Former Elgato chief to head Apple Germany
Apple Computer has selected former Elgato CEO Freddie Geier to act as the new managing director of its Germany division, according to an online report.
Geier will replace Frank Steinhoff, who departed from the company nine months ago, macnews.de reported on its website on Tuesday.
Since July of 2003, Geier was CEO of Munich, Germany-based Elgato, a privately held company that specializes in products that enable Mac users to watch, record, edit and share video and TV within the digital home.
This won't be the first time that Geier has accepted a position with Apple. From April 2000 to June 2003 he was a member of the company's Cupertino, Calif.-based Applications Division where he held the title of Senior Director.
Geier's resume also includes stints at DVD specialist Astarte and distributor ComLine.
Geier will replace Frank Steinhoff, who departed from the company nine months ago, macnews.de reported on its website on Tuesday.
Since July of 2003, Geier was CEO of Munich, Germany-based Elgato, a privately held company that specializes in products that enable Mac users to watch, record, edit and share video and TV within the digital home.
This won't be the first time that Geier has accepted a position with Apple. From April 2000 to June 2003 he was a member of the company's Cupertino, Calif.-based Applications Division where he held the title of Senior Director.
Geier's resume also includes stints at DVD specialist Astarte and distributor ComLine.
Comments
When I first saw that he was coming from El Gato, I had images of a Apple media Center going through my mind.
Originally posted by nagromme
Cool--now buy the rest of El Gato
If that happened, we would lose Toast Titanium as we know it. It's sold by Sonic, but still developed by Elgato.
(insert evil laugh)
Originally posted by Silencio
If that happened, we would lose Toast Titanium as we know it. It's sold by Sonic, but still developed by Elgato.
Huh? Since when did Elgato have anything to do with Toast/Roxio/Sonic?
There are pros and cons to Apple buying Elgato. I *love* their EyeHome product, but it needs a more Apple polishing. On the other hand, if Apple produced it, it would probably become H.264 only...or at least not support any of those crazy codecs P2Pers are playing with these days which EyeHome does a pretty decent job of supporting.
I can't see Apple abandoning all other standards simply because they like this one standard.
To be honest, if this actually means anything, I'd guess they'd go MPEG-4 in general, with H.264 as the default internal codec.
Adding standard video codecs costs money as well, but it doesn't hurt in any other way.
Apple's encoder might possibly output only h.264 and that's fine, I'm just not seeing the wisdom in locking out other codecs from playback.
I don't think Apple is going to do that, just like they don't restrict iTunes to .m4a.
If anything, Apple could offer an importer like they do with .wma files.
It might take a lot of work on Apple's part, but it would be worth it.
Originally posted by groverat
Keeping all those other non-USB ports costs money, restricts what they can do hardware wise and unnecessarily complicates the peripheral market.
Adding standard video codecs costs money as well, but it doesn't hurt in any other way.
Apple's encoder might possibly output only h.264 and that's fine, I'm just not seeing the wisdom in locking out other codecs from playback.
I don't think Apple is going to do that, just like they don't restrict iTunes to .m4a.
If anything, Apple could offer an importer like they do with .wma files.
It might take a lot of work on Apple's part, but it would be worth it.
Oh you meant for playback? As I see it, QuickTime already handles that part. I was seeing any possible merging of technologies between Apple and ElGato as providing the hardware encoding to get the video *in*, and that's all. Playback would be handled through QT, as it is now, allowing video files from other sources to be played (cf FrontRow), but pushing more and more content to MPEG-4 along the way through the encoding portion. Win/win.
Originally posted by nagromme
Cool--now buy the rest of El Gato
Who knows? I found this announcement particularly interesting in light of some recent (and ignored
Who is going to buy a MAcs when you can't even see one.?
Originally posted by sjk
.....possible collaboration between Apple and Elgato Systems on future products.
well, I for one would like to see an eyehome box
http://www.elgato.com/index.php?file=products_eyehome
that also includes eyetv capacity, built into (or connectable to) an airport express type device. This would enable me to look at / listen to movies photos and music stored on my Mac whislt in the lounge, AND use my mac to view/record TV stations. All wirelessly. That squeaky video recorder's days are numbered.
here's hoping!
Originally posted by the3rdParty
well, I for one would like to see an eyehome box that also includes eyetv capacity, built into (or connectable to) an airport express type device.
EyeTV is a recording device; EyeHome is a playback device. You don't necessarily want them both in the same location, e.g. my EyeTV is hooked to an eMac downstairs and my EyeHome is hooked to AirPort Express and A/V components in the living room upstairs.
This would enable me to look at / listen to movies photos and music stored on my Mac whislt in the lounge, AND use my mac to view/record TV stations. All wirelessly.
Sounds similar to what I'm already doing.
Originally posted by sjk
EyeTV is a recording device; EyeHome is a playback device. You don't necessarily want them both in the same location,
Agreed, but in my case I have a satelite decoder box (custom job supplied by the sat TV company) that needs to be next to the TV. I am not so interested in the ability of an eyehome/eyetv/airport box to tune into TV stations, but I would want it to be able to take composite video & sound input from my sat decoder (as can the EyeTv200).