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123 Comments
- GuerillaC, on 03/15/2008, -9/+38Why would Apple want to sell an Apple TV with DVR functionality when it already sells episodes through iTunes that can be watched on the Apple TV anyways? Seems like it would just cut out their already functioning sales channel with something that would be harder to capitalize on. (I'm not saying I'm right; just wondering. Feel free to correct me.)
- grendelboogie, on 03/15/2008, -7/+25Apple is already a multi-billion dollar business.
- meshman, on 03/15/2008, -9/+25I think he's missing the part where the device is highly crippled or something. Apple usually does that, hypes a miracle device and then later you find out what it doesn't let you do.
- inactive, on 03/15/2008, -2/+15"We, the customers, have been asking for recording capabilities for years!!!!"
And for so long others have provided - Yawn. Anything else on Digg?
Did Apple just now discover the wheel or was it fire? - ileftfark, on 03/15/2008, -6/+17I agree. I don't dislike Apple for the sake of disliking Apple, although that is either the cool thing or the stupid thing to do now, depending on your company, but I dislike them for their inflexibility. Although their products may function better than Microsoft's (if nothing, they certainly *look* nicer), but they are every bit as guilty as MS in limiting the consumer in their ability to use their products. We are living in an age where people mod, hack, and jailbreak the ***** out of their tech toys, so they can customize them more to their liking. This wouldn't kill a company (their hardware is the first part of the equation after all), but it does cut into profits on proprietary software and peripherals. The fact that Apple has made it clear they prefer their profits (which have been phenomenal in the last 5 years) over functionality and flexibility is what makes me dislike them as a company. If they don't change this attitude in the near future (not everyone's a hacker... yet), I think they will lose out to companies that are more progressive. SEE: gOS, Canonical, and even Google's Android.
- diggB, on 03/15/2008, -2/+12In order for the Apple DVR to play nicely with cable companies (specifically, with digital cable and any HD content), it will have to implement a (dual) cable card system as seen in the newer HD Tivo's. Now, having owned a Tivo Series 3 for well over a year which uses said cable card setup, I can speak with a modest amount of authority to say using cable cards is not without its share of problems. First, they are a pain to set up --- pain like a hot iron stuck up my ass kind of pain. It took Time Warner three separate visits to set my Tivo up (with each visit lasting several hours) and they all seemed to be completely befuddled with installing cable cards. It was like each time they showed up, they showed up with someone new who had to debug the thing from scratch. Now, I don't blame Tivo for this, I blame the cable company. But apparently, my experience is not too uncommon according to the Tivo community. Second, the Time Warner charges several extra dollars a month per card for renting out the cable cards. That's annoying, to say the least, since you can't even buy the cards out right.
However, once it was setup, then by God, using the Tivo S3 worked flawlessly. But I suspect that if Apple did implement a DVR, customers would experience the same pain with cable companies that I did. Just say'in. - fkr3, on 03/15/2008, -1/+10The value of a dollar?
- Daniel591992, on 03/15/2008, -0/+8Why is he being dugg down? He has a point...
- natenovs, on 03/15/2008, -0/+8"you can't get dugg down"
yes, you can. - grodrigu, on 03/15/2008, -0/+8my patience level
- stageidea, on 03/15/2008, -2/+10If I am not going to pay for a Tivo why would I pay for this...
- dbizzell, on 03/15/2008, -4/+10Ok I give in.
A black man's to do list! - tracydanger, on 03/15/2008, -1/+7Other than DVR, the only thin I can think to add is a way to access things like ABC's full episode player or Hulu. If apple could do that, add a monthly fee for movie downloads like netflix ($8.99/month for unlimited downloads) and still keep it way cheaper than a mac mini I would want one (or five).
- deadbaby, on 03/15/2008, -2/+8Because Apple is scared the content providers may bolt. They need a contingency plan. If the networks know Apple will roll out a DVR they will realize leaving ITMS is a futile thing to do. Apple could truly ***** them by simply using a shoddy DRM scheme (or none at all) and creating a massive black market for pirated material straight off your digital tuner. This is all politics. I doubt Apple will ever actually release this device.
- thenativeraver, on 03/15/2008, -3/+8MythTV FTW!
- gilbes, on 03/15/2008, -1/+6How the ***** is this on the front page. Digg users should be sophisticated enough to know this analyst is full of *****. DVRs have been on the market for many years now. No one has made DVR in to a multi-billion dollar business, and there have been many formidable choices.
Tivo is nice, been around a long time, has brand recognition in the space. Yet they struggle.
MS has had Media Center available for years and the last 2 versions of been fantastic.
Many providers have their own (like Dish).
Yet this ***** says Apple will reap gobs of money from this sector despite overwhelming evidence that no one else has. And he backs up the fact that Apple can do this with absolutely nothing. - SilverBlade2k, on 03/15/2008, -7/+12Apple TV is worthless. It would be a thousand times better if they were to make it a 'real' streaming device, instead of just Apple-blessed formats. Give it the ability to stream h264, x264 divx, xvid, mkv, avi, m2ts, mts, mpeg-4, vob, DVD within an ISO file, and audio formats like AC3, DTS, and the high-defination audio codecs...WITHOUT HACKS.
Perian can make the Apple TV do this, but I shouldn't *have* to hack the Apple TV in order to give it basic all-format streaming functionality that it should have had since the beginning.
Put in these abilities and I would buy one immediately, but since it is crippled by design, my eye is on either Slingcatcher or the istar mini HD. - tjnugent, on 03/15/2008, -3/+8I have an AppleTV Take 2 and really like it. I can rent a huge amount of movies on demand. There is no service like this on the market. Adding a DVR option and more movies makes the unit a must have. I looked at the Popcorn website and yes.. if you are a total geek and want to stream crap from your PC, go for it. I myself, prefer to watch HD movies on demand for a reasonable price. I think you guys are over thinking the concept. Apple can have better market penetration with a DVR service. Also, don't compare Apple to a cable company. Their ideas and technology far surpasses the mindset of crap cable companies. Again... as with the iPod and iTune, and iPhone, Apple steps up and teaches the competition how to deliver content. Bravo Apple....
- Glimjaur, on 03/15/2008, -3/+7Am i the only one that thinks that the article is stating the obvious?
- michaelb1, on 03/15/2008, -1/+5Tivo.
- archer75, on 03/15/2008, -1/+5Apple TV as it stands now won't play any of the videos in my collection without hacking it.
Adding a DVR feature makes it even more usless seeing as I already have a DVR from dish network. If it can't tune and record HD via satellite/cable, what's the point? - excoriator, on 03/15/2008, -0/+4If Apple buys TiVo they'd have to support all of that legacy hardware and that's not what Apple's about. They don't want to invest resources supporting someone's 6 year old DVR.
No, I think Apple is better off rolling with their own DVR solution. I would buy an Apple TV in a heartbeat if it came with DVR capability. - kelly, on 03/15/2008, -3/+7Apple makes little on the shows and instead makes money on the hardware sale. There would still be a market for downloaded shows... I purchase downloadable shows from iTunes whenever I missed a different show... or whenever I want to get caught up on a series that I started enjoying in the middle of the series.
- mxpx5678, on 03/15/2008, -1/+5True2Way is coming to enable 2 way communication to the cable company
- iloveazngurlzs, on 03/15/2008, -3/+6Buried for inaccuracy.
unless they spend a billion paying of and making deals with the monopoly cable companies like comcast, comcast, and comcast. There is one more, i think it starts with a c and end in omcast but i can't remember.
- inactive, on 03/15/2008, -0/+3Monkeys could fly out of my ass too.
- judicar, on 03/15/2008, -1/+4AppleTV already supports AC3 without hacks, just rip a video as H.264 with AAC and AC3 tracks, QT will play the AAC track since it doesn't support AC3 natively and the AppleTV will play the AC3 track if it's there. As far as the others, some of those are just container files and are not codecs, but whatever, I've ripped literally hundreds of DVDs for my AppleTV, I don't see any reason for anything other than H.264+AAC&AC3.
Audio formats supported
AAC (16 to 320 Kbps); protected AAC (from iTunes Store); MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps); MP3 VBR; Apple Lossless; AIFF; WAV; *****Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound pass-through**** - facelogic, on 03/15/2008, -2/+5Dugg. -for having a firm opinion and still being humble about it.
- mizike, on 03/15/2008, -1/+4that sounds much cheaper and more convenient than just going to the store and picking up an apple tv....
seriously tho, their product will be aimed squarely at the 99% of the population that hasn't heard of MythBuntu.... - Promomag, on 03/15/2008, -1/+4#1 Apple TV does not have a Video Input
#2 Apple TV does not have a TV Tuner
I'm sure there's more, but at this point, the Apple TV hardware would have to be re-designed if this were to ever happen. #1 reason I got rid of the Apple TV wasn't because of the above .. it was because at the end of the day, there's nothing to watch via iTunes to purchase or subscribe to..... I can't watch a freaking DVD movie because there's no DVD drive in the Q@#$@% Apple TV.
Get a Mac Mini instead, you'll be glad you did. - deadbaby, on 03/15/2008, -6/+9h264 is the defacto standard for video these days. PSP, PS3, iPod, 360, various generic brand DAPs, etc, etc. If you choose to use obscure formats it's really your own problem.
- Gabberwok, on 03/15/2008, -1/+4I know their stock has taken a beating, but they're still pretty flush with cash. It might not be an awful idea for them to consider buying TiVo. That company is struggling, has a powerful brand, and would help Apple catch up quickly in the DVR market.
- Shatneresque, on 03/15/2008, -0/+3DVRs are a dead market unless you *are* the content provider (see Comcast boxes and DirecTiVo). A standalone DVR provider cannot compete with the content providers any more than WebVan could compete with Safeway.
Unless you're the one selling the content along with it, it's never going to work. And if you do sell the content with it (which Apple already does via the internet), then you don't need squat from the existing content providers, do you? - catachip, on 03/15/2008, -0/+2Except for, you know, the iPhone. And, oh yeah, they are known for actually creating markets ( like the personal computer market and the digital music player market).
- LeeSoong, on 03/15/2008, -2/+4http://www.elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/home.en. ...
Apple could license eyeTV or buy the elgato company all together and engineer DVR into the next AppleTV, but that is just backwards compatibility - EVIL to Apple
Apple hates the 'free media' past of TV and Radio - Just look at the pathetic iPod lack of support for simple AM / FM radio - something every $9 radio from the discount store can do.
I would be more interested in seeing apple expand the AppleTV to play games,
support safari and on-line email / .Mac integration.
Get an AppleTV + .Mac and the AppleTV becomes a .Mac terminal for email and file sharing and storage... - dusanmal, on 03/15/2008, -1/+3I have MythTV and no multimilion contract with Comcast or such. Someone needs to break the ice and offer independent device fit for the general public that would not require Cable Company blessing. Apple is at good position to do so (they do want to kill Cable Companies), but will they do it? Benefit to Apple: wean cable users from the cable to the 'net.
- wpong, on 03/15/2008, -1/+3the title is talking about apple TV alone -- much like how the iPod alone accounts for billions of dollars in sales. in other words, DVR could fulfill what Jobs said he was hoping for at All Things D, that aTV would become the 4th big hit for Apple after the Mac, iPod and iPhone.
- 3vno, on 03/15/2008, -0/+2im happy with my apple tv. I rip all my movies to an ext. harddrive and stream them to it. It works great.
- turpenine, on 03/15/2008, -4/+6do want
- h3smith, on 03/15/2008, -0/+2Well, the DVR would save current content. The iTunes hook would allow you to get older content as well as the episodes without commercials.
- gr00vy, on 03/15/2008, -0/+2The whole category is a patented mine field. If they want to play they should buy one of the players. Tivo is the one always looked at. I honestly believe that they have the best UI patents out there, and that they could meld well with Apples business model and hardware acumen.
But remember, the TV people HATE dvrs, and will fight them everystep of the way. It isn't that people don't like DVR's. They hate the business model, and they cable companies hate them.
But apple did get the Iphone and Ipod going with their own model. God bless them if they can do the same in the DVR space. - robdiggity, on 03/15/2008, -0/+2Agreed. For AppleTV to become a P/DVR it must either grow a tuner (at least one), or it must control an external tuner like a cable box. The latter is a crap-shoot at best given spotty support for IEEE1394 controls in most boxes. The former, while a more realistic option, simply hasn't been done YET. How many more iterations of this device are we likely to see?
- olenick, on 03/15/2008, -0/+2Bull on getting better. It took Comcast two visits and 7.5 hours total screwing around w/ Cable Cards: they went through eight cards total to find two that work. Tivo said what happens is that updates take forever and the techs pull the cards out mid-update and that bricks them. But then the techs put the bricked cards back into the bin and some other schmo brings them to the next install. Since it takes awhile to try setting it up, to find out it's hopelessly broken, hours and hours go by. I'm not sure if it's Comcast or Cable Card technology, or both, but the experience seriously sucks.
- antdude, on 03/15/2008, -0/+2Will it have subscription? I don't want subscription like TiVo does.
- inactive, on 03/15/2008, -0/+2Yeah, I suggest the PS3 as well. The PS3 has the best download movie selection of any of these devices.
- inactive, on 03/15/2008, -0/+1Why would i pay for something that is free?
Do I look like I drink bottled water? - flarn2006, on 03/15/2008, -0/+1What? They weren't already?
- mizike, on 03/15/2008, -0/+1I think the iTunes store is more aimed at people who....
a) have missed a random episode...
b) want to catch up on the beginning of a series that they picked up mid-season
c) want to download a show to watch on their ipod on the bus/subway/whatever
I don't think there's a ton of people who cut off their cable and download all their shows through iTunes; the same way that selling seasons on DVD doesn't lead to people not watching TV all year then just picking up the season box set.... - goldpress, on 03/15/2008, -0/+1Personally, I use a Tivo. It would have never been bought if it only could download movies. It adds functionality and also sell-ability. It's the difference in the PS1 and the PS3. One could only play games. By the PS3 you have a player that does a million and one things.
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