[Merged] This can't be for real, could it??? (Apple Projector)

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  • Reply 21 of 113
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    iPod

    Apple Digital Camera

    Apple printers

    Pippin

    iSight

    Newton



    How many of those really became a succes? And what did Steve swear when he returned?



    What can Apple offer to a projector? ADC? "Intuitive and beatiful menues"?




    Er, did you miss my post above? :/



    I just saw a research project two months ago at a major academic conference that did just that auto-correction. The guy was a little chagrined when I told him I'd done the same thing six years prior in industry. (His system was better, no doubt. )



    Imagine having a small lightweight projector that you just set down, aim roughly at the wall, and turn on. An off-angle image appears, and then shifts quickly into crisp, square focus. The colors look off at first, but then they shift into exactly what you expect. One button setup? Dear god, they'll sell them like hotcakes. They have the pieces.



    Now, do I *THINK* they'd product a projector? Not really. But they do have a lot to offer.
  • Reply 22 of 113
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    Er, did you miss my post above? :/





    What you are suggesting (using camera for adjusting projectors) is not something Apple excels in in anyway. I don´t think they have ever done anything that reminds of that. ColorSync is a completly other beast and you would need something more...hmmm...standart than a webcam to do that. You would probably have a better go at making such a thing than Apple



    What makes the iPod so great? Seamless integration with your mac (current LCDs can´t get more integrated than they are now. plug´n´show), Intuitive menues (as I said they could add that but then again would that ever become selling point like it is with the iPod?) and design (which you wouldn´t´even look at 99.5% of the time)



    This thing fly lower than a dolphin.



    PS: And remember. I have NEVER been wrong when it comes to predicting Apple Hardware
  • Reply 23 of 113
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Nope, but music players wasn't something they'd ever done before the iPod.



    And ColorSync only needs a proper calibration profile for a particular hardware setup... which they'd control, being the manufacturers and all.



    I agree that it's a really low probability thing for them to make, since it wouldn't exactly push Macs (unless it was Mac only for some silly reason), but they *would* have several unique things to bring to the table that would vastly improve the user experience of such a device. I just don't think they will be the company to do so.
  • Reply 24 of 113
    Surely, Apple will not enter this market UNLESS they are able to bring a significant Unique Selling Proposition (or at the very least, a unique combination of Key Selling Propositions) to the marketplace as differentiators.



    This concept ONLY makes sense if there is an Apple-developed (or Apple-enhanced) tuner/PVR family in place. And the word 'family' is key here: the tuner must - due to the ever-changing and diverse nature of TV (digital terrestrial, digital satellite, cable, high-definition, etc.) be modular and, most likely, external to any projector or large-format 30" display.



    And the (hopefully, multi-tuner [4+]) PVR will need to be stunningly easy to use without recourse to its host, a keyboard or a mouse.



    My belief here is that this is where we might see one of the first instances of a fully-integrated HAVi product family, with the family making its interface available through a combination of a multi-point IR remote control (imagine a Beolink type setup) and a Java-based 'virtual' control panel hosted by software running on Panther.



    Such a development would certainly make Windows Media Center PCs look unbelievably second-class (or even fifth-class), but I won't hold my breath waiting for the press release.
  • Reply 25 of 113
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    The most interesting thing about this possibility as far as I'm concerned is that it would allow Apple to do a complete end run around television.



    I read recently that there is an inverse correlation between internet use and television watching. Since there's no way Apple would release something as far off the plot as a projector without a strategy to back it up, I can only see this as a way to tear users away from the idiot box once and for all. Maybe he's been talking to the TV and movie industry folks now that the music publishers are happy?



    That's not to say that I find any of this in the least bit likely. But it would be like Steve to celebrate the 20th anniversary of a massive paradigm shift by attempting a massive paradigm shift.
  • Reply 26 of 113
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Amorph

    That's not to say that I find any of this in the least bit likely. But it would be like Steve to celebrate the 20th anniversary of a massive paradigm shift by attempting a massive paradigm shift.



    Oh, how true it is.
  • Reply 27 of 113
    addisonaddison Posts: 1,185member
    Buy our new widescreen projector, but you had better not show any 16:9 DVD's burnt with iDVD becuase they will be displayed in the 4:3 ratio.
  • Reply 28 of 113
    bill mbill m Posts: 324member
    I've always been amazed by the huge video screens S. Jobs uses during his MacWorld and WWDC presentations over the past couple of years. Having experienced one of those in person, I must say that the image quality rivals the best I have seen, from a distance, on high-end (smaller scale) home theater video projectors. Having said that, remember how Jobs mentioned he had been beta-testing "Keynote" for over a year during his presentations when he finally introduced it? Well, could it be that he also has been testing some sort of Apple video projector technology at MacWorld and WWDC? Food for thought...
  • Reply 29 of 113
    Guys.



    All in one computer. No screen, just a projection system bright enough to operate at ambient light levels.



    Ok. Now I feel dirty. Back to AO for me.
  • Reply 30 of 113
    Hmm...come to think of it. This Home Cinema Projector idea now seems very interesting.
  • Reply 31 of 113
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by billybobsky

    All in one computer. No screen, just a projection system bright enough to operate at ambient light levels.



    So this is what happens when you ask for a headless consumer Mac.



    Seriously, now that I've thought about this a bit more, let's see if I can't get a more precise idea of what this thing is.



    First, projectors cost. Apple has a habit of introducing high-end display solutions and offering them at remarkable price breaks, considering what they are. Once I remembered this, and remembered just how expensive projectors are, things became a little clearer for me.



    First, why bother? Well, just how much bigger can the Cinema Displays get? The 23" is a beast. Much bigger, and you have something so huge that it would have to be placed farther away than most desks allow in order to be usable. Like, say, the wall. But then you need mounting brackets, and ... well, not if your display is the wall. Bingo. The Cinema HD is well into the price range of a decent projector, so (given that Apple will target their usual how-did-they-do-that price for high-end kit) they could offer something at or around its price point.



    Now, think about which industry Apple is targeting: Pro video. Bigger is better. Besides, the movie will end up getting projected eventually anyway.



    Heck, with Kickaha's surface calibration tech, you could even use a truly novel form of distributed computing: Put two of them next to each other, projecting onto the same area, let one adjust for its angle relative to the wall, and then let the other calibrate its pattern relative to the first's, and who knows what you could get away with doing? QuickTime could be used to make sure everything was synchronized via SMPTE...
  • Reply 32 of 113
    Quote:

    Originally posted by billybobsky

    Guys.



    All in one computer. No screen, just a projection system bright enough to operate at ambient light levels.



    Ok. Now I feel dirty. Back to AO for me.




    You know, what a perfect 20th Anniversary Macintosh that would be. Imagine something like the Cube or something shaped more rectangular like the original 1984 Macintosh with a projector built in. Of course, you could still hook up an ADC monitor to it.



    I can see Steve asking: How do we get a 30" screen into a computer as small or smaller than the original Macintosh?
  • Reply 33 of 113
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by billybobsky

    Guys.



    All in one computer. No screen, just a projection system bright enough to operate at ambient light levels.



    Ok. Now I feel dirty. Back to AO for me.




    If Apple was going to do it, this would be it. Imagine, the new iMac! You set the screen size (distance from the wall)! 8)
  • Reply 34 of 113
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Amorph

    Now, think about which industry Apple is targeting: Pro video. Bigger is better. Besides, the movie will end up getting projected eventually anyway.





    for a freudian slip-second there, I thought you said



    Quote:

    Now, think about which industry Apple is targeting: Pr0n video. Bigger is better. Besides, the movie will end up getting projected eventually anyway.



    back to rumour if not reality,

    maybe there's also a Pixar testbed connection...

    Pixlet allows realtime previews of HD content over the network

    then it gets shipped to the screening room for fancy new digital projection



    i'd still like to see a 30inch Cinema display, but a paradigm shift projector would rule.
  • Reply 35 of 113
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Amorph

    Put two of them next to each other, projecting onto the same area, let one adjust for its angle relative to the wall, and then let the other calibrate its pattern relative to the first's, and who knows what you could get away with doing?



    Are you implying some sort of 2-D data transfer?
  • Reply 36 of 113
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    Wouldn't color accuracy be abysmal with a projector?
  • Reply 37 of 113
    rhumgodrhumgod Posts: 1,289member
    Well, Apple has addressed the issue of hooking up projectors to a Mac before.
  • Reply 38 of 113
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Bill M

    I've always been amazed by the huge video screens S. Jobs uses during his MacWorld and WWDC presentations over the past couple of years. Having experienced one of those in person, I must say that the image quality rivals the best I have seen, from a distance, on high-end (smaller scale) home theater video projectors. Having said that, remember how Jobs mentioned he had been beta-testing "Keynote" for over a year during his presentations when he finally introduced it? Well, could it be that he also has been testing some sort of Apple video projector technology at MacWorld and WWDC? Food for thought...



    sorry, but I've seen the four 10,000 lumen projectors they use for that show. I was renting four 4,000 lumen projectors for a show I was doing for my company at the time. (I felt really cool about having all of this awesome expensive equipment to play around with then I saw those projectors and asked about them... Kinda deflated me)
  • Reply 39 of 113
    bill mbill m Posts: 324member
    I am leaning more towards a consumer device, not some sort of computer display. Data projectors is a way too crowded and mature market, with very little room for innovation at any price point. But a smart digital hub video projector of some sort, could rock the consumer market, in similar fashion as the iPod.
  • Reply 40 of 113
    I really want to get excited about the prospect of Apple getting into the wireless home entertainment market.



    But, wouldn't an announcement like this warrant a "special event?"
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