

Boxee's thoughts about the Apple TV - mike-cardwell
http://blog.boxee.tv/2010/09/01/some-boxee-thoughts-about-the-apple-tv/

======
RBr
I think that this comes down to pirating and p0rn. It is very easy for me to
download a TV show automatically using TED, have them automatically identified
and queued up in Boxee to watch on my TV. I have an old computer connected to
my TV via HDMI and a Harmony 880 remote to control it.

Beyond television and movie downloads, what about mature content? Apple has
gone to great lengths to ensure that the content they offer is free of adult
content. I like that but I know that a TV and Internet connected device like
this will do a lot better if it's easy to put p0rn on.

The problem with the existing Apple TV was the content - short of a price
reduction, I didn't see Steve announce any real content changes.

In my mind, the biggest thing standing in Boxee's way is their relationship
with DLink to price ($200 - $250) and provide the Boxee boxes. I get that they
view the boxes as a way to get their primary product (software) in-front of
more people, but I think that they'd be wise to diversify with a number of
manufacturers making open hardware that comes with Boxee pre-installed.

------
patrickk
I believe that the new Apple TV won't be a runaway success (and possibly a
failure by their standards) for Apple.

The reason the iPod was a huge success was because you could fill up that
enormous hard drive with music _you didn't pay for._ What would be the point
of owning a piece of hardware you paid hundreds for if you now had to pay
hundreds or thousands more to fill it with music? Of course some do, but they
are in the minority. People have no problem paying for an expensive-looking
piece of hardware they can hold in their hand but balk at the thought of
paying a lot for digital content they can only access temporarily (especially
when said digital content could be downloaded free elsewhere). I think this is
the elephant in the room that Apple have overlooked. If the Apple TV did
everything the new model did but had a 1TB drive attached, it would be a
different story.

~~~
mjallday
You can still stream movies from your PC or iPod/Phone so the ability to have
a hard drive with content you didn't pay for is still there.

<http://www.apple.com/appletv/#remote>

Not sure if it's limited to MP4 or not but I'm sure there will be a way around
that.

~~~
Fluxx
I'm pretty sure it's limited to H.264 and MP4, at least that's what Apple is
saying on the tech specs page under "video formats."

<http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html>

I still don't like the idea of having iTunes on a PC be necessary for me to
play my video files. What if iTunes doesn't recognize certain file formats
that I want to play? I'm SOL.

I really like the AppleTV and will buy one, but it's not a media player in the
same sense that XBMC or any of its decedents are. It's a player for the
userbase who doesn't want to deal with storage, file formats or torrents.
That's not me, but it is certainly a large # of people.

------
blehn
On a tangent, I'm glad Apple went with a matte black case for the Apple TV.
Hopefully that will help kill the highly absurd Piano Black trend.

~~~
dagw
Dear god yes. Buying a new TV recently was a right pain since basically
everybody insist on making them as ugly as possible with the most horrendous
shiny plastic they can find.

------
dennykmiu
One of the mysteries with today's Apple TV announcement is why they didn't
incorporate Apps Store (which is very obvious given that ATV2 nows runs on the
A4 processor and IOS4). My guess is that Apple is saving its dry powder (to
compete with Google TV). I am convinced that when Apps Store become available,
Boxee would be a fantastic app (and as such, would benefit from Apple as
opposed to competing with Apple). On the other hand, Boxee Box is a piece of
hardware and would be a direct competitor and a strategic mistake (which
explains why D-Link is dragging its feet).

~~~
umjames
One thing that's being overlooked:

What kind of apps can Apple tout (and we write) when the remote is the only
input device?

People said they didn't want another computer, so forget wireless keyboards
and mice. Maybe a touch interface with the iPad mirroring the TV? You touch
the iPad and the results display on both the iPad and the TV, but that would
require you to own another device just to use it to its fullest potential.

When these problems can be reasonably solved, we'll probably have an app store
for the TV.

~~~
dagw
I don't think we'll see the iPad or iPhone simply mirroring the TV, but being
used as dedicated input devices in their own right. I imagine that most
AppleTV apps will come with a matching iPhone or iPad app for input. For
example the iPhone can display buttons and icons which you use to control the
app on the TV or use the tilt sensor like some sort of Wii like motion
control.

I don't think making AppleTV owners also own an iPhone or iPad to get the full
potential from the device is anything Apple would consider a negative.

------
absconditus
"The Boxee Box is going to be $100 more expensive than the Apple TV, but will
give you the freedom to watch what you want."

What if I want to watch movies from the major studios? Netflix?

~~~
absconditus
I want to add that I really am not familiar with Boxee. I watched their
introduction video and it appears that it does support Netflix. It is not
clear where the movies from the major studios are obtained. Do people just rip
DVDs and pirate them or is there some other source?

------
papa
Sounds like an interesting product, but the oddly shaped case seems to
reinforce the fact that this will be a niche product:
<http://www.boxee.tv/box>

Might seem like a shallow/trivial thing, but I don't really want that thing
atop my pile of a/v components.

------
jasonlbaptiste
The amount of opportunity here is mind blowing. Someone needs to do something
even more wild with XBMC than Boxee. If I had F __k you money or funding, you
have no idea what I would build.

------
jgv
It's great that there will be a serious competitor with Apple TV from the very
start. Very much looking forward to the Boxee Box.

~~~
PanMan
I really hope it will be a serious competitor. One is half the price of the
other, and will be on sale on every other streetcorner. The other is twice as
expensive, doesn't have Apple's sexiness (at least in mindshare), and will be
on sale in way less places (or only online). And it won't integrate as
seamless with your other iDevices. As much as I like boxee, this will be a
tough battle for them.

------
jsz0
Aren't serious IPTV fanatics going to continue using HTPCs? I don't see the
Boxee set top really being an adequate solution. It's very limited compared to
a $300-$500 HTPC. That puts them into a bad spot of being too expensive and
too limited. I think Roku and Apple have the right idea.

------
timmaah
What is Boxee and how does it improve upon the media streamers that are out
there already?

My year old $100 Asus O!Play is awesome.. It handles all my dvd rips and
anything I download. There is soo much that could be done with it, Asus just
forgot about it or dropped the ball.

~~~
mike-cardwell
<http://www.boxee.tv/faq>

------
retroafroman
I agree-freedom is worth the $100.

------
hack_edu
I hereby declare the new AppleTV the 'iPod TV.'

Another device in which Apple's anti-Flash stance keeps me from pressing the
'Buy now' button. These days, video = streaming and like it or not, a large
portion of streaming video that streams through the web is one over Flash.
This won't change anytime soon.

I hate having to fire up my desktop to watch streams for sports or recent TV
episodes on the network's homepage. I think about it, and I would have gladly
paid apple twice as much for such a device but doubt I'd shell out as much for
a dedicated Boxee device.

~~~
stevejohnson
By this argument, Netflix apps should also play Flash because Netflix "does
streaming." How the hell do you expect them to deal with the controls on flash
movies that explicitly expect a point/click device rather than a remote
control?

There is no good reason to arbitrarily add Flash support to a set top box that
_doesn't even have a web browser in the first place._ The Apple TV has nothing
to do with Flash or any anti-Flash stance.

