Apple Movie Junkie

As much as I like the Apple TV, it hasn’t been a rousing success. I’m not sure why, exactly. But there are things Apple can do to make it more attractive… it could be an all-in-one box, that can record a TV signal, play a blue-ray dvd, and content from apple. And ALSO support other video codecs like xvid, which by far is the most prevalent file format out there. I don’t want to hack my box to enable that.

I think that would get people’s attention.

Peter, out of curiosity, why would you want a Blu-Ray player included with the Apple TV? For the quality? the titles?

Personally, I go back and forth about wanting Blue Ray in my AppleTV, but I was speaking for many people I know who want it in there as well. I’m sure it would make AppleTV a more attractive product to many people. The reason I would want it is I just don’t want 5 different boxes in my home theater. Preferably I want just one. And I do want a Blue Ray player at some point. It is the winner of the physical media HD wars.

I love my AppleTV for renting “HD” movies. That being said – In order for this to be successful and provide something seriously beyond what we’re seeing with Netflix and the future of cable based on-demand material it needs to be fully web enabled, include a blu-ray player so everyone could at least remove one additional box from their current system, and a wireless keyboard is a must as far as I’m concerned too.

The problem, from Apple’s standpoint I presume, is we’re essentially talking about a crippled Mac Mini at that point.

a crippled Mac Mini at near Mac Mini prices too…

(is there no way to edit a post??? didn’t see how

Allow me to disagree in some respects…

The reason I want Apple TV and iTunes Movie Rentals to succeed is so that I don’t ever HAVE TO BUY a Blu-ray player and any form of “hard media” again.

I was ready a year ago to be done with DVDs and Apple TV Take 2 is poised to make that finally possible. I’d much rather have access to a virtual on-line library of basically every movie ever made. I’ll still purchase my “Must Haves” either physically or digitally, but all other movies will be cheaper to simply rent for one, two or three times over the course of my life – as opposed to the 5 times I would have to watch any given $20 DVD just to break even. The ONLY reason I have purchased so many DVDs over the years was the desire to have them available to watch whenever I wanted to, without rental hassles. A permanent iTunes Movie library would remove that need completely.

SD? HD? Super HD? or whatever comes next… that’s okay, because iTunes will encode the content in that new format (they’ll have to for competitive reasons) and present it for rent and purchase through my very same AppleTV just like SD and HD content magically became available to my first generation 2007 Apple TV. (okay, maybe the box will require the occasional upgrade… but still cheaper than buying a new player AND new media all the time)

Other file formats may eventually be worked in when needed (sorry pirates) but there’s certainly no need for Apple TV to become a Mac Mini. I for one don’t really want a keyboard in my living room – just a remote thanks. Keep it simple.

Apple TV has been a great success as far as I’m concerned. It delivered all my iTunes content to my HDTV (which has worked fantastic), and a year later it was even upgraded FOR FREE(!) to include movie rentals, TV purchases, YouTube, Podcasts, etc. I’ve gotten my money’s worth and much enjoyment from Apple TV and look forward to what Apple has in store for its future!

YodaMac – I understand and agree. This is the wave of the future, i.e. no more physical media.

However, until they (and by “they” I mean the movie studios…) allow a legitimate way to rip your existing library of physical media to a device such as an AppleTV it’s almost certainly going to have to provide you with a way of playing your existing physical media in order to be widely successful.

People like you and I are willing to work through something like Handbrake and MetaX to “make it work” but most are not.

In addition, Apple needs to make this box something that these other offerings, like the Roku box, are not. They’ve done that to some degree via the interface but I just don’t think it’s enough to make it really stand above the others.

Now, with all that said – the biggest challenge in my mind is changing the mindset of the industry that creates the content intended to be used on the device.

I’m convinced that some of the movie and TV studios are willing to do anything they can to avoid getting in bed with Apple. The one point of the Tech Ticker bit that I thought was spot-on is that the video industry is shaking in their boots at the thought of Apple having the influence on their industry the way Apple has had on the music industry.

slate1- I do see your point about “legacy” content but I figure that anyone who has a collection of DVDs already has a DVD player, and if it still works they won’t be likely to toss it out in favor of an AppleTV.

And yes, I’ve ripped over 150 of my DVDs into iTunes to enjoy on the AppleTV, but it’s definitely not something I would expect my Mom to do. However… if Apple can someday add a simple “Rip DVD” button into iTunes, then even us old folks could figure it out. (I say that because we will certainly be old and grey before Hollywood lawyers ever allow that… but it would be cool)

About the studios – 100% agree!!!!

I agree that the physical media’s are about to start declining. I don’t know if they will die out all together because there is just so much extra content on DVDs that people really love (commentaries, deleted scenes, behind the scenes etc.) and I dont know how you can impliment that digitally. You could start selling Images files of the DVD that can be downloaded and read like DVD but US broadband speeds need to come WAY WAY WAY up for that to happen.

I also agree that AppleTV hasn’t taken off like I hoped it would when I bought one when they first came out. I think there are two reasons for this. One is Apple’s fault because I know plenty of people who do not like typing with that remote. It’s just not user friendly or quick. Apple needs a Nintendo Wii Remote-like pointer. Much easier and quicker to use. Or at least give us the option of having a wireless keyboard. And if I can be picky for a second here, I dont like the multiple interfaces. Each time you go down a layer its a different looking interface and I think there should be some clean up done to that regard. ok no more pickiness.

The second reason is the Movie studios fault. They don’t give Apple the quality of video or the volume of movies Apple needs to be truly successful. Movies dissapear in one quality format and then reappear in another. Movies need to stay on there once they are on there. I’m almost certain that is the Movie studio’s doing and not Apple’s.

I dont see the need to surf the web on my TV however I do see the need for DVR support. Tivo is amazing and I promise that if Tivo would drop their prices a little and actually put some money into marketing and advertising that Tivo would be much more popular.

So theres my 2 cents