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What If the AppleTV became a DVR to spite NBC?

applegazette.com — I mean, $300 for an Apple TV is cheaper than buying 3 seasons worth of any NBC show at the $4.99 they wanted to charge per episode this fall…right?

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  • luckk, on 10/10/2007, -7/+50I run two Apple TV-related web sites: http://appletvhacks.net and http://appletvsource.com . It seems like the Apple TV is the laughing stock of the iProducts. It would be great if this happens. However, I think Apple needs to do way more than this to keep the product going. Apple TV has a great potential. The only people slowing down its progress is APPLE!
    • CrazedChemist, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10Plug it in plug it in
    • Nerfdude, on 10/10/2007, -5/+12i guess, if it became a DVR, people might actually buy it. Apple tv IS a joke, and should be scrapped. there are cheaper products out there that do the same job better. hell, i can do significantly more with my modded xBox than i could with an Apple TV, and the xbox cost me maybe 75 bucks.
    • kingkilr, on 10/10/2007, -4/+3Hire the mythtv guys to make it!
    • superkendall, on 10/10/2007, -9/+7I wouldn't call it a laughing stock - even Apple treats video as a hobby. And after NBC's reaction, you can see why - media companies are currently too unstable (read: bat-***** insane) to build a solid foundation for a business on.

      The AppleTV is idling while Apple expiriments, and wait for saner heads to buy out the four-year olds currently in charge.
    • miniboss, on 10/10/2007, -7/+6PVR isnt the answer. Integrated Blu-Ray is.

      Unlike a DVR, Blu-Ray doesn't cut into the iTunes store's revenue so buy your TV shows and Movies from iTunes but get those HD movies on those expensive little disks.
      • Charlotte_Web, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3I'd recommend that Apple do both: Add a Blu-Ray drive, AND video-in jacks plus software for PVR functionality.

        I agree with luckk -- AppleTV is the underachiever in Apple's current hardware lineup. It could be doing so much more.
      • yabos, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Yeah right, then it'll be $1000 and no one would buy it.
    • archer75, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3It needs to be able to record HD content from cable and satellite as well as play more than one format. It can't so I built my own HTPC and can play any format under the sun. And I still use my Dish Network DVR which allows me to record 3 HD programs at once. So i'm all set.
      • headphonz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Is there even 3 decent HD channels available??
    • Diganta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4What Apple TV needs is
      1. Composite video out. Their content is SD anyway. Most people still have SD
      2. Have more HD content.
      3. Time-shifting PVR/DVR capabilities
      4. Place-shifting i.e. Slingbox using Quicktime Broadcaster to stream video to your iTunes Mac/PC or iPhone
      5. Optional. Maybe a DVD player and a high end one with a Blu-ray player
      6. Making it a little larger to accommodate a 3.5" HD, so one can get 500GB, 750GB or 1TB capacities

      This would require the Apple Remote to have at least Record button
      • subliminalurge, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"6. Making it a little larger to accommodate a 3.5" HD, so one can get 500GB, 750GB or 1TB capacities"

        ***** a "little" larger. Make it a lot larger so it will stack nicely with other standard sized A/V gear. Not that I'd ever replace my HTPC with one anyway.....
    • BLKMGK, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1What I'd like is a SIMPLE and reliable way to mount SMB shares. NitoTV to play the content and TaDa we're in business. My biggest issue right now is not having an Intel MAC while trying to hack one of these makes life DAMNED hard. It's not even clear from the Wiki what is needed to get USB working (say as a bot drive) or get SMB sharing working. Kexts need to be enabled but man it's no picnic. At least the Patchstick was easy to use once setup, a shame the plug-ins for download are the older versions and not being kept up to date :-(
  • nifty, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9If they could get it right, that would be amazing. I think it would also ignite some of the fiercest legal battles surrounding this type of hardware we've seen, or have been luck enough not not to see yet.
    • windohs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Of course it would cause a battle, just like it did with the whole VHS recording. It's all B.S. because nobody should care if we watch the shows that we subscribe to (and PAY FOR) anytime that we want. "They" would just rather us keep paying for the same content over and over and over again.
  • digitallysick, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10it would rock, i really want an apple tv, but it just has to give me more, i need a bigger harddrive, and avi options
    • iFungus, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2160 gb is pretty big, right?
      • digitallysick, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3no not really, i would think at least 320GB, especially if they can ever get it playing avis, or straight from video_ts
        • windohs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1HD content eats up a crapload of space, unless it was HD Divx compatible you'd need around 320 gb
    • spammishking, on 10/10/2007, -4/+3Not when it comes to video. I would want a min of 500GB
      • subliminalurge, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I built a dedicated file server for video and threw in a TB of storage. Still have to pick and choose what I want to keep on there, and what stays in the DVD rack. Video really chews up space fast.
    • origclubsoda, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Buy a Mac mini. Sheesh.
      • windohs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1mac mini is more expensive though...and not much of a difference in HDD space
    • maffiou, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Archos TV+ FTW... (whenever it happens !)
      • windohs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yep...it'll have DVR AND SUPPORT DIVX/XVID
  • sjbdallas, on 10/10/2007, -1/+26Bring the price down a bit so it can compete with Tivo and allow hard drive upgrades and i'm in.
    • windohs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1no monthly fees for the DVR would kill off the already declining health of Tivo
  • mntbikeracer1, on 10/10/2007, -12/+8Lol you really think Steve Jobs would let the potential money from all those episodes escape his pockets? I doubt it.
    • ATHEISTinHELL, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9I'm no Apple fan boy. But Apple doesn't make that much money from Itunes. Itunes sells Ipods.
      • fkr3, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4I'm sure they made something off the 3,000,000,000 or whatever it is songs they sold. Even if it was only a penny a song that's a sizable amount of money.
        • mrFREEZE, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4Yeah, and where do you think those 3,000,000,000 songs are stored on? Magical boxes that run on air and don't need be constantly maintained?
        • fkr3, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Duh there's operating expenses but I'm quite sure iTunes is profitable.
        • wphj, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2It's profitable I'm sure, but I bet the goal is just breaking even. iTunes was just created to make iPods more attractive to customers.
        • windohs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I thought there was a public announcement about how much iTunes makes off of music sales?
    • windohs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1What if we gave him a lifetime supply of black turtlenecks in exchange? Then we would get avi support and DVR
  • jcannonb, on 10/10/2007, -1/+18AppleTV not being a true DVR is the one thing stopping me from purchasing one, because I already bought a Dual Core Mac Mini in 2006 to hook up to my DLP television before I had even heard of "Apple TV" being rumored. I was eye balling a USB 2.0 DVR stick the other day for my Mac Mini, but if Apple TV were to build it in, it would be yet another Apple product I would buy...
  • OffPiste, on 10/10/2007, -7/+38What if more than 1000 people actually bought an AppleTv?
  • Piedramente, on 10/10/2007, -3/+19They do this, and I'll seriously consider buying one.
    • dynamojoe, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0I'm in the same boat. If it became a DVR I'd be very happy. My DirecTivo is screwed (no way to get video off, no way to program it via network) and I'm fairly sure that Apple would do a DVR correctly.
  • sleepwalkers, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7It'd be great, but I fail to see how this deserved to reach the front page of Digg. I mean, I understand that it's something cool that everyone would love, but it's been discussed to death already and other than specifically mentioning recording NBC shows, there isn't anything... significant, real or new in this little post... :
    It's not that things like this about Apple bother me, or that I don't like the AppleTV - I'd snatch one of these if it did have DVR capabilities... I just don't see why this deserves to make the front page.
    • Billions, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Well, it does indicate to anyone from Apple that might be reading this that the community wants to see DVR features on the AppleTV, so in that sense, it's communicating our interest. Hopefully someone is listening.
    • uknowwhoibe, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It's on the front page because it's interesting. Just because it isn't breaking news doesn't mean it shouldn't be read. I come here for information, entertainment and the community; not just AMAZING WORLD BREAKING NEWS.
      Stop being a twit, get off your high horse and login to reddit.
  • xpose, on 10/10/2007, -11/+4Are you kidding me with this post? Talk about speculation. Hardly anyone even buys itunes tv shows and even less own an AppleTV.

    • supermanred, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12NBC alone made 10 million dollars last year off 2 dollar downloads. Thats 5 million episodes purchased off iTunes...probably more if you figure in that Apple gets a few cents out of every one.

      There's money in this, and NBC knows it as they see their itunes purchases go up and now basically they got greedy and wanted to cut out the shopkeeper and sell their own tv shows. Bad idea. Nobody goes to the NBC video store to buy season dvd sets of their shows, they go to HMV or Walmart or whatever. I personally wont go to a seperate NBC store, Ill just buy from whats available on iTunes. ***** NBC. I repeat ***** NBC.
      • reed311, on 10/10/2007, -0/+210 million is chump change to NBC. They can make that off a night or less of commercials. iTunes will fold once the big companies begin distributing content by their own methods and cutting out the middle man; and when people realize that the iPod is actually the most restrictive mp3/music player.
        • MacParrot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Chump change or not, it's 10 million they wouldn't have had otherwise.
  • SuperJimmyJimbo, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8....except they wouldn't sell any TV shows from the store anymore....
    • jambarama, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Why not? The appleTV wouldn't be the first DVR around, and people have been DVR'ing tv shows a lot longer than iTMS has had TV or appleTV existed. Plus, plenty of people without an appleTV would still buy the shows. Yeah maybe it'll cut in to the $1.99 shows a bit, but only by selling a $200 device. I don't see the downside for apple.
  • nitrousconsumed, on 10/10/2007, -3/+20dugg for title. for some reason i wouldnt find it surprising if Jobs actually did that. as he announce it, he says 'you can record your favorite NBC episodes from the comfort of your living room'. it would be priceless.
    • windohs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Cue steve drop drop kicking NBC a la "This is SPARTAAAAA"
  • agildehaus, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5Nope. This will never happen. It is quite clear that Jobs' vision of the future does not include live TV and a DVR device only prolongs that model. Me and many others want to move to a place where we do not have to pay for 70 channels of extraordinarily crappy content, but pay for what we want.
    • supermanred, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Good point. Apple is clearly aiming at what we all know is enivitable, which is a world where you pick and choose your tv shows and they play instantly, you can pause them, rewind, fast forward. I dont think his vision of the future includes cable companies. ***** them anyways, Id rather give the 50 or 60 bucks a month to purchaseing the shows I watch for 99 cents each or whatever and not have to watch 20 minutes of commercials from the major networks.
      • windohs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1with all of the commercials on cable/satellite it should be 35 bucks tops. Fios has the right idea @ 42.99 and they have all the bandwith space in the world. Cable has mostly analog that looks like crap on your HDTV. I'd rather have all digital with less compression for better quality. That and I dont want to pay io 60 bucks a month for 3 boxes and a crapload of spanish channels I don't use.
    • geekee, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3No one wants to own most tv shows they watch. Jobs vision is flawed. NBC will hopefully provide a cheap rental option via Amazon that's well below $2.
      • colincornaby, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Think about how much it would cost you to buy the shows you watch on iTunes. Now compare to your cable bill. You should find that buying through iTunes is substantially cheaper. Who wouldn't want to own the TV shows they own for less money than they'd pay for their cable bill, or even worse, the amount they'd pay for their cable bill and the DVD set?
        • windohs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Does iTunes have live sports (lik eYankee games and Juventus matches)? No they don't....no sports at all even (like replays). No HD content either...so you can't kill off cable/fios/satellite just yet.
  • n8rand, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6I think I'd actually get an AppleTV *if* this were to happen. I would also think the increased sales of AppleTVs (them being more useful) would offset the lack/decline of episode purchases. I don't know too many people who purchase the TV shows as it is, but maybe that's just my crowd?
  • SirBotchness, on 10/10/2007, -7/+2jesus christ
  • drakethegreat, on 10/10/2007, -3/+2"This IS NOT speculation on what we’ll see on Sept. 5th." No its just generalized speculation so that makes it ok.

    (sarcasm for the noobs who missed it)
  • gafasiesornivek, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1what if...anybody really cared.
    • queraxus, on 10/10/2007, -3/+3You care enough to comment. Nice one.
  • SyberMile, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2ok the price is alittle high but there is no need to upgrade the hard drive most of the users that want the apple tv want it as a way to play avi's without having to watch them on a pc (thats why we have xbmc but xbmc is slow and getting old) i have a media server set up in a closet to store all my movies and what not, i just want to be able to play avi's and steam them from my server over wired or wireless lan to my tv i dont need a bigger hard drive to do that.
    • BLKMGK, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2XBMC is being ported to Linux so stay tuned. When done it may provide you exactly what you want on updated hardware. The aTV is one of the platforms being considered for XBMC on Linux but they have stated it might be underpowered. I own an aTV and am working to hack it - buying crap from the iTunes store is NOT what I want to do with it - streaming ala XBMC is.
  • LoganT, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2I think if Apple were to do this it would only have one tuner. So that when you want to record a second show that's on at the same time as another show the Apple TV would say "You are already recording another show at this same time, would you like Apple TV to automatically download this show from the iTunes music store? Yes or No" And hopefully by then the iTunes downloads will be in HD.
  • geekee, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2What if the AppleTV became a DVR so it would serve a useful purpose.
  • o2o2o2o2, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Kinda sucks the AppleTV (iTV) isnt a DVR in the first place! YES MAKE IT A DVR PLEASE!
  • joel8x, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Apple TV does not need to be a DVR, it just needs some more functionality thrown in like RSS feeds (for photos, news, & podcasts directly fed into the device), and syncing with more than one library (maybe music from one PC and video from another - yes you can stream from up to 5 computers, but I'm talking about syncing here). If they also opened up the USB port to allow for external drives without hacking it would be nice. In fact, I really don't know why they disable some stuff that could be easily supported. Otherwise, the thing works much better than I ever though it would.
    • archer75, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It needs to support more than one video format. And have enough power to play 1080p content.
  • nace33, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1Screw NBC. Give me the content, when I want and how I want. You leave iTunes and I'll leave you.
  • cliffzdude, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1DVR? Cool idea. Apple doing so to "spite" NBC? Nope. It'd be akin to cutting off your arm because you have a hang nail.
    Going this "dvr" route to piss off NBC will piss off many other content providers who didn't get into a pricing hissy like NBC.

  • toetagger, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It would keep people from purchasing other network's content as well... as others have pointed out.
    So, to spite their own face.....
  • VitriolAndAngst, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I'm suprised a company like El Gato doesn't just make a USB device that could turn the Apple TV into a DVR. They have just such a device to convert video in real time onto the Mac -- and Apple TV is a headless mac.

    It would be quick money for them, and keep Apple out of legal trouble. By seperating the two products, you can bypass the restrictions.
  • pintomp3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1wouldn't that require a tuner? or at least some kind of video capture?
  • jdaniel284, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6Why not buy a $90 500GB harddrive and subscribe to Blockbuster Online or Netflicks and get AnyDVD or and maybe Magic DVD Ripper? Then rip as many damn episodes you like. Buy some software like CuCuSoft converter coupled with AnyDVD and make as many iPod or Zune movies that you want.

    I don't understand all this nonsense about Apple TV and $5 NBC episodes.
    • bingobongony, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Well, maybe...just maybe...people don't want to wait 10-12 months to watch episodes?
      • archer75, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1torrents or newsgroups. And you can watch it that same night. If you are on the west coast you can watch it even before it airs.
        • bingobongony, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I guess you didn't rea the original cpomment in this, tlaking baout netflix or Blockbuster online. . as for torrents...some people are not pieces of ***** who flout the law.
  • bingobongony, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1And that would spite NBC how, exactly? The 5 people that actually have, or are considering buying Apple TV don't matter in the ratings. And if they do that, you would see EVERY network leaving iTunes. And perhaps a domino effect of every co-owned music label as well.
    • zybch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I seriously don't think its going to be very long before this happens anyway. Apple have way too much control over the content (as the content makers see it) and they've never been happy about it. If just 1 other large provider leaves iTunes I think the floodgates will open.
  • insomniac8400, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Or you could have just wrote about a Tivo and said how its price is much cheaper than what you would end up paying when buying the episodes. Or talked about making your own media pc to do the recordings.
  • piper999, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Basic TV capture cards are like what $20 now for a PC or Mac? For the price of 5 NBC TV shows you can record as much TV as you want. This is the thing I never got about all this pay-per-episode stuff.
    • archer75, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Not in HD you can't
    • zybch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The problem though, is that the basic cards REALLY REALLY suck!
  • ahuxley, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Content is king.
    Apple needs to get and pump content around the world.
    In Australia its dead. End users are not smart enough to rip dvd's.
    They go online and find blocky trailers.

    Add more cpu power, real HD and more content.
    • windohs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Australia? Kangaroo's can go online and watch blocky trailers? jk
      PS3 is the topselling console in AU and Blu-Ray is the dominant format. Guess the Aussies DO care about HD after all.
  • superkendall, on 10/10/2007, -5/+2DVR's are insanely stupid. not insanely great. In a day when we can download anything directly, for very little cost in network usage thanks to BitTorrent, who would want to hang out on a stream waiting to grab just the bits you want as they flit by, never to be seen again?

    In fact if Apple really wanted to stick it to "The Man" I think now would be a great time to look into building the ultimate torrent device - that would use BitTorrent under the covers to deliver HD media to users directly. And one that could be easily hacked to add other feeds as well all worked via the same interface...
    • reed311, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Exactly. Why buy something from Walmart when you can just steal it? People who buy things are idiots and I'm better than them because I like stealing other people's hard work.
      • windohs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1maybe you don't get the point. If someone pays for a show by subscribing to cable, why must the pay again to watch it over? It's like paying for a 6 pack of toilet paper and then having to pay each time you use a roll.
    • Billions, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1...And how do you think those torrents get there? By someone "hanging out by the stream and grabbing the bits as they flit by," that's how. And by the way, have you ever tried to grab a torrent of anything older than 6 weeks, or NOT an episode of Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, or South Park? And an aXXo rip of "300" doesn't count.
    • superkendall, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Note that I said LEGAL CONTENT. As in, Apple would provide legal HD seeds that you could buy access to, the key is in using BitTorrent for distribution to lower bandwidth issues.
  • archer75, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2You still won't be able to record HD from cable or satellite so it's still useless. And it only plays what? 1 or 2 formats?
    • colincornaby, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1If it had Cablecard (like the Tivo Series 3), it could record HD from cable. It plays MPEG4, but people have installed the DiVX plugin on the AppleTV.
    • origclubsoda, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I plug my cable line right into my TV and get free HD. If I bought the HD recorder from EyeTV I could record free HD.
  • autoy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The ATV is in the same position as, say, an iPod that only plays AAC files. Almost worthless if you need to transcode everything you have to a specific format just to play it, people just can't bother to do that if it takes more than two minutes. Has the compatibility of iPods with mp3 totally blocked online sales from the iTunes store? Guess not. In my view and in order to succeed, the ATV desperately needs compatibility. Apple needs to either open the box using a plugin system or include support for most popular codecs like 100% of the rest who make multimedia HDs do (BTW, these are extremely popular in my country, where they serve as a cheap media PC substitute). Yes, doubling the capacity or making it cheaper would kinda help, but compatibiliy is essential if Apple doesn't want to see this product agonize.
  • makemeweak, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Apple lied about the $4.99 an episode pricing - NBC is now releasing their shows on Amazon for $1.99 an episode.
  • isaaccs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2So AppleTV doesn't do a lot... and it's a bit expensive for what it is. But I bought one, and frankly, I like it. It plays my iTunes, shows my pictures, it looks great - I've yet to have a guest that doesn't comment, "Wow" if it's turned on. Beyond that, it doesn't do a whole hell of a lot. You could build an equivalent device that has much more in terms of TV capabilities, but not everyone wants to build something. I'd love to see Apple improve the product, there certainly is room for improvement, but I totally disagree that it's a complete flop. It is what it is, if you don't like it don't buy it, but quit moaning about it.

  • myellis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0There is always the hope that Apple could implement Bit torrent throughout iTunes (and Apple TV?) and upgrade the video quality to some form of HD H.264. This would at least partially alleviate the bandwidth problem in delivering higher quality content. It could also allow them to distribute content in a close-to-live time frame (sports, news, etc.). Then all they would need is some sort of pricing model where you could select 5 shows for one price (or 7 or 10) and most of us could say good bye to cable for good.
  • lump1, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Wake me up when AppleTV has a nice big bluetooth remote with an ipod wheel and an LCD which displays the interface even when the television is off. Maybe I'd like to scroll through the songs on my network and don't want to turn on the TV?

    Oh, and you'd really get my attention if this remote had a little speaker and microphone built in and worked as a Skype phone. Wouldn't be expensive; WOULD be immensely useful and cool.
  • Dustin00, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1What if TV sucked so much, I quit watching it years ago and don't care about new TV products?
  • batmant, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Job is all about "The Whole Banana". That means controlling the entire experience from the remote in your hand, to the device it's communicating with, to the Application running on the device, to the OS running the Applications, and to the network (iTunes) it's connected to. It would NOT be in there best interest to make traditional DVR and undercut themselves just to get back at NBC. Give it a season, heck maybe just until the holidays and ten bucks says they'll come crawling back at $1.99.
  • MaceSoul, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Or you could buy a Tivo like everyone else.
  •  

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