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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > New iMac G5

New iMac G5 (Page 3)
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nickbirch
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Oct 29, 2005, 01:10 PM
 
[QUOTE=mduell]Put an NTSC tuner in the NA/JP model and a PAL tuner in the EU model. No big deal, Apple has had models with different hardware (such as power supplies) for different regions before. If anything it helps them to price discriminate regionally.
HDTV tuners are too difficult to provide reasonably (at least for watching encrypted channels, I guess OTA would work), and neither iMac is HD anyway.

However, analogue PAL/NTSC are old hat and will be turned off during the life of these iMacs (analogue turn off starts in the UK in 2008 and is already happening in parts of Germany). So, the issue is really whether to fit digital terrestrial, digital satellite or digital cable and then whether the European, US or Japanese variant and then whether to support scrambled pay services (different systems for Europe and the US). Looks like a dozen or so hardware options before you look at the navigation software for each region.

Enabling suppliers like Elgato etc. to hook their navigation software in to Front Row probably looks a much more attractive route to presenting broadcast TV on the iMac. Apple could then concentrate on providing support for IP TV.
     
msuper69
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Oct 29, 2005, 01:10 PM
 
Originally Posted by Quark108
I find it interesting that so many people on these forums complain about getting a product only to have a newer of the product released shortly after. I assume most people on these forums are mac enthusiast like myself and keep up with all the rumors and hype before an anticipated product announcement. It just seems obvious to me that if there is a chance of a product being updated in the near future and rumor sites are all predicting it... just wait and see! Better safe than sorry! The new imac was no secret, nor the video ipod.
Exactly. I always buy a new Mac as soon as the latest model of the Mac I want is introduced. The longer you wait, the more likely a new model will be introduced.
     
renelepage
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Oct 30, 2005, 12:26 PM
 
mduel here says that these iMac are not HD : that is they are unable to play high definition tv. Is it true ? I tried to check on Apple site and was not able to get any acurate information about it. Could someone check wether DVD Reader supports HD (Launch DVD Reader, go to Help menu, activate Show Supported Features). Is HD supported or not?

Something else could help too : go to Quicktime HD Gallery on Apple-Quicktime site, download an HD sample. Does it play well or does it skip frames?

Thanks folks.

     
Simon
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Oct 30, 2005, 12:40 PM
 
It depends on what you call HD. For some 720p is good enough, others claim nothing but 1080 can be called true HD. Since the iMac doesn't have more than 1050 vertical pixels you could claim it's not capable of playing "true HD". Whatever.

If you're interested in Apple's 720p HD clips I can assure you that they played fine on my 1.67GHz PowerBook (128 MB VRAM, 9700 Mobility) with no dropped frames or any other baloney being passed on by some bashers. With that in mind I'd expect them to play smooth as butter on the iMac G5 with its superior GPU.
     
Voodoogmr
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Oct 30, 2005, 12:47 PM
 
According to the ATSC TV standard, a video signal must be 720p or higher to be considered true HD. 480p is considered ED, or "enhanced" definition. The 720p trailers on the QT site are therefore true HD resolution and play perfectly on the 2.1 GHz iMac. They are definitely drool-worthy!
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renelepage
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Oct 30, 2005, 01:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by Voodoogmr
According to the ATSC TV standard, a video signal must be 720p or higher to be considered true HD. 480p is considered ED, or "enhanced" definition. The 720p trailers on the QT site are therefore true HD resolution and play perfectly on the 2.1 GHz iMac. They are definitely drool-worthy!
Great, thanks.

What about DVD Reader?
     
renelepage
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Oct 30, 2005, 01:40 PM
 
Oups! Duplicate.
     
havocidal
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Oct 30, 2005, 01:41 PM
 
there is also 1440p... which is the "new" HD... and is currently used for digital cinemas... and upcoming will be 2160p... but for now... 1080p will stay for a pretty long time...
     
mduell
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Oct 30, 2005, 06:54 PM
 
Originally Posted by renelepage
mduel here says that these iMac are not HD : that is they are unable to play high definition tv. Is it true ? I tried to check on Apple site and was not able to get any acurate information about it. Could someone check wether DVD Reader supports HD (Launch DVD Reader, go to Help menu, activate Show Supported Features). Is HD supported or not?
There are two (common) HD resolutions, 720p and 1080i.
Apple calls their products HD when they support the 1080i HD resolution. This is why the 23" and 30" ACDs are HD while the 20" ACD and iMac are not.
The 20" iMacs sceen could display ESPN's 720p signal in all its glory, but not NBC's 1080i.
     
renelepage
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Oct 30, 2005, 09:56 PM
 
(Is there a keyboard command to post a reply? I post inadvertently.)
     
renelepage
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Oct 30, 2005, 09:59 PM
 
Originally Posted by mduell
There are two (common) HD resolutions, 720p and 1080i.
Apple calls their products HD when they support the 1080i HD resolution. This is why the 23" and 30" ACDs are HD while the 20" ACD and iMac are not.
The 20" iMacs sceen could display ESPN's 720p signal in all its glory, but not NBC's 1080i.
That's crystall clear. Thank you.

     
Voodoogmr
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Oct 30, 2005, 10:04 PM
 
Originally Posted by renelepage
What about DVD Reader?
Yes, it does show support for "high density" DVDs. I assume that's a high-def video that can only play back on a compatible Mac, similar to the Microsoft WMV-HD discs that can be played on PCs. Here is a quote from the Help file:
Playing HD DVDs
New video encoding technology enables high-definition digital video to be burned on high-density DVD discs (called "HD DVDs") for better picture and sound quality.

DVD Player will play HD DVDs created in DVD Studio Pro. Your computer must support the HD format and your monitor must support Quartz Extreme.
Hope that helps.
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JEJ
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Oct 31, 2005, 05:37 AM
 
Originally Posted by andreas_g4
Front Row displays the media content on the internal display…
Hi,
This all in one option for media is a great guessing game ...how about this one for a forecast:
Take 23"/30" Cinema display in a scaled up iMac box giving you space in the white bit at the bottom to build in say Eye TV. Make remote, wireless Kb and Mouse standard and give a free Airport Router with a mouthwatering deal on an iBook. Now wait 18 mths for prices to come down and incomes to rise and Apple corner the multimedia home market!!
Oh...and buy a garbage skip for the cables.
P.S. For me its side line the iMac DVSE and in with the new iMac and wireless but be really careful on my next spend on any TV capability ...the current legacy TV kit is going to have to get by for a while!
     
renelepage
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Oct 31, 2005, 08:45 AM
 
Originally Posted by Voodoogmr
Yes, it does show support for "high density" DVDs. I assume that's a high-def video that can only play back on a compatible Mac, similar to the Microsoft WMV-HD discs that can be played on PCs. Here is a quote from the Help file:

Hope that helps.
That helps a lot indeed.

And it gives another reason to get the new iMac model. I already knew about the notice on DVD Studio Pro, since it appeared with the last version of DVD Reader. But I don't know what it means exactly.

I suppose that nobody can tell untill we see these new HD DVD format.

Thanks a lot, Voodoogmr.
     
jmelrose
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Oct 31, 2005, 03:37 PM
 
I'm interested in getting eyeTV to make my new still-on-order 20" 2.1 ghz iMac a TV/media center for my kitchen/desk area, and make it one-stop-shopping for my music, photos, and video.

I am planning to import all my CDs in Apple Loseless, and photos will take care of themselves, but the TV-input and EyeTV in particular is where I would be glad to get thers' input.

Has anyone used eyeTV? What did they think?

I have Comcast Digital Cable. I need a Motorola cable box in order to get the digital channels. Should I be using the digital eyeTV box? The HDTV? If I don't use the box, I can still get all the channels of basic cable. I don't get how these eyeTV boxes work, if I can use eyeTV to replace a box provided by my cable company... it seems like that shouldn't work.

Am I able to watch TV with eyeTV without recording it?

Any chance eyeTV can get plugged into Front Row as an option? Does eyeTV work with a remote?

Is there any turner/recorder software/hardware that might work better than eyeTV, in people's opinions?

Thanks for anyone's input on this.
JMelrose
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jmelrose
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Oct 31, 2005, 03:46 PM
 
<dup. post. Sorry... kept getting server errors>
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jmelrose
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Oct 31, 2005, 03:46 PM
 
dup post. Sorry, kept getting server errors upon sending
(anyone else having these problems?)
( Last edited by jmelrose; Oct 31, 2005 at 05:19 PM. )
“A man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.” -Mark Twain

Current rig: 15" MBP i7 2.6Ghz 16GB RAM 1TB Flash Drive
     
jmelrose
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Oct 31, 2005, 03:46 PM
 
dup post. sorry!
( Last edited by jmelrose; Oct 31, 2005 at 05:19 PM. )
“A man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.” -Mark Twain

Current rig: 15" MBP i7 2.6Ghz 16GB RAM 1TB Flash Drive
     
joe
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Oct 31, 2005, 10:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by jmelrose
dup post. Sorry, kept getting server errors upon sending
(anyone else having these problems?)
yep - happened to me in another thread. No way to delete the extra posts either
     
Vagner
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Nov 5, 2005, 06:49 PM
 
On 10/31 my wife and I ordered a New iMac G5 17" iSight. We were notified of shipment and received it in a brisk 3 days...Great!

Now the bad news. We setup the beautiful new iMac and began to play around with it -performing our own "burn in" before the tedious task of loading our library of software yada yada yada... Well the machine developed these wierd bars going across the screen. These bars started multiplying like gremelens and the machine froze and the beach ball party started.

DOA - Sadly this machine had some hardware problem.

Well we called Apple and confirmed it to be DOA and tried to get a quick replacement. Not the case it took 4 days & 4 different Apple reps to finally get a Fedex Return Shipping label. To add fuel to the fire... We received the Fedex Ground shipping label today (Sat.) and this package will not be scanned in until Mon.

This means the replacement machine will not be released until at least Mon. So far we have had a dead Mac in our office for days and now a few days delay because of the Apple's reps dropping the ball on us 3x's before getting things straight.

Sorry to rant, but this is the first time Apple has screwed us.
     
Tuishimi
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Nov 8, 2005, 01:49 PM
 
I hear you, Vagner. The first time (last Autumn) I ever had a problem with Apple was such a shock that it left me wary. I have been using Apple computers since the mid 80's and owned them since the mid 90's and never had a single hardware issue OR a service issue until last year. Took a month of them telling me to upgrade this and reinstall that before they finally sent me a new midplane.

Needless to say, also, I now will always buy AppleCare (never had before, never NEEDED it).

Despite that, I will continue to purchase Apple products because their computers and their OS kicks butt up, down and all around the competition.
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siMac
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Nov 8, 2005, 02:15 PM
 
"OMG, Apple screwed us! My computer took three days to get here! There's a problem with it and now I'm gonna have to wait up to a week for a replacement!"

Get over it and count yourselves lucky you're not in Europe. My iMac took three weeks to get here, luckily it was fine, otherwise I could have looked forward to a further month's wait for a replacement.
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d0ubled0wn
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Nov 11, 2005, 07:35 PM
 
Anybody pissed about the firewire problem? There must be some users who backup their systems using an external firewire drive but now can't with the new iMacs. Or does it just affect specific external drives?
     
Pierre B.
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Nov 11, 2005, 07:51 PM
 
Originally Posted by d0ubled0wn
Anybody pissed about the firewire problem?
What firewire problem?
     
d0ubled0wn
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Nov 11, 2005, 08:24 PM
 
The new iMacs don't supply enough power to the firewire ports to support external hard drives, according to reports I'm hearing.
     
P
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Nov 15, 2005, 09:31 AM
 
Firewire has a spec limit on how many amps will be supplied through the ports. Apple didn't enforce this limit on their machines - they simply supplied as much as the unit required - with the result that the port could fry completely if used with a unit that required lots of amps. This "frying limit" also varied with different models, so an HD that worked on one model might fry the ports on another. This, combined with the stupid port design on the Firewire 400 and the initial problems with the Oxford 922 chipset is the reason Apple is currently focusing less on Firewire - it has essentially failed in the marketplace.

To avoid the many motherboard replacements, Apple has set the new Macs to cut off all power to Firewire units that don't stay inside the spec limits - the same way USB does. Non-compliant HDs no longer work, but that isn't Apple's fault.
     
mduell
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Nov 15, 2005, 12:01 PM
 
Originally Posted by P
Firewire has a spec limit on how many amps will be supplied through the ports. Apple didn't enforce this limit on their machines - they simply supplied as much as the unit required - with the result that the port could fry completely if used with a unit that required lots of amps. This "frying limit" also varied with different models, so an HD that worked on one model might fry the ports on another. This, combined with the stupid port design on the Firewire 400 and the initial problems with the Oxford 922 chipset is the reason Apple is currently focusing less on Firewire - it has essentially failed in the marketplace.

To avoid the many motherboard replacements, Apple has set the new Macs to cut off all power to Firewire units that don't stay inside the spec limits - the same way USB does. Non-compliant HDs no longer work, but that isn't Apple's fault.
The facts, and I, disagree with you.

The FW spec includes a maximum power delivery of 45W (3.5A @ 12.8V) per port. External hard drives can draw anywhere from 2W (laptop size) to 15W (high performance desktop).

Apple grossly underpowers the FW ports. The PowerBooks only provides 7W spread among all the ports. The iMacs share 8W among the ports, and the PowerMacs share 15W among the ports (link).

So the problem isn't that the external drive is drawing power beyond the FW spec, it's that the Macs can't provide power up to the FW spec.
     
 
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