“The ‘Apple Media Center’ din is growing, again. For those of you who dare ride the bucking rumor bronco, you know that the Apple DVR rumor mill reached significant output levels in November of last year when Apple rumor sites reported that their “sources” could confirm that Apple was going to launch a DVR at Macworld in January. At the time I expressed serious doubt, and lo and behold, there was no announcement. The rumor sites, however, were so firm in their predictions that some of the faithful believed that the product was perhaps merely delayed, and would be soon introduced (yeah, that’s the ticket!). The big February 28 show came and went, and still no DVR,” Ken Fisher writes for Ars Technica.
“Now rumors are heating up again because Steve Jobs purportedly said ‘we hear you loud and clear’ in response to a vague question about Windows Media Center. There’s no official transcript and no reliable information, so as you can see, all the pieces are in the right place for another round of rumors. And inasmuch as the topic has entered my inbox in force, I feel inclined to address it again, op-ed style,” Fisher writes.
Full article here.
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Related article:
Notes from Apple shareholders’ meeting: ‘exciting’ TV ad campaign to launch next week – April 27, 2006
Interesting read and perspective
I hope it can record HDTV programs and play them back at 1080i with surround sound.
i hope for existing users it can sync with alchemyTV and EyeTV
I really hope they do this, and Jobs comment is interesting both because of what he said, and the fact that he rarely says even that much.
Of course he could have said that and then followed up with thinking “but we really don’t care”. : )
We all know it will be coming, we just can’t predict when it will happen and what it will be once it does happen. It may have been scheduled for launch and SJ may have pulled it if he felt it was not ready — but we’ll never know the true story. Meanwhile I’m not buying another TV or stereo system until I see what Apple has in mind for my living room.
What shape would it take?
Trapezoidal. That’s my bet. Oh, oh… dodecahedral! Ooh ooh! Elliptical spheroid.
Education means developing a weirder sense of humor. And debt. Lots of debt…
I hope it’s shaped like an apple and has a gum dispencer that dispences apple flavored pez!
I also hope that if I scratch it, it smells like a juicy apple.
I heard that it will be able to teleport you into the tv shows audience so it’s just like you are there!
Jobs is Genius!!
Well… whatever they come up with would need to have really fast wireless (802.11n) so it could transmit the HDTV signal directly to client displays (yes, ma… no wires to the flat panel TV on the wall), in addition to plenty of storage capacity (perpendicular?) for the HD DVR portion and a Blue-Ray HD DVD disc player/recorder for games and movies.
Pie in the sky? No. Perfectly doable within a year or so.
Cha-ching? Yes, you bet!
But I want one already…
I hope they offer an alternative color in black. White and silver do not blend with some entertainment systems.
silver and white don’t blend????
Since when did Apple ever Blend.
The Hi-fi does not blend. It’s different. it amazes me that apple users can’t think different.
An inverted cube. Or like a Victrola.
It will only come concurrently with a iTunes movie store rollout. It will be a complete solution. Not a product looking for a market. Their is no reason for Apple to produce a product which does not provide an income stream from downloads. Full-res TV downloads. “DVD quality” or broadcast quality MPEG 4.
Any shape as long as it has a freaky, funky visualizer.
No
Why? TV’s and computers both jockey for the consumers attention.
TV’s are designed to be watched from far away, to turn a mind off.
Computers are designed to be watched up close and the mind turned on.
I have TV on my computer, do I watch it? No, because online gives more interaction, faster information and freedom of choice.
Computers on the internet give more satisfaction than TV.
It should look more like an iServe than a Mac Mini.
Standard component width so it can be stacked with other equipment.
Clean, simple front in a brushed aluminum finish with one hell of a remote that could even be an ipod.
Oops, I meant XServe. But they could name it with an “i” to follow the sucess of the ipod and iMac.
It will look
like this!
But with a DVD slot instead of a floppy.
Why does everyone want to turn a mac mini into a DVR?
I would rather have a 40″ iMac with a few video inputs as my TV. Have audio outputs for my stereo and iTunes. Hook the cable modem up to it, hook up my DVR/Cable Box, and go with it.
Want to record onto the iMac TV? just record the incoming stream from the DVR.
So, no DVR, but an iMac TV. That would be a killer product!
Also, this removes any patent issues with Tivo. Just bypass it and let them fight it out.
Just a thought.
Ampar – how many people frequenting this site, do you suppose, even know what a Victrola is, or have even seen one up close and in person?
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Black is the new silver again (thank God). We’re finally just barely starting to get back on track with unobtrusive a/v equipment. If you disagree, I bet you just haven’t noticed yet. The trickle down should reach Wally World in a couple more years.
Apple’s high on style for sure, but why make a gawdy case for a tv that will just distract you from what you’re watching? There’s no frame at the movie theater, so there should be no frame in a home theater. I would never try to second guess SJ, but I can’t believe he’d do it any other way. (if he ever does it at all) I can envision a tasteful white Apple logo on the bottom of a matte black frame, a la G3 powerbooks.
Here’s what’ll happen: This fall, they should release MacMini 2.0 with a TV tuner. They will also release a TV tuner adaptor for Intel MacMini 1.x and other forms of Intel Macs. Update front row for TV. Recording TV shows will set the resolution only as iPod format. The file will be protected so you can’t edit those commercials out. No such thing as free TV.
What shape? Why a cube, of course. DUH!
http://getkickedoffaplanewearingthis.blogspot.com/
I hope it works simply. I still can’t program a VCR.
You have a VCR?
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Based on your response (and no one else), I’m guessing two? Chipper but not Nipper remember.