Apple TV Now (June) or Later?

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
I have been waiting to get an Apple TV so I can send our dish spinning towards the trash can. For us there is no use for a dish once we have an Apple TV.



Question is, will they come up with something significantly better than the current Apple TV and significantly soon?



I am willing to wait a few more months, but I am having a hard time visualizing what they can do on the hardware side besides increasing HD space and making the box run a little cooler.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    galleygalley Posts: 971member
    With the ability to stream anything over a fast network, storage space on the tv is not an issue. I don't see any hardware revisions for some time. Buy now!



    P.S. I also dumped the dish. I watch all my favorite shows online on my iMac for FREE, and subscribe to many podcasts, most of them in 720p.
  • Reply 2 of 14
    aapleaaple Posts: 78member
    how do you watch free shows?
  • Reply 3 of 14
    onlookeronlooker Posts: 5,252member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tauron View Post


    I have been waiting to get an Apple TV so I can send our dish spinning towards the trash can. For us there is no use for a dish once we have an Apple TV.



    Question is, will they come up with something significantly better than the current Apple TV and significantly soon?



    I am willing to wait a few more months, but I am having a hard time visualizing what they can do on the hardware side besides increasing HD space and making the box run a little cooler.



    The TV probably wont be updated any time soon. And I don't think it's going to be that significant of an update when they do update it. Apple is in their own little world of denial about TV and that service. Every product that is in competition with that product is a more cost effective product that has better quality, better features, better upgrades, etc, etc, etc... Everything is better than the TV, but I still think it's funny that steve jobs can make people pay for ice in Antarctica. because that is practically what TV users do IMO.



    Apple could have bought Scientific Atlanta, or Tivo a long time ago, built an Apple box, and integrated an iTunes store (with Movies), Airtunes, WiFi, and an dozen of connectivity options for iPods, and iPhones and sewn up the living room by now by supplying boxes to Cable TV, and satellite providers, but all they are doing is essentially what everybody else does better.
  • Reply 4 of 14
    jensonbjensonb Posts: 532member
    AppleTV will likely not see an update until the iPod refresh event around September or MacWorld '09
  • Reply 5 of 14
    galleygalley Posts: 971member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aaple View Post


    how do you watch free shows?



    http://www.hulu.com carries Fox and NBC shows. The other networks also let you watch for free.
  • Reply 6 of 14
    taurontauron Posts: 911member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by onlooker View Post


    The TV probably wont be updated any time soon. And I don't think it's going to be that significant of an update when they do update it. Apple is in their own little world of denial about TV and that service. Every product that is in competition with that product is a more cost effective product that has better quality, better features, better upgrades, etc, etc, etc... Everything is better than the TV, but I still think it's funny that steve jobs can make people pay for ice in Antarctica. because that is practically what TV users do IMO.



    Apple could have bought Scientific Atlanta, or Tivo a long time ago, built an Apple box, and integrated an iTunes store (with Movies), Airtunes, WiFi, and an dozen of connectivity options for iPods, and iPhones and sewn up the living room by now by supplying boxes to Cable TV, and satellite providers, but all they are doing is essentially what everybody else does better.



    I have read several reviews about apple TV vs. other competing boxes and pretty much all those reviews say apple TV > rest or apple TV does not overlap in features with some other boxes (for instance the netflix box). If you think about it, these arguments also make sense. So I don't buy your argument one bit.
  • Reply 7 of 14
    onlookeronlooker Posts: 5,252member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tauron View Post


    I have read several reviews about apple TV vs. other competing boxes and pretty much all those reviews say apple TV > rest or apple TV does not overlap in features with some other boxes (for instance the netflix box). If you think about it, these arguments also make sense. So I don't buy your argument one bit.



    http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/0...-roku-net.html



    You mean like this?



    I wasn't necessarily referring to the netflix box, but it's a better choice IMO. Doesn't netflix stream all DVD rentals? And Apple has a limited selection? If I was still paying netflix $19.95 a month for DVD rentals this would be the way to go. I think I may get one. HDMI output. Yes.



    You can watch all the DVD's you want including TV show DVD's and be totally happy. Heroes Anyone? Couple that with my DVR and I'll never miss a broadcast.



    Like I said Apple could have sewn up this market with a company buy, and made it into millions of living rooms already.
  • Reply 8 of 14
    areseearesee Posts: 776member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by onlooker View Post


    http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/0...-roku-net.html



    You mean like this?



    I wasn't necessarily referring to the netflix box, but it's a better choice IMO. Doesn't netflix stream all DVD rentals? And Apple has a limited selection? If I was still paying netflix $19.95 a month for DVD rentals this would be the way to go. I think I may get one. HDMI output. Yes.



    You can watch all the DVD's you want including TV show DVD's and be totally happy. Heroes Anyone? Couple that with my DVR and I'll never miss a broadcast.



    Like I said Apple could have sewn up this market with a company buy, and made it into millions of living rooms already.



    No, Netflix doesn't stream all its DVD's. In fact very few DVD's are streamed.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    taurontauron Posts: 911member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by onlooker View Post


    http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/0...-roku-net.html



    You mean like this?



    I wasn't necessarily referring to the netflix box, but it's a better choice IMO. Doesn't netflix stream all DVD rentals? And Apple has a limited selection? If I was still paying netflix $19.95 a month for DVD rentals this would be the way to go. I think I may get one. HDMI output. Yes.



    You can watch all the DVD's you want including TV show DVD's and be totally happy. Heroes Anyone? Couple that with my DVR and I'll never miss a broadcast.



    Like I said Apple could have sewn up this market with a company buy, and made it into millions of living rooms already.



    Very small fraction of netflix DVDs are available in the roku box.

    The roku box doesn't have a hard drive for buffering or storage, so a fact internet connection is a must and it limits bitrate, so quality is not good.

    The roku box doesn't allow you to listen to your music collection, photos, youtube, movies or any other thing other than watching a few low quality DVD's for a cheap price.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    onlookeronlooker Posts: 5,252member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aresee View Post


    No, Netflix doesn't stream all its DVD's. In fact very few DVD's are streamed.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tauron View Post


    Very small fraction of netflix DVDs are available in the roku box.

    The roku box doesn't have a hard drive for buffering or storage, so a fact internet connection is a must and it limits bitrate, so quality is not good.

    The roku box doesn't allow you to listen to your music collection, photos, youtube, movies or any other thing other than watching a few low quality DVD's for a cheap price.



    Apple TV owners unite. Nevertheless the roku box and features has more potential if Netflix decides to stream everything in the future. Which I'm sure they will. 1st generation box. It's obviously limited and I'm sure they are aware of it, the gen2 box will probably rectify the situation. Their catalog is 300+X Apples.

    But as I said earlier, I was not referring to the netflix box when I wrote my post. I didn't even know they had one.
  • Reply 11 of 14
    areseearesee Posts: 776member
    Actually I am more concerned about how closely Apple is tying the AppleTV to the iTunes Store. Over half of the content screens take you to the store where Apple will gladly separate you from your money. I would prefer that Apple open up the AppleTV to other third party providers. It would be great if the AppleTV was your front end interface to Netflix, Hulu and any others. Be they web based or propriety streamers.
  • Reply 12 of 14
    programmerprogrammer Posts: 3,458member
    And the last time I looked at a Roku box it was a piece junk with crappy software cobbled together from open source projects. Its feature list looks impressive, but when you sit down and try to actually use it you realize that it has none of the polish that we expect from a consumer electronics product. They also have a history of leaving their users hanging from one revision to the next. I wouldn't spend a dime on a Roku product.
  • Reply 13 of 14
    gugygugy Posts: 794member
    I would think the earliest ATV will be update is at MWSF in January.



    I hope they allow the USB port to connect to an external hard drive to increase storage. Seriously 160gig is not much when come to store videos. Plus I like to have things locally so I don't have to turn my Mac every time I want to watch or listen something.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member
    I believe it is unlikely that they will tweak AppleTV this month while all the energy is on the iPhone 3G launch. Go for it. I find Satellite/Cable TV nowadays to be a completely baffling experience: hundreds of channels, really nothing to watch, not knowing what/when is on, fiddling with electronic program guides on weird-to-use set-top-recorders, and the killer dealbreaker: ads on my shows .



    Go for the HD rentals through Apple TV. Should be nice, and again, honestly, much less confusing than dealing with pay-per-view Satellite/Cable TV systems.
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