PVR Wire

1. We'll know in a few days, but I doubt that you'll see DVR capability in iTV--At least not at the price point that Steve has previously talked about.

IMHO, the smartest thing about iTV is that DVR is omitted. It radically reduces the complexity and cost of the device. To make a competitive DVR today, you need at least a 250 GB hard drive, at least 2 TV tuners (and they need to be able to deal with satellite or cable encryption). Look at the pricing of TiVo S3 and compare it to the pricing of iTV. (Remember, TiVo's business model is to subsidize some of the HW cost with subscription revenues.)

iTV will do one thing... and do it superbly well: it will allow you to browse and play content that comes from PCs and Macs on your home network.

Posted at 10:22AM on Jan 6th 2007 by Michael Markman

2. I'd be OK with the iTV as a Tivo extender for my Series3. It'll never have PVR capabilities (unless it can be hacked by Linux guys and have storage added via USB). Aside from the fact that Apple loves to go it alone, I can't imagine a reason that Apple and Tivo couldn't team up to enable more content for the iPod. Apple doesn't make much money from iTS -- it is all about driving iPod sales. So why not add another driver to the mix?

I know, I know: It'll never happen.

Posted at 10:26AM on Jan 6th 2007 by Nathan Ziarek

3. I have a digital cable box with DVR functionality, so I don't need another box for DVR. That said, if iTV was able to work well with CableCard 2.0 then I wouldn't need to rent the cable box. This would be cool, but pretty much impossible for iTV 1.0.

BlueRay DVD - Nope, why commit to one standard over another when no one cares.

iPod Dock - not needed. Don't forget it has a USB port. You can just plug your iPod into it.

So that brings us to how can you convince to spend $300 for another box by their TV... Internet.
Wifi capabilities will definitely be included and maybe this will be able to act as a wifi router. If iTV is going to be connected to the internet, why not allow people to surf the web. Whether they want to access video from Google/YouTube or Netflix online, they can do it all on the iTV. There will need to be a small harddrive inside to allow video to replay well.
Purchase a bluetooth keyboard and you'll be able to send email, shop... right from your couch.

Posted at 10:19AM on Jan 6th 2007 by Truthitude

4. A PVR does not meat Apple/Jobs vision...as much as we all would love to see it. Their model is online music/tv/movie sales and hopefully soon to be rental. A PVR does not meet that model. They want to compete against cable and satellite. Eventually, Apple will be hoping we all cancel our expensive cable/satellite TV subscriptions and instead purchase individual shows from iTunes and watch them via iTV. I don't ever expect a PVR from Apple, although I would love to see one. If the iTV is as good as I hope it will be, then I will be very tempted to get rid of my $80 cable bill.

Something I haven't seen mentioned is Blu-Ray and HD-DVD support in the iTV. I'm hoping that I'll be able to add either a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD drive to my Mac Pro and the iTV will be able to access a movie in my computer drive and stream it to my HDTV. That would be a great way to upgrade to HD-DVD without spending a ton of money on a stand-alone player.

Also, iTV better be able to stream ANY quicktime movie from my computer, not just the movies I download from iTunes. It'll be a shame if you're prevented from playing your home movies over iTV for the sake of making DRM zealots happy.

Posted at 3:06PM on Jan 6th 2007 by Brian

5. Well, the iTV seems stackable. Gimme a 500GB drive and a BluRay drive in the same footprint below it at resonable prices.

Posted at 5:52AM on Jan 7th 2007 by John