“The announcement this week that Sony plans to work with other television makers to eliminate the need for set-top cable boxes could not have gained more affection at Fortune magazine’s Hollywood digital test lab – also known as my living room,” Richard Siklos reports for Fortune.
“Under the auspices of a cable industry standard called Tru2Way, Sony’s plan is to sell TVs that will allow consumers to access interactive services like video-on-demand without renting and hooking up these bothersome cable boxes,” Siklos reports.
“Last weekend, it so happens, I ventured into the newfangled world of gizmos designed to bypass the cable box – and cable altogether. These devices aim to bridge the computer and TV and, finally, allow people easily to download movies and shows directly from the Internet to their big screens. I decided to give the year-old Apple TV a whirl, and, as is often the case with things from Steve Jobs’ elf-works, I was tickled to see that it arrived as a perfect little shiny white box with a wee remote. Hooking up the little guy was a little trickier, mostly because of the confounding array of inputs and controls on the LCD TV. (Truth is, had we not had a houseguest who happens to specializes in hooking up Apple networks, the Apple TV box would have been packed up and sent back),” Siklos reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, plugging in a single HDMI cable can be quite the challenge. Better to send it back than read two sentences in a manual. This certainly illustrates Apple’s battle to get Apple TV to the masses. It also illustrates what happens when natural selection is thwarted.
Siklos continues, “Once up and running, it was great to use Apple’s elegant navigation system to browse and order movies – and to watch trailers – compared to a typical cable-box remote and on-screen guide. The selection of movies (around 1,000) is better than what’s available on cable video-on-demand… Jobs has said he’s disappointed with Apple TV sales, and, despite all its features, I can sort of see why. Undoubtedly cool, it was also something that most could live without.”
MacDailyNews Take: Fair enough. However, you can live without just about anything except water, food, and basic shelter, so just about anything else could be described as “something that most could live without.” If you can swing the US$229, why live without it? Apple TV is a great product – check out the reviews below.
It’s ironic, Siklos writes, “By the time the cable box is truly gone, new and improved versions of Apple TV and its ilk will probably take their place on ye olde set top.”
Full article here.
All Apple need do for DNA challenged folks such as Mr. Siklos, is to simply wrap a flat panel display around the Apple TV.
Problem solved!
It’s still about content and although Apple has made headway in that area it is still lacking. It will also have to compete on price which it does not do now. $2.99 per episode for some shows will add up awfully fast.
I use a PC and record OTA HD programming for free and watch it on my 133″ screen in HD. Why would I want to go to something with less quality? Yes I use Sat on my other TV’s but Apple TV isn’t even close to replacing that on both content and price.
Installing an Apple TV can be a bit more complex than just plugging in a HDMI cable. If you don’t have your wireless network set up yet, you will surely have more of a challenge getting everything hooked up. While it’s well worth the effort, the network portion can be intimidating.
“Cable boxes may soon be a thing of the past, but they’ll be replaced by Apple TVs”
Not so fast baby… I really don’t see myself cancelling my cable for Apple TV for a long time.
“It also illustrates what happens when natural selection is thwarted”
Nice!
nice, I’m in !
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Cable boxes still have a HUGE advantage as they work on all the older TVs out there while the ATV only works on HD TVs with digital inputs.
Got one as a gift and it sat in the box for 2 months before I found a 480i converter to downgrade the signal.
I love my appletv, but I wish at a minimum we could rent tv shows just like movies. It certainly is convenient to buy them, but I’d much rather spend half the price to rent them. Right now it costs me right at $8 to buy 4 episodes of something like The Unit, but I still can rent it from Blockbuster for half that price. Sure, I own the show but I rarely watch a show more than once. If they had TV shows for rent for 99 cents that would put them in line with renting them from places like blockbuster.
I think that AppleTV can become the next cable box using these new open standards. Then if they add the option for AppleTV to play games, you could have your media center, cable, and game system all on one device.
I can’t live without my Apple TV when the apocalypse comes I’ll need it to watch how Dwight from The Office survives on his beet farm.
Damn, just found out that the aTV Flash was taken off the market.
And don’t be an ignorant ass like i was when setting up your apple tv. My wife was downloading the new software after we had it set up on the network, I made her stop because ” that wasn’t the reason for it not syncing with iTunes…… She was right, the Apple CSR laughed after they figured out what she already new the previous day.
So men, listen to your wives….. on occasion anyhow.
The comparison between 1,000 iTune movies, and 10,000 for Netflex is not accurate.
iTunes 1,000 is only movies, and the 10,000 from NetFlex includes TV shows
Anyone have an idea how many iTune TV shows are available? I have purchased 510 my self
Who is to say that Apple inc. is not working on an all in one Television?
After all Apple inc’s. cinema screens are larger than some modern screens HD ready or not are.
A mac cinema screen could easily be modified to operate like a Tv with the added bonus of being airport ready and iphone compatible, with the iphone acting as a remote control.
The possibilities are so enormous that what ever those would be industry leaders come up with, they would find that those who have invested in Apple inc’s. product have converted themselves into future proof savy consumers.
Keep on dreaming Sony, you now own a huge portfolio comprising a music label, film company, camera company, gaming company, computer company, audio & visual hardware division portable & non-portable, you own a broadcasting equipment division and yet, and still yet you have gone and got yourselves beat up by a company that was on its dying legs while you were dominating the mobile music market with your Walkman products, because you made the fatal decision of emulating M$ in trying to lock up your music catalogue to only play on your proprietory hardware, you even introduced into the world trojans that were hijacked for evil.
So how do you think you will eliminate set-top boxes that we have already invested in? and why should we fork out good money to replacxe what is already working quite well?
If XP is working quite well, why should I buy Vista? That is what you are trying to tell us through your actions Sony!
If Apple TV offers a monthly plan that’s competitive to Netflix then sales will improve. Right now The price of N’flix is very good.
I’m sure apple is working on this. I get DVD and streaming movies for $10
Content AND Distribution are King in the vast media landscape.
Apple TV is well positioned for the future of both.
Stay tuned. . .
(-_-)
Why doesn’t Apple work a deal with one or more of the major TV suppliers, offering built in AppleTV?
“the ATV only works on HD TVs with digital inputs.”
Wrong.
The AppleTV has HDMI (digital) and Component (analog) outputs. What it does not have is the very old composite (coax) output.
And what do you do when your TV has neither HDMI or Component, Brau?
You get a converter or a new TV.
You get yourself a “component to composite” converter, or as Ross said, put that money toward a new TV. What’s at issue here is your statement that the AppleTV requires a digital TV – it doesn’t. Composite outputs are analog, not digital, and most TVs sold over the last 20 years have them, except for the cheapo brands.
I bought my Apple TV as a refurb so it was a great deal, I’ve been putting dvd’s on it and since I don’t have an upscaling dvd player they look way better, not HD but pretty damn good. It can only get better as well.
“perfect little shiny white box”?
Did this guy’s AppleTV get bleached, or is he unable to tell white from silver?
Ack! I wish there was an *edit* button … I meant to write “component outputs are analog…”
I’m perfectly happy with my 32″ Toshiba. I’ll replace it when it dies.
As I said in my first post, I found a 480i converter with S-video output and it seems to work just fine.