PVR Wire

1. "The Mac Mini might be heralded by Mac fanatics as the death knell for PCs..."

Name one.

"I get the impression Mr Jobs has a long way to go before MCE, TiVo and Sky Plus start to feel the heat from the Mac Mini."

Why are you assuming that's the way he is going?

Posted at 6:30AM on Mar 8th 2006 by Anndra

2.

--"The Mac Mini might be heralded by Mac fanatics as the death knell for PCs..."

Name one.--

Note the use of the word "might".

--"I get the impression Mr Jobs has a long way to go before MCE, TiVo and Sky Plus start to feel the heat from the Mac Mini."

Why are you assuming that's the way he is going?--

I'm not assuming anything. Steve Jobs' actions and recent product releases indicate he's keen to take over the living room space.

Posted at 6:40AM on Mar 8th 2006 by Martin

3. First, the mini has never been targeted towards the living room or marketed as a pvr or dvr. Not by Jobs, not by Apple.

Second, selling a PVR is not in Apple's future. Never has been, never will be. Period. If you believe anything else, you're deluding yourself. Apple is gunning for the living room, but they'll get there by providing content from the iTunes Media Store. Streaming and PPV are the future of the television industry and they're part of the future for Apple.

All of this talk about an Apple PVR needs to be put to rest immediately.

Posted at 8:15AM on Mar 8th 2006 by Andrew

4. Hmm...

...the new Apple iPod speaker system is clearly designed for the living room.

Jobs described it as "Apple reinventing the home stereo".

Here's a recent Steve Jobs quote:

"We think this is a big deal for moving media around the house and experiencing it in a great way."

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/cPpvjkhch2PNz5/Apples-New-Mac-Mini-Built-for-Living-Room.xhtml

Which was directly in reference to the new Mac Mini.

Every tech analyst worth their salt believes that Apple are making an assault on the living room space.

Posted at 8:49AM on Mar 8th 2006 by Martin

5. Works great for me. I needed an unsightly system to put in my living room that could time-shift netflix DVDs. I can record HD with an ElGato tuner. I have a "real" HTPC hooked up to a projector in the basement and the image quality is as good, albeit on the smaller living room LCD.

For me it works great!

Cheers,

Posted at 8:53AM on Mar 8th 2006 by Somite

6. I have a similar setup as Somite mentioned, but thinking of a Mini as a "PVR" is too limiting and misses the point.

I have an EyeTV box (the 200 - non-HD), but it's not used as a "tuner" and I don't watch TV directly on the Mini. The fact is that if you have any form of digital television (hopefully you have Dish or DirecTV), you're going to be best served using their equipment to capture TV. I have a Dish 942 HD DVR that seamlessly records two programs from Dish and a third from OTA local channels (yes, I can record three HD programs at once). There's no way a third-party machine will do that today.

But when I have a program on the Dish DVR I want to keep, I pipe it through EyeTV and either save it on one of my external drives behind the Mini or burn it to DVD. So for television, the Mini is the pipe to permanent storage. EyeTV also lets me digitize things like old VHS movies.

Secondly, the Mini is my DVD player. I have the original PowerPC version, so I'm missing digital audio out, but that's been solved with the new Intel version. What's more - because it's a computer and not just an electrical component, I can rip DVDs (MacTheRipper) to a hard drive and watch it directly from there (VLC Player). This is especially handy for NetFlix.

Thirdly, the Mini replaced my old CD player with an entire library of iTunes music that plays through my A/V receiver. I already used iTunes with my iPod, so this is an easy and great extension of the music functionality.

Fourthly, because the Mini is an Internet-connected machine, I can watch YouTube, iTunes, AOL and other video through it directly on my living room TV.

I have three 250GB USB externals and one 120GB USB external storing files on it right now, and the performance is great. It's hooked up directly through DVI to my LG DLP set.

None of this comes from an out-of-the-box configuration, and I've got close to $1500 invested in the Mini and its components, so this is very much a custom setup.

But my point is that just thinking of a computer like the Mini as a "PVR replacement" is short-sighted. The only way right now to do PVR right is with a box that's integrated with your TV service.

Posted at 10:09AM on Mar 8th 2006 by Cap'n Ken

7. "PVR" is now a feature of your cable or satellite service that you can rent for an extra $5-$20 per month. That's not a large, profitable market for Apple to jump into with dedicated, expensive hardware.

"PVR User Interface" is something Apple should address with Front Row and the Apple Remote. I'd like to see support for video input via a Firewire or USB device so the Front Row UI can overlay my TV, too. Then all my media will go through my Mac, without having to be captured and stored ON my Mac.

If iTunes can offer movies and shows I want, in high def, that's a plus. But iTunes allows you to make your own discs, and it's unlikely that they'll drop that feature when it comes to full-size video. Apple may wait until they've got agreements with at least some of the movie/TV studios to allow burning your own 480p DVDs. Like Disney.

Posted at 10:43AM on Mar 8th 2006 by CupertinoSlim

8. Apple probably won't Build a PVR since they Were the First to Create a PVR that no wanted EI: MAC TV http://lowendmac.com/500/mactv.shtml

All though not a True PVR by todays standards it was ahead of it's time Apple did produce a TV card for early PowerMacs and you can record video, I know I have one! it also has a FM tuner as well.

Want more info check here:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Manuals/hardware/0308507TVFMRadioSys.PDF

Posted at 9:52AM on Mar 9th 2006 by Aaron