Well its actually a decent idea simply given the number of people that have an Xbox 360 compared to those with Apple TV. Most users already stream to and from their Xbox so if they could get the content and the price right its a decent idea.
And if they allow more features i.e. connecting to external hard drives which ATV2 doesn't, it might open up more options for ATV2 users instead of having to jailbreak. This is great news. More competition, the more Apple is forced to add features.
Seems like the part everyone is ignoring is the "is in early talks" part.
I seem to recall Apple being in various "talks", I think I specifically saw that they were trying to negotiate subscription services. The problem is getting the network money men to agree to anything that doesn't suck for the consumer.
Just because MS is talking doesn't mean anything will come of it, just because something comes of it doesn't mean it will be an attractive value proposition.
One difference between Apple and MS is that Apple probably wouldn't even bother with anything with too onerous terms, MS probably would. So we'll see.
I haven't watched a drama or sitcom in years. Even the simpsons; I stopped watching the new episodes right around the 11th season.
My point is, why are these companies trying to find new ways to get our money, selling us a product that sucks. I say no thanks to AppleTV, Xbox, Hulu, Google TV, etc.
right on! and i say NO to dyson vacuums! they SUCK!
Nicely done for a first post. Welcome to AI. I don't know about putting a BR in a Mac Pro as you state, unless you plan on running Windows since there are no BR drivers that I am aware of for OS X.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LionMage
This is a demonstrably false claim. I have built an AMD-based Windows PC with a Blu-Ray drive (can both burn and play back Blu-Ray), and I have also purchased an Asus laptop with built-in Blu-Ray drive. The Asus is an Intel Core i7, although it has ATI/AMD graphics (a Radeon Mobility HD 5730); the desktop I built is a Phenom II X4 940 system with an Asus AM2+ motherboard and a fairly run-of-the-mill LG BD-ROM burner.
Both systems do Blu-Ray playback exceptionally well, with no stuttering, hiccups, etc. And performance is just fine when not playing back or otherwise using the Blu-Ray capability. What you say about DRM is somewhat true, and to get the optimum experience for movie playback you need 100% certified components throughout the entire playback chain -- this means video card and monitor, for example, must support HDCP over whatever cabling you choose (DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc.)
However, when not using either system to play back movies, the DRM doesn't factor in at all. Even burning data discs to BD-R media is not impacted by DRM.
I hear where you're coming from on the Fair Use issue, but it's good to remember that few countries have liberal Fair Use laws the way the United States does. It's also good to remember that more and more studios have recognized the desire to obtain digital copies of movies, for instance to side-load on their iPod or to watch on their laptop computer without having a disc in the drive. So studios are putting digital copies on Blu-Ray releases, either on the BD disc itself (for side loading onto a PSP) or on a DVD that's packed in (for every other platform). I know this isn't perfect, but at least it's something, and it's often possible to do at least limited remixing of the digital copy, even if it's lower resolution.
It's the remixing and other transformative uses that are the ones the creative types care most about, and ironically these very applications are feared (rightly or wrongly) as a gateway to piracy or to distortion of the original artistic work.
The licensing requirements for Blu-Ray are bad, but guess what? They're just about as bad for DVD, even in this day and age -- we still don't have legitimate Linux software for viewing DVDs, unless you count Lindows/Linspire software that isn't mainstream and isn't open source.
Which is one of the reasons many tech folks went to Macs in the first place -- a UNIX operating system which can also run Photoshop and play DVDs, for example. I don't see any Mac users clamoring for Apple to take away their ability to watch DVDs, though. What I do see is Apple's steadfast refusal to include Blu-Ray drives on any Macs, forcing users to buy external drives or install Blu-Ray internal drives in an expensive Mac Pro. Some of us would like the option to watch BD movies on our MacBook Pros, and others would like to burn huge datasets (> 9 GB) to a single disc on their Mac Pros.
At any rate... I think your comments about Blu-Ray on computers are overblown. I have yet to see a single annoying pop-up message about third party hardware, or anything else. Maybe I can chalk that up to being super careful about selecting hardware when building a system, though I can't claim that for a laptop purchase.
Awesome if true! It's about time someone along the lines of Microsoft/Google/Apple to get real Internet TV moving, and also fend off the cable companies who in the greatest conflict of interest ever also happen to be the primary Internet access for huge sections of the country.
Then again watching how MS rolled over to the Music companies with the initial Zune release, I'm not holding my breath on them delivering something earth shattering or game changing
what does apple TV do that x-box and PS3 don't do?
Integrate with iTunes seamlessly. You can scoff all you want, but for $99 it's worth it for that alone. All of my digital content is in iTunes and I'm quite happy with it (well, I would be happier if I could break out podcasts and video files in to separate folders [on different volumes] but that's another show....)
My point is, why are these companies trying to find new ways to get our money, selling us a product that sucks. I say no thanks to AppleTV, Xbox, Hulu, Google TV, etc.
I enjoy my Apple TV because it lets me get to all kinds of interesting content that isn't from the traditional media companies - photo's I produce, podcasts (including video), Internet radio stations, YouTube...
I do use Netflix on it, and ironically I predominantly watch things made prior to the mid 90's... I'm having real fun catching up on the classics right now. I'm on a Hitchcock kick at the moment...
I think they would have rocked the world with the Courier if they had ever actually been serious about it.
Based on what? Other than having two screens and coming from Microsoft what about Courier was interesting to any but the techie geeks that fawned over it when it was "announced"? MS is lucky they didn't follow through with the yet another weird tablet metaphor grafted on top of a Windows desktop OS.
The author of this article seems terribly confused.
The Xbox 360 has permitted everything Apple TV has for years.
They're talking about adding a content subscription service, similar to Hulu Plus.
This has absolutely nothing to do with Apple TV. They're offering something Apple TV does not have, and probably never will have.
Which is the problem with AI writing articles about products that aren't made by Apple.
I'm not sure if it is a policy of AI that everything that appears on the site be related to Apple, but it certainly seems to be the case.
So the writers end up creating an article from the view point that everything in the world revolves around Apple.
Microsoft release a product... it's because of Apple.
Google buy a new company... they are scared of Apple.
RIM announce a software update... Apple!
A coffee grower in Brazil raises his price/tonne by 50c... yup, Apple did that.
The biggest problem is that if the article doesn't relate to Apple, the writer will contort the facts, omit them, or simply make them up to ensure that it does.
So if AI has all the credibility of a drunken hobo when writing about products that aren't Apple's, why bother?
I wish they would create a second stream of general tech articles and leave the Apple Insider articles to Apple news.
Who knows, when taking the requirement away to make everything relate to Apple, AI might may not just be one of the best tech sites for Apple news, but one of the best tech sites overall.
Integrate with iTunes seamlessly. You can scoff all you want, but for $99 it's worth it for that alone. All of my digital content is in iTunes and I'm quite happy with it (well, I would be happier if I could break out podcasts and video files in to separate folders [on different volumes] but that's another show....)
Agreed. The ATV (along with a new iMac) has replaced the Verizon FiOS set-top box, the DVD player and the old stereo system. I'm not much of a TV watcher at all; I just want to watch good movies (including the old classics), some documentaries from Nat Geo, History Channel, etc., and stream my iTunes content to the HDTV and the Bose home theater system. It's a really minimalistic setup but does everything I've ever really wanted and more. I'm sure more features will be added to the ATV as time goes by. I absolutely love it.
Also, the ATV performance has been better than I ever expected. I've read some comments here and there about movies taking hours to load and how they stutter or stop, etc., but I haven't had that problem at all. Movies start playing in seconds and I've never had to wait for things to load. I've been able to stop watching something, go onto watch something else, come back to the first program and resume where I left off. I've been able to skip around the chapters of movies as well without any hangups. Maybe I'm lucky (smokin' fast FiOS Internet service) but I've been perplexed by these comments about how long it takes to just start watching a movie from other ATV owners.
Agreed. The ATV (along with a new iMac) has replaced the Verizon FiOS set-top box, the DVD player and the old stereo system. I'm not much of a TV watcher at all; I just want to watch good movies (including the old classics), some documentaries from Nat Geo, History Channel, etc., and stream my iTunes content to the HDTV and the Bose home theater system.
What would your impression be of a cheap ($99 + HDDs) Apple iOS based NAS that:
* Mirrored content on a couple of hard drives for local backup
* Stored your media/iTunes library and streamed to network devices (iPod/iPhone/iPad/Apple TV/Macbook Air/Air Tunes etc)
* Was a shared TimeMachine
* Sync'd between all network devices. Possibly even user profile sync on iPad.
* Backed up important data (photos, documents etc) to Mobile Me cloud
* Had the ability to activate/sync/backup iDevices over-the-air (allowing for a desktop free home)
Would you like the idea of being able to switch off your Mac or does it not bother you to leave it running all the time?
Which is the problem with AI writing articles about products that aren't made by Apple.
I'm not sure if it is a policy of AI that everything that appears on the site be related to Apple, but it certainly seems to be the case.
So the writers end up creating an article from the view point that everything in the world revolves around Apple.
Microsoft release a product... it's because of Apple.
Google buy a new company... they are scared of Apple.
RIM announce a software update... Apple!
A coffee grower in Brazil raises his price/tonne by 50c... yup, Apple did that.
The biggest problem is that if the article doesn't relate to Apple, the writer will contort the facts, omit them, or simply make them up to ensure that it does.
So if AI has all the credibility of a drunken hobo when writing about products that aren't Apple's, why bother?
I wish they would create a second stream of general tech articles and leave the Apple Insider articles to Apple news.
Who knows, when taking the requirement away to make everything relate to Apple, AI might may not just be one of the best tech sites for Apple news, but one of the best tech sites overall.
Based on what? Other than having two screens and coming from Microsoft what about Courier was interesting to any but the techie geeks that fawned over it when it was "announced"? MS is lucky they didn't follow through with the yet another weird tablet metaphor grafted on top of a Windows desktop OS.
Hand writing input/recognition is a massive selling point. Especially to designers.
Just think how useful the iPad would be if you could use a more accurate pointing device to draw diagrams, input handwritten notes. Designers would lap it up!
How on earth is this Microsoft 'responding' to the Apple TV?
The X360 has sold many millions of units, vastly more than the Apple TV. The X360 has had the Zune movie/TV show/music store for a good while now, and it streams 1080p and has all your content available at all times in the cloud. Microsoft have also been streaming subscription TV services in the UK (Murdoch's 'Sky' service) for years.
So it seems rather than responding to the failed, feature-lite Apple TV, MS have in fact been doing this stuff for years.
I say this as someone who owns an Apple TV, and an X360, and a PS3. The Apple TV is a dust collection device, the X360 I use for gaming and 1080p movie rentals, and the PS3 is used for blu-ray playback and some streaming services. (in the UK we get a poor man's Netflix clone called LoveFilm)
Sorry Apple fanboys (again, I own an Apple TV, as well as an iPad, iPhone 4, Macbook etc), but the Apple TV is junk.
Xbox is still 60 decibels. I dislike a vacuum cleaner noise while watching anything.
The old ones were very noisy, I know as I've had many of them. (5 red rings of death!) The new slim one however is very quiet, particularly if you install disc based games to the HD. Then it's about as noisy as a PS3, which is to say, barely audible.
It hasn't red ringed/died yet either, so maybe they've finally fixed that little problem too. One can only hope.
Comments
Well its actually a decent idea simply given the number of people that have an Xbox 360 compared to those with Apple TV. Most users already stream to and from their Xbox so if they could get the content and the price right its a decent idea.
And if they allow more features i.e. connecting to external hard drives which ATV2 doesn't, it might open up more options for ATV2 users instead of having to jailbreak. This is great news. More competition, the more Apple is forced to add features.
I seem to recall Apple being in various "talks", I think I specifically saw that they were trying to negotiate subscription services. The problem is getting the network money men to agree to anything that doesn't suck for the consumer.
Just because MS is talking doesn't mean anything will come of it, just because something comes of it doesn't mean it will be an attractive value proposition.
One difference between Apple and MS is that Apple probably wouldn't even bother with anything with too onerous terms, MS probably would. So we'll see.
He's his father's son. (Or daughter)
he was commenting as he looked at my imac! lol
but he likes windows 7. and i certainly disagree with him on that...
I haven't watched a drama or sitcom in years. Even the simpsons; I stopped watching the new episodes right around the 11th season.
My point is, why are these companies trying to find new ways to get our money, selling us a product that sucks. I say no thanks to AppleTV, Xbox, Hulu, Google TV, etc.
right on! and i say NO to dyson vacuums! they SUCK!
This is a demonstrably false claim. I have built an AMD-based Windows PC with a Blu-Ray drive (can both burn and play back Blu-Ray), and I have also purchased an Asus laptop with built-in Blu-Ray drive. The Asus is an Intel Core i7, although it has ATI/AMD graphics (a Radeon Mobility HD 5730); the desktop I built is a Phenom II X4 940 system with an Asus AM2+ motherboard and a fairly run-of-the-mill LG BD-ROM burner.
Both systems do Blu-Ray playback exceptionally well, with no stuttering, hiccups, etc. And performance is just fine when not playing back or otherwise using the Blu-Ray capability. What you say about DRM is somewhat true, and to get the optimum experience for movie playback you need 100% certified components throughout the entire playback chain -- this means video card and monitor, for example, must support HDCP over whatever cabling you choose (DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc.)
However, when not using either system to play back movies, the DRM doesn't factor in at all. Even burning data discs to BD-R media is not impacted by DRM.
I hear where you're coming from on the Fair Use issue, but it's good to remember that few countries have liberal Fair Use laws the way the United States does. It's also good to remember that more and more studios have recognized the desire to obtain digital copies of movies, for instance to side-load on their iPod or to watch on their laptop computer without having a disc in the drive. So studios are putting digital copies on Blu-Ray releases, either on the BD disc itself (for side loading onto a PSP) or on a DVD that's packed in (for every other platform). I know this isn't perfect, but at least it's something, and it's often possible to do at least limited remixing of the digital copy, even if it's lower resolution.
It's the remixing and other transformative uses that are the ones the creative types care most about, and ironically these very applications are feared (rightly or wrongly) as a gateway to piracy or to distortion of the original artistic work.
The licensing requirements for Blu-Ray are bad, but guess what? They're just about as bad for DVD, even in this day and age -- we still don't have legitimate Linux software for viewing DVDs, unless you count Lindows/Linspire software that isn't mainstream and isn't open source.
Which is one of the reasons many tech folks went to Macs in the first place -- a UNIX operating system which can also run Photoshop and play DVDs, for example. I don't see any Mac users clamoring for Apple to take away their ability to watch DVDs, though. What I do see is Apple's steadfast refusal to include Blu-Ray drives on any Macs, forcing users to buy external drives or install Blu-Ray internal drives in an expensive Mac Pro. Some of us would like the option to watch BD movies on our MacBook Pros, and others would like to burn huge datasets (> 9 GB) to a single disc on their Mac Pros.
At any rate... I think your comments about Blu-Ray on computers are overblown. I have yet to see a single annoying pop-up message about third party hardware, or anything else. Maybe I can chalk that up to being super careful about selecting hardware when building a system, though I can't claim that for a laptop purchase.
Then again watching how MS rolled over to the Music companies with the initial Zune release, I'm not holding my breath on them delivering something earth shattering or game changing
what does apple TV do that x-box and PS3 don't do?
Integrate with iTunes seamlessly. You can scoff all you want, but for $99 it's worth it for that alone. All of my digital content is in iTunes and I'm quite happy with it (well, I would be happier if I could break out podcasts and video files in to separate folders [on different volumes] but that's another show....)
My point is, why are these companies trying to find new ways to get our money, selling us a product that sucks. I say no thanks to AppleTV, Xbox, Hulu, Google TV, etc.
I enjoy my Apple TV because it lets me get to all kinds of interesting content that isn't from the traditional media companies - photo's I produce, podcasts (including video), Internet radio stations, YouTube...
I do use Netflix on it, and ironically I predominantly watch things made prior to the mid 90's... I'm having real fun catching up on the classics right now. I'm on a Hitchcock kick at the moment...
I think they would have rocked the world with the Courier if they had ever actually been serious about it.
Based on what? Other than having two screens and coming from Microsoft what about Courier was interesting to any but the techie geeks that fawned over it when it was "announced"? MS is lucky they didn't follow through with the yet another weird tablet metaphor grafted on top of a Windows desktop OS.
More competition, the more Apple is forced to add features.
Yup, just like they were forced to release the iPod, iTunes, the iPhone and iPad
lol - these comments always slay me...
The author of this article seems terribly confused.
The Xbox 360 has permitted everything Apple TV has for years.
They're talking about adding a content subscription service, similar to Hulu Plus.
This has absolutely nothing to do with Apple TV. They're offering something Apple TV does not have, and probably never will have.
Which is the problem with AI writing articles about products that aren't made by Apple.
I'm not sure if it is a policy of AI that everything that appears on the site be related to Apple, but it certainly seems to be the case.
So the writers end up creating an article from the view point that everything in the world revolves around Apple.
Microsoft release a product... it's because of Apple.
Google buy a new company... they are scared of Apple.
RIM announce a software update... Apple!
A coffee grower in Brazil raises his price/tonne by 50c... yup, Apple did that.
The biggest problem is that if the article doesn't relate to Apple, the writer will contort the facts, omit them, or simply make them up to ensure that it does.
So if AI has all the credibility of a drunken hobo when writing about products that aren't Apple's, why bother?
I wish they would create a second stream of general tech articles and leave the Apple Insider articles to Apple news.
Who knows, when taking the requirement away to make everything relate to Apple, AI might may not just be one of the best tech sites for Apple news, but one of the best tech sites overall.
Integrate with iTunes seamlessly. You can scoff all you want, but for $99 it's worth it for that alone. All of my digital content is in iTunes and I'm quite happy with it (well, I would be happier if I could break out podcasts and video files in to separate folders [on different volumes] but that's another show....)
Agreed. The ATV (along with a new iMac) has replaced the Verizon FiOS set-top box, the DVD player and the old stereo system. I'm not much of a TV watcher at all; I just want to watch good movies (including the old classics), some documentaries from Nat Geo, History Channel, etc., and stream my iTunes content to the HDTV and the Bose home theater system. It's a really minimalistic setup but does everything I've ever really wanted and more. I'm sure more features will be added to the ATV as time goes by. I absolutely love it.
Also, the ATV performance has been better than I ever expected. I've read some comments here and there about movies taking hours to load and how they stutter or stop, etc., but I haven't had that problem at all. Movies start playing in seconds and I've never had to wait for things to load. I've been able to stop watching something, go onto watch something else, come back to the first program and resume where I left off. I've been able to skip around the chapters of movies as well without any hangups. Maybe I'm lucky (smokin' fast FiOS Internet service) but I've been perplexed by these comments about how long it takes to just start watching a movie from other ATV owners.
Agreed. The ATV (along with a new iMac) has replaced the Verizon FiOS set-top box, the DVD player and the old stereo system. I'm not much of a TV watcher at all; I just want to watch good movies (including the old classics), some documentaries from Nat Geo, History Channel, etc., and stream my iTunes content to the HDTV and the Bose home theater system.
What would your impression be of a cheap ($99 + HDDs) Apple iOS based NAS that:
* Mirrored content on a couple of hard drives for local backup
* Stored your media/iTunes library and streamed to network devices (iPod/iPhone/iPad/Apple TV/Macbook Air/Air Tunes etc)
* Was a shared TimeMachine
* Sync'd between all network devices. Possibly even user profile sync on iPad.
* Backed up important data (photos, documents etc) to Mobile Me cloud
* Had the ability to activate/sync/backup iDevices over-the-air (allowing for a desktop free home)
Would you like the idea of being able to switch off your Mac or does it not bother you to leave it running all the time?
Yeah, in areas Apple hasn't been much involved with - yet: game consoles, search, mapping (let me know when Bing offers street view)...
God let's hope apple does not get into games consoles...
"Sorry that game is not allowed on an apple console it has too much sex/violence..."
"Sorry that game is not allowed on an apple console as the character is not using an iPhone and that computer terminal is not a mac...."
Which is the problem with AI writing articles about products that aren't made by Apple.
I'm not sure if it is a policy of AI that everything that appears on the site be related to Apple, but it certainly seems to be the case.
So the writers end up creating an article from the view point that everything in the world revolves around Apple.
Microsoft release a product... it's because of Apple.
Google buy a new company... they are scared of Apple.
RIM announce a software update... Apple!
A coffee grower in Brazil raises his price/tonne by 50c... yup, Apple did that.
The biggest problem is that if the article doesn't relate to Apple, the writer will contort the facts, omit them, or simply make them up to ensure that it does.
So if AI has all the credibility of a drunken hobo when writing about products that aren't Apple's, why bother?
I wish they would create a second stream of general tech articles and leave the Apple Insider articles to Apple news.
Who knows, when taking the requirement away to make everything relate to Apple, AI might may not just be one of the best tech sites for Apple news, but one of the best tech sites overall.
Agreed, very well said.
Based on what? Other than having two screens and coming from Microsoft what about Courier was interesting to any but the techie geeks that fawned over it when it was "announced"? MS is lucky they didn't follow through with the yet another weird tablet metaphor grafted on top of a Windows desktop OS.
Hand writing input/recognition is a massive selling point. Especially to designers.
Just think how useful the iPad would be if you could use a more accurate pointing device to draw diagrams, input handwritten notes. Designers would lap it up!
Xbox is still 60 decibels. I dislike a vacuum cleaner noise while watching anything.
You mean it .... sucks?
The X360 has sold many millions of units, vastly more than the Apple TV. The X360 has had the Zune movie/TV show/music store for a good while now, and it streams 1080p and has all your content available at all times in the cloud. Microsoft have also been streaming subscription TV services in the UK (Murdoch's 'Sky' service) for years.
So it seems rather than responding to the failed, feature-lite Apple TV, MS have in fact been doing this stuff for years.
I say this as someone who owns an Apple TV, and an X360, and a PS3. The Apple TV is a dust collection device, the X360 I use for gaming and 1080p movie rentals, and the PS3 is used for blu-ray playback and some streaming services. (in the UK we get a poor man's Netflix clone called LoveFilm)
Sorry Apple fanboys (again, I own an Apple TV, as well as an iPad, iPhone 4, Macbook etc), but the Apple TV is junk.
Xbox is still 60 decibels. I dislike a vacuum cleaner noise while watching anything.
The old ones were very noisy, I know as I've had many of them. (5 red rings of death!) The new slim one however is very quiet, particularly if you install disc based games to the HD. Then it's about as noisy as a PS3, which is to say, barely audible.
It hasn't red ringed/died yet either, so maybe they've finally fixed that little problem too. One can only hope.