Apple TV: Why the Delay Doesn’t Hurt Cupertino

So, yesterday, Engadget reported that the Apple TV is being delayed until ‘mid-March.’ It’s a bummer, not that I was planning on getting one, seeing as it’s a little too pricey for my current budget. Lynn Fox, of Apple, said, “Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected.” But, it makes me wonder a little bit. The Apple TV (originally iTV) was originally announced last fall. Just how much polishing does it need? Or is wrap up code for they found some huge bugs? Either way, it is better that they get everything worked out the first time around.

Personally, I’ve lost a bit of interest in the Apple TV. It’s certainly a good concept, and it is going to be great for people who have extensive libraries of content from the iTunes Store, but for people like me, it doesn’t seem to have all of the functionality that I want. For instance, I have a fairly large collection of TV Shows and a few movies, which are in DivX format. Obviously, these can’t be played in iTunes, unless I went through the hassle of transcoding them, which would also degrade the quality. So, because they can’t be played in iTunes, unless the functionality changes before launch, which I don’t suspect it will, I won’t be able to watch these movies with the Apple TV.

So, now that I’ve got you trapped in my entry, I’m going to explain my eventual plan for getting my music and movies to my television, from my Mac. Although, it’ll cost a bit more, it’s a much more solid solution. Basically, it will only take a Mac mini. By hooking up a Mac mini to a television via DVI or a DVI-to-HDMI connector I’d be able to watch my content on the big screen. Plus, Mac mini’s come with an Apple Remote and Front Row, so there won’t be any squinting to read small print or working with a keyboard and mouse. Lastly, and most importantly, because it is a full-fledged, albeit diminutive, computer, I’ll be able to use QuickTime plug-ins to enable playback of non-Apple formats, like DivX.

My tech dreams aside, I look forward to seeing the Apple TV unleashed on the world. I’ll definitely be stopping in at my local Apple Store to check one out in the wild, once they have display units. The upside for Apple, about the delay, is that they don’t exactly have much competition. Even though there are about a bazillion (yes I did say [type] bazillion) solutions for getting your media from your PC to your TV these days, Apple is almost in a market of it’s own. Because they have a closed system, no one else is going to be able to bring iTunes content to the TV, except Apple. And the world of Mac Addicts who have their sights set on an Apple TV, are going to buy one whether it comes out tomorrow, or in a month.