“I’m still not convinced America is ready to have a Windows PC running its collective house, even if it does have ‘the power to change your living room and your life.’ People deal with Windows all day,” Brian L. Clark writes for Gizmodo. “Do they really want the same headaches in the on/off world of home entertainment?”
“Bill Gates disagrees with me of course. At this year’s CES, the Lord of Redmond proclaimed that in 2006, “the realization of Windows Media Center as a volume mainstream product will really be clear to everyone in the marketplace.” Uh, maybe. A more likely scenario, according to analysts and online rumormongers, is that Media Center functionality will just be folded into Vista, Microsoft’s latest OS, scheduled to hit the market later this year. Then people can choose to use or ignore it,” Clark writes. “Personally, I’m still banking on the King of Cupertino to release his own, full-fledged media center. Given that so many people are comfortable with the iPod and its intuitive, easy-to-learn interface, it’s a smart bet Apple will be able to sachet right into the digital living room. And who knows, now that Intel’s inside, maybe Viiv will come along for the ride.”
Full article here.
[Brian L. Clark is a reporter and consultant on all things digital, runs the The Tech Enthusiast’s Network, and writes for Money, Men’s Health, and Laptop.]
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yea baby, cant wait for steve to unleash the beast that we all been waiting for.. woo hoo..
Where is everybody?
It must be too late for them. Just finished my tax filing and thought I’d check you guys out before bedtime.
What would a media center be? Would it be the Mac Mini with an Eye TV attachment that could TiVo and download video, audio, podcasts and have all of these media/mediums controlled by a remote control?
It seems simple. But it must be more complex. Help me get this.
I would hold off any Mac Mini/Media Center hubs until Blu-Ray is in full force. Now you’re talking.
“Apple will release full-fledged media center …..”
They already did, it’s called a Mac mini… We’re just waiting on some more content now…
iTunes Movie Store – Coming soon to a Mac near you!
My sister recently got a Media Center laptop from Dell. No matter how much I growled, she acted like a kid in a candy store.
But, by God I swear that any PC that puts you through the torture of 1 hour of a robotic woman speaking to teach you how to use software that’s supposedly “simple to use” and “maximizes the user experience” isn’t worth a second look, period.
I would be thrilled if Apple actually made what Media Center wishes it could be. Would be very reassuring, because if Windows XP Media Center is what Microsoft thinks of as a living-room friendly user experience, they’re even dumber than I thought.
I’d be glad to have an Apple media center, but I’d sooner poke my eyes out and gag myself multiple times before I even laid a finger on that traumatizingly bad Windows Media Center disaster.
MDN magic word = waiting, meaning I’ll be waiting for Apple to make a media center before my computer ever sees the light of the window in my living room.
I’m not sure I’d take too much notice of an article where the author (let alone the MDN editors) confuse the words ‘sachet’ and ‘sashay’. Unless Apple are going to leave little packets of salt in our lounge room.
No media center
Not until Trusted Computing, HDCP equipped computers and DRM to monitors is in full force.
Then there is a question of waiting hours on broadband to download a 1080p full lenght movie to play on your Mini equipped plasma TV.
The internet can’t handle the strain of HD downloads.
Hollywood is dead set against computers displaying new content, until they have milked the cable companies and dvd sales first.
South Park 5th season is now available on dvd.
Only season 1 and 2 are available on iTMS.
iTMS users are getting the scraps with 1/2 the resolution of standard (soon to be obsolete) TV.
Now what’s this about a media center?
Sure it will happen, but all the content will either be very old or already free if you took the time to be there to watch it.
Of course cable companies can really screw things up with the ability to “time shift” shows already being sold on iTMS.
Tell your cable box hard drive to record the latest “Lost” show and it stays there for week, ready anytime you wish to watch it, in full 1080p resolution too, not this 320 x 240 garbage.
Yep, it’s already happening.
Now what about this Media Center?
Steve Jobs: “Cable companies are a monopoly”
Why did you think he said that?
According to the article, this reporter worked for a company selling Media Centre PCs and even he hated using one. His tech-savy buddy at MTV ended up using him Media PC as a door-stop. It sounds like this Media Centre PC is a bigger flop than Microsoft is willing to admit and I see nothing different about Viiv. Speaking of Viiv, can someone point me to a Viiv product? I see more proof of the shared media around the house concept in Apple’s latest version of Front Row than on anything related to Viiv.
Alright. I’m sick of analysts who have no idea what they’re talking about. An Apple computer will <i>NEVER</i> contain VIIV technology. Why? Because Windows Media Center Edition <a href=”http://www.intel.com/products/viiv/description.htm#components”>IS PART OF THE VIIV SPEC</a>. If Apple wanted to put the VIIV brand on any of their computers, they’d have to include Windows. I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Now, Intel may well come up with new “home media” tech bundle that is specific for the Mac, or it may revise the VIIV spec to include support for OSX. But as it stands now, you’re not gonna see an Apple VIIV.
MacDud- do you never sleep? Seems you can’t pass up any opportunity to rabbit on about trusted computing etc etc yadda yadda
I take it he means ‘sashay’ ………
‘You will never see VIIV on a mac because Windows is part of the spec’
‘Intel may make a MAC version of VIIV’.
So if (a) precludes discussion because it will never happen why contradict the statement with (b) which makes the discussion of it on here perfectly logical?
He must’ve been thinking of Apple’s “cachet” when he tried to type “sashay”…
he sure does mean sashay, but perhaps they should keep the term on-hand for future articles describing gates + the MS media center
sachet: ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from French, ‘little bag,’ diminutive of sac, from Latin saccus ‘sack, bag.’
Related to “sachet” is my BIGGEST peeve with computer people misusing the English language…
Cache – [kash NOT ka-shay!!!!] a collection of items stored away, or temporary computer memory.
Cachet – [ka-shay] being respected, or a distinguishing mark.
And, I shall not even start in on the vulgar use of the nonexistent word, “irregardless”.
as long as it is more elegant than that butt ugly ipod hifi thing, bring it on… .
Limited Internet bandwidth is indeed one of the biggest hurdles Apple faces. DRM is another. The latter problem might be dealt with by an Apple/Disney deal, which — if it generates lots of money for Disney — will pressure the other content owners to work with Apple. The bandwidth problem is the really tough nut to crack, but if there is a way, Steve Jobs is the right guy to be looking for it. I do not pretend to know the best way to go on that one.
But in the mean time, the Front Row empowered Mac mini core-duo is ready for action as a 1080p and below quality media center using content available to the viewer locally — on DVD, BR, on a hard drive somewhere on his/her LAN. It is only the digital download part that is in question.
My question — and not a rhetorical one (I plead ignorance) — is this: Can playlists now be used to manage the current capabilities of the Mac mini core-duo media center to manage and play selections of videos(including DVDs or DVD ISOs)/music from the user’s LAN? Apple needs to build market presence and that capability should not be held hostage while we wait for the digital download nut to be cracked.
Mike, I totally agree.
Thanks for getting in communicado on that.
It really pulls my rope taunt when people miss use words just because spell czech doesn’t pick them up. I’d call them on it more often, but the point is probably mute.
Whasssssssssssssupppppppppppppppppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If the rumors are true that under a subscription streaming method, movie choices would be limited to about 1000 per month, I can see Apple pre-seeding the first several minutes of all 1000 movies on servers throughout the country (possibly at every one of their stores) to jumpstart and load balance delivery to the end user. The remaining portions of the movie could be delivered via p2p protocols from all those distributed servers.
Still not ideal for HD, but it may work well enough for SD or DVD quality.
As for a media center, the mini is already ready since Apple won’t ever put a DVR in it. In Apple’s vision, the only thing missing now is the backend – more content at the iTMS. As it is, you can get and view movie trailers direct from iTMS. And to deal with the growing cost for I-only-want-to-view-once-video, Apple possibly needs some sort of subscription deal.
And if you tell iTMS to remember your password for purchasing, you will be able to buy stuff using a few clicks on the Apple Remote… but I still think the Apple Remote needs a click wheel.
CONNECT THE DOTS AND YOU SEE…
Why keep thinking internet streaming, Intel and their new best friend, Steve are not. Intel just invested 50 million to help Disney’s Moviebeam system which does not use the internet to bring content home. This investment happen shortly after Steve became the biggest shareholder in Disney. This system can also deliver HD.
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20060214corp.htm