Apple to roll-out iTunes movies and 'one more thing' - Page 2

Think of your iMac as your DVD player substitute - the DVD player will be off so you are saving its energy use. And if your iMac is humming loudly enough to spoil a movie it may need servicing.

Ditto Ditto Ditto! It stinks for vodcasts too, like MacBreak for example.

I always hit command-r on a video I want to watch and open it in Quicktime. I want something that plays as well as quicktime and integrates closely with the iPod, iCinema or something

What? All this time and all these rumours and it's a streaming video device? I can't imagine even with signing up Disney that this is worth a 'world wide' announcement - especially considering that the rest of the world (i.e. the other 5.75 billion of us) that don't live in the US of A won't get to download the damned things anyway!

It can't be just a video streaming device - it must be something more than that. A 23 inch iMac with Merom will be sweat (and I'll buy one to add to my 17 inch iMac, MacBook and MacBook Pro) as would an update to a touch screen iPod.

I'm not really that excited about a metal nano with a bit more storage - who really cares? You buy a nano, you buy an agent 18 hard case and forget about scratches. If you really need 8 GB, then buy an iPod.

I'd like to see an iPod with touch screen and wireless connectivity - yes, I know it'll kill the battery life, but so what? You can turn it off to save battery if that's your bag... or you could just plug it in and charge it! Microsloth is on to a winner with the 'DJ' function of the Zune and Apple will need to respond.

I'd like to see an update to the MBP - merom all around.

I'd like to see the mini updated - in fact, I'd rather see this 'AirPort Movie' be built into a mac mini with a HD TV tuner and a large hard drive - that would make much more sense to me than some 'AirPort Movie' device that just streams data... after all, they already have a device that does that - AirPort Express - data is data after all, music, movies - it doesn't matter what it is to the device, so I can't imagine that streaming movies would be too big an upgrade to the existing device.

All in all, Apple had better produce the goods - and I think they will with a device that none of us has even guessed at.

Long Live Jobs!

I suppose this hypothetical device could be a media center and a NAS. It could be a repository for Time Machine backup data too. It sounds interesting.

Whoa. Actually I'm not that energised as the style of the article in which it was written.

"This September promises to be the start of exciting new times for Apple, one of the self-proclaimed pirates of Silicon Valley. And it better be -- Jobs and Co. are betting on it big time."

Looks like AppleInsider has some solid info and the AI crew are massively hyped about it.

"After what has seemed like nearly two years of rampart speculation and unbridled enthusiasm on the part of its fans..."

Nitpicking: That's rampant speculation. "Rampart" has something to do with when you are trying to defend or take over a medieval city 500-800 years ago...?

Absolutely nothing has been announced yet and you are already disappointed?

ROFLMAO. Dissapointment is a frequent companion to any Apple announcement. Depending on people's expectations.

And wasn't that a super-widescreen sexy "no-touch" (according to Foxconn or something) 6G iPod??

Well this article has certainly disappointed me. I really wanted a Merom Macbook Pro...COME ON!

Here here!

Oh, I can be disappointed. The disappointment will come when we see Steve-O actually try and pump it up as cutting edge, cool, and useful.

My prediction: if this is the end of their media strategy, then it'll flop hard. They'll get whipped in the press, and Business Week will do a story around Xmas time entitled something like "Is the Shine off the Apple?" or "Can One Rotten Apple Spoil the Bunch?" (or something equally vapid).

If it's one prong, and Apple is out there looking at ways to manage and work with the persistent storage/MMC, plus YouTube, plus Google Videos, plus an iTunes-esque (Please for the love of the gods, take videos out of iTunes!), then it might be OK.

An airport express in place of a mini-based media center serving font-row will also disappoint.

That's the feckin desk, it's a piece of shit! I must fix that shizel

Since we're nitpicking, 500-800 years ago is exactly the time the medieval period was ending. "1500-800" years ago would have been better.

Okay here's what my ideal scenario would be:

You shell out the $9.99 at the iTunes music store for the rights to watch a certain movie, but instead of the movie being downloaded, a record is kept in an Apple database stating your rights to that movie. Whenever you feel like watching that particular film Apple streams the data to your Mac which, in turn, streams it to your Television. This way your hard drive doesn't get filled up with movies you've already watched, and you automatically have a backup of that film through the records kept at Apple. Seems to make a lot of sense. Its a movie store that acts like a rental service...

I really dont have a problem with using iTunes for video. It obviously does need to be reworked so the integration and playback is better. Even something as simple a an X Play podcast can start skipping after a few minutes. But using iTunes to play video even HD video is fine by me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hear_hear

Don't feel bad. I love my Squeezebox and won't easily give that up. It is great for listening to Apple Lossless and any other high quality music. The only drawback is the protected AAC but most of my music is lossless. I am using it in the living room for listening to various music we have. However if Apple comes out with the video settop box I think I will get it for our home theatre in the basement.

And if the movies are in HD, and you watch the only movie you've ever bought in the store once a week, that movie you paid $10 for, ends up costing Apple 12Billion dollars in bandwidth costs. Wuuuaaahhhaahahaha!!! Never happen in a million years. Then people would say you never actually own the movies etc. And apple would lose considerable money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oy_vey

Assuming an AirPort Video becomes a reality, another option for ensuring wireless performance didn't interfere with watching a video would be to use some local storage on this theoretical device. But why use a hard drive? Flash is reasonably cheap now, and 2GB would handle a full-length movie in H.264 without a problem, assuming DVD-like resolution. You'd then push the file over to the device, and be absolutely assured that nothing like local WiFi traffic could interrupt the performance.

The secret sauce will be more in the unit's capability to play back H.264 at, say, 720x480. The iPod can handle H.264, but only up to 320x240 - so if there are any firmware concerns as suggested, I'd guess that's where they'd rest. Code optimization is immense fun, but you need to be a little deranged to be really good at it.

The snag with DVD resolution files being offered, though, is what happens to the iPod? They wouldn't be able to play those files. Would these movies only be playable - other than on actual computers - on a new iPod or via the AirPort Video? Perhaps an option would be including a much smaller version for existing iPods in the purchase, or offering people the choice of which version they want to download. (Or just the ability to convert the "full" resolution version down to something the current iPod can digest)

And what of HD? That wouldn't be an option for an embedded device, though it'd be a strong credit to the programmers involved if that did turn out to be the case. If you've got a shiny new 23" iMac, and do want to use that rather than a TV, how about offering them the option of a full 1080p version, sidestepping the whole HD-DVD/Blu-Ray kerfuffle?

Good one. Hear hear and Oy Vey...!

It baffles me that iTunes and Quicktime on the PC and Mac does NOT always do the vSync properly. Which means even in fullscreen, you get those "flickering" type effects. That is, a lot of "page tearing" when playing back video in iTunes and Quicktime. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vsync ...Unlike say VLC which plays back Divx/Xvid smooooth as butterrr... Hmm

On the PC, I simply cannot play games unless the game has vSync on.

I don't know if I'm the only one who sees the following problem with the "streaming" solution:

-I have MacBook (mine) with Lost on it
-Wife is at home
-I leave on business trip with Lost on the MacBook

Wife has no way of watching Lost

What then?

Wife gets pissed at you.

Wife does not "put out" for a few months.

Divorce?

Seriously, streaming is fun but if you only have one copy that's not very convinient particularly if the one copy is on a portable that goes walkabout with you.

You'll need to have another copy on the Mac mini hooked up to the Widescreen LCD/ Plasma to keep wife/ spouse/ teenage child happy.

Only after wife gets pissed, does not put out for a few months, and alexluft has a little "fun" on his business trip, with pictures/ video delivered back to wife by evil coworker.

Burn Lost episodes onto DVD to play in regular DVD players. DRM issues you say? Muah hah ah haah h ha hahaha ha ha

Then i guess I will need to find something else on the computer screen... never mind.8)
SSSSHHHHHH, you never saw me on that bus. trip.

If the Apple solution does come out as described, it is a very (VERY) early step towards IPTV on Macs. I'll be waiting for the time when I can sit down on the couch, turn on my LCD and have the option to watch what I want any time I want - Lost, Armageddon, or Flinstones. Just type it in and hit "play". If I don't feel like watching it on the LCD in the living room, then I can grab my MacBook and watch the same stuff by the pool.

I'm dreaming, I know... But give it oohhh say 5-8 more years, I think we'll be there, and hopefully Apple will too.

I really should shut up now but I will whisper in your ear: B*tTorr3nt

And then my ISP whispers in my ear: "illegal content... we would like to give you a heads up to stop"

That's the problem now. DRM is simply not sophisticated and bulletproof enough to know how to handle that. You get a piece of media, and you want to do various things with it - streaming to two computers at once, while streaming to an LCD as well. You'll also want to burn it to DVD/CD. Proper DRM would either give you "blanket" access to the media to do whatever the hell you want to do with it with up to 5 users, or you pay as much as you need depending on what you need to do with it as you go along with that DRM'ed file.

What you describe is possible 5 years ago. It's the quagmire that is DRM that is holding things back at this stage, and it's great that Apple is the one that has really been able to punch through the mess to get us started on this vision of yours which really, is shared by many many people.

Glad to hear that I'm not the onyl one, Sunilraman. Maybe to say, "bypass" the DRM and to not "clog up" our hard disks, this "version" can stream instead of download. Kind of like current TV but more-so on-demand...

Luckily for you, they're selling them right now!

As long as we're doing this... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shazbot

I don't think you understand.

This makes a lot of sense... but, why build in a hard drive if you already have a hard drive readily available: your iPod.

What you do with your iPod when you get home? You either...

• Connect it to your computer to sync/recharge it
• Drop it into your iPod speakers or connect it to the stereo in your living room
• Leave it on a flat surface somewhere

So if you think about it, if this mysterious wireless device can connect to your tv/sound system, recharge your iPod, and wirelessly communicate with your iTunes, then you'd be all set. And it makes complete sense to couple this with the other announcements: You download a movie from the new iTunes movie store for $9.99, sync it with your updated higher-capacity iPod via this wireless dock device that connects to your tv and speaker system. And when you leave the house, you just grab the iPod on your way out and you can still watch videos on the go. Bring the iPod over to a friend's, drop it in their wireless dock thingy, then watch it together.

Everything's on the iPod. Like we did with our CDs, we sell our DVD player and all our DVDs and replace them with digital versions. iPod becomes the center of digital entertainment. Game over.

Interesting idea...

Who's to say you wont be able to plug the iPod directly into the new AirPort?

if it is hd widescreen, you think it will support blu-ray?