Apple TV delayed until Mid-March

Confirmed, Apple's italian stores shows March 20th as shipping date and March 30th as delivery date.
http://lucafiligheddu.blogspot.com/2007/02/apple-tv-shipping-date-march-20th.html

I think AppleTV is as revolutionary, to some extent, as the first line of iMac. I remember everybody in the PC world asking "where is the floppy disk"...

Apple TV seems to me a good idea, except it relies too much on a PC or Mac and is not enough a standalone. People suggested that AppleTV is the first step in eliminating phisical media (DVDs, CDs and so on) but the major problem with it in my opinion is that it entirely relies on a full fledged PC or Mac to sync.

I imagined Apple would create a system which allows to purchase content directly from the device instead of: purchase it in my home office, wait until it is streamed to my PC, sync it with my Apple TV (which I would previosly have to turn on), turn off my PC, go back to the living room and enjoy.

See, the point is that I will walk miles only to sync stuff to AppleTV and only in limited quantity, all the rest will have to be streamed (or I'll have to free up space in my AppleTV FROM MY PC).

I would have imagined an Apple TV with 400Gb harddisk (how expensive would that be?? One hundred bucks more?) which is ITSELF my central media hub/storage.

I will sync my computers (yes, I have more than one!!) with it NOT the opposite (with one computer able to sync and the rest only able to stream).

This is the major drawback!!

For every new episode of, let's say, CSI:Miami I will have to download it to my computer, sync with my AppleTV and so on and so forth.

Imagine I could leave my AppleTV on all day, be at the office, and when I come back in the evening there I find the last couple of movies I purchased, my new music album I bought while in the office (and which I also have on my MacBook)...

That is what I call a digital hub...

I am a hardcore Mac believer, but I won't be changing my XBOX with XBox Media Center to stream media into my TV, which allows me to watch DVD's, DiVX, XViD, and so on... and only costed me 4 years ago 150 euros.

I see no reason to spend £200 on an Apple TV when:
a) TV/movie downloads aren't yet available in the UK
b) I can just use my PowerBook, an audio lead and a DVI-HDMI cable for any downloaded AVIs I have.

James (#16): "What you're suggesting is that Apple remove the DRM of the DVD and then add some DRM again. Pointless. The DVD forum will never allow DVDs to be ripped legally. If this were possible, it would have been built into iTunes and other similar mainstream programs long ago. DVD ripping won't happen, which leaves the DVD drive as a simple DVD player. Again, this isn't exactly a selling point these days so why bother?"

Have you seen the DriveIn application yet (http://www.flip4mac.com/drivein.htm)? This appears to rip a DVD to your Mac in entirety whilst retaining the DRM (quote: "Drive-in preserves the DVD’s original content protection. Drive-in allows you to play your images on any computer that you own but does not allow you to share your images with others.")

If TeleStream can do it - and I'd say they were a large media development house - then I can't see why iTunes can't.

This doesn't bode well for the iPhone or any other new products in the pipe Its almost Spring and no launch date for Leopard - there have been no significant upgrades to Hardware and where is iLife going?

come on Apple - so far there has been little to say this year is going to be big..?

Jacob, use some sense. What you're suggesting is that Apple remove the DRM of the DVD and then add some DRM again. Pointless. The DVD forum will never allow DVDs to be ripped legally. If this were possible, it would have been built into iTunes and other similar mainstream programs long ago. DVD ripping won't happen, which leaves the DVD drive as a simple DVD player. Again, this isn't exactly a selling point these days so why bother?

Also, the Apple TV is not really intended for storage in the first place and ripping DVDs to the Apple TV itself goes against the philosophy of the whole system. THAT would confuse the average consumer ("so some of my movies are here on my Apple TV, some are there on my computer, I forget which is where..."). The Apple TV follows the iPod model (i.e. all content is centralized and the iPod pulls from that source).

Don't get me wrong: An iTunes that rips DVDs with the same ease as it rips CDs is a long running dream of mine, but it just won't happen. As such, I don't think it's fair to hold impossible scenarios against the Apple TV.

It's not fanboy, it's reality and logic.

Apple TV will play content from your Mac on your TV. How sure are you that Apple TV won't be able to play the DVD movie you inserted into your Mac (with a little buffering, of course, but 802.11n screams). Or, would you rather put your laptop down, get up of the couch and insert the DVD into the Apple TV?

James, I understand what you're saying, but if their goal is to get into the living room, wouldn't they have an easier time by enhancing currently accepted technology then slowly weening people off of disks.

The device could rip content off of a physical disc into a protected format that cannot be accessed outside of the apple tv network.

Something like that would show people the benefits of digital content without forcing them to use an incomplete solution (limited movie choices in iTunes, lower than HD quality, no extra content or subtitles....)

think like a typical user, not as a fanboy.

Let me pre-answer all the questions people invariably ask about the Apple TV:

Why the Apple TV?
The Apple TV is an attempt to solve the chicken-egg problem of digital iTunes style distribution. Why put the content out there without a way to watch it vs. why build a device to watch content if the content is not there? Apple decided to just go ahead and build the device with the hopes of improving content to support it. They built the chicken with the hopes of getting some eggs out of it.

Why no DivX?
Only .01% of the population cares and nearly all DivX content available is pirated. From Apple's perspective, the question is more like "Why bother with DivX?". Apple are pushing an AVC/h.264 world.

Why no DVR?
DVR makes no sense in a digital distribution world. There is no need to record free content when you are purchasing content on demand. This is why it does not have a DVR and why Apple will not make a DVR, ever. As awesome as DVRs are right now, they are a brief stop on the technological roadmap that will eventually be made obsolete.

Why no DVD drive?
First, everybody already has DVD player so there is really no need. Second, and most importantly, the idea of physical media is completely at odds with the concept of the Apple TV. Apple ideally wants you to buy movies from them, not to buy DVDs. Right now that seems silly, but eventually these things will come to pass. Somebody needs to blaze the mass-market trail, and several others (like the videogame guys) are starting to stake claims here. In the end, a DVD drive adds cost for very little benefit or purpose.

I think it's hard for people so used to thinking about media in an old-fashioned sense to wrap there head around the Apple TV. The idea is no more physical media. At all. Obviously there will be a transitional stage where the two coexist and the AppleTV/iTunes do rely on physical media to a degree at this early stage, but the fundamental idea behind the Apple TV is that physical media is not part of the equation. Apple needs to get in the living room to truly make this a reality, hence the Apple TV.