The Hobbling Digital Hub
I want one of Apple’s new 23” Aluminum displays. Notice that word: “want.” I don’t need it. I’m a portable type of guy, and as a result I never like being tethered to one spot, even if the tether is a gorgeous, stunning 23” flat-screen wonder. Although plugging my 12-inch Powerbook into the 23” display would be nice every now and again—perhaps while editing a movie, working on a large panoramic Photoshop file, or destroying human scum with my Orc minions in Warcraft III—I cannot see myself using it all the time . . . at least not as a computer monitor. Since that is all it really is, I cannot justify purchasing one.
With a few changes, however, I can see this changing, not just for myself, but for countless other Apple customers. I can see the 23-inch hanging on one of the walls of my apartment as the monitor for my digital media hub and entertainment center. All my DVDs, my ReplayTV, my PS2, my X-Box, and my digital cable viewable in 23” flat screen glory at the fraction of the cost of a normal flat screen television. And, as an added bonus, whenever the urge hits me, I can plug in my laptop, launch VLC and watch almost any format file that I happened to download off the internet. All I need is a cable-to-DVI converter to make this dream a reality.
Unfortunately, there is no cable-to-DVI converter included with the 23”. There are no built in S-Video, Cable, or RGB ports on the back of the monitor. There is no Apple-branded PVR (personal video recorder) box that integrates fully with these slick monitors and with your Mac. This is indicative of exactly how Apple is missing a great opportunity in the digital hub arena.
Ever since the new iMac G5 was announced last week, I have seen countless reviews and random blog entries talking about how such and such cannot wait to hang the iMac G5 on a wall and use a bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse with it. Usually alongside the wonder and awe of this statement, there is the added observation, given with a palpable sigh, a wishful afterthought: “If only it had a TV tuner built in…”
The one thing that Apple’s digital hub is missing is this: television. Please, join me in a group appeal:
Dear Steve Jobs, please help make the dream come true of the countless devotees, such as myself, to the all-powerful boob-tube. Make something that will be a return to the Mac AV of years gone by that actually gets it right this time. A video peripheral that will do for movies and television what the iPod has done for music. Make the Mac as digital hub more than just a slogan. Make it a reality. Stay ahead of the curve with this one. Don’t let the digital hub fall behind like .mac has. Give us television, give us control over all the different forms of media, and please keep it open and away from crippling technologies; do not smite us with DRM. Amen.
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Comments
Hi,
as I fully understand the tecnical side of you rant, the lack of all other connectors, although physically caused by lack of signal converters inside the unit, has big political advantages for at least the European markets (especially Video/S-Video). Because every big display that has TV compatible inputs is declared an entertainment device and subject to 15% EU import duties. If it is stricly a display for IT systems it’s exempt from duties. I presume this situation quite similar in the US.
On a different note, I personally think the 20” iMac G5 also featuring a VESA mount will do pretty much all you asked for… At least I’m planning on using it that way!
Cheers,
Konstantin
Oh I forgot:
the iMac G5 definitely needs a DVB-T tuner! The new standard for digital terrestrial TV brroadcast is spreading fast, an I hate the idea of dragging an elgato eveTV around my appartment… It’s so bulky, I don’t think you can attach it to the iMac either…
grrrr…
At least eyeTV (supposedly) can stream to wireless networks, so you need one fixed computer that has the TV tuner attached to it, which streams the signal to your home wireless network… aah life is going to be so great… if only I had the cash to shell out for all this…
Forgive my ignorance but if, as Apple has announced, iMac G5 users can service/replace most parts in the new machine themselves (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86812) including the:
“Mid-plane assembly (contains the main logic board, the G5 processor, fans, NVIDIA graphics processor, and so forth).”
Is there a possibility that a third party will find a way to squeeze in a TV card?
As Konstantin said - there is a tax on entertainment devices world-wide. There is also the cost of input/output ports (licenses and hardware) and the cost of the TV tuner itself.
The price (from some other blog) would be in excess of $125. If using the 80/20 rule: I’d say less than 20% of users would use it as a TV.
Now you can make a very good argument for having it as on option for a BTO iMac… at least just the input/outputs.
Heck - they should go for HDTV decoder as well, the screen can handle 720p quite easily.
Because of these issues, I think these things shouldn’t be part of the iMac or the screens, but rather a Mac-branded peripheral that could plug into either the Mac or the Monitor, or both. That would avoid the Euro- tariffs on the computers and the monitor, keeping it exclusively to the peripheral.