Apple’s iTV

Apple iTV

As I mentioned in the run down of today’s Apple event, Steve Jobs gave us a sneak peak at a hardware box, code named iTV, that will be available in the first quarter of 2007. If you haven’t seen it, this is it. It basically looks like a short Mac Mini.

The iTV will be used to stream media from your computer, to your TV. There were 2 things that struck me about this image though:

1. The wireless networking is only referred to as 802.11. I think it’s a fair assumption that the iTV will use a version that is faster than “G” for it’s movie streaming.

2. This thing has a USB 2 port on it. I wonder what that could be for? It’s not needed for the functionality that Steve described at the event. I’m wondering if by the time this thing comes to market, it will have turned into a full fledged DVR, and that USB port will allow you to attach whatever size hard drive you want to it.

Just speculation, of course.

Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 Apple, Hardware

13 Comments to Apple’s iTV

  1. How about the Ethernet port? What is it’s use?

    2. iwa87 on September 12th, 2006

  2. “How about the Ethernet port? What is it’s use?

    I can understand that one. If you already have ethernet in your house, you could choose to use that port instead of going wireless. It makes sense for that to be there.

    3. paul on September 12th, 2006

  3. [...] More can be found over here at Paul’s blog.. [...]

    4. Apple iTV « The Second Press on September 12th, 2006

  4. Ethernet can also be nice because it can be much faster than wireless (100 or even 1000 vs 54).

    5. UsrBinBoy on September 12th, 2006

  5. Sorry to double post, but I was just thinking that the USB could be for configuration. How else can you tell your iTV what wireless SSID to join etc.

    6. UsrBinBoy on September 12th, 2006

  6. “How else can you tell your iTV what wireless SSID to join etc.”

    It may be for configuration, but you shouldn’t need to physically connect it. Currently, you don’t have to physically connect to the Airport Express base station, to stream music to your stereo. You just configure it wirelessly using the airport setup software. It should be a similar setup with iTV.

    7. paul on September 12th, 2006

  7. What if you don’t have wireless? If you’re old school and only have ethernet (or worse, all you have is a free USB port) it may be for configuration or even data transfer.

    8. UsrBinBoy on September 12th, 2006

  8. Hopefully the ethernet port is the non-wireless method of connecting. My home has ethernet ports in every room and hallway, 2 ports in the larger rooms. I’m now using a wireless router, but it may be more stable, and less interference using ethernet…just a thought.

    9. Kenny on September 12th, 2006

  9. Ya, I think if any wired method of configuration were necessary, it would be through the ethernet port, not the USB port.

    I doubt that you would transfer much data (from your computer) via the USB port. If your computer was required to be close enough to regularly connect it to the iTV via USB, the iTV would be somewhat useless. You might as well connect your computer to the TV directly, and skip buying the iTV.

    10. paul on September 12th, 2006

  10. I wonder if the name will be different in the UK. We have a TV company called ITV who have several TV channels all with ITV in their name.

    11. Frank on September 13th, 2006

  11. Ya, I think it will have a differnet name everywhere. At the event, Steve Jobs said that was just a code name, and they’ll come up with a real name before they release it.

    12. paul on September 13th, 2006

  12. Isn’t the USB there to connect things like handy cams? At least until recently, several video camera models I looked at were available only with USB connections and no firewire.

    13. roy on September 14th, 2006

  13. On the first thing mentioned I believe the 802.11 was left like that on purpose because they did not want to release that they were shooting for this:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11#802.11n

    This is coming form an article I read over at:

    http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Home/21133BEF-61B4-40C1-A976-5C1360E60694.html

    14. Jordan Robinson on September 14th, 2006

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Paul Burd is a multimedia designer, and amateur photographer, living in San Francisco. More...

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