24-48 hours to watch them.With atv you have 30 days but once you start then you have 24 hours.

 

[ipedro]

These are the reasons I do not and will not own one. If you disagree with me, please don't use the "iTunes ecosystem" argument, or tell me that you understand Apple's philosophy. These arguments are BS.

Tilpots, preemptively negating the argument doesn't mean you defeated it.

The iTunes ecosystem is precisely why TV doesn't have a DVD reader and DVR functionality.

I'll use my iPod analogy above:

In the music realm, before iPod came along, there was an old way of doing things: people purchased CDs (or copied them) and some even recorded music on tapes from the radio and compiled their own collections.

iTunes + iPod changed that. There is no need for physical media because the iTunes store provides the content. You organize your music on iTunes and your iPod mirrors it. A simple, yet powerful concept. So perfect that so many people adopted it and iPod became the fastest adopted music player in history, ahead of the previously ubiquitous Walkman.

Back then, I'm sure there were people saying: it doesn't make sense! Where's the CD player? What am I gonna do with my CD library? Where's the radio? I want to record my music on this thing!

It sounds just as silly as asking for the same features on TV, an equivalent of an "iPod for your TV".

iTunes resolved the issue of what to do with your CD library by allowing you to rip your existing collection into iTunes. This immediately made iPod useful because you had a large amount of content on it.

The same has not been possible in the Movie and Television industry transition to digital downloads. This is, in my opinion, what is slowing the adoption of TV

If it were possible to insert a DVD in your Mac and allow iTunes to rip it into an TV readable format, the success of iPod would be replicated for TV.

The slower road is being taken: wait for people to build their movie and TV collections in digital format by purchasing their content directly from iTunes. As that collection grows, people are going to look for a solution to play that content on their big TVs. It is then that TV will find a market and it'll take off.

 

[wordmunger]

The slower road is being taken: wait for people to build their movie and TV collections in digital format by purchasing their content directly from iTunes. As that collection grows, people are going to look for a solution to play that content on their big TVs. It is then that TV will find a market and it'll take off.

That makes some sense, except that most people don't watch the same videos over and over, the way they listen to the same songs over and over. They constantly want NEW content. So people are more interested in broadcast/cable TV, DVD rentals, and so on. They can get all their content relatively easily and don't see the need for another device that can only serve them a small portion of all the content they watch.

 

[ayale99]

It hasn't caught on because:

No TV Tuner
No DVR
No DVD/Blu Ray Player
No 1080p support
No Live TV

The Live TV one is not Apple's fault, but the other ones are.

These are the reasons I do not and will not own one. If you disagree with me, please don't use the "iTunes ecosystem" argument, or tell me that you understand Apple's philosophy. These arguments are BS.

One box to rule them all. That's what the TV needs in order to be widely consumed.

You're not getting it. Adding a DVD player to AppleTV is like adding a CD player to the iPod.
(See Ipedro's analogy)

 

[skrutzen]

ipedro... you beat me to it!

Think about how hard it must be for Apple to market this device. With the iPod, we had the capability to put our music collections into the computer and take it with us. With the TV, there's no legal way for consumers to make digital copies of their DVDs. As a result Apple cannot tell customers how to do such a thing. Apple absolutely knows that programs like Handbrake and VisualHub exist and would probably love to enter that market.

The movie studios are the ones that are making it difficult for consumers. It bothers me to think that we are coming to an age where we no longer have physical copies to have as backups to our digital collections.

 

[jeremy.king]

Lack of developer support. If people could write apps for the AppleTV (ala iPhone/iPod touch/Mac), I feel it would become much more popular.

 

[atszyman]

I'm guessing that a large part if it is that most people already have a satellite or cable box, many with DVR capability that allows them to get On-Demand and PPV movies and TV for roughly the same price and doesn't require hooking another box to the TV.

There's also the question of how to get my 20+ DVDs to the TV. If iTunes were to implement an import DVD function it would help. DVR functionality would help, especially if it were a free service and had a method to control/change the channel on your cable box (although the two tuner DVRs many satellite providers offer are pretty damn sweet, record two simultaneous shows while watching a third recorded movie).

My current setup allows me to purchase and record a PPV movie to the DVR in my satellite box. Once done that movie can sit there indefinitely until I decide to delete it. No time limits or expirations.

At the moment there is very little functionality in the TV that I do not currently have via some other box hooked to my TV. Sure it would be nice to get all of it in one place, but at the expense of adding another box to the mix it doesn't seem so great anymore because while it combines the function of a few of my components, it doesn't manage to take the place of any of them.

I could really see it take off once it gets a tuner or two and DVR functionality combined with an easy way to rip your DVD collection into iTunes.

Heck, they could even offer up some sort of expansion slot or connection so that cable/satellite providers can offer a box that would connect to/through the TV and use it as the DVR hopefully preserving the record two while watching another functionality. If it could be made into an open standard that would allow anyone to make boxes that could add functionality to the cable/satellite box it could be truly awesome and open up a realm of DVR/streaming content/Sling player like accessories that could be used to build the entertainment system with smaller more modular components.

 

[ipedro]

That makes some sense, except that most people don't watch the same videos over and over, the way they listen to the same songs over and over. They constantly want NEW content. So people are more interested in broadcast/cable TV, DVD rentals, and so on. They can get all their content relatively easily and don't see the need for another device that can only serve them a small portion of all the content they watch.

they're called "reruns" and represent 70% of what's on TV at any given moment

I find myself enjoying my TV incrementally more as I grow a critical mass of library items.

I used to use it mostly for music (which I already had a lot of) and podcasts (lots of variety out there). Now that I have several tv shows, I find myself playing them - rerunning them- just to have something on.

I do agree that for TV to become more universally attractive, there needs to be more new content. Apple needs to continue negociating contratcs with networks and independent producers.

 

[Tilpots]

You're not getting it.

You're absolutely right. I'm not getting it, as I said in my post.

ipedro Quote:
Tilpots, preemptively negating the argument doesn't mean you defeated it.

No, I'll let the public's purchasing record (or lack of) stand on its own merit.


People understand what the TV does. It's not marketing. It's not misconception. It's a lack of functionality.

For all of you that have it, and it works for you, I think that's great. But for me and the many people who aren't buying it... it's just not quite there yet.

 

[The Phazer]

Four things -

1) it's too expensive in every country in the world except for the US.

2) it doesn't function with most of the common streaming services (Hulu, iPlayer etc)

3) Apple won't licence out Fairplay to broadcasters to distribute content that's ad funded, something which would vastly increase the amount of content available.

4) no DVR.

Phazer

 

[YuriVoorhak]

We had AppleTV on our wedding registry, and even the people who got it for us had no idea what it did. Even when I explained why we wanted one (painless shifting of content from mac to television) they didn't quite get it.

Once they saw it in practice at my house, they thought it was the greatest thing in the world. I think Apple should really push it less as an iTMS box, and lean more toward marketing it as "the iPod for your TV".

 

[trip1ex]

WEll to explain why it's still a hobby I'll tell you why I don't have one.

Content is too expensive. I can rent new releases on DVD from machines throughout my local area for $1/night.

ATV is expensive considering I already have dvd players in multiple rooms hooked up to multiple tvs.

Lack of content. It doesn't cover all the bases that cable does. No Olympics. No sports. It's missing many tv shows. No news. etc. So it really can't replace my cable subscription as much I would like it too. Plus cable gets to be quite the value when you have a family of 4.

Content storage. Another big issue. Just where are you going to put all your purchases? You really not only have to store them, but also back them up. One bad hard drive and you could lose your entire collection.

Movie downloads not that much more convenient than dvds.

And last Tivo makes my TV content commercial free and on-demand. And it's easy to use. You can also do YOuTube and play music through it etc.

So that's why ATV is still a hobby. It just isn't compelling enough to warrant purchasing one and changing from the way I view media now.

 

[Consultant]

If it plays .AVI or .MKV without hacking, a lot more people would buy it.

Someone should figure out a way to easily add additional format support for Apple TV.

Right now many people use Mac Mini as their Apple TV.

 

[jeremytehjerk]

I think it isn't catching on because for a large % of the people that look into it, it can't be used to replace anything.

Sure some people on these forums swear by their tvs and how they were able to cancel cable or satellite but for most users this will not be the case. Most shows it is definitely safe to say will not be available on itunes store for decades. It is going to take a lot from apple as well as competitors to convince specialized tv stations to abandon the business model they have always used and release their programming on a by episode basis. A lot of live content also can't be replaced by the apple tv. It's great that for some of you it has been able to but for mainstream use the appletv will not be seen as an "upgrade" of the cable or satellite.

For DVD viewing, very few people are going to find that they can have the apple tv around instead of a dvd player. A) For most users to figure out how to get their DVD collection to be viewable through apple tv they have to come to forums like these, that information will never be available from apple which means mainstream won't be considering that when reviewing the appleTVs feature set. B) Unless you just really never watch bad or rare films, and only want to see recent box office releases and a few old huge movies, itunes store (or any online service for that matter) will not replace needing a physical playback system.

I think appleTV is the new TiVo. (tivo when it was new not all that DVR and similiar services are now) It's a great toy to add to all your existing gadgets, a small group of people may even be able to replace something in their current set up with it. But until it has more of a singular associated function, as well as competitors in the same category, it won't be a mainstream device.

Maybe someday in the future people will be saying "well of course I need a device to instantly rent content from my couch!" the way more people are starting to say they have to have DVR services now.

 

[Trajectory]

For me, the Apple TV is uninteresting because I can't record live TV content. I already pay a lot for cable TV service, and have no interest in paying iTunes more for similar content. Plus I already have a DVR.

If the Apple TV were able to record live TV, I'd get one in a heartbeat. Otherwise, it appears to mostly be an advanced Airport Extreme.

 

[reidjr]

WEll to explain why it's still a hobby I'll tell you why I don't have one.

Content is too expensive. I can rent new releases on DVD from machines throughout my local area for $1/night.

ATV is expensive considering I already have dvd players in multiple rooms hooked up to multiple tvs.

Lack of content. It doesn't cover all the bases that cable does. No Olympics. No sports. It's missing many tv shows. No news. etc. So it really can't replace my cable subscription as much I would like it too. Plus cable gets to be quite the value when you have a family of 4.

Content storage. Another big issue. Just where are you going to put all your purchases? You really not only have to store them, but also back them up. One bad hard drive and you could lose your entire collection.

Movie downloads not that much more convenient than dvds.

And last Tivo makes my TV content commercial free and on-demand. And it's easy to use. You can also do YOuTube and play music through it etc.

So that's why ATV is still a hobby. It just isn't compelling enough to warrant purchasing one and changing from the way I view media now.

1)Apple can not stream live tv they would have to apply to be a cable company.Then if they became a cable company you would be paying per month like you do cable.

2)Downloading movies is more convenient.

 

[sanPietro98]

the ATV is a fantastic piece of equipment. I haven't watched cable TV or a DVD in a year!

I think the real reason it hasn't taken off is because the TV Networks and Movie Studios are dragging their feet and are reluctant to jump into the digital video distribution market. NBC is a prime example. They pulled out of iTunes and tried to go it alone and failed miserably. These execs don't see iTunes as a valid distribution model.

If they did, they wouldn't fight Apple tooth and nail over every little restriction.

 

[gcmexico]

I would go with ignorance of existence and the fact that you have to set it up...the average person won't know what the heck they are doing...they just want to flop on the couch, press a button and watch TV...I on the other hand have given up cable and just use my ATV...it's off the hook!

 

[gcmexico]

It hasn't caught on because:

No TV Tuner
No DVR
No DVD/Blu Ray Player
No 1080p support
No Live TV

The Live TV one is not Apple's fault, but the other ones are.

These are the reasons I do not and will not own one. If you disagree with me, please don't use the "iTunes ecosystem" argument, or tell me that you understand Apple's philosophy. These arguments are BS.

One box to rule them all. That's what the TV needs in order to be widely consumed.

*
TV Tuner=Live TV....am I wrong?

 

[Hmm]

3. Music. I guess most people don't listen to music on their main TV/home entertainment system. Or at least not enough to buy an AppleTV. Personally I think this is its best feature. I never get into my CD cabinet anymore and will probably just hide it away in a closet sometime soon.

This was my reason for getting one. I was going to get a Logitech Squeezebox, but at the time, the refurb 40GB AppleTV was less expensive, had a hard drive, and a prettier interface. For my purposes, it was ideal. I put my CDs away and just scroll through them on the AppleTV.

4. Photos. Like music, I think this is a feature on AppleTV where it outshines the competition. It's great to show pictures to the grandparents, w/o having to take them to a computer.

This was an afterthought for me. I didn't even think about the advantage of having Photos on it until the in-laws came over and wanted to see the latest pictures from our trip. I almost got out the Macbook, when I remembered, "Hey, they're on the AppleTV!" Now I realize how great it is to have my photos on there, not to mention that it doesn't hurt to have yet another backup of my photos.

 

[nutmac]

Although Apple TV is great for those that gets it, for the rest that don't, it needs to come in the form of a TV set (e.g., 26", 32", 42", and 52" models). Slap Apple TV into these sets, add great UI for watching TV, add DVR functionality for recording whatever is on, and release Apple TV SDK for 3rd party developers, you have a winner.