Airpot Express Version 2 & Version 3
Here is what I would like to see for the next versions of Airport Express. I foresee the Airport Express as the new hardware component for the iLife software suite.
AE will need to be able to plug into Video components too.
Version #2
iTunes: Be able to stream music to multiple sources at the same time.
iMovie: Stream iMovies to your Television by the same method used in iTunes. Start with only 1 tv at a time though.
iDVD: Stream iDVD's to tv when you click the Presentation button in iDVD.
iPhoto: Be able to Stream iPhoto Slide shows w/ music to TV.
GarageBand: No need to stream GarageBand at this time due to ability of Garageband to do a quick Mixdown and import into iTunes.
Quicktime: Stream QT audio and video files to AE and therefor onto TV and Stereo.
AirPort Express Version #3
Apple DVD Player: Be able to stream a DVD movie to AE and therefor any TV in the house.
By adding these features, anyone with a tivo wouldn't need the Photo or music player anymore. Even though they are now giving it away for free when they used to charge $100.
Any thoughts on additional features for Version #2 or #3. I have not thought about Version #4 yet.
AE will need to be able to plug into Video components too.
Version #2
iTunes: Be able to stream music to multiple sources at the same time.
iMovie: Stream iMovies to your Television by the same method used in iTunes. Start with only 1 tv at a time though.
iDVD: Stream iDVD's to tv when you click the Presentation button in iDVD.
iPhoto: Be able to Stream iPhoto Slide shows w/ music to TV.
GarageBand: No need to stream GarageBand at this time due to ability of Garageband to do a quick Mixdown and import into iTunes.
Quicktime: Stream QT audio and video files to AE and therefor onto TV and Stereo.
AirPort Express Version #3
Apple DVD Player: Be able to stream a DVD movie to AE and therefor any TV in the house.
By adding these features, anyone with a tivo wouldn't need the Photo or music player anymore. Even though they are now giving it away for free when they used to charge $100.
Any thoughts on additional features for Version #2 or #3. I have not thought about Version #4 yet.
Comments
only chance is when Tiger comes with the new MPEG 4, and even then, the demand would be pretty high for the bandwidth available
When I travel on business I can use it in hotel rooms and take it to an internet cafe (which are generally PCs).
The portability factor is what makes it such an elegant design. It is also the factor that will limit how it can be expanded, and that is not a "Bad Thing". Expanding functionality would be something for the original Airport base station design, or a "one more thing" in a Steve J keynote.
Originally posted by kenaustus
...When I travel on business I can use it in hotel rooms and take it to an internet cafe (which are generally PCs)...
Why would you need to use it in an internet cafe? If you have an 802 clompliant card (Airport card) in your laptop and they have an 802 compliant network you should be able to link up to it with your laptop weather you have a Mac or a PC right?
Originally posted by Zab The Fab
802.11n will have tripple the bandwith...in 2006! This has just been announced!
Can you give some short details, please? For example frequency range - will it still be 2,4 GHz (and thus backwards compatible) or will share the band with 802.11a?
Originally posted by RolandG
Can you give some short details, please? For example frequency range - will it still be 2,4 GHz (and thus backwards compatible) or will share the band with 802.11a?
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3379371
This morning, Agere Systems of Allentown, Penn., a maker of 802.11 silicon, said it's working to create a 500Mbps data-rate that would drive the 802.11n standard. This technology would use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques and 40MHz channel width to get its speed, but dummying back down to the 20MHz channels used today for backwards compatibility. Using a 2x2 MIMO antenna (with two receivers on one end and two transmitters on the other), it would deliver a 250Mbps data-rate. With an optional 4x4 MIMO, the data-rate would approach 500Mbps.
"We want to make sure the coverage is robust enough for the whole home," says Mary Cramer, Agere's strategic marketing manager and the company's representative to TGn. "Starting with 250Mbps gives a better chance to get 100Mb through the whole home. Some of the opposing proposals only squeak that through in a lab."
She clarifies that this isn't channel bonding, a technique used in chips by Atheros (Quote, Chart) that combine use of two channels to increase throughput. "It's two channels next to each other, but you fill the space in between them with data," says Cramer.
The key is the 40MHz on every device, she says. The other major competing proposal (see below) would stick with 20MHz to ensure backwards compatibility. Some countries, like Japan, don't allow use of signals for WLANs outside of the 20MHz channel, so TGn Sync [not spelled "TG nSynch" as previously reported] will have to dummy back to it for worldwide support anyway.
And
http://www.airgonetworks.com/
For mor MIMO info.
As for audio and video the issue is bandwidth. The reason why you can't stream audio everywhere is because the iTunes transcodes to Apple Lossless before it's sent to AE. Once devices have native support for AAC and MPEG4(AVC) you could then leave the data in it's original form and have the decompression happen at the devices. Smaller datastreams= more potential channels.
Still... my take is that this is possible under current wifi bandwidths but not likely for at least three more years.
I think the hold up is that Apple doesn't have a video jukebox program. iTunes is the perfect companion to the audio capabilities of AE. Without iTunes, airtunes would be next to worthless for the vast majority of consumers.
iMovie and iDVD are media authoring programs while iTunes is a jukebox. Thus, either iTunes would need to be given video playback support or an entirely new product would need to be developed.
Once the software is in place, 'AirTheater' seems like a no brainer.
Originally posted by glassblowerscat
What is the difference between Quicktime Player and a video jukebox?
In the States, 'jukebox' has historically refered to a stereo in public place (such as restaurant or pub) which allows you to browse music and add them to the play queue.
In the computer industry, 'Jukebox' refers to an interface for managing, organizing, and playing back media files. iTunes is a jukebox while QT player is the equivalent of a single disc CD player. QT player will play music but doesn't offer browse/managment features for huge numbers of video files.
Even HP has a media receiver that does music AND photos!
HP Media Receiver
Originally posted by Billy Tung
I think Apple really has to get on the ball with the media receivers. Look at this:
Even HP has a media receiver that does music AND photos!
HP Media Receiver
Maybe the next step is not a remote for Airport Express, but iTunes support of the HP device.
The primary internet cafe I use in Sydney does not have wireless, nor does the one in London. 'Tis a pain, but with AE there is a chance I can use my PB and, with luck, iSight to chat with my wife and the granddaughter. It could be a blessing for me.
Originally posted by dfiler
If limited to standard definition, only a couple Mbits/sec would be required. The tradeoff is that AE would need to have enough processing power to decode the stream in real time. This is definately feasible for a reasonable price. However, consumers would then demand support for audio formats found on DVDs. Multichannel audio would require over three times the bandwidth currently used by airtunes.
Still... my take is that this is possible under current wifi bandwidths but not likely for at least three more years.
I think the hold up is that Apple doesn't have a video jukebox program. iTunes is the perfect companion to the audio capabilities of AE. Without iTunes, airtunes would be next to worthless for the vast majority of consumers.
iMovie and iDVD are media authoring programs while iTunes is a jukebox. Thus, either iTunes would need to be given video playback support or an entirely new product would need to be developed.
Once the software is in place, 'AirTheater' seems like a no brainer.
I think this is where QuickTime 7 comes in. Think about it. Tigers "SpotLight" (meta data) capabillities. You would organize your movies like in iPhoto, catagorize them into "family" "vacation" etc.
QuickTime 7 will also be a overhaul to the GUI big time. It's about time too if you ask me. We already have the "favorites" thing, but this needs to be better implemented and expanded upon.
Originally posted by Billy Tung
Even HP has a media receiver that does music AND photos!
nah.
apple goes where:
- they can offer that which others can't/won't
- they can make money doing so
these "media reciever" things are a waste of time, for most people -- and apple wouldn't be able to sell enough of them to justify the r&d time they would put into making it perfect.
Originally posted by BerberCarpet
nah.
apple goes where:
- they can offer that which others can't/won't
- they can make money doing so
these "media reciever" things are a waste of time, for most people -- and apple wouldn't be able to sell enough of them to justify the r&d time they would put into making it perfect.
I respectfully think you are way wrong here. The digital hub MEANS a media center in all it's translations. The future home central nervous system. You'll see...
I respectfully think you are way wrong here. The digital hub MEANS a media center in all it's translations. The future home central nervous system. You'll see...
Agreed.
Matter of time. Apple aren't just doing music. Pay attention in class, people.
What the WWDC again.
Look at the tech' in 'Tiger'. Look at Core Image/Video. Look at where scaleable Quicktime is going.
Phones. DLDs. vPod or some additional Apple MaxPod device.
'You'll see.'
Lemon Bon Bon
(PS. Remember all the visionaries who didn't see an Apple Audio player coming?
mr. turtleneck has, over and over, talked about "the whole experience".
and apple is about, at its core (tee - hee) making the stuff that makes the stuff.
the stuff apple puts out, by and large is not about enjoying content, but making it.
the ipod is an exception: it is about taking content in.
but audio is differnt than video.
it's why we can listen to the radio while we drive.
and though many people put DVD players in thier escalades, and lit 6" HD recievers in their visors: anyone who watches the move while they are driving quickly learns not to do so, either by dying or killing someone.
when we sit at our computers, we are 12 -> 16 inches from our screen(s). we are sitting up strait, we have our mouse, our keyboard, our desk lamp, our coffee, our papers, our printers everything we need to _create_ (whether its progress reports or video or award winning annual reports or homework).
when we sit in the living room, we have everythhing we need to _veg_ (sandwich, chips, beer, remote).
the places it converges is, like the AE, where what we veg with is *on our computers* .
which brings up two points:
aside from audiophiles, how many people just sit and listen to stuff, at home, in the living room?
just sit, and listen to music?
very few, and even then, rarely.
we (as i said before) DO STUFF while we listen.
the other point is that HDs are still not big (meaning cheaply) enough to be *the place* where the stuff we take in stored.
how many of us 3 terabytes at home?
_we all do_ -- on DVDs -- NOT on our computers
how many have a huge portion of our music on our computers?
*raises hand*
_there's_ the other difference.
our audio is both smaller and is something we can do while we are *at our computers* or *riding the bus*.
our video is *huge* and requires our whole attention.
the "media center" therefore is a device which goes in our living room. this automatically means that it needs to be $150 or less before most people will buy it.
and the cost of making the thing *be perfect* is to high to design, build and sell for apple to do, since they'll only sell 100,000 of them
in 4 years, perhaps.
not now, not 2005, nor 2006
mr. turtleneck has, over and over, talked about "the whole experience".
I'll use this argument for more devices (like a media reviever), not against.
the stuff apple puts out, by and large is not about enjoying content, but making it.
Well, they make both. They got DVD player AND the iDVD software and drive.
They got Garageband AND the iPod etc.
Apple IS all about the whole experience. Couldn't you see them giving us a way to edit a homemovie, calling the whole family together and then stream it to the TV to watch? I could see that.
the ipod is an exception: it is about taking content in.
but audio is differnt than video.
it's why we can listen to the radio while we drive.
Very true, but those arguments belong in the VideoPod discussion, not in the "sitting in your living room watching your homemovies or renting movies over the net" discussion.
when we sit at our computers, we are 12 -> 16 inches from our screen(s). we are sitting up strait, we have our mouse, our keyboard, our desk lamp, our coffee, our papers, our printers everything we need to _create_ (whether its progress reports or video or award winning annual reports or homework).
when we sit in the living room, we have everythhing we need to _veg_ (sandwich, chips, beer, remote).
Again, I'll use this argument for making it possible to go to your TV to watch your Home movies or moviestore movies etc.
which brings up two points:
aside from audiophiles, how many people just sit and listen to stuff, at home, in the living room?
just sit, and listen to music?
very few, and even then, rarely.
Don't know what your trying to say here? Both music and video/TV is already in the livingroom, so it's not a question of wheather or not Apple should or should not, make us able to stream content from our Mac to our living room. That's obvious!
the other point is that HDs are still not big (meaning cheaply) enough to be *the place* where the stuff we take in stored.
how many of us 3 terabytes at home?
...I think your forgetting the new Codec H264 that will give us 4 times the quality that we have now (read 4 times less space). The prices on HD's are very cheap today, and only getting larger and cheaper.
the "media center" therefore is a device which goes in our living room. this automatically means that it needs to be $150 or less before most people will buy it.
Yes, we are talking about a media reciever for the living room. I think your $150 postulate is an opinion.
All in all I was not sure what you were argumenting for or against. Please elaborate with us.
It sound like your confusing the talk of what you can do "on the go", with the talk of "should Apple make a media-reciever for the couch-room"
It's rare that Apple's "next step" is as obvious as in this case. 'you'll see'
Originally posted by Lemon Bon Bon
Agreed.
Matter of time. Apple aren't just doing music. Pay attention in class, people.
What the WWDC again.
Look at the tech' in 'Tiger'. Look at Core Image/Video. Look at where scaleable Quicktime is going.
Phones. DLDs. vPod or some additional Apple MaxPod device.
'You'll see.'
Lemon Bon Bon
(PS. Remember all the visionaries who didn't see an Apple Audio player coming?
Your bringing up good points, Core Image/Video. Next year we'll see a true REVOLUTION in computing. Can you imagine what software will do on the screen then? The ripples around the dashboard is just a freakin' PREVIEW!!!
'we'll see'