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“Google wants input one on your TV. Apple wants input two. The difference? Input one is where your cable box goes. Input two was where your VCR or DVD player used to live. It’s a port that’s up for grabs.”
“The DVD player is looking long in the tooth. The problem is that the TV experience has entrenched behaviors that won’t change soon, and Apple needs to educate the consumer,” Gartenberg writes. “Apple released the iPhone with no app marketplace at first to teach new ways of using a phone, and it’s doing the same with this Apple TV reset… With a base to show to developers Apple can then safely unveil an SDK and get the developer machine in gear…”
Read more – highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: As usual, Gartenberg’s analysis is insightful and sound.
That may be but I still want a Mac mini DVR to replace the cable DVR. All the technology is there and needs to be pulled into one system by Apple.
At least give us a iOS HD Recording device. Like an old VCR. Pick the time, channel and how long. Also, what device formats will be streaming it. (HDTV, AppleTV, iPad, iPhone or iPod touch)
Meanwhile, once again, in an odd coincidence, Google tries to put their #1 in Apple’s #2….
If a Mac mini DVR I would buy 2 this year.
If Apple made a iOS HD Recording device, I would buy 5 this year.
It is time to take another market. We could even push up to Apple’s billion dollar server farm our media that we want for later on.
Obviously Gartenberg is a Howard Stern fan.
Apple likes to educate the masses with change baby step by baby step. Seems to be working even though the pace of change and competition is accelerating.
Not sure why you don’t just buy the mini and connect an EyeTV DVR to it. It can record HD just fine. You then can have it exported in AppleTV format to iTunes, automatically, and use iTunes as your media organizer. Or you can set it up to use FrontRow.
AppleTV nails it. Most of us don’t want to worry about recording, managing storage, etc. We just want to rent exactly the TV/moviemwe want, when we want it, for a reasonable and unbunddled price. Streaming content from our Macs and iOS mobilem devices to the TV is just extra goodness.
I don’t understand why you would need a DVR, honestly. TV shows I watch only once, and if I can decide when they air, why should I record them. Movies I watch maybe twice, but at those rates no problem to pay twice – that’s actually a nice model: good movies you watch more often, so the companies get more money for good movies. My TV is not going anywhere means no 3G costs. So why recording? Please any of the members that postet above tell me, I just don’t get it…
Ummm… Don’t you think apple is trying to get rid of you having to DVR everything and pay 99¢ to watch it commercial free? They get cut and studio makes money still. At the end of the day it’s still business and Apple is trying to numero uno by providing the medium between the consumer and producer of product (in this case studios).
The average consumer doesn’t want massive amount of storage and manage it when it gets out of hand. They want simple seamless way of getting what they want.
Trust me I know exactly what you are saying, I have mine set to do all that. But as the article says the cable companies locked down the boxes. That’s why they hate what the apple tv is going to be am lobby the studios from conforming with apple’s plan and foresight. Also why do you think you hear so much about bandwidth and data caps now, sure blame it piracy, they need a bad guy. But it’s really about finding a way to block services like apple.
i think this time round storage is the key , i’ve filled almost 4tb with just sd stuff
imagine the space if it was hd !!!
i’ve ordered an apple tv and can hardly wait
@Original Jake: No, this nails nothing.
I only watch programming from 10 channels, but it’s a lot of programming. If I had to rent each episode of each show I watch, it would cost me considerably more than my cable bill (with HD DVR) each month. So this rental solution doesn’t work for me.
What I, and many others, need is a reasonable subscription service, where you subscribe to the programs you want, for a. Entire season, so you can watch any aired episode whenever you want. But the networks will not agree to that at this point, so we’re stuck with a rental service that doesn’t work financially for a lot of Americans.
It might be true that this is a necessary first step on Apple’s part. But I don’t think it will win out until a good subscription plan is available.
These days Apple TV is my input 1. I pay for Comcast merely out of habit; like turrets.
Stop all the calls for an AppleTV w/DVR – it’s not going to happen because Apple can’t compete in terms of price with what the cable and satellite companies sell/give them away for. Plus, there’s no money in it for Apple. Few people who would not buy an AppleTV without a DVR would change their mind and buy an AppleTV just because it added a DVR.
Apple also makes no money off of people recording TV shows.
Apple makes money off of people renting TV shows and movies.
Google makes money off of searching and ads, which is why Google is trying to get into delivering content (tied into Google ads, of course). Google will fail because it won’t be able to get cable and satellite providers to give up control of their content in favor of Google.
Will Google get the NFL Sunday Ticket? Nope, so millions of NFL lovers will not drop DirecTV for Google. No content, no sale.
So where does the ethernet-connected, Netflix-enabled Blu-Ray player go?
It doesn’t require a subscription, requires no cable contract, is easy to control and .. it hits 1080p.
So Apple is definitely a #2, only useful for content not already available on Blu-Ray or DVD or Netflix already.
@ Anonymous©
And how much would that cost? More than $99 I think.
I don’t need another computer. That’s not to say it’s not a good idea, but you’re using a bazooka to swat flies.
I liked the 40G one, all I want is my music and pictures. Anything else, I’ll turn on the computer and stream.
I agree that the AppleTV doesn’t need a DVR feature. If I wanted or needed that, I’d just buy a Mac Mini. I understand why people want it, but Apple is trying to think farther ahead than Google.
I agree with Blah Blah Blah in that the Cable companies are looking to block services like this.
Time Warner tried to change their service here in Rochester to “metered” service. What a total crock. If it was metered, like the electric company as they say, then they would remove any cap and simply charge a small fee per GB, something like $0.50. or even $1. What they call metered is actually tiered service. Pay more, get more (which is also a total crock since their network can’t handle all of the garbage they keep trying to cram through the same infrastructure).
Apple has the right idea and is trying to change another industry radically. Ala Carte TV is the way it should be, not packages with tons of channels I don’t want. I understand why it is the way it is now. But like the music industry, you can either fight change or try to be in front of it.
Well, for me i must keep my old AppleTV as well. Getting the new one for AirPlay only, bummer. Thing is I can Sync my ATV and take it with me on a trip. Try streaming 720P from your average hotel connection. Right.
I prefer input 3.
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The existing video/TV content providers and distributors are not willing to let Apple get in the middle of their sandbox. They are at least somewhat satisfied with the manner in which they have carved revenue slices out of the pie, and are unwilling to experiment in a big way with the iTunes approach. They are not as desperate as was the music industry in the early 2000’s, and they are clinging to the status quo rather than taking the risk of ceding any power or control to Apple.
That’s why you don’t (and won’t) see an “Apple DVR” solution anytime soon. An Apple content distribution system can only distribute Apple content, or non-DRM “user” content in the proper format. It is not reasonable to expect Apple to immediately solve the industry obstructionism. They have been poking at the chinks in its armor and exploring different solutions. That’s why the AppleTV is still a “hobby.”
I guess I won’t need premium channels when I have netflix to get me the movies I like to watch.
I like the idea but Rogers in Canada will throttle the service.
I purchased the full season of Gray’s Anatomy a few weeks ago and after I had downloaded 4 episodes they all but stopped my service, I had to stop and pull 2 a day for 1.5 weeks.
My two AppleTV’s are using input 3. I have DirectTV on input 1, and a blueray/Netflix player on input 2. The blueray and AppleTV get about the same amount of usage.
Look, (to no one in particular)
Apple is renting to look good in the eyes of the studio.
They WANT you to stream your torrented or ripped content from you computer, they just can’t SAY it.
The same way iPhone/iPad is “curated” to not have adult content despite there being this thing called the Internet which let’s you watch any non-flash porn you want on any idevice.
Read between the lines with Apple. ALWAYS.
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P.S. Type “erotica” in the iBook store. Curated my ass…
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Imagine for a moment if we had reliable servers and high bandwidth to our homes that supported Blu-Ray or better quality HD audio/video. In theory, any media could be on demand so there wouldn’t be any need for physical discs, OTA connections, DVR functionality or local device level storage. Any show you wanted could be called up instatntly at anytime. Non-live and live TV would just be another stream or app.
But we are nowhere near that. Currently, technical requirements limit usability, business models limit affordability and legal agreements limit availability. Despite all these current limitations of the new aTV, just having access to Netflix, Mac and iOS streaming is enough for me to plunk down $99.