How would you change the Apple TV?

Any time Apple enters a new product category it's obviously a fairly major development -- we're still getting bombarded with iPhone news over one month post-launch -- so now that you've had some time to play with it, it's only fair that we give the Apple TV the same vulture-like evisceration that we do any other high profile consumer electronics product. The little box seems to have received a warm welcome for the most part, with hackers quickly tearing it apart and adding all sorts of new capabilities to boot, but what we're interested in is how you'd change the device out of the box. Would you make it more or less integrated with the iTunes ecosystem? Should it be friendlier to a wider variety of codecs? Maybe open up the USB port? Okay, have at it...

[shawn_willits @ Aug 12th 2007 9:06PM]

i would blow it up cause it sucks

[Ireland @ Aug 12th 2007 9:55PM]

Em.. "How would you change the AppleTV?"

Let's see, how about making it play all our existing content as well. Then is would be even more useful; http://web.mac.com/brendanjnr/iWeb/my%20mock-ups/Apple.html

[goemon4 @ Aug 12th 2007 10:17PM]

i agree, id change it by making it filled with termite

[Billy Bob @ Aug 12th 2007 10:18PM]

Silly, termites only eat wood!

[Anthony @ Aug 12th 2007 11:47PM]

Why the hate for the Apple TV?

[This guy I know @ Aug 13th 2007 6:03PM]

I'm still hoping for a solar-powered, terrorist-shooting LASER CANNON!

In time...

[raymie @ Aug 13th 2007 2:26AM]

i would make it smaller so it could fit into a blender

[Joe @ Aug 13th 2007 5:15AM]

I would:

1) Start offering HD content on iTunes.
2) Enable direct downloading of content over the internet
3) HD DVR functionality
4) Live desktop video (@ 30 fps)
5) Recording of live desktop (options of 5, 15, or 30 fps)
6) Firewire 800- or whatever is needed to record HD content
7) HDMI input
8) 7.1 surround sound support
9) Blu-Ray/DVD reader with built-in backup up option (questionable legality) and a good DVD upscaler (to upscale other SD content too)
10) HD iTunes movie rentals. Content yours for 24 hours after you start to play it.


I want to buy one. But I want to buy HD content that doesn't suck. Comcast's HD On Demand content is ridiculously compressed and usually $6 a pop. That's too much. I want $1.99 movie rentals and $3.99 HD movie rentals. You're going to need to really make it appeal to me as the media center of my house. You'll have to fight for precious HD inputs on my TV.

Just my two cents though.

[EatingPie @ Aug 13th 2007 10:53AM]

The two biggest lacks...

- 1080i/p capability.
- Firewire / IEEE 1394 with 5c

The 720p format is slowly going the way of CRT Rear Projection. Right now, 720p is what you get with the sub-$1000 HDTVs, and that's about it. Everything else is 1080p.

The ONLY way to record HDTV is via a 5c capable firewire port. That single inclusion would make this a DVR!!

Heck the Developer Tools actually comes with example software that can record in-the-clear HDTV over firewire, so that end of things is almost done (needs a better UI).

-Pie

[Nick @ Aug 13th 2007 11:18AM]

I agree with Joe.. that they really need to introduce some HD content for this thing...

But with all those upgrades youve just created a media center computer. And unless im missing something the AppleTV isnt supposed to be an all out media center. Maybe release a highend AppleTV Media Center edition.. but still keep a basic not so advanced functionality version for basic Apple consumers that dont want all that extra stuff.

[Larz @ Aug 17th 2007 5:03PM]

"Why the hate for the Apple TV?"

'Cause it's $300 and it sucks. I'd rather buy $300 worth of movies.

[madchad @ Aug 12th 2007 9:06PM]

Just let me run OSX on it out of the box and call it day. Take all the 'Apple TV' and wrap it up in an app. If I want to use it, I'll use it, if not, i"ll just run OSX and use VLC for everything.

[Steele @ Aug 12th 2007 9:08PM]

I agree totally!

[ElMAGNiFiCO @ Aug 12th 2007 9:15PM]

Me too.

[Joel @ Aug 12th 2007 11:07PM]

They already make one of those. Its called the Mac Mini.

[madchad @ Aug 13th 2007 3:56AM]

Yeah, but the Mac mini doesn't have HDMI.

[samnesral @ Aug 13th 2007 8:57AM]

And the mac mini isn't $299

[lotech @ Aug 12th 2007 9:08PM]

Ina perfect world - XBOX Media Centre.

In an Apple world, more codec support out the box, bigger HD and support for more drives running off USB2. Sharing back to others on the network (making it as much a NAS as a player). Plugins/Widgets of some description to add features easily.

[ryanwalklin @ Aug 12th 2007 9:42PM]

++, XBMC is the best media centre interface. Period.

[Greg Poole @ Aug 13th 2007 12:42AM]

100% agree, but you're never going to see that in any commercial sense. That's why I'm glad we have people like the XBMC team to fill the void where companies want to use proprietary codecs and formats. It's wonderful to see an open source community project which is clearly so vastly superior to any of the commercial offerings out there.

[arthur @ Aug 12th 2007 9:12PM]

I would add a phone,mp3,and give it an OS and call it Apple Tvpodphone

[rva1 @ Aug 14th 2007 11:53AM]

HA HA HA HA HA....

[trvs @ Aug 12th 2007 9:13PM]

the ability to RENT movies or tv shows directly from itunes would make it worth it... maybe.

[dmesh @ Aug 12th 2007 10:45PM]

The ability to get tv or movies for those of us not in the states would actually make it useful. I would hope they would also be in HD since its meant to be plugged into a HD TV

[exodus6679 @ Aug 12th 2007 9:15PM]

Cable guide/DVR capability-- sling TV recordings to iTunes anywhere. Less of a media receptacle.

[K Moon @ Aug 12th 2007 9:17PM]

I want Netflix Watch On Demand integrated and I will buy one. I think it is coming, there is a reason they don't have a mac client for thier watch now option.

[Euripides @ Aug 12th 2007 9:24PM]

Good call, except I'm sure Apple will turn iTunes into a Netflix of their own. As long as the flix come in H.264 I wouldn't complain.

[Euripides @ Aug 12th 2007 9:33PM]

I meant to say HD...1080x

[todd evans @ Aug 12th 2007 9:19PM]

first of all, the hard drive space needs to keep coming up. ill sacrifice 1" for 1tb of storage

next, if its goal is to be for TV what the ipod is to music, people need to be able to EASILY rip their own DVDs and keep them there. sure, handbrake is doing the job but itd be nice if apple came up with a more elegant solution that worked through itunes--hopefully faster too. its quicker to pay for and download a movie than it is to rip your own.

they gotta do away with that dead USB port. maybe theyre afraid theyd sell less airport extremes if people could use their appleTVs as a makeshift "airdisk" drive--but tough. power to the people

for fucks sake . . . WHY arent the mac mini, appleTV and airport extreme the same size? itd be so nice to stack em up

[Bloobie @ Aug 12th 2007 11:06PM]

So you want Apple to help you break the law by allowing you to rip DVDs? LOL.

[Todd Evans @ Aug 12th 2007 11:14PM]

ha--how bout "make a personal backup"? that angle still work?

didnt say it was realistic--just what id like. eventually the lawyers are going to have to duke it out and make it happen. soon enough theyll give up and make it legal--they stopped fighting and gave in to DRM free music--maybe video will come? point is, nobody wants to repurchase content they already own

[Geoffrey Sneddon @ Aug 13th 2007 5:38AM]

There's one vital difference between digital sales of music and video though: Video already has DRM everywhere. Music does not. It's easier to push for a single source to be consistent with other sources for that same material than it is to completely change selling practices.

[Syliss @ Aug 12th 2007 9:21PM]

VLC plain and simple, oh and usb open. Then i would buy one in a heart beat.

[chrish @ Aug 12th 2007 9:26PM]

Toss the itunes stuff in the trash and make it like the "hacked" version of media center for
the old black xbox. From the remote you can surf your network or local "drives" for media
and play whatever you want at the press of a button. Only when you request the info for
a recored movie or show will go out on the internet and download it for you.

Did I mention toss out the itunes stuff?

From a Mac user itunes hater.

[jaken19 @ Aug 12th 2007 9:28PM]

put a blu ray drive in there, higher amount of storage, make it so you can buy a adapter so it would work with multiple tv in the house. at the moment its pretty pointless for me to have since i have a nice size monitor to watch on and the apple tv don't really replace anything i already have like the dvd player.

[Steve @ Aug 12th 2007 9:28PM]

give it OSX. make it a MiniMacMini.

[Jason Brown @ Aug 12th 2007 9:30PM]

lose the brand name in the title so the other 90% of computer users world wide will show some interest!

[a ham sandwich @ Aug 12th 2007 9:30PM]

o i dunno. make it run cooler so i cant use it to boil water, maybe?

[Mark @ Aug 12th 2007 9:32PM]

Here's how I would change it:

1) Bigger hard drive OR being able to use the USB port to access files from an External drive

2) More codec support: namely divx/xvid. Oh, and being able to read Ifo/Vob files

3)Allowing the Harmony remotes to work

4) Surround sound options. 5.1 at minimum.

[Keith @ Aug 12th 2007 10:02PM]

Can't you do 5.1 through the HDMI?

[zulusafari @ Aug 13th 2007 12:51AM]

The harmony remotes do work.

[Fox McCloud @ Aug 12th 2007 9:32PM]

I'd throw it in the trash and use a mac mini.

Apple TV is stupid, especially for those of us with a PS3 or 360 which have network video playback. It's a useless hunk of junk for us, but a mac mini is kinda neato.

Bleh Apple TV i hate it.

[Dondi @ Aug 14th 2007 10:28AM]

get rid of one iTunes at a time pairing! I have 5 PCs/macs in the house with iTunes libraries that I paid for - I want to be able to listen to ALL of my paid for libraries ANY time I want to regardless of whether that PC is active with iTunes running or not!

[Jono1 @ Aug 12th 2007 9:34PM]

Give it an HD TV Tuner and a bigger hard drive and turn it into a proper PVR.

[Charles Miller @ Aug 12th 2007 9:41PM]

General:

* Allow the AppleTV to "wake up" its source computer if it needs any content that isn't cached on the hard drive
* Buy iTunes content direct from the AppleTV
* Allow us to buy Movies and TV outside the USA
* HD content
* DVD streaming from the host computer
* DVD ripping as simple as CD ripping in iTunes (legally impossible, of course, but I can dream)
* Have it double as an Airport Express/AirTunes when it's not playing stuff itself
* Photo streaming instead of having to copy them over to the AppleTV hard drive (iPhoto does network sharing already, this should be a no-brainer?)
* The conversion to make all YouTube videos available is a lot slower than they promised. The popular videos are there, but all the really good "long tail" content is invisible to the AppleTV.
* Priority conversions for people who have actually logged into YouTube from their own AppleTV. It's annoying when you still can't even find _your own videos_ .
* If you've logged in to your YouTube account, you should be able to browse the friends/watches/favourites you set on the web. Once again, you can't even browse your own videos.
* An explicit standby menu option. The "hold the button for five seconds" standby mode right now is annoying, and I had to find in an Apple tech-note.

[mentalsticks @ Aug 13th 2007 7:19AM]

Wow, that's all I could think of plus a couple of things I didn't even know I wanted.
Great list.

[patsy @ Aug 13th 2007 10:03AM]

Actually, I would do away with the hard drive entirely and commit to a distributed architecture. They could release a Mac Mini Media Server edition or something like that, that includes both media server and NAS functions--more hardware to sell, and that's definitely a future growth area.

Also, open up to more standards. Include UPnP/AV (or DLNA) support, since that appears to be evolving into the 900lb gorilla of the distributed multimedia world (although it's still developing atm). iTunes is always going to be a niche with less hardware support.

Finally, since it does play in an iTunes universe anyway, come up with a "ripped DVD" container format and include DVD/HD drives that allow ripping to the server. Wrap the format with all the DRM deemed necessary to CYA and make this a reality, which is obviously possible since iTunes DRM still hasn't been broken (only worked around in ways which would be much tougher for video). For more and more people this is the preferred usage model for media in general (rip and stash away), the first to acknowledge reality stands to make a mint.

[Jason Terhorst @ Aug 12th 2007 9:41PM]

1. Open up the software for more 3rd party add-ons.

2. Wireless keyboard and mouse for other applications

3. Put a fan in the dang thing so it won't burn anymore small children

4. DVD player drive and app, so that it can actually replace another component in the cabinet, instead of being more crap to take up space

[mike @ Aug 12th 2007 9:44PM]

I would have ichat dvr irent full browser

[Jake @ Aug 13th 2007 12:52AM]

You should try out the absolutely free iComma feature. It's really cool, see?