[Osx-nutters] How Steve Jobs Can Fix Apple TV (AAPL) - Silicon Alley Insider

[LuKreme]

On 10-Dec-2007, at 16:00, Kevin Callahan wrote:
> http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/12/how-apple-can-fix-apple-tv.html

>     * Let people rip their DVDs to their Apple TVs/computers the  
> same way they can rip CDs to play on iPods. Apple TV would be more  
> useful if we could build a decent-sized video library with the media  
> we already own.

That's simply not going to happen.  Any commercial product with DVD  
decryption has been shut down by the MPAA and the courts.

>     * Open Apple TV to any videos we have on our computers, whether  
> downloaded from iTunes or not.

That's the most important improvement the AppleTV needs to embrace.

>     * Put a Web browser and an email app on Apple TV, and let us use  
> the USB port for a wireless keyboard/mouse. WebTV was a joke,  
> because the Web was a joke on standard-def TVs. But HD sets are good  
> for lightweight Web browsing, Internet radio consumption, etc.

Eh.

> * DVR software. It doesn't make sense to pay Time Warner Cable (TWC)  
> $8/month to rent their cruddy DVR if Apple could give it to us for  
> free. Figure out how to interface with our cable box, and let us  
> store all our video on Apple TV's hard drive. Then let us transcode  
> our stored content to computer- and iPod-sized files for portable  
> watching. License TiVo's software, or build your own. Just get it  
> done.

There's been long-time rumors of an Apple-TiVo alliance (or even  
buyout).  The trouble is the interfacing with the cable box part.   
Apple is never going to go the TiVo route with the little 'wand' you  
stick in front of the IR sensor...

> * Better yet, get a CableCard slot and tuner so we don't need a set- 
> top box in the first place. The cable companies will freak out, but  
> they need the competition.

A Cablecard with a QAM/digital tuner would be great.

> * Bigger hard drive. Even 160 GB is not enough. Put a 500-gig drive  
> in there, even if it means the Apple TV will get bigger. Don't  
> forget that you could be replacing our DVD player and set-top box,  
> which both take up a lot of room.

Agreed.  160GB doesn't even hold my iTunes music and my photos.

>     * Ditch the tiny remote. It's not very functional. Give us the  
> Hillcrest 'Loop'.
>     * Make this entire package $300. Or better yet, $200.

Unrealistic.  An HD TiVo goes for $700+

>

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