Low Cost FireWire TV input device?
MacOS Rumors has an interesting rumor about a digital hub device using FireWire to link HD-TV compatible input / output devices into one low cost box.
Could this be the missing spoke to the digital hub? What could be done with a product like this? Is it the answer to Microsoft's Media PC? Could this be "one more thing" at MWSF?
Could this be the missing spoke to the digital hub? What could be done with a product like this? Is it the answer to Microsoft's Media PC? Could this be "one more thing" at MWSF?
Comments
2. This is MOSR.
3. There is no 3.....
I'm supposed to spend $200 for a device that uses Native Processing from the computer?
I don't believe this rumor at all. Consumers aren't clamoring for TV inputs. We need a Home iPod. DVDs are still preferrable to most computer based video.
HDTV is going to be best handled by OTA, Optical and PVR systems.
This "mythical" device is a Loooooong shot to see fruition.
HD/SD DVR in your iMac. HD/SD video editing in your iMac.
Apple branded flat panel speakers. Dolby 5.1 surround.
iPod camcorder/camera/MP3/phone/PDA.
Of course, it would make no economic sense at all for Apple to revolutionize and/or monopolize the distribution and presentation of movies.
After all, as we know, iPod/iTunes has worked out poorly for them.
Originally posted by shawk
After all, as we know, iPod/iTunes has worked out poorly for them.
In terms of revenue from the iTMS, you are correct.
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
You know, I just want a freakin' PCI card that provides audio and video inputs just like the ones on my brother's 8-year-old PowerMac 8500. Why do they all have to come with TV tuners and cost upwards of $100? I ended up buying a TV so I could use my GameCube, but it would have been much more convnient to just get a simple video input card. That's all I want... no TV tuners, no remote controls, no huge 19" tubes taking up space in my cramped dorm room, not even recording capabilities. All I want is to use my computer monitor for playing GameCube. Plus it would let me use my nice stereo system instead of the crappy built in speaker on the TV.
Convenient yes, possible, no. From Nintendo's site:
"The only type of monitor that the Nintendo system may work with is the Commodore monitor. Some Commodore monitors have standard Audio/Video inputs. A Commodore monitor usually has two inputs on the back called Chroma and Lumen. These are both "video" inputs, but they are not the inputs we need to get the Nintendo system to work. To get an NES, Super NES, N64, or Nintendo GameCube to work with a Commodore Monitor, it must have the following:
* An alternate set of audio video inputs on the front or back of the monitor. They may be behind a hidden panel.
* A "standard/commodore" switch. This is an input select that will switch between the Chroma and Lumen inputs and the standard AV inputs. Without the standard AV inputs, there is no guarantee the Nintendo system will work.
Nintendo systems are not compatible with any other RGB or VGA monitors."
I'm not asking how to connect a GameCube directly to a monitor, I'm asking how to get audio and video input jacks on my PowerMac G4 so I can use it just like I use that 8500av.
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
I'm not asking how to connect a GameCube directly to a monitor, I'm asking how to get audio and video input jacks on my PowerMac G4 so I can use it just like I use that 8500av.
Sorry, misunderstood. I guess when Nintendo comes with a digital output, you may have a shot. I know you can do component video out with it, but that really is no better.
Originally posted by hmurchison
HDTV is going to be best handled by OTA, Optical and PVR systems.
This "mythical" device is a Loooooong shot to see fruition.
ERRRRR...
You're not going to get ESPN HD OTA. HDTV is going to be best handled by your cable company for some time. Plus, until the airwaves are cleaned up in 2006 or beyond, it's going to be congested. HD transmitters aren't in the prime spots on many broadcast towers, and unlike analog, if adverse weather like thick fog or rain starts causing multipath reflections and weakened signal paths, you don't just get snow or shadowed images, you get tiling or no image at all.
Take a look at the upcoming Motorola DCT6208.
It has the following ports: 3xUSB, 2xFireWire, Ethernet, DVI, SPDIF (Coax and TosLink), DVI, RCA, S-Video, component video, IR, RF, SmartCardm etc.
In addition to HDTV programming, it's an HD-DVR that can use FireWire HDDs and also a DOCSIS cable modem (probably disabled by your cable company though). Right now, my provider makes me pay a whole extra $5 per HDTV box I rent from them.
OTA is a nice back-up for local channels.
Originally posted by Rhumgod
Sorry, misunderstood. I guess when Nintendo comes with a digital output, you may have a shot. I know you can do component video out with it, but that really is no better.
Huh?
The 8500av has the same exact video and audio jacks that the GameCube uses for output. Those, on a PCI card instead of a "personality card," would be awesome. Why do I need digital output on the GameCube? I think it already has a digital output port - right next the the analog AV out port there's another port for digital AV out.
Are these considered "component" video out? I thought they would be considering there are three things that plug in, but only one handles video, and the other two handle the left and right audio channels. I'm not totally up on electronics-speak, so maybe I'm wrong in saying that these are component video out. Either way, I'd like the same thing except in the form of an input card for my tower, and I'm still confused as to why an 8 year old PowerMac 8500 has them but I can't get one for my semi-new G4.
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
I'm not asking how to connect a GameCube directly to a monitor, I'm asking how to get audio and video input jacks on my PowerMac G4 so I can use it just like I use that 8500av.
Have you checked out Meilenstein's Televio PCI card? I can't find a link at the moment, but it can be used both as a TV-tuner and video input source for Gamecubes, etc. It works like a charm, except it tends to cause a lot of kernel panics.
different variants use R B-Y or G-Y cables with colour and luminance on different wires.
composite refers to three RCA plug push connectors, like some tv/vcr/camcorders, red/white audio, yellow video
coaxial single connection from cable looks more like component end, but threaded rather than lockscrew
</thinks about linking to av cabling website (with pictures of ends)>
http://www.macosx.com/content/article.php?cid=53
I remember Steve said there was space in the market for a small device like this a few months back when asked about a PDA/video iPod, which he thought would not be a good idea - so it is certainly a possibility from Apple.
I would buy one!
Originally posted by musicaltone
More on that rumor here:
http://www.macosx.com/content/article.php?cid=53
WOW, I hope its true. That sounds good!
The Chairman's blind spot seems to be integration of TV into the digital hub, and seeing rumors such as this give me hope that Apple will provide something in this key area missing from the digital hub.
Perhaps the $200 version referred to in the MacOS Rumors rumor is a stripped down model without the Superdrive or hard drive. This would turn the device into a useful dongle that provides the ports needed to integrate TV and HiFi signals into, and out of the Mac.
The price of this iBox sounds reasonable for all it does. It also sounds like a device that could sell very will.
Originally posted by Aphelion
Although these rumors seem to be pointing in two different directions, what is key here is that they address the "missing spoke" of Apple's (Steve Jobs'?) vision of the "digital hub".
The Chairman's blind spot seems to be integration of TV into the digital hub, and seeing rumors such as this give me hope that Apple will provide something in this key area missing from the digital hub.
Perhaps the $200 version referred to in the MacOS Rumors rumor is a stripped down model without the Superdrive or hard drive. This would turn the device into a useful dongle that provides the ports needed to integrate TV and HiFi signals into, and out of the Mac.
They are different devices, the one on MacOS Rumors is a FW device that plugs into the computer, the iBox is a Media Center for your wired/wireless home network. Just add a Surround Amp, speakers and TV and you have a full component AV system. No need for a CD changer, DVD, Tape player, VCR, etc.
Originally posted by @homenow :
They are different devices, the one on MacOS Rumors is a FW device that plugs into the computer...
It would seem as though the xBox from MacosX also has FireWire onboard so that it would make me think that it was intended to plug into a computer as well.
The inclusion of FireWire makes a cheaper version ($200?) possible. Use the Airport Extreme, hard drives, and DVD burners in your Macintosh and save some money.
This cheap disk-less version is a slam dunk for the techno geeks out there (all of us) who would just buy it bare and add our own superdrive and hard disks while we install an Airport Extreme card.
Apple would skim the cream off the market by selling the fully equipped versions at the higher price points, but expand the market by offering it cheap enough that we would all get one.
By eliminating the monthly service charge that TiVo requires (I paid $250 up-front for a lifetime membership) Apple would bring down the barriers to having a PVR (and more!).
Originally posted by Rhumgod
1. Steve Jobs hates TV.
2. This is MOSR.
3. There is no 3.....
God these replies are becoming predictable.
1. Jobs likes making money for Apple
2. Its a rumor site that gets people excited about the Mac future
3. If you're this close minded, perhaps rumor forums aren't the best place for you