Re:Name sounds familiar
by
ergo98
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
If they keep that name for production, I have a feeling these guys may have an issue with it. But I guess the way justice works in the US, whoever has more money is right, so Apple shouldn't be worried.
When's the last time a code name was also used for the retail product? I can't remember that ever happening. It's a "code name" for a reason - the developers and designers needed something to call it, without the hassle of all of the due diligence and legal work.
For a media center to really work, it needs to be anointed by the cable and satellite companies: If it's unable to work with the digital EDTV and digital HDTV signals on their networks, with all of their DRM, then it is close to useless. Microsoft recently got that blessing, though apparently it won't be supported in retail deliveries until next Christmas.
Apple iProduct. You'll buy it. And you'll like it.
by
voice_of_all_reason
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Reminds me of the line "What is it? We're not saying yet, but that won't stop you from posting about it on every message board you have access to."
1) I doubt this thing will be fast enough to transcode a TV show in a timeframe deemed acceptable to Apple's high QA standards.
Apple has a QA standard to tv transcoding? The closest thing I can think of is an iDVD encoding which can take hours on my dual 1.8Ghz. I'm sure that a mac mini can transcode a tv show to low res in less than hours. Hell, even with the hardware that's in the little boxes now shows could almost be transcoded on the fly. How is that not good enough?
2) Revenue sources (why would anyone buy what they can set their shiny new Apple PVR to record?)
The same reason people with tivos still buy DVDs, extra content. If you refer to the music store, then I submit that their ultimate goal is to be the content distribution medium for videos and shows that *aren't* on network television. Think of Star Trek: Beyond; now replace Star Trek with New, Brilliantly Written, Made by the Viewer tv show. Such a beast could never hope to reach a market via television unless they were very lucky; but now anyone can make a show and get it on iTunes.
3) Fear of getting sued.
Silly. It would be no more than a portable tivo.
Re:The excuse I need.
by
utexaspunk
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· Score: 4, Insightful
Yeah I know TiVO is big, my friends have them. I also see MCE and some Linux solutions. The first is proprietary and the other two require work on my end to have something that both looks decent and might actually work.
So you dismissed the TiVo because it's proprietary and yet would like a DVR from Apple? I seriously doubt whatever Apple releases will be any less proprietary than TiVo...
Disappointed by Mac Mini as entertainment center
by
Cereal+Box
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· Score: 5, Insightful
This may be a little offtopic, but I just wanted to share my disappointment in using the Mac Mini as an entertainment center (didn't even bother with the DVR stuff).
Cost -- the Mac Mini is a little expensive. But that's OK, I had originally bought it as a general-purpose desktop, and later decided to it a shot as an entertainment center and having constant problems with my Windows entertainment center.
Audio -- the only decent 5.1 audio solutions for the Mini are USB or Firewire hardware from M-Audio. The cheapest one I could find that does proper AC3 passthrough was something like $80-$100, and it was just some cheezy little USB thing! Turtle Beach sells pretty much the same thing for $20, and it works on the Mac, but without the AC3 passthrough (if you're curious, AC3 passthrough works on Windows). Oh, and let's not forget, the M-Audio units require you to do a manual AC3/PCM selection! I.e., you can't just go from listening to MP3s to 5.1 sound when watching a movie unless you manually change the output format. Geez.
Video -- the DVI connection works great on my HDTV. Unfortunately, I have to shell out $20 for a program that will allow me to set the Mini's display resolution to 1280x768 (the TVs native resolution). VGA is not an option, because my TV will do image realignment every time I switch back to the VGA input, and if I'm watching 4:3 pillarboxed material, the image will be shifted quite a bit to the left.
Remotes -- The only IR remote I could find was the crappy Keyspan remote. That thing has only like 20 buttons! You've really got to get creative if you want this thing to control your entertainment center. And before you ask, I can't use the ATI Remote Wonder because it's an RF remote, and I want to use my IR universal remote to control the Mini.
Software -- By far the worst offender. CenterStage just plain didn't work with my ripped DVDs (a series of VIDEO_TS folders on a share). Matinee didn't seem to work either. I wasn't going to bother with MythTV (way too much hassle on OS X). There really is a stunning lack of passable frontend software for the Mac. It's a shame, really.
These are all the problems I ran into, and I can't imagine how much trouble it would've been getting emulators to work in addition to movies/music (none of the frontends seemed to support emulators).
So to all those that think the Mac Mini is a good entertainment center choice, I say think again! It's really expensive, the software is terrible, and the hardware issues are a real pain. You know what I did recently? Spent far less money on an XBox and put XBMC on it. It works just the way I expect it to, and with a lot less hassle!
Re:The famous butt-head astronomer
by
coinreturn
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· Score: 4, Insightful
In partial defense of Carl, let the record show that Apple was designing three PowerMacs right then:
PM 6100: codename Piltdown Man, famous archaeology hoax
PM 7100: codename Sagan
PM 8100: codename Cold Fusion, overhyped physics flop du jour
In his place, I'd also be unhappy about the implication of being placed in between those two.
That's one take on things. Another is to note that the PM6100/7100/8100 were the first Macs to be powered by the PowerPC - a major evolution for Macs (first processor family change). Piltdown man was supposed to be the missing link that would revolutionalize the theories of evolution, whereas Cold Fusion was supposed to revolutionalize power generation. Did Carl Sagan revolutionalize physics? Well, he certainly brought it to the masses.
Still, it was a friggin' internal codename. I'm glad he lost the suit (and the BHA suit).
Re:In other news...
by
timeOday
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· Score: 4, Insightful
True...although considering that the mac mini isn't all that much bigger than a VHS tape
But the Mac Mini as we know it is not a PVR. The obvious problem (mentioned in the article) is the use of laptop hard drives, a very bad choice for a PVR. Then they need somewhere to put a tuner for analog signals, and hardware video compression circuitry. They need a digital audio out, plus composite, s-video, and hopefully component video outputs. In other words, of all the specialized requirements for a PVR, the Mac Mini hardly meets any of them, and doesn't have any room inside for expansion.
Besides, I doubt Apple would try to push portability in a PVR design anyways. They'd probably rather people use the video iPod for that.
Re:The famous butt-head astronomer
by
coinreturn
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Okay, so the PM7100 wasn't the greatest machine they ever made. You have to admit that their changing to a completely new processor was an amazing accomplishment - fat binaries, 68K emulation/translation. That successful transition is the only thing that makes investors and users believe that the Intel switch is even possible.
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If they keep that name for production, I have a feeling these guys may have an issue with it. But I guess the way justice works in the US, whoever has more money is right, so Apple shouldn't be worried.
When's the last time a code name was also used for the retail product? I can't remember that ever happening. It's a "code name" for a reason - the developers and designers needed something to call it, without the hassle of all of the due diligence and legal work.
For a media center to really work, it needs to be anointed by the cable and satellite companies: If it's unable to work with the digital EDTV and digital HDTV signals on their networks, with all of their DRM, then it is close to useless. Microsoft recently got that blessing, though apparently it won't be supported in retail deliveries until next Christmas.
Reminds me of the line "What is it? We're not saying yet, but that won't stop you from posting about it on every message board you have access to."
this is an obvious step... it better be able to sync with a video ipod.
Seriously, who cares about "Watching their music"
Yeah I know TiVO is big, my friends have them. I also see MCE and some Linux solutions. The first is proprietary and the other two require work on my end to have something that both looks decent and might actually work.
So you dismissed the TiVo because it's proprietary and yet would like a DVR from Apple? I seriously doubt whatever Apple releases will be any less proprietary than TiVo...
These are all the problems I ran into, and I can't imagine how much trouble it would've been getting emulators to work in addition to movies/music (none of the frontends seemed to support emulators).
So to all those that think the Mac Mini is a good entertainment center choice, I say think again! It's really expensive, the software is terrible, and the hardware issues are a real pain. You know what I did recently? Spent far less money on an XBox and put XBMC on it. It works just the way I expect it to, and with a lot less hassle!
In partial defense of Carl, let the record show that Apple was designing three PowerMacs right then:
PM 6100: codename Piltdown Man, famous archaeology hoax
PM 7100: codename Sagan
PM 8100: codename Cold Fusion, overhyped physics flop du jour
In his place, I'd also be unhappy about the implication of being placed in between those two.
That's one take on things. Another is to note that the PM6100/7100/8100 were the first Macs to be powered by the PowerPC - a major evolution for Macs (first processor family change). Piltdown man was supposed to be the missing link that would revolutionalize the theories of evolution, whereas Cold Fusion was supposed to revolutionalize power generation. Did Carl Sagan revolutionalize physics? Well, he certainly brought it to the masses.
Still, it was a friggin' internal codename. I'm glad he lost the suit (and the BHA suit).
Besides, I doubt Apple would try to push portability in a PVR design anyways. They'd probably rather people use the video iPod for that.
Okay, so the PM7100 wasn't the greatest machine they ever made. You have to admit that their changing to a completely new processor was an amazing accomplishment - fat binaries, 68K emulation/translation. That successful transition is the only thing that makes investors and users believe that the Intel switch is even possible.