“There was a time when many observers thought about Apple changing the way consumers watch content on their HDTV,” John Martellaro writes for The Mac Observer.
“Over time, it’s become clear that the content holders have an iron grip on content, and so the new question may be: what can we do with that big display that we haven’t been doing?” Martellaro writes. “That’s something Apple is uniquely suited to change.”
Martellaro writes, “One can make a list of things we haven’t been doing much with our HDTVs that many would, perhaps, like to do. It’s just a start, and there are likely many more: Take screen shots; do facial recognition of actors; play fantastic games, making dedicated game boxes obsolete; throw content to them from our Macs; do video conferencing between friends and family.”
Much more in the full article here.
I’ll start with an iTunes like genius list of the shows I watch. So I can ignore the “1300 channels of sh#t on the tv to choose from.” Allusions to Pink Floyd intended.
I do that on Direct TV by selecting, ‘Favorite Channels’.
Not every show on your ‘Favorite Channels’ is worth watching. Netflix recommends based on individual shows and movies.
I’ve got amazing powers of observation…ation…ation.
Pink Floyd rules!
If Apple enters the TV arena it’ll get beaten to a pulp by the likes of Samsung, Sony, LG & Panasonic.
Sony, Samsung, LG, all these suckers still becoming great suckers (as you are)
Considering that Sony’s TV business is doing horribly, I’m not sure they will do much of the beating.
You are living in Lala land, only Samsung of those has any serious future in TVs. Sony is already a dead duck TV wise which is why it is increasingly getting out of it. Next.
And Apple bought lala, so it’s actually Apple Land, now.
Video conferencing with friends and family? I thought TV was for us to get away from them.
Up here in Ontario…I am shackled to half a dozen religious, dozens of French, Punjabi & other ethnic oriented, and non-interesting specialty channels. I watch about 15% of what I’m being forced to pay for. Hell…even TLC is mostly unwatchable now, unless you enjoy watching spoiled brats argue over the cost of their wedding dresses or snobby housewives! I remember when MTV actually played music videos.
Having more choice but less watchable content.
I stopped paying for all of that crap. with Apple TV and iTunes I can watch what I want, when I want, commercial-free and only pay for what I actually watch.
I axed my cable TV in January, saving $100 a month (including $25/mo HD PVR rental). TLC has been crap for at least half a decade, but in the last year or so Discovery, History, National Geographic and Space all went mostly lowest-common-denominator.
Now I get a half-dozen over-the-air channels, most of them are even HD. That covers the daily news, key sporting events, and all but one weekly show I was watching before. There’s enough on Netflix that I don’t miss having cable.
I don’t know how “up” you are in Ontario, but check out possible over-the-air options in your area.
I leave in Ontario and i have cut the cord. In Ottawa, i get 13 hd channels. Screw Robbers (aka Rogers) and Hell (aka Bell).
We get Cogeco here now, but I left Bell years ago.
Content on demand is the only logical future but I doubt even the Religious Channels will attempt to predict when.
I’m somewhat happy to map out some time for a network show- 10 on a Wednesday, say, for something like CSI, but, these days, (is it me?), relying upon a set time for even a network show is getting risky. Of course, life interferes, so that set time is missed, mostly (let’s face it, no TV show is worth truly bothering about) forgotten, but it might be nice to catch up on the web site or something. At any rate, the TV is on usually just to buzz a bit- click around, see what’s on, nothing serious. Any intentional viewing I’m doing on the computer these days. Don’t even have an HDTV. Don’t subscribe to cable, use broadcast. Get more local stations that way. Don’t want to talk to a TV, or a remote, BTW. Still, I’m wondering what Apple will be showing us, if anything.
BBQ on it?