A thought on iTV.

[Qion]

I was thinking about the new iPod when I had the epiphany that IF the new iPod is capable of playing DVD-quality video, then it could output that video just the same. It'll probably have a large hard drive also, being able to hold a variety of movies and medias. If this is true, then what's the point of iTV? Buy an iPod, a connection kit, and you're set. Already we've seen Front Row-like 3rd party additions to the iPod, allowing a graphical interface to be displayed on a TV screen. Why should the next-gen model be any different?

[symphonix]

There is no way known that a pocket sized device like the iPod will ever be able to achieve true DVD quality video and audio. The current offerings on iTunes movie store are all equivalent to standard-definition video with stereo (non 5.1) sound.

Besides, by that logic nobody would ever buy hifi CD players - after all, who would buy a full sized CD player that takes up space on your shelf, when a portable CD player does the same job?

[fryke]

Well, yeah, but iTV is fed from your harddrive, and Apple intends to fill that with iTunes movies as well, so that point (iPods not achieving true DVD quality) is moot...

I think iTV is _quite_ useless per se. From what Steve showed us, I didn't think it had a harddrive at all. If it's got one, I don't think it's for recording anything from TV, rather for buffering large files streaming from your Macs/the 'net. But wasn't there already a thread about iTV? And why the Café? Moving this to Apple N&R...

[Qion]

Originally Posted by symphonix

There is no way known that a pocket sized device like the iPod will ever be able to achieve true DVD quality video and audio. The current offerings on iTunes movie store are all equivalent to standard-definition video with stereo (non 5.1) sound.

Besides, by that logic nobody would ever buy hifi CD players - after all, who would buy a full sized CD player that takes up space on your shelf, when a portable CD player does the same job?

It would be wrong to say that the new iPod will not be able to output DVD quality video and audio. The movies on iTunes Store are a little under DVD-quality, I know, which in my opinion increases the likelihood of iPods being able to play them.

My point was not to say the new iPod could do everything an iTV could do, but to examine the possibility of it getting damn close.

[Thank The Cheese]

I think it's a good point Qion raises. The iTV is not going to be much cheaper than an iPod, so if the iPod even comes close to doing what the iTV does, I don't see much reason to but the iTV. Of course, we still don't know what they have in store. Perhaps the iTV can do more than we think (ie. TV tuner, HDD, etc.). Maybe they are holding off releasing 6G iPods until iTV is ready because there is some sort of special integration with it that will make us want both.

I have a thought of my own on iTV. I find it a little hypocritical that Apple would go after mypodder because their name sounds like iPod, then name this an iTV, which sounds exactly like EyeTV. I know it's just a temporary name, but it's still bound to cause confusion until the proper iTV comes out.

[symphonix]

Am I the only one here who thinks the iTV (under whatever name they do decide to call it) will actually be a really awesome and useful product for a lot of people - and a good move for Apple as well?

We're living in the era of DVD-R and BitTorrent, a time when downloading and storing movies on your personal computer is a fairly common practice for some people. And these people are the ones who are driving computer hardware sales trends at the moment.

What if you had a device that you could plug into each TV set in your house, cheaper than an iPod or a PVR, that simply let you access all those movies you have stored on your computer?

I know people who have five TVs in their homes. At the price of an iPod nano (which I expect the iTV will level out at after 6 months) I can really see this sort of person buying the iTV. And not just one, but several, one for each TV set they have.

And then what? Video podcasts will take off in a new way: news on demand, and popular TV shows, all available at the touch of a button, many of them for free.

Think about it - you say that you *can* do all of these things with an iPod. You can hook it up to your TV and use it to shuttle movies between your Mac and your TV. But does anyone ever actually use it in this way? No, because thats not really what its for, and its too time consuming a job. You have to convert the movie to MP4, import it into iTunes, sync your iPod, unhook the iPod, carry it to another room, hook it to the TV ... and since you can really only store a couple of movies like this, nobody ever actually bothers to do it.

However, the iTV will be more like Airport Express, but for video, and with a built in interface & remote. Rip a DVD into your Mac, or download a movie, and then go straight to your lounge room, and its there ready and waiting for you.

This will change things for video on the internet in a way that will be quite important. Think of Podcasting - the technology was there years before people were doing it. Even before the iPod and iTunes, it was possible to make a radio show, upload it to a website as an MP3, then let people download and listen to it. But did anybody do this? Hardly ever. And why not? Because it was too much effort.

But as soon as you provide an automated way of managing the media, from the recording to transferring to a player, then it all becomes simple and everybody starts doing it. I think the iTV will do the same thing that the iPod did: it'll slowly but surely change the way we use media.

[Lt Major Burns]

i still can't beleive that the huge, but financially-troubled national British tv station ITV still hasn't filed at least a small class-action suit against apple...

[Thank The Cheese]

@symphonix
you are right, I think it will be a good move on apple's part. I'm not convinced it will take off though, I'm just not sure the general public is ready for it yet. There's a major mindset shift that needs to happen.

My fundamental issue with iTV and iTV-like devices is that you still need to have a computer on in the other room. I've used a few things over the last couple of years, like XBMC and streaming to an old iBook from my iMac, but it just didn't seem right to have an entire computer on so that I can sit in front of the TV.

Eventually what I did was just move my iMac into my lounge room, and it has become my main TV (until I can afford a dell ultrasharp and a Mac Mini to replace it).

For me, I feel the device that attaches to the TV has to *be* the means, not just the ends. It has to be the place where I download and store the media, not just the place where it plays from.

But that's just me. Perhaps I"m in the minority.


@Lt Major Burns
True. I guess apple could always say "oh, but that was just a thing we called it so people knew what we were talking about in that little keynote". I don't think ITV could do anything unless apple tried to trademark it. but i'm no lawyer, so i could be wrong!