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Steve Jobs on HDTV, "I finally cracked it."

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rezuth

Member
http://9to5mac.com/2011/10/21/jobs-told-biographer-that-he-cracked-the-code-to-building-an-hdtv/ said:
“He very much wanted to do for television sets what he had done for computers, music players, and phones: make them simple and elegant,” Isaacson wrote. Isaacson continued: “‘I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,’ he told me. ‘It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.’ No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. ‘It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.’”

Think this could be the next product line that Apple introduces? They seem to want your home to be an ecosystem entirely dedicated to them. At least we know they would use awesome panels if they made an actual TV.
 
I was just wondering today what an actual Apple TV would be like in Jobs vision, hopefully that is something that they had been working on internally
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
GG-Duo said:
Content distribution is the question.

They sort-of do that with iTunes already, but it isn't as popular as the music store.
Mostly because there is no captions/subtitles for any of the offerings. WTF Apple/Sony/MS/et. al. that provide this service!?

I wouldn't mind an Apple TV so long as it wasn't iPhone OS + expensive as hell.

Plywood said:
Waiting for the Apple Home.

iHome. Comes with iJobs as an upgrade option. iJobs will clean the house, then start being a jerk to your kids if they don't study and provide a new invention to Apple.

Apple iHome. Think different(TM).
 

rezuth

Member
Wario64 said:
Apple TV has always been talked about, hasn't it? I mean, actual TV.
Yes, it has been hinted at on and off for some of years now. Ramping up strongly the last two years.
 
He cracked it by just not allowing DVD players and cable channels to be used and you could only access content through Apple.

You know who really cracked it though. Harmony.
 

giga

Member
dsister44 said:
Because remotes and channels are so complicated?
You're kidding. They're a terrible user experience. A "channel" should be an icon on a user's TV home screen. Couple this shit with Siri and it'll be awesome.
 
Plywood said:
Waiting for the Apple Home.
Smart_house_movie_cover.jpg

They'll already have Pat with Siri.
 

Gameboy415

Member
As long as it has a one-button remote that causes a never-ending loading pinwheel to come up when you try to do anything, I'm in!

All snarkiness aside, Apple does make some gorgeous displays and they probably could put out a pretty amazing-looking HDTV...
 

Barrett2

Member
If Apple reintroduced Apple TV, but with contemporary content partnerships from every major network, or something, that would be fucking glorious.
 

Barrett2

Member
dsister44 said:
ReallY? Even my 80 year old grandmother has no problems working 3 remotes. And she can't even start a computer o_O

Thats because she only touches the "power" "pause" and "fast forward" buttons. What about the other 40 buttons? That's Jobs' point.
 
dsister44 said:
Because remotes and channels are so complicated?
Uh, yes.

Channels aren't necessarily complicated, but they're dated. We flip through channels to find something to watch. Why don't we just find something to watch by choosing something from a listing of everything on one screen? Or some other idea that doesn't involve going through an unchanging numbered list one by one.

Anyway, you dudes are just talking about things that could be done with the Apple TV box that's out today. If there's a hardware TV coming from Apple, it'd be because they have a new idea for TV hardware itself.
 

rezuth

Member
dsister44 said:
ReallY? Even my 80 year old grandmother has no problems working 3 remotes. And she can't even start a computer o_O
My mother who can do most stuff on a computer can't operate the remotes. They have like a million buttons, the UI is a mess. There is a lot Apple could do actually.
Cereal KiIIer said:
That is going in the opposite end, having to use that awful touchscreen to pick stuff. Its slow and the battery life is a joke. I regret having one.
 

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
there really should just be a single steve jobs book thread, these quotes are going to keep coming out. Anyway, i have my doubts that he cracked it, anyone can make a tv with some kind of built in hardrive etc. The key is getting the content publishers on board, and so far they have been unwilling to bring most of their content to a device that can easily be used on the tv by normal people.
 
Cereal KiIIer said:

Yep, in this thread we'll find out how many people have never heard of Harmony.

Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
Uh, yes.

Channels aren't necessarily complicated, but they're dated. We flip through channels to find something to watch. Why don't we just find something to watch by choosing something from a listing of everything on one screen? Or some other idea that doesn't involve going through an unchanging numbered list one by one.

Anyway, you dudes are just talking about things that could be done with the Apple TV box that's out today. If there's a hardware TV coming from Apple, it'd be because they have a new idea for TV hardware itself.

Google did it already and got kicked to the curb by the content providers. So if cracking it is just having the idea of getting them on board, well then duh.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
Uh, yes.

Channels aren't necessarily complicated, but they're dated. We flip through channels to find something to watch. Why don't we just find something to watch by choosing something from a listing of everything on one screen? Or some other idea that doesn't involve going through an unchanging numbered list one by one.

Anyway, you dudes are just talking about things that could be done with the Apple TV box that's out today. If there's a hardware TV coming from Apple, it'd be because they have a new idea for TV hardware itself.


That infrastructure will exist as long as cable and broadcast companies exist and they are here in this form for at least ten, probably 20 years. Oh and they have a powerful ability to artificially retard evolution thanks to their influence in politics.

Netflix, Zune et al already eschew those conventions, but the reality is they add a new convention to the channel lineup, and do nothing to eliminate it.
 
-PXG- said:
Yeah, and with one HDMI port and one DVI port. Oh, and with a god awful refresh.
You've been suckered by every other company's "refresh rate" marketing. They measure the refresh from grey to grey. Apple (and a few other companies) measure from black to white to black.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Response_time_(technology)

For an LCD display, typical response times are 8 to 16 ms for black-white-black, or 2 to 6ms for grey-to-grey.
 

King_Moc

Banned
Apple make things simple, yes. Unfortunately, they do it by removing funcionality. This leads to a worse product in the end. At least, for those in the know.
 
KingGondo said:
I actually think most of those universal remotes are terrible. Illogical and unintuitive button layouts are the norm.

I want a full-featured "remote" app for my phone that controls everything.


Pretty simple
y2Npe.png
 
rezuth said:
My mother who can do most stuff on a computer can't operate the remotes. They have like a million buttons, the UI is a mess. There is a lot Apple could do actually.

That is going in the opposite end, having to use that awful touchscreen to pick stuff. Its slow and the battery life is a joke. I regret having one.

Opposite end? Slow? What? Which model do you have? The Harmony remotes is the first time I could ever put away all my remotes and anyone could use my setup without knowing how it works. They really do a lot of things to simplify the experience for the end user.
 

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
evil solrac v3.0 said:
yeah I need an engineering degree to work those damn things. good grief what bull....
You underestimate how dumb people are. The idea of different inputs is like rocket science to my dad, i even made a idiots guide to the tv and that didnt get through to him.
 

rezuth

Member
Marty Chinn said:
Google did it already and got kicked to the curb by the content providers. So if cracking it is just having the idea of getting them on board, well then duh.
Google went behind the back of providers and that is why they got kicked to the curb. Same with the streaming music thing. Apple however respects them and can talk with them.
Windu said:
there really should just be a single steve jobs book thread, these quotes are going to keep coming out. Anyway, i have my doubts that he cracked it, anyone can make a tv with some kind of built in hardrive etc. The key is getting the content publishers on board, and so far they have been unwilling to bring most of their content to a device that can easily be used on the tv by normal people.
To be fair, Apple has used its power to convince carriers, book industry, magazine industry, tv industry, movie industry and so on. If any company could do it, it will be Apple.
KingGondo said:
I actually think most of those universal remotes are terrible. Illogical and unintuitive button layouts are the norm.

I want a full-featured "remote" app for my phone that controls everything.
They really are shit.
 
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