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Video Killed the Audio Star

October 6, 2005 on 10:05 pm | In Musings, Tech News by Josh Jones |

Josh Jobs

So… apparently after the iPod Nano debut on September 7th, Apple has “One more thing…” to unveil next week.

Rumor is, it’s going to be a video iPod.

Well, it may be. Or is may not be. Who cares? I’m not here to speculate about the rumors. Oh, no..

I’m here to talk about what I would be unveiling on October 12th if I were Steve Jobs.

What IS this thing?

I’d be releasing a VIDEO Airport Express!

I’d call it “vTunes” (Honestly? I’d probably call it “JoshTunes”) and it’d let you wirelessly stream HD-quality video from your mac/pc/desktop/laptop via magic (or something faster) to your TV! (FYI, the current Airport Express is a doo-hickey that lets you stream music from iTunes on your computer to your home stereo(s) over 802.11G)

What DO they dream about anyway?

But this is probably all just a crazy coked-up pipe dream of mine.

OR IS IT????!!!!!!????!?!?!!!!!

Apple already claims their new H.264 video codec can do FULL 1920×1080 24p HDTV in just 7-8Mbps!

Fines doubled in work zones!

And as we all know, their Airport Express already handles speeds up to 54Mbs!

(Of course, that’s just the theoretical maximum. Just like the theoretical maximum height for a human is 8′ 11.1″. But we can’t ALL be Robert Wadlow, can we? Similarly, I’ve found it’s usually a good idea to take the theoretical maximum and divide by EIGHT to get a rough idea of the real speeds you’ll experience. Fortunately, that puts us really close to their 7-8Mbps range!)

We also know that iTunes has been able to play video since version 4.8.

Add it all up, and I’d say there’ s about a 98.6% chance that “vTunes” will be announced before or during January 2006. (Maybe as soon as next week!)

Personally, I think they’d sell like hotcakes, be the biggest thing since sliced bread, and have their cake and eat it too! Unlike on an iPod, people seem to already like watching video on their televisions. People also seem to already like the convenience and flexibility digital media offers. And people already seem to think Apple is the gall’s balls.

Here’s how it’ll work:

1. People download movies/tv shows/music video/flash animations/porn from the vTunes Video Store. Alternately, they rip full DVDs to their computer using vTunes (or maybe some other software like DVD Shrink).

2. They watch any video on their hard drive or directly off the Internet(!!) at any time on their 102″ plasma without going to BlockBuster, opening their mailbox, or even standing up!

They won’t have to worry about their DVDs getting scratched, or lost, or disorganized, and they can do things like suck movie info right off IMDB for their whole collection and sort by things like best movie or shortest running time or most Josh Hartnetts.

And it’ll work. And it’ll be awesome. And I know it for sure.

Because I’ve already got one!

The 360 better be hackable too!

You see, I’ve got a modded Xbox hooked up to my TV, and as of September 12th Xbox Media Center finally has full native DVD menu support! Which means I can rip my DVDs to my home computer and then play them wirelessly over the network on my TV via XBMC on my Xbox.

Further still, XBMC connects to IMDB via the Xbox’s ethernet port and lets you do exactly the sort of things I was “imagining” above! XBMC even has python script plugins which let you do things like watch the videos at ebaumsworld or listen to podcasts directly on your Xbox. Just like that!

It’s a weird feeling, effectively creating “Internet channels” on your TV.

But it’s a weird feeling that feels good.

Richard Pryor beats Nick Cannon.. he's HILARIOUS!

Just last night I watched Superman III via windows file sharing from a full-sized DVD rip (no shnazzy H.264 codecs or nuttin’) on my laptop via 802.11G. And it really worked.

Superman III is funny because Richard Pryor is a bum who reads a little matchbook that says “Become a Computer Programmer” and so he does it and he’s really good at it and he falls into working for a bad guy who’s just like every other boss a programmer has ever had asking him to do all these miracle technology things with a computer that he has no idea how to do himself… except his requests are like “Write a program to send all the oil tankers in the world to the middle of the Atlantic” and “Destroy Columbia.”

That may have been a funny way to end this post.

But I’m serious about the vTunes stuff.

And I’m right about it! You’ll see. All of you…

22 Comments

1

Yaayy, I’ll take one! A video-capable Airport Express is definitely on the

Comment by Keaka — October 6, 2005 #
2

Dear DreamHost,

This unlimited domain thing is putting a serious dent in my wallet.

Shame on you all,
Zach

Comment by Zach — October 6, 2005 #
3

Hey, check that out, I’m incapable of typing a complete post! I meant to say that a video-express is on the rumor mill radar:
http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2005/10/20051004214035.shtml

Comment by Keaka — October 6, 2005 #
4

Thank you, i like the idea of this vTunes much more than any crazy video iPod idea. For one thing I can’t walk and use my vPod at the same time. I can’t dance like the crazy silohuettes and watch my vPod.

I’ve also been thinking of picking up a modded xbox or rolling my own pvr. At the moment, my powerbook seems to fare ok.

Comment by Jack — October 6, 2005 #
5

Seriously, Josh.

This is the greatest blog I read. I learn more tech stuff on here than from any tech-news site, and it’s funny! As for the vTunes / modded Xbox, I agree. I have a few friends with the mod and it’s great. Personally, I just use wireless video link and display my computer screen directly on the TV through my graphics card. Seems easier than all the fancy mumbo-jumbo. ;)

Nah, seriously. Great posts. You made my night again.

Comment by James — October 7, 2005 #
6

So, based on your “divide by 8″ theory, that would put the average human at…. what? Just over a foot tall?

Hmm….

Seriously, tho… love reading your stuff! (oh, and the hosting’s good too!)

Comment by Richard — October 7, 2005 #
7

But isn’t the vTunes (airport express with video) going to have to be much larger dude to the fact that H.264 is a little more processor intensive to decompress.

Also wouldn’t there need to be a two way service too. You can stream to your vTunes and then you can stream from your vTunes kind of like a ElGato TV thing (they are kickass btw).

Then it could also act like a PVR. Well then you will also want the ability to play media like a DVD right in the box. So you have to add that too.

I think it ends up looking like a computer more than an airport express and I don’t think it will be able to stream over 802.11g maybe 802.11n if ever comes out. I think the WiFi would be used to stream from a new iPod to the device and no from the computer.

Comment by Will — October 7, 2005 #
8

I suspect we’ll see a wide screen PowerBook HD.

Comment by Mike — October 7, 2005 #
9

[...] ThinkSecret speculates about Apple’s Oct. 12th “One more thing” media event. And Josh of Dreamhost, who like, I guess runs the company or something and therefore has the power to destroy every scrap of every website I’ve ever built, uh … well he thinks Apple will release 802.11g wireless video streaming alongside an iTunes video store. [...]

Pingback by field/figure » my wallet suddenly feels heavy — October 7, 2005 #
10

This post (and the link to the XBox soft-mod guide) finally inspired me to buy the stuff I needed to install XBMC. Therefore, Apple will come out with a better competitor just to thwart me.

Comment by Scott — October 7, 2005 #
11

The average human is probably > 4′ tall.

You’ve got to count all the babies and embryos, and all the population who are laying down. According to http://www.census.gov/ipc/prod/wp02/wp02-1.pdf they’re possibly as much as 1/6th of the world population!

But it’s just not enough. If you conservatively estimate around 5″ for them and 60″ for everyone else, that’s still an average height of 51″.

Perhaps a better analogy would be to how fast people are. Sure, there’s some theoretical max that Olympic runners might approach, but come on, everybody else is slooooooow.

Comment by Michael — October 7, 2005 #
12

I came to the same conclusion last night on the way home from work, and wrote it all down. My brain was fizzing at the possibilities.

You can read it here:

http://www.happenchance.co.uk/archives/2005/10/the_apple_event.php

Comment by Paul Livingstone — October 7, 2005 #
13

Re: dividing speeds by EIGHT

I’ve found that the actual reason we do that isn’t because of theory vs implementation, but because in networking they talk about speeds in kilo-BITS, whereas we’re used to talking about kilo-BYTES, as for memory… (seems kinda sneaky that ISPs or hardware manufacturers can advertise speeds that are ‘8 times’ faster than in reality, but it’s simply a naming convention)

and as for vPods: I’m not interested in watching video on a little screen; and vTunes/Airport wouldn’t be revolutionary, but net delivery would definitely be (though from what I’ve read it won’t be happening anytime soon — the record companies are already getting mad at Apple)

-peter

Comment by Peter — October 7, 2005 #
14

Pipe Dream fucking owned.

Comment by Anony Moos — October 7, 2005 #
15

http://hardware.silicon.com/desktops/0,39024645,39153138,00.htm

Comment by Jon — October 10, 2005 #
16

Peter, it can still be done. 802.11n gear is just around the corner. Actually pre-802.11n has been out for a year (under the standard the name MIMO -multiple inputs, multiple outputs).

100mbits /8 = 12.5 Megabytes which is enough.

Comment by Will — October 10, 2005 #
17

Too bad DVD ripping software is illegal via the DMCA. Once the new law for the broadcast flag goes through then TV ripping will be for most things as well.

Comment by Anonymous — October 12, 2005 #
18

[...] How vTunes should work (where vTunes is the video equivalent of AirTunes; AppleInsider says it’s coming sooner or later, and duh, this makes sense — I’m more intrigued by the last bit of the post where he says he’s employed a similar solution with a modded Xbox, but that’s not the focus of this site here…) [] [...]

Pingback by HiFi Blog -- Briefly: Video iPod pics?, Sony NW-A100/3000 pics, MS & RealNetworks settle lawsuit, Creative Zen Sleek review, Apple’s grafic EQ patent, Polk Audio LC265i-IP speakers, How vTunes should work — October 12, 2005 #
19

video ipod was a good guess: http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipod.html

Comment by Reid — October 12, 2005 #
20

[...] Rumors were running rampant prior to yesterday’s media event at San Jose’s California Theater. According to “insiders,” Apple would unveil a new pink iPod nano containing Madonna’s entire music catalog, updated PowerMacs and/or PowerBooks, an Airport Express-type device for streaming movies to your television, a brand new iPod capable of playing video (which Steve Jobs has continuously said would never happen), and a slew of other unconfirmed rumors. Only one of those rumors actually came to fruition yesterday: the video iPod. But Apple had a few other tricks up its sleeve as well. [...]

Pingback by SleepingPoliceman » Blog Archive » One more take… — October 13, 2005 #
21

Regarding the vTunes/iVideo/iVidTunesMooCowBlah device, it’s actually a bit harder than you’d guess. You may be able to get *average* 8Mbps reliably on 802.11g, but what’s really hard is to get *minimum* 8Mbps, which is what really matters for streaming video. What I’m saying is, ignoring buffering (which tends not to help as much as you’d think), if the available wireless bandwith drops below 8Mbps just once while you’re watching your streamed 2-hour movie, it’ll pause and get rather jerky for whenever the problems are occuring.

I actually work with this type of technology, and it’s a lot more of a pain than you’d think. You can only really do this if you live in a place where your 2.4GHz RF environment is *very* clean. So that rules out pretty much any apartment building, townhouse/condo complex, or people with small houses on small plots of land where the houses are close together. Living here in Silicon Valley, that means basically everyone ^_~.

Comment by Brian — November 8, 2005 #
22

[...] Remember back when I predicted there’d be a Video Airport Express? Well, I was a year-plus early, but I was right. [...]

Pingback by DreamHost Blog » Apple Welcomes Us! — January 8, 2007 #

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Video Killed the Audio Star

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