iCal + Superdrive + Airport + TV tuner + mp4

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
= kickass iTV



After adding the TV premeire calendar to my iCal I had the following...oh... let's call it a vision...



1. TV schedule provided on iCal with quick "click to record" options and typical conflict alerts.

2. Built in TV tuner records TV in mp4.

3. Home network streams mp4 to whatever computer you want to watch it on.

4. Airport trasmits video and audio to new special receiver that you hook up to your TV/Stereo which has a mp4 decoder in it so you can watch recorded shows/DVDs on the couch instead of in front of Mac.

5. Shows you want to save can be burnt on Superdrive (conversion to mp2 required I believe).



IMO, Steve needs to come to grip with the reality that no matter what he thinks of TV, it is the majority of media we consume and deserves a spot in the digital hub.



Also, with Microsoft cozying up with big media Apple has an opportunity to capitalize on the market of tech savies and cyber-libertarians who aren't going to buy hobbled machines that don't let you record, rip, or burn the media you want.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    [quote]Originally posted by Nordstrodamus:

    <strong>= kickass iTV



    After adding the TV premeire calendar to my iCal I had the following...oh... let's call it a vision...



    1. TV schedule provided on iCal with quick "click to record" options and typical conflict alerts.

    2. Built in TV tuner records TV in mp4.

    3. Home network streams mp4 to whatever computer you want to watch it on.

    4. Airport trasmits video and audio to new special receiver that you hook up to your TV/Stereo which has a mp4 decoder in it so you can watch recorded shows/DVDs on the couch instead of in front of Mac.

    5. Shows you want to save can be burnt on Superdrive (conversion to mp2 required I believe).



    IMO, Steve needs to come to grip with the reality that no matter what he thinks of TV, it is the majority of media we consume and deserves a spot in the digital hub.



    Also, with Microsoft cozying up with big media Apple has an opportunity to capitalize on the market of tech savies and cyber-libertarians who aren't going to buy hobbled machines that don't let you record, rip, or burn the media you want.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Not sure whether iCal or Sherlock 3 is the better tool, my personal theory is Sherlock because of the extensibility but who knows?



    I had a similar theory a couple of months ago, where an Xserve form-factor device could be used as a "definitive" digital hub device. How does it work? I hear you ask, captivated by my sketchy concept.



    Mac + Sherlock3 gives EPG + User Interface

    Xhub gets two drive slots: 240GB sounds like a lot of home entertainment, 320GB sounds like more than enough.



    Remaining Xhub innards get filled with various std/option bits: 2 x FireWire ports, 1 x 1000-BaseT, 2 x USB 2.0 just for starters. Options will include virtual set-top box/codec cards for digital and analog signals, including HDTV and Satellite, as well as DTS and Dolby decoders.



    The unit would come as standard with a fast DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, thus allowing it to become the home's definitive audio jukebox and DVD player; this would be upgradable to a SuperDrive-class unit which would also burn CDs.



    Add in a standard POTS interface, and you have an answering machine as well.



    Build it around dual processor 800MHz G4s (there must be a few of those knocking around and I would have thought that Moto would welcome the business). Give it a cut-down remote management interface that you can dial-up or access through your copy of IE at work. The number of times I've been at work and remembered that I forgot to set the video for something.



    Sounds like the definitive home entertainment device to me.
  • Reply 2 of 13
    It would probably have a web interface, so you can set it up from anywhere in your home network, or (if you got DNS going) from ANYWHERE!



    It would have to be less deept than the Xserve and a little bit taller (to hold a Super Drive)



    Uhm, Apple would have to make it so you could not pirate things (DVDs) because otherwise they would have tons of problems. But, being able to record things off the TV would be fine,( Tivo Replay TV)



    this is a really really really good thing that Apple could really get into. Think about how many people liked the iPod, even WINDOWZ users... Yes, even windows users could use this because it would be built on standards (TCP/IP, Rendezvous, HTTP and HTML for configuration, MP4 and AAC for video and audio





    but yeah, Apple would have to make a really good way so people can not steal audio and video and especially DVDs, which is why it would be a HUB and not a computer... It would be like a Home theater reciever on steroids....





    and built in part with Philips <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
  • Reply 3 of 13
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    I'm not so sure about Apple making a PVR. In the past I was dead set against it because basically it would cost more than an eMac and not really make much of a useful commputer. Affordable hardware is not one of Apple's strengths. Look at the price of your average PVR and add the cost of your very expensive average set-top DVD video recorder and you get a very expensive machine.



    I think Apple is much better at providing software to exploit the hardware of it's computers. All we really need is a firewire breakout box and the right software and all the PVR/TV functions you could ever want would get into your mac a lot cheaper.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    [quote]Originally posted by Matsu:

    <strong>IAll we really need is a firewire breakout box and the right software and all the PVR/TV functions you could ever want would get into your mac a lot cheaper.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I agree that it would be better to offer the TV tuner/encoder as a firewire peripheral. Much better solution than apple's tactic of trying to get us to buy whole new computers to add features that are entirely upgradable (a la iDVD and the superdrive models).



    Also, I would gladly buy a full blown, media computer for my AV system (as fanaticRealist proposes), but my proposal is something more modest and, at the same time, more enabling. If Apple released simple wireless receiver/mp4 decoders to bridge the gap between your mac and your TV it could also simplify distributing media throughout your house. Imagine using your mac to manage all your TV shows and music, burn them to DVDs/CDs, and being able to access them from any TV/Stereo in the house.



    [ 09-16-2002: Message edited by: Nordstrodamus ]</p>
  • Reply 5 of 13
    You could build one machine to replace all of these:



    DVD recorder (HDTV progressive scan) $500

    PVR $400

    Set top box $100

    Digital Amplifier $300

    Unifified remote $200

    Browser on hdtv

    email on hdtv

    iCal etc



    It would be a lowish end mac with one or two pci cards ( for the tuner and digital sound in/out), along with a black box power amp with no controls. perhaps a control display lcd monitor.



    There is plenty of room here money wise. Also considering that my completely standard set-up of AV equipment still manages to baffle a programmer computer type like me.



    Sounds reasonable. Who can really figure out all of the remotes on current equipment? It all sucks bad as far as sony and the rest of them do it now.
  • Reply 6 of 13
    davegeedavegee Posts: 2,765member
    Well now Apple doesn't really need to make the whole thing...



    <a href="http://www.thinksecret.com/news/atiallinwonder.html"; target="_blank">http://www.thinksecret.com/news/atiallinwonder.html</a>;



    To make it really nice all Apple would need to do is work with (give 'hooks' to) the ATI folks.



    But even if they didn't ATI could still do it.... This would be a bit of a 'kludge' but all ATI would need to do is...



    1 - write scriptable tv viewer/recorder for the card

    2 - make TV data available in iCal format.

    3 - write a script/daemon that would tell the software to do it's thing when an event is 'confirmed'.



    On the end user side all they would need to do is fire up iCal and set the status to 'confirmed' for any programs they'd want to record.



    You'd have to use another method to record live tv but I imagine that would/should be done via the 'tv viewer app' itself (via a 'record' button next to the play pause channel up/down vol up/down etc)



    This would be too cool and I'll tell you what if ATI isn't smart enough to see it / do it then so long as their app is scriptable someone else will. This is just too good an idea.



    Dave



    [ 09-17-2002: Message edited by: DaveGee ]</p>
  • Reply 7 of 13
    [quote]Originally posted by DaveGee:

    <strong>

    But even if they didn't ATI could still do it.... This would be a bit of a 'kludge' but all ATI would need to do is...

    [ 09-17-2002: Message edited by: DaveGee ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I would probably buy even an ATI hacked together solution, but I think the real opportunity for Apple here is to apply their "ease of use" skills to avoid the kind of kludge that discourages adopters.



    Also, I think if Apple really fleshed out the program sharing capabilities, even facilitating sharing networks, they would really capitalize on the cyber-libertarian market. Given the success of napster (prior to the legal crunch) there is obviously a big market out there for this. If Apple did it right, the wouldn't be liable (a la iPod's half-assed copyprotection mechanisms).
  • Reply 8 of 13
    Too much TV leads to brain-rot, brain-rot leads to using Windows, which leads to loss of market share for Apple.



    There's not going to be a boob-toob Mac while Steve Jobs is in charge.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Aye, but given the technologies now in place an add in card or firewire plus software solution would be ridiculously easy for a 3rd party to provide.
  • Reply 10 of 13
    [quote]Originally posted by Junkyard Dawg:

    <strong>Too much TV leads to brain-rot, brain-rot leads to using Windows, which leads to loss of market share for Apple.



    There's not going to be a boob-toob Mac while Steve Jobs is in charge.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Screw Steve Jobs! He does not controle the lives of Mac users or third party developers. The only thing he can do is to keep Apple from directly profiting from a boob tube Mac. Matsu is correct.
  • Reply 11 of 13
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    By the same token, would people buy this solution in significant numbers to make it worthwhile? I think I would, but the quality of the cature would have to be very good and the ability to make VCD's and DVD's needs to be there.
  • Reply 12 of 13
    imudimud Posts: 140member
    This is what I am planning on getting soon: <a href="http://www.formac.com/p_bin/?cid=solutions_converters_studiodvtv"; target="_blank">http://www.formac.com/p_bin/?cid=solutions_converters_studiodvtv</a>;



    What do you think?
  • Reply 13 of 13
    addisonaddison Posts: 1,185member
    Who said that the iPod has to play music. How about the Vid-pod. Give it a colour screen and you could have a personal time-shift TV.
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