On Thursday 13 October 2005 14:37, Martin Hill wrote: <snip> > I could understand Apple not wanting to provide the TV tuner option > themselves hoping to encourage a pay-per-download and view model, but I do > hope they will provide the hooks to allow Elgato with EyeTV and other third > parties to seamlessly plug into the Apple Front Row media interface and > provide that capability for those who want it. After all, Microsoft > provides these options in their Media Centre.
I guess I would keep an eye on the developer connection over the next few days and see what comes up. Hopefully something will come up, as I am sure there are a pile of other uses for Front Row and using the remote (Keynote seems to come to mind). I'm interested to hear the response from El Gato on this one too . > > > > They've scared the record companies witless. I could imagine the tv and > > movie studios will be a little worried too. > > I agree. The broadcasters making their money from live TV using > advertising revenue is a very threatened model in this day and age of Tivo > and other PVRs like EyeTV, so Apple's model points to the future - it's > just that live TV is not yet dead so Apple's solution should provide > options in this area if they are going to be able to compete against MS in > the Digital Hub market. Which is why I think all the videos are 320x240. I think Disney would have had a big caveat on the deal that all videos are to be less than broadcast resolution (at this stage anyway). I haven't seen any mention of DRM yet on video from Apple, so I'm guessing this is a primitive way of combatting piracy (you can get much better resolution shows from..umm..."grey" areas of the internet). What would be ideal would be a combination of the Bit Torrent technology and legal downloads. For example, you buy the torrent and then can start downloading the show in full broadcast resolution. And all the other legal purchasers of the torrent help speed up the download through how Bit Torrent works. I'm guessing the production companies are also protecting a new market - tv shows sold on DVD. > > At least Steve now isn't scoffing at people wanting to watch TV programs > and movies on their computers (or iPods!), so we're moving in the right > direction! :-) It shows the new direction of Apple (note how the dumped the Computer part of their name a while ago). I think Steve is positioning them as the new middle man for media. Which is where Microsoft have missed the boat again. Secure the content first, then provide the means to view or listen to it, not the other way round :-) Seeya Rod!
