Old Media Center PC's offer more than new iMac
By Kevin C. Tofel 
posted Oct 13th 2005 9:32AM
posted Oct 13th 2005 9:32AM
So we had a video iPod announcement as well as some new iMac news
yesterday. [...sound of crickets chirping...] Not too much on the
high-def front here, although we should give kudos to Apple for adopting
the H.264 or MPEG-4 format for the "vidPod." The new iMac is supposed to have Media Center-like qualities, but folks like Thomas Hawk are underwhelmed; and they should be. This is a baby step in a 100-meter dash Mr. Jobs! Providing 320 x 240 videos via iTunes is the perfect use for the new iPod, but for an iMac with a built-in monitor? No way.
I see this as trying to leverage something that shouldn't be leveraged. It's almost as if the video capability for the new iMac was an afterthought or a way to gain additional iTunes revenues. The novelty of paying $2 for a QVGA video on your PC will wear off quickly, folks.
Apple, if you want to catch up to Microsoft in this area (did I just say that?), we need to see built-in HDTV tuners and timeshifting capabilities. How about high-def DVD support? Oh, and we don't want to see Macs with built in monitors if we're just going to pipe high-res content to a much larger display. Sorry, I'm not inviting a Mac into my entertainment room until the Mac can bring me more entertainment.
While you are correct that watching low-res video on a high-res display isn't that compelling, I think you are missing some of the point of the "Front Row" software/remote. It's not just about these downloadable videos, it's about a remote-control based UI with access to all your photos, music, DVDs, etc.
I've been known to watch DVDs on my laptop, so if I had this available on my laptop it would be great - same goes for listening to music, when I am using iTunes as a digital jukebox. It would even be nice for slideshows on my TV - if I had a TV substantially bigger than my 15" laptop screen that is!
I guess what I'm saying is that there is a lot more to the system than the downloadable videos, and that this is merely Apple's first step towards Media-Centre like functionality.
Then again, this *is* HD Beat, so I guess in these parts you guys are rightfully dissappointed! I sure hope downloadable HD becomes available sooner or later.
I hear what you're saying Michael, but then I look at my significant other's HP Pavilion running XP (not MCE) and she has an IR remote to control DVD playback for it. I might have been too harsh, but as you pointed out, I'm looking at it from an HDTV viewpoint. I guess I'm a little let down by this small step, when a much bigger step could have been taken. It's almost a marketing-ploy to me: we've got a video iPod (cool!), oh and sprinking of media center functions in our new iMac (yawn!) too.
Like many of the opinions and articles I read on HD Beat, you're either missing the point or misguided. Did Apple have the first mp3 player on the market? No. Did Apple launch the ipod with iTunes? No. Did Apple launch the ipod with the iTunes Music Store? No. Now, name the best selling mp3 player. Name the most popular music store. Do you see a pattern here? Baby steps are the correct steps to take. Introduce the concept to your customer base and build on it.