The Problem with Apple TV

Forbes has a big article about Apple TV, Apple's computer-to-TV video streaming box, that the publication declares an "iFlop."

Apple TV may be an underperformer now, but it doesn't have to be.

As an avid Mac user who is ordinarily easily pulled into the Steve Jobs reality distortion field, let me tell you the problems with Apple TV:

1) Requires a flat screen TV

Most people still have standard televisions -- not the flat screen beauties. And for whatever reason, Apple TV doesn't play with regular televisions.

Flat screen TV prices may be falling, but that still doesn't mean that everyone has them. Apple seems to overlook the fact that it is the college crowd which made the iPod the most recognizable media player on the planet (after all, look around any college campus and all you'll see are white headphones). The catch is that for the early adopter, college crowd a flat screen TV of any size worth purchasing is still out of reach. $300 bucks for a top-of-the-line iPod? Sure. But $2,000 for a TV? No way.

Limited early adopter pool = no momentum.

2) Poor quality

For those that can afford a flat screen TV there's a reason that they bought one -- because the picture looks amazing. How does the Apple TV look? Well, not so good. Go into an Apple Store and even the demo doesn't look compelling (and the TVs they are using for the demos aren't even that big). That's because Apple's iTunes store doesn't sell any high definition content. The video you get on iTunes looks great on an iPod, acceptable on your laptop, and downright mediocre-to-poor when blown up on a large TV.

The content quality hasn't caught up with the technological capabilities Apple TV appears to be presenting. The result is a sub-par, very un-Apple-like experience.

3) It's not a TiVo

Apple TV has a hard drive in it. What do we want to do with a hard drive connected to our television? Use it a digital video recorder (DVR) a.k.a. TiVo, of course.

Apple TV has zero, zip, nada TiVo-like capabilities. It is a svelte box for streaming the content you have in your iTunes library (video/music) to your TV and that's about it. (True, it can access movie trailers online, and display your digital photos but these features aren't going to make you run out and buy an Apple TV).

4) It's too expensive

The problem is Apple TV does so little (stream content from your computer to your television) for such a big price. [The price is "big" because the Apple TV content doesn't look spectacular, it doesn't satisfy those other "needs" we all have -- it's not a TiVo, it is not a DVD recorder, it's not a video game player -- and it will require most people to buy a flat screen TV if they want the Apple TV experience].

The Forbes article says that the components of Apple TV cost $237. On a $300 product, that doesn't leave a lot of room for profit. So it is true that the company isn't making much off these things, but that offers minor consolation for the consumer.

Solutions

Apple TV needs to be overhauled and replaced with "Apple TV 2" (for lack of a better term). Here's what Apple TV 2 should offer:

• Works with all TVs, not just the new flat screens (make Apple TV an option for all who are interested in it)
• DVR capabilities (enabled by a bigger hard drive) -- this would truly lay the groundwork for tearing down the barriers between our TVs, DVDs and downloaded content
  
• Ability to stream DVR'd content back to your PC so you can "save it" by burning it to a DVD
• Ability to transfer television content saved on your Apple TV 2's DVR to your iPhone, iPod Touch or notebook computer so you can watch your shows on the go
• Same $300 price tag
  

If Apple gives us this (and any other whiz-bang ideas that Apple can dream up like no other) then Apple TV will be a success. Whether we get there or not is simply a matter of whether or not the company believes in the product.

Apple TV right now is half a product. Here's one customer who hopes Steve Jobs and Co. will make it a whole.

Playing to the Lowest Common Denominator

A movie called Shoot 'Em Up is coming to theaters soon. Then, this fall, ABC is bringing us a new TV series called Dirty Sexy Money.

OK, that's it. I can now tell you that shows/films are being approved based solely on how their titles perform and appeal to focus groups.

How do I know?

Well, I just got the green light for 15 episodes of a new TV show I'm developing called Wet Firearms Poker.

Studio 60 Denied

I had a nice little evening planned. I was going to go to the store after work, come home, eat dinner, and then settle down in front of the TV for this week's episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

So I do all of this, plop down on my couch by 10/9 central, and what do I see? Friday Night Lights. Huh?!?

I know nobody is watching Friday Night Lights, but it doesn't sound like a ton of people are watching Studio 60 either. So what is the point? Is NBC just trying to kill both of these shows by tinkering with their times?

This "special night and time" rained on my evening. (And if the NBC marketing folks are reading this, no, I did not watch Friday Night Lights -- instead I changed the channel and watched my early local news).

Mercifully, NBC's Web site says Studio 60 will be back at its regular time next week.

What's on TV? The White Sox

Looks like another regular season win for the White Sox over the Cubs.

The Chicago Tribune's Ed Sherman reports:

On the television side, Sox games on WGN-Ch. 9 and WCIU-Ch. 26 did a 5.1 rating, up 21 percent, while the Cubs dropped to a 4.5, down 22 percent.

One local ratings point is worth more than 34,000 homes. On Comcast SportsNet, the Sox pulled a 3.1 rating, while the Cubs did a 2.9.

Behold the Power of Television

AP:

Researchers confirmed the distracting power of television — something parents have long known — when they found that children watching cartoons suffered less pain from a hypodermic needle than kids not watching TV.

I felt no pain throughout my childhood.

Did They Fall Out of an Overhead Bin?!?

Let me preface this by saying that I have never watched an episode of Lost. Realizing that, I probably should not be weighing in on this one, but I can't help myself.

From Access Hollywood:

Three new castaways ready to get ‘Lost’
Elizabeth Mitchell, Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro join the cast

BURBANK, CA - Remember those episodes of “Gilligan's Island” when Gilligan would run into some stranger while looking for coconuts and it was never really explained how they ended up on the island? Well, ABC's “Lost” is adding three new characters for the show's third season and, just like that other classic show, no one is saying how they got there.

Over the last week it was announced that actors Rodrigo Santoro, Kiele Sanchez and Elizabeth Mitchell would be the show's latest castaways.

WHAT?!? The show is about an airplane that crashes and strands the survivors (no, not those survivors) on a island. How the heck do you add people to that cast?

I'd say the writers will have their hands full with this one. My guess for how it is handled:

"Holy cow, the guy in 6F finally came out of the can."

You're Watching MTV...er...ABC

The temperature is hot outside, but it is even hotter at One Ocean View!

...At least that's what ABC wants you to think. One Ocean View is one part Real World - San Diego (which of course in German means a whale's vagina) and one part Real World - New York, all of which adds up to something that you swear should be on MTV but somehow has ended up on ABC.

Yes, that's right, the network that brought you American Inventor, Dancing with the Stars, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Hope & Faith, America's Funniest Home Videos and Supernanny now brings you sex, seduction, vanity, and an unwillingness to grow up on the beaches and streets of New York.

I mean just think about it...who wouldn't want to watch 11 really, really ridiculously good looking 20-somethings parade off to a beach every weekend for some fun in the sun after their weekday sex in the city dries up? Nobody! That's who. Now, take that, a handful of petty problems, infighting, and a splash of sex and you have summer's hottest new show. Thus you can see the genius of One Ocean View.

I'll admit it -- I used to like shows like The Real World. I really liked it back when they had to go off and get their own jobs, not just an MTV-arranged dream job that they always ended up bitching about. But this seems to cross a line.

Maybe I'm old school, but I still think that America's major networks should be airing some sort of quality entertainment, rather than a cable TV-quality placeholder for commerials. (I actually saw an ad for Now That's What I Call Music! 22 in primetime on ABC during One Ocean View. How 1:17 a.m. on MTV2 is that?)

Note to readers: I'm getting a lot of folks faxing comments to me taking issue with my use of 'networks' and 'quality' entertainment. They're citing According to Jim. My readers are correct, I clearly used those terms too loosely, as network TV is not always quality, and when it is, sometimes it does not always get the support it deserves. (See: Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared). I will use 'quality' with great care in the future so long as Jim and Two and a Half Men remain on the air.