A new report says the next update to Apple TV will adopt the name iTV, while also dropping support for 1080p video output to standardize on 720p HDTV.
Continuing upon the Engadget rumor that the next generation Apple TV will move from a scaled down Mac running Front Row software to an iOS device that works like a screen-less iPod touch, the latest wrinkle says the new model will get its former "iTV" codename.
Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs originally introduced the device (a few months before it shipped) under the iTV name while noting that the company was still looking for a permanent name. Apple TV was subsequently released as Apple announced the iPhone in early 2007.
Kicking apps
Since then, Apple has built up the iTunes App Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices but left Apple TV to sit in maintenance mode, collecting few features and never getting an official SDK of its own that would enable third parties to extend its features.
By converting Apple TV into an iOS device, the company could erect a third new wing of apps in iTunes. The popularity of iPad (which has collected a portfolio of over 20,000 apps in just a few months) suggests tremendous potential for a TV-oriented iOS product.
Apple's ability to rapidly muscle into the market for portable gaming could similarly be repeated by giving existing App Store developers the ability to quickly port and optimize many of their existing games to work on HDTV sets, providing a very cheap alternative to more serious console gaming devices.
If released alongside iPod touch 4 expected next month, Apple could decisively leverage the current excitement surrounding iPad to inhale lots of HDTV users during the holiday season at a time when the growth of the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PS3, and Nintendo Wii are all maturing.
Taking names
Apple has also grown adept at taking names that appeared to belong to other companies. In 2007, "iPhone" was cordless telephone product owned by Cisco. Apple has since absorbed the rights to iPad (claimed by other hardware makers) and iOS (Cisco's router operating system).
That makes it more likely that Apple has the interest and capacity to begin using iTV, despite its trademarked use by UK broadcasters (the Independent Television Authority, a competitor to the BBC).
No 1080p in iTunes
The shift toward a smaller, cheaper device that uses network streaming rather than Apple TV's hard drive for local storage also likely necessitates using the same video output of iPhone 4 and iPad, which is 1024x768 (or perhaps the very similar 720p HDTV resolution).
Apple sells HD content in iTunes as 720p. Higher resolution 1080p is an alternative HD standard, but video experts note that the difference in resolution is not visible to users at a normal TV viewing distance unless the screen is larger than 55 inches.
For Apple's mass market users, a cheaper device that streams easy to buy and view HDTV content makes far more sense than the current Apple TV, which requires syncing with a local iTunes system or downloadable storage for rentals.
Such a device would seem to necessitate HDMI output, rather than the VGA output currently offered by iPhone 4 and iPad, as few HDTV sets or video projectors still support VGA-style inputs.
It costs $79 and streams 1080p. I think one aspect of the Apple box will be that it's just a plug. If they take an iPod Touch and get rid of the screen and battery with some power components, that thing will be tiny.
They can then just have an HDMI port on it. With internal bluetooth, it will find a Magic Trackpad and keyboard.
iPod Touch hardware is capable of 1080p so they may unlock it later but it's wise to test the waters with lower bandwidth media so it doesn't just bring down their network from the start.
As always, people will vote with their money. I personally don't see a lack of 1080p being an issue at all. I agree to an extent with the marketing mentioned above where consumers gravitate towards matching marketing terms if they've invested in higher definition TVs but 720p is still HD so they can call it iHDTV and get round the naming problem and hide the 720p aspect like they did with the amount of RAM in the iPad.
THE TOUCHPAD in your livingroom with the Apps and iTV. Apple has found the next best thing to the holy grail. Games internet and the whole ball of wax.
I'm convinced they are going to do a Wiimote clone. The magic touchpad would totally suck for something like this.
I'm convinced they are going to do a Wiimote clone. The magic touchpad would totally suck for something like this.
It would be no worse than plugging your computer into the TV and using it at a large scale. I think the biggest issue would be cost. The device will absolutely need a primary controller and to bundle one that costs almost as much as the device doesn't make much sense - maybe if they do a $149 deal - but a much cheaper motion wand would make much more sense price-wise.
I just think the tablet would work very well. Wii-motes aren't bad but I don't find them to be good for everything like say they enabled browsing, how do you zoom in, how do you scroll? I guess they could have a metal wand with a touch surface like the iPod Shuffle.
It would be no worse than plugging your computer into the TV and using it at a large scale. I think the biggest issue would be cost. The device will absolutely need a primary controller and to bundle one that costs almost as much as the device doesn't make much sense - maybe if they do a $149 deal - but a much cheaper motion wand would make much more sense price-wise.
I just think the tablet would work very well. Wii-motes aren't bad but I don't find them to be good for everything like say they enabled browsing, how do you zoom in, how do you scroll? I guess they could have a metal wand with a touch surface like the iPod Shuffle.
And it would feel like having a computer plugged into the TV, only a little less comfortable because of position of the track pad and the screen. Not great if they want to really push Apple TV as a "new" product.
The track pad simply wouldn't work for gaming either. It seems the track pad would work for a few scenarios but overall the Wiimote clone would be better.
There are a bunch of ways to implement different actions using the Wiimote.
Zoom in/out could be accomplished by clicking and moving the remote towards/away from the screen.
Rotation could be a click and then rotate the remote left or right.
Context menus could be accessed with a click and hold or secondary button click
Swiping/scrolling is the same as the iPhone/iPad... either click and drag or click and "flick".
Two finger swiping could be accomplished with a simultaneous primary and secondary button press
Three and four finger swiping would be hard to implement though!!
And it would feel like having a computer plugged into the TV, only a little less comfortable because of position of the track pad and the screen. Not great if they want to really push Apple TV as a "new" product.
I reckon it would be similar to how the iPad works with the Magic Trackpad:
It probably wouldn't have the mouse cursor but icons would highlight and the movement would simply move the highlighted app and just tap to launch.
If you were browsing a website, areas would similarly highlight and dragging over the surface would move the highlight and the highlight would always be on an object within your current view.
The same thing can happen with a remote though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Firefly7475
The track pad simply wouldn't work for gaming either. It seems the track pad would work for a few scenarios but overall the Wiimote clone would be better.
I don't think either will work well for games as they all have some on-screen buttons but if they put a gyroscope in the remote, it would probably work just fine for games like Monkey Ball and even the racing games which you couldn't do with the trackpad.
If they made the remote with a touch surface, it removes most advantages of the Magic Trackpad. If they just put the same number of buttons as the current metal one, any gestures can be covered by button presses combined with the movement.
From the cost and movement aspect, I agree that the remote would be the better controller to bundle with the new ATV. They may allow the other peripherals to connect to it depending on the connection protocol. If this is still IR, they may not make an ATV plug due to line-of-sight issues, which makes me wonder if the remote will get a switch to Bluetooth.
There is no way in the world Apple would ever release something like that for the Apple TV!! Even if they could make it functional it would be way to boring to sell!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin
I don't think either will work well for games as they all have some on-screen buttons but if they put a gyroscope in the remote, it would probably work just fine for games like Monkey Ball and even the racing games which you couldn't do with the trackpad.
73M Wii systems sold at around $200 each tells me a Wiimote clone would work for games!
The Wiimote already has a gyroscope/accelerometer, or at least it does with the Motion Plus addon. Apple could add a digital compass in there as well... I'm not sure how it would be used though.
Apple could also have the surface of the remote touch enabled (i.e. like the Magic Mouse) or even dynamic buttons (who know maybe that is what this thing is for!!). The core experience would still be controlled via pointing with the remote however as multi-touch has a limited use when you're actually holding the device in one hand!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin
They may allow the other peripherals to connect to it depending on the connection protocol. If this is still IR, they may not make an ATV plug due to line-of-sight issues, which makes me wonder if the remote will get a switch to Bluetooth.
They will almost certainly allow devices to connect via Bluetooth. For example a remote keyboard application on the iPhone\\iPad or multiple iDevices connected together for some kind of gaming experience.
The main controller would still be the Wiimote clone however.
I bought an aTV for exactly these reasons too, and I recall that back in 2006 (before the aTV first came out) this aspect was the focus of some debate in the rumour mill. I would hope that Apple does not make the device totally dependant on local streaming that there is at least an option to attach a USB drive and use this for local storage.
If Apple doesnt do this out of the box, I guess that someone would release a liberating hack, providing of course that the device has a USB port....
Glad someone agrees with me and isn't completely hung up on the resolution debate which quite frankly is irrelvant to joe public. Ask anyone on the street whether they know what 720p is or 1080p and I bet they won't have a clue.
Would be disappointed if a local hard drive was only available with a hack as I am always a bit nervous about hacking stuff.
Fingers crossed we get just an updated and uprated version of what we've got now !
73M Wii systems sold at around $200 each tells me a Wiimote clone would work for games!
I should have said for current games as they are but they can certainly be reworked. The Wi-mote has 11 control buttons though, I can't see Apple including that many. That's one advantage with touch - you can make as many as you like on the screen. Although you can add touch buttons to the remote and a small LCD, people would need to be looking at the TV screen.
You could just touch the surface in different areas I guess but the physical buttons on the current remote would work better - they'd just need more.
Are you sure about this? or is it 1080i, like iTV's HD broadcasts and the BBC's HD broadcasts?
In the US, broadcasts are pretty much all 720p or 1080i - over the air are MPEG-2, which is far less efficient than today's h.264. But there is little, if any, 1080p content other than Blu-ray.
DirecTV has a bunch of HD PPV channels in 1080p. My assumption is that they're doing 1080/24p to save on bandwidth.
Jó napot.
Can you please mention me to your HD Dvr number and area code, because at our site not a single 1080p channel available, and how can we get 1080p quality.
Comments
A new report says the next update to Apple TV will adopt the name iTV, while also dropping support for 1080p video output to standardize on 720p HDTV.
Continuing upon the Engadget rumor that the next generation Apple TV will move from a scaled down Mac running Front Row software to an iOS device that works like a screen-less iPod touch, the latest wrinkle says the new model will get its former "iTV" codename.
Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs originally introduced the device (a few months before it shipped) under the iTV name while noting that the company was still looking for a permanent name. Apple TV was subsequently released as Apple announced the iPhone in early 2007.
Kicking apps
Since then, Apple has built up the iTunes App Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices but left Apple TV to sit in maintenance mode, collecting few features and never getting an official SDK of its own that would enable third parties to extend its features.
By converting Apple TV into an iOS device, the company could erect a third new wing of apps in iTunes. The popularity of iPad (which has collected a portfolio of over 20,000 apps in just a few months) suggests tremendous potential for a TV-oriented iOS product.
Apple's ability to rapidly muscle into the market for portable gaming could similarly be repeated by giving existing App Store developers the ability to quickly port and optimize many of their existing games to work on HDTV sets, providing a very cheap alternative to more serious console gaming devices.
If released alongside iPod touch 4 expected next month, Apple could decisively leverage the current excitement surrounding iPad to inhale lots of HDTV users during the holiday season at a time when the growth of the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PS3, and Nintendo Wii are all maturing.
Taking names
Apple has also grown adept at taking names that appeared to belong to other companies. In 2007, "iPhone" was cordless telephone product owned by Cisco. Apple has since absorbed the rights to iPad (claimed by other hardware makers) and iOS (Cisco's router operating system).
That makes it more likely that Apple has the interest and capacity to begin using iTV, despite its trademarked use by UK broadcasters (the Independent Television Authority, a competitor to the BBC).
No 1080p in iTunes
The shift toward a smaller, cheaper device that uses network streaming rather than Apple TV's hard drive for local storage also likely necessitates using the same video output of iPhone 4 and iPad, which is 1024x768 (or perhaps the very similar 720p HDTV resolution).
Apple sells HD content in iTunes as 720p. Higher resolution 1080p is an alternative HD standard, but video experts note that the difference in resolution is not visible to users at a normal TV viewing distance unless the screen is larger than 55 inches.
For Apple's mass market users, a cheaper device that streams easy to buy and view HDTV content makes far more sense than the current Apple TV, which requires syncing with a local iTunes system or downloadable storage for rentals.
Such a device would seem to necessitate HDMI output, rather than the VGA output currently offered by iPhone 4 and iPad, as few HDTV sets or video projectors still support VGA-style inputs.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Two steps forward, one step back, eh?
Or a political move to downplay one of blu ray's strengths while also easing their data center load?
I guess I wont be getting one.
I guess I wont be getting one.
Not even for $99? The sort of device that it's going against would be the Asus O! Play:
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Play-Medi...erbuilder.com/
It costs $79 and streams 1080p. I think one aspect of the Apple box will be that it's just a plug. If they take an iPod Touch and get rid of the screen and battery with some power components, that thing will be tiny.
They can then just have an HDMI port on it. With internal bluetooth, it will find a Magic Trackpad and keyboard.
iPod Touch hardware is capable of 1080p so they may unlock it later but it's wise to test the waters with lower bandwidth media so it doesn't just bring down their network from the start.
As always, people will vote with their money. I personally don't see a lack of 1080p being an issue at all. I agree to an extent with the marketing mentioned above where consumers gravitate towards matching marketing terms if they've invested in higher definition TVs but 720p is still HD so they can call it iHDTV and get round the naming problem and hide the 720p aspect like they did with the amount of RAM in the iPad.
THE TOUCHPAD in your livingroom with the Apps and iTV. Apple has found the next best thing to the holy grail. Games internet and the whole ball of wax.
I'm convinced they are going to do a Wiimote clone. The magic touchpad would totally suck for something like this.
Yep. Nobody can really see 1080p except for a tiny, tiny percentage who have gigantic tv sets.
Apple is smart to get rid of the useless 1080p frmat.
nahh..i like my 1080p and dont want 720p unless i have to...I do have a TV that it makes a difference on too tho...
I'm convinced they are going to do a Wiimote clone. The magic touchpad would totally suck for something like this.
It would be no worse than plugging your computer into the TV and using it at a large scale. I think the biggest issue would be cost. The device will absolutely need a primary controller and to bundle one that costs almost as much as the device doesn't make much sense - maybe if they do a $149 deal - but a much cheaper motion wand would make much more sense price-wise.
I just think the tablet would work very well. Wii-motes aren't bad but I don't find them to be good for everything like say they enabled browsing, how do you zoom in, how do you scroll? I guess they could have a metal wand with a touch surface like the iPod Shuffle.
It would be no worse than plugging your computer into the TV and using it at a large scale. I think the biggest issue would be cost. The device will absolutely need a primary controller and to bundle one that costs almost as much as the device doesn't make much sense - maybe if they do a $149 deal - but a much cheaper motion wand would make much more sense price-wise.
I just think the tablet would work very well. Wii-motes aren't bad but I don't find them to be good for everything like say they enabled browsing, how do you zoom in, how do you scroll? I guess they could have a metal wand with a touch surface like the iPod Shuffle.
And it would feel like having a computer plugged into the TV, only a little less comfortable because of position of the track pad and the screen. Not great if they want to really push Apple TV as a "new" product.
The track pad simply wouldn't work for gaming either. It seems the track pad would work for a few scenarios but overall the Wiimote clone would be better.
There are a bunch of ways to implement different actions using the Wiimote.
And it would feel like having a computer plugged into the TV, only a little less comfortable because of position of the track pad and the screen. Not great if they want to really push Apple TV as a "new" product.
I reckon it would be similar to how the iPad works with the Magic Trackpad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-GfY7nfLpQ
It probably wouldn't have the mouse cursor but icons would highlight and the movement would simply move the highlighted app and just tap to launch.
If you were browsing a website, areas would similarly highlight and dragging over the surface would move the highlight and the highlight would always be on an object within your current view.
The same thing can happen with a remote though.
The track pad simply wouldn't work for gaming either. It seems the track pad would work for a few scenarios but overall the Wiimote clone would be better.
I don't think either will work well for games as they all have some on-screen buttons but if they put a gyroscope in the remote, it would probably work just fine for games like Monkey Ball and even the racing games which you couldn't do with the trackpad.
If they made the remote with a touch surface, it removes most advantages of the Magic Trackpad. If they just put the same number of buttons as the current metal one, any gestures can be covered by button presses combined with the movement.
From the cost and movement aspect, I agree that the remote would be the better controller to bundle with the new ATV. They may allow the other peripherals to connect to it depending on the connection protocol. If this is still IR, they may not make an ATV plug due to line-of-sight issues, which makes me wonder if the remote will get a switch to Bluetooth.
I reckon it would be similar to how the iPad works with the Magic Trackpad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-GfY7nfLpQ
There is no way in the world Apple would ever release something like that for the Apple TV!!
I don't think either will work well for games as they all have some on-screen buttons but if they put a gyroscope in the remote, it would probably work just fine for games like Monkey Ball and even the racing games which you couldn't do with the trackpad.
73M Wii systems sold at around $200 each tells me a Wiimote clone would work for games!
The Wiimote already has a gyroscope/accelerometer, or at least it does with the Motion Plus addon. Apple could add a digital compass in there as well... I'm not sure how it would be used though.
Apple could also have the surface of the remote touch enabled (i.e. like the Magic Mouse) or even dynamic buttons (who know maybe that is what this thing is for!!). The core experience would still be controlled via pointing with the remote however as multi-touch has a limited use when you're actually holding the device in one hand!
They may allow the other peripherals to connect to it depending on the connection protocol. If this is still IR, they may not make an ATV plug due to line-of-sight issues, which makes me wonder if the remote will get a switch to Bluetooth.
They will almost certainly allow devices to connect via Bluetooth. For example a remote keyboard application on the iPhone\\iPad or multiple iDevices connected together for some kind of gaming experience.
The main controller would still be the Wiimote clone however.
I think this shows Apple are on the right track.
I bought an aTV for exactly these reasons too, and I recall that back in 2006 (before the aTV first came out) this aspect was the focus of some debate in the rumour mill. I would hope that Apple does not make the device totally dependant on local streaming that there is at least an option to attach a USB drive and use this for local storage.
If Apple doesnt do this out of the box, I guess that someone would release a liberating hack, providing of course that the device has a USB port....
Glad someone agrees with me and isn't completely hung up on the resolution debate which quite frankly is irrelvant to joe public. Ask anyone on the street whether they know what 720p is or 1080p and I bet they won't have a clue.
Would be disappointed if a local hard drive was only available with a hack as I am always a bit nervous about hacking stuff.
Fingers crossed we get just an updated and uprated version of what we've got now !
73M Wii systems sold at around $200 each tells me a Wiimote clone would work for games!
I should have said for current games as they are but they can certainly be reworked. The Wi-mote has 11 control buttons though, I can't see Apple including that many. That's one advantage with touch - you can make as many as you like on the screen. Although you can add touch buttons to the remote and a small LCD, people would need to be looking at the TV screen.
You could just touch the surface in different areas I guess but the physical buttons on the current remote would work better - they'd just need more.
Thanks in Advance