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See the original image at appleinsider.com —

Apple TV DVR interface revealed in patent filings

appleinsider.com — A series of Apple patent filings published this week reveal a version of the Apple TV media device capable of browsing and recording live television programming in addition to serving up pre-aired content from the company's iTunes Store.

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  • calgone, on 03/13/2008, -5/+54Seemless integration of user owned and live content? Recordable live TV with Apple's incredible UI skills? And that remote (which could be an iPhone/iTouch) which allows you to take the programming guide with you and schedule recordings on the go? Make sure it does HD recording and you've got 3 sold to me! Nothing new but Apple would rock it...hopefully it pans out.
    • jabberwolf, on 03/13/2008, -9/+1Wow this is almost as cool as Windows side show that's already been out awhile.

      • bigsteve, on 03/13/2008, -0/+7Wow maybe using Apple's implementation won't feel like dental surgery. That'd be cool.
    • rpgmaker, on 03/13/2008, -5/+2Apple tried to avoid the DVR landscape and do it their way, like they always try to do but once again the market has stand up and said "ATV sucks Apple". I chuckled when Steve Jobs said on one of his keynotes that all players had failed in the Internet TV market and listed Netflix on it, so far from the truth.
  • mirq, on 03/13/2008, -9/+2The annoying part could be that apple would much rather sell a new remote for the apple tv rather than add and app to the iphone/ipod touch in order to gain revenue for the 'dvr' upgrade.
    • n3il89, on 03/13/2008, -0/+8hopefully they won't but apple has always been a software-oriented company and i think the ability to use your iphone/ipod touch as a remote control could be a stepping stone for apple to introduce other areas of business such as ordering starbucks with your iphone...most likely though, this will be a completely new update to the apple tv and existing owners wouldn't get this functionality with their apple tv thus getting the new remote when they buy the new apple tv
      • fkr3, on 03/13/2008, -1/+2Do we really need to order starbucks with our phones? It doesn't speak well for us if we're too lazy to stand in a line for 3 minutes and ask a person for a coffee....
    • supermanred, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1Actually, it would encourage me to buy an Apple TV since I already have a touchscreen iPod and would love to use it as my TV remote... I always said this would be the ultimate TV remote if someone writes the app.

      Can't wait for someone to develop a game that uses the iPhone as a controller...that would be neat
    • Ray_Justice, on 03/13/2008, -2/+2Um, actually Apple is NOT a software company, they are very much a hardware company
      • bigsteve, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1Considering they don't make a single piece of hardware they design, they DO make all the software, and last year they dropped the word "computer" off of their name (Now it's just "Apple") I'd say you're wrong.
  • thinkart, on 03/13/2008, -4/+26if they bring tivo-like stuff to the product with on-the-go programming, i have no reason NOT to buy one. i was planning on it anyway, but now i must wait and see. damn you apple and your innovations.
    • haqattaq, on 03/13/2008, -6/+1You don't know what the price is yet... Unless you are a boy that is a fan..
    • gstep, on 03/13/2008, -4/+5This isn't an innovation. I can't think of anything this can do that Media Center can't, including "on-the-go" programming.
      • johnpaul191, on 03/13/2008, -0/+4It's all about UI. There are plenty of DVRs out there, but it seems like none compare to the usability of a TiVo. The Apple one also may have some sort of way to sync things with a laptop or iPod. I know it can technically be done, and has, but it would come down to licensing. Anything Apple does that may piss off a network/studio/label can come back to bite them in the ass when a contract is negotiated for iTMS.
        This could also be a shot across the bow of the networks? Maybe a "Hey, if you don't want to let Apple users buy your shows, we'll help them DVR them for free".
      • jhuebel, on 03/13/2008, -0/+2That's all true, but Apple aesthetic to user interfaces makes a big difference. From what I see in the patent filing, the interface would be pretty sexy.
        • tracydanger, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1Sure, but gstep has a worthwhile point. Pretty UI is worth crap if it doesn't have the functionality I need.
  • Gogo82, on 03/13/2008, -5/+2The real question is how will it play with the providers? Jobs was asked about the AppleTV having a Comcast card in it back at all things D and his response indicated that would never happen. They would need to sign deals with all of the major providers for this to fly - I figure it's possible, but because Comcast is already working with Tivo, it might be complicated.
  • pauldy, on 03/13/2008, -3/+10If this is true my only requirement is no extra monthly fee, cable card, hd and I'm down for three. I'm so ready to give TiVo the finger ever since they gave it to me with my series 3 boxen.
  • timusca, on 03/13/2008, -1/+5I have a TiVo HD and an Apple TV... I must say, if it weren't for the fact that the Apple TV streams all my ripped movies, I'd get rid of it. The TiVo HD does everything the Apple TV does except stream movies from your computer. Heck, TiVo just announced YouTube on it too. Its a shame too, because the Apple TV interface is so much smoother and better looking.

    However, if Apple were to make this right, they would effectively turn the tables and cause me to trash the TiVo. Really, I only got the TiVo HD for the HD DVR capabilities.
    • sockpuppets, on 03/13/2008, -0/+5TiVoHD does stream movies from your computer, I do it all the time. It's called TiVo Desktop.
      • supermanred, on 03/13/2008, -2/+1Apple TV doesnt require a computer, you can store the files right on the Apple TV unit as well.
      • timusca, on 03/13/2008, -1/+2Show me where you can do that with TiVo Desktop for OS X. TiVo's support for OS X is lame as hell.
  • JuliusErving, on 03/13/2008, -2/+5If this comes out with no monthly fee, i'd easily buy one. That's the only thing that's kept me from buying TiVo all these years.
  • hembeck, on 03/13/2008, -3/+1Now this is more like what I would expect from a patent filing. ZapMedia's claim of patent infringment is a joke. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/03/12/appl ...
  • Dhalsim007, on 03/13/2008, -3/+4APPLE DVR!!! This is the reason I bought an Apple TV in the first place, to wait for this day where I can add Apple's USB TV Tuner and record my shows!!!
    • supermanred, on 03/13/2008, -0/+2If it's compatible with the Elgato EyeTV which I use on my Macbook, I would certainly buy one.
    • jabberwolf, on 03/13/2008, -3/+1That or you could just get a PC and other devices that have been able to do that for quite some time now.
  • weneedsound, on 03/13/2008, -2/+3I will buy one if this turns out to be true.
  • austenw, on 03/13/2008, -3/+3No *****?
  • SuperJimmyJimbo, on 03/13/2008, -6/+2never gonna happen. Why would they let you record for free when they can take your $2 per episode?
    • johnpaul191, on 03/13/2008, -0/+2I would believe Apple doesn't care. They lose so much on bandwidth and paying the networks that they really don't make all that much money. People will also still buy shows because they don't have commercials, or if they don't get that channel well.
    • jhuebel, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1Well, you can watch TV shows and movies on television for free, but you rent them from Netflix or Blockbuster or whatever all the time. How would this be any different? You could get old episodes from iTunes and watch new episodes recorded from TV.
  • ckulprit, on 03/13/2008, -1/+16They will let you record for "Free" and then charge you $2 for the A-Team, Lost (from 3 weeks ago) or maybe a new show you heard so much about but never got around to seeing like Pushing Daisies. iTunes will become a TV/Movie Vault.
  • Scira, on 03/13/2008, -3/+4How pathetic is it that I didn't want to read through something with so many pictures.
  • protodon, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1Hmm, what is that show with the guy walking on stubble in figure 16? it's looks just fascinating.
    • MJ420, on 03/13/2008, -0/+2hmm...I find figure 23 disturbing
    • timusca, on 03/13/2008, -1/+1Its clearly a beach... can you not see the water washing around his feet?
  • nace33, on 03/13/2008, -0/+3If Apple wants my money they need a Tuner on the back of that little box.
    • supermanred, on 03/13/2008, -1/+2Or the ability to plug in my current Elgato EyeTV HD unit, which works GREAT on my Macbook. I've used over 8 cards on my previous Windows PCs and the EyeTV beats them all hands down.
    • subliminalurge, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1Rather than a tuner, I'd prefer to have it compatible with a device like the HDHomeRun. Would save me having to run an antenna cable to my entertainment center. Won't happen, though.

      My biggest concern is that they'd make it a cable card tuner and leave out the ability to record OTA.
  • Emery, on 03/13/2008, -0/+28I love that apple manages to use reflections even in their patent filing line art.
  • holyreality, on 03/13/2008, -0/+2cool, now I might actually have reason to pick up a dvr.
  • mediaspree, on 03/13/2008, -1/+3Put a bluray player in it andyou have my money, Steve.
  • haqattaq, on 03/13/2008, -1/+2Too bad TIVO already owns all the patents for 'time shifting'. I would guess Apple would charge a ***** load for this functionality..
  • Ranvier, on 03/13/2008, -6/+1Never been a Apple hardware fan, and I doubt I ever will be, but I always have to hand it to them for their software.
  • emehrkay, on 03/13/2008, -0/+11Figuring out the tv shows that matched the drawings was the funniest part of the article
  • YodaJones, on 03/13/2008, -7/+3Dugg because it had Apple in the title. Sorry, Steve's magical meditation powers got the better of me.
  • cgomez, on 03/13/2008, -1/+2"The O.C." (don't call it that).
  • gstep, on 03/13/2008, -4/+2Windows Media Center / Extender???
  • shartman, on 03/13/2008, -7/+3Oooo wow, another overpriced Apple product that will have huge shortcomings but people will still buy.
    No thanks.......
  • chris9902, on 03/13/2008, -1/+4What part of this are Apple patenting? Nothing is new in any of these filings.
  • nardville, on 03/13/2008, -0/+4What's with the King of Queens in most of the drawings?
    • sfrench, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1I kept wondering why all the drawings looked like the spanish textbooks I had in high school.
    • NeoNevermore, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1Well, it's a hell of a lot better than showing screens of Mac vs. PC or Macbook Air commercials.
  • mojojojo, on 03/13/2008, -0/+2There are a couple things fundamentally wrong with the apple tv.... input device is very high on the list. If this patent is an indication, we might see that deficiency being addressed. Overall, after reviewing the patent, this interface seems to be a little cumbersome. Not very impressed. Apple needs to lead the way in content discovery, not follow (but I understand the risks involved in being an innovator). Good luck :)
    -current apple tv owner and fan
  • timeshifter, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1It better have a HD tuner that can decode ESPN HD (and other encrypted HD channels) or it'll be useless to me. Guess that means it'll have to have a Cable Card slot.
  • LanceUppercut, on 03/13/2008, -0/+3If it would stream video to the iphone that would be awesome. I would finally be able to get that 50" plasma out of my bathroom which I watch when I have to take a duece.
  • Warblade, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1I doubt Apple would get into this any time soon. If they were to to this right, they would need to have one or two cable card slots, and those aren't exactly easy to set up at this point. Also the whole cable security industry is in a state of flux. Cable companies don't like cable card and would rather have DCAS (downloadable security) since its cheaper. This would require OCAP or "Tru2Way" running on settops or TVs. Hardware manufacturers don't like OCAP since its processor and memory intensive. They would rather see a lite version of OCAP/Tru2Way running on Cable Cards. Obviously the cable companies don't want that since it'll cost too much to develop.

    If Apple were to do some kind of DVR it would have to be simple enough that a user could plug the cable feed in and it would "just work". And then what about users that have sattelite instead of regular cable? No, something like this is probably 5-10 years away at this point if this mess ever resolves itself. By then who knows what the cable TV landscape will be.

    It's sad... I'd really like to see something like this.
  • ericd, on 03/13/2008, -2/+0I created an interface very similar to this many years ago on the Pocket PC and Windows platform, essentially using the device as a smart context sensitive remote control that could download and display data relevant to what you were doing, as well as control media playback in your home using a hand held interface that provided the same functions as an iPod with two way communication and rich data. It was a very extensible interface (much more so than this one) and one of our demonstrations was very similar to what Apple is applying for in this patent, we even had a full screen custom media center interface for that demo too.

    Fortunately I did the demonstration quite a few times in public as well as for Microsoft Research and if I recall someone on the compact framework team as well, and at the time it was the only project of its kind that they were aware of. Since I did not keep my work a secret and publicized methods for using the concepts involved, as well as created a working version putting the invention into practice, I'd likely be able to show prior art under the first-to-invent system here if push comes to shove, but for the rest of the playing field in this area this is the sort of broad patent filing that can put them out of luck.

    It can be quite a problem when companies patent quite obvious "innovations" that already exist, as virtually all of this patent is already in the public domain in some form or another. Patents simply stifle innovation, plain and simple. Competition should be rooted in quality products that are better than the rest, not lawsuits.
  • taxali, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1Dugg for reflections
  • ANorton, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1What about Slingbox type capabilities in Apple TV to go along with the DVR ability. Say I have a Macbook Pro, Apple TV and Cable bam watch tv in every room of the house not just where the cable is hooked up.
  • mrchin, on 03/13/2008, -0/+1Looks like Apple likes the Letterman Show. The video drawings about a third of the page down resemble a Dave looking character, pose, mic and all.
  • oogliebooglie, on 03/14/2008, -0/+0TiVo allows me to play movies I share on my NAS from my Mac/PC already (albeit 'prepped' with VisualHub). While not technically ‘streaming’ you can start playing seconds after you start the transfer..so I fail to see the difference, except maybe fewer network hiccups? Besides, my Tivo Series 3 has a Terrabyte of storage for those public domain DVDs I've transcoded...
    I can rent movies from Amazon (many more than Apple TV), I can schedule recordings, copy (some) of them back to my Mac/PC to transcode to my iPod...and soon Amazon will have HD unboxed. Gee, the Apple TV is WAY better.
    About the only thing Apple TV does 'better' is host music, but the Tivo can not only play everything from an iTunes share via Galleon or Tivo's software (aka streaming)...it can stream Rhapsody...something Apple will NEVER do!
    • jtsnyc47, on 03/14/2008, -0/+0By "prepped", do you mean converted to a compatible format, so you have 2 copies of the media? A simple hack to my ATV supports all codecs - no "prepping" required. And you have to manually transfer from the NAS to the Tivo? LOL! I don't have storage limitations - I can stream media from as many discrete computers as I like through ATV. My computers do have to be on for streaming to work, but your solution requires that as well. As far as music, Tivo's solution is OK but I find the navigation cumbersome. Can you stream music or internet radio stations from any computer to your Tivo? I can with my ATV - from as many Macs as I have in the house.

      I own a Tivo and it does the timeshifting/preference-based recording exceptionally well. I'm also obviously a fanboy. But to say Tivo is a better media center than the ATV is a bit of a stretch.

      For a patent filing, I think these show an enormous amount of thought and a good understanding about how people interact with their TVs. It's a significant enough amount of effort to think that Apple is serious about pursuing this. As several others have pointed out, there's also a huge opportunity for the iPhone/iPod Touch to play a lynchpin role. I'm encouraged, but I'd be interested to see how much legal overlap there is with Tivo's existing patents.
  • flap, on 03/14/2008, -0/+2my dvr has the worst UI ever. I don't care who makes it better, just please do it quick.
    • jtsnyc47, on 03/14/2008, -0/+0Mine is Comcastic, which is to say I could crap a better one.
  • mirq, on 03/14/2008, -0/+0some seriously pathetic comments here. instead of contributing constructive criticism as a consumer, there are too many unnecessary comments that are all yay apple this and yay apple that. something more useful rather than just collecting a high comment count is still left to be desired on this site.
  • tim710, on 03/15/2008, -0/+1I would definitely buy this. I've been waiting for DVR in Apple TV ever since it came out.
  • mhmdkhamis, on 06/13/2008, -0/+0What about Slingbox type capabilities in Apple TV to go along with the DVR ability. Say I have a Macbook Pro, Apple TV and Cable bam watch tv in every room of the house not just where the cable is hooked up.

    http://vb.paramegsoft.com/20/
    http://vb.paramegsoft.com/11/
    http://vb.paramegsoft.com/tags/%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%85% ...
    http://game.paramegsoft.com/
  • portos12, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Apple TV media device capable of browsing and recording live television programming
    http://www.bestipodtips.info
    http://www.e-uuu.com
  •  

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