Media Center - Gateway Digital LifeStyle - Need Apple Solution
I just recently saw the new Gateway Media Center (FMC-901) (http://gateway.com/home/products/hm_dtp_mediapc.shtml) on the web and stopped by the local Gateway Store to see the technology in person. This is really a COOL technology and I was very impressed with the entire concept but I kept thinking - If only Apple had this with OS X. They had the FMC-901 attached to a 50" HD Plasma and setup in a standard living room environment. This technology really brings all the pieces of our digital lifestyle together in a very simple, affordable package.
This should be Apple's technology...................
This should be Apple's technology...................
Comments
You want to see what HTPC can really do go to the HTPC section on www.avsforum.com and prepared to be wowed.
Apple doesn't really need to do much here as everything that a 3rd party would need to do available. The reason why you're not seeing anything is probably because VC capital is non-existent for Mac only Tech.
Originally posted by jeagen
I just recently saw the new Gateway Media Center (FMC-901) (http://gateway.com/home/products/hm_dtp_mediapc.shtml) on the web and stopped by the local Gateway Store to see the technology in person. This is really a COOL technology and I was very impressed with the entire concept but I kept thinking - If only Apple had this with OS X. They had the FMC-901 attached to a 50" HD Plasma and setup in a standard living room environment. This technology really brings all the pieces of our digital lifestyle together in a very simple, affordable package.
This should be Apple's technology...................
See www.macforce.com if in Pdx!
Its this that dooms some products from the start.
1. A DVD player with a UI tailored for Television Resolution ala Theatertek
2. Video scaling options to deal with the plethora of screen resolutions.
3. Device control. Forget about having everything in one box if your setup becomes larger. The ability to link devices like DVD Changers like this using this
4. Tie it all together with software like DVD Lobby
Unfortunately PCs are way ahead of Macs regarding HTPC. I doubt that will change because HTPC are "tweaky". I'm not sure the integrated box do everything box will have much penetration. Gateway has been trying this since their Destination systems and consumers just aren't into systems like this if they're expensive.
Right now Home Theater/Home Audio is still in constant evolution. The industry needs to standardize on a Digital Interrconnet currently we have Firewire/DVI/HDMI as the current interconnects vying for attention. Once we realize the benefits of all digital routing then the control and display issues can be dealt with. The next 5 years should be exciting. CES 2004 is going to have more and more Networked products. Once its done right this Gateway system will look like a Model-T Ford next to what you'll have access to.
The real weakness of the Gateway is depending on the Microsoft Media Center software driving the hardware. I think Apple could move this technology to the next level with OS X and the great Digital intergration.
This is a giant leap backwards. Swiss Army CE instead of discrete, superior components that can talk to each other. Eventually our living rooms will be littered with tons of overpriced and redundant pieces of hardware that don't speak to each other.
It infuriates me.
Allie needs to research her science project on the PC, but daddy is using it to timeshift Old School.
The two giants will detail their latest assault at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. There they plan to discuss a series of products that they say will make it easier to use PCs to organize movies, music and television shows while shuttling that media around the home.
Apple's "digital hub" is currently missing a "spoke" and unless they can come out with something that includes TV tomorrow they will no longer be able to claim leadership is this key area.
I'm hoping that someone at Apple can convince Steve Jobs that he's just going to hold his nose and swallow the fact that, whether he likes it or not, TV is part of anyone's definition of digital hub.
So Apple, where's the beef in your digital hub?
Originally posted by Aphelion
I'm hoping that someone at Apple can convince Steve Jobs that he's just going to hold his nose and swallow the fact that, whether he likes it or not, TV is part of anyone's definition of digital hub.
True. It seems as if Apple (Jobs), is not one to do something that has been done or can be done with third party solutions.
It must be "revolutionary" and add to the Apple user experience. While this is good in theory, you can't innovate all the time. And as we recall, sometimes can be left behind (e.g. CDR-W burning).
Originally posted by musicaltone
Not only TV but Apple really needs to integrate the Hi-Fi better too. iPod is OK for travel but we need a home version.
Would this home version be a discrete audio only device? Would it have a HDD and a redundant music library or would it run off existing libraries on the network from your computer? Are we going to cram 8VSB (OTA), QAM (cable), HD tuning into this box? What about HD recording?
What is that?? That isn't a hub for digital devices, but a replacement for digital devices.
These set-top boxes really don't do that well. HP DE100C anybody? In the end, we're going to need the discrete, modular components anyway. It's about time we let the CE industry adopt these features instead of trying to make Apple branded versions of everything. This is Gateway's mistake...they just slap their logo on top of any generic device and try to hawk it for cheap.
How many people here DON'T have cable or satellite? Cable and satellite providers are going to force you to use their boxes anyway, and if you're OTA only, you really probably don't watch that much TV to being with. It becomes pointless for Apple to provide the video portion of this, and a music-only server really doesn't sound that appealing to me.
That is unless Apple wins a contract with Comcast, Time-Warner, Cox and Cablevision to be the supplier of these media set-top boxes...That would of course be awesome. It's too late for that though.
Originally posted by Aphelion Ironic that Apple coined the terms "Digital Hub" and "Digital Lifestyle" and were the first to use them in their marketing, and now the Wintel duopoly is
And this is surprising how?
Less "ironic" than maddening.
Just another example in a long, sad line of Apple being first out of the gate with something (hardware, software, concept/philosophy, etc.) but only we, the faithful, ever hearing or knowing about it. 6-12 months later Dell, Microsoft, Gateway, Sony, etc. pick up on it and run with it and bring it into the popular culture on a wide level, and somehow managed to get praised and talked up by the media as having done something unique and innovative and "pushing the envelope".
I don't recall ANY of these companies saying a damn thing about digital music and so forth until AFTER April 2003...
Digital video for the masses? I believe iMovie did it first, did it best.
Wireless networking? AirPort came out, what, 4 years ago? Now you can't walk into a Starbucks or anywhere and not hear "WiFi".
Consumer-level DVD authoring? Does anyone honestly think had iDVD and the SuperDrive not existed, any of these other companies would be making their versions of it? Maybe in another 1-2 years, at best.
Here's a neat way to prove I'm right: pay close attention to what Steve unveils, announces or talks about tomorrow. Take special note of how NO ONE in the industry is doing it currently and that it'll be a very cool addition to our lives and we'll all rush to download/buy it tomorrow. Got it? Okay, now set your clocks and in about 8 months, take a look at Microsoft's or Dell's website to see their breathless announcement at their feeble, half-assed attempt to, again, jump on the bandwagon with something they never would've even THOUGHT about until Steve mentions it tomorrow in his keynote.
You know I'm right.
If Apple came out with an iApp that simplified the process of designing and building paper airplanes, how long do you think it would be before Microsoft unveiled Microsoft FlyPaper? at a worldwide media launch at Kitty Hawk, complete with Bill Gates dressed in old-timey aviation goggles and a Sky King scarf?
Originally posted by pscates
If Apple came out with an iApp that simplified the process of designing and building paper airplanes, how long do you think it would be before Microsoft unveiled Microsoft FlyPaper? at a worldwide media launch at Kitty Hawk, complete with Bill Gates dressed in old-timey aviation goggles and a Sky King scarf?
You forgot the "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" banner waving in the background.
Originally posted by 709 :
You forgot the "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" banner waving in the background.
That quote made me think of Jobs' presentation at the Mac World where he introduced iPhoto as the final spoke in the "digital hub" and concluded that "that's it, the digital hub, it's done."
I remember thinking at the time that if the "digital hub" is "done" with only three "spokes", it will be like a three legged stool, easy to tip over. If Apple continues to shun TV interaction then Steve Jobs was right, for Apple, the digital hub is done.
Leave it to Microsoft and Intel to define a full featured digital hub, and Apple will remain in it's niche, a mere blip on the Computer Industry's smorgasbord.
Come on Steve!, give us a true digital hub.
A juicier rumor comes from macosx.com, which predicts that Apple will introduce a TV set-top box that will record and play back TV shows, store digital photographs, and distribute digital music throughout the home. This kind of "home entertainment server" computer is exactly the kind of product that could help Apple break out of its narrow market niche, according to longtime Apple analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies Inc. in Campbell, Calif.
We can only hope that Apple heads this call for it to participate in the digital hub and digital lifestyle, even if if they are not quite as Mr. Jobs envisioned them. (ie as devoid of TV interaction)
The iron law of designing a user-friendly machine is that you can't add more features than the interface can elegantly and obviously support. The iPod has simple controls and a simple interface with a single metaphor. If you really just want a "set-top box" then it'll have a set-top box interface, and that will sharply limit its capabilities. After all, in the consumer space, any features that aren't easy or intuitive might as well not be there at all.
Why is it more important for Apple to sell one Jack-of-all-trades box than it is for them to simply play well with others?
And then you answer your own question:
They're trying to move the whole industry to FireWire, an AV-friendly wired standard, and wireless standards as well.
Apple needs to show the way, blaze a firewire trail if you will, to show how the interconnectivity and real standards (especially firewire) can be configured without a closed "black box". In the same way that they pulled together off the shelf components to build the iPod, they can assemble available parts and technology in a product that is greater than the sum of it's parts.
Originally posted by Amorph :
... After all, in the consumer space, any features that aren't easy or intuitive might as well not be there at all.
The key thing Apple can add, besides elegant engineering, is an iPod simple user interface. In fact I can envision an iPod size remote control, complete with scroll wheel, to scan menu items and make (channel?) selections. If TiVo can come up with an easy menuing system that runs on top of Linux just imagine what Apple software engineers could do on top of OSX.