Thursday, April 05, 2007

Problems with Macworlds Apple TV wish list

Macworld has their Apple TV wish list, and I think there are just some flat out dumb suggestions on the list, in their order:
  • Internet streaming support. I have no problem with this one, streaming support for live evnets would greatly increase the devices utility, but doing this without sacrificing simplicity would be a challenge
  • Browsing Web video libraries. This makes absolutely no sense when you actually think about it. YouTub style video is all crap quality, far lower than what you buy on iTunes right now, and if you think that is not acceptable (the article says it doesn't, I think its acceptable), this will look absolutely terrible.
  • Buying and browsing via the Apple Remote. I agree with this one too, but I can see NOT doing it because it could be confusing as hell to the normal consumer
  • More podcasting. Sure why not, I am all for making all the categories (Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts) more alike than different
  • Photo flexibility. I have no problem with iTunes and Apple TV syncing completely, not content fractured off one library, video from another, music from another. How could you keep track of it all? Streaming photos though, that needs to be implemented.
  • More HD video. Patience young one. HD from iTunes is certainly coming, but 1080* content instead of 720p, I don't care at all. Downloading 720p is already going to be a chore for a lot of people.
  • DVD quality audio. You might as well call this More HD video part 2. Guys its all about file size, if you have 2 channels of audio now in iTunes Store bought content, and you want 5,6,7, well do the math.
  • Support for optical media. This is the one were the list goes off the rails. It is like asking for a CD player IN an iPod. And I don't think Apple wants you to buy everything from iTunes, I bet they WISH they could rip DVDs into iTunes, uh again just like the iPod and CDs, but it is currently illegal to sell software to break the encryption, even though us geeks have found ways around that and ripped DVDs work just fine in Apple TV. Apple TV will replace your DVD player, just not the limited vision way most are thinking
  • TiVo support. According to Wikipedia, Tivo has 30-40% of 10-12 million DVR market. That's between 3-5 million boxes total, and Apple is going to spend engineering dollars on a box that is not dominant by any stretch for the last gen delivery system Apple is trying to replace?!?! Not a chance it will happen.
Apple TV isn't perfect, nothing ever is, you can always add/tweak features, but some of Macworlds just don't make any sense.