[Salty]

Dude, you do realize that this is APPLE you're talking about. What you're talking about sounds like something made by Microsoft or Google.

If Apple made a TV it wouldn't be hot swappable anything. Apple is all about simplicity, not customizability. Heck a bunch of our current ability to customize comes only because of features left over from the classic OS that people would have thrown fits over if they hadn't been kept. Notice how we can't even change the icons of apps in iOS?

Apple is about giving you taste if you like it or not.

[Uncle Skeleton]

Some people try to think up ways for change to be possible and other people try to think up ways for change to be impossible.

All the stuff I mentioned is complicated now, but only because it's not automatic. If done right, the user wouldn't have to think about them again, and it's only because they've never been done right that we're even talking about them. The same was true of backups before Time Machine, and video editing before iMovie, and mp3 players before the iPod. Maybe you can't change the icons on your phone, but you can write your own program for it and Apple will vend it for you. Rigidity is one way of looking at Apple's methods, and Applianceness is another. I would rather think that they take things that used to be horribly complicated, like backups, video editing, mp3 players and 3rd party smart phone software, and they make it simple and appliance-like. There is nothing simple about making something simple, and they're not afraid to tackle functions that have never been simple and making them simple.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton 

What isn't there to do? Hot swappable hard drives with raid support or even simply a plan-b drive (raid was a common unanswered request on the EyeTV forum). Separate low- and high-power modules for front- vs back-end operations. Backup battery so you don't miss a show during a power failure (and letting an accessory or two piggyback on it, if you have your own powered tuner or hard drive (power is commonly needed for the decryption implementations)).

Apple already does all this.

Just re-download off the iTunes Store if your Time Machine backup of the auto-downloaded season pass material conks out.

I find it really, REALLY difficult to believe that "serious" TV fans who MUST have a show the very instant it's first broadcast, and will go to great lengths to make sure it happens (redundant recordings, RAID systems, woah WTF) are a large enough market for anybody to give a shit.

I mean, seriously?

Don't people who make a living off this stuff have early access to previews?

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

Apple already does all this.

Just re-download off the iTunes Store if your Time Machine backup of the auto-downloaded season pass material conks out.

Not all shows are on the internet. Local news? Soap operas? Jerry Springer? This is why IMO the streaming concept will be harder to establish than you think: volume. You may be dismissive of the 16000 hours/day of content you receive, but there's someone out there who watches most of those shows even though you don't.
I like to watch Colbert on my bike to work. Colbert is one of the most internet-friendly shows there is, as you can watch the whole episode streamed from their website the next day. I could buy an iPhone and stream it (assuming they allow for non-flash streaming ), busting my data plan and being a day behind current events, dealing with buffering and dropped connections, and ads, or I could just have a simple appliance-like device that does it all without me thinking about it. It's still a superior user experience to do it through the PVR than through streaming.

I find it really, REALLY difficult to believe that "serious" TV fans who MUST have a show the very instant it's first broadcast, and will go to great lengths to make sure it happens (redundant recordings, RAID systems, woah WTF) are a large enough market for anybody to give a shit.

It's not about MUST have, it's about doing things right for the sake of doing things right. There are a million features on my Mac that I want to work just right, not because I MUST have them, but because I MIGHT one day need half of them for the first time, and I darn well expect all of them to work right the first time I think about them.

I'm not a music person, and I don't need a music player on my mac. But the first time I want one, I do expect it to work, and have playlists, shuffle, visualizers, equalizers, and whatever else iTunes has that I don't even know about. That's part of what Apple sells, the ideal that things were done right and your product is a complete product, even if they're not things you MUST have.

I mean, seriously?

Seriously? You scorn the idea of perfectionism on a mac forum? I'm surprised at you. I'm not blaming Apple for failing to enter this market, all I'm doing is pointing out that it wouldn't be a bad idea if they are in the market (for a new market).

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton 

It's not about MUST have, it's about doing things right for the sake of doing things right. There are a million features on my Mac that I want to work just right, not because I MUST have them, but because I MIGHT one day need half of them for the first time, and I darn well expect all of them to work right the first time I think about them.

Did you WANT to misunderstand me?

You absolutely MUST HAVE this material immediately, and it is so absolutely vital to your well-being that somebody needs to build a solution that includes UPSs, redundant backups, RAID systems, and whatever the hell else you mentioned above?

I'm sorry, but that is complete bullshit, and that's why I asked about people who make a living on this stuff not getting early access to previews.

If your livelihood depends on this stuff, of course you're going to get custom solutions with UPSs, RAID systems, redundant backups, and what have you. (To go back to the music vs. TV comparison you like to bring up, this is what studios do. But music enthusiasts?)

If your livelihood does not depend upon this stuff, then, it. Is Just. Television.

I mean, I get that you consider current solutions sub-par, and that there is a need, in the current climate and industry situation, for somebody to clean up the mess, from your point of view.

But the examples you've brought up so far of what could be improved make you look like a totally out-of-touch freak.

What are you doing that is so absolutely life-threatening to miss?

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton 

I'm not a music person, and I don't need a music player on my mac. But the first time I want one, I do expect it to work, and have playlists, shuffle, visualizers, equalizers, and whatever else iTunes has that I don't even know about.

If you want to talk about media management, stop throwing up insane hardware requests.

I'm an audio guy. I take music seriously.

And I don't expect Apple to include redundant power supplies, 10 channels of high-quality microphone pre-amps and A/D conversion, and a full surround amp output with 7.1 channels of powered speaker connections. And integrate MIDI I/O. Because it would be so much more seamless to have it all streamlined in one box, you know. Maybe build about twelve different versions of the iMac, with different versions/channel counts of all these things, depending on whether people need mic inputs, or whether line inputs will do. For different markets.

I think Apple would be completely insane to offer such a thing.

I expect a minimum - a headphone/line-out port. Having optical out that does 5.1 is actually a rather neat bonus. But beyond that, I'd be NUTS to expect Apple to cater to my needs, and frankly, I'd be HELLA annoyed if Apple included any such crap, because I'd rather spend $1000 less on the machine and buy the third-party interface, UPS, and backup storage that actually suit my particular needs.

THAT is what you're talking about.

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

Did you WANT to misunderstand me?

You absolutely MUST HAVE this material immediately, and it is so absolutely vital to your well-being that somebody needs to build a solution that includes UPSs, redundant backups, RAID systems, and whatever the hell else you mentioned above?

I'm sorry, but that is complete bullshit, and that's why I asked about people who make a living on this stuff not getting early access to previews.

You're the only one talking about professionals "making a living on this stuff," and someone who "absolutely MUST HAVE" anything. Everyone else is talking about strictly the amateur user or power user (who in his own little way "must have" an iphone and a macbook air, not to mention a phallic car and a gold watch, but I don't think it's what you mean by the term).

I didn't demand anything. I was asked directly what possible improvements are left to be done. This isn't the type of question that wants to know the baby-steps that would make a first-gen product worthwhile, this question is more about the grand vision of how much room there might be for a 5th-gen product to stretch its legs into eventually.

If you asked what Apple could bring to the mp3 player space in 2001 besides bolting a jog-wheel onto a jukebox, someone could have told you it could run arbitrary apps written by anyone with no education, no experience, $99 and a dream. And oh yeah voice control and color touchscreen and dual processors, and you'd look like a spaz for saying that. Why does an mp3 player need to be a computer in your pocket? Even industry insiders wouldn't need that, they can just use their 4-lb super-compact laptops for that. Because the question isn't what's next, it's what's at the end?

If your livelihood does not depend upon this stuff, then, it. Is Just. Television.

And your phone doesn't need to give restaurant recommendations or tell you what your friends are doing every second of every day either, it's just a phone. But it doesn't NEED to be just a phone. And TV doesn't NEED to be just TV, it could be more, and it could be bulletproof. The crap we used to put up with in phones, we no longer put up with. But the crap we put up with in TV functionality, we just let slide. Why? Because no one has come along and made it obsolete yet.

What are you doing that is so absolutely life-threatening to miss?

You really need to let go of this pre-occupation that if something could make my life better, it's necessary. That's so far from what we're talking about it's laughable. There is no need, besides the latter half of supply and demand. You're the one who said this, not me. Apple is ALL ABOUT creating consumer demand for something that didn't even exist before. The whole sensation of "I didn't know this was an option but now I can't imagine my life without it" is exactly the iphone, the ipad, the mac (sometimes; I've seen it). Of course, most people don't see it coming until after it happens. The whole point of threads like this is to try to predict what such an "insanely great" product might be, before it happens. The fact that it doesn't seem necessary before it exists, this is a feature, not a bug. If it already seemed necessary before it created the market segment for itself, then it would be less like the products Apple is known for.