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How I envision the Apple TV

M

micrometers

Diamond Member
Simply put, it would redo the whole menu system that satellite and cable providers have for choosing channels. It's a pretty awful system IMO. You can only see like 4 listings at a time, the search isn't very good, the rewind and FF system is very good.

So basically I think one feature would be outputting the whole menu onto an iPhone or iPad while you're watching tv. and search and ff could be done from there, as well as looking up any director info on your iPad while watching a film.
 
My vision of "Apple TV" would be basically an Apple version of Windows Media Center running on an Imac, Mac Mini or Macbook with an iOS device(including current Apple TV 2) being an extender that you either watch directly or plug into a TV.

Media Center is the one thing that's really keeping me entrenched in the Windows world for my home computing.
 
vi edit said:
My vision of "Apple TV" would be basically an Apple version of Windows Media Center running on an Imac, Mac Mini or Macbook with an iOS device(including current Apple TV 2) being an extender that you either watch directly or plug into a TV.

Media Center is the one thing that's really keeping me entrenched in the Windows world for my home computing.
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this + siri
 
bearxor said:
I've been using MCE since 2005 up until September of last year. The only advice I have for you is: bail.
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If you made the switch, what suggestions do you have for an Apple based alternative to Win7 Media Center? I use Xbox's and some Linksys Media extenders to my TV's for pulling back recorded TV.
 
vi edit said:
If you made the switch, what suggestions do you have for an Apple based alternative to Win7 Media Center? I use Xbox's and some Linksys Media extenders to my TV's for pulling back recorded TV.
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No, no... You don't understand. Bail on the entire system. I switched to DirecTV and mainly use Sickbeard to just download my shows and use DTV for live TV.

After years and years of using MCE, I am simply convinced that Microsoft has no long-term plan for the home DVR.
 
Meh. My cable service is pretty cheap. $50 a month and I don't need any cable cards or special set top boxes to pick up QAM/HD channels. It's split out to like 7 different TV's spread around the house. I've got no real desire to move to a dish system.

Likewise, I've got no real desire to pay Tivo what ever crazy monthly rates they are up to at this point $20 last time I checked. Screw that.

My little Media center system works just fine for recording shows for my wife/kid to play back when they want them.
 
I heard that the appleTV was pretty impressive, no? that's the MCE competitor. Especially since storage management is a pain, the streaming bit is good.

Here are a few more things that I wish that tv's were better at:

1. that annoying digital lag. Back in the analog days switching a channel was instantaneous. Honestly I watch less tv because of this, no joke.

2. The annoying menu structure. It is always bad and always resembles a PC bios.

I dunno though. I mean, for a TV the electronics tend to be relatively simple and the bulk of the cost is in the panel itself. Which gives an advantage to the actual manufacturer. MacBooks and iPads are more balanced in cost considerations. It probably would just make more sense to put more effort into the Apple TV box.
 
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vi edit said:
Meh. My cable service is pretty cheap. $50 a month and I don't need any cable cards or special set top boxes to pick up QAM/HD channels. It's split out to like 7 different TV's spread around the house. I've got no real desire to move to a dish system.

Likewise, I've got no real desire to pay Tivo what ever crazy monthly rates they are up to at this point $20 last time I checked. Screw that.

My little Media center system works just fine for recording shows for my wife/kid to play back when they want them.
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i believe mythtv has an apple version that you could use. any extender that supports xbmc can read a mythtv database (as an example, including apple TV)
 
Mythtv pales in comparison to MCE.

And I have a Ceton InfiniTV device. No other setup can give my 4 simultaneous HD streams (unencrypted, ALL channels) that I can bounce around to any machine on the network. I actually watch live TV in MCE within a Parallels VM running on my iMac. I pay about $89 for a FIOS bundle and that includes a lot of channels. Bailing on this setup would mean losing HD streaming capability on my home network, losing the ceton device, paying for TV shows through Apple TV and sending back my cableCARD (which costs me $3 months) for a heaping pile of crappy cable boxes that cost $10/mo to rent. Sounds like a huge mistake. I'll keep my MCE, thank you.
 
I think I'm ahead of the curve. I was totally in to MCE many years ago for much of the same reasons you guys list.

Now I'm about decentralization of TV. There used to be 4 TV's in my house. Now there's one. More and more, we're shifting from having TV's to using iPads. This is going to happen mainstream in the next 10 years and there's no place in it for MCE.

I can appreciate the enthusiasm, I really can, but after 6 years of championing MCE and just as long face palming after every stupid move Microsoft makes in the space, it was time to move on.
 
We don't use TVs. We use computer monitors. 🙂 I just can't imagine watching TV on an iPad. A TV makes much more sense in the bedroom and living room where we watch it. Our TVs are stationary and they will remain so. We don't need to carry our TVs around. Besides, the iPad is tiny. Going from a 32inch LCD to an iPad would not please anyone in this household.
 
Honestly, and this is just our opinion, of course, but pulling TV's out of every room greatly improved our lives. We started sleeping at night instead of watching TV. we tak more and have more interaction as a family.

If I do want to watch something, I'm able to just set the iPad on my chest and watch whatever and wear earbuds easily if I need to. I'm able to set up the iPad to watch the news at the table in the morning. It's able to come with me and watch a movie if I decide to soak in the tub. It's actually really handy.

Don't get me wrong, most of our TV watching is done via the 100" projector in the living room and I think that will totally be the case moving forward in the future, I just think people will start pulling back on individual smaller TV's in secondary locations.

But you use computer monitors, which I suppose means you have computers in the rooms where you watch TV. That's also going to trend in the other direction.
 
I hear what you're saying. We really only watch TV in the living room. I have tv streaming off the InfiniTV in the office mainly to have the news on in the background while I work (I work from home.). Upstairs we just watch late night TV before bed, but not always. We have a 2-year-old at home, so we limit the amount it's on in general.
 
The only reason why I got apple tv (atleast for me) is because of XBMC Period.
My ATV boots straight to xbmc, even when I bought it originally I never bothered to check out the original system out thoroughly, it was literally 5min of interaction.
 
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