Quote:
Originally Posted by
jfanning 
Because people claim streaming/downloads are a competitor to Blu-ray,a nd since I have poor bandwidth Blu-ray is my choice of product as I prefer the quality.
A competitor in convenience not raw quality.
Blu-Ray would need 60Mbps sustained to stream down as it is. They could get away with under 20Mbps but current itunes movies only need under 4Mbps, which is how the FCC define a broadband connection.
In the interests of accessibility, Apple would offer 720p streaming well within this limit to allow for drops and can scale it up as they see fit in future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jfanning
I didn't realise you were my mother, I can sit as close, or far away from the TV as I choose.
Sure you can but you can't expect the rest of the world to accommodate your choice if it's not feasible to do it. You can tell Apple that you aren't happy with the iPhone 4 display because you choose to hold it 3 inches from your eyes. It doesn't mean they are going to recognise any urgency in upping the resolution again.
Here's an image that compares the resolutions:
http://blog.isnoop.net/wp-content/up...view_large.png
If you look close, you can see the difference. If you sit back to normal computer viewing distance, the difference between 720p and 1080p is noticeable but slight, 480p is clearly blurry. Back at 8ft, the top two slices don't look much different in terms of sharpness.
No doubt there are people with projectors making an 80" picture complaining that 1080p isn't enough while sitting 3 feet away from it.
Once broadband speeds catch up, Apple can easily bump up the resolution for people who are able to benefit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jfanning
It won't combat online piracy, the reason most people pirate movies are because they don't want to pay for them, getting them to buy isn't going to fix it.
It depends on the pricing model. If they have a subscription or pay per minute, the ability to simply get in from work, click on a movie and start watching is better than P2P methods. Like with Blu-Ray, even pirates using P2P have to prepare their choice in advance and then watch it later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alfiejr
So they can call it iTV everywhere but the UK. and call it something else in UK only. not a big deal in the global scheme of things.
They can also license the name like they did with the iPad.
Apple have obviously tested the streaming capabilities and quality as well as looked into the use of the iTV name so I reckon they have a good idea of where they want to go with this. I personally think the concept is entirely sound and an extremely viable product, far better than the current ATV.
In true Apple minimalism, this would essentially be a modem for your TV. The full internet is one place that TVs haven't done right yet but there's no reason you shouldn't be able to browse the web from your sofa. The magic trackpad would be a great accessory for it. Imagine there being a large cursor on screen that you can use to click on iOS icons and use two fingers to scroll and zoom in. This is one reason why 720p makes sense too - 1080p would be tiny to see text on.
I think this will be the point ATV stops being a hobby.
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