[mythtv-users] OT: Apple PVR
Todd Houle
thoule at wesleyan.edu
Sat Dec 3 09:37:44 EST 2005
I thought this might be interested to the future of MythTV. Perhaps
the mac mini may be more suitable as a frontend once Apple prepares
it for their own video solution.
Todd
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/
tc20051201_577846.htm
> Designs on an Apple-Branded DVR
> If the iPod maker plans to serve up a computer that records video,
> I'd like to place an order for a wireless version
>
> The rumor mills are abuzz about an Apple-branded digital video
> recorder.
>
> According to a couple of sources who claim to know, the next Mac
> Mini -- that's the small metallic computer that sells for $499 and
> up -- will have the ability to record TV shows.
>
> A DVR Mac wouldn't exactly put Apple Computer (AAPL ) on the
> cutting edge. Microsoft (MSFT ) and its PC-making partners,
> including Hewlett-Packard (HPQ ) and Gateway (GTW ), have been down
> this road already with the Media Center PC. Chipmaking giant Intel
> (INTC ) grabbed headlines Nov. 30 with its Viiv (rhymes with
> "five") technology that's designed to transform the PC into a home
> entertainment hub.
>
> ULTRAWIDEBAND FUTURE. Having built success on the audio front with
> the iPod family of products, Apple clearly has designs on the video-
> entertainment business, as the latest iPod already shows. But if
> the rumors are true, then I have a suggestion for how to make an
> Apple-branded DVR truly shine: Make it fully wireless.
>
> Apple has a history of pushing the wireless-technology envelope. It
> was early to embrace wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, networking
> technology, with its Airport wireless routers. It later cranked up
> the speed with the Airport Extreme, which relied on the 54-megabit-
> per-second 802.11g standard before that standard was even fully
> ratified.
>
> This week I met with a company called WiQuest Communications, which
> makes chips for a wireless technology called ultrawideband. UWB
> technology is good at transmitting a lot of data at a very high
> speed. It's not very good at doing it over long distances, but
> within close range, it's a gem.
>
> FREED FROM CORDS. Imagine how much better the iPod would be if you
> didn't need a dock or a USB cord to transfer songs to it: All you'd
> have to do is bring the iPod into the same room as the PC to sync
> the latest version of the playlist on your computer with the
> player. How cool would it be to easily and wirelessly take video
> stored on your PC in the den and play it on a TV in the living
> room? In both cases, the data could fly across your home without
> restrictions on where you have to place the hardware.
>
> To say nothing of the aesthetic improvements that would result from
> eliminating the rat's nest of data cords -- USB, FireWire, and the
> bulky, clumsy hubs for each -- which is only compounded by the
> cords connected to the power strip. I've got just such a mess under
> my desk at home, connecting my PowerMac, a couple of external
> storage drives, and a USB hub for my digital camera. It's not pretty.
>
> WiQuest Chief Executive Matthew Shoemake says his company has been
> involved with the WiMedia Alliance, an industry coalition that aims
> to promote the use of ultrawideband technology in both computers
> and consumer-electronics devices. Members include Intel, Eastman
> Kodak (EK ), Microsoft, Nokia (NOK ), Philips Electronics (PHG ),
> Samsung, and Sony (SNE ), among others. But one name I don't see
> listed among the members is Apple.
>
> DIGITAL REAL ESTATE. And that's O.K. for now. UWB technology
> should start showing up in chips by the end of the year. Those
> chips would then have to be adapted into products, which would take
> another year or so, maybe less, to develop and bring to market. So
> I don't expect to see many products on the market until mid-to-late
> 2006 or early 2007.
>
> But Apple is the kind of company that could benefit from -- and may
> already be experimenting with -- the possibilities that UWB could
> offer. That's especially true given Apple's aim to build on
> successes in portable digital media and make a play for what has
> become the most coveted digital real estate: the living room.
>
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