[mooty]

Despite earlier assertions from other publications, Apple Computer is currently not interested in releasing a version of its Mac mini with digital video recording (DVR) capabilities, a high level company executive explained on Thursday. Commenting on the company's new Intel-based Mac mini to USA Today's Jefferson Graham, Apple Senior Vice Present of Worldwide Marketing, Philip Schiller, squashed rumors of a Mac mini with built-in DVR capabilities. Adding video recording functionality would have made the Mac mini too complicated, Schiller told the publication. "We're not trying to replace the TiVo," he said. "This is about taking the media from your computer and accessing it via the TV." Those statements should enable TiVo to "breathe easier," says The Motley Fool's Tim Beyers. He believes Apple might have given TiVo a run for its money, but notes the newly announced Mac mini offers the most compelling evidence yet of the DVR pioneer's continued health and survival. In the weeks leading up to January's Macworld, as well as Apple's late-Feb. media event, anticipation of a Mac mini with DVR integration ran extremely high due to a number of unsubstantiated Web and analyst reports.

Source: http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1569

Booooo, oh well - Eye TV it is

[Doxxic]

Too complicated - mon cule. An antenna connection, a tv tuner and one more icon in Front Row et voila. Sell your tv & use a flatscreen monitor instead - consumers would love the mini!

The real reasons are that DVR is
- competing with video on demand (iTunes)
- possibly going to hurt the video broadcasting industry very badly, so leaving DVR out of their products is Apple's key to being a credible distribution partner for media production companies
.

[shell]

There was also a time when Apple was "not interested" in mobile video either. Mr. Schiller's comments are almost less than meaningless, all he says is that there is no DVR at the moment, which we all obviously know; he said nothing to refute the possibilliy in the future.

[BFG]

The real reasons are that DVR is - competing with video on demand (iTunes) - possibly going to hurt the video broadcasting industry very badly, so leaving DVR out of their products is Apple's key to being a credible distribution partner for media production companies

Yeap couldn't unfortunatly agree any more with that - its a great shame and my god a little mini with DVR hooked up and into Front row would have been a scorcher - but i think this idea of keeping in the good books of the video broadcasting industry in an attempt to secure some kind of video distribution deal through itunes is the reason why we won't see it

ah well i'll go order my Elgato EyeTV!

[Doxxic]

Originally Posted by BFG ah well i'll go order my Elgato EyeTV!

Well that's the funny part isn't it? To media production companies, it practically doesn't matter if Apple installs DVR functionality because for a little extra money you'll be able to run it anyway from a 3rd party company, aren't you?

[Bill M]

New Mac mini + EyeTV + TitanTV = Tivo who?

[Paul]

needs front row integration...

[defaultmike]

I wonder if they´d be able to integrate EyeTV with Front Row. That´d be the perfect solution if they could do it...

but I doubt apple would let them do that though

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by defaultmike I wonder if they´d be able to integrate EyeTV with Front Row. That´d be the perfect solution if they could do it... but I doubt apple would let them do that though

Apple is too closed off some times. MS is open in comparison. I don't see Apple ever letting El Gato Create a "5th element" to FrontRow. If it's not Apple it's not important.

[Oskar]

The future of media is with download (or stream) on demand. The DVR seems to be a bridge between the analog world of TV and the digital one we're entering now. I doubt apple will build it into frontrow for the same reason they haven't built an FM receiver into the iPod - the future lies elsewhere.

[Bill M]

I don't have a Front Row enabled Mac, but I think Front Row is only meant to display - not create - local and LAN available media through bonjour. This includes files in the "Movies" folder(s), which could come from iMovie, Final Cut, downloaded, shared, etc... including mpeg2/4 files created by EyeTV. So, there is no need for a 5th element in Front Row. Just have EyeTV store its QuickTime compatible recordings in your "Movies" folder and play them back on your TV via Front Row. EyeTV already comes with its own remote, so there is no need to be sitting at your computer to use it. Am I wrong?

[Reid]

Good point. So the only thing you can't do within Front Row is tune into live TV. But EyeTV comes with its own remote, so in the rare instances you want to do something as archaic as that, just dig it out of a drawer.

[hotch]

i find i control my front-row imac just as often through vnc as with the actual remote, just ebcause i have a lot of media that frontrow doesn't play well

[infinitespecter]

Originally Posted by Doxxic Too complicated - mon cule. An antenna connection, a tv tuner and one more icon in Front Row et voila. Sell your tv & use a flatscreen monitor instead - consumers would love the mini! .

Yeah... no. I'm bored right now, so I am going to break this down. The reason they won't is for the same exact reasons Schiller stated above; it would be too complicated. The VAST majority of people in this country get TV from cable or satellite providers. We are talking near Windows level market share (85%+). For Apple to integrate a DVR, they would have to cover every possible method of television reception (over the air, satellite, cable) and develop methods to control a lot of set top boxes as well as full CableCard support as welll as including methods of connection for TVs that don't have DVI or VGA. That means a box full of cables and attachments (minimum 10)that most people wouldn't use and wouldn't understand how to set up. They would also need a real remote control (a TiVo style remote at the very least), not the 6 button design conscious remote they have now.

The point is that in order to make it work properly, for everyone (and not the 15% of us who use OTA, myself included), they would have do everything in a way that defies what the general Apple philosophy is. No matter what they did, it would not be easy for the common person who can't set the clock on their VCR, and if CableCard is involved it would actually require the cable company to come out and set it up. EyeTV is nice, but it will NEVER be the ideal solution because it won't work with encrypted digital cable and CableCard. You can't just get a peripheral certified for CC, you need to get the entire machine (including the cable card reader) certified, which is a pain.

Apple doesn't typically do things halfway, so if they entered the DVR market, they would have to either redefine what it is they want to be known for (ease of setup would pole vault out the window) or they would have to leave the vast majority of potential users out in the cold. I just don't see them doing that. All of these things would raise the price on the Mini dramatically. I can't imagine CC certification is cheap, and all of the cables, larger packaging, and phone support for the users who can't figure out how to hook the MIni up to their 1984 Sony TV with composite video would add up big time. Would you still feel so great about a Mini DVR if it was $1000-1200?