Re:In other news...
by
Lonesome+Squash
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Quite seriously, one wonders what irritating DRM Apple will put in to avoid just those suits -- Or worse, add in later "upgrades".
-- Behold the riant ape! Beware, his crooked thumbs!
The excuse I need.
by
Shivetya
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
To own a Mac is to have it give me some functionality I cannot easily derive from my Windows PC in a format that doesn't collide with my entertainment center.
I would like to have a Mac around to experience OS/X but I don't need it and therefor have no reason to spend the money. Make it do something useful for me that I would have to already spend money to have and then I can consider it.
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.
If Apple can deliver a PVR that also allows me to dabble with OS/X who knows where it might lead. The big IF is, will they price it for the market or let their ego do the pricing?
-- *
Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Re:The excuse I need.
by
TheRaven64
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
OS X is indeed very nice, however Apple customer support is the worst I have ever encountered. The first time I sent my PowerBook in for repair, they lost it and didn't replace it with a working one until two months later. The last time I sent it in, they fixed the problem by replacing a slightly defective main logic board with a completely defective one. When I sent it in again, they tightened the hinges, but didn't fix the not booting problem. I am still waiting for it to be collected for repair again, since they managed to screw up the dispatch twice. Over an eighteen month period, I have been without a working machine for three months (fortunately, I have a spare ThinkPad, and I've been re-discovering the joys of a FreeBSD / GNUstep desktop).
Re:The excuse I need.
by
soft_guy
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Apple used to have the best support in the business, hands down. Support that today you would marvel at. Amazing support.
At the exact same time, people were abandoning Apple in droves for competitors who had lousy support.
So, you can't blame Apple for bad support. You have to blame the invisible hand of the free market.
--
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Will MythTV run?
by
drewzhrodague
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I wonder if MythTV will run, or how their software stacks-up against MythTV. I really enjoyed having a Myth in the living room, but it is pretty annoying to make a PC into a set-top, with cables, adaptors, and stuff. Machines built for the set-top are (obviously) more specialized, but generally lack major features (like keyboards, mice, MAME, etc).
Maybe I should have picked up a PVR-250 yesterday during the non-sale.
Re:In other news...
by
God'sDuck
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
one wonders what irritating DRM Apple will put in
True...although considering that the mac mini isn't all that much bigger than a VHS tape, if all i wanted to do was tape something and bring it to a friend's house, even if they drm'd it to death i could conceivably just pick up my whole pvr and take it with me everywhere. intriguiging...
Apple's move to get video on the ipod
by
mattyohe
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
This makes perfect sense. Now you will be able to have some sort of integration between the DVR app and iTunes to load up your iPod with your saved tv shows...
But now that I think about it, this would cannibalize iTunes TV show sales... Maybe this is all rumor?
-- -
what is the definition of simultanagnosia?! I've been meaning to look it up!
Re:Name sounds familiar
by
HTH+NE1
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Man, I was just about to build one of those out of MythTV:
Scripts. Scripts allow users to create and play any sequence of DVD discs, movies, trailers, episodes, favorite scenes, home videos, cover art, and other Scripts. This makes it easy to incorporate customized movie openings and intermissions for a truly personalized theatrical experience.
I'd give their system a try, but "How much does it cost" is not in their FAQ, and I'm in one of the 14 states that doesn't have a dealer. I guess I'll forge ahead with tuning MythTV to my needs
-- Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Form Factor
by
Snorklefish
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
If Apple wants to be at the center of the A/V world, I suggest they build a machine that can physically sit at the center of a typical A/V ensemble. The mini's size makes sense on a crowded desk. But putting a mini on top of your tower of A/V components looks silly and feels cheap.
Why build when...
by
WebGangsta
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Apple should just go ahead and buy TiVo and get it over with.
TiVo already negotiated the ability to transfer files to the Video iPod, so why not go the next step and put the iPod connector directly on the box itself?
Re:video ipod
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
I'm not too bothered about watching my music, but being able to queue it up from the TV rather than a seperate computer wouldn't be a bad thing.
I hope it does sync - not that I have any intention of getting a video iPod but that would actually increase it's use value several 100%. However, I can see the various networks blocking such a move - and would undermine the more likely revenue stream of 'iTunes movie store with full-quality video' that will follow getting a set top box out.
Of course, someone will do it very quickly (as they have with PSP video syncing and ripping DVDs to video iPod) - maybe that's a good enough solution - get the hardware out there and let the community take care of the software problem (and legal issues) - waiting for the networks to get onboard will take too long.
Re:In other news...
by
network23
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
...one wonders what irritating DRM Apple will put in...
Apple doesn't irritate me with DRM. iTunes is a very good ripping machine that doesn't care about what you are doing.
You can even drag folders and folders of illegal MP3s directly into iTunes to be automagically sorted and becoming a first class citizens together with your legally purchased music from iTunes Music Store.
And you can mix. Burn.
And transfer all your files to as many iPods you want.
And you can copy ALL your music - except songs bought from iTMS - to whatever crappy non iPod player or SonyEricsson cell phone you have.
The same goes for podcasts and vodcasts. It is quite easy to make your own iPod compatible videos with open source solutions like mencoder or with QuickTime Pro if you want a pretty GUI.
For me, Apple has choosen the least irritating DRM possible, and ONLY used it to protect the songs and/or videos bought from iTunes Music Store.
all-important?
by
frankie
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Really wouldn't say that iPod integration is "all important". It would certainly be a nice touch with elegant Apple style, but the value add is maybe 10 bucks max.
True DVR capability though... if it has both well-designed, powerful iSoftware AND true plug-n-play hardware, that would make it a serious killer device that launches Macs into millions of living rooms.
If there really is a Macintel mini next month, most likely they'll release a low-end model comparable to the existing high-end, and a premium version with built-in DVR. Personally I'm not prepared to accept this rumor just yet, but boy would it be a nice birthday present.
Re:all-important?
by
timeOday
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Really wouldn't say that iPod integration is "all important". It would certainly be a nice touch with elegant Apple style, but the value add is maybe 10 bucks max.
The iPod is Apple's #1 springboard into content distribution. How much does the value of the high-margin video iPod go up if you can simply drop it on your DVR and automatically get all your selected programming to go, with no further hassle?
Compared to dedicated products like TiVo, an Apple PVR could have a lot to offer if it is not a closed, locked-down system. Provide a high-quality usable product up-front, but in addition turn the user base loose and see what they come up with. Remember, Apple did not invent podcasting.
Would an Apple PVR go anywhere Microsoft's media PC hasn't already gone? Since Apple already has content distribution deals with major players like ABC, I'd say it's a possibility. Hardly anybody even knows that Microsoft has its own music-store competitor to iTunes.
The famous butt-head astronomer
by
coinreturn
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
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.
Of course, this being America, you can sue any time you want - including when it's just a codename. That's what Carl Sagan did over the use of Sagan as a codename by Apple. Apple responded by using the codename BHA, which stood prominently for Butt-Head Astronomer.
Two years ago, I put my old notebook in the living room as an entertainment center. Since then I've tried MythTV and half a dozen other solutions, but none of them satisfy me (I want DVD, video and music playback, no TV functionality). Today I run mplayer or xine from the commandline, it's the least hassle.
If this thing actually appears, I have an old notebook for sale.
No way in hell am I giving M$ the keys to my living room. Linux was tried, but didn't quite work out. I do have confidence in Apple to pull this off. I'm very much looking forward to the Expo.
Re:Mini-mac PVR
by
Golias
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Likewise. The EyeTV 500 is a nice little HD tuner that lets the mini do the work of a PVR, along with all the other usual stuff.
Since I use a projection system and don't really need my media computer to be teeny-tiny, I'm actually replacing it this week with a refurb G5 tower. The mini is going into my music studio rack as a headless digital audio processor. Versitile little gadgets, those minis.
--
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Re:In other news...
by
tomhudson
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
At least with a computer, you're not a passive receiver, you ARE interacting. And a lot of the debates actually require you to think. To be a bit original. Look at any of the flamefests:-) I mean, if you haven't gotten a few freaks, you're not "interacting" hard enough (I've only got 75 - I want MORE!!!)
Mac mini done better
by
wootest
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I'm not at all terribly into the DVR aspects of the new Mac mini. It's nice, but there are plenty of other things to get more excited about.
First... An Intel Mac mini means a sub-$500 computer that runs OS X and Windows. Steve Jobs quipped during the launch of the first Mac mini that they wanted to price it so that "people who are, you know, thinking of switching, will have no more excuses". With this they won't even need to keep their own PC - assuming the storage is plentiful and drivers available, they can transfer over all old files from their PC and keep their old environment truckin' in addition to working in OS X.
Speaking of storage. Think Secret's report notices that a 3.5" HD might be in the cards (instead of the current 2.5") which would, even after adding bulk to the relatively small machine, be a good move as it would allow for more storage and cheaper drives. The most spacious 2.5" drives Apple offer today are 120GB for the Powerbook and only 100GB on the mini - the smallest 3.5" Apple will let you get away with on the iMac is a 160GB drive.
While we're dreaming, I hope Apple will make Superdrive (DVD+-RW and Dual Layer) standard, and add Gigabit Ethernet, an extra USB port or two and certainly an extra RAM slot.
What about games?
by
bigpat
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
You hook up a couple USB or bluetooth game controllers and you have yourself the best looking game console around. Maybe not as its main feature, but there are plenty of games out for OSX to make a Mac Mini a versatile PVR, game console, DVD player/recorder and living room PC.
The key would be not to limit functionality to make it feel too much like a special purpose device, but to have a simple button to switch the software from one mode to the other. Maybe just have a remote like a multipurpose remote, with buttons on the top for switching between different modes, and a cool ipod like menu wheel. That would be pretty slick.
The Mac Mini makes sense as a PVR, from its form factor and appearance. But, as someone who has been trying to use it for just that purpose, I have to say: they need to do something about performance, both of the hardware and of OS X itself. It's not just that the system needs MPEG hardware encoding/decoding, they also need to make OS X less of a resource hog (or ship with 1G of memory), need to make the screen rendering more efficient, and fix a lot of other performance issues. None of that matters much on a big Macintosh, but on these little machines, it is an issue.
As it is, I use my Mac Mini for DVD playback and as a jukebox; as a PVR, it's not all that usable in its current form.
It's all about the content...
by
BoraSport
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Disclaimer... I am an Apple zealot. I have tasted the Koolaid and it was good.
The new iMac with the built in camera, remote, and Front Row was interesting. It was tied to the iTunes music store and created (either by accident or design) the largest iPod on the planet, complete with 20inch LCD if desired. If we apply the remote technology and Front Row from the iMac to the Mini we can in effect turn it into a giant iPod dock.
With the new video iPod we can already perform almost everything we can do in Front Row on a TV by just connecting the iPod. To be really interesting the Mini will need to tap into a greater source of content. It is the content that is the key to any PVR/DVR solution IMO. Comcast manages their content through OnDemand, Tivo was wildly successful because it taped into a huge content store, starting with over the air, then moving to satellite. Unless the Mini can at a minimum support the content I already pay for (digital cable in my case) then I'm really not interested.
There is another post here talking about connecting to digital cable through the firewire connection on the cable box. That would be the least desirable method, but even that would be enough for me to make the purchase. HOWEVER, this firewire connection must be native to the product, not a hack. Ideally I would like to see a cablecard slot in the Mini but that is because I pay for cable. I'm not sure what the best solution is for the folks out there that are using satellite.
My prediction is that the new features of the Mini will tap into a Apple managed content pool, the iTunes store. The launch of this device will coincide with the launch of a much larger video content pool on iTunes, and, if we're lucky, the ability to rip your DVD's to the mini.
Ripping DVD's creates its own set of headaches on the Mini. Even with a switch to 3.5 inch hard drives there would still only be room for 1 drive in the system. Even if that drive were a 500gb SATA monster my DVD collection would not fit on the drive. My hope is that Apple will recognize this and let the Mini be the engine or brain allowing me to access a much larger NAS storage solution. I don't want to have to stack external firewire drives next to my Mini in the entertainment center.
This type of separation is a week spot already in the iTunes library. I keep all my music on a NAS appliance at home so that my wife and I can access it at the same time with out a server. When I add new music to the NAS appliance I have to go to my wife's machine and add the new folder to her library. My hope is that a new media center focused Mini could solve this issue by allowing our computers to access the Mini as a server for all of our content, music, video, etc. But if the Mini is limited to internal storage it really won't be able to keep up with the volume of content.
PVR/DVR solutions don't really have this problem because by design, you never own the content. It is assumed that the content on these drives would be overwritten over time. Apple on the other hand sells their content through the iTunes store so it is expected that the user would keep their content because they own it. It is the balance between these two sales models that needs to be addressed, prior to releasing any PVR/DVR functions on a new Mini.
Re:In other news...
by
gnasher719
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
>> 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...
Fortunately I live in Britain, where all you need is a demultiplexer to grab the digital signal and record it completely unchanged on the harddisk. Since a settop box with receiver, demultiplexer and decoder costs less than £30, all the functionality should be quite cheap.
If you then consider that I don't need a DVD player anymore, and no games console, a Mac Mini PVR looks quite good. Just make it a bit higher to fit a 3.5" harddisk with 250 Gig, a fast processor so that everything can be recompressed to H.264 to save three quarters of the space, and it will sell.
Re:In other news...
by
squiggleslash
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
Something friends with PVRs have told me is they ended up watching a lot less TV once they started using one, so it doesn't quite work the way you're describing. A real anti-TV advocate could probably take advantage of the situation and slowly reduce the number of programmes it records, reducing the addict's dependency upon TV, until eventually it starts ordering books via Amazon.com, playing classical music, and generally improving the welfare and outlook of the user.
TV addiction is a fairly serious problem in modern society, and I suspect it has much to do with the dumbing down of much of what we take for granted today. Like nicotine, it's addictive to the vast majority of people who take it. Like alcohol, the addicts have a tendency to justify their usage by claiming they're leading a relatively normal, oftentimes "successful", life and that they could turn off the TV at any time if they wished. But just as alcohol kills braincells, TV has a direct affect on the brain, by atrophying those parts that involve creativity. The stereotypical "couch potato" is no myth, a non-interactive medium that promotes consumption and eliminates free thought inevitably results in viewers with li[tt]le incentive to move from their seats.
I suspect when politicians talk about fast-tracking the move towards HDTV, much of this has to do with trying to make a few clean breaks. By making television more expensive to possess, and content more expensive to produce, television may start to be priced out of existance. Meanwhile, the content industry is moving towards pay-per-view models, starting with DVD compilations of TV shows. This suggests they "get it" - they're seeing the anti-tobacco/anti-gun lawsuits, and getting the solutions in now, while there's still time. Simply saying "We're doing this for your own good" isn't going to cut it - it opens the entertainment industry up for lawsuits, and politicians get criticised for being patronising and "anti-TV", in much the same way as your original comment was flamed by at least one clearly hooked TV addict.
PVRs are certainly a move in the right direction. And, y'know, we don't have to get rid of TV. We just need to control it. Alcohol in moderation isn't harmful. Neither should TV be the same. Getting people to the state where they watch, say, an hour of TV a couple of times a week, is certainly a reasonable goal. TV doesn't have to be abolished altogether.
-- You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Moderators, WTF???
by
coinreturn
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Apple loves stealing names. Look at what they did to "Apple Records" and "McIntosh Audio" (which they still print a disclaimer about in all their documentation).
That's modded as informative?? That's troll/flamebait if I've ever seen it. I seriously doubt Apple goes looking for names to steal - they do not like all the legal attention. Apple Records sued Apple Computer simply because it saw a chance to gain some revenue. Why don't they sue AppleOne Employment http://appleone.com/? At the very least, they should be suing Bad Apple Records, Big Apple Records, Black Apple Records, Crab Apple Records, Mountain Apple Records, Screaming Apple Records, and Zapple Records, or the very least the City of New York for use of "The Big Apple."
Slashdot Mirror
Dont forget the all important iPod dock which was left out at last minute from the PPC version
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Quite seriously, one wonders what irritating DRM Apple will put in to avoid just those suits -- Or worse, add in later "upgrades".
Behold the riant ape! Beware, his crooked thumbs!
To own a Mac is to have it give me some functionality I cannot easily derive from my Windows PC in a format that doesn't collide with my entertainment center.
I would like to have a Mac around to experience OS/X but I don't need it and therefor have no reason to spend the money. Make it do something useful for me that I would have to already spend money to have and then I can consider it.
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.
If Apple can deliver a PVR that also allows me to dabble with OS/X who knows where it might lead. The big IF is, will they price it for the market or let their ego do the pricing?
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
I wonder if MythTV will run, or how their software stacks-up against MythTV. I really enjoyed having a Myth in the living room, but it is pretty annoying to make a PC into a set-top, with cables, adaptors, and stuff. Machines built for the set-top are (obviously) more specialized, but generally lack major features (like keyboards, mice, MAME, etc). Maybe I should have picked up a PVR-250 yesterday during the non-sale.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
one wonders what irritating DRM Apple will put in
True...although considering that the mac mini isn't all that much bigger than a VHS tape, if all i wanted to do was tape something and bring it to a friend's house, even if they drm'd it to death i could conceivably just pick up my whole pvr and take it with me everywhere. intriguiging...
This makes perfect sense. Now you will be able to have some sort of integration between the DVR app and iTunes to load up your iPod with your saved tv shows...
But now that I think about it, this would cannibalize iTunes TV show sales... Maybe this is all rumor?
- what is the definition of simultanagnosia?! I've been meaning to look it up!
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
If Apple wants to be at the center of the A/V world, I suggest they build a machine that can physically sit at the center of a typical A/V ensemble. The mini's size makes sense on a crowded desk. But putting a mini on top of your tower of A/V components looks silly and feels cheap.
TiVo already negotiated the ability to transfer files to the Video iPod, so why not go the next step and put the iPod connector directly on the box itself?
I'm not too bothered about watching my music, but being able to queue it up from the TV rather than a seperate computer wouldn't be a bad thing.
I hope it does sync - not that I have any intention of getting a video iPod but that would actually increase it's use value several 100%. However, I can see the various networks blocking such a move - and would undermine the more likely revenue stream of 'iTunes movie store with full-quality video' that will follow getting a set top box out.
Of course, someone will do it very quickly (as they have with PSP video syncing and ripping DVDs to video iPod) - maybe that's a good enough solution - get the hardware out there and let the community take care of the software problem (and legal issues) - waiting for the networks to get onboard will take too long.
Apple doesn't irritate me with DRM. iTunes is a very good ripping machine that doesn't care about what you are doing.
You can even drag folders and folders of illegal MP3s directly into iTunes to be automagically sorted and becoming a first class citizens together with your legally purchased music from iTunes Music Store.
And you can mix. Burn.
And transfer all your files to as many iPods you want.
And you can copy ALL your music - except songs bought from iTMS - to whatever crappy non iPod player or SonyEricsson cell phone you have.
The same goes for podcasts and vodcasts. It is quite easy to make your own iPod compatible videos with open source solutions like mencoder or with QuickTime Pro if you want a pretty GUI.
For me, Apple has choosen the least irritating DRM possible, and ONLY used it to protect the songs and/or videos bought from iTunes Music Store.
Really wouldn't say that iPod integration is "all important". It would certainly be a nice touch with elegant Apple style, but the value add is maybe 10 bucks max.
True DVR capability though... if it has both well-designed, powerful iSoftware AND true plug-n-play hardware, that would make it a serious killer device that launches Macs into millions of living rooms.
If there really is a Macintel mini next month, most likely they'll release a low-end model comparable to the existing high-end, and a premium version with built-in DVR. Personally I'm not prepared to accept this rumor just yet, but boy would it be a nice birthday present.
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.
Of course, this being America, you can sue any time you want - including when it's just a codename. That's what Carl Sagan did over the use of Sagan as a codename by Apple. Apple responded by using the codename BHA, which stood prominently for Butt-Head Astronomer.
Two years ago, I put my old notebook in the living room as an entertainment center. Since then I've tried MythTV and half a dozen other solutions, but none of them satisfy me (I want DVD, video and music playback, no TV functionality). Today I run mplayer or xine from the commandline, it's the least hassle.
If this thing actually appears, I have an old notebook for sale.
No way in hell am I giving M$ the keys to my living room. Linux was tried, but didn't quite work out. I do have confidence in Apple to pull this off. I'm very much looking forward to the Expo.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Likewise. The EyeTV 500 is a nice little HD tuner that lets the mini do the work of a PVR, along with all the other usual stuff.
Since I use a projection system and don't really need my media computer to be teeny-tiny, I'm actually replacing it this week with a refurb G5 tower. The mini is going into my music studio rack as a headless digital audio processor. Versitile little gadgets, those minis.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
At least with a computer, you're not a passive receiver, you ARE interacting. And a lot of the debates actually require you to think. To be a bit original. Look at any of the flamefests :-) I mean, if you haven't gotten a few freaks, you're not "interacting" hard enough (I've only got 75 - I want MORE!!!)
I'm not at all terribly into the DVR aspects of the new Mac mini. It's nice, but there are plenty of other things to get more excited about.
First... An Intel Mac mini means a sub-$500 computer that runs OS X and Windows. Steve Jobs quipped during the launch of the first Mac mini that they wanted to price it so that "people who are, you know, thinking of switching, will have no more excuses". With this they won't even need to keep their own PC - assuming the storage is plentiful and drivers available, they can transfer over all old files from their PC and keep their old environment truckin' in addition to working in OS X.
Speaking of storage. Think Secret's report notices that a 3.5" HD might be in the cards (instead of the current 2.5") which would, even after adding bulk to the relatively small machine, be a good move as it would allow for more storage and cheaper drives. The most spacious 2.5" drives Apple offer today are 120GB for the Powerbook and only 100GB on the mini - the smallest 3.5" Apple will let you get away with on the iMac is a 160GB drive.
While we're dreaming, I hope Apple will make Superdrive (DVD+-RW and Dual Layer) standard, and add Gigabit Ethernet, an extra USB port or two and certainly an extra RAM slot.
You hook up a couple USB or bluetooth game controllers and you have yourself the best looking game console around. Maybe not as its main feature, but there are plenty of games out for OSX to make a Mac Mini a versatile PVR, game console, DVD player/recorder and living room PC.
The key would be not to limit functionality to make it feel too much like a special purpose device, but to have a simple button to switch the software from one mode to the other. Maybe just have a remote like a multipurpose remote, with buttons on the top for switching between different modes, and a cool ipod like menu wheel. That would be pretty slick.
The Mac Mini makes sense as a PVR, from its form factor and appearance. But, as someone who has been trying to use it for just that purpose, I have to say: they need to do something about performance, both of the hardware and of OS X itself. It's not just that the system needs MPEG hardware encoding/decoding, they also need to make OS X less of a resource hog (or ship with 1G of memory), need to make the screen rendering more efficient, and fix a lot of other performance issues. None of that matters much on a big Macintosh, but on these little machines, it is an issue.
As it is, I use my Mac Mini for DVD playback and as a jukebox; as a PVR, it's not all that usable in its current form.
Disclaimer... I am an Apple zealot. I have tasted the Koolaid and it was good.
The new iMac with the built in camera, remote, and Front Row was interesting. It was tied to the iTunes music store and created (either by accident or design) the largest iPod on the planet, complete with 20inch LCD if desired. If we apply the remote technology and Front Row from the iMac to the Mini we can in effect turn it into a giant iPod dock.
With the new video iPod we can already perform almost everything we can do in Front Row on a TV by just connecting the iPod. To be really interesting the Mini will need to tap into a greater source of content. It is the content that is the key to any PVR/DVR solution IMO. Comcast manages their content through OnDemand, Tivo was wildly successful because it taped into a huge content store, starting with over the air, then moving to satellite. Unless the Mini can at a minimum support the content I already pay for (digital cable in my case) then I'm really not interested.
There is another post here talking about connecting to digital cable through the firewire connection on the cable box. That would be the least desirable method, but even that would be enough for me to make the purchase. HOWEVER, this firewire connection must be native to the product, not a hack. Ideally I would like to see a cablecard slot in the Mini but that is because I pay for cable. I'm not sure what the best solution is for the folks out there that are using satellite.
My prediction is that the new features of the Mini will tap into a Apple managed content pool, the iTunes store. The launch of this device will coincide with the launch of a much larger video content pool on iTunes, and, if we're lucky, the ability to rip your DVD's to the mini.Ripping DVD's creates its own set of headaches on the Mini. Even with a switch to 3.5 inch hard drives there would still only be room for 1 drive in the system. Even if that drive were a 500gb SATA monster my DVD collection would not fit on the drive. My hope is that Apple will recognize this and let the Mini be the engine or brain allowing me to access a much larger NAS storage solution. I don't want to have to stack external firewire drives next to my Mini in the entertainment center.
This type of separation is a week spot already in the iTunes library. I keep all my music on a NAS appliance at home so that my wife and I can access it at the same time with out a server. When I add new music to the NAS appliance I have to go to my wife's machine and add the new folder to her library. My hope is that a new media center focused Mini could solve this issue by allowing our computers to access the Mini as a server for all of our content, music, video, etc. But if the Mini is limited to internal storage it really won't be able to keep up with the volume of content.
PVR/DVR solutions don't really have this problem because by design, you never own the content. It is assumed that the content on these drives would be overwritten over time. Apple on the other hand sells their content through the iTunes store so it is expected that the user would keep their content because they own it. It is the balance between these two sales models that needs to be addressed, prior to releasing any PVR/DVR functions on a new Mini.
>> 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...
Fortunately I live in Britain, where all you need is a demultiplexer to grab the digital signal and record it completely unchanged on the harddisk. Since a settop box with receiver, demultiplexer and decoder costs less than £30, all the functionality should be quite cheap.
If you then consider that I don't need a DVD player anymore, and no games console, a Mac Mini PVR looks quite good. Just make it a bit higher to fit a 3.5" harddisk with 250 Gig, a fast processor so that everything can be recompressed to H.264 to save three quarters of the space, and it will sell.
TV addiction is a fairly serious problem in modern society, and I suspect it has much to do with the dumbing down of much of what we take for granted today. Like nicotine, it's addictive to the vast majority of people who take it. Like alcohol, the addicts have a tendency to justify their usage by claiming they're leading a relatively normal, oftentimes "successful", life and that they could turn off the TV at any time if they wished. But just as alcohol kills braincells, TV has a direct affect on the brain, by atrophying those parts that involve creativity. The stereotypical "couch potato" is no myth, a non-interactive medium that promotes consumption and eliminates free thought inevitably results in viewers with li[tt]le incentive to move from their seats.
I suspect when politicians talk about fast-tracking the move towards HDTV, much of this has to do with trying to make a few clean breaks. By making television more expensive to possess, and content more expensive to produce, television may start to be priced out of existance. Meanwhile, the content industry is moving towards pay-per-view models, starting with DVD compilations of TV shows. This suggests they "get it" - they're seeing the anti-tobacco/anti-gun lawsuits, and getting the solutions in now, while there's still time. Simply saying "We're doing this for your own good" isn't going to cut it - it opens the entertainment industry up for lawsuits, and politicians get criticised for being patronising and "anti-TV", in much the same way as your original comment was flamed by at least one clearly hooked TV addict.
PVRs are certainly a move in the right direction. And, y'know, we don't have to get rid of TV. We just need to control it. Alcohol in moderation isn't harmful. Neither should TV be the same. Getting people to the state where they watch, say, an hour of TV a couple of times a week, is certainly a reasonable goal. TV doesn't have to be abolished altogether.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Apple loves stealing names. Look at what they did to "Apple Records" and "McIntosh Audio" (which they still print a disclaimer about in all their documentation).
That's modded as informative?? That's troll/flamebait if I've ever seen it. I seriously doubt Apple goes looking for names to steal - they do not like all the legal attention. Apple Records sued Apple Computer simply because it saw a chance to gain some revenue. Why don't they sue AppleOne Employment http://appleone.com/? At the very least, they should be suing Bad Apple Records, Big Apple Records, Black Apple Records, Crab Apple Records, Mountain Apple Records, Screaming Apple Records, and Zapple Records, or the very least the City of New York for use of "The Big Apple."