And so it begins… the great television transition. After all the talk, I’ve decided to finally bite the bullet and drop my cable services in favor of downloaded television. However, before I can fully commit I need the new setup to meet 2 simple criteria: Can I consume the same content as before, and will my wife be able to use it on her own?

On the surface, it seems doable. The technology is (almost) there, the content is available (in one way or another), and the economics (somewhat) work. This is clearly premature, but I dove in headfirst and I picked up a Mac Mini last night. After a rather straight forward installation (and a few wasted hours of pointless troubleshooting), I’ve got it hooked up and everything seems to be working as expected. There are some issues to discuss, but first let’s take a look at the setup.

The Hardware

In the living room, I’ve got a rather straight forward setup:

• TV: Sony KV-36HS510
• Receiver: Sony HTDDW900
• Mac Mini: 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo

Pretty simply really. I ditched my DVD player as it’s duties will be offloaded to the Mini (and I may rip the DVDs and store them remotely… but that’ll wait for another day). I kept the digital cable box connected should I still need it, but I’m hoping to keep it turned off completely. If it stays off for a month, it’s gone.

Understanding that the content isn’t HD (or 5.1 for that matter) this is clearly overkill, but I’ve kept everything digital. Video is displayed over HDMI, and audio via TOSLINK. Here’s to hoping that Apple starts releasing higher-quality content sometime in the foreseeable future.

So where is all of this newfangled, downloaded content actually coming from? For the most part, the iTunes Store. I’ve been downloading content from iTunes on my G5, and storing everything on an external 1.2TB, FW800 LaCie Bigger Disk Extreme. All of the video and music is cataloged in iTunes, and is shared wirelessly throughout the house. That said, I could have easily hooked the external drive up to the Mini downstairs, and wirelessly connected to it from upstairs (there are some complications with this, but I may do just it… for reasons which will become clear below).

A few notes:

1. Being that the Mini and the TV are both DVI, I needed a few DVI > HDMI cables to interface with the receiver. Stay away from the standard retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City, FutureShop, etc.) as the prices are ridiculous. Hit up Google – there are some good deals to be found.
2. The receiver has standard TOSLINK inputs, so I needed a 3.5mm adaptor for the Mini… which I picked up at Active Surplus for $0.50.
3. The TV didn’t originally like the default resolution the Mini was serving up – everything was cutoff around the edges (the dock, the menubar, etc), and there was a slight flicker in the picture. After a few hours of research, fussing with DisplayConfigX to set the correct resolution/refresh rate (and come up short of course), I eventually realized that there was a simple checkbox under “options” in the display preferences which turned off the overscan. Problem solved.
4. With the optical audio, the Mini locks the sound volume… which in turn renders the volume keys on the Apple Remote completely useless. I have a Harmon Kardon TC30 which is an incredibly robust universal remote, but for some reason it’s not jiving with the Mini at the moment, and will require some further persuasion.

Issues & Observations

Inability to purchase shows directly from Front Row

This is probably the biggest “experience” issue so far. The fact that I need to go to my computer, queue up downloads and then go back to my TV is almost the deal breaker. I luckily have enough content to tide me over for the time being, but I can see this becoming an even greater issue soon… because my wife certainly won’t be doing this on her own.

That said, if you venture into the Movie Trailers section in Front Row, it quickly becomes clear that Apple’s moving to address this. To watch a movie trailer, you simply select the movie poster from the list (which are downloaded when you first enter the section). Doing so brings up a surprisingly decent fullscreen video, which begins playing almost immediately. There’s a slight buffer that occurs, but it’s marginal. Full-length shows streamed by many people at once will put a HUGE strain on Apple’s ability to deliver content, but it at least looks to be technically possible. I hope their new data center is up to the task.

Wireless bottleneck

Put simply, 802.11g is not up to the task. While you can get video to stream, it’s clear there isn’t enough bandwidth to fully deliver the goods. At the moment, your best bet is to connect an external drive to the Mini, or run some CAT5 and be done with it. However, if the rumors are true, the iTV will bring 802.11n, and the world will be a better place because of it.

Inconsistent video quality & lack of 5.1 surround sound

I’ve been noticing there’s a lot of inconsistencies between the various shows I’ve downloaded. Aspect ratio (4:3 vs 16:9), compression quality, and volume level are the biggest issues… beyond the actual 640×480 resolution that is. And lest we forget the low quality audio that accompanies the video. Guys, seriously, the video AND audio quality needs to improve… the current quality doesn’t hold a candle to HDTV. It’s not even close.

Insufficient (legal) content

At the moment, Apple simply doesn’t have enough content to completely replace the offerings available through traditional channels. The shortcomings can obviously be supplemented by Bit Torrent, but again – that adds a whole level of complexity to the mix, not to mention the questionable legality. While the number of programs are being added to each week, there simply isn’t enough yet. And where the hell is HBO already?

Front Row doesn’t automatically refresh content

I haven’t attempted to see if there’s a work around for this yet, and it may be a byproduct of wireless connecting to a shared library, but Front Row doesn’t seem to automatically update itself when new content is added. So for the time being, you need to step back to the main Front Row menu, and then navigate back to the shared library when you’ve added new content.

Lack of Meta Data in Front Row

This is minor to some degree, but I do believe it’s an incredible oversight. When you select a show, you have nothing to go by except the name of that particular show. If you’re not wirelessly connected, you do get a video preview of the show, but I still don’t think that’s enough. How about a text description, or some indication if I’ve already watched it?

What’s new, what’s old, and what might I like?

This is something that I think Apple needs to lift directly from TiVo. When I start up Front Row, it should tell me what’s been recently downloaded and/or what hasn’t been watched yet. Similarly, it should offer up recommendations for me to checkout and potentially purchase. Admittedly however, this is functionality that should (will?) be rolled out in conjunction with the ability to access the iTunes Store directly from Front Row.

Final Thought

This technology is clearly premature, and the size of the market has yet to be determined, but in the end I feel this is the future of television and I’m getting onboard. Now let’s hope I can get my TC30 universal remote working… or my wife will put a stop to all this nonsense, and I’ll be selling one slightly-used Mac Mini on Ebay soon.

I started this as a response to Geoff’s comment from my previous post, but it ballooned into a post unto itself.

Geoff Wrote: – “Good points, all of them. However, even Job’s himself stated this isn’t meant to take over as a single source of acquisition/consumption. I know I’ll still use my dvd player, satellite, YouTube and Torrents as video sources. But there are times when I want to watch something that simply isn’t available through those means. It’s at that moment when I’ll turn to the itunes store. I’m sure that I’ll enjoy the experience and be okay with the cost. I also expect that the experience will be so pleasant that I’ll occasionally turn to it even when other means are available – likely because it will be easier. I’m currently consuming about 90% of my media through non-traditional means. To me, all I want is a REALLY basic cable package, one that doesn’t cost $40/month. I’d love to be able to buy per channel. I still have a need to consume live news/events, but that’s about it.”

True. But Jobs also stated that Apple had no interest in making a flash-based mp3 player, or an iPod that plays video… Hell, he even said I don’t think the convergence of television and computer is going to happen.

For Apple to succeed, they need to play nice with the existing players, all while slowly disrupting the market until it’s too late for the competition to react. Similarly, I don’t think they want to reveal all their cards yet, for fear of other competitors (read: Microsoft) getting involved to soon. They caught everyone off-guard with the iPod + iTunes Store, and I think they’re doing it again with the iTV + iTunes store. And the irony is that they’ve used the iPod as the decoy.

Take a step back, and look how long TV shows have been available on the iTunes store. If I’m not mistaken, it’s been about a year now. While everyone took notice of it, no one saw it as a treat as the only suitable place to consume this video was on an iPod. Take a look now – Apple’s got thousands of new AND old television content, and it’s being updated quite frequently. When the pieces finally come together, I think it’ll be too late for the competition (be it the traditional cable companies, or Microsoft) to react.

For video, the critical missing piece is iTV, because at the moment, there’s no easy way to consume video from your television. Sure, you can string together a Mac Mini, or any number of existing technologies… but the experience is still flawed. For starters, the solution isn’t even remotely elegant, and secondly you cannot immediately acquire content, unless you go to your computer and queue it up for download. With iTV, I believe Apple will seamlessly tie the iTunes store with your television, and you’ll be able to download and purchase new content without leaving your couch.

If you look within Front Row, you can clearly see the signs of this… Movie Trailers is the clearest example – it seamlessly connects with Apple, serves up the movie posters and streams in the video. Add the ability to purchase that video with a single click, and you’re good to go.

Similarly, the iTV is without any sort of DVR functionality. If Apple was planning to have their wireless box cohabitate with traditional sources, I would assume they’d want to integrate everything together for a truly integrated experience.

But I don’t believe that’s the plan. It’s not “Apple” enough… it’s too clunky and complicated. And there are other players in that market, and none of them have been even remotely successful. No, Apple’s plan is to build another fully-integrated vertical, where it can control the experience from top to bottom. Purchase your content directly from Apple, with it stored in one central location, accessible from many devices… be it your iMac, Mac Book, stereo, TV and of course, your iPod.

Regardless of what Jobs has stated, I think Apple’s video strategy will be strikingly similar to their music strategy; Offer as much content as possible (the “long tail” if you wish…), available for immediate download at a reasonable price. The overall quality will be sacrificed for convenience (no HDTV, at least for the time being), but it’ll be good enough for Joe Average.

However, there are still some challenges ahead.

1. Bandwidth will play a major role in this strategy. I’m not sure if anyone’s noticed, but Apple recently purchased a massive data centre… one has to wonder what that was for.
2. Similarly, broadband will be critical, and one has to hope that ISPs don’t retaliate against the “mass downloading” by imposing strict download caps, or crippling the technology as they have with Bit Torrent.
3. Live TV will be a huge challenge, and one has to stop and wonder how they’ll deal with it. Because people won’t stand for watching a delayed feed of the Super Bowl.
4. Pricing is still an issue, and will have to come down for mass-adoption of this platform.
5. Storage capacity will be another issue for the general public. For instance, season 1 of Prison Break weighs in at 10GB. At that rate, people will be running out of space fast and furious. Luckily external drives are relatively cheap (and if Apple is smart, they’ll be releasing some sort of “lite” version of their XServe Raid system.)

With Apple’s recent iTV pre-announcement it’s clear that they’re looking to reproduce the success they’ve had with the iPod, and do for video what they did for music. However, what I had hoped would usher in true on-demand television is starting to look like nothing more than a jukebox for movies.

Ok, first things first. Clearly there is a market for movie downloads, and I’m sure Apple will make a profit doing so. However, what originally got me excited about iTV was the idea of ditching my cable company entirely and replacing it a vast library of television and movie content, available on-demand, over the internet. And while that idea still excites me, I don’t think Apple will be delivering on it. At least not out of the gate.

One Plus One Still Equals Two.

In theory the economics could work, but in reality they don’t. With the average monthly cost of cable at $41.17, and the average monthly consumption at 82.6 hours, it becomes clear that the numbers won’t add up. Assuming each show is 45 minutes long (1 hour minus the commercials), the average person would watch 110 downloaded episodes a month (82.6 hours * 60 minutes / 45 minutes = 110 downloads). At $1.99 a pop (and if my math is correct), that’s just shy of $220 a month. And when you bake 30 minute shows into the equation, the monthly costs will skew even higher.

Now, I suppose you can argue that without commercials, you’re actually watching more TV in that 82.6 hours a month, but not $180 more. Additionally, options like Multi-Pass do make the monthly expenditure a bit more palatable, but I’m not sure it’s enough.

If you’re a casual television viewer (such as myself), the number may add up… but unless you acquire content through illicit sources (aka BitTorrent), I can’t see Joe Average moving over anytime soon. I honestly hope more shows adopt the Multi-Pass model and offer multiple downloads for a discount. Because with the current pricing model, I don’t see how iTV will be a viable alternative for your current cable offerings.

You’ll be able to skip the trip to Wal-Mart for your next Pixar movie, but don’t expect to ditch the dish any time soon.

For those who weren’t following along, Apple had another one of their special events yesterday. And as expected, this Apple love-in brought us another string of new product and service announcements.

iPods got a little love, Nano’s are officially 2nd generation (and look a lot like the old iPod Mini), and the Shuffle is now “impossibly small” (am I the only one who thinks it’s the Shuffle that should be called the Nano?). Curiously, we didn’t see the “real” iPod video that’s been tearing up the rumor sites for months now, but I expect it’ll make an appearance at some point… it’s just a matter of time. And what about the iPhone?

iTunes got a lotta’ love with the release of version 7. I’m still on the fence regarding the UI - Apple loves to change shit for the change sake. Why did they change the scrollbars and buttons? Is this what get to expect in OSX 10.5? Anyway, there’s some fluff and some substance, but it’s looking good nonetheless. Of particular interest however, were the changes made to the iTunes Music Store. Officially re-branded, the iTunes Store is now selling the full spectrum of media. Music, TV shows, games (iPod only) and now movies. And with a move completely out of character, they “pre-announced” a new piece of hardware that will tie the whole package together (as an aside, how does someone actually go about pre-announcing something… aren’t you making an announcement when you pre-announce something?).

iTV (tentative codename at this point) is a small device that plugs into your TV and wireless connects it with your computer. It looks like a flattened Mac Mini, and it’s UI looks a lot like Front Row.

Finally, the remaining pieces of Apple’s digital hub strategy are falling into place.

Now, I want to take a moment and really put this into perspective. In the not-too-distant future, you’ll be able to all but abandon your cable services entirely. Imagine the ability to have a central library of television and movie content, accessible from all TVs in your house. DVDs all ripped and stored in a central location. TV shows automatically downloaded off the internet, and stored in the same place. And instead of a piece-of-shit cable box, you’ll have a slick little device that serves it all up for your big-screen TV.

Now, this technology already exists. If you were so inclined, you could string together a similar system and have it working quite well. However, that’s not Apple’s goal here. When you connect the dots (iTunes Store + iPod + Mac + iTV), it becomes quite clear that Apple’s looking to completely displace the traditional cable companies with an entirely new content distribution system. They’ll sell you the hardware/software to take advantage of this system, but their endgame is the delivery method.

As Apple announced, their Music Store has a 74%+ market share in the US, and they are officially in the top 5 of legal music retailers. That’s actually a very import note – for the first time, a store that sells nothing but digital content is now in the top 5. And with the TV+Movie content, Apple’s looking to repeat that success. They want to own the content delivery system to your living room, with your computer as the central hub.

However, there are still a few outstanding questions I have:

1. Can I browse and download content directly from iTV?
2. Can I rip my DVDs and have them accessible from iTV?
3. What if I want/need to have local TV? Is there anyway to interface with traditional cable?
4. Will iTV play video content acquired from other sources?
5. How much bandwidth is eaten up with the wireless streaming? Will there be enough to still surf wirelessly?
6. Can iTV replace my existing cable service?

The last question is a big one. One has to stop and wonder how the cable and satellite companies are reacting to this. Because if it wasn’t clear when Apple started selling TV shows via the ITMS, this is clearly a shot across the bow. These companies are spending millions attempting to deploy HD services, and it looks as if these investments could quickly become antiquated.

Whatever the case I’m definitely looking forward to it’s release in Q1 2007. And for the record, I welcome our Apple overlords with open arms, and will be disposing of my Rogers HDTV PVR piece-of-shit set-top box the second iTV becomes available.

A few months back, Microsoft made waves with they announced their intentions to take on Apple with the introduction of their own vertically integrated media player. With Zune, Microsoft has clearly set it’s sights on Apple’s tightly integrated iPod + iTunes. However, what was once expected to make a big splash, is starting to look like it may only make a whimper.

Zune is expected to be more than just an “iPod killer”, but rather an entire media platform. As Engadget puts it:

bq.:http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/21/zune-what-we-know-think-we-know-and-dont-yet-know/ The Zune brand encompasses not only the device, but the software that will drive it, as well as a music, movie, and media service the Zune device family will use for acquiring, sharing, and discovery of said media. Music will be the first angle of service that is launched, “connected entertainment” being the ultimate goal.

With purported features such as a large 3” horizontal screen, WiFi capabilities, and FM tuner, it was looking like Microsoft might actually give Apple a run for their money. However, one feature stood out to me as a solution in search of a problem.

bq.:http://news.com.com/Microsofts+Zune+aims+to+be+social+butterfly/2100-1041_3-6109667.html Microsoft’s forthcoming Zune player is shooting to be the life of the party, allowing users to create mobile social networks and stream music to nearby friends or strangers, according to a government regulatory filing.

What?

Why would I want to do that? How much will that kill the battery? What happens when I inevitably move away… I mean, it is a portable device we’re talking about here. And if you dig a little deeper, the Zune might not be all that innovative after all, as it’s starting to look a little familiar

bq.:http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2005 Microsoft’s upcoming Zune digital media player appears to be little more than a repackaged Toshiba Gigabeat player, which itself has enjoyed only marginal success, one Wall Street analyst says.

I wish Microsoft the best of luck with Zune, but they’ve definitely got an uphill battle in front of them. A number of media devices that have stood in the area with the iPod, but none have managed to bring the same balance of hardware and software integration to topple it. If anyone can actually pose a serious threat to Apple’s dominance with the iPod, it’s Microsoft. They certainly have the cash flow do fight the long fight, and with the Xbox they’ve shown that they can muscle their way into an established market. It should be interesting to see what comes of this.

Apple just announced that Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt will join its board of directors.

“Like Apple, Google is very focused on innovation and we think Eric’s insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead”, says Apple CEO Steve Job of the new addition.

One has to stop and wonder what will come of this new union…

I’ve been doing a lot of traveling recently. Toronto to Chicago, Chicago to Toronto, Toronto to New York, New York to Toronto… my very own international ferris wheel. Exciting, I know. Anyway, I’m actually in Chicago at the moment, and having just returned to my hotel I thought I’d let everyone in on a little ritual I have while traveling.

I’m not quite sure when it started, but every time I get in a rental car I roll down the windows (weather permitting), pop in a CD and crank the stereo. On the surface, I suppose it’s really not all that unusual, but when I travel, I carry only one CD with me. And that CD is Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.

With the exception of Sirus, I don’t typically enjoy the radio. I don’t like it when I’m at home, and I especially don’t like it when I’m in a rental car – aimlessly flipping from channel to channel (or commercial to commercial as it usually is). During one of my previous visits to Chicago, I remembered that I had a copy of Dark Side of the Moon in my bag. Having made my way around the dial a few times and tiring of the crap on the radio, I fished it out and popped it in. And since then, it’s all I listen to.

Without a doubt, Dark Side of the Moon is one of my favorite albums of all time. It’s one of the few albums I own that I enjoy listening to in its entirety. I’ve listened to it so many times, it makes me feel right at home. Even when cramped in a shitty rental car, attempting to find my way around a foreign city.

And to be honest, I must admit – it’s not unusual for me to sing along to every song… except The Great Gig In The Sky. I can’t touch that one.

Describing our cottage as “remote” may be an understatement. It’s located on Logan Lake, which is about 90 minutes up highway 400, and then another 60 minutes completely off-road. As you can see, it’s in the middle of nowhere.

There are only 15 cottages on the lake (most of which don’t have direct road access) and each is quite a distance from its immediate neighbor. There is also a horsepower restriction for all boats on the lake which prevents water skiing, wake boarding and the like. It’s quite and peaceful, and when you’re here, you feel like you’re all alone. This is, without a doubt, not Muskoka.

Because of the remoteness, most people think we’re roughing it up here. And while I suppose there is a hint of accuracy in that assumption, it’s really not the case. We are completely off the grid – this is true – but we’ve got solar power and propane to run everything. Water is pumped in from the lake, most lights are electric, the fridges are cooled by propane (counter intuitive, I know), and we have an old 3-watt analog cellphone for phone calls. We’ve made a conscious decision not to have a television (it takes away from the charm I suppose), so daily activities usually include reading, fishing, eating, drinking and sleeping. And to that list, we can now add surfing.

Thanks to Galaxy Boardband, we are now hooked up to the internet through a satellite connection. And connected to the satellite modem is an Airport Express, so the cottage is also blanketed with WiFi. I’m such a geek.

Satellite technology is definitely interesting. Obviously, I’m impressed that we can get “highspeed” access in such a remote location… but it’s not without a few quirks.

1. It’s not slow, but it’s not exactly fast. Once the connection is made, things download relatively quickly, but there’s a slight delay as when transmitting. Apparently it takes time to beam things into space. Who knew.
2. Maintaining a signal is temperamental. We’ve currently got the dish sitting on the ground, and that was a mistake. We’re going to build a concrete base for it soon, as I think the ground has settled since the installation, and even a small gust of wind sometimes disrupt the connection.
3. Because our lake is meant to feel as “rustic” as possible, we didn’t want a bright-gray satellite dish in open view. This obviously causes some issues, as the dish needs a clear line-of-sight to work. So, with a little research and a few dollars spent at the Bass Pro Shops, we found our solution. I painted it with special camo paint . And then covered it in a special camo netting. And if you ask me, it did the job well.

Painting the dish was surprisingly easy, and doing so will not affect the signal quality whatsoever. Anyone with satellite TV who might want to paint their dish, take note. There are a few things you may want to take into consideration.

1. You MUST use a non-metalic, flat-matte paint. Anything else will cause interference with the signal, and if you use a glossy paint, you’ll actually melt the reception lens (the thing attached at the end of the arm).
2. Use spray paint, and spray on light coats until you get the desired color. You want to preserve the smooth surface texture of the dish.
3. Cover the reception lens with something prior to painting to ensure no over-spray gets on it (I zip-tied a bag over it).

Keep that in mind, and you should be able to completely blend your dish into its surroundings. I mean seriously, can you see the dish from the lake?