[dynamohum1]

I know this is from a rumor site and does not specifically mention a hdtv tuner, but with Apple touting their new monitor as HD this might be a step in the right direction.



New information is also becoming available through the grapevine about Apple's next Digital Lifestyle device. There are at least five different such projects underway at Apple right now, up to three of which could ship this summer, so there's plenty of uncertainty to go around....but the grapevine's choice for device-on-deck is a home digital video theatre.


Such a device would likely include a DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive, a large hard disk, a host of AV input and output ports, Firewire ports (most likely 800Mbps Firewire, which would hook in well with the new PowerMacs that are also rumored to include 800Mbps FW), a powerful remote control, and even built-in support for Apple's flat panel displays, particularly the 23-inch Cinema HD widescreen. Interoperability with Apple's sound systems is also frequently mention. All of this, packed inside an impressively small (and, of course, stylish) enclosure. The price tag will be very competitive, but still not cheap -- not less than $699, and probably more like $899-$999 during its first year.

 

[Namlemez]

Of course it still won't support custom resolutions over the VGA port (and require an adapter for the ADC -> DVI) nor will it do digital audio output. It might even have Apple's stunning proprietary digital audio connector!


Yehaaaaa....

 

[Brian Hampton]

Hey,


I think it would be neat if someday Apple could make a machine with HTPC capabilities. That would help them narrow the gap between the platforms at least. And a good friend of mine who loves Mac could join in the fun of having a HTPC. For all thier media savvy looks though they are still lacking simple things like DD and DTS support.


-Brian

 

[adzan]

Just got my self a Powerbook 677 Mhz. This is my first ever Mac. Now, this is what I called a mobile HTPC. Its new DVD player not too shaby at all. And not to mentioned its 15.2 wide screen LCD. I can tell people are drooling over the screen whenever I play DVD during traveling.


I thinking to hook it up with my HTPC setup, but lacking capability for custom resolution made Mac not suitable for HTPC. Also, the powebook do not come with SPDIF output, hence cannot get DD or DTS.


Now I want my superdrive!!

 

[Joseph S]

OS X is almost there

http://www.madrau.com/html/FAQ.html
Quote:

Â* (updated May 2002) SwitchRes X is currently on private beta testing phase. I'd say that 95% of the features of SwitchRes 2 are implemented. Some missing features are planned in a future release, as the beta version is now considered blocked for the new features implementation. That means, I will only correct bugs in it, not add any thing that I plan for a future release. If you are interested in participating in the beta program, then send me a mail with details of your configuration, so that I can check if such a configuration can be useful for testing (esp. if you have two or three video cards installed on your machine, even exotic video cards/monitors).

The developer's email address is listed via a link on the FAQ page, I choose not to include it here for spamming reasons. I really want this and don't want to hurt the effort.


I already can get digital audio out with the M-Audio (DPLII). Now that VLC is working for DIVX and DVD, perhaps they'll tap into coreaudio to allow DD/DTS passthru for us.

 

[Namlemez]

Switchres does look pretty interesting...like PowerStrip ( a little less in depth) for a Mac.


Now Apple just needs to put multichannel / AC3 out support in the DVD player. Since all they continue to push is their special 2.5mm audio jack, I can't see them writing software for some hardware that does not come on one of their systems. I think 3rd party hardware or software people would have trouble writing in support with Apple's control over the OS and hardware.


I'm not trying to bash Macs...I work with them and think they are very nice. With Apple's history of innovation, if someone got Jobs interested in HTPC, they could have something iServe sized with digital audio, HDTV, custom resolutions and a horde of other things in a month. I just don't see them going that direction currently.


Who knows with the digital lifestyle device, but they don't seem to be adding anything really amazing to it.

 

[MYoung]

I think it would be neat if Apple went out of business.

 

[mikef]

Quote:

Originally posted by MYoung I think it would be neat if Apple went out of business.

Perhaps a nice thought at one time, but somebody has to innovate. Where would Microsoft get all of their UI ideas from if OS X wasn't further developed?


I think it would be neat if Microsoft went out of business.

 

[Namlemez]

I only own PCs because my two hobbies tend to be HTPCs and Computer Gaming, neither of which works well on Macs. Therefore, I've got a lot of Microsoft. But where I work is a mixed comptuer environment and I do everything from setup Windows workstations to 2000 servers to repairing a Mac to setting up an OS X Server. As far as companies go though, Apple simply more of a company I would want to see succeed. With their innovation in hardware, operating systems and end-user applications, Microsoft is always (badly) playing catchup.


Simply compare coolness of:

-Windows XP vs OS X (Windows for dummies vs 3d accelerated GUI with Unix)

-iMovie vs MS Movie Maker (have you even heard of MS' product?)

-iTunes vs Windows Media Player 8

 

[MYoung]

Apple is propriety as hell. Then again so is Microsoft, but the difference is that Apple makes the hardware and the OS. Microsoft mainly just makes software. Microsoft is much more open than Apple - just look at all the 3rd party software and hardware manufacturers. That yields more competition which yields more innovation and lower prices within the PC platform. XP is garbage. iMovie and MS Movie Maker? Ha, both are toys. Yes, it would be neat if Microsoft went down, but if they did we'd either have another giant rise or have major compatability problems among OSs that arise. In reality, Windows and Mac are capable of the same things, it is just that Windows-based software and hardware dominate and offer more choices for less cash IMHO.

 

[Namlemez]

You are partially correct, Apple used to be very proprietary. They are getting away from that a great deal though.


Here's the specs off a normal G4 Tower


GF4 Titanium (AGP)

IDE hard drive

IDE DVD-R/CDRW

SDRAM

Operating system with open source kernel (Darwin project)


True, their audio port is useless proprietary and the video port requires an adapter to get DVI, but it isn't nearly as bad as it used to be.


Microsoft is defintely not more open. They just got FORCED by a law suitto allow other peoples icons to show up over Microsoft products. Apple wouldn't think of blocking out software like that. They also don't release the source code to the root of their operating system...


Microsoft has no part in Windows machines being cheaper. Look at the prices of a full copy of Windows XP Pro ($275) vs OS X ($130.) Don't even start comparing the license costs for the server. Win 2k Server can easily start breaking into 5 digits. OS X Server unlimited licenses for $1000. It also includes Mail...have you ever seen the prices for Exchange? Yikes!


The hardware is cheap because IBM let anyone build a PC 20 years ago. It also has to do with Intel only making processors and motherboard chipsets.


That being said, the hugely less cost for support of a Mac (due to their standardization) and the much less cost for software easily overshadows the couple hundred dollars you save at the get go. We've done numerous studies for this where I work...

 

[mhamel]



Wouldn't it be nice to have ONE thread on here about Macintosh related information that doesn't turn into a debate on whether or not the Mac (or Apple for that matter) is any good?


Windows machines, Unix/Linux boxes and Macs... they ALL have their ups and downs. I think we all know that, regardless of which of the above we love, hate or have never used.


Please, let's try to keep this a discussion on the current state of affairs for using the Mac as an HTPC platform. If you aren't interested in that, then please don't bother posting just to stir things up. Read the thread (or not), move on, and let those who are interested discuss it in peace.



Sorry.... this just sems to happen EVERY time the subject comes up.


-Mike

 

[Namlemez]

I think we already beat to death that it won't work as an HTPC right now. This comes up a lot but I had never heard of Switchres which knocks off like 50% of the problem. Frankly, if you don't like reading about Mac vs PC, I would suggest not clicking on the thread with Mac in the title

 

[xcel]

Hi Mikef:
Quote:

Perhaps a nice thought at one time, but somebody has to innovate. Where would Microsoft get all of their UI ideas from if OS X wasn't further developed?

___Why that would be the defunct Xerox Park of course … the same place that Job’s stole the Mac interface and mouse from


___Good Luck


___Wayne R. Gerdes

___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.

___ [email protected]

 

[mikef]

Quote:

Originally posted by xcel ___Why that would be the defunct Xerox Park of course … the same place that Job’s stole the Mac interface and mouse from [/b]

That would be PARC (Palo Alto Research Center)


Perhaps the idea for the windowed GUI originally came from there (first stolen by Apple), but many of the most recent UI mods found in XP came almost directly from MacOS X. No doubt about it.

 

[Joseph S]

Quote:

Why that would be the defunct Xerox Park of course … the same place that Job’s stole the Mac interface and mouse from

Jobs at least paid XEROX for the right to learn from PARC. Though, almost all of OS X's influence is a direct result of NEXT OS including the key elements like the Dock and Browser. The rest and all of the Jaguar improvements are a mix of OS 9 elements and new stuff.


Gates literally swiped Apple's OS 9 Yellow Rubber Ducky icon for XP. The rest just looks like crap and has a poor usability factor. So, my HTPC is reverted to the Win2k style interface.

 

[SBryan]

Quote:

Originally posted by MYoung Apple is propriety as hell. Then again so is Microsoft, but the difference is that Apple makes the hardware and the OS. Microsoft mainly just makes software. Microsoft is much more open than Apple - just look at all the 3rd party software and hardware manufacturers. That yields more competition which yields more innovation and lower prices within the PC platform. XP is garbage. iMovie and MS Movie Maker? Ha, both are toys. Yes, it would be neat if Microsoft went down, but if they did we'd either have another giant rise or have major compatability problems among OSs that arise. In reality, Windows and Mac are capable of the same things, it is just that Windows-based software and hardware dominate and offer more choices for less cash IMHO.

Congratulations, you win the award for knowing the least while speaking the loudest! Have you ever heard of something called open source? Are you aware that the entire base OS (Darwin) for OSX is open source? Ever hear of QuickTime Streaming Server? That is another significant piece of open source software from Apple that has been ported to several platforms including NT. I'm certainly not going to claim Apple is only about open source software but to make such a stridently ignorant claim (Microsoft is more open than Apple) is breathtaking.


When HTPC becomes feasible for the Mac, it will be a joy to run on an advanced OS like MacOSX rather than the toy OS (Win98SE) with which I'm currently living.

 

[JB72]

Ironically, one of the reasons I like Macs better is because they embrace most non-proprietary standards (UNIX, Java, CUPS, USB, Firewire, XML, etc.) Microsoft tries to screw up HTML standards and now they're pushing .NET. I didn't use Macs back in the days when they did all the funky Apple standards like NuBus or whatever. They do use Apple Display Connectors, but this is really just DVI plus USB and power. I like having less cables. You can easily convert it to just DVI, plus more Macs are also coming with a DVI sencondary display option. I always wonder why when any Mac thread pops up some Windows user decides to repond with their disaproval. I don't jump into Windows OS threads and bash them.


More on topic now. I wonder if anyone has tried using one of the emerging non-Apple OS X DVD players to see if they can pass 5.1.

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/OSX/os_x_..._videolan.html

 

[xcel]

Hi Mikef:


___In other words, Job’s didn’t create a Windows type GUI but copied it …


___As far as MS and Apple … How about who is and who is not advancing the usability/compatibility of the PC OS with real dollars? MS to spend 5.3 Billion for R&D over the next year, an increase of 21% over last year. These figures were posted almost a year ago and I cannot find anything to substantiate these numbers today. In any case, with sales practically flat in the DT market, Gates and company are still supporting large R&D expenditures with a 5 billion dollar + outlay. From Apples latest 10K, they were considering an R&D increase on the order of 10% year over year. I could not find a real number here in the 10 minutes I searched but someone has to have a link or two.


___Joseph, as far as both OS X and Windows XP’s DT GUI’s, you should turn off all that fluff as they are both resource pigs and performance killers like nothing I have ever seen in the recent past. Can you turn off all the GUI performance killing fluff on a MAC like you can with XP? I also use the Classic DT under XP Pro with all but two of the performance killer settings enabled. Given you are also using XP as well, is there any particular reason


___Finally, as far OS costs are concerned; MS is just as greedy as the next company but I do not know of anyone that purchased XP Professional for $275.00. Than again, I do not know everybody Pricewatch is showing resellers offering XP Pro for $122.00, $126.00, and $136.00 respectively with no strings attached. A quick walk through a local show will have even better deals with not only full blown retail packages for > than the prices listed above but quite possibly legitimate pulls for less as well. I do know the shows are loaded with pulls but I am not sure these versions are completely legitimate in MS’s eyes … They PA just fine but I believe MS frowns upon “pulls†in some fashion. Even during the XP launch week, quite a few of us picked up a Windows XP Professional early bird special directly from MS for just $49.00 that also happened to include an XP Lava Lamp If you’re a reseller or student, you can find even better deals but that is not even close to reality pricing for most of us …


___Good Luck


___Wayne R. Gerdes

___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.

___ [email protected]

 

[Joseph S]

Quote:

Can you turn off all the GUI performance killing fluff on a MAC like you can with XP?

Of course.

http://www.resexcellence.com

Quote:

___In other words, Job’s didn’t create a Windows type GUI but copied it …

He didn't copy, he developed his own which is more than Gates can say about some of his software. I loved when he got caught swiping entire segments of Quicktime code and hired away the developers.