I wonder if CarPlay is an indication of Apple moving more towards providing integration APIs for other manufacturers. Would be a great boon for iDevices if they could AirPlay content to any generic TV out of the box without the need for an aTV puck.
The aTV would still be needed for standalone access to the iTunes Store and any apps.
Interesting thought, but what if the Apple TV (not an iDevice) worked just like CarPlay to overlay atop of all televisions no matter what input was chosen. That would eliminate, for me, one of my biggest gripes about using the Apple TV.
Or would it just be easier for Apple to include an HDMI-passthrough on the Apple TV to get the same effect?
It is a pretty sweet technology. It has nothing to do with bunny ears unless you want it to. You hook up your cable or any NTSC video source to it and it plays TV on your Mac.
Elgato used to be good but the cable companies' (Comcast in my case) drive toward encrypted digital channels for all cable broadcast signals (both analog and HD) has pretty much blown Elgato away. I have three of the older analog/digital Elgato tuners that still work fine but no longer are hooked up to my cable. To view and record HD shows on two iMacs and a MacBook, I'm now using three small flat indoor amplified HDTV antennas, which will pull in several dozen ATSC channels in the Chicago area.
Before 2010, Comcast was pretty much unencrypted except for some of the premium services like HBO and Showtime. Then they began to encrypt most everything except the local HD broadcast signals from the OTA (over-the-air) stations, as well as their analog channels. In 2012 they proceeded to encrypt everything. In addition to their rental DVR cable boxes that were needed for HDTVs, now we needed a separate box for everything. They're called DTAs (Digital Transport Adapters), and of course they're renting those to customers, too. Today, if you want to watch anything here over cable, you must have a set top box. The tuner built into the TV is totally useless, unless you want to forego cable and use your own antenna.
When Comcast encrypted everything, I bought the indoor antennas and switched the Elgatos to them instead of cable. I still find plenty of OTA content that I like and record to one of my Mac hard drives. I can then play any of those shows from any of the Macs on any TV in the house, using the AppleTV connected to that TV and Airplay. Not so lucky with the other HD content, which I'm limited to recording and playing on the one Comcast DVR hooked up to our home entertainment center.
The current eyeTV tuner products are crippled compared to the old days. You probably would need a separate HD box from your cable company, since common set top boxes like the Motorola DCH3416 only allow one set of outputs to function at a time. If you're using an HDMI output to your TV, the 3416 won't allow you to use a component output to an eyeTV device at the same time.
If you want to assign blame, look to the cable companies. They have always gone into spasms over piracy and they want to make sure they collect every last dime for the cable content going into your home. What gives them nightmares is that someone like Apple might disrupt their industry, and they've been doing their best to slam the door shut on any of that.
Jobs has been widely quoted as saying he was pleased to have cracked the Apple TV. People jumped to conclusions, and Samsung even wasted a load of money on bringing a computer connected TV out. Even before Apple Jobs and Woz were well known practical jokers when it came to TVs; why would he not want to have some more fun letting people believe what they wanted to?
The Apple TV was the name of its set top box for the TV, which DID have a serious improvement take place in its design and functioning. So yes, he did "crack the Apple TV." It just wasn't what people thought it would be.
One could say the same about pretty much anything Apple is in. A $99 box doesn't move the needle on $170 billion revenue base unless you can get a lot more people buying the $99 box and a reason for them to upgrade it ever 2-3 years.
They could go either way, but you ignore some key things about the $99 box. One is that they called it a hobby so that it wouldn't be heavily scrutinized. I'll dig up the quote if you like. The other is that they reuse an existing arm chip to make these. Given that it has one core turned off, it may be constructed from lower binned chips. Either way the cost to create and maintain the set top boxes must be favorable or they would have gone away along ago.
One could say the same about pretty much anything Apple is in. A $99 box doesn't move the needle on $170 billion revenue base unless you can get a lot more people buying the $99 box and a reason for them to upgrade it ever 2-3 years.
Remember the analogy questions on the SAT and ACT? Razor is to blade as Apple TV is to iTunes.
Why is elperro extolling the virtues of elgato? Talk about irony
El Perro has since crossed the Bridge, but he was a genial three-legged (due to bone cancer) 85-pound greyhound who lived peaceably with four El Gatos that are Maine Coons. His name was Gary and he was the Will Rodgers of dogdom. Never another human or dog that he didn't like.
So if you have of said 6 months ago that Apple was going into the Auto Market, people would have said that was a terrible business too?
Out comes CarPlay. Take the Apple ecosystem to a majority of the worlds cars, without needing to BUILD and sell the cars?
So when Apple says the television is "terrible business" from a manufacturing point of view this is probably true.
What if the "cracked it" idea is along the same line?
They develop iOS for the TV (ios on a chip) that TV manufacturers can use to run their "dumb TV's"
Would sure piss Samsung off and potentially eat massively into their market share if, (LG, Sharp, Hisense, Vizo, etc, etc) were able to produce a TV panel with apple UI?
Would also introduce a massive market to the apple eco system.
Out comes CarPlay. What if the “cracked it" idea is along the same line? They develop iOS for the TV (ios on a chip) that TV manufacturers can use to run their "dumb TV's"
“iOS in the TV”… is not a terrible idea, except that it puts pricing in the hands of TV manufacturers who will also have a vested interest in not serving only Apple’s needs. And that means hardware support for external boxes and cable inputs, which Apple wouldn’t welcome.
I agree is takes alot of the control out of apples hands, but puts the apple ecosystem into more homes = itunes purchases = $.
Carplay is the same boat really when it comes to pricing. Ferrari and Honda will be priced differently and doesn't really reflect on CarPlay. I'm sure apple would have agreements for manufacturers on who can use it, otherwise what makes it any different to android with phone and tablet market?
I agree is takes alot of the control out of apples hands, but puts the apple ecosystem into more homes = itunes purchases = $.
But with the drastic downward sales trend in HDTVs (coupled with their increased lifespans), does it not make more sense to have a simple external box that can be sold to all existing televisions (rather than potential future ones) instead?
Comments
Interesting thought, but what if the Apple TV (not an iDevice) worked just like CarPlay to overlay atop of all televisions no matter what input was chosen. That would eliminate, for me, one of my biggest gripes about using the Apple TV.
Or would it just be easier for Apple to include an HDMI-passthrough on the Apple TV to get the same effect?
Have you ever used an eyeTV?
It is a pretty sweet technology. It has nothing to do with bunny ears unless you want it to. You hook up your cable or any NTSC video source to it and it plays TV on your Mac.
Elgato used to be good but the cable companies' (Comcast in my case) drive toward encrypted digital channels for all cable broadcast signals (both analog and HD) has pretty much blown Elgato away. I have three of the older analog/digital Elgato tuners that still work fine but no longer are hooked up to my cable. To view and record HD shows on two iMacs and a MacBook, I'm now using three small flat indoor amplified HDTV antennas, which will pull in several dozen ATSC channels in the Chicago area.
Before 2010, Comcast was pretty much unencrypted except for some of the premium services like HBO and Showtime. Then they began to encrypt most everything except the local HD broadcast signals from the OTA (over-the-air) stations, as well as their analog channels. In 2012 they proceeded to encrypt everything. In addition to their rental DVR cable boxes that were needed for HDTVs, now we needed a separate box for everything. They're called DTAs (Digital Transport Adapters), and of course they're renting those to customers, too. Today, if you want to watch anything here over cable, you must have a set top box. The tuner built into the TV is totally useless, unless you want to forego cable and use your own antenna.
When Comcast encrypted everything, I bought the indoor antennas and switched the Elgatos to them instead of cable. I still find plenty of OTA content that I like and record to one of my Mac hard drives. I can then play any of those shows from any of the Macs on any TV in the house, using the AppleTV connected to that TV and Airplay. Not so lucky with the other HD content, which I'm limited to recording and playing on the one Comcast DVR hooked up to our home entertainment center.
The current eyeTV tuner products are crippled compared to the old days. You probably would need a separate HD box from your cable company, since common set top boxes like the Motorola DCH3416 only allow one set of outputs to function at a time. If you're using an HDMI output to your TV, the 3416 won't allow you to use a component output to an eyeTV device at the same time.
If you want to assign blame, look to the cable companies. They have always gone into spasms over piracy and they want to make sure they collect every last dime for the cable content going into your home. What gives them nightmares is that someone like Apple might disrupt their industry, and they've been doing their best to slam the door shut on any of that.
Why is elperro extolling the virtues of elgato? Talk about irony
The Apple TV was the name of its set top box for the TV, which DID have a serious improvement take place in its design and functioning. So yes, he did "crack the Apple TV." It just wasn't what people thought it would be.
One could say the same about pretty much anything Apple is in. A $99 box doesn't move the needle on $170 billion revenue base unless you can get a lot more people buying the $99 box and a reason for them to upgrade it ever 2-3 years.
They could go either way, but you ignore some key things about the $99 box. One is that they called it a hobby so that it wouldn't be heavily scrutinized. I'll dig up the quote if you like. The other is that they reuse an existing arm chip to make these. Given that it has one core turned off, it may be constructed from lower binned chips. Either way the cost to create and maintain the set top boxes must be favorable or they would have gone away along ago.
One could say the same about pretty much anything Apple is in. A $99 box doesn't move the needle on $170 billion revenue base unless you can get a lot more people buying the $99 box and a reason for them to upgrade it ever 2-3 years.
Remember the analogy questions on the SAT and ACT? Razor is to blade as Apple TV is to iTunes.
El Perro has since crossed the Bridge, but he was a genial three-legged (due to bone cancer) 85-pound greyhound who lived peaceably with four El Gatos that are Maine Coons. His name was Gary and he was the Will Rodgers of dogdom. Never another human or dog that he didn't like.
Out comes CarPlay. Take the Apple ecosystem to a majority of the worlds cars, without needing to BUILD and sell the cars?
So when Apple says the television is "terrible business" from a manufacturing point of view this is probably true.
What if the "cracked it" idea is along the same line?
They develop iOS for the TV (ios on a chip) that TV manufacturers can use to run their "dumb TV's"
Would sure piss Samsung off and potentially eat massively into their market share if, (LG, Sharp, Hisense, Vizo, etc, etc) were able to produce a TV panel with apple UI?
Would also introduce a massive market to the apple eco system.
...
“iOS in the TV”… is not a terrible idea, except that it puts pricing in the hands of TV manufacturers who will also have a vested interest in not serving only Apple’s needs. And that means hardware support for external boxes and cable inputs, which Apple wouldn’t welcome.
But more ideas and more people like you. Welcome.
I agree is takes alot of the control out of apples hands, but puts the apple ecosystem into more homes = itunes purchases = $.
Carplay is the same boat really when it comes to pricing. Ferrari and Honda will be priced differently and doesn't really reflect on CarPlay. I'm sure apple would have agreements for manufacturers on who can use it, otherwise what makes it any different to android with phone and tablet market?
But with the drastic downward sales trend in HDTVs (coupled with their increased lifespans), does it not make more sense to have a simple external box that can be sold to all existing televisions (rather than potential future ones) instead?