[mythtv-users] Who's going to be the first?

[jedi]

On Wed, Sep 01, 2010 at 09:04:10PM -0400, Craig Treleaven wrote:
> At 5:36 PM -0600 9/1/10, Brian Wood wrote:
> >On Wednesday, September 01, 2010 05:26:52 pm Gavin Hurlbut wrote:
> >> On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 4:18 PM, Jarod Wilson <jarod at wilsonet.com> wrote:
> >> > On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 4:56 PM, Richard Morton
> >> >
> >> > <richard.e.morton at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > > I'm guessing (based on size, OS and price - $99) that this is Apple A4
> >> > > powered; i.e. ARM.
> >> >
> >> > It says right on the specs page that its an A4 proc.
> >> >
> >> > I already plan to buy one, but not for anything mythtv-related.
> >>
> >> Someone's an Apple fan-boy :)
> >>
> >> It's a shame it seems to be iLocked like all else recent from apple.  That
> >> toy could be so useful otherwise.  Still looks like a cool toy if you have
> >> a need for it.
> >
> >The operative word there is "looks".
> >
> >I just don't see what's so great about it. For the same money you can get many units that are not locked down, and have
> >internal storage as well.
> >
> >Other than the physical form-factor, what's the big deal? The ability to over-pay for programming and have Apple tell you
> >what you can and can't do?
> >
> >Apple hype only goes so far, sooner or later you have to deliver the goods.
> >
> 
> I know it's shocking, Brian, but Apple was not thinking of you when they created this.  In Job's presentation, he lists a series of factors that they feel are important to potential customers.  (You weren't mentioned, sorry.)  They are:
> 
> -Hollywood movies and TV Shows

    Sounds like Tivo.

> -Everything in HD

    Sounds like Tivo.

> -Lower prices for content

    You might want to do the math on this.

> -Don't want a computer
> -Don't want to manage storage

    Storage should manage itself. Depending too much on the network
is foolish and Apple should be smart enough to do intelligent caching.
If they don't want to put local storage in a device they are doing it
to be cheap. Calling it a "usability enhancement" is just a snow job.

> -Don't want syncing
> -Silent, cool and small
> 

    Sounds like a Roku. Already have one of those.

    Of course Jobs doesn't have people with their own stuff in mind. He
wants everyone to buy all of their stuff from him. This device of his is
built with that in mind.

    You don't have to be a "geek" to have legacy content.

    Apple also doesn't have a monopoly on consumer video devices.

[deletia]

    As a piece of hardware, the new AppleTV is mostly inferior to the old 
one. It has a slightly better ability to view apple-centric content and a
pretty much completely degraded ability to view anything else. In terms of
software, it's probably "more of the same".