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Apple conquers living room. It might be a month before someone notices.

siliconvalley.com — Apple just made the first practical production living room computer that actually bridges the PC/CE divide. How long you think it will be before the industry notices that Apple's pulled another iPod?

Who dugg this? Made popular Mar 4, 2006

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  • ConradB, on 10/12/2007, -10/+52I tend to agree. When apple enters these markets - it doesn't come via the computer geek. Look at the ipod for example. It comes from the mass market. Windows MC's are so techy i could never get my parents to use one. Front Row is another issue altogether. They could get that.
    Microsoft needs to learn to take things out of the toy box rather than keep adding so many things in. They only people who get excited about that stuff is people like Robert Herron on DLTV. Uber geeks who go on an on about why some HDTVs etc are crap and others better, but never actually get one themselves. Apple's never going to make money trying to satisfy people like that.
  • radixus, on 10/12/2007, -6/+22"Have u even used Media Center? Front Row is exactly like it. It's almost like Apple...ripped it off. Except they forgot to add all the tv tuner goodness.

    But pretending like Front row is easier to use than MC is kinda funny because it's basically the same program with a different skin."

    I actually have MS Media Center at my home and comparing that product to Apple's Frontrow and calling it the same program with a different skin is insane. They are two completely different products! Media Center can be and is a complicated operating system - hense operating system. Frontrow is just an application.

    But seriously MC is not the easiest DVR in the world. Frontrow is simple - you have a small remote with the basic buttons that you need and a menu system that shows you everything right off the bat. No digging like in MC menus.

    You have two very different things here, neither of them the same.
  • furtwan1, on 10/12/2007, -23/+38Have u even used Media Center? Front Row is exactly like it. It's almost like Apple...ripped it off. Except they forgot to add all the tv tuner goodness.

    I want to point out that I'm glad Apple ripped MC. I think its great when companies recognize a good product, and make something similar to compete with it. The more competition the better it is for us, the consumer.

    But pretending like Front row is easier to use than MC is kinda funny because it's basically the same program with a different skin.
  • rosebot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12These articles come out every day, yet the mini is no more a media device than any other basic computer. Apple fanboys seem to overanalyze every single thing that they come out with.

    Front Row doesn't come even close to MCE, it's just a huge iPod interface. I'm sorry, I don't want to have to hit the menu key multiple times to back to the main menu, nor scroll through my music with the up and down keys. Wasn't the point of the scroll wheel on the iPod to eliminate that?

    So they added ability to stream off another computer... MCE has been doing that for years with extenders.

    Internet content is going to take YEARS before it comes even close to replacing your cable TV service. It's EXACTLY like what the ISP's want to do, sell internet access by the piece, instead of unlimited access.
  • vinny, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I've now had my Mac Mini Core Solo for 2 days. I must say that I'm very impressed. This computer has just changed the way I access my media forever. Let me give you some real life examples. In my living room before I instaled the Mini I had an EyeHome to view photos and video and to listen to music off my server. It worked but the interface was frustrating and the formats were limited. The Front Row interface is beautiful! I also had a DVD player that was huge. That is now gone and will probably be given away. I had a ReplayTV which was networked to two other Replays in the house. That is now in my server room. I can still access all my Replays in the living room using DVArchive on the Mini, I also have EyeTV hooked up to my PowerMac G5 in the office. Using a great script called EyeTV Exporter (http://www.macmediacenter.de) I have my recorded shows automatically added to my server so I can view them with Front Row. I may eventually get rid of the Replays in favor of the EyeTV solution since I need to use a keyboard and mouse to use the DVArchive interface. I've replaced 4 large remotes with the tiny Apple Remote. That alone is a huge plus. So I now have my entire photo collection, music collection, home videos, and DVD library on my server which I can easily access from Front Row in the living room. I use HandBrake (http://handbrake.m0k.org) to rip my DVDs to H.264 and place them on the server. In addition I have access to my audiobooks, podcasts (audio and video) from Front Row. It was really cool to be able to sit on the couch and pull up the latest video podcast of TWIT which just a few clicks of the remote. I also now have a great screensaver for the television filled with great photos from National Geographic (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography). One last plus, is that now I can use AppleScript combined with iCal's script launching ability to automate all sorts of media related activities (this can also be done with cron, but that's not as easy to update).

    In the end, I'm extremely happy with the setup.
  • theone3, on 10/12/2007, -14/+22I disagree with the Mac Mini argument. The fact that the mini has no tuners and only a small hard drive make it too expensive for the tasks it will end up being relegated to. 80GB isn't enough to allow it to be taken seriously as a video player. Lack of non-digital 5.1 makes it unsuitable for audio playback, and you need to either have an ADSL modem or wireless router to use it to buy content, something most newbies won't be bothered to do. It dosent have the right video outputs, it should at least be able to fall back to RCA. Viewing pictures is all that's left, but it has no card reader. If Apple wanted to go all out on this, they'd build in a DSL modem, provide free service for itunes content, add appropriate connectors, a card reader and a tv tuner.

    However, there's no denying Bonjour Frontrow is damn cool, and it's a big step in the right direction
  • leonbev, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9I don't think that Apple has even TRIED to "conquer" the living room yet. If they wanted to try, though, adding an HDTV tuner and DVR capability to their products would be a good start. Sorry guys, but adding Front Row and a few movie downloads to iTunes does NOT make the Mac Mini or iMac a "media center". Hell, I'd even say that Microsoft still has the lead here.
  • deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13I doubt Apple will ever touch analog (in or out) on the Mini. Apple has to keep their content providers happy if they want to keep iTunes stocked with the latest and greatest shows.

    I bet in a year or two the Mini will start taking off. The ability to buy shows right from your TV and sync them instantly to your iPod is huge. This is the first sort of HTPC that would really trickle down to the average user.
  • brainache, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Hmm. I can see this catching on, but its still too expensive for the average joe.

    Say i want to have the same setup as i have at the moment but with a Mac mini instead of a mix of products. I would need:

    Mac Mini (£449)/$599 (UK prices are higher, we have 17.5% Value Added Tax)
    A digital tuner to watch and record TV £99 (EyeTV)

    To replace a freeview box (£30), a vcr (£80) and a DVD Player (£40).

    If you say that the Mini is gonna replace the Stereo as well, then you add another £200 to that price.

    So Mini + Stuff = £548
    Existing Kit = £350

    What i want, is a head unit, which sits in the Lounge and connects to content on OTHER computers, and doesnt cost £449 but something more in the region of £200
  • Nerys, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6First many contradictions. I dont like apple (too much DRM) same with microsoft.

    Second apple share of computer market ? 4% ? taking over ? Dont think so.

    80gig ? mpeg1 level stuff and lower ? plenty of space. HD ? your kidding right ? you know how much space an hour of HD takes ? BluRay is 25gigs and holds 2 hours of HD - Nuff Said - What COULD rule the living room is the new TIVO if they can keep the DRM police off there backs - it will support external hard drives. this means expandability as your demands of the technology increases and if they are smart Network connectivity so you can also connect to resources on your network.

    Chris Taylor
    http://www.nerys.com/

  • thejokell, on 10/12/2007, -7/+13I don't know why 80 gigs is too small for video - my DVR from Dish Network isn't even 80 gigs. I seem to be able to keep quite a lot of stuff on there.

    Maybe for the upper echelon of nerds it's too small, but they're going to have a .5 terabyte external raid array to store everything they need anyway. For people like my parents, 80 gigs is overkill.
  • frem001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6the way i see it is that the mac mini is like an accessory for a larger mac, kind of like a glorified airport express. All the good stuff is on the main mac and your mac mini is how to access it through your tv from your mac. who needs a tv tuner when a lot of tv's have them built in and most ppl just use bittorrent. I say encode everything in mpeg 4 or H.264 HD and let the fun begin.
  • beandog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"What the article writer and most of the people around here don't seen to understand is that Apple has no need for a tuner - because they are making the tuner irrelevant. If you can get any show on TV via ITMS without a tuner, what use do you have for a tuner - or cable for that matter?"

    You're right -- why put in a tuner and record any cable broadcast for free, when you can have a small portion of the shows that are on the air, and the added advantage of paying for them, too!
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -11/+16I did most of this with one simple box... an xbox with XBMC
  • KZeni, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7A good TV tuner would ruin the mac mini form factor that they want to keep. And Apple wants people to use the iTunes Video store to get their TV content. I mean, if you really want to record TV get an el gato system and hook it on up.
  • twsmit, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Apple isnt trying to replicate the Tivo/PVR functionality that others are trying to bring to market. Apple is looking further out at IP based content distribution.

    In the short run that means buying SDTV programs over iTunes, and displaying them on your TV, longer term it means upping to HDTV, and even streaming video. I dont think an 80GB hard drive is small if iTunes would allow for subscriptions or streaming video and having only a few copies on the local drive.

    The newest Macmini also has digital audio output, so that is fixed as well.

    Apple is bypassing the entire traditional market, they aren't looking to build in cable and satilite input, they are aiming to replace cable and satellite.
  • JustinPM, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5At the moment Front Row looks like ATI's Eazylook, just with a hint of Apple design. Now think about where Eazylook got to. Simply adding some networked functionality to Front Row is great, but coupling that with $599 price tag doesn't make it more attractive than XBMC. Now I know that you might say that not everyone has the technological experience to mess around with a modded xbox, albeit easy as it is. So is this where Apple is going to excel than? Pandering to the technophobes? Instead of being given a set of applications that you can find out your own way of doing things, you'll be given one way to do things period? Count me out.
  • theJRK, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Lay off the Kool Aid, folks. There are so many alternatives to a Mac mini-based *living room computer* you can't possibly consider this a revolution. It may be an evolution for Apple, but it's the new player. Media Center PCs are so mainstream you can stroll up to any Best Buy, CompUSA, etc and snap one off the shelf for ~ $500. Then there's the XBox + media connector route. And don't forget Snapstream, MythTV, Meedio, etc if you have a cheap PC lying around. As for HD content, there are OTA HD tuners, On Demand, or torrent. Apple may be "setting itself up" to be YOUR only online HD rental spot, jamen, but the rest of the world will have choices. How long do you think it will be before Napster, Rhapsody, and others follow suit and similarly undercut iTunes pricing?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+12mac mini a media center? nope. slow hdd, no tuners, front row isn't a great MC program anyways, zero config helps though.
  • oceanplexian, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6XBMC is great, better interface than FrontRow. FrontRow is slow, buggy, and has trouble reading multiple video formats, and is slow at native iTunes ones. I don't know what FrontRow you're talking about, but the one on my mac doesn't even compare to XBMC in its capability.
  • junkfood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I think Apple stopped too short with this one. I agree with some of the others who think that 80GB is too small for video. It's enough for a TiVo that I am continually deleting from, but not enough to hold a video for an "on-demand" type of environment. Adding the tuner card and jacking up the quality of the video on iTunes would have been the bigger ticket items which would have made this worth caring about.

    And, as I'm sure others have expressed, my guess is that Jobs would have liked to do both but was afraid of upsetting the delicate balance with his content-providers. ABC, CBS and NBC wouldn't like it if I could buy my shows from iTunes and watch them on the big-screen in full high-def (why I don't know). Hopefully, soon they will get past their stupidity and Jobs can make this happen.

    If Apple puts out a Mini that I can download my shows to (via iTunes or *gasp* BT), burn them to DVD, and allows me to easier hook it to the rest of my entertainment center. Now there's something worth talking about.
  • beandog, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9I think its funny how all the Mac zealots (who are going to mod me down, I'm sure), think that now that Apple has (vaguely) entered the PVR market, it's going to revolutionize the market and take over top spot instantaneously.

    The tunnel vision is incredible.
  • superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -8/+12What the article writer and most of the people around here don't seen to understand is that Apple has no need for a tuner - because they are making the tuner irrelevant. If you can get any show on TV via ITMS without a tuner, what use do you have for a tuner - or cable for that matter? The article not understanding that was actually kind of odd as they started out by pointing out how Apple simplifies things, while not understanding that fundamentally tuners are things that can easily be optimized away.

    Those who care to do so can add one on, but ITMS is getting very close to having every show I actually watch. Sure I'd like HD versions of most shows but then again I don't get that with my cable provider anyway! It's not like I'm really worse off quality-wise buying from ITMS, and of course later they probably will sell HD video as well.

    Also, it's hilarious noting that Front Row is "just like Media Center". Sure, except they took out the complex tuner stuff. And made a remote that real people can feel comfortable with. And simplified everything else. And have a store on the back end that you can buy a huge variety of content from. Other than that it's just like Media Center.

    People seem to forget that there were indeed MP3 players before the iPod - Apple removed a few features, simplified the interaction between the device and your computer, and volia! A runaway hit. It's not like they made a device that was totally different, they took a device that most people found cumbersome and made the whole process easy. That's why Apple has indeed pulled an iPod in the video space with the mini - the funny thing is they even sent up a giant banner that they were coming with the video iPod and video store and were just ignored (or competitors could not get their act together in time).

    It's kind of too bad as I thought the Google video store would provide some real competition, but even that is pretty much an also-ran to what Apple is doing.
  • silentauthority, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Apple won't add a DVR... that would shoot themselves in the foot, the iTMS store foot that is. They are more about downloading content on any computer--not just getting it on one with a DVR. Apple wants you to have the oppurtunity to get your content on any Mac (or PC for that matter), and the iTMS is their solution.

    (to stoops)
  • trvr, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7but when you start including an xbox360, a new MCE pc, and a regular xbox, that costs a lot more than the mac mini.
  • Ultim8Fury, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10I don't think TiVo DVR capabilities are the way forward. I would much rather pay for shows I actually watch than to blanket pay for 100s of channels of junk. If Apple implemented a subscription based model for TV shows at a good resolution for viewing on a TV (not the ipod centric stuff they currently produce) and put it at a good price. There is serious money to be made. It would also allow for more accurate tracking of viewing figures. Which would mean that the show you just started to get into might not get canceled after 4 episodes (fox). There are massive benefits for everyone in moving towards an on-demand structure for TV.

    The consumer can receive the content they want, when they want it. The studios get better feedback on what's popular leading to better programming in the future which is good for everyone.

    The DVR/PVR is a hack at best to capture the content you want in a slightly better way than your VCR did. It's tech that's not really moving forward.
  • ProAm500, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8Maybe its just me, and by judging most of the comments its not, but I just cant call something a true "Media Center" (though XBMC is great) if it doesnt have a tuner card in it. I mean, I guess its cool you can stream content from your pc and all that, but MCE and Sage and BeyondTV or whatever that can do true all out media center functions are just plain better.....
  • Meshyf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I don't see whats so bad about MCE I've been using it for a month though and the only problem I'm having is getting my mom and dad to let me play around with it.
    I don't think the Mac Mini is ANY competition to MCE PC's. Not yet at least. If Apple wanted to jump into the living room they would do it right, tuner, cables etc etc. Sure Front Row is neat I'll give it that but it isn't a full fledged Media Experience. Anyone that is stretching it that far is just hoping for a little too much too soon.
  • frem001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"like subscriptions, I like choices. Apple will take video down the exact same road they've taken music. And you and the rest of the me-too shiny-pretty herd will be right there lapping it up, paying a dollar a song and I'll be paying 5 bucks a month for nearly any song."

    When you stop paying $5 per month and all your music goes down the tube then what? As far as i'm concerned owning something is better than renting something.
  • newdigger, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11QUOTE: "I disagree with the Mac Mini argument. The fact that the mini has no tuners and only a small hard drive make it too expensive for the tasks it will end up being relegated to. 80GB isn't enough to allow it to be taken seriously as a video player. Lack of non-digital 5.1 makes it unsuitable for audio playback, and you need to either have an ADSL modem or wireless router to use it to buy content, something most newbies won't be bothered to do. It dosent have the right video outputs, it should at least be able to fall back to RCA. Viewing pictures is all that's left, but it has no card reader. If Apple wanted to go all out on this, they'd build in a DSL modem, provide free service for itunes content, add appropriate connectors, a card reader and a tv tuner."


    Some corrections for you, My tivo comes with an 80Gb HD, the mac mini DOES have digital 5.1 in and out, who uses asdl? and MOST people have cable modems in their houses now, The mac mini has DVI out(what you need for HDTV) and with an HDMI adapter, you can connect to those to. Why bother buying it if you want to use it with RCA video, even though you can if you buy the adapter from apple, you can conect your camera to it to view your pictures, is that so hard?, why on earth would you put a DSL modem in it?? people use DSL stil? Like i said before, most people already have cable/fiber optic connections in their homes, with a dedicated 802.11a/b/g base station.
  • liquidjill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I want more information about the technology. Smacking a scroll wheel on this baby isn't going to shake it up enough for the masses to buy in.
  • Guspaz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Umm, no. The Mac Mini doesn't even have TV output. You need to buy adapters to get it to output to anything but a DVI TV, which are pretty rare compared to composite or component.
  • CouchTomato, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I wonder if this approach to successful market creation is more effective than the traditional way(?) where you make a product and subsidize heavily so that you recruit more users and creators through probably other incentives to adopt your platform, a sort of more active entrenchment of the product. So what I am trying to say is that in the case of Apple, the model may involve seeding a few key products, ideas and services and hoping that a ecosystem develops around it due to perhaps their focus on reliability, design and simplicity. This allows them to not take too many risks while also benefiting from the power of the end-users (track the popularity) and the rate at which accessory products come into the market as a sign of how the system is evolving. Just my 0.02 $.
  • FreeCajunLove, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4So are we just forgetting about Microsoft Vista and PS3? Both should have Media Center capabilities (PS3 is iffy) and both have a larger customer base than Apple. Plus both integrate video game consoles, which hold a huge draw around the world.
    OPINION:
    If if Nintendo wanted to add MP3 support to the DS and offered simple software for it like they do their Wi-Fi, the iPod would be destoryed
  • kilofox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You guys that think you all you need is a adapter to hook up your Mini to a component HDTV are in for a dissapointment.. it aint gonna work. (HDMI & S-Video might be a different story). RGB does not equal YPbPr... the color spaces arent compatible. Maybe some HDTV's can remap it, I am not aware of it. Its going to take a move from Apple to provide you with the cable you need. One from a different company like ATI etc etc wont work. Dont waste your money.
  • tarball, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8You beat me to it. I've also been doing this stuff for ages with XBMC on the xbox. the only functionality missing is the DVR but on Sky (in the UK) everything is repeated sooner or later anyway so it's actually hard to miss anything!
  • SniperGX1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think Apple is still missing one gigantic component. They may have just given us a "Media Center Extender" type of functionality but DVR support is still missing. I heard they were making an ExpressCard HDTV tuner and it would be nice to see a mac mini with one or two of these card slots and a new version of front row with DVR capabilities
  • orsoihaveheard, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Funny stuff. No digg for funny monkey tail.

    Apple might make the best music devices in the world, I'm not going to be locked into their format, their devices and their acquisition model. I like subscriptions, I like choices. Apple will take video down the exact same road they've taken music. And you and the rest of the me-too shiny-pretty herd will be right there lapping it up, paying a dollar a song and I'll be paying 5 bucks a month for nearly any song.

    Don't worry you're safe if you don't listen to more than 5 bucks a month for the song--plus, you'll have the built in argument that you don't watch that much TV when the ITMS model bends you over at the register.

    MCE has been a pretty good media center for a while now. It has its issues, but as a veteran of tivo and replay, they all do. Next iteration of MCE has got some new slickness to it, I'm not really interested in Front Row. Even if it wasn't predicated on Apple's user-unfriendly content model, why would I be wanting it... because MCE is too hard? What, am I special, MCE is too hard? Am I drooling on myself, am I in a coma... help!?

  • dustinhoffman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I think the biggest hurdle that Apple has to clear is the potential users... People already have a concept of what a "Media Center" is and they can't seem to fit their brains around the fact that it's going to change. I'm not going to say that Apple is some kind of Uber company that is just ahead of it's time... because they're not... their greatest ability is making the "best" of today's technology simple. Microsoft was not the first with a "DVR" product... as I recall... there was something called uhh Tivo and also pc-based products that had done this for a couple years before *cough* ultimate tv or MCE came around. I have a Media Center PC and I have to say IMHO that it can be better than a TIVO... one disadvantage is that I can play more with the MCE box than a Tivo and that can mess things up from time to time.

    -You do not need a tuner for a "Media Center" ...DVR-features can be a component... a true "Media Center" can overcome needing a tuner by either using another computer on the network for recording files off cable or downloading files from a distribution service. Either way, you get the content you need.

    -Does it make sense to wait for a show to air... have the system record it... and then wait for a time afterwards to view the show? That isn't exactly content on demand. It would be much better if you could download and view it whenever you decide...

    -Hopefully other companies follow suit with ABC in making shows free by adding commercials... this could replace the over-the-air-broadcast that you have today without paying for cable. You could pay nothing for subscriptions to "basic" shows for content with commercials or pay a monthly fee for content with less commercials or no commercials/product placement. If the quality of video and pricing is decent enough, it can completely replace almost every aspect of content distribution we have in place today.

    - We don't know if Apple is going to do this yet... I hope they get it ... but they don't always. Content on the iTMS is at the mercy of the content provider so they can just as easily mess up the system. I just hope that if Apple does get it other companies can follow suit to provide a little competetion and make sure that Apple isn't the only company defining how companies will distribute content in the future.




  • einfeldt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"There are so many alternatives to a Mac mini-based *living room computer* you can't possibly consider this a revolution."

    +1

    Don't forget the Sony "Location Free TV" which runs on Linux.
  • trvr, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9"an on-screen interface for easy access to music, movies and photos, with big text intended for viewing from across the room." that could describe XBMC. "you could pull up music and video stored on computers elsewhere in the house." and that. and this "Of course, you could also look at entertainment stored on the Mac mini's own hard drive, put a CD or DVD into the Mac mini's slot or download files from the Internet."

    Yes, I realize that the xbox is not "easy" to mod and is not at all ready for the "mass market," but if you want to save a few hundred bucks, then go with the xbox.
  • jamen, on 10/12/2007, -10/+13This is much more significant than most people understand. Apple has created a product that will completely change the way we use a TV, especially an HD TV. Now you'll be able to use that really big expensive TV for browsing the Internet, which has been done before, but not very well. Here's what I think is the most significant aspect of this concept: you can already download HD content from the iTunes Music Store. Apple is setting itself up to be the first and only place you'll be able to rent and purchase movies in High Definition. THAT is significant...

    http://www.humanbeingcurious.com
  • stoops, on 10/12/2007, -14/+17Once Apple adds PVR, Cable or Satalite functionality to the mac mini, they will own the living room just like the iPod. Or you could just buy a USB TV Tuner for OS X soo yea.
  • Soldan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3the real term is a little too soon... you may have uber bandwidth..but your neighbor does not...DSL sucks...and crapcast cable is not much better... and wi-fi..heh plz... it will be a while till we have reliable coverage its not exactly high on the agenda in alot of areas...the ipod is cool because everyone can see you have one...how often do the Jone's come over..

    sign me up for one of those boxes.. the local PUD here... maintains a 100Mbps fiber network....8^)
  • felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Firstly, I do think the whole thing with modding people down because you disagree with their opinions is lame. I've already modded up several comments that were under 0, even though I disagreed with them. Modding down should require a reason, like the "report" function did before.

    That said, beandog, I totally disagree with you.

    It's the same thing we've seen with Mac vs. PC; iPod vs. um, whatever; now it's easy to grasp Front Row vs. lots of xbox and MCE and other options.

    Apple is making consumer products. Other companies are making tech products. There's a place for both, but it's pretty obvious that Apple is on to something. iTunes is shaking up the record industry, and now it's affecting television networks. I don't see Napster or the Sony Music Store or whatever having the same effect.
  • superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3What are we supposed to think when Apple is taking the exact same steps with video that it did with audio, and the supposed competitors seem just as ignorant and even wackily inept? Is it tunnel vision to simply observe that history is repeating itself? How are we supposed to ignore the history of what has already been done and what is underway?

    It's not even like the video store does not exist yet, as when the iPod launched but there was not yet ITMS. Then it was much harder to doubt the iPod would be really big. But already Apple has a video store that sold 8 million titles in three months! You pair that with a box that suddenly lets you watch them on the TV without hassle in a market where any other HTPC you care to name has failed to gain real traction, and all of the sudden the picture is pretty clear.

    Heck, even Google misstepped here - they saw it coming and launched early to head it off, but the google video store floundered with a really poor interface and no integration with anything to make the DRM tolerable.

    The closest thing I see to competition is Tivo and the Netflix partnership, but that is missing out on the TV angle as TiVO is at the mercy of how easy it is to get video into the system from idiotic cable and satellite TV providers making external interoperability as hard as possible and thus will always have an ease of use deficit. We shall see.

    People seem really stuck on the point that ITMS video quality is not sufficent, but take a look sometime at the quality you really get from cable or satellite. Most shows are compressed like hell if you have digital, and a bit snowy or shadowy on analog. At least ITMS video is clean with just some artifacting to contend with. Currently I keep up to date watching Battlestar Galactica through ITMS because the quality, even at that low res, is sitll better than what I get via cable.
  • dustinhoffman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2ronmexico-

    They may be a hardware company... I think they will stick to that until they die or are eaten by another company. But I think they are wising up to the fact that no matter what they do, they will not turn the tables on Windows boxes. I think they have or will realize that they can't put their eggs in one basket. They already conceded iTunes to Windows boxes and iTMS is very successful because of the iTunes iPod Windows merger... if they didn't move it to Windows, Someone else would have sold their billionth song on their store a week or two ago.
  • vinny, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3After some additional investigation, I've learned that DVArchive (http://www.dvarchive.org) had a built in task manager that allows you to automatically export recorded show to the folder of your choice. Using this, I can easily export my Replay content to my server and view it using Front Row.
  • dustinhoffman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Just one more thing... Front Row is just a pretty front-end for iTunes/Quicktime.... iTunes is already on windows... which also has Bonjour technology built in.... just bundle Front Row with iTunes for the Windows port. If the purpose of iTunes on Windows is to sell content from the store... then Apple would have no problem with Front Row Windows boxes because it would promote even more sales. Maybe the iPod dock could or does allow the remote to control iTunes in Windows?
  • DCstewieG, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6I agree...but how much would that all cost? Quite a bit more.
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