“I queried Raymond Soneira, the founder, president, and CEO of DisplayMate Technologies, earlier this week about the timing of the upcoming 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro,” Brooke Crothers reports for CNET. “Though he wasn’t able to address that question, he did give a pretty good answer about why he thinks Apple is going Retina.”
“Soneira believes Apple will continue to adopt Retina across all ‘premium’ products, including the Apple TV,” Crothers reports. “”My…theory is that color consistency and accuracy among all Apple devices is more important for Apple than Retina Display resolution and will be the strategic basis for the eventual launch of an Apple Television,” he said.”
Crothers reports, “Citing one of his reports, he continued. ‘Starting with the new iPad 3, images on all future Apple devices and displays will appear visually identical and with extremely accurate colors and images. Why does Apple need to introduce its own Apple Television with an actual TV screen as opposed to just relying on an Apple TV streaming box connected to some other brand of TV? Because all existing TVs produce inaccurate and inconsistent colors and images that will be poor matches to Apple’s own iPhones and iPads. Consumers will love the fact that everything including their personal photos, TV shows, movies, and videos will all look exactly the same on all Apple devices.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: With apologies to the good doctor, Apple may or may not deploy a Retina display when they do or do not launch an “Apple television,” but the average consumer wouldn’t recognize color consistency across displays if it walked up and took a whizz on his leg.
And, Mr. Crothers, referring to a rumored “Apple television” as “Apple TV,” the actual name of a shipping product now in its 3rd generation, isn’t only sloppy, it’s also confusing and lazy.
This whole article is nonsense. Also, aren’t 1080p TVs already “retina” because of the average viewing distance for a TV? No one will be able to notice more pixels, unless the screen is like 80″+ wide.
I can easily see pixels on an HDTV. The quality really isn’t that good. Most TV makers assume far viewing distances and motion video, which blurs pixels, but most people actually sit too close and not everything is explosions and action. Just compare any HDTV to a Mac display and it’s far inferior. A retina TV won’t be as pixel-dense as a retina Mac or iPad, but it would be visibly superior to a standard TV. And regular TV makers would never think of going there since they only think of competing on price, so that would give Apple a unique selling point.
The only way a retina TV would look any better than an existing HDTV is if content providers start selling retina content. TV channels, Blu ray, video game consoles… all of it would need to be retina. That’s just not happening.
i agree! The hole thing must be overnight adapted to be retina compatible. I dont see myself buying my blu-ray collection again!
The industry is already working on 4k Hdtv’s for the masses anyway.
Plain simple forgotten fact:
In the U.S we have “3” NTSC standards 420/720/1080. Sorry to thoes outside the U.S.
Now it seems like the good doctor wants to create a new standard that makes no sense at all, sure you can make a retina display TV, but with the given standards we have now it’s not going to make anything look better since it took a act of congress to just change over all the analog to digital the last few years, when you break it down using a larger device it doesn’t compute and won’t make anything look better using the resolutions we use now.
Sure it makes very good sense when you have a computer monitor and the software to scale and take advantage of the higher quailty, but a television is to far fetched and not to cost productive to even consider.
This guy is a nut, he’s been disproven more times then can be recalled and always seems to come out every few months to keep his name in the news.
Now let’s see where is all that super Retnia media I have, … Wait it doesn’t exsist, and we still have issues with the content providers keeping up with the current resolutions. It won’t happen now, maybe in a few decades when pixel density and content is available and the most important forgotten item of all ” the price goes down on production ” allot of if’s and when’s.
Agree. Unless its bluray quality, it may actually look worse.
You have to have the screen first. Why would anyone produce content at higher res if there’s no way of watching it? And just like DVDs look better on an HDTV even though DVDs are not HD quality, existing content would look better on a retina display.
You’re 100% correct. I was going to make the same comment. No one watches a large HDTV at 2 to 3 feet away from the screen, like they might use a computer screen. The screen is across the room, at least 6 feet away. By the method Apple uses to determine “retina-ness,” a typical HDTV screen viewed at typical TV viewing distance is already a “Retina display.”
Actually, that is the best reason for Apple to produca their own TV yet that has been offered.
While I agree with MDN’s take, I must say that a retina display sounds like the first thing I’ve heard that makes me think an Apple television sound feasible. Obviously there needs to be something else to help justify it, but a TV with retina display, built-in AppleTV, and perhaps an included iOS remote, could be worth the premium price.
Also, “the founder, president, and CEO of DisplayMate Technologies” is too much for this small firm. Dr. Soneira is just general manager, the only executive officer there (there is no need for “chief executive officer”, let alone “president” in such company.)
Not to mention that there is no existing content to take advantage of all the additional pixels- with the sole exception of your own digital photos perhaps.
By his logic, everyone should own a 900 HP NASCAR to drive 55 MPH on the freeway.
If you can see the pixels on your HDTV, you’re sitting too close.
We’re barely out of the VHS & DVD era with Blu-Ray (which looks great) and people want like a 4K Retina Home Video Display already? Boy are we a bunch of impatient pampered babies.
And talk about the wholesale slaughter of theater chains should that happen!
I, for one, am Soooooooooooo tired of the tv rumor. I love my Apple devices. That said, I cannot imagine a television coming from Apple when they have the answer with the little puck. Next!!
Now, Cook said lots of new things this year. I’m ready. And waiting. Show me yours and I’ll show you…my cash.
> “but the average consumer wouldn’t recognize color consistency across displays if it walked up and took a whizz on his leg.”
Funny… and how true.
I remain highly skeptical that Apple has any intention of waltzing in armed with boutique-quality display panels, intent on competing in a class electronic entertainment goods that has ruthless, cut-throat pricing competition and low margins. I expect the future Apple TV to be a variation on what they currently have: a box that connects to the consumers’ display of choice. Leveraging off of what MDN wrote, the average consumer couldn’t even recognize quality, let alone appreciate its value.
Frankly, much of the iPod, iPad and iPhone’s popularity is due to the fact that the products are perceived as “cool” and “easy to use”; not because they are high quality.
I once worked in the electronics department at a department store back when Beta was battling VHS for supremacy in the living room. I remember being amazed at how a couple on pay day would waltz back, a paycheck burning a hole in the guy’s pocket. They would invariably come in not having performed a lick of previous research. All the salesman had to say was that VHS could record for six hours versus Beta’s four—and it was cheaper to boot—and the gal would say “Oh… let’s get that one!” I never once heard a conversation involving picture quality.
BTW, I also had a brief stint selling World Book encyclopedia’s door to door. You looked out for children’s toys out front. The pitch was geared towards giving the best educational advantage to their children. You never even bothered to say the encyclopedia was a valuable way for adults to learn something.
That’s why Americans bought Ford Pintos and Chevy Vegas and kept on doing it up to the point that states had to pass lemon laws.
(*sigh*)
I second MDN’s motion. AppleTelevision is, IMHO, a really dumb idea.
Sloppy, confusing and lazy. Does she/he get paid to do this? Geesh!!!
EVERY DECENT HI DEF TV CURRENTLY ON THE MARKET IS A RETINA DISPLAY!
What FsCKING moron is so ignorant of the current state of home theatre that they think an Apple TV has to quadruple the pixels to compete? As well, is there some currently deployed super high definition technology currently deployed in any quantity that requires tens of molina of pixels ro display?
It’s bad enough we have to hear incessantly about the Apple Unicorn HD without hearing a nonstop stream of stupidity from the already ignorant tech press.
Well if it comes it’ll probably be an LCD or LED TV, which in my opinion can’t hold a candle to plasma, except for digitally created content and viewing in bright ambient conditions. I have yet to see an LCD or LED TV that can refresh fast enough to stop the motion blur that occurs with fast moving content, particularly sports. Imagine the blur that might occur trying to do 4x the number of pixels. If Apple does an actual TV it will have to do what it’s always done in the past, and that is to introduce disruptive technology. I doubt a retina display is it.
This will drive some nuts but today I wanted to buy a new MacBook pro and beyond the disbelief that there was no 17″, I was a bit underwhelmed by the retina display. I instantly noticed it was not as bright as my current 17″ and researched that it is 20% less bright.
Great resolution for squinters. Also no matte version. “glossy” why? So I walked. I’ll wait. People like bright TVs. Hope they make the retina television bright if they do. I really wanted to vent hoping someone from apple reads this and puts a 17 ” mbp back in production.
No Retina content?
What everyone is overlooking is things that can easily fill a large AppleTV Retina Display. Apps. Apple will open AppleTV for gorgeous ultra high resolution Apps.
Apps will be the killer feature in AppleTV.