New Apple TV!

All apple has to do is put a browser on apple TV and not play through itunes. By denying this option. They limit what you watch. Mostly to stuff you have to pay them for. Though adding Netflix and Youtube is an improvement.

Whereas BOXee will play anything on the internet. They're coming out with an actual "box" soon too. An idea like Apple TV.

Apple TV is like a cable box that will only play HBO.

If I spend however many hundreds of dollars for this thing I'll have les functionality / programs to watch than I already have with my laptop, a free piece of software, and my iphone.
 
Then it's not for you. I don't like watching anything but short videos on my laptop and iphone. I like to watch movies and tv in an environment just for viewing. And I'm not going to rig up my laptop to my projector or HDTV everytime I want to watch something. Sure, I could buy a dedicated macmini and get all the functionality you're talking about, but that's 700 bucks. This is 99 bucks.
 
Hulu is definitely needed, but I think there are two other things that are really holding this back. The first is the addition of Apps. Why not let it run apps (along with safari) like the iphone and ipad? This would allow hulu plus, but more importantly, enable networks to create their own apps (and charge accordingly). of course this would take away profits from itunes, as users would use the app to watch programs and not download the 99 cent rentals.

The other thing, which I think would be a huge step towards taking down cable all-together, is sports programming. People are not going to give up cable if they can't watch their sports, but if ESPN would let you stream a game in realtime, tons of people would switch over.

I'm fine with the cloud. I just sold off about 70 DVDs the other day. They just take up space. Why do they need to be physically lying around if I may only watch them once every year or two? I'd much rather have all my content available to access via cloud. The quality should be just fine for the majority of content. if it's something i really like and have to have the best quality, i'll buy the occasional blu-ray--but I really don't need 400 DVDs lying around. A monthly fee with access to all programming would be nice as well, like hulu and netflix.
 
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$99 is not that bad. And one advantage is that you will probably get a better codec from Netflix. The Netflix streaming codec for Netflix proprietary devices seems night and day from their computer codec. Or so it seems when we watch Neflix on the Blu-Ray player vs. through boxee.

I only watch movies and TV in a viewing environment also.

My laptop has an HDMI mini. My 46" TV has two HDMI inputs. One cord stays attached to the TV with the other end free (HDMI to MINI adapter attached). Our TV sits on rolling stand so it's not hard to get next to it. I just sit the laptop next to it, attach one chord and I have digital sound. (sound goes into the TV via HDMI, out to the amplifier via optical).

So pretty easy. I almost never watch apple content through itunes, so to me it seems pointless (especially since I have Netflix with the good codec on my blu ray.) If you want the good Netflix codec, want to watch a lot of itunes movies, and don't mind paying for TV shows then $99 is not bad. I thought it was much more.
 
this is cheap, and it's good.

But I'd like to see more...

* 1080p
* gigabit ethernet port
* option to plug in external HDD for local storage
* enable iOS apps and widgets, i.e. safari/weather/etc. as apps on the TV
* enable iOS apps for developers. You'd have iPhone/Ipod versions, iPad versions, and now AppleTV versions. Developers could make all kinds of cool apps and games for playback on the TV. You could use your iPhone/iPod as a controller (touch screen buttons) or even as a Wii-type remote (it's got a gyro, afterall). It would effectively be an Apple game console and would destroy any other widget based TV interface. I have a feeling this is where they are going with things, but are waiting on a better processor.
 
filmguy123 said:
this is cheap, and it's good.

But I'd like to see more...

* 1080p
* gigabit ethernet port
* option to plug in external HDD for local storage
* enable iOS apps and widgets, i.e. safari/weather/etc. as apps on the TV
* enable iOS apps for developers. You'd have iPhone/Ipod versions, iPad versions, and now AppleTV versions. Developers could make all kinds of cool apps and games for playback on the TV. You could use your iPhone/iPod as a controller (touch screen buttons) or even as a Wii-type remote (it's got a gyro, afterall). It would effectively be an Apple game console and would destroy any other widget based TV interface. I have a feeling this is where they are going with things, but are waiting on a better processor.
Click to expand...

i was actually about to post the exact same thing. gotta have the HDD option, and this could be really cool for gaming. i'd love to be able to use my iphone as a wii-like controller. maybe they'll just skip over 1080p and go straight to 4k...and maybe not

i'll wait to see boxee and googleTV before making any decisions. i'll definitely get something though. i currently don't have any cable or satellite to speak of. i don't realize how much i missed it until i'm at someone's house with cable. somebody's gotta have an option for the sports thing. that's just too big of a market to leave out.
 
The $99 price point is tempting but it just doesn't have the functionality I'm looking for right now. If there was version that had Blu-ray and/or DVR support I'd probably buy one in a heartbeat but that's not where Apple wants to go with this.

filmguy123 said:
Developers could make all kinds of cool apps and games for playback on the TV. You could use your iPhone/iPod as a controller (touch screen buttons) or even as a Wii-type remote (it's got a gyro, afterall). It would effectively be an Apple game console and would destroy any other widget based TV interface. I have a feeling this is where they are going with things, but are waiting on a better processor.
Click to expand...
W/o a visual sensor of some sort (Wii uses infrared, Sony uses EyeToy, MS uses Kinect) the AppleTV + iDevice will not have the same level of functionality that you get from the motion-enabled consoles today.


-Andrew
 
adkimery said:
W/o a visual sensor of some sort (Wii uses infrared, Sony uses EyeToy, MS uses Kinect) the AppleTV + iDevice will not have the same level of functionality that you get from the motion-enabled consoles today.
Click to expand...

Good point. I think just relying on the internal device sensors from the ipods and everything would be sufficient for most games. But it would definitely be a problem for any games that actually require controller orientation in relation to the TV, like first person shooters where you actually aim at targets on the screen. It'd definitely need something for that.
 
adkimery said:
W/o a visual sensor of some sort (Wii uses infrared, Sony uses EyeToy, MS uses Kinect) the AppleTV + iDevice will not have the same level of functionality that you get from the motion-enabled consoles today.


-Andrew
Click to expand...

Not sure how exactly it would work, but it seems that with WiFi + gyro/accelerometer it could do something. Or bluetooth?
 
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